FAQ
From delta3d
Frequently Asked Questions
Last updated: August 3, 2008
How do I report defects, submit patches, or request features?
Delta3D is always looking for support from the user community. This support can be in the form of Release testing, source code for bug fixes and new features, or anything else you might think is beneficial to the Delta3D community.
Code developer guidelines can be found here.
Application asset guidelines can be found here.
The public Delta3D Bug Tracker is available here. When reporting issues, please follow the guidelines documented there.
How do I compile the source code?
You will need to download:
- source code (a released source package, a Nightly Snaphot, or checked out via SVN)
- the External Dependencies (precompiled for your platform, or self-compiled)
- and CMake.
Once you have all the required files, see the Tutorials section for detailed information on how to compile on your platform (particularly, Building Delta3D with CMake).
How do I access the Subversion repository?
The Subversion URL for the trunk is as follows:
https://delta3d.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/delta3d/trunk/delta3d
Normally, you always want to check out the trunk, it is the mainline of the repository. However, if you want to checkout off a branch or a tag, it would look like this:
https://delta3d.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/delta3d/branches/BRANCH_1_3_0/delta3d https://delta3d.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/delta3d/tags/VER1_3_0/delta3d
If you are working on Windows, I strongly suggest you to use TortoiseSVN. It rocks. On all other platforms, the command-line tool rocks as well. Here's a link to the official online book on Subversion. If you want more in-depth info (and a better introduction) read Pragmatic Version Control Using Subversion by Mike Mason.
My Delta3D examples won't run. What gives?
Most runtime errors are caused by missing dynamic libraries (.dlls). If you receive the Error message "This application has failed to start because *.dll was not found...", then you're missing the Delta3D External Dependencies. Make sure to download the latest External Dependencies and copy them to your local "delta3d" folder. You should end up with a "delta3d/ext" folder on your local machine.
(NOTE: The precompiled examples were compiled using Visual Studio and require Microsoft's runtime .dll libraries)
Add to your PATH Environment Variable (My Computer->Properties->Advanced) "delta3d/ext/bin". This will tell Windows to search for those .dll's in this folder.
If you receive an error message more like "The procedure entry point ?preMult@Matrix.... could not be located in the dynamic link library...", this means that Windows loaded a different .dll than what Delta3D was compiled with. Make sure your PATH environment variable points to the correct "delta3d/ext/bin" folder and that the "delta3d/ext" folder contains the same version of files that Delta3d was compiled with. If you have the PATH environment set to the correct folder and still get this error, try moving the "delta3d/ext/bin" to the first of the paths listed in the PATH environment.
For more information on how to install and setup your Delta3D environment, see the Installation Tutorial.
What is the Delta3D Engine?
Delta3D is an Open Source engine which can be used for games, simulations, or other graphical applications. Its modular design integrates other well-known Open Source projects such as Open Scene Graph(OSG), Open Dynamics Engine(ODE), Character Animation Library (CAL3D), and OpenAL. Rather than bury the underlying modules, Delta3D just integrates them together in an easy-to-use API -- always allowing access to the important underlying components. This provides a high-level API while still allowing the end user the optional, low-level functionality.
Delta3D renders using OpenGL and imports a whole list of diverse file formats (.flt, .3ds, .obj, etc.).
What is the licensing?
Delta3D is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). The underlying modules may have their own licensing, but are at the minimum, considered Open Source and are freely distributable.
The STAGE source code which uses QT is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). All modifications and contributions to the editor are considered to fall under the same license.
What platforms does it support?
Currently, Delta3D is developed and tested on Windows XP using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008 and Ubunutu 8.04/8.10. All the underlying dependencies are cross-platform as well, so just about any platform should be compatible.
Why is my sky black and my scene dark when I run my application?
I don't suppose you're running the application at night, are you? The dtCore::Environment defaults to use the system's time if the application didn't directly specify a time. Try giving the dtCore::Environment a daytime value, or just wait until morning and run it again!
"LDR: LdrpWalkImportDescriptor() failed to probe..."
This is a typical error message that could occur on Windows platforms using Visual Studio. It is a result of mixing up different versions of Visual Studio, such as trying to use VS2005 libraries with a VS2008 compiled application. To ensure this does not happen, make sure that the application, the Delta3D libraries, and the Delta3D External Dependencies are all compiled with the same Visual Studio version.
How do I enable anti-aliasing?
The easiest way to enable anti-aliasing is to set the number of multi-sample bits to use. Sometime before the dtCore::DeltaWin gets created, just add the following code:
osg::DisplaySettings::instance()->setNumMultiSamples(4);
In this example, all future DeltaWin's will use 4 bits of multisampling for anti-aliasing.
