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An Introduction To DirectX8

By Simon Price

Visit www.VBgames.co.uk for more!

What you will learn

How to use the DirectX libraries from Visual Basic
How to get input from the most commonly used devices - keyboard and mouse - using DirectInput
How to load and play a wave file using DirectSound
How to create a rendering device with Direct3D
How to use the D3DX helper functions
How to use vertex and index buffers to create simple geometry
How to use view and projection matrices to set up a camera
How to use world matrices to make animation and reuse the same geometry
How to load textures from a bitmap file
How to unload all of this safely

How you will learn it

Overview of DirectX8
Explanation of DirectX terms
Explanation of sample program
Full working demo program to download with source code and comments
Evaluation of what has been learnt
Exercises to extend your knowledge
Thoughts for future tutorials

Boring Intro

Back by popular demand is my DirectX tutorial series! Although I'm sort of starting again for DirectX 8. So for complete newbies, this tutorial is great, and for those who already know some DX7 or DX8, the tutorial includes some more complex stuff than previous tutorials. In DirectX 8, the API has become simpler in the initialization of objects and it also has many more maths functions to help you. But it's still alot of work to do by yourself, so that's why you should help spread the word by making free source demos and tutorials. At this point I acknowledge Richard Hayden for his free source Direct3D8 world, it is a great example of what I am talking about and helped me begin to learn the new API. Enough of the chit chat...

Before you begin

If you don't already have DirectX 8 and the DirectX 8 Type Libraries for Visual Basic then you've got some downloading to do! Sorry, but it is worth it. You don't need all the SDK documentation, although I recommend getting it, and you don't need the C++ SDK if you are a VB'er only, so your download might not be as big as mine was. I managed to download 135 MB though my cheap 56 K phone line though, and that was the full download including everything. So it is possible, but you will need to get a program such as GetRight to help you download such a big file. All developer information and downloads can be found at www.microsoft.com/directx . Once DirectX 8 is installed, and you have the DX VB Type Libs, read on.

Adding a reference to your project

Every time you start a new project that will use DirectX, you will need to do the following:

Click the Project menu
Choose the References... submenu and the References dialog will pop up
Scroll down the list of references until you find the "DirectX 8 Type Library for Visual Basic" and check the box next to it
Click OK

Now VB will know every class, type and enumeration that DirectX 8 contains, so you're ready to begin coding!

DirectX and 3D terminology

This is the part which gets most people. I wish I had someone to explain all the jargon to me when I was learning. After the language barrier, things get a bit easier. Here's some terms you need to know. If you already know a bit about DirectX, you should probably skip this whole section and only come back to it when you see a word you don't understand. It is not in alphabetical order, rather it is in logical order so that you can read the whole thing if you're new and you want to. As you can see, there is alot of it, and this is only the basics.

DirectX, DirectAudio (DirectSound, DirectMusic), DirectGraphics (Direct3D, DirectDraw), DirectPlay, DirectSetup - These are all part of the DirectX API. They are the main objects which deal with different jobs e.g DirectAudio takes care of all audio input and output, and it contains DirectSound and DirectMusic
API - What does that stand for again? I think it was Advanced Programming Interface (correct me please if I'm wrong). At least I know what it means. It's the bunch of objects that give you a higher level view of a task, so you don't need to think about writing low level code anymore because people have already made functions to do that for you.
Variable - If you don't know what a variable is, go away and learn something simpler.
Type - I hope you know this too. It's several variables group together, in C++ it's a structure.
Class - This is code that describes an object (see below).
Object - An object can contain variables like a type, but it also can have functions that can be called from code elsewhere. An object is created from a class.
Instance - When an object is created from a class, it is said to be an instance of the object. Note there can be many instances of an object created from the same class.
Library - A whole group of objects are often grouped together into one file, usually a DLL (Dynamic Link Library). DirectX is made of DLL's.
Pointer - This is a variable that stores a memory address. In VB, your don't use pointers directly, but if you use a object without creating a new instance of the object, you are basically using a pointer to another object.
Buffer - A word given to a chunk of memory which has been assigned a job, usually to temporarily store data which is moved around alot. There are several types of buffer in DirectX.
Backbuffer, Frontbuffer, Surface, Texture - These are used to store graphics. The only visible graphics buffer is the front buffer. In DirectX 8, you never need to worry about this, just know what it is (erm, like, it's what you see on the screen). A back buffer is where graphics go just before the front buffer. You draw on the back buffer, and when your super duper graphics are finished, you ask DirectX to move it to the front buffer. A surface is just like a back buffer, it stores pictures, but it is more general since it has nothing to do with a front buffer. A texture is a surface used for texture mapping polygons (see later), and is usually of dimensions that are square, a power of 2, typically 256 x 256.
Copy, VSync, Blt, Flip, Discard - These are methods of copying from one surface to another. Copying involves copying every single bit from on surface to another. Flipping involves moving a pointer to s surface so that the front buffer and back buffer surfaces switch roles (their pointers are swapped) making for a very quick appearance of a new image. VSync means synchronizing the copying or flipping of surfaces with the vertical refresh of the monitor so that you can't see the graphics flicker. If you discard your surface when you flip, it is a faster, but the contents of the back buffer are not guaranteed to be still the same as before the flip.
Z buffer - A piece of memory that store the z positions of objects drawn onto a surface.
Sound buffers (primary and secondary) - A sound buffer stores a sound. A primary sound buffer can be heard out of the speakers, with DirectX you can ignore it because it is managed for you. A secondary sound buffer is where sounds can be stored before being mixed and sent to the primary buffer.
Mixing - The process of creating just one sound from several source sounds.
Static and streaming - A static buffer stores just a whole sound and just sits there. A streaming buffer stores only part of the sound and constantly is moving in the next part of the sound and and moving out the already played sound. A static buffer is more CPU efficient and a streaming buffer is more memory efficient.
Input device - This is commonly a mouse or a keyboard, but can also be a joy pad or a steering wheel etc.
Device state - The state of the input device depends on what buttons/rollers/wheels are being pressed/moved etc. For example, the state of the keyboard is that the "X" key is down.
Rendering device - This is something that draws graphics, it can be a hardware graphics card or a software emulation device.
Hardware and software emulation - Hardware is a physical unit on your computer and is usually very fast at doing it's job. Software emulation can do the same job as hardware, but at a slower rate and using up memory.
System and video memory - System memory is the main memory where everything else is stored - programs, Windows, anything and everything scattered everywhere so it can be slow. Video memory is separately used for hardware to store pictures and is usually alot faster. It can be a slow operation to copy between these two types of memory.
Polygon, Primitive - Polygons are a general term for shapes that can be made with a number of straight edged sides and are used in 3D store create shapes. In Direct3D, a primitive is usually a point, a line or a triangle.
Material - A polygon appears to be made of a material, in DirectX, a material has several colors to describe it's appearance.
Texture mapping - When a polygon has a picture put onto it it is said that the polygon has been texture mapped.
Texture management - Textures must be ordered and and moved around so that the right textures are available when they are need. DirectX by default can do this for you.
Vector - A 3 dimensional value, having x, y and z components.
Vertex - A primitive is made up of vertices (plural of vertex) where edges end or meet. They can be just the same as vectors, or they can have additional components such as color, direction (or normal), or texture coordinates.
Plane - A flat shape that goes on forever and splits space into 2. For example, the ground is a horizontal plane.
Normal - A normal to a plane or vertex or primitive is a vector that describes where it is facing. Has a similar meaning as perpendicular or orthogonal.
Transformation - A formula that changes a vector to another position.
Matrix - Matrices (plural of matrix) describes any transformation by storing 16 numbers.
Translation, rotation, scaling - These are types of transformations. A translation is a movement in the x, y or z direction (or 2 or all 3 directions), a rotation spins the vector around an origin, scaling resizes the vector around a origin.
Origin - A point or vector that is the center of something.
World, View and Projection - The world transformation affects every vector in the world, moving it moves everything. The view transformation makes the camera or eye on the scene appear to be in the right place, and the projection transformation describes how the 3D scene is conveyed onto the 2D picture produced from it.
Culling - When a polygon is not facing the camera, the process of culling ensures it is not drawn.
Z buffering and Z sorting - This process makes sure that when a object is obscured by another, it cannot be seen.
More... I've missed out loads so if you still don't understand a word then just ask.

The sample program

You can download the sample program from here. You will need a program like Winzip to decompress it. It is written in Visual Basic 6, if you have another version of VB then there is information on www.planet-source-code.com/vb as to how to try to open the version 6 files.

The sample program uses hardware accelerated rasterization. If your computer does not have this, the request will fail, so use D3DDEVTYPE_REF instead of D3DDEVTYPE_HAL if this happens. A real program would be able to detect an error and automatically switch device. It also requests software vertex processing, which means the CPU has to transform and light geometry, but if you have a good graphics card, you might be able to use hardware vertex processing.

The sample program assumes your computer can render in 16 bit (R5G6B5) color format, in 640 x 480 resolution. If this is not the case, it may fail but you can change those values in the source code.

The sample program renders the same texture mapped 3D cube in different positions. It uses the same cube but it makes it appear that there are 3, each of different sizes, and they are all spinning and rotating around everywhere. The camera can be zoomed in and out using the mouse and the program can be exited using the escape key. The program plays a sound every time the animation loop restarts. It attempts to show all the basic features of DirectX 8 simply. It is not optimized so as to keep it as simple to understand as possible.

The main point to note is the that the animation is achieved by moving the world transformation. Every single line is commented, an there are lengthy explanations of each main function. Here is the full source code and comment to view, but you can also download it.

---***---SOURCE CODE STARTS HERE---***---

'-----------------------------------------------------------------
'
'DX8 INTRODUCTION - DIRECTGRAPHICS,DIRECTSOUND, DIRECTINPUT
'
' BY SIMON PRICE
'
'-----------------------------------------------------------------

' For this tutorial program you will need the DirectX8 for Visual
' Basic Type Library, from www.microsoft.com/directx

' You should also have the tutorial in HTML format, if you don't
' you can download it from my website www.VBgames.co.uk

' Any questions go to ihaveaquestionforsimonaboutdx8@VBgames.co.uk,
' or you could use a shorter address :) (si@VBgames.co.uk will do)
' Any bug reports go to the same address too please, as do comments
' feedback, suggestions, erm whatever you feel like

' Every time you start a project which will use DirectX8, you need
' to click on the menu Project -> References and a dialog box will
' pop up. Check the box which says "DirectX8 for Visual Basic Type
' Library" and click OK. Now VB will know all the types, classes
' enumerations and functions of DirectX8.

Option Explicit

' GLOBAL VARIABLE DECLARATIONS

' No matter what you do with DirectX8, you will need to start with
' the DirectX8 object. You will need to create a new instance of
' the object, using the New keyword, rather than just getting a
' pointer to it, since there's nowhere to get a pointer from yet (duh!).

Dim DX As New DirectX8

' The DirectInput8 object is used to get data from input devices
' such as the mouse and keyboard. This is what we will use it for
' in this tutorial, since they are the most common input devices.
' Notice how we don't create a new instance of the object, rather
' DirectX does that for us and we just get a pointer to it.

Dim DI As DirectInput8

' Now we need 2 devices - keyboard and mouse...

Dim Keyboard As DirectInputDevice8
Dim Mouse As DirectInputDevice8

' ...and a structure (type) to hold the data from each device. DI
' provides us a custom keyboard and mouse type, since they are
' commonly used

Dim KeyboardState As DIKEYBOARDSTATE
Dim MouseState As DIMOUSESTATE

' Next, we have DirectSound8, this can be used for many things, but
' for now we just play a sound from a .wav file

Dim DS As DirectSound8

' A sound buffer is a piece of memory in which the sound is stored.
' We use a secondary buffer, because a primary buffer can actually
' be heard though the speakers, and the sound needs to be mixed
' before we allow the user to hear that. In this tutorial, we let
' DirectSound worry about mixing and copying to the primary buffer
' to play the sound for us

Dim Sound As DirectSoundSecondaryBuffer8

' The DSBUFFER type holds a description of a sound buffer. We won't
' use any of the more advanced flags in this tutorial

Dim SoundDesc As DSBUFFERDESC

' The Direct3D8 object is responsible for all graphics, yes, even 2D

Dim D3D As Direct3D8

' The D3DX8 object contains lots of helper functions, mostly math
' to make Direct3D alot easier to use. Notice we create a new
' instance of the object using the New keyword.

Dim D3DX As New D3DX8

' The Direct3DDevice8 represents our rendering device, which could
' be a hardware or a software device. The great thing is we still
' use the same object no matter what it is

Dim D3Ddevice As Direct3DDevice8

' The D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS type holds a description of the way
' in which DirectX will display it's rendering

Dim D3Dpp As D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS

' The D3DMATERIAL8 type stores information on the material our
' polygons are rendered with, such as color

Dim Material As D3DMATERIAL8

' The Direct3DTexture8 object represents a piece of memory used to
' store a texture to be mapped onto our polygons

Dim Texture As Direct3DTexture8

' The Direct3DVertexBuffer8 object stores an array of vertices from which
' our polygons are made

Dim VertexBuffer As Direct3DVertexBuffer8

' The D3DVERTEX type stores vertices temporarily before we copy
' them into the vertex buffer

Dim Vertex(1 To 24) As D3DVERTEX

' The Direct3DIndexBuffer8 object stores the order in which our
' vertices are rendered

Dim IndexBuffer As Direct3DIndexBuffer8

' These integers are used to temporarily store indices before they
' are copied into the index buffer

Dim Index(1 To 36) As Integer

' This stores the rotation of the cubes

Dim Rotation As Single

' FORM_LOAD

' The whole program is started and controlled from here

Private Sub Form_Load()
    On Error Resume Next
    ' initialize directx
    If Init = False Then
        ' display error message
        MsgBox "Error! Could not initialize DirectX!"
    Else
        ' show form
        Show
        ' do main program loop
        MainLoop
        End If
    ' unload form and clean up directx
    Unload Me
End Sub

' FORM_UNLOAD

' Before the program ends, call the cleanup function

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
CleanUp
End Sub

' INITIALIZATION

' In this function we initialize all the global DirectX objects. We
' basically get the DirectInput, DirectSound, and DirectGraphics
' engines started up, and retrieve pointers so we can manipulate them

Function Init() As Boolean

    'On Error GoTo InitFailed

    ' DIRECTINPUT

    ' Get a pointer to DirectInput
    Set DI = DX.DirectInputCreate()
    ' Check to see if the pointer is valid
    If DI Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Get a pointer to keyboard and mouse device objects
    Set Keyboard = DI.CreateDevice("GUID_SysKeyboard")
    Set Mouse = DI.CreateDevice("guid_SysMouse")
    ' Check to see if pointers are valid
    If Keyboard Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed
    If Mouse Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Set the data formats to the commmonly used keyboard and mouse
    Keyboard.SetCommonDataFormat DIFORMAT_KEYBOARD
    Mouse.SetCommonDataFormat DIFORMAT_MOUSE

    ' Set cooperative level, this tells DI how much control we need
    Keyboard.SetCooperativeLevel hWnd, DISCL_NONEXCLUSIVE Or DISCL_BACKGROUND
    Mouse.SetCooperativeLevel hWnd, DISCL_NONEXCLUSIVE Or DISCL_BACKGROUND

    ' Now we are ready to aquire (erm, get) our input devices
    Keyboard.Acquire
    Mouse.Acquire

    ' DIRECTSOUND

    ' Get a pointer to DirectSound
    Set DS = DX.DirectSoundCreate("")
    ' Check the pointer is valid
    If DS Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Set cooperative level, we only need normal functionality
    DS.SetCooperativeLevel hWnd, DSSCL_NORMAL

    ' Create a sound buffer from a .wav file. We provide a filename
    ' and a DSBUFFER type, which stores any special information
    ' about the buffer we might need to know (not used here)
    Set Sound = DS.CreateSoundBufferFromFile(App.Path & "\sound.wav", SoundDesc)
    ' Check the pointer is valid
    If Sound Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' DIRECT3D

    ' Get a pointer to Direct3D
    Set D3D = DX.Direct3DCreate()
    ' Check the pointer is valid
    If D3D Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Fill the D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS type, describing how DirectX should
    ' display it's renders

    With D3Dpp
        ' set the most common fullscreen display mode
        .Windowed = False ' the app is not in a window
        .BackBufferWidth = 640 ' the size of the screen
        .BackBufferHeight = 480
        .BackBufferFormat = D3DFMT_R5G6B5 ' the color depth format (16 bit)
        ' the swap effect determines how the graphics get from
        ' the backbuffer to the screen - note : D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD
        ' means that every time the render is presented, the backbuffer
        ' image is destroyed, so everything must be rendered again
        .SwapEffect = D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD
        ' request a 16 bit z-buffer - this depth sorts the scene
        ' so we can't see polygons that are behind other polygons
        .EnableAutoDepthStencil = 1
        .AutoDepthStencilFormat = D3DFMT_D16
        ' 1 backbuffer
        .BackBufferCount = 1
       End With

    ' Create the rendering device. Here we request a hardware rasterization.
    ' If your computer does not have this, the request may fail, so use
    ' D3DDEVTYPE_REF instead of D3DDEVTYPE_HAL if this happens. A real
    ' program would be able to detect an error and automatically switch device.
    ' We also request software vertex processing, which means the CPU has to
    ' transform and light our geometry
    Set D3Ddevice = D3D.CreateDevice(D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT, D3DDEVTYPE_HAL, hWnd, D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING, D3Dpp)
    ' check the pointer is valid
    If D3Ddevice Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Set rendering options
    D3Ddevice.SetRenderState D3DRS_CULLMODE, D3DCULL_NONE
    D3Ddevice.SetRenderState D3DRS_ZENABLE, D3DZB_TRUE ' enable z buffering
    D3Ddevice.SetRenderState D3DRS_FILLMODE, D3DFILL_SOLID ' render solid polygons
    D3Ddevice.SetRenderState D3DRS_LIGHTING, True ' enable lighting
    D3Ddevice.SetRenderState D3DRS_AMBIENT, vbWhite ' use ambient white light

    ' Set the material properties
    With Material.Ambient
        .a = 1: .r = 1: .g = 1: .b = 1
    End With

    ' Create a texture surface from a file
    Set Texture = D3DX.CreateTextureFromFile(D3Ddevice, App.Path & "\texture.bmp")
    ' Check the pointer is valid
    If Texture Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Set the material and texture as the current ones to render from
    D3Ddevice.SetMaterial Material
    D3Ddevice.SetTexture 0, Texture

    ' Create a vertex buffer, using default usage and specifying enough memory for 24 vertices of format         D3DFVF_VERTEX
    Set VertexBuffer = D3Ddevice.CreateVertexBuffer(24 * Len(Vertex(1)), 0, D3DFVF_VERTEX, D3DPOOL_DEFAULT)
    ' Check pointer is valid
    If VertexBuffer Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Create an index buffer, using default uage and specifying enough memory for 36 16 bit integers
    Set IndexBuffer = D3Ddevice.CreateIndexBuffer(36 * Len(Index(1)), 0, D3DFMT_INDEX16, D3DPOOL_DEFAULT)
    ' Check pointer is valid
    If IndexBuffer Is Nothing Then GoTo InitFailed

    ' Now we make a cube shape out of our vetices
    Vertex(1) = MakeVertex(-1, 1, -1, 0, 0, -1, 0, 0)
    Vertex(2) = MakeVertex(1, 1, -1, 0, 0, -1, 1, 0)
    Vertex(3) = MakeVertex(-1, -1, -1, 0, 0, -1, 0, 1)
    Vertex(4) = MakeVertex(1, -1, -1, 0, 0, -1, 1, 1)
    Vertex(5) = MakeVertex(1, 1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0)
    Vertex(6) = MakeVertex(-1, 1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0)
    Vertex(7) = MakeVertex(1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1)
    Vertex(8) = MakeVertex(-1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1)

    Vertex(9) = MakeVertex(-1, 1, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0)
    Vertex(10) = MakeVertex(-1, 1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0)
    Vertex(11) = MakeVertex(-1, -1, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 1)
    Vertex(12) = MakeVertex(-1, -1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 1, 1)
    Vertex(13) = MakeVertex(1, 1, -1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0)
    Vertex(14) = MakeVertex(1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0)
    Vertex(15) = MakeVertex(1, -1, -1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1)
    Vertex(16) = MakeVertex(1, -1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1)

    Vertex(17) = MakeVertex(-1, 1, -1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0)
    Vertex(18) = MakeVertex(1, 1, -1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0)
    Vertex(19) = MakeVertex(-1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1)
    Vertex(20) = MakeVertex(1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1)
    Vertex(21) = MakeVertex(-1, -1, -1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0)
    Vertex(22) = MakeVertex(1, -1, -1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0)
    Vertex(23) = MakeVertex(-1, -1, 1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 1)
    Vertex(24) = MakeVertex(1, -1, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 1)

    ' Copy the vertices into the vertex buffer
D3DVertexBuffer8SetData VertexBuffer, 0, 24 * Len(Vertex(1)), 0, Vertex(1)

    ' Make a list which tells the order in which to render these vertices
    MakeIndices 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 19, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 23, 22, 24

    ' Copy the indices into the index buffer
    D3DIndexBuffer8SetData IndexBuffer, 0, 36 * Len(Index(1)), 0, Index(1)

    ' Set the vertex format
    D3Ddevice.SetVertexShader D3DFVF_VERTEX

    ' Set the vertex and index buffers as current ones to render from
    D3Ddevice.SetStreamSource 0, VertexBuffer, Len(Vertex(1))
    D3Ddevice.SetIndices IndexBuffer, -1

    ' Initializtion is complete!
    Init = True
    Exit Function

InitFailed: ' the initialization function has failed
    Init = False

End Function

' MAKEVECTOR

' This function creates vectors

Function MakeVector(x As Single, y As Single, z As Single) As D3DVECTOR
    With MakeVector
        .x = x
        .y = y
        .z = z
    End With
End Function

' MAKEVERTEX

' This function creates vertices

Function MakeVertex(x As Single, y As Single, z As Single, nx As Single, ny As Single, nz As Single, tu As Single, tv As Single) As D3DVERTEX
    With MakeVertex
        .x = x
        .y = y
        .z = z
        .nx = nx
        .ny = ny
        .nz = nz
        .tu = tu
        .tv = tv
    End With
End Function

' MAKEINDICES

' This function creates a list of indices

Function MakeIndices(ParamArray Indices()) As Integer()
    Dim i As Integer
    For i = LBound(Indices) To UBound(Indices)
        Index(i + 1) = Indices(i)
    Next
End Function

' MAINLOOP

' This sub animates the scene by moving the positions of the
' cubes and the camera position, then renders the cubes. It
' checks to see if the escape key has been pressed and loops
' if it has not.

Sub MainLoop()
' the mathematical constant pi
Const PI = 3.1415
' the speed of animation
Const SPEED = 0.01
' matrices for animation and cameras
Dim matTranslation As D3DMATRIX, matRotation As D3DMATRIX, matScaling As D3DMATRIX, matView As D3DMATRIX, matProjection As D3DMATRIX, matTransform As D3DMATRIX
' camera position
Dim CameraPos As D3DVECTOR
On Error Resume Next
    Do
        ' let Windows messages be executed
        DoEvents
        ' get keyboard and mouse data
        Keyboard.GetDeviceStateKeyboard KeyboardState
        Mouse.GetDeviceStateMouse MouseState
        ' if escape was pressed, exit program
        If KeyboardState.Key(DIK_ESCAPE) Then Exit Do
        ' move camera with mouse
        CameraPos.y = CameraPos.y + MouseState.lY / 10
        CameraPos.z = -2
        ' set camera position, using mouse data
        D3DXMatrixLookAtLH matView, MakeVector(CameraPos.x, CameraPos.y, CameraPos.z), MakeVector(0, 0, 0), MakeVector(0, 1, 0)
        D3Ddevice.SetTransform D3DTS_VIEW, matView
        D3DXMatrixPerspectiveFovLH matProjection, PI / 3, 0.75, 0.1, 10000
        D3Ddevice.SetTransform D3DTS_PROJECTION, matProjection
        ' move the rotation angle
        Rotation = Rotation + SPEED
        If Rotation > 2 * PI Then
            Rotation = Rotation - 2 * PI
            ' once per rotation, play a sound
            Sound.Play DSBPLAY_DEFAULT
        End If
        ' clear the rendering device backbuffer and z-buffer
        D3Ddevice.Clear 0, ByVal 0, D3DCLEAR_TARGET Or D3DCLEAR_ZBUFFER, vbWhite, 1#, 0
        ' start rendering
        D3Ddevice.BeginScene
        ' create rotation matrix
        D3DXMatrixRotationYawPitchRoll matTransform, Rotation * 2, Rotation, Rotation
        ' set the world matrix to normal
        D3Ddevice.SetTransform D3DTS_WORLD, matTransform
        ' draw the medium cube
        DrawCube
        ' create movement, rotation and scale matrices
        D3DXMatrixTranslation matTranslation, 0, 0, 4
        D3DXMatrixRotationYawPitchRoll matRotation, 0, Rotation * 2, Rotation * 4
        D3DXMatrixScaling matScaling, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5
        ' combine them
        D3DXMatrixMultiply matTransform, matRotation, matTranslation
        D3DXMatrixMultiply matTransform, matTransform, matScaling
        ' transform the world matrix
        D3Ddevice.MultiplyTransform D3DTS_WORLD, matTransform
        ' draw the small cube
        DrawCube
        ' create movement, rotation and scale matrices
        D3DXMatrixTranslation matTranslation, -3, -3, -3
        D3DXMatrixRotationYawPitchRoll matRotation, Rotation * 8, 0, Rotation * 6
        D3DXMatrixScaling matScaling, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5
        ' combine them
        D3DXMatrixMultiply matTransform, matTranslation, matRotation
        D3DXMatrixMultiply matTransform, matTransform, matScaling
        ' transform the world matrix
        D3Ddevice.MultiplyTransform D3DTS_WORLD, matTransform
        ' draw the small cube
        DrawCube
        ' end rendering
        D3Ddevice.EndScene
        ' present the contents of the backbuffer by flipping it to the screen
        D3Ddevice.Present ByVal 0, ByVal 0, 0, ByVal 0
    Loop
End Sub

' DRAWCUBE

' Draws the cube

Sub DrawCube()
On Error Resume Next
    ' draw 12 triangles, in a cube shape, onto the backbuffer of the rendering device
    D3Ddevice.DrawIndexedPrimitive D3DPT_TRIANGLELIST, 0, 36, 0, 12
End Sub

' CLEANUP

' This unloads all the DirectX objects - we destroy objects we
' have created, an disassociate our pointers from objects
' create by DirectX, so then DirectX can destroy them. Failing
' to call this sub can cause memory to be lost.

Sub CleanUp()

On Error Resume Next

    Set Keyboard = Nothing
    Set Mouse = Nothing
    Set DI = Nothing

    Set Sound = Nothing
    Set DS = Nothing

    Set Texture = Nothing
    Set D3Ddevice = Nothing
    Set D3DX = Nothing
    Set D3D = Nothing

End Sub

---***---SOURCE CODE ENDS HERE---***---

Hey - does somebody have a HTML VB syntax color highlighter? As you can see, I got fed up and didn't color in the keywords!

What you have learnt

Initialization - getting DirectX objects - loading textures, sounds, geometry, vertex and index buffers, getting input devices
Rendering - How to draw and present texture mapped triangles
Sound - erm, how to play one
Input - how to read the keyboard and mouse
Animation - how to use matrices to perform complex animation
Alot of keywords and terms

What you should do next

I've left a bug in the program for you on purpose! One face of each cube is not rendered! Find the bug and kill it! I do know the answer, honestly, but I'm not telling because debugging is a major part of programming for you to learn!
Try some different shapes, animation, colors, textures, sounds, camera movements
Try adding a background
Make the program more interactive, maybe even make a puzzle or game
See some of my other programs on my website for more ideas

Future Tutorials

There's still lots more to learn and more advanced tutorials will come when I get the time. Some major topics include 3D sound, lighting, and loading model files. Give me some feedback on what you need to know.

What I'd like you to do now

Visit my website : www.VBgames.co.uk - and if you have your own programming site please swap links with me
Please vote for me - on www.planet-source-code.com
Give me some feedback - go to www.planet-source-code.com and tell me what was good and what was bad, suggestions, comments, anything. Tell me why you voted the rating that you did.
Hey, my request to write a book got turned down! (erm, private joke with someone)

Credits

There are lots of sources from where my information came from. Mainly Microsoft's DirectX SDK (as much as I hate them, DirectX rules!). Many tutorials on www.planet-source-code.com and www.gamedev.net , and also thanks to Richard Hayden for his example program.

Disclaimer

This tutorial might be totally wrong so it's not my fault if something goes wrong. You've been warned (right at the end, after you messed up your PC)!

Other 17 submission(s) by this author

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Your Vote!

Other User Comments

1/7/2001 3:16:12 PM:Simon Price
Whoa, that took me a long time, so please give me some votes, feedback, suggestions for more tutorials, bugs (and the bug I did on purspose if you like), and can someone find or make a HTML formatter that will color Visual Basic code automatically? That would be really useful, I would have clue on making one myself. Thanks in advance!

1/7/2001 3:18:30 PM:Simon Price
Oh, and I'll try to answer any questions you post here too.

1/7/2001 3:39:21 PM:Sir Killalot
Can u make this tutorial downloadable, ie a word document format.

1/7/2001 4:20:31 PM:Aaron
Actually, API stands for Application Programming Interface.

1/7/2001 5:04:27 PM:Niall Mooney
Very nice, good work simon. Good tutorials are few & far between

1/7/2001 5:20:51 PM:Chris
The time you took shows well.

1/7/2001 6:06:18 PM:Simon Price
Thanks for votes and feedback. Aaron, thanks for telling me about API. Sir Killalot, I'll get it done within 24 hours, although I've no idea why you'd want it in word format. The tutorial is in HTML format in the download link and on my website www.VBgames.co.uk/tutorials/dx8intro.htm Niall, I hope we are on good terms again now.

1/7/2001 10:14:31 PM:Chris
Oh yeah, I forgot...I changed your rendering device backbuffer to vbBlack...after my vision returned.

1/8/2001 2:54:00 AM:Simon Price
Thanks for feedback, but does anyone have ideas on how to progress these tutorials? Chris, the reason for the brightly colored background was for debugging. Sometimes if you have a problem with lighting all the polygons are black, and at least on a white background you would be able to see the problem. It drive me mad once when I couldn't figure out why nothing was appearing, because I had a black background and the light wasn't working!

1/8/2001 11:21:30 AM:Chris
Just for thought; you might want to consider widening the foundation a little. Create a 'static' background such as Richard's 3DWorld example with your animation incorporated into it. I think that would rock.

1/8/2001 2:25:34 PM:Simon Price
Chris, good idea, it's alot better than the whiteness :) What I was really asking though, is what sort of tutorial could I make that is DX8 based but different from this one? I think loading .x files is a good choice, but I've just learnt the basics of that myself :( Well thanks, I'll consider that for the next one (that is, if there is another one, I'm not sure).

1/9/2001 8:31:16 AM:renyi[ace]
d@mn, jsut downloaded the tutorial and i forgot i dont have directX8, hehe anyone can post a shortlink here, :P

1/9/2001 9:17:02 AM:Derek
Thanks for the work done. Unfortunately on my laptop, running Windows 2000 things the render didn't work correctly. Even after changing to D3DDEVTYPE_REF my "cube" looked more like a mass of green bees. This may have to do with Win2k, but I'm suprised. Maybe I've downloaded something that has broken my directX? You asked about other VB/DirectX tutorials. you could focus on each individual technology. For example: DirectInput: how to detect a joystick or keybad, digital or analog? How bout an event for the mouse scrollwheel that I can use in my own control? Come to think of it, how to creat call-backs for any directx event. now you can move on to sound, music, graphics, etc.

1/10/2001 10:20:45 AM:Richard Hayden
More EXCELLENT work from this master of 3D programming! Well down Simon, keep it up! P.S. When do you hope to finish you 3D Modeller, I'm waiting in anticipation!

1/10/2001 5:01:08 PM:Simon Price
Derek, I've found in the past that Win2K users are the ones that have problems with my DX8 programs, I use Win98. But not all Win2K users, so it's a problem that can be fixed, but not easily without owning 2 OS's to test on or something. Richard, firstly thanks, secondly - I promised to release something related to it this month, but maybe not the whole thing, it's just too bit a project to do in the time. Yesterday I made some massive changes, like, I changed the file format to support .x files, and I split the program into 2, a model editor and a world editor. Most things work, the most likely COA is to make a demo of the engine it uses and put it on PSC soon. The idea is that the .si3d files can be loaded into the game engine in one function call, and they contain everything - 3D data, sound and animation etc. Thirdly - congrats on the code of the month, are we to expect another version?

1/11/2001 10:39:10 AM:Richard Hayden
Yeah I hope to produce version 3 by the end of this month or maybe middle of next month (I have my GCSE mock exams at the moment!). I am also in the process of making an identical version in C++ just out of interest to see if it is any faster, although I doubt there will be much difference in speed.

1/12/2001 6:12:09 AM:Nathan Chere
Well done again Simon. This is a top tutorial, I'm just p!ssed off that you didn't release it before I learnt it all through the unfriendly SDK... :( Oh well, 5 globes anyway!

1/12/2001 2:53:16 PM:Simon Price
Thanks Nathan. I had a few delays in getting DX 8 installed. I have to actually learn some stuff myself from the SDK before I can write a tutorial program :) News on my 3D engine - collision detection is sort of working now!!! Expect a demo soon. I gotta learn how to draw though.

1/16/2001 3:44:38 PM:Kevin
Changing Vertex 5,6,7

1/16/2001 3:45:35 PM:Kevin
Changing Vertex 5,6,7 & 8 to having positive z values fixes the cube rendering problem. ie. vertex(5)=(1,1,1,0,0,1,0,0) instead of (1,1,-1,0,0,1,0,0) Thanks for the tutorials

1/17/2001 10:23:38 AM:Richard Hayden
Thanks for the credit & keep up the good work!

1/18/2001 8:25:09 AM:Philipp Weidmann
Excellent tutorial! I really learned something. PS: You can find an excellent HTML VB syntax highlighter here on PSC. It is really a project documentor but it´s almost the same. To find it, just search for VBDoc.

1/18/2001 8:30:06 AM:Philipp Weidmann
I´m sorry I cant vot for you, there is a problem, my browser says 'server not found'. I will vote for you later.

1/18/2001 8:52:27 AM:Philipp Weidmann
It´s me again. I´m afraid I told you something wrong with the syntax highlighter. It´s name is not VBDoc, but 'VB to HTML' by Bryan Cairns. You can find it at http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scr ipts/showcode.asp?txtCodeId=6643 or search for VB to HTML

1/22/2001 3:01:22 PM:Simon Price
Thanks Phillip, I'll check that out. If any of you newbiew want to see the kinda stuff you can do with DX8 once you get more used to it, see http://www.planet-source-code.com/xq /ASP/txtCodeId.14587/lngWId.1/qx/vb/scri pts/ShowCode.htm

1/23/2001 3:35:10 PM:SniperBoB
Wow!! Who would have though that this could be put into english! &?!# Microsoft and it's complex SDK DOCS!! I'm finally understanding this, to bad a bad virus that hit my computer a while about wont let me run the demo :-( I'll get to it once my new computer gets here. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

1/24/2001 3:04:41 PM:Simon Price
Kevin, well done for being the first person to spot the bug and post it! I am a bit evil for putting that in there because it's quite hard to spot.

1/29/2001 9:37:49 PM:MattKillc
Hey, i wanted to start using DirectX in programming, and i went out and Downloaded DirectX7 last year, and now i have downloaded DirectX 8, but i dont see it in the refrences section. i went to the Add/Remove Programs, but didnt see DirectX 7 to delete. can someone PLEASE tell me what i am doing wrong (yes, i am a newbie)

2/11/2001 12:58:46 PM:Simon Price
Sorry for the slow reply MattKillc. I'm not sure how to install DirectX 8 the "right" way since I only got it working after about 10 attempts! It kept installing DirectSound but not DirectGraphics. But it sounds like nothing has installed for you. Do any other DX8 programs work?

2/11/2001 1:01:22 PM:Simon Price
Cool! This tutorial just got code of the month. Thanks for the votes everyone!

2/11/2001 4:19:54 PM:warcrest
Actually, if you're doing the partial d'l from microsoft, you have to hunt around and find the DX8 home user d/l or else you won't be able to use DX8. The dx8vb.dll doesn't come with the vb sdk.

2/13/2001 8:11:20 AM:Bartus
Nice tutorial, actualy the first dx8 tutorial I understand:) However i do have an improvement for the example in the tutorial. When i run the code the background is blinking (at least in win2k)... This is simply resolved by adding in the form load ocde "windowstate = 2" which will make the form's state to max. Now the form covers the new resolution and the screen doesn't blink. Your form load would now look like this: If Init = False Then ' display error message MsgBox "Error! Could not initialize DirectX!" Else Show WindowState = 2 MainLoop End If Unload Me

2/13/2001 1:18:27 PM:Simon Price
Thanks Bartus One thing to note - by changing the forms size, you don't change the backbuffer size, and so you get the same resolution but slower frame rate because of stretchblt'ing instead of blt'ing. The best solution is to maximize the form before loading, and supply the form size to the load routine to create a backbuffer of matching size. This makes for high resolution and fast blt'ing.

2/19/2001 3:42:58 PM:Mike15@blueyonder.co.uk
WOW, thats a really good tutorial, well done and thank you. the only problem is, my brand-new £1000 pc crashes when u use directX :( so i cant really test it :( thanks though, im gonna try make a good game or somin one day :)

3/1/2001 8:22:52 PM:Ace315
whenever I run a Direct X example, either one that I downloaded from the PSC, or one that came with the Direct X 8 SDK... I get error messages like:

3/1/2001 8:25:01 PM:Ace315
hmm my message got cut off, here's the rest: "Exiting, Unable to initalize 3D device" (from a Direct3D example) what does this mean??? do I have a bad graphics card or what??? (I DO need to upgrade my computer...) please email me if you can help me! tc_315@hotmail.com thanx!

3/4/2001 12:59:43 AM:ElectroSuicide
I tried to run the sample project by Mr. Price, and it told me

3/4/2001 1:01:56 AM:ElectroSuicide
I tried to run the sample project by Mr. Price, and it told me "Error! Could not initialize DirectX". Looking through the code, I found that in the "Init" function, the line: Set DI = DX.DirectInputCreate() gives an error - "DX = Object variable or With block variable not set" or something like that. By a strange coincidence, this is the same problem I had in the project I created while going through the Microsoft tutorials. Careful examination proved that my code was compltely identical to MS's, but even cutting and pasting the offending code line didn't help. I tried copying the entire function from the Microsoft version, and that seemed to work, but if my knowledge of programming isn't too rusty, this would mean that something later in the function was affecting this line (yes, I know this is impossible, that's my point). Any help here would be much appreciated. Thanks.

3/10/2001 9:42:40 PM:Matt
I look forward to digging through this tutorial. I'm new to alot of this DX stuff. Hopefully this will help. But your other programs, that I've looked at, are cool, so you obviously know something about what you do.

3/29/2001 2:37:12 PM:Shane
for i = 1 to 1000 Thank you for writing that tut. next i You cleared up so many questions I had, with you help, i have been able to build a small

3/29/2001 2:39:04 PM:Shane
for i = 1 to 1000 Thank you for writing that tut. next i You cleared up so many questions I had, with you help, i have been able to build a small "room scene" walls, floor and ceiling, as well as made the lookat point move with the mouse, and the camera move with the arrow keys. My questions now is how to get the camera/lookat point to mmove in a logical direction as opposed to allways on the z axis? so I can simulate "walking" around in my scene. Once again thank you for writing that tut. It is by far the best 3d3 example i have found thus far. Shane xyan_vii@yahoo.com

3/31/2001 12:03:42 PM:Khaos999
Hey, cool tutorial. I've never really delved into d3d at all because of it being quite complex, but it seems that things have now changed with DX8. I love the tutorial but it seems that the source code download is missing (maybe its me but I can't download it) and the version that you have here is missing a number of varibles. Thanks for the extra chance for debugging. Just so that you know all of the D3DMATRIXs that you use in the mainloop have not been declared. Looking for more of your tutorials.

4/1/2001 11:20:52 PM:404
The demo download file doesn't exsist!

4/2/2001 4:13:27 PM:Simon Price
Sorry for the download problems, I should look at what I am deleting when I rearrange my website! Thanks for telling me about it, the link is now fixed. Thanks for all the positive feedback I've had from this tutorial, I'll be writing more as soon as I get the time.

4/4/2001 7:58:15 AM:???
I'm a beginner to this... If you know...I'd really like to know how to write three triangles to the screen at the same time. And how to print pictures, and shrink or enlarge the picture on the screen. Maybe any suggestion on how to put all this in to a single file? A sample-project would be fine. Thank you!

4/20/2001 5:20:56 PM:Fred
I installed DX8 SDK for VB, without uninstalling DX7 SDK.I have since uninstalled DX7 SDK but it seems I am missing this file - DX8VB.DLL Any suggestions? Besides jumping off a cliff?

4/20/2001 5:24:47 PM:Fred
I installed DX8 SDK without uninstalling DX7 SDK. I have since uninstalled DX 7 SDK, but it seems I am missing DX8VB.DLL. Any suggestions, besides jumping off a cliff?

5/7/2001 2:07:01 PM:Tomas Banovec
I would like to know, what means variables nx, ny, nz, nz, tu, tv in MakeVertex and how to use them. Thanx. PS: This tutorial is great Simon!!!!

5/7/2001 5:38:59 PM:Simon Price
nx, ny & nz is a 3D vector which represents the direction in which the vertex is facing, often called the normal. this has several uses, but the main one is so that dx knows how to shade the triangles which lighting effects are applied. tu & tv is a 2D vector which reprsents the coords of a texture map. (0,0) is the top left of the texture, (1,1) is the bottom right.

5/20/2001 10:23:38 AM:tony
Help, it won't run on my computer. I have sdk and the runtime developer. Other 3d programs I built work on this computer. I don't understand

6/13/2001 3:57:18 PM:Codin Genius
Well Si, I have been doing VB for 3 years now and I am pretty advanced but just three days ago thought that I would try and learn DX. So, I downloaded a few DX progs from the planet, opened them, played them, thought WOW COOL, looked at the source, then nearly threw myself off a cliff. Then yestarday I discovered your DX 7.0 tutorial, which was very good, but I still had difficulty. Just 20 minutes ago, I downloaded DX 8.0 (I like to keep wiv the times) and this is the first place I came. Could you possibly write a very simplified, very basic DX 8.0 tutorial. Ive went on a bit too long so Im just gonna say...That I bow before your great tutorials and I award you 1 star,(Syke ;)) Only j/k, 5 stars. Oh and HELP ME SOMEBODY, DX IS HARD ;)

6/13/2001 9:07:42 PM:Simon Price
Codin genious, thanx v much 4 the feedback. After my exams I will _try_ to write some more tutorials, but no promises OK. I haven't done any codin 4 ages due 2 skool stuff.

6/19/2001 10:27:34 PM:Robbie Lude
I am really new to DirectX and the API but you make it all really easy! Even a 13 year old like me can understand all this!

7/2/2001 7:02:40 PM:Joset
I just cought your tut, but it's great, one problem tought, i'm getting a ByRef argument doesn't match in this line: D3DXMatrixLookAtLH matView, MakeVector(CameraPos.x, CameraPos.y, CameraPos.z), MakeVector(0, 0, 0), MakeVector(0, 1, 0). does any1 know why this happens?

7/12/2001 6:30:29 PM:Ace315
ok... I got this to work before.. I came back and I tried it, tweaking settings in an attempt to get it to work again (I remember EXACTLY what I did) but now it doesn't work! in the Init function, there is not "On error goto initfailed" and on this one line (Set D3Ddevice = D3D.CreateDevice(D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT, D3DDEVTYPE_HAL, hWnd, D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING, D3Dpp)) it just exits returning false!! this is the EXTREAMLY fusturating I want to throw my computer out the window (lol.. not really) can someone please email me (tc_315@hotmail.com) and help me out?

7/18/2001 4:20:33 PM:Codin Genius
I usually find learning new VB stuff easy nd master them in about a week, Ive been at directx for 3 now and all I can do is create the objects, sorry, not that advanced yet, I meant object. So urm, thanx Robbie Lude. That just makes me feel a whole lot better. I don't find it easy at all. Oh well.

7/20/2001 9:47:21 AM:DeMante
Wow! Just was I was looking for, thanks!

7/28/2001 8:06:18 AM:Yochai
Very good tutorial!!! (But I didn't found out the bug... [English is not my main language as well] can someone give me a clue?)

8/12/2001 10:45:49 AM:DJ Evil
Fairly ok, but has many poor programming habits like putting all the code in the form instead of breaking it out into a module, functions that work on variables they were not passed, etc. Not bad for someone who is not a professional programmer, but I fear the bad code practices will be learned by a newbie and I'll have to come behind them someday and fix all of their poorly done code.

8/16/2001 11:24:53 PM:danraf
Thank you Simon. I too have been studying the DX in the C++ SKU on and off for several months. Even though I think I am there it's nice to see it reproduced in a language I am much more comfortable in. As far as a next tutorial... how about considering adding some notes on networking (ie. multiplayer). I know DX has equally powerfull networking abilities. Keep up the good work and don't pay any attention to BJ Evil.

8/21/2001 6:20:54 PM:Monstrosity_
OK, there some Sh!t i didnt understand(cause im dum), and i was hoping you could help, the SDK didnt explain this either, the present parameters, what does each selection do? eg: .AutoDepthStencilFormat = ??? what does it all mean? plz help Monstrosity_@hotmial.com is you wanna help me by email :P thx in advance

9/6/2001 3:21:50 PM:hollifm
wondering if you have any exp with directplay? I am wanting to create a lobby program to launce directplay programs but am having trouble. in particular I am looking at age of empires II. THanks, Michael

9/7/2001 1:40:11 AM:Gold Dragon
This is in responce to DJ Evil...Who is to say what is or is-not POOR programming practice...I have been using VB since version 3 for win3.1.... I taught myself...before the Internet was mainstream...What does it take to be a PROFESSIONAL programmer....a large salery.....some of you so called professionals make me laugh....basically most of the internet world out there today are people who taught themselves everything...no college...no internet web sites....just me, my computer, a book or 2, and some common sense....GOOD coding practice comes with practice and time....eventually even without you mocking comments...this kid will get it and probably be darn good at it....Thank you...and BTW...Good job:)

9/7/2001 9:06:51 AM:Simon Price
Thankyou for all the feedback (both positive and negative). DJEvil, yes I agree with your comment that this code is designed with bad practices. However, it is designed to demonstrate DirectX, not good code design such as minimizing scope. I have laid it out so it's easy to understand.

9/10/2001 1:42:11 PM:computercoder
I agree with Simon here... I think his point is loud and clear... WHO CARES if the coding practices are not in place.. he's not teaching a class on CODING PRACTICES! DX8 is the issue here, and he achieved to his abilities with something to learn DX8 from... I have seen his work plenty. SIMON: GREAT work (as usual)!!! 5 SPINNING GLOBES! (and flashing if you'd like!)

9/15/2001 2:23:33 AM:Adam
Didn't help me much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

9/20/2001 2:39:23 PM:Jonathan Fors
Gotta problem there. At the SET Sound=DS.loudbufferfromfile..... line I always get an "Invalid Procedure Call Or Argument" error. This always happens with the files my program has copied to the subdirectory with the FileCopy Command, but not to the other wav files. Can someone pls help me?

9/23/2001 10:46:52 PM:Mind Beast
Simon, could you explain how to successfully and easily do 2d images larger then 256x256 in dx 8? Do i just put the image as a texture on a polygon?? Thanks! Mind Beast

11/8/2001 12:43:01 PM:Shep
Help!! Whenever I run the program, it crashes at the line: Set D3Ddevice = D3D.CreateDevice(D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT, D3DDEVTYPE_HAL, hWnd, D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING, D3Dpp) I've tried changing HAL to REF but to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why it crashes and how to fix it?

11/9/2001 3:54:47 PM:Coding genius
Hi, I am trying to create a DirectInput wrapper class. I am using evsnts to notify user about Keyboard and mouse changes. I am using the CreateEvent method to do so. I have 2 devices, one called Keyboard, and the other Mouse. I can create an event for either one of them, but when I try and create an event for the sedcond one I get a permission denied error: Mouse.SetCommonDataFormat DIFORMAT_MOUSE Mouse.SetCooperativeLeve l hWnd, DISCL_BACKGROUND Or DISCL_NONEXCLUSIVE hMouseEvent = DX.CreateEvent(Frm) Keyboard.SetEventNo tification hMouseEvent Mouse.Acquire Keyboard .SetCommonDataFormat DIFORMAT_KEYBOARD Keyboard.SetCooperati veLevel hWnd, DISCL_BACKGROUND Or DISCL_NONEXCLUSIVE hKeyEvent = DX.CreateEvent(Frm) Keyboard.SetEventNo tification hKeyEvent Keyboard.Acquire Thats the code. I hope you can please e mail me.

11/9/2001 3:55:54 PM:Coding Genius
Sorry, the format got screwed up. I hope you can still read the code. :) Thanks in advance.

11/21/2001 5:28:36 PM:deVoid
ok, this is wierd : all I get when I run this is a full screen flickering yellow and purple. When I switch HAL to REF it stays black. The MS SDK tutes run fine. Any clues anyone? I've been trying to fix this for HOURS.

11/22/2001 7:25:23 AM:deVoid
Found the solution! The tutorial will NOT run correctly (on my machine anyway) with the DEBUG version of DX8 selected :-P on a separate note, why does the bottom side (opposite the open side) seem to flicker?

11/22/2001 10:00:52 AM:Don B.
Great bit of code. I'm using VB5 and had to tweak it slightly to make it run. Your code shows how programmers can grab DirectX by the ears and make it perform tasks that otherwise would have to be reproduced each and every time he/she wanted to spin a cube. Get it, learn it, know it, and use it! Great job! 5 rapidly rotating globes!!!

12/9/2001 12:47:42 AM:Mark Lu
API = Application Program Interface. Not advanced. But hey! Most programmer that would read this should already know what api means. People who can't do api won't understand this. When I started out a a newbie, I came here. Most of the code uses api. I don't understand it that time, but now, I can memorize how to do api at the top of my head.

12/18/2001 2:56:22 PM:Mark Withers
Hello. Is it posible that you could write some code for me. Im after some Direct X 7 code which would play sounds from a string. I've managed to do it with sndplaysound api using buffers but not direct X. I though you could help...please contact me.

12/31/2001 12:27:51 AM:trudoggie
Um, the download link for the source code does NOT work. And I copied the source code into vb, and the program doesn't work. It gives me this compile error: User-defined types and fixed-length strings not allowed as the type of a public member of an object module; private object modules not allowed as the type of a public member of a public object module. and it highlights this line: Function MakeVector(x As Single, y As Single, z As Single) As D3DVECTOR. Help PLEASE!!!!!

12/31/2001 1:44:47 AM:trudoggie
Could you please make a tutorial that an absolute beginner could understand? It would be good for your website. I haven't found even ONE tutorial ANYWHERE (that includes yours, no offense intended) that explains anything well enough for the absolute beginner. Plus it would be very useful if the sample program would work because then I could SEE what's happening.

1/16/2002 11:50:00 AM:Harris
The link to the source is down.. hook a brother up!

1/30/2002 11:10:42 AM:Joe
I recommend Copying and pasting the code from this page into a new project rather then downloading the premade source, it will help you learn better. It helped me anyway. and it WORKED. Perfectly.

2/18/2002 11:04:20 AM:Emil
I tried to copy, and paste the source code, just because I wanted to see how the program works. I had a lot of errors when I tried to compile it. The link to "sound program" you say I shall download doesn't work, and so does skeletonX. I jus wanted to tell ya...

3/18/2002 7:17:32 PM:Billy
I copy and pasted the code also to see how it worked and i got many errors one was "Variable not defined" and during debugging it highlighted "matView" somewhere in the code.

3/28/2002 6:24:31 PM:Andrew Murphy
example link isnt correct

3/29/2002 5:40:53 AM:hari_seldon
bad link

3/30/2002 4:43:50 AM:~ChRiS~
Great tutorial, but program stops running and says "Variable not defined" and highlights the word MatView on the line D3DXMatrixLookAtLH matView, MakeVector(CameraPos.x, CameraPos.y, CameraPos.z), MakeVector(0, 0, 0), MakeVector(0, 1, 0). Pleez help

3/30/2002 1:05:51 PM:Spike
VERY GOOD!!!!!!! Your Tutorial is REALLY GOOD! But i have one question to make you? How can i make a distortion or chorus or same FX to a wav file? Please Help me! Spike84@inwind.it

4/2/2002 3:47:58 PM:Rob
Unable to download sample because of broken link.

4/3/2002 9:54:05 AM:Sergei
Where can I get the DirectX Type Libraries? Please post the straight link.

4/6/2002 12:31:09 AM:Sergei
Already got the Type Libraries, but now there's another problem. The game just crashes when it gets to the DrawCube Sub. Even the On Error doesn't help. Can you tell me what's wrong?

4/19/2002 2:00:43 AM:aimtron
Honestly I had trouble the whole way, but thats me. I still don't understand what I'm doing in this tutorial. I understand that you need to set your DirectX as an Object to use throughout and about the Inputs, but I don't understand all the setting of buffers and stuff. I was more or less hoping for something that would explain it in absolute plain english. Explain it as though you were explaining it to a 5 year old. I did however get it to INIT (couldn't see anything though even with REF instead of HAL). I'm sure its a great tutorial minus the fact that the source isn't downloadable at your site anymore. If anyone could break this down even further and tell me why each thing is needed. I was under the impression that it would be simplier. SOmething like X1, Y1, Z1, X2, Y2, Z2 style programming. Plotting points on a graph sort of. I dunno but if anyone can help feel free to email me at vti_cgi_bin@hotmail.com

4/28/2002 1:18:43 PM:M. Jahedbozorgan
Would you please upload this in a zip file?

5/11/2002 8:38:57 PM:Alaina
Very good detail! Thanks

5/19/2002 6:42:18 PM:Brian Link
nice

6/4/2002 6:26:00 AM:Nithin Pradeep
Hi, is the HTML tutorial the one in this page? or is there another one? Bothe the links(HTML & ZIP) to VBGames are not working

6/11/2002 3:14:21 PM:Hugo Sedryt
The problem with matview is that the line that defines it as a variable is a comment line when you copy it to the code.

8/2/2002 12:39:10 AM:Daniel Lewis
Si Just wanted to say this is the best stuff I have ever seen, your parents must be well proud of u, I would be! Still at school! Amazing. Quick note for noobs having probs (like I did) u must have a bmp file and a wav file in the app directory. See prog listing for the right names to give them. Also read wot Hugo Sedry wrote above. Thanks for your time Si u really r the man. Dan 'not so much' the man

8/2/2002 12:42:15 AM:Daniel Lewis
Sorry Si. 1 q for u. Is there a tool similar to the API text viewer but for DirectX? Also any other good tuts u recommend? Is it just practice practice practice with DirectX? Should I even read that **** that MS write in the SDK? So many questions so few answers. Well I gotta start somewhere I gotta college project to get in within 10 months. Cheers again Si, I cant thank you enough Dan

8/15/2002 4:49:23 AM:mondspeer
And again ... another excelent work. Thanks for sharing. Do You know anything about direct-transform for vb?

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