Before I get 3dgs/A7 Commercial edition...

Before I get 3d game studio/A7 Commercial edition...

...Noob Questions:
1. I've read in a book about 3dgs that it can play sounds, but only short sounds. How long (seconds and/or minutes) can 3dgs play one sound? How can I use longer sounds in my 3dgs games for things like characters talking, or having a long conversation?

2. In the same book I mentioned (it was called "The Official Guide to 3D Gamestudio A6", and I have it), it also talked about Finit State Machines for advanced AI. Are Finit State Machines for human simulation games possible in 3dgs, using lots of "if... then... else" statements as the Finit State Machines?

it can play sounds for as long as you want
evan play songs in mp3 format

Not the greatest, but it gets the job done, there is also a plugin for it.

1. who the hell told this to you...
2.you can realize theorytically any algorithm in 3dgs, there are already some advanced ai projects out there.

ps. i dont have the book but heard that it is useless.

ps2. i guess you should take a look at lite-c free or trial version to see if it suits your needs. Buying commerical at the begining is not necesassary(since it will take time to learn things), first you get the basics with free version then you can buy it. This is my personal opinion tho..

One thing is clear...developing a good looking 3D project is really not easy!
Just a tip besides!

Actually, for now, I changed my mind about 3dgs, because i'm still trying to master Dark Basic Pro, with all the expansion packs I have. So, I guess using 3dgs, for me, would make programming a lot harder, since trying to learn a basic languange is still hard for me. I think I should try to master Dark Basic before I even try 3dgs. Nothing against 3dgs though, because I might buy it after I master Dark Basic Pro. That would be the next step up to being a good programmer.

When I can give an advice, try both 3DGS and Dark Basic. I did that some years ago and began with Dark Basic, and changed to Gamestudio after 2 months because I found that everything, really everything, is a lot easier to code in Gamestudios C language than in Dark Basic. Normally a Dark Basic program has to be twice as long to do the same as a lite-C program. Of course some find Basic easier and want to pay that price, so try both. For my taste lite-C is easier to understand.

There are other things about Dark Basic that I did not like, it was a lot less stable than Gamestudio and you have to pay for many expansions like Physics that are already included in Gamestudio.

@Tobias - that sounds like a good bunch of advice to me! Is there a listing of commands for lite-c on this site somewhere?
I just want to see what the commands are like, before I try 3dgs commercial, or even just plain lite-c. You might be right about DBPro, and I have had and used DBPro for more than just a few months now. I've got the basics of DarkBasic(Pro) down pretty good, and you are right about all the expansion packs for DBPro. After looking at the features (of each 3dgs edition), I guess 3dgs is like all those DBPro expansions combined!

all commands(functions) are listed in the manual

or
http://www.conitec.net/beta/acknex.htm ->online manual

Thanks Quadraxas, I learned something by looking at that online manual: Both basic and 'higher level' progamming lanuages and/or game engines mostly have the same standard commands. For example, both DBPro, and 3dgs have commands for: arrays, types, if...then...else, loops, and functions.

These are all things I know about, but I still have trouble sometimes in DBPro using types, and arrays. Those two are things I must work on, so I will know how to use them correctly, especially when and if I get 3dgs A7 Commercial.

i'd choose a C-type language over a BASIC language any day. Not only are there performance differences but c syntax is just nicer to read, in my opinion. My biggest problem with BASIC is that it doesn't use traditional code blocks or semi-colons at the end of statements.

Most languages share common features though, so whatever language you start out in, it's usually quite easy to switch. I personally started on VB 2005, then c-script, then lite-c, C# and C++.

@DJBMASTER - I'd have to get used to placing semi-colons at the end of each statement, because i've never done that before. DBPro doesn't need semi-colons for the code to work, and I don't think it uses semi-colons. I just know i've seen people coding in C++, Borland C++ Builder, VisualBasic, and possibly others too.

@everyone - I've never coded in anything 'c-related', so I think it's best for me to start reading the online manual for 3dgs, considering it talks about all the commands and how to use them. I saw parts of the maunal a few days ago, and they give great examples, but I wish they put more comments in the code examples, so newbies like me could understand the examples better. IMO, there isn't enough comments in the manual's code examples.

Twink,

why don't you look at Cobra?
The Cobra game programming language.

www.cobrabytes.com

cheers

@falagar8 - I never heard of that programming language, and I checked the site from the link you gave me.

The forum there seems to be less active than many other forums i've seen. I don't see a forum there where I could post questions specific to the Cobra language. The only place I saw for asking for help with Cobra is the "Contact" link. They have the least users I have ever seen on any forum.

So, in other words, I don't think I want it. Just my preference, but I think i'll go for 3dgs commercial around my birtday/Xmas in December. As much as I love Dark Basic Pro, I think it's time for me to learn a more advanced programming languange.

Cobra is sort of like Dark Basic Pro, where you buy the original product, but you must buy expansion packs to get extra or better features. For example, if you want Cobra's 3d commands, you have to buy the 2d version of Cobra, then buy Cobra 3D separately for more money.

Hello Kitty.

here is a Hello Kitty screensaver




I did this in a few hours with Cobra. My Hello Kitty saver is interactive too. And I'm adding more features and options too.

But each to his own programming language, game development system for games and other multimedia applications.
True, you have to buy each one separately or even all in one. But thats the marketing decision of the developer of Cobra.
Although the forums are a zombie house, there is a wealth of wisdom and knowledge in the tutorials, many examples and the manual itself.
but Graham, Fluke and a few others will try to answer your questions and concerns. And you can try on the Socoder forums too. Mostly Blitz Basic but also Cobra too. HoboBen is really cool and knowledgeable.
And yeah, there is always me too.

That's a nice screensaver, but I still don't see why me, or anyone should buy Cobra. There are not enough tutorials there to show me how to use the language, but then again, a manual sounds good. Where is the manual? I can't find it anywhere. Is it a good manual, full of documentation and examples for each command, sort of like 3dgs's manual?

I'd use acknex over db anytime because of the ability to use a semi oop setup.

@Twink,

hey thank you.
It took me just a few hours to do the screen saver. And I'm adding more features and options too.
And as I told some of my friends...its not the usual screen saver. But one where the some of the contents are dynamic and the whole screen saver can be interactive. You can just sit back and watch the whole thing like a demo run or press a key or click the mouse or drop it on some area and some of the content will change and/or provide extra features and options.

The manual for Cobra for both the demo and the full version are built into when using the IDE editor. But you can also extract the compiled html help file too and run it. I decompiled it into normal html files.
I don't know about the full version cause I only have the demo of both Cobra 2d and Cobra 3d package. But the tutorials and the examples for some reason are installed into your default Document and Settings directory and in the folder My Cobra Projects. I copied these into another folder onto the main hard drive. And in a folder called 'cobraexamples'

I don't know about others, but its your choice and decision whether to buy it or not.
But whatever you use to code and program, remember above all else and first to enjoy, have fun and learn.