Originally posted by hog
Cant rmember if there is already a vote about this on this site or another one, but yes I agree that finding DX9 help for the beginner is hard.
I believe you may be refering to my prev post at ...
http://www.computerhelp.forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78797
As for microsoft and game companies conspiring to limit the info about directx. Yes I do believe there may be an intentional effort put towards making it more difficult to learn directx (as it relates to "at home developers")
Its been my experience having worked with directx since ver 7 that I too have always found the documentation for directx lacking. For example, pixel and vertex shaders are the worst culprites for lack of documentation.
Another aspect, and a BIG one at that is just how to recover from a d3d device being lost or a directinput device for that matter. Each example app on the iNet seems to provide a different aproach or simply does not even include code to handle such a device lost event. I have seen no reference to any industry accepted or reccomended way of recovering from a device lost state. I believe this is what is at the heart of clearz post, A lack of low level info by microsoft and others about how directx works or rather some sort of industry based standards for writing safe, well written, and indistry accepted directx code.
I think what I am getting at is that there are no industry standards in regards to writing directx code. When you consider the size and scope of the directx api as well as it being so prodominantly used by the gaming industry you would think that there would be more of an effort made towards creating a set of coding standard for directx.
Consider for a moment that if directx was THE easyest and simplest graphics api of all time, and Im talking so easy and simple that it would make the days of coding games back in the MSDOS days look like rocket science. Im talking even easier than it was writing games for DOS!
If drawing any type of 3d graphics on screen (weather it be with pixel/vertex shaders or not), was a non issue, developers would be able to create games as fast as vb developers can write windows apps.
Witch means the lone developers out there would be able to flood the market with all sorts of gaming creations. Not that the market is not already flooded mind you. Well if the market is flooded with games of all types where does that leave big business. After all big business is not in it for the sheer entertainment of it. There in it to make money and nothing else.
If creating games was so easy the big game companies would stand to loose as people would be more likely to sway towards a lone developers work rather then having to spend $60 plus dollars on a game that was made by a corporation.
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Where the hell am I going with this??. ... Im rambling on and on half asleep, so I will end it here. But my ideas still stand. Detailed documentation that goes beyond just a one sentance description, and more importantly a globally accepted and promoted, industry standard for writing code against directx is non existant leaving the rest of us "one man armys" fishing for stuffed teddy bears in a quarter filled coin op.
