Chap17

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  • I wasn't done, man... and since I have no other chapters to play with right now, I'll spill a few more ideas here:



    You go through the windows messages, which is fine, but I don't see anywhere about the message pump and the main loop for it. Maybe its in the main loop chapter, but it should probably be here too.

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    "This is especially true of memory mapped files. Id avoid using them on any type of removable media such as a CD or DVD."

    I'm not clear on what this means... it's not like they are removing the RAM. What is the alternative? Only reading files from the hard disk?

    ----

    "You should create a registry key for your game, not only for storing the odd registry data but the key designation is useful for finding a unique directory to store temporary files or application data on the hard drive. "

    Perhaps a hint on how to read/write to the registry is in order? Or a place to look for more info (even if you just say MSDN)

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    "Most AAA game companies are dropping support for all Win9x operating systems as of 2004"

    Dating your book....

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    "On Windows 98 and Windows ME machines you can lock your system up if you attempt to perform pixel-by-pixel operations on multiple video RAM surfaces. The classic example would be an alpha blit, where you have a source and destination surface and one more surface that holds the alpha values. If two or more of these surfaces are in video RAM, you can crash Windows 98 and Windows ME."

    Why? Magic?

    ----

    "It turns out that there are some older CD-ROM drivers that still cannot handle long files names on the CD. This is likely going to go away in 2003 or 2004 completely, and is probably already such a small percentage you dont have to be overly concerned."

    Dating your book

    ---

    Logo testing general comment:

    I think you should make your comments on each thing immediately after you list them. The huge list is not elegant, and I find myself actually flipping back and forth between your comments and the list itself. This is NOT a good thing. Overall, you sort of seem like you are just filling space with this, and you shoiuld consider removing less interesting entries.

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    "I dont know about you, but Ive never written a kernel-mode driver or device driver and dont intend to. Most, if not all, games fall in this category so we dont have to worry about T1.2 and T1.3."

    Here's an example...I would change this to "T1.2 and T1.3 deal with kernel mode drivers, but <insert above quote here>" and drop the list entries altogether.

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    "TC2.5 Does the application offer a default installation folder under E:\Program Files?
    n Pass Both E: and Program Files appeared in the default installation path.
    n Fail E: and/or Program Files was missing from the default installation path. Write down the actual default path the application used or offered you.
    Duh. Thats pretty easy."

    Heh.. Drive E?

    ---

    "both removed and left all the correct files and registry settings."

    I know you didn't write, but that's nearly jibberish.

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    "TC2.7.4 Can the application be reinstalled after uninstalling it?"

    HP sucks in this department.... really bad.

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    "The Autorun should launch a program that detects if your game has already been installed. If it has, it should launch your game."

    It probably shouldn't just launch your game, it should launch the menu dealie to choose to launch your game, uninstall, etc.

    ----

    "This is without a doubt the most significant change for Windows XP, because if your game ignores this requirement it will likely fail under Windows XP Home. Theres a Win32 API that finds this directory for you:"

    You might want to stick "call" or "function" after "API" in that last sentence.

    ---

    "unreproducable" -> "irreproducable"

    ---

    "Most of the tests are pretty self-explanatory, so if I have nothing to say about them Ill simply move on to something worth discussing. I hate it when books simply restate something to restate it. Again, I wont bother telling you something you already know."

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Is that last sentence actually a joke?

    ---

    "Do you notice something missing from the network tests? DirectPlay! Again, that cracks me up. This is most likely due to the fact that there are a few networked-enabled Microsoft games that dont use DirectPlay. I wont point them out."

    Wasn't that discontinued?

    ---

    That should be helpful enough. Have fun!
    -Larrik Jaerico

    www.LarrikJ.com
  • Sorry dood - I had to submit the 2nd draft last night to stay on schedule - I'll see if I can't get some of your corrections into the typeset version....
    Mr.Mike
    Author, Programmer, Brewer, Patriot
  • Some of the comments you label as dating the book have value. I've used statements like these to steer clients and having them in print is a good thing
    Many in management have learned to distrust web sites because "anyone can publish a web site" the printed word still carries weight

    you are basically correct though, so i say to Mr. Mike update the text in the 3rd, 4th and 5th editions
    :]

    I wouldn't waste book space with the basics of registry handling code, MSDN has plenty to say there
    A wrapper class in the source distribution would be nice. If you need one yell

    The post was edited 1 time, last by garbob ().