I had no problem installing the dotNet framework. But if the large majority are having trouble than I say change it.
Josh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <gamers@audyssey.org> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 6:29 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Future USA Games product designs. > Hi everyone, > As all of you know back in December 2006 USA Games made STFC 1.0 > available for public distribution. What we did not anticipate prier to > that release is how difficult it would be to get all users up to date > running the .NET Framework and the current version of DirectX. For most > users we were able to quickly resolve the issues and make STFC operate > properly. However, there were a few cases which were without any hope of > solving easily, and at this moment still remain open as unsolved cases > of unknown error. > Recently, on the Audyssey list I had made a suggestion that as a > developer I should design a 3D engine similar to the Quake engine, but > with all the access features built in. I'm thinking of starting over > with the USA Games engine and instead of basing it on the .NET Framework > and switching to C++ with the standard Windows win32 API and MFC which > comes installed on every Windows system. Even better I can package MFC > updates with my installer to update them were they needed. > I see many advantages of this switch such as greater security, better > performance of games, a wider availability of security tools to protect > USA Games commercial games,and no dependence on the .NET Framework for > any games designed under the new engine. > The final reason I might consider this route is simply that C++ support > for game devices, graphics, and sound is first rate. Since it is widely > used by pro game developers there are often more features for DirectX > available to a C++ dev than say for VB such as force feedback support > for game controllers. The VB support for game controllers doesn't seam > to work well with feedback devices as both Che and I found out the hard > way. James north had created the initial Raceway engine in VB, and I > won't be able to get ff device support using VB or VB.NET. However, in a > language like C++ it wouldn't even be an issue. > However, using C++ isn't going to be all roses. I've gotten a bit rusty > with C++, and would probably take some time brushing up my skills, > finding out what changes were made in the SDKs I'd need, and so on. Game > production could potentially be slower since C++ isn't the easiest > language to work with, and I'll admit can be complex at times. Certainly > not a cinch like C#.NET is. Not only that it would take me quite a while > to read through my engine code, and begin converting it from C#.NET to > C++. > On the other hand, I do have a good thing going with C#.NET. Other than > the bumps in the road with end users not always having the correct > versions of the framework etc games like STFC and Montezuma's Revenge > are doing well. On a fairly modern system with all the latest service > packs and patches those games should play reasonably well for the audio > gamers community. I'd kind to hate to switch just when USA Games is > beginning to get this show on the road you might say. > There are some reasons about the .NET languages I am beginning to > dislike such as having to encrypt my binaries every time I compile them > for distribution, end users having mismatched versions of programs which > causes conflicts, and a few other miner limitations. Otherwise, like I > said, I am ok with what I am doing. > What do you all think. Are you happy with the way USA Games is doing > things, having to install the .NET Framework, etc, or would rather us > move to something more generic like the C++ Win32 API which is pretty > standardized across MS Windows platforms. > Thanks. > > > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org > To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can > visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make > any subscription changes via the web. _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
