Spent today fixing a number of memory leaks in the client.
Ran the Visual Leak Detector, and these were the results:
There aren’t literally that many memory leaks, it’s misleading – simply failing to call delete can cause dozens of reported leaks.
These past few weeks have consisted of re-writing the client to make it more stable and efficient. Upgrading to Ogre 1.7 has been a long haul, but it was absolutely worth the effort. It meant we could add some important features to the background loading system.
Background loading is where resources are loaded seamlessly as you play. The client connects to a HTTP server where the resources are located and downloads them to an offline cache. When you exit, the next time you play the client will use the resources from the cache unless they have changed on the server. Most MMOs use patching to update game resources – this means long waiting times before the game even loads. We will still need some form of patching for binary files and major updates, but it will take considerably less time.
We have put our game engine and distributed server architecture aside for now and have decided instead to create a standard Client-Server system. This consists of a Login Server and a World Server. Each World Server will hold an instance of the game and support a maximum of 2000 players. This is a far more realistic approach for the short term, and will give us more time to focus on gameplay and art.
Thanks to Ogre 3D and a new landscape system the graphics are looking better than ever. All it needs now is some good 3D art, made easy with our editor which I will discuss in another post.
For your viewing pleasure:
Changelog:
13 July 2010:
– Recommend CMake version 2.8.0
6th January 2010
– Building the latest 1.7 dependencies package.
– It’s now a generic Building Ogre with Visual Studio guide, since there’s no longer a compelling reason to build from trunk.
This is my “hold-your-hand” guide to building the latest Ogre with Visual Studio C++, trunk or stable.
13 July 2010: If anyone could test this guide for Visual Studio 2010 and let me know if it works or not, I would appreciate it. I don’t have access to a Windows machine right now.
What happened to CEGUI?
From 1.7, CEGUI is no longer part of Ogre. You should now treat it as a separate library. For instructions, refer to Building CEGUI.
What do I do next?
If you’ve not familiar with setting up an Ogre application, see my Ogre and Visual Studio Beginners FAQ and follow the walkthrough.
Let me know if you have problems with any of the steps, suggestions etc.
Yesterday I attended an event in York showcasing the Phoenix Centre, which is an initiative aimed at helping creative and technological startup businesses in the area. The event started with a presentation from some of the businesses based in the centre followed by a tour and networking.
I met some interesting people, and also had a chance to show off our plans and developments, which provoked some interest. The centre offers heavily subsidised office space for a year, with many benefits geared towards helping businesses on our wavelength succeed. Perhaps this could lead to something, who knows.
In this so-called new age of web design, there appears to be an underlying trend in “Web 2.0” websites. Something about it makes me cringe, because wherever you look, especially in websites showcasing portfolios or whatever, the language style is exactly the same. Informal speak, as if you’re talking to the visitor as a friend, I guess. To me, it’s pure cheese.
HELLO. MY NAME IS BOB SMITH. I MAKE GOOD WEBSITES, AND STUFF.
You know what I’m talking about. The HUGE TEXT THEY USE TO SHOUT AT THE USER ON THE HOMEPAGE. Okay, so why? Well, you could argue it draws in the user’s attention, and that it instantly tells the user what the website is about. Fair enough. But I get bored when browsing CSS design showcases, only to find almost all of them follow this trend. Admittedly, even I fall victim to this nonsense. I get a feeling design showcases discriminate websites that don’t. Perhaps it’s just another internet phase.
My 5 minute browsing results:
http://paiko.de/
http://www.baeck.no/
http://www.sergionoviello.com/
http://nathan-sanders.com/
http://www.shannonmoeller.com/
http://www.jamisonbanham.com/
http://www.jasonreedwebdesign.com/
http://sprawsm.com/
http://www.postmachina.com/
I could go on… Forever.
Changelog:
6th January 2010
– Updated application walkthrough for Ogre 1.7.
Howdy! This is my little FAQ and troubleshooting guide for anyone new to the Ogre engine. I will be expanding it over time to cover as many problems and questions as possible. The following assumes that you are using Visual Studio C++ 2005/2008 and have built the latest Ogre.
If you haven’t yet built Ogre, see my Building Ogre with Visual Studio guide.
Sure!
#include <Ogre.h>
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
Ogre::Root* root = new Ogre::Root("plugins.cfg", "ogre.cfg", "Ogre.log");
delete root;
return 0;
}
So you’ve managed to get your application to compile, but something is wrong, it crashes when you run it! Here’s a step-by-step process to help you through it:
Other things to check:
error: SomeHeader.h: No such file or directory
The compiler cannot find the header file(s) you specified. If these are library headers that it cannot find, you need to tell Visual Studio where to find them. Go to: Project -> Properties -> C/C++ -> General -> Additional Include Directories and add the include directories where the headers can be found. (In Ogre’s case that would be C:\OgreSDK\include)
fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file “SomeLibrary.lib”
Similarly, Visual Studio cannot find the file you’re trying to link against. Go to: Project -> Properties -> Linker -> General -> Additional Library Directories and add the directory where the library can be found.
error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol
These are a pain for beginners, and they look daunting. What it means is that the compiler cannot find the implementation of a function (.cpp) that was specified in a header file (.h). Your application may build fine, but when the compiler starts to pull all of the application together (linking), it spits out those errors. Almost ALWAYS, this is to do with not linking a certain library. According to what the unresolved external errors are suggesting, is the library that you need to link to. e.g. if it’s a load of Ogre functions, that means you haven’t linked to OgreMain.lib. Go to Project -> Properties -> Linker -> Input -> Additional Dependencies and add it.
|
