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Greets!
I'm but a newcomer here as in coding and game dev as a whole, but i'm willing to learn. Searching for a 2d engine able to concretize my rpg/adventure game, i've been impressed by Orx. But, least i could say, is that it's not so user friendly: haven't been able just to start the machine...
With git installed, i comanded the git clone for the expected output and a checked conectivity. But then, there are two setup in my root folder, wich i had to find with cortana, and when clicked, i got what seems to be the output expected, though only for a few seconds, without bein able to read the final part, and noth... Don't know what's an $ORX variable, or where's that orx/code folder. Don't know if i have the Orx source, dependencies, and newly created build project, don't know if i can compile Orx with your favourite IDE to get a working orx.dll and .lib, .dylib or .so (depending on platform), and how...
So maybe orx is too much for my meagre knowledge and skill, or maybe it's just a dificult first step?
Comments
Hi Syl and welcome here!
So, let's see if we can help you with the setup. I have to admit developing in C/C++ comes with finicky setups however we've tried to smooth it up as much as we could with orx. Did you get a chance to check the wiki's section about the setup/initial clone? I believe @sausage wrote a detailed guide for it: http://orx-project.org/wiki/en/guides/beginners/main
Don't hesitate to let him know if you see parts that can be made more beginner friendly as that's the whole point of that document.
The original setup can be summarized as:
1- clone orx's repository
2- run
setup.bat
on windows andsetup.sh
on linux/osx3- build orx
This is a one time thing. You can then use orx directly. Of course, if you decide to update it, you'll need to also compile it but you won't have to re-run
setup
yourself, so only steps #1 and #3 for updates.Now, let's check the details.
Right, once you did your clone with git, it should end up in a folder named
orx
, wherever you decided to clone it. In the root of that folder, there's thesetup.bat
/setup.sh
file that you ran. It usually only take a few seconds to run, all it does is download the external dependencies, create the build projects and set theORX
environment variable (the famous$ORX
you've mentioned).Now would be a good time to ask what is your OS? Windows? Linux? OSX?
Depending on your OS, you have a few choices of IDEs/compilers. On Windows, most people use
Visual Studio
. On OSX, it'd beXCode
. They're both supported but we also supportMakefile
,Codelite
andCode::Blocks
, on all three OSes.In order to build orx, you need to go to where you cloned orx (where
setup
is). In there, you navigate tocode/build/<your_os>/<your_ide>
. You'll find the projects to build orx there for all the mentioned systems above.In order to build orx, open the project file, and compiled the following configurations:
Release
,Profile
andDebug
.It will compile in about 30 secs for each configuration and you're all done.
Now you can create a new project by running
init.bat
/init.sh
in orx's root folder (next tosetup
). Ex:on windows:
on linux/osx
That will create a folder named
MyOwnProject
and prepare all the files to build it. All there's left to do is compile it (it should find orx automatically by using the environment variableORX
, that we've seen earlier).If you struggle with any of these steps, don't hesitate to poke us on the chat directly, there should always be someone around to help you: https://gitter.im/orx/orx
Good luck!
Hi Syl!
So you mentioned cortana, so you would mean you are using windows. Your choices are to use Visual Studio (might be easier for a beginner) or you can go down the mingw/gmake/codelite way.
We're keen to help you out if the guides are not working for you. If we can improve these for beginners, that would be great.
At the end of the day, orx will be a great choice for your rpg. You'll have quite a fast, full featured engine at your disposal.
Thxs you both!
Well, dunno what went wrong, but my init don't initialize anything...
So, to sumarize, i got the orx repository, then clicked the windows setup, saw for a few sec something like a 'compile'? scrolling in that black window... I assume that orx was built?
Then i've been to
code/build/windows/vs2017
to find but anorx.sln solution visual studio
among other vcxproj files... Clicked it to start a VS2017 process:To have my computer restart. So returned to my orx root, clicked the init, but for noth... Nothin happens.. But at least, my vs2017 folder changed:
So...
So apparently you didn't have the C++ part of VS2017 installed, hence the download on Visual Studio side.
You can now open
orx.sln
and compile the 3 configurations I mentioned earlier:Release
Profile
Debug
For
init.bat
, you can't click on it, you need to open a command line in the folder where it is and typeinit <path\to\your\new\project>
.I guess I could make a version for people who want to run it by double clicking it where it'll ask you to enter the path at that moment. I'll look into it this week.
Erh... How do i compile those 3 configurations? Opened orx.sln, to get that:
I'll take over while iarwain is sleeping
Just to be clear, init.bat is for generating your own templates to make a game with orx.
The orx.sln will allow you to compile the orx libraries for use in a game. That is the first step. Using the orx libraries in your init created template is the second step.
But to answer your question "How do i compile those 3 configurations? "
Notice in your screen shot you are about to compile
Debug
and in32 bit
(win32). I can't read the french (sorry) but select Rebuild All from your build menu.Specifically, you first need to compile the orx library with visual studio. This guide will help you do that: http://orx-project.org/wiki/en/orx/tutorials/visualstudio/cloning_and_building_orx_on_visual_studio
Next you need to make a project to use those libraries. The guide to help you do that is here: http://orx-project.org/wiki/en/tutorials/creating_your_own_project
Ok, managed the orx library, but how do I cd (what is it?) my way into the orx folder to try out the input.bat?
Ok so once you have all three configs compiled, it means you have three versions of the orx library built, orx.dll, orxp.dll, and orxd.dll. One is for release mode, one is for debugging and one is good for profiling.
You can find where they got built by looking in: \orx\code\lib\dynamic
However, you can just leave them there. When you make a project of your own, the project will know how to find these libraries (that's what the $ORX environment variable is for).
But don't worry about that.
You can now also check out the \orx\code\bin folder and try the orx.exe test program and see how the "playground" app runs on your computer.
Ok, that bounce everywhere!
But how to start the init? Where do I type it?
Cool, so now, open a command prompt and cd to your \orx folder and type:
init.bat c:\temp\MyFirstGame
(assuming you have a c:\temp folder)
A visual studio project should be created at: C:\Temp\MyFirstGame\build\windows\vs2017
Open the MyFirstGame.sln
Compile it, and run. You should see a spinning orx logo. This is your new project to use to make a game in.
Sorry, i open the command prompt, type the comand, but it says that init.bat isn't recognized... and I don't know what you mean by 'cd' to my \orx folder...
cd
is the command toc
hanged
irectory, ie. navigate through the folders.Here are more details: https://ss64.com/nt/cd.html
You need to run the
init
command from inside orx's root folder, otherwise windows can't find it. I'll see if I can make a change tonight to make it interactive, ie. have a prompt asking you where you want to create your project so that you can simply run it by double clicking it in the explorer.I actually made an interactive version of
init
tonight but I'm encountering some difficulties with github.I'll let you know when it's ready to pull.
Cheers! But for my knowledge, how do you run the init from inside the orx folder?
Let's say you cloned
orx
intoc:\workspace\orx
When opening the command line, you'd need to type
cd c:\workspace\orx
to navigate there.If it's on a different drive, you'd also need to switch drive.
For example, let's say you cloned
orx
intod:\projects\orx
In the command line you'd need to first switch drive by typing
d:
followed byreturn
, then thecd
command:cd e:\projects\orx
There are many more examples in the link I've pasted before: https://ss64.com/nt/cd.html
When the new
init
will be available to you, you'll be able to double-click it, then you'll be prompted to type the name of the project you want to create (you can either use a relative path or a full one).Also, don't hesitate to come talk to us directly on https://gitter.im/orx/orx if you need more immediate support, there's usually always someone around.
It should be safe to pull the git repository. You don't need to recompile anything and you should be able to double-click
init.bat
now.