I agree as well, hell those on the list (Leon?) can defiantly agree that I have asked my share utterly stupid retarded ridiculous absurd moronic questions ;) why? Hell I have no clue about the SDK and don't even attempt to think I do. I have a semi (hell 100% home schooled) grasp (at times) of c++ which limits what I can do/ understand in the SDK.
All in all I have defiantly learned a boat load (thanks to the list and private emails to Valve members) sense I started mucking with the SDK nearly 6 months or so ago! It does wonders to try something, have it core dump and leave you sitting in front of that (POS) MSVS debugger wondering WTF did I do and why the F it is not working. -Ron -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Christopher Long Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 10:30 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [hlcoders] THE DREADED NOOB POST i'll have to agree with mr botman. Thats the way i went through it. I'm still not 100% great with the sdk, as i haven't touched triapi, monster ai, player movement prediction OR the model rendering stuff... But i get to each one as i require to make a new change. When first looking at the sdk its daunting. Its bloody big and scary and you don't know what half the crap does(and yes at first it looks like crap) Trial and error to begin with is what lets you learn the sdk. You get crashes here and there then realize that your trying to access hud elements no initialized etc and you learn the tricks of the trade. If you have a fairly good c++ background knowing pointers and OOP stuff you should be good to go. If you know nothing then i pity you plunging into it.... but since you stated you have c++ knowledge then your right :) just hang in there... it took me the 1 year i have spent with it to get where i am... others have spent longer. Make sure you enjoy it all the time too or learning becomes a major bitch :/ just my 2 cents. ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 9:30 AM Subject: Re: [hlcoders] THE DREADED NOOB POST > I found the easiest way was to create a mod (not like release it, just plan > out some ideas), because then if you know what your aiming for, you know > what you have to do! > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "botman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 8:39 PM > Subject: Re: [hlcoders] THE DREADED NOOB POST > > > > > Hello to all the respected established coders of this list. My names > > Richard > > > and I'm yet another one of those annoying newbie coders who has 100 > > questions > > > but I'll them brake down to one. > > > > <snip> > > > > There isn't any kind of "overall reference" or "API reference" to the > > Half-Life SDK. Fully understanding the SDK requires a medium to advanced > > level of knowledge in C++. The only way you will learn how things work is > > by looking at and playing with the SDK source code. You will run into > MANY, > > MANY times when something doesn't work (the game crashes, goes into an > > infinite loop, or doesn't do some effect that you are trying to do). In > > fact, you will find that there are more times when something doesn't work > > than you have when something does work. You will learn by trial and > error. > > Some of these errors you will repeat over and over and will eventually > learn > > not to do those things (via negative reinforcement). > > > > The best way to become completely frustrated with the SDK is to start out > by > > ripping out 70% or 80% of what's there and completely replacing it with > all > > your own code. You will find that you get dozens/hundreds of compiler > > errors and when you finally do get rid of all the compiler errors, the > game > > crashed deep inside the Half-Life engine (where you can't determine what > > caused the crash). > > > > The best way to NOT get frustrated with the SDK is making very tiny small > > changes one by one to the SDK source code and testing things out after > each > > small change. Once you begin to understand how the variables, classes and > > functions are used, you will find yourself making much larger changes at a > > time and will find that you have fewer and fewer problems with new code. > > The time span for this learning curve can be anywhere from 2 or 3 months > up > > to 6 months or more, depending on your skill level in programming and your > > experience with programming in C++. > > > > Also, ALWAYS save backup copies of stuff that you are about to change so > > that you can easily roll back to a working version when you completely > screw > > something up (which you will do more than once). > > > > When browsing through the SDK source code, it's useful to have several > > editor windows open at once to view the .cpp and .h files in the dlls > folder > > and also to be able to view the .h files in the engine and common folders > as > > well. > > > > Start with the thing that the engine deals with, the edict_t structure. > > This can be found in the engine\progdefs.h file. Every entity created in > > the game has one of these structures. It contains things like origin (3D > > world coordinates), health, velocity, angles and so on. This edict_t > > structure is pointed to by a class member variable called "pev". Wherever > > you see "pev" used, just think "edict_t". For example you'll see > > "pev->health", or "pev->angles" or "pev->velocity" used all over the > place. > > > > Every entity in the SDK source code is based on the CBaseEntity class and > > every other class inherits directly or indirectly from this CBaseEntity > > class. Look in the cbase.h and cbase.cpp files for the member variables > and > > functions for this base class. > > > > Everything else is just inheritance of the CBaseEntity class with stuff > > throw in for that specific type of entity (for example, weapons contain > > ammo, players have weapons, etc.). Pretty much all "basic" C++ type > stuff. > > > > If you can resist the urge to try to change too much stuff at once and try > > to understand one small piece of the puzzle at a time, it won't be too > long > > before you are getting up to speed on how to create your own MOD with the > > SDK. > > > > Jeffrey "botman" Broome > > > > _______________________________________________ > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
