   [MDX] How do I really get started?
  Hi all,So for today I have been trying to get started with MDX. I grabbed a copy of Ron Preton's book "Beginning C# Game Programming" from the library, and only to read till chapter 7 and discover that the code is outdated. A trip to his website shows that there's no update to the source at all. Okay...There's lots of tutorials on the Internet. But as I read through the comments, there seems to be a new malvolent entity called MDX 2.0 and I'm not sure if I can steer clear of it. And hence because of MDX 2.0, it seems that everything is outdated, thanks to the fact that I am using the latest 2006 Summer DirectX SDK.Can I avoid MDX 2? Is there anywhere I can find the most updated tutorials? I go to Microsoft's offical tutorials (www.coding4fun.net) and even the tutorials there seems to be outdated.Any advice will be welcomed!Thanks in advance!   
  Hi,MDX 2.0 will never be released in its current form. It will be rolled into the XNA Framework from Microsoft, which will not be released anytime soon. So I'd rather stick with MDX 1.1.For some info I'd go tohttp://www.thezbuffer.comorhttp://www.mdxinfo.comfrom there you should find your way into the world of mdx without a problem.Hope this helps;  I have had this problem too... stay away from MDX 2.0 for now.. it's kind of buggy (considering it's still in beta) and it will most likely change a lot as the above poster said.For MDX 1.1, I found the following to be very usefulhttp://pluralsight.com/wiki/default.aspx/Craig.DirectX/Direct3DTutorialIndex.htmlhttp://www.riemers.net/Cheers,Aditya   ;  Can I choose which verison of MDX to use? Does the latest SDK comes with both?   ;  Yep, when you add the necessary references, Visual Studio will show both the 2.0 as well as the 1.0 assemblies. In the SDK Sample Browser you'll also find normal (MDX1) projects and the 2.0 samples. As said, stay away from MDX 2.0 for now though. It's in beta and it will not be released in it's current form at all. It will be evolved into the XNA Framework, on which you can find a lot more info on the Zbuffer site mentioned above.   ;Quote:Original post by ExtrakunCan I choose which verison of MDX to use? Does the latest SDK comes with both?Quote:Original post by remigiusYep, when you add the necessary references, Visual Studio will show both the 2.0 as well as the 1.0 assemblies.There's a section in your Solution Explorer named References, unfold it. You'll see a list of references. Pay attention to references starting with 'Microsoft.DirectX'. When you double click on them it will tell you the version of that reference. If it's the wrong version remove it and add the right version.;  Thanks!I just tried this out, and notice that there numerous references for Direct3DX...will anyone of them do?   ;  Each SDK version (bimonthly) has a new version of the native D3DX_NN.dll, so managed directx has to have a new wrapper.If you are starting a new project choose the highest version. If at some point in the future you need a new feature in D3DX then you can choose to move to a new version but you may find you have to change your code a little.When you build the installer for your application you have to make sure you include the matching versions of the runtime (or use the web installer which makes sure you have every version since summer 04)Article on Managed DirectX assembly/file versions;  The only help I can offer you on this Extrakun is to explain to you the way I started. I went through the whole "getting a window" up and running and then rendering triangles until I got the basics covered. Then I went back and tried to udnerstand what is happening behind the scenes. After that I went on to shaders and so on. With shaders I tried to replicate what I have already done in the fixed function pipeline. I suggest that you go to www.mdxinfo.com, check out the basic tutorials there and use MDX1.1. Don't worry about MDX2.0 for now.I hope this helps.Take care.   ;  I got that book too and also ran into the same problems due to changes in MDX in newer DX SDK releases. I guess the changes were just too much for Ron since the last post on his website stated that he was going to update code to work with newer MDX versions but I guess he got fed up with new versions of MDX coming out every other month that the last thing I rember him posting was that MDX sprite !@@#$ SUCKED or something to that effect. Oh well that's going to happen if you want to live on the bleeding edge!If you want to learn MDX with any of the other books out there right now you have no choice but to avoid MDX 2 since none of them use it as far as I know.thezbuffer site mentioned is one of the best site's on managed DX I know of so you should check it out especially since they also have updated MDX code for most of the managed dx books out there which I probably own!http://thezbuffer.com/categories/books.aspx   