GAM531/DPS931 Student Resources

Game Engine Foundations

GAM531/DPS931 | Weekly Schedule | Student List | Project Requirements | Teams and their Projects | Student Resources

Student Resources

The purpose of this page is to share useful information that can help students with their course work, projects and studying.

Fixing Error cannot open file 'ÿþ/.exe'

I ran into this error when I tried to run the engine on my desktop at home. It took me awhile to find the solution, so for those who are having the same problem as me here's what you need to do.

1. Go into your SysWOW64 folder under C:\Windows or wherever you have it at.

2. Replace the files c1.dll, c2.dll and cl.exe with the ones under the bin folder of your Visual Studio directory.

For me it's under (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin). You might want to make backups of those files.

That's all you need to do in order to compile the engine. The problem is that those files under SysWOW64 are horrendously outdated, and since it's the folder Visual Studio looks at for those files you just need to replace them with the newer versions.

-tqyu

Fixing Error S1023 for DirectX SDK

I had issues installing the DirectX SDK June 2010. I kept getting an error (S1023).

I found a blog that explains how to fix the error.http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2011/12/09/known-issue-directx-sdk-june-2010-setup-and-the-s1023-error.aspx

From the blog:

(1) Remove the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package version 10.0.40219 (Service Pack 1) from the system (both x86 and x64 if applicable). This can be easily done via a command-line with administrator rights:

MsiExec.exe /passive /X{F0C3E5D1-1ADE-321E-8167-68EF0DE699A5}

MsiExec.exe /passive /X{1D8E6291-B0D5-35EC-8441-6616F567A0F7}

(2) Install the DirectX SDK (June 2010)

(3) Reinstall the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package version 10.0.40219 (Service Pack 1). On an x64 system, you should install both the x86 and x64 versions of the C++ REDIST. Be sure to install the most current version available , which at this point is the KB 2565063 with a security fix.

Following those steps fixed my problem with the installation of DirectX SDK.

-maronin

Power Tools for Visual Studio

I found a neat extension for VS that includes productivity tools that makes it even better to use. I just thought I'd share this.

Link

Some of the tools include useful features like:

• highlighting all occurrences of a word

• triple click to highlight entire line

• formatting tool to align assignment

• ctrl+click to the source of the defenition

• and more...

You can always disable a feature that you don't want in tools>options>Productivity Extension.

Note: This extension only works with 2010 version of Visual Studio.

-maronin

A Note on Visual Studio Includes

• Brings this uptodate for DirectX June 2010 SDK

A problem that we ran into here at Team Mutalisk was that ourvcxproj file was being committed into the repository along with the committing user's include information. The problem with this was that other members had different include paths to the DX SDK and so when they updated after that user had committed, their vcxprojfile would be updated and the project would not compile for them.

We've come up with a solution to this problem:

1. Set the header include path (Solution->Right-Click Project->Properties->Configuration Properties->VC++ Directories->Include Directories) for the project to: $(IncludePath);%INCLUDE%;
2. Set the library include path (Solution->Right-Click Project->Properties->Configuration Properties->VC++ Directories->Library Directories) for the project to: $(LibraryPath);%LIB%;
3. Do this for all configurations (Solution->Right-Click Project->Properties->Configuration(top of box))
4. Create/Set the environmental variables INCLUDE andLIB on your system. Do this through the Environment Variables dialog box.
   • (Win7/Vista: Start Menu->Right-Click Computer->Properties->Advanced system settings->Advanced tab->Environment Variables)
   • (WinXP: Start Menu->Right-Click My Computer->Properties->Advanced tab->Environment Variables)
5. You can add the environment variables to either only your account, at which point the project will only compile when you are logged into your own account, or to the entire system, at which point the project will compile will compile on any account on your machine. Make a decision and then click New under the appropriate list (top is user, bottom is system).
   • Please note that in order to modify system environmental variables, your account must possess admin privileges or you must know the admin credentials (win 7) or must be logged into the admin account (Vista or older).
6. First create the variable INCLUDE. EnterINCLUDE in the Variable name box. Enter the path to your DX SDK/Include in the Variable value box; eg if my DX SDK is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007) then the value of my INCLUDE variable would be: C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007)\Include;
7. Second create the variable LIB. Enter LIBin the Variable name box. Enter the path to your DX SDK/Lib/x86 in the Variable value box; eg if my DX SDK is located atC:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007) then the value of my LIB variable would be: C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007)\Lib\x86;
   • Please note that if either of the two variables already exists on your system, simply edit its value and concatenate the relevant path to its current value. Ensure that all paths are separated by semicolons. Eg: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007)\Lib\x86;
8. Logout then login to refresh the windows environmental variable cache.
9. Attempt to compile the project. Assuming that you have no syntax errors or other unrelated problems, the project should compile. If it does, then it's time commit the vcxproj file to your repository. Now that it's up there, others can modify it (add/remove files) without worrying about breaking other group members' dependencies.

This concludes the vcxproj tutorial, cheers!

-northWind

Useful code snippets

   foo("Hello World");