DirectX 10...finally.

This will be quick with more thoughts and details to follow in another post. I finally found some time to get the engine ported over to basic DirectX 10 functionality. So far I really like what I see with DirectX 10. As with anything new, it takes a little getting used to. However, for the most part Microsoft has made some very nice improvements to the SDK.

Running on Windows Vista 64-bit

A new computer and new motivation?

Over the break I retired my home development machine to be the dedicated DVR. I built a new computer out of the following parts:

Cooler Master Centurion 5 case. We run these cases at work so I was already familiar with them. It's a great case and the price at $25 was even better.

A Cooler Master Real Power Pro 650 watt power supply.

A Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 motherboard with the new Intel X38 Express chipset supporting the new Wolfdale and Yorkfield 45nm Dual and Quad core processors.

2 GB of Mushkin DDR2 1066 ram. Supposedly this ram is great for overclocking. I haven't tested that out yet since I'm still waiting on a processor capable of pushing this memory.

ATI Radeon HD 3870. While it's not a world beater in terms of performance, it is a good valued card ($249) for the purposes of development since it implements the DirectX 10.1 spec.

Unfortunately Intel has delayed the release of their new Q9450 quad core processor. It was originally scheduled for a January 2008 release but has since been pushed back to (supposedly) sometime in March. While I wait for the Q9450 to become available I'm running a Pentium D 950 3.4GHz overclocked to 3.8GHz. While it's not great, it's enough to get the job done while I wait.

I also picked up a Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler. For $44 that thing is a killer deal and works wonders with keeping CPU temps down. I would definitely recommend it for anybody looking to keep stock temps low and to help keep overclocked temps low as well.

So, with the new hardware and the football season (sadly) over, I've been thinking about cool things to start working on again.

Things that have come to mind so far are:

• Finish up the port of the basic renderer to DirectX 10.
• Suspend work on the OpenGL version of the renderer since OpenGL 3.0 just seems to be moving so slow.
• Stop messing with Java (it was fun while it lasted) and look to something easier (possibly C#) to work with for an editor.
  
• I really want to work on a basic visibility system.
  
• Lots more things that I'll save for future dedicated posts...
  

Off topic economic rant...

I don't know how many of you are paying attention to the US economy's health (or lack thereof), but I'm sure for those of you who do -- you've noticed that it's not looking very good.

For me at least, this morning with the Fed slashing Federal Funds rates once again to try and prop up the stock and housing markets -- it makes me sick. So Federal Funds rates have been slashed what? ...by 1.75% since late September!

For any of you that have even a little bit of money in a savings account, you're now earning substantially less interest on your money. Why? All for the worthless attempt at trying to prevent the inevitable -- recession. All the while continuing to devalue the US dollar.

Wait and watch, by the end of this year (2008) news headlines won't be about how the stock market has dropped 20% or how house prices nation wide have dropped 20% percent -- it will be about how unemployment is up sharply as well as inflation. They'll be complaining about how milk costs $5.00+ a gallon and bread costs $4.00+ a loaf. I truly hope I can look back 10 months from now and say I was wrong about those predictions...but I'm starting to smell 1970's all over again. This administration and the Federal Reserve make me sick.

Here's a good video I stumbled across while on Digg today. Enjoy:

Happy New Year 2008!

Happy New Year to all of you who've stuck with me and continued to hang around this place. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I know I did. I basically did a whole lot of nothing! I chilled out, watched a lot of college and pro football, and played a lot of video games. I managed to boost the gamer score by 3k+ which isn't too shabby. I'm still gunning for that elusive 10,000 mark. And I do have a plan on how I'm going to get there. :D


Games that I managed to finish over the holidays:

• Halo 3
  
• Portal
  
• Half-Life
  
• Half-Life 2: Episode 1
• Half-Life 2: Episode 2
• Call of Duty 4
• Prey
• Fuzion Frenzy 2

Games that I'm currently working on:

• Forza Motorsport 2
• Viva Pinata
• Rockstar Table Tennis
• Bioshock (Haven't started it yet but will soon...)

Holiday Season 2007

With Halo 3 and Team Fortress 2 now upon us along with the upcoming holiday season -- I'll be taking a break with the development of the engine and the updating of the site.

I have started work on the DirectX 10 version of the renderer. I'm probably 30% to 40% through the work required to bring it online. The quick and dirty on DirectX 10 is that it appears to improve on what DirectX 9 brought to the table. Beyond that, I need to spend more time with it to be able to speak more intelligently about it.

Halo 3 rocks (both campaign and multi-player) and Team Fortress 2 is a blast. Portal is unique and cool. As I'm one of the few who hasn't actually played any Half Life 2 (shame on me), I'll also be playing through Half Life 2 as well as Episode 1 and Episode 2 over the holidays.

Anyway, look for more useful updates after the new year -- and possibly one between now and then if I'm feeling especially motivated.