   So now what (needing general or specific advice)
  Alright let us assume for the most part that I''m a competent C++ Programmer.  That being said let us assume I have a good deal of knowledge in where I''d like my game (project) to go.  Let''s ALSO assume that I have basic fundamental knowledge of DirectX and can load a .x file mesh, render simple polygons and cubes and whatever.  What''s my next step?I''m having serious trouble wrapping my head around working on my engine.  FOr one thing I don''t have much time to commit.  For another thing I don''t have help.I suppose it''s just a matter of not knowing what the best thing to do is.  If several 3d engines load .x meshes to display or animate their objects then what is the fundamental difference between those engines?  Shaders?  Or is the correct answer "Don''t use the .x format you moron!  Make your own!" ?  Which actually makes sense because I still haven''t learned how the .x files, templates, and animations come together.  Sorry for the lengthy post.  Someone please help.  Thank you 
  A graphics engine isn''t jsut about rendering.  What makes one graphics engine different from the other are things like structure - octrees & quadtrees etc.  Resource managmetn is also important.  Different culling methods are suited to different environments (outside or inside).Rendering methods may give similar results but they can differ substantsiolly (donow how you spell that).  Does the engine use pixel shaders?Lighting is also a very important factor.  Hows lighting done?  Lightmaps, pixelshaders? etc.  How are shadows doen?  Shadow volums?  Lightmaps?  PSM''s?On first glance engiens don''t differ very much but a closer look shows that they differ greatly. ;  Ok I''m starting to see now.  An engine for a game that''s primarily inside would use something like occlusion culling while one taking place outside might use distance based occlusion or LoD mapping to save on polygons.  The occulsion culling itself could be done being ray based per polygon or using a bsp tree.  With that being said, I think I have a step in the right direction when it comes to culling.  I suppose I''ll have to research much more on shaders, lighting, and meshes (animation specifically).Oh does anyone know of any updated directx tutorials or sites.  Seems most of the tutorials on gamedev are based right around DX7.Thans again. ;  Jackbunny all I can say is just start coding. Your idea will take fruition eventually. I just started coding a game engine, as a hobby, and its fun to see yourself go from a blank screen, and for me, to actually some terrain rendered in game, or engine for now.The best tutorial for me was browsing through the source code for DirectX that came with the SDK. It shows you all the ways to load and initialize it for your game. If you want on my site I even got the docs for my source code posted, if you want a sample of a game engine being layed out.Just jump into it, you sound competent enough. And remember, there really is no magick with DX or OGL. They both just render, once you know how to do that you can use either renderer. What I would say concentrate on, it sounds you are looking into 3D, is the math. Once you know the math behind everything you can pretty much do what you need to.   In the making Tread Wars - Tank Battle gamePowered by SKEnginehttp://www.highendgaming.com