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.