DX81SDK DirectDraw Help

wizardlife

wizardlife

New member
I downloaded the DX81 SDK for Visual C++, and I'm confused at how there seems to be extensive demonstrations and tutorials on using Direct3D, but absolutely nothing on DirectDraw -- what I'm interested in. Can someone explain this to me?
 
DirectDraw was "removed" from DX8 and 8.1, but DX 7's DDraw is still there for backward compatibility. If you need the DDraw docs, use the ones that come with the DX7 SDK.
 
Um, why? That's another big download, isn't it? And where can I find it?

More importantly, is it a good idea to use DirectDraw to get a good handle on Visual C++ before I try any 3d? I figure it must be easier, and I don't really have any interest in the windows API. For win apps, I use VB6.
 
wizardlife said:
Um, why? That's another big download, isn't it? And where can I find it?

More importantly, is it a good idea to use DirectDraw to get a good handle on Visual C++ before I try any 3d? I figure it must be easier, and I don't really have any interest in the windows API. For win apps, I use VB6.
Click to expand...

I'd say that the best thing you could do to "get a good handle on Visual C++" would be to just experiment writing little apps based on the Win32 Application AppWizard. Even if you don't intend on writing windows apps in Visual C++, just use it to get comfortable with general C++ programming within the Visual C++ environment. Also, if you ever intend on using some advanced topics (well, advanced to me, right now), such as databases, it's best to learn in a simple environment, rather than trying to hack something like that into a 3d app.

With the integration of DirectDraw into Direct3D, there's little difference in the initial learning curve. It'll branch somewhat, of course, as you pursue on or the other, but I don't really think that 2D is a stepping stone to 3D in DirectX 8.x. As NitroGL said, you can go back to the DirectX 7 documentation to learn DirectDraw 7, though. I haven't experimented much with DirectX, recently. I found OpenGL so much simpler, but I do realize that I certainly -will- have to learn DirectX some time or another. . . At the very least, for its other componants (other than D3D).
 
I experimented with OGL a little, too. But I'm really interested in sidescrollers and platformers and so on at the moment... Making 3d applications seems so daunting. Where to even begin?
 
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