Black screen

edited August 2017 in Help request
Hi guys. Starting to lose hope with configuring orx on win 10 64bit :| I've been following grey's tutorial for linux x64, which was fine. Currently I'm trying to configure on win 10 with visual basic 2017. The problem is that even everything compiles, all I get is an empty console and a separate empty black screen. If I add some input to game, console logs those inputs, but screen stays blank - no errors, no warnings- nothing. Plus, even Project.ini has parameters for screen size 640*480, black window opens in the same resolution as my screen is. Maybe somebody else had same issue? Thanks in advance :huh:

Comments

  • edited August 2017
    Hi Zigzauer and welcome here!

    Which version of orx are you using? Is it the latest from hg/git repos or a binary package?

    The symptoms you describe make me think that orx doesn't find a Display section and initiates with the default parameters (hence the black screen that matches the desktop resolution).

    Are you using the debug version? If not, I'd recommend using it to see which messages it'd give you. It should be pretty verbose if it doesn't find the config file (which would be my guess).

    Let us know how it goes!
  • edited August 2017
    Hi Zigzauer,

    Don't lose hope. That particular tutorial may be aging a little, so I'll need to check it for win 10 / vs 2017. It might need fixing up.

    Perhaps you might be better following along with the beginner's tutorial at: http://orx-project.org/wiki/guides/beginners

    In the meantime, if you want to do a small test, try changing the background color in your config with:

    [Viewport]
    Camera = Camera
    BackgroundColor = (255, 0, 0)

    This will test that it is rendering at least. You might be having problems with object positions versus the camera position.

    Let us know how you get on. We'll get you up and going somehow.
  • edited August 2017
    well, probably not the most professional solution, but I just took tutorial-vs2015-64, removed everything except 10_Locale project, built it and it seems to work fine. What was wrong with last config still bothers me, but for now I'll probably try to built everything on it.
    About what sausage, config did not do anything, screen doesn't change according to params. Anyway, thanks for a such instant response. If I'll figure out what was wrong with that custom config, will let you know ;)
  • edited August 2017
    zigzauer wrote:
    well, probably not the most professional solution, but I just took tutorial-vs2015-64, removed everything except 10_Locale project, built it and it seems to work fine.

    That's totally fine. I often use a tutorial download for scratching out quick ideas. We have a more formal project template being put together at the moment to help in these very situations.

    zigzauer wrote:
    What was wrong with last config still bothers me, but for now I'll probably try to built everything on it.
    About what sausage, config did not do anything, screen doesn't change according to params. Anyway, thanks for a such instant response. If I'll figure out what was wrong with that custom config, will let you know ;)

    I'll try that linux tutorial out and see if it has gone stale.
  • edited August 2017
    zigzauer wrote:
    I've been following grey's tutorial for linux x64, which was fine. Currently I'm trying to configure on win 10 with visual basic 2017.

    zigzauer, can you link me the specific tutorial you followed and the download link of orx you used to do this? I'll use the same setup as you to hunt it down.
  • edited August 2017
    I checked this tutorial:

    http://orx-project.org/wiki/tutorials/community/grey/tutorial2

    against the 1.8 binary version of orx and it is still valid. Works fine. Is this the one you used?

    If you got an empty black screen, was it a huge black screen (ie not the 640x480) you expected? If so, the name of your config file could be wrong and your application may not be finding it.

    Orx will generate a log file in the bin folder with any problems it finds.
  • edited August 2017
    I'll check the logs in the evening and yes, I've followed grey tutorial using https://github.com/orx/orx/releases/download/1.8/orx-dev-vs2015-64-1.8.zip.
    As for linux, everything went fine using codeblocks. I'll try to find why my console was not logging any exceptions. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the problem was my config and inability to find *.ini, just not sure where specifically it went wrong
  • edited August 2017
    Also feel free to zip up the vs2017 project on grey's tutorial you did and attach it. I can give it a shot then.

    (But just remove big visual studio binaries)
  • edited August 2017
    I'm glad you got it working another way. Sorry for the slow replies on my side as I'm currently on vacation.

    As Sausage pointed out, we're working on an automated way to init a base project from a template, hopefully that'll get in before the end of the month.

    Aside from that, if you post an archive with your original project, I'd be happy to have a look on my side as well.

    Don't hesitate to use the chat either if you feel like it. =)
  • edited August 2017
    Regarding the initial .ini file, orx will look by default for a file that matches the name of the executable, replacing the extension with .ini. Of course if one is on linux, the names have to be identical in a case sensitive way.
    It'll look for that file in the same folder than the executable itself.
    If you wish to load the initial config file from a different folder/directory or with a different name, that can be done through the config bootstrap but I do not know if we currently have any tutorials about that part.
  • edited August 2017
    iarwain wrote:
    that can be done through the config bootstrap but I do not know if we currently have any tutorials about that part.

    *Wayne pull rabbit out of hat*: http://orx-project.org/wiki/tutorials/changing_default_config_file

    That will show you how. However, probably best not worry about this right now, and just ensure your config file has the same matching name as the executable to ensure orx finds it, eg:

    zigzauer.exe
    zigzauer.ini

    or

    zigzauerd.exe
    zigzauerd.ini

    :P
  • edited August 2017
    Thanks a lot for helping me out. Sorry about the zip, forgot to commit to mercurial as nothing worked so now everything is overridden by current project :| Still, I'm pretty sure it was some dumb config issue...it's also possible I made some dublication in one of *.ini's so viewport config got overriden by broken config
  • edited August 2017
    Yeah it's usually just a simple config thing which gets easier to spot over time as you use it more.

    Good to hear you sorted it out.

    Don't forget, you can come chat on gitter for faster help (link on the left of this site).

    Or just forum posts if you're not in too much of a hurry.
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