The SDK should be user friendly, especially for newcomers.

For questions and suggestions use this forum thread

About the SDK

It should:

• check for installed Mogre depencies
• offer installation of needed depencies
• install the Mogre SDK (in best case without need of manual system changes)
• contain different libraries
• contain sample applications

 
Currently related to Mogre 1.6.4

Download of the MOGRE SDK 1.6.4 Beta Installer in this forum post.

Current Mogre maintainer: GantZ

Current SDK developer: kwertz

SVN

The SDK related stuff is available on this google code project.

Direct SVN link: http://mogresdk.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

It contains:

• demo starter
• depency checkers
• installer
• sdk_fs ??

 
Ask user Kwertz to get write access.

The installer

The SDK installer contains:

The installed folder contains the following files and folders:

• D: bin - Contains the MOGRE binaries (debug and release)
• D: includes - Contains the include files to compile plugins against MOGRE
• D: Lib - Contains the static library files of MOGRE
• D: Media - Contains the media files required to run the MOGRE demos which can be compiled with the "BuildSamples.cmd" command script (see below)
• D: Samples - Contains the source code of the MOGRE samples
• BuildSamples.cmd - Lets you build the MOGRE samples with only one click
• BuildSamplesX86.cmd - The same as above, but explicitly for 32-bit processors. Try this, if you get a "FileNotFoundException" or a "BadImageFormatException".
• ChangeLog.txt - This is the change log
• License.html - Contains the LGPL license text
• MOGRE SDK.url - This is a link to the MOGRE homepage
• MogreSamples.sln - The solution containing the sample projects
• ReadMe.txt - This provides an overview of the MOGRE SDK. Read it!

 
If i install the SDK, then use the build.bat it builds everything, and i can then run the exe's directly from the release dir.

You can also download the installer script (Inno Setup, not NSIS) on this sourceforge page.

Example applications

These example applications are currently included:

• BSP
  • TODO: include a text that the user can move by WASD and turn by mouse
• CameraTrack
• CelShading
• Compositor
• Dot3Bump
• EnvMapping
• ExampleApplication
• Fresnel
• MogreForm
• SkeletalAnimation
• TextureFX
• Transparency

 
TODO: Add Examples from wiki:

Good would be to add the Mogre wiki tutorials to the project, including

(And add a readme.txt file to inform the user about the related wiki page. And he should report problems in the forum)

All basic tutorials can be downloaded here.

They are runnable for Mogre 1.4 (hosted by smiley80). Maybe it's easy to update them to Mogre 1.6.

TODO: Add examples of user smiley80:

Download here

• BezierPatch
• Lighting
• ParticleFX
• RenderToTexture
• SkyBox
• SkyDome
• SkyPlane
• Smoke
• Terrain

 
TODO examples:

• Managed Hydrax Wrapper - great water simulation
• Myrddin Landscape Plugin - great looking terrain (wiki page is outdated, look here and here)
• CaelumSharp
• MOGRE Editable Terrain Manager
• MogreNewt
  • collision detection by
    • callback function
    • iterator (manually query)
    • ... There is a very short description and the download link of an example application by Beauty. And in this thread is an improved update for one collision detection type. But it still should be improved.
  • add buttons for demonstrating (enable) Newton debugger
  • other Newton examples ...
• some GUIs
  • Miyagi (a gui that additionally can render HTML pages and show webcam pictures)
  • MQuickGUI (outdated for 2 years - does it still work?)
  • MogreBetaGUI (there were problems with it and debugging wasn't easy because of crypted variable names)
• Hikari (show content by HTML/CSS/JS code; also useful for GUIs; nice, but sometimes it crashes at application shutdown)
• Awesomium (show Flash content, also useful for GUIs)
• particles - look to ParticleFX plugin and Particle Accelerator
• ...

The demo starter

User Beauty suggest to create the demo starter like this:

• each sample is a stand alone application with its own subdirectory
• the dll files (Mogre and Add-ons) are only in MogreSDK/bin (instead of the sample directories)
• we use a starter application for the demos
  • Button for checking the Mogre depencies (but don't check for .NET - so we can write the starter in C# - The .NET check should only be done by the SDK installer, not by the demo starter)
  • Button for compile the demos
  • List with all available demos (including Mogre tutorial projects)
  • Short description for the selected demo (e.g. what it shows and which keys can be used)
  • Preview picture (nice to have, but not needed. Can be stored in an image file of the demo subdirectory.)
  • Links (e.g. to Mogre forum, Mogre wiki page, Mogre tutorials)
• use an XML config file for the demo starter
  • XML is easy to parse with XML libraries of .NET
  • contains all informations about each demo

 
Here is my proposal for the config file:
(in an editor with syntax highlighting its looking nicer)

<demoStarter>
    <demo>
        <name>Fog demo</name>
        <directory>fog</directory>
        <description>Demostrate fog modes. Use space to switch.</description>
        <previewPic>fog/thumbnail.png</previewPic>
        <binary>fog/bin/release/fog.exe</binary>
        <more>...</more>
    </demo>
    <demo>
        <name>...</name>
        <directory>...</directory>
        <description>...</description>
        <previewPic>...</previewPic>
        <binary>...</binary>
        <more>...</more>
    </demo>
</demoStarter>

Mogre dependencies

Needed downloads for Mogre 1.6.x:

• .Net Framework 2.0 (or higher version)
• DirectX 9.0c (March 2009 - update your version!)
  • Alternatively: DirectX web installer (300KB, can download/install the newest package of DirectX)

• Special runtime libraries are needed. Install one of these downloads:
  • Visual C# Express Edition with SP1 (free development environment)
  • Visual Studio 2008 with SP1 (more powerful development environment, but costs money)
  • VC++ 2008 SP1 Redist (with this you can only run the release binaries; good for end users)

 
In the binary directory of your application you need:

... TODO: improve text ...

• VC++ 2008 redist + OgreMain.dll
• RenderSystem_Direct3D9.dll needs the DirectX 9.0c redist (I believe, March 2009 is sufficient)
• RenderSystem_GL.dll needs some -OpenGL dlls which should come with the driver of your graphics card
• Plugin_CgProgramManager.dll needs cg.dll
• Microsoft .NET 2.0

 
Find unknown dependencies:

You can use Reflector for managed and Dependency Walker for native dependencies.

The Assembly Binding Log Viewer should show any bind failures (at least for managed assemblies).

TODO

make lists for

• dependencies for developers (Visual Studio with all updates etc.)
• dependencies for end users (vcredist instead of VS - works only for bin/release)
• dependencies for building Mogre

 
also update the dependencies on related pages:

• Mogre Basic Tutorial 0
• MOGRE Installation
• The zero knowledge guide to making a game##Setting it all up?
• Mogre Basic Tutorial VB 0
• Mogre Basic Tutorial VB 6

 
Here are possibly needed download links:
links:

• Mogre 1.4.8 thread
• DirectX Redist (March 2008)
• DirectX Redist (November 2008)
• Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1
• DirectX SDK - (November 2008)
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (vcredist_x86.exe)

Known problems

...

Building

Building Mogre

Sll you need to wrap ogre and build mogre is on the svn.

Follow the instructions of this forum thread. Also look to Building MOGRE 1.6 from source.

Set the "Platform target" to "Any CPU" and the "Output Path" to "..\..\bin\release\"

Building the SDK

• autowrap Ogre
• use of the Mogre XML commentation tool to create Mogre comments for Visual Studio
• maybe by existence of a specific dll file?

Todo list

• How to find out if a DirectX Redistributable package is installed? (and which version)
  • dxdiag.exe shows no information about (Microsoft DirectX diagnosis programm, is included by WinXP (Vista/7?))
  • Maybe include the DirectX web installer

Dependency checker/installer

About

It would be nice to have a C++ application that checks which dependencies are still installed and which ones are missing.

The application should show an overview to the user and offer the possiblility to install them (or show download links for it).

The advantage of a plain C++ application is: It shurely can be run, because all dependencies are still in Windows.

This checker application could be used for:

• including to the SDK
• including to shipped Ogre applications (end user installer)
• help to solve problems if Mogre applications doesn't work

Useful things

Graphic card drivers

The installer should remind to update the driver of graphic card (and show links of related download pages):

• Nvidia
• AMD / ATI
• Intel (used on some laptops)

 
Visual C++ 200x Redistributable

Check if vcredist is installed:

Search in this path of registry

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserDate\...

name

DisplayName

value

Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.21022 (ignore version number on search)

value

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable

 
Maybe on other Windows versions it's different.

.NET Framework Installer for InnoSetup

Look to this page on codeproject.com.

DotNetInstaller

dotnetinstaller.codeplex.com

A boostrapper doesn't replace tools like InstallShield, Wise, Visual Studio Setup and Deployment Project or Wix. The goal is to create an application to help users with installing the correct prerequisites. Most real world applications need to install several components to work properly, including Windows Service Packs, Internet Explorer, MDAC or .NET Framework. This kind of applications are most commonly known as bootstrappers. dotNetInstaller is such a bootstrapper.

This is also interesting for shipping Mogre applications.

Solutions

checker by user smiley80

Command line tool, written with FreeBasic.

It does:

• registry check for .NET
• file check for DirectX
• file check for VCRedist (VC++ 2008 SP1 Redist)

 
Tested with:

• Win XP, 32bit
• Win 7, 64bit

 
Download: check.zip (source, exe)

Example output:
.Net Framework 2.0 found.
DirectX 9.0c (March 2009) found.
VC++ 2008 SP1 Redist not found.
Press any key to continue.

checker by user kwertz

Command line tool, written with C++.

It does:

• check for the .NET Framework 2.0.50727.
• If .NET is installed, the managed C# GUI application is called.
• If .NET is not installed, the application will show a Windows message box asking the user if he would like to install .NET. If he clicks 'Yes', the .NET Framework installer is called. (see source code)

 
Download: mogre_net_checker.zip
(source, exe)

Usage:
netchecker.exe

checker 2 by user kwertz

Full dependency checker, written with PureBasic.

It does:

• Check for Mogre 1.6.x depencies
• If one dependency is missing, a message box is shown asking the user if he likes to download the dependency.
• It takes the path to the managed executable as the only command line parameter.

 
Download: mogre_dependency_checker.zip
(source, exe)

Links

• Mogre 1.6.4 forum thread
• Mogre 1.6.2 binaries for testing forum thread
• MOGRE and OGRE 1.6
• Building MOGRE 1.6 from source
• Building MOGRE from source of version 1.4
• how to use the auto wrapper (TODO: add related links, create wiki page about auto wrapping process)
• Mogre SVN (including autowrapper code)
• Strange CLI/C++ issue... - forum thread about wrapper
• Possible AutoWrap bug - forum thread
• ShoggothNotes - Ogre 1.6 porting notes by sinbad
• suggestion of wrapping Mogre - forum post of user Spanky
• Mogre Autowrapper and beyond - Bekas wrote about his wrapper

Alias: Mogre_SDK_development