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- Path: serv.HiNet.net!usenet
- From: longa@c2.hinet.net (Andrew Long)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
- Subject: GAME SDK for WIN95
- Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 04:48:03 GMT
- Organization: HiNet
- Message-ID: <4e00u1$f74@serv.hinet.net>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: 168.95.110.124
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-
- Who has GAME SDK for WIN95 ?
- How much bytes is it ?
- Can transfer it to me ???
- I have some data about it.
- It's below :
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Programming for the Windows 95 Game SDK
-
- Jason Robar
-
- July 13, 1995
-
- The Windows 95 Game Software Developers Kit (SDK) offers game
- developers
- new tools and technology to help create high-performance games.
-
- The Game SDK provides a standard set of system services. Under MS-DOS,
- developers had to implement and maintain such services themselves. The
- SDK
- also meets or exceeds the functionality available on the next
- generations
- of game consoles, while enabling functionality unique to the PC game
- platform.
-
- The role of Windows 95
-
- Windows 95 makes installing and configuring games and game peripherals
- easier with features such as Plug and Play and AutoPlay.
-
- Currently, the Windows 95 game subsystem is available only as part of
- the
- Windows 95 Game SDK but will be built into future versions of Windows.
- The
- game subsystem is royalty-free, and the run-time library will be
- redistributed by game developers with their Windows 95-based games.
-
- The Game APIs provide device independence and broad hardware support
- for a
- wide range of game peripherals without sacrificing speed or
- functionality.
- The architecture is based on the Component Object Model (COM). For an
- introductory look at COM, see "COM: A Model Problem Solver," Developer
- Network News, March/April 1995.
-
- The Game SDK provides the following functionality:
-
- * DirectDraw for high-speed graphics
- * DirectSound for sound mixing
- * DirectPlay for multiplayer communication
- * DirectInput for handling game input devices
-
- DirectDraw
-
- DirectDraw provides a device-independent way for games and Windows
- library
- software, such as 3-D graphics packages or digital video codecs, to
- access
- display device-dependent features. It allows direct linear
- manipulation of
- video display memory, hardware blters, hardware overlays, page
- flipping,
- and control of the palette and mode setting on the fly. This enables
- better
- graphics for animation.
-
- By using DirectDraw, programmers will have access to features that
- previously required device dependence, such as:
-
- * Support for multiple-buffered and page-flipped animation.
- * Access to and control of the video card blter.
- * Hardware-assisted overlays with z ordering.
- * Support for 3-D z buffers.
- * Direct access to 3-D texture maps with or without palettes.
- * Tight integration with 3-D hardware acceleration.
- * Improved video playback quality through access to YUV color
- formats.
- * Improved graphics and video quality through access to
- image-stretching
- hardware.
- * Translucency.
- * Transparency.
-
- DirectDraw is composed of three major components:
-
- * The DirectDraw object manages the DirectDraw drivers' global
- functionality and represents the display device. Display modes,
- resolution, and color depth are controlled through the DirectDraw
- object.
- * The DirectDraw surface is simply a linear area of memory. It
- contains
- the device-dependent bits that represent a directly displayable
- object.
- * The DirectDraw palette is a 16- or 256-color indexed palette
- provided
- for textures, offscreen surfaces, and overlay surfaces, which
- might
- not have the same palette as the primary surface.
-
- To achieve greater speeds, DirectDraw will use whatever hardware
- acceleration features are present and will employ software emulation
- for
- unsupported features. It also allows an application to determine
- easily the
- hardware functionality and software emulation capabilities so it can
- optimize its graphic demands based on how a system will perform.
-
- The graphic methods that game programmers rely on are provided for in
- a
- simplified low-level API that does not sacrifice speed for
- functionality.
- By providing developers with a simple method to use the features that
- most
- video cards already provide (such as hardware blting), games under
- Windows
- 95 can achieve screen updates faster than anything that is practical
- to
- implement under MS-DOS.
-
- DirectSound
-
- DirectSound is the audio equivalent of DirectDraw. Developed in
- conjunction
- with PC audio expert John Miles, the DirectSound APIs were created to
- provide high-fidelity, low-latency sound and sound mixing. This
- enables
- realistic sound effects for Windows-based games.
-
- DirectSound allows direct access to the hardware sound channel of an
- audio
- card. It does this by virtualizing the direct memory access (DMA)
- buffer,
- enabling direct access to on-card audio buffers, or emulating this for
- sound cards, such as the current generation of PCMCIA cards.
-
- By using DirectSound, a game can store different sounds into different
- memory buffers. These buffers can be easily mixed and played quickly
- without the latency problems associated with Windows 3. x .
- DirectSound
- provides this functionality while maintaining compatibility with
- existing
- Windows 95-based applications and device drivers.
-
- DirectSound is composed of two structures--the DirectSound object,
- which
- represents the sound card, and DirectSoundBuffer objects, which
- represent
- the sounds.
-
- DirectSound is essentially an audio buffer manager. An application can
- employ DirectSound to create DirectSoundBuffer objects. These objects
- represent audio streams that can be written into directly. The
- application
- can mix audio data into these buffers, position these buffers in 3-D
- space,
- and play them. A DirectSoundBuffer object may be any of the popular
- formats
- currently supported by the WaveOut APIs. This includes mono or stereo;
- 8 or
- 16 bits; and 8, 11, 22, or 44 kHz.
-
- The DirectSound object controls the sound card, which includes all of
- the
- operating parameters for the sound card and listener for 3-D audio. It
- is
- designed to give demanding applications control of the sound card when
- required. This enables very responsive, high-fidelity sound.
-
- DirectPlay
-
- To simplify adding multiplayer functionality to games, the DirectPlay
- component provides a method for two or more players' games to
- communicate.
-
- DirectPlay provides a common interface for a game to use in order to
- establish a link to other games and handles providing the
- communication
- with the other machines. The application itself no longer has to
- provide
- the code for communicating data to other machines.
-
- DirectPlay is made up of two pieces--the DirectPlay object that a game
- communicates with and the DirectPlay servers that the DirectPlay
- object
- uses. Microsoft will supply DirectPlay servers for modem, serial, and
- network connections. Any third party can also provide DirectPlay
- servers
- for specialized hardware or online communication services.
-
- When a player wants to begin playing with other players, a list of the
- available servers can be presented to the player. After the player
- makes
- the selection, the game uses DirectPlay to establish the connection
- and
- handle the communication.
-
- To adjust for communication performance, the game can query the
- DirectPlay
- object for the current latency and bandwidth of the communication
- method.
- The game can also query the DirectPlay object for information about
- previous and existing game play sessions.
-
- A game using DirectPlay does not have to worry about whether it is
- using a
- modem or a network or an online service provider, thus saving
- developers
- time.
-
- DirectInput
-
- For a game to find out what a player wants to do, it needs a method to
- communicate with an input device. For the PC, the analog joystick has
- remained the standard by default for over a decade. This hasn't
- improved
- because the analog joystick method does not permit innovations in
- input
- device design. DirectInput is an API that solves these problems and
- provides even greater functionality.
-
- By abstracting a game away from programming directly to the hardware,
- DirectInput allows Windows 95 to support a more diverse range of
- devices as
- they become available, such as headtrackers or digital joysticks. This
- also
- allows manufacturers to develop new designs without having to worry
- about
- compatibility with existing games. If a game was developed using
- DirectInput, a new minidriver is all that's needed for the game to
- make use
- of a new device.
-
- DirectInput supports up to 16 input devices simultaneously, each with
- up to
- six axes of motion and n number of buttons. It also allows for
- increased
- performance through serial and digital input, while still supporting
- the
- current analog method.
-
- This architecture also supports devices that react to data from the
- application (known as "force feedback"). A simple example of this is a
- steering wheel device that shakes when the player drives over rough
- ground.
-
- With these features, DirectInput frees developers from worrying about
- which
- input devices to support, and allows hardware manufacturers to develop
- new
- designs without achieving industry acceptance beforehand.
-
- How to get the Game SDK
-
- The Game SDK is currently in beta but is scheduled to be available
- this
- fall. To receive a beta copy, e-mail betareq@microsoft.com with your
- contact information (name, address, e-mail, phone, fax, and so on) and
- specifically request the Windows 95 Game SDK Beta. Support sections
- are
- currently available on CompuServe in the WINMM forum.
-
- The Windows 95 Game SDK represents an evolutionary leap forward for
- the
- Microsoft Windows API. By using the game subsystem, Windows 95-based
- games
- will be the best available on any platform.
-
- When he's not evangelizing the gaming world about the Ultimate Gaming
- Platform (UGP), Jason Robar enjoys exploring the clubs and cafes of
- Seattle, looking for the perfect band or the perfect spot to relax and
- read
- in Russian.
-
- ⌐ 1996 Microsoft Corporation
-
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