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Ok, ok...sure. I, naturally, couldn't pass on the super deal that is the DarkBASIC Pro Bonanza. Did all the dowloads and installs today! Yep! All the programs look great and I expect they're all pretty powerful. However, what the heck is all this stuff supposed to do? I mean, where the heck is one supposed to start?? Having worked in 3D animation for quite some time now, I didn't expect to have such a hard time getting anything really going. Sure, I made a few trees in the Tree thingy (and they're quite impressive), but what program do I load them into?? Is the fact that I'm still waiting for DarkGAME to show up the problem? Does that prog magically tie everything together?? Is FPSC where I'm supposed to make all the maps, environment, behaviors and such? Does DarkGAME Studio do the same thing as FPSC? With the "painting" in floors and dropping in models?

I find all the forum searching a pain in the butt. I just want to know how to begin. I mean...I'm not afraid of the code at all. I've build Flash web pages and 3D movies; I figure this is about two or three steps deeper than that....so, not a problem. But I can't even load the trees I've created into any of these progs! What's the deal??? I am extremely frustrated with all this so far!! If all this stuff amounts to screens of code with no FPSC-type graphic interface, I'm gonna be pissed! Don't get me wrong, I think the progs are great, but the "easy" thing is for the birds...

...And now the progs are crashing big time. DBpro crashes at will (BTW, why does the DBP module not remain on screen after startup??), FPSC FREE is buggy and unstable (And, yes, I did load the software and keys the right way) I have to admit, I'm beginning to be disappointed in this software. The thrill is, most certainly, gone. My system is fast enough and completely up to date in all aspects. So what is the deal?? I'm starting to miss my good ol' RayDream, Bryce and Poser (Gee, I thought I could directly import some great models and characters I've built in those progs!) Uff-da!! Maybe I'll just scrap this and stick to the hi-res cutscreen animations...wasting time wading through acres of forum chatter to find answers isn't my idea of a productive way to spend a month! This could be alot better and far more helpful if it was WYSIWIG instead WYRIWYDG (read, don't).

FPSC = Drag and drop with options to do more if you want to dig into some code.

DarkBASIC Professional = Every little thing that you want to load, see, rotate, move, light, etc., requires you to write the code for it.

Looking through a lot of the examples will help. If you've not worked with any form of BASIC before, but you have worked with other languages, it wont take you long to get used to the syntax and the program flow.

Dark Basic (V1 and referred to as 'Classic') as well as Dark Basic Professional (V2, Classic's updated and bigger brother) are programming languages - like C++, Forth, Pascal or any other you'd care to name.

But, they are essentially DirectX wrappers based on the BASIC syntax allowing easy access to Microsoft's 3D engine. If you already have a working knowledge of programming in C++ then Gark GDK is an 'add-on' for that which gives you the same functionality without the tiresome DirectX programming side.

As already been said, FPSC is really the only program which will let you produce games with little or no programming experience. For the rest, you will just have to get stuck in and learn how to do it the hard way - like we all had to do!

Most of the other programs are simply tools to help you write games.

For example, you can load 3D models into Dark Basic, animate them and so on, but you need a program with which to create them. You can use ANY program (including Poser), providing you can export the model (or convert with a utility) to a format compatible with DB.

As a rule, if you can get a model into .X or DBO format then you can use it in DB (DBC also supports 3DS).

If you want to learn to program with DB from scratch, may I suggest you start here:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=99497&b=10



If I understand what you are saying correctly, it's simply doing as you told it to. If you aren't using a never-ending loop, your program ends when it's done everything. Add a Wait Key as the last line and it won't close until you press a key.

Get stuck into the tutorials and it will soon fall in to place. Unfortunately this won't happen overnight though...

TDK

Ok...I hear ya. And thank you both. I think the essense of what I'm saying is that I'd rather see an upgraded FPSC-type prog with the AI, Shader, Character and other menus readily available within the GUI of that native program. For example, I watched the DBpro demo movie (yep, I'm watching and doing the tuts) that uses the free version of FPSC to create the files for the world, but not the .EXE. All the cutting and copying and dragging and clicking to accomplish it seemed unnecessary...like he was making up what he would do as he went. The way he does it on the tutorial is very specific to the speaker's computer and how he does things...confusing. If FPSC is where to start, it should be the main program to use. DBpro is not that program. Yes, I know what it can do, but it seems a bit ass-backwards. Why create a completely functional world in one prog and then goto another one to see the same thing? Yes, I know...but the functionality of DBpro could be integrated into FPSC...ala Microsoft Frontpage, where you can WYSIWYG it or tab for pure code. I'd learn better if I could see the FPSC code as the models are going in.

As far as that module GUI...it's an approx. 350x150 window that opens for a few seconds after DBpro is startrd. Says, "click an icon to learn what each module does"...or something like that. I see terrain icons (a little mountain) and a row of others...then it vanishes. EVERY little GUI helps!!

Oh, and BTW...DarkSHADER, Tree Magik, Plant Life and DarkVOICES are excellent programs! Well worth the price of admission. (And, yes, I know they were made with DBP...lol) Why can't an upgraded FPSC (or does X10 already accomplish this?) function more like the Tree Magik prog? Excellent useability! Easy to use and ALL visual. Really, every piece of the game-making process should be as fun and easy...with the ever-present ability to delve deeper into the code matrix.

because things are not simple.

I would stick with DBPro to learn more about programming. It's easy to over-simplify stuff... but basically, WYSIWYG editors give you less control, because someone already has defined all the ways to input stuff and all the ways stuff is output. This makes stuff a LOT easier, but gives you a lot less control. You say "AI", but what does that mean? Could be finite state, fuzzy logic, neural network, or any number of weird algorithms used, and when something in the predefined AI doesn't go your way, you can't do much about it (if you did have the control, would you know enough about AI and coding and algorithms to fix it).

Also... I'd say, for the most part, don't blame DBPro, blame being new.

if you ran a program like

the code would execute and reach the end immediately, so it would close. You need to put in some kind of conditional to keep the program running like:

or

Ahh... I know what you mean now.

In the old IDE, that only appears for a few seconds and the plug-ins that are installed light up on that panel to show you what's installed. It doesn't do anything else.

On the updated (Synergy-based) IDE however, you can bring it back by going to Help on the menu and clicking on 'Check Dark Basic Professional Modules...'.

TDK