• Registered: 2006-03-23
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Newbie Advice

Hi people, me and wishbone are looking for a way to redo Dungeon Maker (www.dungeon-maker.com) I've been looking around a basicly we want bump mapping and all the nice latest features so we are stuck cause Blitz3D is only DirectX7 so here are my questions if anyone has time to try answer them.

Blitz3D+Irrlicht = Will that supprt perpixel lighting and network support?

BlitzMax+Irrlicht = Does it work ok, do you get all the functions Irrlicht is capable off? It would be nice to be able to make the game truely multiplayform as I see they both support Windows,Linux and Mac. Again we would like networking and bump mapping support etc...

Last Option = Darkbasic, I see it supports DirectX 9 but isnt multiplayform and doesnt seem to have very good documentation and support.

Can anyone recommend the best path to take I am personally thinking Blitzmax + Irrlicht but can someone highlight the plus and minus for each.

Thanks alot and keep up the good work I'll be back soon with all my problems if we start using Irrlicht smile

  • gman
  • Administrator
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  • Registered: 2006-01-04
  • Posts: 764

Re: Newbie Advice

madmunky wrote:

Blitz3D+Irrlicht = Will that supprt perpixel lighting and network support?

im not sure what is available out there for B3D to use Irrlicht.  Irrlicht itself is only a renderer so it relies on other sources for things like networking.  B3D does have built-in networking and there  are a few libs out there already to help you get a jump-start on that.  as for perpixel...  Irrlicht itself supports it, but thats not to say any lib making Irrlicht available to B3D would as well.

madmunky wrote:

BlitzMax+Irrlicht = Does it work ok, do you get all the functions Irrlicht is capable off?

yes is does work very well and you do have all the functions of Irrlicht available to you.  the only thing yet to accomplish is Mac support.

madmunky wrote:

Again we would like networking and bump mapping support etc...

again, Irrlicht is just a renderer so you would need to rely on BMAX and its network support for networking.

madmunky wrote:

Last Option = Darkbasic, I see it supports DirectX 9 but isnt multiplayform and doesnt seem to have very good documentation and support.

i wouldnt be able to assist in any decisions with DB.  i did look at it though a while ago and was unimpressed both by the IDE and the language.

madmunky wrote:

Can anyone recommend the best path to take I am personally thinking Blitzmax + Irrlicht but can someone highlight the plus and minus for each.

i guess it all depends on your coding style.  personally i would recommend the BMAX + Irrlicht combo.  BMAX gives you OOP and Irrlicht is a very easy to learn and use renderer.  it has good forum support (just be sure to read the posting rules), good documentation, good tutorials, and many of the latest rendering features.  my personal project right now is using this combo as well.

B3D is very easy to learn and straight-forward.  it does not have OOP, is not crossplatform, and it is running DX7.  these are the only drawbacks IMO.  it has fantastic forum support and there are several addon libs out there to assist you.  you will need to weigh these to determine if its enough to eliminate B3D from the running.

madmunky wrote:

Thanks alot and keep up the good work I'll be back soon with all my problems if we start using Irrlicht smile

please do smile  it helps me learn as well.