PureGDK 2.0 preview (please and help test!)

[Rings]

some nice results from low-end machines:

got around 53 up to 40 fps,

asus eepc,
Intel Atom N450 1.6GHz,
OnBoard GMA 3150 gfx card, Win XP


and 450 up to 330 fps on
CoreDuo 5200,Onboard GeForce 9300, Vista64

[blueznl]

Offcourse it does. It should. The more light the more graphic intense it is for the graphics card.

Appearently not on my machine

[Mistrel]

Duh? Does the number of lights change the FPS? Not here...

It depends on how well it's accelerated by your graphics card. On my GeForce 9800 GT processing those lights is literally "free" with no affect on the FPS. But on my onboard Intel graphics card there is a noticeable drop. It might actually be faster to use shaders for the lighting if the graphics card supports DirectX 9 and has a good shader pipeline.

With PureGDK 2.0, will we still have to buy DBPro?

It's the same engine as DBP which is how it's able to keep compatibility with the same plugins. There will be a bundle available which will include both licenses and an upgrade path for those who already own DBP.

However, it's also compatible with the new free (non-commercial) version of DBP. So unless you want to publish something then no, you won't have to buy DBP.

Thats not too bad. Is there a 'maximum' limit to FPS with GDK ?

Your "maximum limit" depends on whether you're CPU bound or GPU bound. I tested this demo on a quad-core machine the other day that got 400 fps and only used 20% of one core. In this case the graphics card was the bottleneck.

This example is only about 125 lines of code but it doesn't put a whole lot of stress on the cpu beyond the main loop. If the GPU is processing each command slower than the CPU can run the loop then it will bottleneck.

[Mistrel]

Work has been progressing very well on the new documentation builder. It will allow for seamless documentation generation for all supported languages within seconds. Everything will be cleanly formatted, links will be checked (no dead links!), and changes will propagate automatically throughout the rest of the documentation.

Here is an example of the ideal page with documentation for each parameter of the function:



The template for this page is as follows:

@Function Result = dbLoadEffect(Filename.s, EffectID, TextureFlag [, DoNotGenerateExtraData])

@Description
This command will load an FX file.

If <const>PB_Any</const> is used as the @param2 parameter, the new ID will be returned as '@result'. Otherwise the value of '@result' is the same value passed as the @param2 parameter.

<color>@param1</color>
<indent>The FX filename must point to an FX file that is compatible with the DX9 effect framework and would typically use the extension '.fx'.</indent>

<color>@param2</color>
<indent>The FX can be stored and referred to by a number that identifies it. You can use this number to apply an effect to an object previously loaded.</indent>

<color>@param3</color>
<indent>If the Texture Flag is set to zero, the effect will use the textures already mapped to the model, and a value of one will discard the current textures and load the textures specified in the FX file. Typically, effects rely on the specified model and textures in the FX file to function properly.</indent>

<color>@param4</color>
<indent>Set this value to one to avoid generating tangent and binormal data, and set the value to two to additionally strip out any secondary UV data, sometimes needed to allow a complex shader to create a valid declaration.</indent>

@SeeAlso dbDeleteEffect, dbEffectExist, dbSetLimbEffect, dbSetObjectEffect

Notice the links at the bottom of the page. All topics will include their own individual indices with navigation between pages within the topic.

Most of the documentation does not look like this. This is the "ideal" page and is what the documentation should eventually look like sometime in the future.

All of the documentation tools I use will be provided in the PureGDK SDK so you're welcome to use it in your own projects and even contribute to the official documentation by providing updated entries to the templates.

Most of you will probably notice some similarity between this and some other documentation where I gleaned some inspiration.

[codeman]

Tested:

800 FPS in all modes.

8 GB DDR2 Ram
2,5 GHz Quad Core
NVIDIA GT 130 (1500 MB GDDR3 RAM)

[aonyn]

Hi Mistrel,

Just curious, will there be a 'public beta' period for current pureGDK users, where we can try a version which we can build with?
I ask only because there are a couple of issues with the current version, which I brought to your attention on the GC forum, which I am curious to try in the new version, while you are still developing, if possible.
These included the pointer for the return structure in the built in hermite spline function, and the wrap angle function.

Also, I am looking forward to converting my current project to the new version.

Thanks, and looking forward to the new version.

regards,
Dave

[Mistrel]

There will be a public beta open to everyone, not just registered PureGDK users.

These included the pointer for the return structure in the built in hermite spline function, and the wrap angle function.

Already fixed.

[aonyn]

Thanks Mistrel.

That is great news on both answers.

Regards,
Dave

[Blue Steel]

if i buy the latest version will i get all agrades free .. and in now what will the new price be .. more .. less.. the same ..

I'm asking because i want to buy but only of updates etc are free and multilanguage support is all inslusive.

[Mistrel]

Existing users will receive a free upgrade. I haven't decided if the price is going to change.

Translated versions are included. But I haven't had anyone who has volunteered to translate it on either the PB French or German forum. So if my "multilingual" you mean "English" then, yes.

Translation would require the documentation to be translated as well. I think that part alone scares a lot of people away.

[Blue Steel]

ok thanks . i meant for other coding languages.. in english ..

I'm currently (well shortly) going to me looking into the details you need to make it accessable through ebasic. (plz be patient.. i'm not very experienced and need to ask questions from their community)

[Mistrel]

Please see my post here on the TGC forum if any of you would like to help improve the documentation to be included with PureGDK:

I encourage anyone who has every considered the DBP/DarkGDK documentation to be the bane of their troubles to consider donating a portion of their time to help make it better.

I'm looking for tutorials, screenshots, articles, and code snippets:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=for ... 167219&b=1

I've requested that code be submitted as DBP code but if you prefer to use PureBasic code that's fine too.