hello jcl,

i've got a question: i want to use the sdk to create a dll which replaces a mesh of a given entity. the dll is to be used with a7. the mesh is created with D3DXCreateMeshFVF, the flags are set to D3DXMESH_MANAGED | D3DXMESH_32BIT and the vertex format is the one described in the manual (D3DFVF_TLSHADED). the mesh is then set to the entity via ent_setmesh(entity, mesh, 0, 0). this process works properly.

now, when i delete the mesh, i call mesh->Release() and ent_setmesh(entity, NULL, 0, 0). now, when i have multiple entities sharing the same mesh, i have to call that only for the last entity, obviously. but now, for the last entity, the dll crashes. i took out mesh->Release() and it didn't crash - one time. the next time i tried it crashed again. it also crashed when i just closed the engine window, even though i'm calling Release() for all meshes i created in DLL_PROCESS_DETACH. here again, it worked once by taking out ent_setmesh, crashed again, i took out the Release-stuff and it worked one time but then crashed.

could it be that the error comes from the mesh format, a different dx sdk version (i'm using april 08), or... well, i'm somehow stuck here because sometimes the crash happens in the engine (ent_setmesh) and sometimes in the dll (Release).

i'd be very grateful for any hint you might have.

Call ent_setmesh(entity, NULL, 0, 0) _before_ releasing the mesh - otherwise a crash on release is likely.

Apart from that, I'd also first look for possible reasons in the different mesh format and the different DirectX version. Omit the D3DXMESH_32BIT flag - that will cause crashes on old video cards when the mesh is animated. And try the SDK that A7 is using, that's April 2006.

i've installed the old sdk which made the whole stuff work one time but then crashed again when removing the mesh.

but now i could track down the error, the crashes weren't that random anymore. if i call mesh->Release() after ent_setmesh(entity, NULL, 0, 0) the thing crashes. i tend to think that ent_setmesh already released the mesh. how i can know that? well, if i release the mesh before calling ent_setmesh the latter one crashes, so at least it tries to do something with the old mesh.

i'm not sure, but since the crashes don't occur any more... but i don't want to bloat my memory consumption, neither!

thanks for the hint with the sdk, it helped a lot! the D3DXMESH_32BIT changed nothing, though, and anyway, how are you supposed to create meshes with more than 2^16 vertices without 32 bit indices?

joey.

and another question, can it be that the engine already deletes meshes when quitting, because when i try to release meshes - which haven't been released before - on DLL_PROCESS_DETACH, the whole stuff crashes again.

Yes to both. The engine releases all its DirectX objects when it exits, and it also releases its previous mesh when you set a new mesh, or set it to NULL. That's the reason for your release crashes - I should have thought about that.

ok then i'd like to suggest that you remove the hint in the manual which tells you to release the meshes by yourself.

thanks jcl!

I rather leave the hint and disable releasing the mesh on ent_setmesh(entity, NULL, 0, 0). The mesh should not be released by that call, but just set to NULL for preventing a release on exit.

that's probably better, yes, then we can also use newer directx sdk versions and release our stuff ourselves.