http://www.everydayxna.com Learn how to design video games for the PC and Xbox 360 with our step by step tutorials using Microsoft Visual C#, XNA, and .Net en-us 2010-07-31 EverydayXNA.com RSS Feed Generator http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=61 Hi agnes. This line converts each byte in the comByte array to a string. It first makes sure that the string is at least 2 characters and appends an extra zero to the end if it's not. Then, it makes sure that the string is at least 3 characters and appends an extra space to the end if it's not. The result would look something like this: A2 FF E1 ... However, there are other ways of doing it. Here are 2 other examples: public static string ByteToHex(byte[] comByte) { StringBuilder hex = new StringBuilder(comByte.Length * 2); foreach (byte data in comByte) hex.AppendFormat("{0:x2}", data); return hex.ToString(); } or public static string ByteToHex(byte[] comByte) { string hex = BitConverter.ToString(comByte); return hex.Replace("-",""); } 2009-12-31 22:50:16 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=59 Hi, there is one sentence on bytetohex converison on builder.Append(Convert.ToString(data, 16).PadLeft(2, '0').PadRight(3, ' ')); can anyone tell me what does it suppose to mean? As I used this, my displayed number is appeared to have "3" in the beginning of every number. Thanks 2009-12-23 03:30:39 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=58 I have done some more work to my Age of SIMpires game. I have tweaked the controls a bit and have added the dude from the Skinned Model tutorial. I can now click on him and tell him where to walk to. He is animated, but the animation only runs when the man is actually walking. Hopefully I'll have time soon to create my own characters which will be equipped with several types of animations including standing and looking around, waving, dancing, running, picking up stuff, etc... If any of you out there in XNA land would like to help out with the models, please send an email to webmaster@everydayxna.com , post your proposal in our forum, or drop us a line on our contact page . 2009-07-09 21:03:05 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=57 Well, I've started yet another game. This time, it's a top-down strategy-ish game. I've decided to take 2 of my favorite strategy games and combine them into one; Age of Empires and The Sims. So, I came up with Age of SIMpires. It isn't much yet, but I do have the camera & controls working. Plus, you can select from several different tiles and some basic models to load onto the screen. It also includes Path Finding capabilities. Check out the game page for more screen shots and details. 2009-07-06 17:25:10 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=55 I've started a new game as you can see. This time it's a first person shooter. The scene I'm working on now takes place in an airport. The story goes, you are at the airport waiting on a family member to arrive when terrorists take over the airport. More planes are allowed to arrive, providing the terrorists with more and more hostages. In fear for the safety of your family member, you must find a way to take out the terrorists before your family member's plane arrives. You also have to find away to get the other hostages out of the airport by either sneaking them out, finding passenger items around the airport to bargain with, or by doing jobs for the terrorists in return for freeing a hostage. Check out the details and screenshots at the hostage page . 2009-06-20 23:05:07 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=54 I recently came across a problem where I had upgraded my projects from XNA 2.0 to XNA 3.0 and after the upgrade, none of my textures were loading for my FBX models. I had originally exported my models to FBX using Milkshape 3D. However, the MS3D FBX exporter is not compatible with XNA 3.0. So, instead of exporting my models directly to FBX, I had to export them to 3DS and use Autodesk's FBX Converter ( http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=6837478&siteID=123112 ) to convert them from 3DS to FBX. I did this with all of my models and the textures are now showing up. 2009-06-20 09:11:42 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=53 If you need a place to host your projects, we can do that for you. Just send an email to hosting@everydayxna.com and we'll hook you up. We'll provide you with a place to store your downloads, source code, images, etc... and we'll do it all for FREE!!!! We'll even set you up with a forum just for discussing your projects. 2009-06-14 12:55:06 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=52 If you're not much into writing code, but enjoy designing video games, you definitely have to checkout Visual3D.net It comes complete with the game engine and game designer GUI. You can create entire games with just a mouse using drag-and-drop functionality. When I first came across this site, I was blown away by the videos and screenshots that they display in their showcase and I'm sure you will be too. But, I was more impressed when I actually got into the program and started designing my own games. Be sure to check it out at http://www.visual3d.net or jump over to the download page and grab a copy. Visual3D.NEt v0.9.4 (Beta 4.0) was recently released a few days ago. I've just downloaded it and am excited to see what's been added. 2009-06-14 13:36:00 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=45 First off, I apologize for not putting much online lately. I have been swamped with work lately and haven't had much time to maintain most of my websites, including this one. However, I have found a little bit of time to work on the BrawlBots game. I have included almost an entire city, complete with ramps, roadways, buildings, toll booths, etc... Be sure to jump over to the BrawlBots page and check it out. 2009-03-10 21:26:00 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=44 Well, ask you can see, I've added a little more to my game. I haven't had much time lately to do a whole lot with it. But, I have managed to sneak in a few things here and there. One of the biggest things I've added recently is model instancing. Instead of having all of my stuff in the Update method, I took off a lot of the work load from the CPU and put it on the GPU instead. That way, all I have to do is load the model one time and draw it as many times as I want. The screenshot shows instancing for the telephone poles and the road. I have some other things that use instancing, but I haven't had time to load them in yet. Also, if you go to the gallery page or the BrawlBots page , you can see street lamps along the fence that are using model instancing. 2009-03-02 16:58:00 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=42 I've been adding stuff to the world. I'm in the process of creating several arenas. But, the only pictures that I'm going to be uploading for now will be the basketball court. Be sure to check out the screenshots and let me know what you think. I've also changed the glass walls to a chain link fence instead. I've added basketball goals, fire hydrants, roads, road signs, buildings, a construction site across the road, etc... Check it out!!! 2009-02-22 01:21:56 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=41 I've added the ability for you to upload and share your images and screenshots of your games. Just login using the link in the upper-right corner of this page. Once you've logged in, all you have to do is click the "Browse" button, locate your images, and click "Ok". When you want people to see your images, just send them a link to your profile page. When I have time, I plan on adding the ability to customize your profile. I think it would be neat to make your profile look like your game. But, that's just my thoughts. You'll be free to customize your XNA profile any way you want it. 2009-02-21 21:31:51 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=40 Recently, I encountered a problem where my car would spin out of control when driving over a TriangleMeshObject. I posted a video of this occurring in the JiggleGame demo at http://www.yourmercials.com/video/460/. You can also see the action happen in my game in a video at http://www.yourmercials.com/video/461/. noone88 worked out the problem and got me back on track (so to speak). You can follow the discussion and see the fix over at the JigLibX site. The code / fix is at http://www.codeplex.com/JigLibX/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=46769 2009-02-20 08:09:32 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=39 Here is where I'll be discussing the details of my game Robowars. 2009-02-19 21:27:57 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=38 Here is where I'll be discussing details about my game The Kingdom. 2009-02-19 21:27:41 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=37 Here is where I'll be discussing details about my game MicroRacers. 2009-02-19 21:27:21 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=36 I was wondering how my game could handle multiple bots in the arena at the same time. So, I dumped 25 other bots in there with me and the results were amazing. The game didn't slow down at all. I'm able to run around and smash up several other bots and still get an awesome frame rate. I even added the ability to choose what color you want the frame of your bot to be. In my quick test with the 25 other bots, I simply told it to pick random colors for me. The screenshots don't show all 25 bots since I was pushing them all over the place. But, trust me, they're there. I'm going to do another test with 50 and 100 bots just to see what happens. Currently, I'm planning on designing this game for the Xbox 360 only which I can only have up to 12 players in a game at a time. But, if things work out, I might add PC compatibility and increase the number of brawling bots. 2009-02-15 13:13:00 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=35 Check it out. I finally got my 3-wheeled bot loaded into my game. The screenshot is a little difficult to see. I need to make a better texture for it and do something with the lighting. It's very bright and reflective right now. But, it's still a long way from being done. In the screenshot, you can see that the wheels turn just as they're suppose to. The next thing I have to do is add an input handler to control the spinning blade. 2009-02-13 20:20:20 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=34 I've started working on some tutorials. They are a long way off from being finished and will take a lot of time to get them done. But, I at least have up the titles of some of my tutorials I'll be working on. I've even posted 2 tutorials that I've started on that explain how to build your own video game controllers and video game interfaces. So, be sure to jump over to the tutorials section of this site and check 'em out. 2009-02-10 19:53:10 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=33 I've done a little more work to the spinning blade bot for my game. I added a basic frame and a redish tint to it. I'll add some more to it later. 2009-02-09 21:53:05 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=32 I've started working on some bots for the BrawlBots game I'm working on. Here is the beginning of a basic bot with 3 wheels and a big spinning blade. I still have to create the body for it. But, you should get the idea of where I'm going with this one. 2009-02-08 13:35:46 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=28 Here is where I'll be detailing the status of the new game I'm working on called BrawlBots. It's an off-take from the TV show BattleBots. 2009-02-08 13:35:05 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=27 I have put together a starter kit for anyone wanting to develop their own games using C# and XNA. It's just a basic world with a flat ground, arena walls, and a car. The starter kit is actually the beginning for a Battle Bots game I'm working on. You'll be able to follow it's progress here. The kit also includes the JigLibX physics system. The walls are semi-transparent, giving them a glass look and feel. They can be removed to allow you to drive around the entire map instead of being stuck within the arena that I have begun. The code is a bit of a mess and I promise to clean it up... eventually. But, until then, hope you enjoy. Download the starter kit here 2009-02-08 01:09:27 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=25 I came across a problem where, when my car accelerated to a certain speed, it would begin to wobble from side to side. It caused the car to look like it was driving on a bumpy road. Eventually, the car would wobble so much that it would lose traction and slow down which in return allowed the car to gain traction and begin driving again. The cause for this was the first tire in the list would lose traction and come up off the ground. Then the second tire in the list would do the same and so on. Since the tires operate in the order they're listed in the code, one wheel would start a chain reaction that fell thru to the others. To fix the problem, I simply tightened the suspension on the car and the problem was solved. However, this causes my car to have a larger turning radius than before. So, I'm still looking into alternatives. But, hopefully, this will help any of you that run into the same problem. 2009-02-08 01:08:13 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=24 Whenever you add a lot of objects (especially high poly models) to your world, your FPS begins to drop. So, instead of rendering everything in the world, I decided to only render and draw what is in my FOV. To do this, I created a quick method to check if objects are within my FOV. I also have to change my camera's FOV to 50 instead of the default 45. Otherwise, some objects would "disappear" when I turn and have a widescreen monitor. Lower width screens weren't affected. But, on my 24 inch widescreen monitor, I try to use up as much realestate as possible. Anyways, I added the following method to my PhysicObject. public static bool IsInsideCone(Vector3 point, Vector3 coneOrigin, Vector3 coneDirection, double coneAngle) { Vector3 tempVect = Vector3.Normalize(point - coneOrigin); return Vector3.Dot(coneDirection, tempVect) >= Math.Cos(coneAngle); } After that, I do a check in my PhysicObject.Draw method before drawing any meshes. My code for this looks like: if (IsInsideCone(body.Position, camera.cameraPosition, camera.cameraDirection, FOVPlusPadding)){ } My PhysicObject.Draw method now looks like this: public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { Camera camera = ((GameCore)this.Game).Camera; float FOVPlusPadding = camera.FOV * 1.1f; if (model != null && IsInsideCone(body.Position, camera.cameraPosition, camera.cameraDirection, FOVPlusPadding)) { if (boneTransforms == null || boneCount != model.Bones.Count) { boneTransforms = new Matrix[model.Bones.Count]; boneCount = model.Bones.Count; } model.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo(boneTransforms); foreach (ModelMesh mesh in model.Meshes) { foreach (BasicEffect effect in mesh.Effects) { if (body.CollisionSkin != null) effect.World = boneTransforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index] * Matrix.CreateScale(scale) * body.CollisionSkin.GetPrimitiveLocal(0).Transform.Orientation * body.Orientation * Matrix.CreateTranslation(body.Position); else effect.World = boneTransforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index] * Matrix.CreateScale(scale) * body.Orientation * Matrix.CreateTranslation(body.Position); effect.View = camera.viewMatrix; effect.Projection = camera.projectionMatrix; ApplyEffects(effect); effect.EnableDefaultLighting(); effect.PreferPerPixelLighting = true; } mesh.Draw(); } } if (this.collision != null) { int count = collision.NumPrimitives; for (int i = 0; i { BoundingBox box = new BoundingBox(); BoundingBoxHelper.AddPrimitive(collision.GetPrimitiveOldWorld(i), ref box); } } base.Draw(gameTime); } 2009-01-24 19:13:46 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=9 One of the questions I'm asked most is the one of "how do I get the distance between 2 points in a 3D world?" The answer is simple. Since points in a 3D world are determined by Vector3, we are provided with a neat little function called Vector3.Distance. This method takes 2 parameters, Vector3 A & Vector3 B and returns a float value. Syntax: public static void Distance ( ref Vector3 value1, ref Vector3 value2, out float result ) Example: float distance = Vector3.Distance(vector3A, vector3B); 2009-01-24 18:43:07 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=5 Discuss any JigLibX related stuff here. 2009-01-24 15:05:05 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=2 As you can see, the xna gamer development blog and comments are working. Enjoy! 2009-01-23 15:36:46 http://www.everydayxna.com/forum.php?postID=1 Welcome to XNA Gamers, the complete guide for xna developers. This site is intended to help you learn to use XNA for developing games to play on the Windows PC and / or Xbox 360. This site will be undergoing some major construction over the next few weeks. So, please be patient and return often for updates. 2009-01-23 12:58:10