Open Source 3D/graphics Engine ?

[paddy]

Can't find anything in regards to an engine that will actuly work with
Pandora's hardware so i am asking if there is one ?

I know that some very talented people from this forum are creating an engine
that will work with the pandora's graphical hardware but i really need to get busy
with creating something i want on the pandora but i need a full spec 3d engine
that would allow me to create a game specifically for Pandora.

I am sick of always reading about what the Pandora can't do and can't run
there must be something fairly good that can be ported to arm/Pandora ?

ps ,i am not a code wiz junkie and can only work with gui driven menu systems
and lite code instructions.

Paddy

 

[Aimless_E]

-snip-


There are a few engines that have been ported to the arm arch that have working builds on the pandora
http://pandorawiki.org/Projects_Under_Development would be a good place to start. Look under the "Graphics Engines"

 

[dflemstr]

My list of preferred engines that I think should work fine:

1. OpenSceneGraph (C++)
2. OGRE (C++)
3. OpenTK (Mono)
4. Ardor + JOGL (Java)
5. Irrlicht (C++/Java/Mono)

PS. Aimless_E, please don't quote the whole post if you're the first one to respond to a thread

 

[Aimless_E]

My apologizes.

 

[atomicthumbs]

ps ,i am not a code wiz junkie and can only work with gui driven menu systems
and lite code instructions.

Unfortunately, there are very few 3D engines that simple.

 

[paddy]

Ogre3d looks like my cup o tea so thank you very much for your help dflemstr.

Actuly OpenSceneGraph looks awsome ,so could i simply write a game/project
on one of these engines and once it's finnished it can be ported to Pandora ?
i would be using windows but i have ubuntu as well if needed.

 

[paddy]

Guys , I am thinking of using ogre3d but have a few questions if someone could answer
I would much appreciate it.

If I use ogre3d ,and write a game using ogre3d on windows ,can the game be ported
to Pandora via this method or do I need to compile ogre3d to run on the Pandora and
then write my project on the Pandora ?

When I was asking about an engine that would be compatible with Pandora I also
meant an engine that I could run on the Pandora via the OS ,can I compile ogre3d
and my project for Pandora ?

This is really what I would love to do ...

Have ogre3d running on windows and also running on Pandora OS ,when it comes
time for testing , I can simply transfer the project to the Pandora and execute
the project from either ogre3d app within Pandora OS ,or run the ready compiled
code /pnd ? to run off of the Pandora.

Is this possible ,if not then would another 3d engine offer this ?

kind regards and thanks for any help

Paddy

 

[Letalis Sonus]

The engine itself will most likely run well on the Pandora, but that does not mean your program will automatically be portable and runnable on the Pandora, too. Some pitfalls - especially if you're developing for/within Windows - are e.g.:
- using backslashes for paths (Windows also supports normal slashes in paths, so use them as any other system uses only normal slashes)
- using system-dependent libraries (namely the Win32 API). If you need some system functions that are not part of the C++ standard use portable libraries instead, e.g. the GLib which is preinstalled on the Pandora provides lots of system and other miscellaneous functions in a portable way

As far as you try to keep your code portable there shouldn't be any problems with compiling your game for the Pandora, guidelines for writing portable code can be found all over the net. But you still need to compile your program and likely also the engine for the Pandora, either by using an ARM cross-compiler toolchain or by compiling it on the Pandora itself, for that purpose it would be useful to work with GCC/MinGW before, so you'll know how to do it.

 

[zhasha]

- using system-dependent libraries (namely the Win32 API). If you need some system functions that are not part of the C++ standard use portable libraries instead, e.g. the GLib which is preinstalled on the Pandora provides lots of system and other miscellaneous functions in a portable way

I don't particularly mean to nitpick here, but you're already asserting he's writing something in C++, so he should probably use boost rather than GLib. I don't favor boost in any way but GLib is supposed to be a replacement for STL usable in C, and not really all that awesome if you're writing C++ code anyway.

 

[Letalis Sonus]

Yeah right, I totally forgot about that, used too much C in the last time... Still, with glibmm there is also a C++ wrapper. Are the boost libraries confirmed to be preinstalled? As we'll have XFCE/GTK+ and Clutter the GLib will definitely be there, that's for sure.

 

[zhasha]

Yeah right, I totally forgot about that, used too much C in the last time... Still, with glibmm there is also a C++ wrapper. Are the boost libraries confirmed to be preinstalled? As we'll have XFCE/GTK+ and Clutter the GLib will definitely be there, that's for sure.

There are no boost libraries. It's all header code

 

[Letalis Sonus]

Well, Synaptic tells me that all the little parts of Boost have .so files, what are these then?

 

[zhasha]

Well, Synaptic tells me that all the little parts of Boost have .so files, what are these then?

Huh, you seem to be correct. I was just relaying what those gnasty C++ zealots told me last time I said "no boost, I don't want to ship 800 libraries with my application."

A quick look at the boost library page reveals at least some of the mystery. Most boost stuff is header only, but some claim "automatic linking" which I've no idea what means but probably has to do with system specific libraries that are automatically linked against by some insane #pragma magic. In any case, boost is probably a safe bet when it comes to C++

 

[PhillipJ]

This is really what I would love to do ...

Doing your development under x86 Linux (rather than Windows) will probably ease your porting Pandora arm Linux. If you don't want to dual boot then a virtual machine does the trick pretty well. You can also back up a copy of it when you have your dev environment set up. Of course, that's only helpful if you don't want your game to run under Windows.

 

[paddy]

Thanks for all the advice guys ,i am using a dual boot windows 7/ubuntu so i would
simply compile the sdk for ubuntu and keep the code portable.

 

[kojack]

If I use ogre3d ,and write a game using ogre3d on windows ,can the game be ported
to Pandora via this method or do I need to compile ogre3d to run on the Pandora and
then write my project on the Pandora ?

Ogre abstracts the render system, so for the most part you shouldn't need to change any ogre related code for a project to be compiled for the pandora. It's just a rendering library though, you'll still need to provide pandora compatible input, sound, physics and whatever else you require.

ps ,i am not a code wiz junkie and can only work with gui driven menu systems and lite code instructions.

Then Ogre isn't really for you. It requires a good understanding of object oriented coding in C++ to do anything with it.

 

[paddy]

I am very used to 3dgs for windows ,it's gui based with c basic for instructions and i have no problems with it ,i will however learn more as i go so i need something with a simular gui structure,the coding if c++ is not really a problem if i am not forced to do everything in c++.

If anyone knows of a simular app that i can write to and eventuly port to Pandora please let me know ,that would be great tho another problem would be writing a project in spec of the Pandora hardware,however i still would love to use the app on the Pandora OS if possible as it would speed up game development greatly.

Paddy