[Inquisitor]

Not to mention all the physics

Physics for Game Developers is a good O'Reilly book, btw I still had my physics books form college, but, they are huge, and they suck

[NotDefault]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
Coders owe the non-coders nothing.

[CP5670]

I have been doing as DTP said so far; just building several simple test programs and taking small steps forward in terms of complexity. Still a beginner, but at least I am getting somewhere. The problem is that I don't have the MSDN libraries that explain all the functions and their properties.

Does the Linear Algebra stuff become useful for programming? I am more of a calculus and number theory oriented guy, with only a little bit of knowledge with matrix stuff, so I would need to learn more of that. Also, spherical coordinates are very nice, especially non-vector spherical equations. (although they use too many greek letters)

I still have the classical physics / mechanics stuff fresh in my mind since the exam is coming up in less than a week.

[Mysterial]

Originally posted by CP5670
The problem is that I don't have the MSDN libraries that explain all the functions and their properties.

You mean the Win32 API functions? I have a help file that lists the functions and what they do if that'll help you.

[Unknown Target]

I think the reason we all MOD is for the non-coders to have the chance to make their own game.
For instance, I've always wanted a space game with some ships that I thought looked cool in it, so I MOD FS2, and I get that result;)
Man, I can think of a couple awesome sims I want to program, but can't

[penguin]

Originally posted by CP5670
The problem is that I don't have the MSDN libraries that explain all the functions and their properties.

It's all on line, you just have to dig a little...

Go to http://msdn.microsoft.com and hit "MSDN Library."  Then open up those annoying outline thingies for "Windows Development" and "Win32 API"  You might also need the runtime library reference, which is there somewhere as well.

[EdrickV]

Some of the code isn't actually that hard to understand. Some of it is confusingly weird (like the MFC wizard junk in FRED2's code) and some of it would be gibberish to programming newbies, and me. (The assembly. ) I'm going to look into fixing is-tagged, making it possible to have two FS2 exes with different launcher settings (with a simple custom launcher for the modified one) and other stuff.

[CP5670]

Go to http://msdn.microsoft.com and hit "MSDN Library." Then open up those annoying outline thingies for "Windows Development" and "Win32 API" You might also need the runtime library reference, which is there somewhere as well.

I looked on that site a few times but couldn't really find anything pertaining to that, but the site was really big and confusing, so I must have missed it. Basically I just wanted the help files and documentation for VS6. (when I try any of the help options, it says that I don't have some "MSDN collection" installed, which I assume came on seperate CDs; I only have the main one) Anyway, thanks; I will look through that again and see if anything comes up.

You mean the Win32 API functions? I have a help file that lists the functions and what they do if that'll help you.

My one programming dream is, aside from making the ultimate game, to make a 3D/4D equation graphing program that supports hardware acceleration, implicit plots, multiple coordinate systems and all the special functions in one package. Might actually be feasible in a few years if I get more into this stuff.

[penguin]

Originally posted by CP5670
I looked on that site a few times but couldn't really find anything pertaining to that, but the site was really big and confusing, so I must have missed it. Basically I just wanted the help files and documentation for VS6. (when I try any of the help options, it says that I don't have some "MSDN collection" installed, which I assume came on seperate CDs; I only have the main one) Anyway, thanks; I will look through that again and see if anything comes up.
 

The user guides for visual studio 6.0 and visual c++ 6.0 are up there as well.  You have to slog past all the "Visual Studio .NET" crap to find it

My one programming dream is, aside from making the ultimate game, to make a 3D/4D equation graphing program that supports hardware acceleration, implicit plots, multiple coordinate systems and all the special functions in one package. Might actually be feasible in a few years if I get more into this stuff.

Ah, then you would be more interested in DirectX (also at the MSDN site) than the raw Win32 API.  Or check out OpenGL, which is more platform independent, but is strictly 2D/3D graphics, whereas DirectX gives you keyboard/joystick/mouse input, sound, etc.  But check out http://www.opengl.org  anyhow, there's a lot of good links about 3D programming there.  I am in the process of adding OpenGL and Linux support to FS2, we'll see what happens with that.

Let me know when you have FreeSpace: 4D done

I really hate to p1mp MS's site and wares so much, but they do make a darn fine IDE, especially the debugger.  I only wish MSVC  was ANSI C++ compliant...  (... and portable to Linux ... and free ... man, I crack myself up sometimes)

[CP5670]

Thanks a lot for the information; I am going to check out those sites more later today. I think the reason I could not find the VS stuff earlier was that, as you said, there was just the VS.NET stuff all over the place and subscription ads for some MSDN magazine.

So far the best program I have made is a basic Notepad-like text editor, so I am still a beginner, but I want to try to get more into 3D stuff. If I can get a program to display a static tetrahedron using D3D or OGL, it would be a great achievement.

[penguin]

Originally posted by CP5670
Thanks a lot for the information; I am going to check out those sites more later today. I think the reason I could not find the VS stuff earlier was that, as you said, there was just the VS.NET stuff all over the place and subscription ads for some MSDN magazine.

So far the best program I have made is a basic Notepad-like text editor, so I am still a beginner, but I want to try to get more into 3D stuff. If I can get a program to display a static tetrahedron using D3D or OGL, it would be a great achievement.

Check out NeHe's OpenGL tutorials at http://nehe.gamedev.net/.  An excellent place to start, lots of example code, all commented; most of it is very clearly annotated on the site.  

(Very minor *****: when I was starting out, I was a little irritated that it is very Windows-centric, and I develop primarily on Linux.  But if you're using Windows, you should be find this very useful.  VC++ project files, etc. are distributed with most of the lessons.)

BTW The tutorial to display a cube & pyramid is lesson 5    Pull out your geometry book and you can probably change the pyramid to a tetrahedron without too much trouble