mdx or xna

[Gigs_]

Hi all

I want to learn making 3d games. Im new in that so can someone tell me
where is the best place to start, XNA or MDX?

what are difference (advantages) between XNA and MDX?

will mdx 2.0 come out or it is shutdown?


thanks

[Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]]

MDX 1.1 has been deprecated. The current DirectX SDK doesn't include any
samples for documentation for it, so you need to use an August 2006 or older
version to get it. The last time the docs were updated was August 2005, and
the last minor changes to the assemblies was in April 2006.

MDX 2.0 Beta was ended. There are no plans to release it.

For managed game development XNA Game Studio is the recommended product and
technology to go to.

This blog entry does a good job of summarizing:
http://www.thezbuffer.com/articles/470.aspx
--
Chuck Walbourn
SDE, XNA Developer Connection

PS: "XNA" is often used in the press as a short-hand for "XNA Game Studio"
but it's actually rather confusing because "XNA" is used as a branding for
many services, the Xbox 360 XDK, the DirectX SDK, and other professional
game developer services from Microsoft. "XNA" does not solely mean "XNA Game
Studio".

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[legalize+ (Richard [Microsoft Direct3D MVP])]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

Post by Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]
For managed game development XNA Game Studio is the recommended product and
technology to go to.

Not just managed game development, but any managed code development
using Direct3D.

[Gigs_]

thanks!

think that i will go for xna

[Einar]

What about Managed DirectX for non-game development.

I want to use Direct Sound from managed code to implemnt a volume meter
(peak meter). Am I making a mistake if I choose to implement this in the
"current" Managed DirectX? Does managed directX have any future?

Should I be using the XNA framework in my non-game application? Am I maybe
better of writing this in unmanaged code with a managed/unmanage wrapper
(managed c++) to expose the funtionality to a managed application?

Post by Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]
MDX 1.1 has been deprecated. The current DirectX SDK doesn't include any
samples for documentation for it, so you need to use an August 2006 or older
version to get it. The last time the docs were updated was August 2005, and
the last minor changes to the assemblies was in April 2006.
MDX 2.0 Beta was ended. There are no plans to release it.
For managed game development XNA Game Studio is the recommended product and
technology to go to.
http://www.thezbuffer.com/articles/470.aspx
--
Chuck Walbourn
SDE, XNA Developer Connection
PS: "XNA" is often used in the press as a short-hand for "XNA Game Studio"
but it's actually rather confusing because "XNA" is used as a branding for
many services, the Xbox 360 XDK, the DirectX SDK, and other professional
game developer services from Microsoft. "XNA" does not solely mean "XNA Game
Studio".
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]]

MDX 1.1 has been used for non-game development, but as we've said we
deprecated it a long time ago (2005) and we stopped shipping the docs,
samples, and other items for it in the DX SDK November 2007 release.

We've recommended using your own interop layers instead of managed for many
years, especially for tools that need to work with native code rendering
engines. Managed C++ makes this a lot easier than it was in the day sof .NET
1.x.

You might want to check out XAudio2 (Beta in the current DX SDKs, March 2008
will have the RTM version), as DirectSound itself is also a dated API.