Life and Code

1. Open Eclipse C++
2. File->New->C++ Project
   i. Enter your Project name
   ii. Select Shared Library
              o Empty Project
   iii. Click Finish
3. In the Project Explorer, right click on your project select Properties
   i. Select C/C++ General
             Paths and Symbols
             a. On the Includes tab add the paths to the CHeaders\XPLM
                and CHeaders\Widgets folders using the 'Add' button and
                checking 'Add to all configurations' and 'Add to all languages'
             b. On the Symbols tab add the IBM=1 symbol by using the 'Add'
                button and checking 'Add to all configurations' and
                'Add to all languages' setting the Name: IBM and Value: 1
             c. On the Library Paths tab add the path to the Libraries\Win
                folder using the 'Add' button and
                checking 'Add to all configurations' and 'Add to all languages'
   ii. Select C/C++ Build
              Settings
              a. On the Build Artifact tab select Configuration: [All
                 configurations] set the Artifact name to what you
                 would like your plugin's filename to be.
              b. On the Build Artifact tab select Configuration: [All
                 configurations] set the Artifact extension to 'xpl'
              c. On the Build Artifact tab select Configuration: [All
                 configurations] you may delete the output prefix
              d. On the Tool Settings Tab for MinGW C++ Linker
                                               Libraries
                 Add XPLM and XPWidgets to the Libraries(-l) box.
5. Create <YourProjectName>Win.cpp containing:

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

BOOL APIENTRY DllMain( HANDLE hModule,
                       DWORD  ul_reason_for_call,
                       LPVOID lpReserved
      )
{
    switch (ul_reason_for_call)
 {
  case DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH:
  case DLL_THREAD_ATTACH:
  case DLL_THREAD_DETACH:
  case DLL_PROCESS_DETACH:
   break;
    }
    return TRUE;
}

Code eclipse, plugin, quick, sdk, setup, x-plane

I drafted this a while back. I think it is interesting now so publishing (5/19/2009):

In my opinion, one of the biggest worries of any IT organization is what I refer to as ‘Blind Monkey IT’. What this leads to in my limited experience is a lack of initiative and a ‘blind action’ mentality. Perfect examples of this are the pc support tech. who can’t fix your problem because it isn’t in his script. I know right now every manager is shaking their collective fist at me, but this seems to be the perfect way to make your team redundant. Ever wonder why the off-shore csr with the bad accent insists your problem is on his script. Now, don’t get me wrong documentation is a good thing but there has to be a stopping point.

Code, Life blind, creativity, it, monkey, outsource

I am always in need of very basic logging for my projects, here is the logger I wrote for my XPFF project, remember this code is as-is as the project is still very active:

 Read more...

Code c++, logger, logging, project

Well I have finally decided on the concept I will move forward with as the game I will develop. This decision has been a long time coming. I think the genre I have decided on is rather underused and the game will be fun above all else. The work required is not too bad either, I will disclose more after I have fleshed out the design documents. A page here is forthcoming as well.

Code concept, design, eureka, game

So I am all set up to write my excellent game (demo). I have come up with and shot down several of my own ideas. I think I have coder’s block. I know I have the ability to code this, however, I seem to be having problems designing. I think I need to just take some time off and unwind. The cold spell has actually given me a few ideas. We’ll see how it turns out I guess.

Code coder's block, demo, game, programming, suckage

The last two weeks off work have been a very creative time for me. I have been playing around with a few tools that I can see making garage/one man game development easier. Before last week, I was very much into Irrlicht and Newton, but this all has changed. My toolbelt has been helped out quite a bit by changing perspectives. My new tools of choice jME (the jMonkey Engine), jME physics, Blender and MakeHuman.

JMonkey and JME physicis are pretty cool tools, for Java. The game/graphics engine is very well featured and the physics engine seems to be the same. They use jinput and LWJGL and provide very simple and useable starting points for creating games. I very much like both of these projects. C++ will always be the king of speed but Java doesn’t do that badly anymore.

Since I have been weaned from the high cost 3DSMAX and Poser, I have been using Blender. Blender has served me very well, it is an excellent tool. It provides functionality that you would otherwise have to pay high prices for. The place I have lacked here is in my ability to create good looking humanoids. Enter MakeHuman, this tool may not be as deep as Poser is but I really like the models it produces. The project seems to be heading towards a good place and I like it alot.

These tools are ecellent, and I have played with them quite a bit in the last two weeks. I am looking forward to finishing my demo now. 

Code 3d, engine, human characters, java, modelling

This weekend, was one of celebration for many reasons. Independence/freedom was definitely the bigger of the two ideas worthy of celebration. But my small win was finally integrating the Newton dynamics library with the Irrlicht 3D engine.

The libraries do integrate pretty well, the only issues I had were with some of the subtleties. In general, it is simply a matter of figuring out how to translate between Newton and Irrlicht’s matrices. This is actually accomplished very easily with a memory copy. I fought improper placement of the x, y, z values but once I figured out where they should be, the libraries made the problems minimal.

Code engine, integration, Irrlicht, Newton