Update [obsolet] OrbiterSound 4.0 - dev thread

[Proximus]

PM sent.

 

[gattispilot]

I send you a message from your forum that I am good for testing

 

[dgatsoulis]

dgat reporting for duty.

PM sent in Dan's Orbiter Page forum.

 

[Zachstar]

I apologize for not offering to test. However, My the last time I seriously tested an add-on I was not able to give the dev good results to improve the work. I do not wish to beta just to "play it early" but to help.

I am not a developer so I can't give you the badly needed info on how it interacts with development if I understand you correctly. The only thing I can possibly offer is to say if the 3D effects work or not on a Logitech G35 Headset which uses Dolby Headphone (Windows thinks it is a 7.1 device) Yet that is a very common good headset and it is very likely that has been tested with OS 4.0 anyway.

I can only wish you good luck with your testing. And say that along with DX11 I see this addon pushing a Renaissance of addon development within Orbiter and that I am very excited for the future.

EDIT: Btw folks about the OpenAL and DirectSound thing. Those mattered when a sound card that could handle more than 90 SnR was an expensive investment and most onboards sounded beyond horrible. These days unless you have a really good sound system hooked up to the analog out you will most likely not tell much of a difference between onboard and most standard sound cards. So the market for using advanced effects in hardware is simply gone these days. Especially as software is doing it just fine and if needed that work can even be done on a GPU cycle. And better yet it is standardized so you don't hear a different set of sound effects for a say Soundblaster as say an Asus.

 

[jangofett287]

EDIT: Btw folks about the OpenAL and DirectSound thing. Those mattered when a sound card that could handle more than 90 SnR was an expensive investment and most onboards sounded beyond horrible. These days unless you have a really good sound system hooked up to the analog out you will most likely not tell much of a difference between onboard and most standard sound cards. So the market for using advanced effects in hardware is simply gone these days. Especially as software is doing it just fine and if needed that work can even be done on a GPU cycle. And better yet it is standardized so you don't hear a different set of sound effects for a say Soundblaster as say an Asus.

Except MIDI, But that's an entire thread unto itself.

 

[Zachstar]

LOL MIDI. That brings back memories. Mainly of badly sounding music files because the sound card back then could only handle a few instruments at a time.

MP3 killed MIDI for listening to music on a computer and mainly it is used these days for connecting things such as keyboards to computers to generate music in such software as Fruityloops.

Now if only MP3 can hurry up and be replaced by far better formats such as MPEG-4 AAC-Plus

So overall yes no need for MIDI in OS 4.0 in my opinion.

 

[dansteph]

I apologize for not offering to test. However, My the last time I seriously tested an add-on I was not able to give the dev good results to improve the work. I do not wish to beta just to "play it early" but to help.

Well, in this domain there is no useless tester. As long as you test and give feedback, any feedback, everything is useful.
Even the "worse" tester can be at the right time at the right place, experience a rare bug and give just enough feedback
to solve the bug. You never know.

As I always say: the only bad feedback is the one that was not made.

If everyone want to join he is welcome, I have enough tester yet to start the beta but the more we have the better it is.

Much thanks,

Dan

 

[Deep Blue]

Im in the same boat as Zachstar, but after reading DanSteph's last post, I'd be willing to help out where I can. PM sent

 

[Ripley]

24 hours a day are too short...I wish I had more.

 

[hedzup456]

Dan (or anyone else), I know you are busy but would it be possible for you to run-through your code with a coding newbie(ME!)? I would love to understand if only so I can be a little more knowledgeable with regards to this code? Thanks in advance,
Hedz.

 

[dansteph]

Well, there is 24753 lines of code in the OrbiterSound's source. It's a bit hard to "run-through"
it's the result of 10 years coding and almost 20 years experience of coding. (I started with commodore VIC20,
the ancestor of the C64 )

If you speak about the SDK, the good new is that in 4.0 version you can change every sound
of one vessel with only a text configuration file. You can even define sound for animations.
So unless you do a very advanced ship with systems that need specific sound, there is no
need of the C++ SDK anymore.

On a side note the hard drive of my server crashed and was replaced,
I don't know how much time it will take me to be online again.

 

[SolarLiner]

the hard drive of my server crashed and was replaced

This is why I can't access your website. I hope this didn't do too much collateral damages ...

 

[dansteph]

This is why I can't access your website. I hope this didn't do too much collateral damages ...

Yep, I don't need a full server reinstall yet.
Hopefully I have backups, so the data aren't in danger
at worse we'll lost 2-3 days of forum posts.

I don't know yet, I must wait server's reboot. (it's very long)

 

[MerciMartin]

Yep, I don't need a full server reinstall yet.
Hopefully I have backups, so the data aren't in danger
at worse we'll lost 2-3 days of forum posts.

I don't know yet, I must wait server's reboot. (it's very long)

Hi Dan, nice to read you, i ve tried too to reach the french forum. Hope we can get it soon.

 

[dansteph]

Hi Dan, nice to read you, i ve tried too to reach the french forum. Hope we can get it soon.

I wait still 10am that they change the hard disk so I can reinstall the full server.
I'm a bit p*** by their "24/24 7/7" service.

 

[hedzup456]

Well, there is 24753 lines of code in the OrbiterSound's source. It's a bit hard to "run-through"
it's the result of 10 years coding and almost 20 years experience of coding. (I started with commodore VIC20,
the ancestor of the C64 )

Ah... Never mind then... But thank you for replying! You are genuinely the first that has!
~Hedz

 

[dansteph]

Ah... Never mind then... But thank you for replying! You are genuinely the first that has!
~Hedz

Notice even I program since a long time Orbiter teach me a lot since ten years
because it's not all about typing lines of code which is not so hard, it's also learning
how to manage a big project, organise it and finish it. This is the hardest part.
As line count increase most of time and without the knowledge you get lost
this explain why 99% of homemade big project (game or other) fail.

So starting to code for an Orbiter addon is the best way to learn programming
because you do a fun stuff and it will teach you where and how to search the
informations. (No programmer remember everything, it's all about knowing where
to search the informations in the doc, in examples, on the net and in our past's code)

Of course your first project will suck a lot, the first OrbiterSound's code was a shame
but with time and hard work you'll finally learn a lot and eventually become a boss.
Now programmer is my job since 2005. (independent)

 

[hedzup456]

But it still helps to have the knowledge of the difference between brackets and braces (arent brackets called parentasis or something though?)!
~Hedz

 

[Quick_Nick]

But it still helps to have the knowledge of the difference between brackets and braces (arent brackets called parentasis or something though?)!
~Hedz

Yes, it's good to know what's what, but honestly, that much can be learned easily within a year or likely far less. (go for it!) As for your specific question, parentheses are parentheses "()", and I call these "{}" brackets or braces interchangably. Doesn't matter so much what it's called as long as you use it right.

 

[dansteph]

But it still helps to have the knowledge of the difference between brackets and braces (arent brackets called parentasis or something though?)!
~Hedz

The first rule to know is that no-one will ever teach you how to program,
this is impossible given the immense domain of application.

As said above programming is first learning where and how to search the
informations that will be useful for you. This will not only be useful at start
but also for every hour that you'll program in your life.

SDK Docs (Orbiter), C++ doc (for functions) examples, internet tutorial,
forums, and often your own code to copy/past.

The core of C++ is made of about 20-30 things or main function to remember,
not much, this is learned fast. After that the domain is endless, no one can teach
you every stuff, no one will even attempt and you'll never learn if you count
on other.

Start with the ShuttlePB example, first compile it, then see how things are made
try to modify it, try to find the informations to understand the code.
This is a detective job, you start with some clue (a working example that you
modify is a very good start) and you increase the tree of your knowledge from here.

Hope this help ?