   .x files
  can anyone point me in the direction of a decent .x file tutorial?  Ive been having trouble.  I read in a book on directX how .x allowed for a lot of features including collision dectection.  Im assuming Id have to write my own templates but I cant even find any information in the directX SDK help file.  Some immediate features Im looking for would be passing stats to the program through the .x file.  Im trying to make a 3D tanks game so Id want things like speed/power/hp/price to be included in the .x file that has the tank model.   
  This might help you get started:http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/directx/It's basically just an overview of how information is stored in .x files.-Chris   ;  yea thanks I saw that already.  It explains the basics, and a few of the built in templates but I still dont see how to do what I want.   ;  there is one by microsoft MVP guy... not bothering to look it up.  this is how i learned to manipulate .X filestutorial   ;  sorry, link didnt work http://www.mvps.org/directx/articles/d3dxmesh.htm   ;  thanks a lot, Ill check it out.   ;  All they did was supply a way to extend their .X file parser to allow your own data formats (including hierarchical) in the file.   New templates specify the valid data format, but its still up to you to write the parts of the program that make use of that data.   ;  that link didnt work for me, I get about 50 random characters displayed when I go there.   ;  Does it have to be .X format? Since you are going to have to write most of the custom data parsing yourself why not go the whole hog and write your own model format? If you can only export to .x from your dcc it is simple enough to write a small app to read in .x and dump out the vertex/index/material information into your own format.   ;  http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/load_x_hierarchy.htmlIs one of the best places to actually load an .x model.Personally, I wouldn't merge specific object info in a model file. It should really be in a seperate file.   