http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/Innovation Team's dumping grounden-usTue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMTTue, 10 Jun 2003 09:41:01 GMTGeekZilla.co.ukeditor@GeekZilla.co.ukwebmaster@GeekZilla.co.uk http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/viewB0FFFCA6-AC1A-419D-A471-788FFE939382.htm Installing XNA Beta Ok, I thought I'd document the installation process and any pitfalls I encountered. I decided to install XNA on a VMWare machine, just to keep things clean, '''this didn't work''' as XNA couldn't detect an appropriate Direct3d compatible graphics card, so I installed it on the host machine instead. First of all, you need to install '''c# express'''. The XNA installation looks for express, it won't install against the full blown version of Visual Studio 2005. Installing c# express took about ten minutes. {The c# express installation can be found here}http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/download/ When running the XNA serup (XGSESetup). I chose typical installation, the install was simple and pretty quick. The sample project Now that XNA was installed, I fired it up and chose New Project, noticing there was a template project for a demo application called SpaceWar. I chose this. The projejct compiled and ran with no problems at all. I was presented with a splash screen. Unfortunately I couldn't get past this splash screen as I didn't have an XBox 360 controller attached to my PC. The project uses '''XInput''' to communicate with the XBox 360 controller.. so.. that's my progress dead in the water... I'd better go buy an XBox 360 controller. ''I later learned that you can put USE_KEYBOARD in the conditional defines part of the project properties to play it with the keyboard. Thanks Damien'' :) The XBox 360 controller Got home, cracked open the packaging on the controller; plugged it in. It was detected and installed with no problem... if you need it, the driver is {here}http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0e989b12-576b-42f2-b7c1-2a17ce25188b&displaylang=en Second attempt With the controller installed I was able to 'get stuck in to' the sample game which comes with XNA. An asteroid type game with two modes.. classic and evolved. As expected, the game is pretty simple. I was supprised to discover that the controller vibration works as I'd read somewhere that this feature was missing. [[xna1.jpg]] The game ran fine for a few minutes until I got an '''Object not set to an instance of an object''' error. See below: [[xna-err1.gif]] Next Steps Now it's time to get crazking on some tutorials. * http://www.xnadevelopment.com/ * http://exdream.no-ip.info/blog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=44339eda-86da-4a2d-ae94-9387aad9c178 30/8/2006 http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/viewB0FFFCA6-AC1A-419D-A471-788FFE939382.htm http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/view7ABBD0E1-3FA6-4BCA-A5F0-AB5A16AE2ADF.htm Microsoft XNA (Beta) Released Microsoft have released '''Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express (Beta)'''. With all the hype surrounding this release we should be in for a real treat! Are Microsoft going to corner the market by releasing tools which enable developers to write their own games? Should Sony be worried? The studio can be {downloaded here}http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21E979E3-B8AE-4EA6-8E65-393EA7684D6C&displaylang=en '''You will Need c# express''' which can be found {here}http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/download/ XNA Overview XNA Game Studio Express enables individuals and small teams to more easily create video games using new, optimized cross-platform gaming libraries for Windows and Xbox 360. This beta release targets the development of games for Windows. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season and will enable development of games which target Windows and upon purchase of a XNA Creators Club subscription, the Xbox 360 as well. System Requirements and Prerequisites *Only supported on Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 (all editions) at this time. Windows Vista will be available only in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express. *Hardware requirements are identical to those for Visual Studio 2005 plus a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 2.0. *This release requires Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition to be installed before proceeding. You can install Visual C# Express Microsoft. However, other members of the Visual Studio 2005 line of products, for example '''Visual Studio 2005 Professional, can co-exist with XNA Game Studio Express (Beta)''' on the same computer. What is not in this Beta (but coming soon) While we’re very proud of this Beta milestone, it does not represent all of the great features we are enabling in XNA Game Studio Express which will be available in final release form by this holiday. Some of the key feature areas that were not able to make it into this beta include: *The XNA Framework Content Pipeline feature is not present in this release of XNA Game Studio Express (Beta). It will be made available in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express *Support for retail Xbox 360 game development. This feature will be made available upon final release of XNA Game Studio Express later this holiday *Additional starter kits and tutorials will be made available upon final release of XNA Game Studio Express 30/8/2006 http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/view7ABBD0E1-3FA6-4BCA-A5F0-AB5A16AE2ADF.htm