Delta3D Game Engine

[MidShip 0]

Those, interested in stepping in to 3D game engines may consider Delta3D 1.3.0 (400MB), released by the Naval Postgraduate School Monterey. Delta3D focusses on combat scenario simulations and is available for free as open source. The latest, separately downloadable addon pack from Oct. 06, 2006 with vehicles, environments and units has about additional 800 MB. As common with game engines, C is mandatory. Nevertheless, Delta 3D also has a stand alone STAGE editor for placing and setting game nodes. Another stand alone tool is the terrain viewer. Included with Delta3D is a huge API manual. A lot of straight forward tutorials and the download link one finds on http://www.delta3d.org

ARPA

[Spoock 3]

I stay by my favourite game - Flashpoint with Virtual Reality engine

[XCess 0]

Yes, but this soudnds a little different. Being open source you should be able to get a look at a working 3d engine and experiment with editing direct3d code.

If Iwas a bit more experience with C++ I'd be downloading right now, shame I'm not

[chris330 0]

Yes, but this soudnds a little different. Being open source you should be able to get a look at a working 3d engine and experiment with editing direct3d code.

If Iwas a bit more experience with C++ I'd be downloading right now, shame I'm not  

Is C++ used for creating such fundamental parts of games like graphics engines and the like? That's the code I'm learning now. Only problem is it's addictive and I'm spending anything up to 5 hours a day doing it.

Sounds like an amazing download. I'll download it overnight tonight. Thanks for bringing it to our attention

[XCess 0]

No, AFAIK, C++ is not used to program 3d engines, for that you need to learn Direct3d or OpenGL

[JdB 151]

Direct3D and OpenGL are not programming languages, they are cross-platform APIs. Other programming languages have been used to write them.

[Application Programming Interface]

[XCess 0]

I'm sure i read somewhere that there is a programming language for directX.. I feel stupid

[crashdome 3]

You might be thinking of the .NET managed code being developed for DirectX10. The DX team handed out a DX9 "wrapper" for .NET awhile back but it was only useful for learning.

From what I understand, the DX10 .NET code will be fundamentally more native to .Net (as will Vista itself). (i.e. MDX or Managed DirectX)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloa....lang=en

[chris330 0]

Direct3D and OpenGL are not programming languages, they are cross-platform APIs. Other programming languages have been used to write them.

[Application Programming Interface]

Thanks for the reply anyway Xcess

Just one question then, which programming language (and maybe I'm being a bit thick here) is used for graphics engines? As from what I got from the Wikipedia reference suggested API is not a language in it's own right?

[crashdome 3]

The graphic "languages" are low-level calls to the GPU.

You do NOT need to know them, but I can imagine it helps.

An API is merely a standard by which any higher-level language (such as C++, C#, Java, etc..) can implement it's own library to perform the low-level functions. This has been done for you and you can find them in any DirectX or OpenGL Library that is available for your flavor of language.

For example, that link I gave above is for the latest DirectX library (DX10) for both C++ and C#.

[JdB 151]

Just one question then, which programming language (and maybe I'm being a bit thick here) is used for graphics engines?

C++ is/was used alot, but you could theoretically create graphics/games with alot of programming languages.

I'm not that into programming though, I like graphics more then I do code...

[XCess 0]

http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~unreal/theredbook/chapter01.html

The above is what I meant when talking about graphics programming languages, perhaps they ar made from C++, I really haven't done much research into it/

[crashdome 3]

http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~unreal/theredbook/chapter01.html

The above is what I meant when talking about graphics programming languages, perhaps they ar made from C++, I really haven't done much research into it/

Well... those samples are C++ but that is not the low-level language used by the chips themselves. Those are from the OpenGL library. (i.e. Open Graphics Library) which perform the necessary low-level interface functions by providing an API "library" in the language you desire.

Quote[/b] ]OpenGL is callable from Ada, C, C++, Fortran, Python, Perl and Java and offers complete independence from network protocols and topologies.

Source

I also believe there was a .Net wrapper in construction also but I would advise using one of the more popular languages if you choose OpenGL.

[chris330 0]

Thanks again chaps for the explanation. So C++ can be used for graphics engines whem combined with this API thing.

So when you talk about the low-level functions that the chosen language gets translated into, are these 'low-level' functions kind of like machine code? Is it a similar thing?

[XCess 0]

As far as I understand it, the higher level a programming language, the loser it is to standard english, and the lower level it is, the closer to machine language, the lowest being binary.

I'm starting to think it would be a good idea to put up a forum for beginnrs, like myself, where they can trade what knowledge they have gained between each othr, and learning from each othr.. in a smiliar way to the beginnings of ofpec and the scripting language.

I found that a much asier way to understand things than from say, the Sam's series of programming books, which simply bored me almost to tears.

Would also be good if a few more experiecnced guys would set tasks of varying degrees of difficulty, to give beginners something to work towards. Which, to me, makes learning and lot easier.

[crashdome 3]

I highly recommend this:

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/

As much as it is devoted to gaming, it is so diverse as to cover a variety of languages and topics I cannot find anywhere else (for free).