Подготовка проекта.

Для демонстрации создадим новый проект и выполним следующие шаги:

1. Скопировать текстуры в папку images.
2. Скопировать встроенные файлы sprite.material, sprite.fp (fragment program), sprite.vp (vertex program) в папку materials из buildins/materials
3. Добавить game object и model в главную коллекцию
4. Выбрать текстуры для модели.

Для того чтобы свойства модели отображали текстуры, нужно изменить материал, выбрав скопированные ранее sprite.fp, sprite.vp и добавить 5 семплеров

Поставим для go размеры экрана и разместим по середине

Шейдер

Откроем sprite.fp
Шейдер рисует пиксели выбирая их из текстуры texture_sampler по координатам var_texcoord0.xy, каждый пиксель будет умножен на tint для получения цвета и уровня прозрачности.

Для того чтобы замостить текстурой всю поверхность несколько раз, нужно раздробить поверхность на секции, умножив var_texcoord0 на желаемое количество по горизонтали и вертикали:

vec2 uv = var_texcoord0.xy * 3.0;
gl_FragColor = texture2D(texture_sampler, uv) * tint_pm;

Это не тот результат, которого мы хотим добиться, потому что мы проходим по координатам uv за пределы текстуры. Для того, чтобы возвращаться в начало, нужно брать значение по модулю. Для этого подходит функция fract(), которая отсекает целую часть.

gl_FragColor = texture2D(texture_sampler, fract(uv)) * tint_pm;

Эти мордашки довольно растянутые, потому что размеры экрана 960х640, разделены на 3 части с сохранением пропорций экрана, но без учета размера текстуры. Зная размеры экрана и желаемый размер текстуры, можно получить количество секций, на которое следует делить поверхность.

lowp float pixels_per_unit = 300;
lowp vec2 resolution = vec2(960,640);
vec2 uv = vec2(var_texcoord0.x * resolution.x / pixels_per_unit, var_texcoord0.y * resolution.y / pixels_per_unit);

Теперь выберем текстуры в зависимости от позиции в колонке и ряду

vec4 random_texture(in vec2 uv, in vec3 resolution)
{
vec2 id = floor(uv);
int index = int(id.x + id.y * resolution.x / resolution.z) % 5;

vec4 col = vec4(0);

if (index == 0)
col = texture2D(tex1,uv);
else if (index == 1)
col = texture2D(tex2,uv);
else if (index == 2)
col = texture2D(tex3,uv);
else if (index == 3)
col = texture2D(tex4,uv);
else
col = texture2D(tex5,uv);

return col;
}

Использование функции

gl_FragColor = random_texture(uv, vec3(resolution, pixels_per_unit)) * tint_pm;

Теперь можно изменить индивидуальный размер текстуры, для того чтобы между ними появилось пространство.

Матрица трансформации масштаба:

mat2 scale(vec2 _scale)
{
return mat2(_scale.x,0.0,0.0,_scale.y);
}

Масштаб применяется следующим образом:
uv = fract(uv) - vec2(0.5);
uv = scale( vec2(_scale) ) * uv;
uv = fract(uv) + vec2(0.5);

Мы уменьшили размер изображения, но видим соседние части замощенной текстуры. Для того, чтобы оставить только нужное, можно создать маску.

Подойдет обычный квадрат, который должен быть также масштабирован

float box(vec2 _st, vec2 _size){
_size = vec2(0.5)-_size*0.5;
vec2 uv = step(_size,_st);
uv *= step(_size,vec2(1.0)-_st);
return uv.x*uv.y;
}

Там, где квадратная область возвращает цвет, альфа будет 1

vec2 box_uv = fract(uv) - vec2(0.5);
box_uv = scale( vec2(_scale) ) * box_uv;
box_uv = box_uv + vec2(0.5);
float alpha = box(box_uv,vec2(1));

Перед тем как вернуть текстуру, нужно применить к ней эту прозрачность

col.a *= alpha;

Время приключений случайных вращений! Функция вращения выглядит следующим образом:

vec2 rotate2D(vec2 _st, float _angle){
_st -= 0.5;
_st = mat2(cos(_angle),-sin(_angle),
sin(_angle),cos(_angle)) * _st;
_st += 0.5;
return _st;
}

Установим случайный угол

float rot = PI*random(id);

Функция рандом возвращает псевдослучайное значение

float random(vec2 st)
{
return fract(sin(dot(st.xy, vec2(12.9898,78.233))) * 43758.5453123);
}

Вращать нужно как саму текстуру, так и маску

float alpha = box(rotate2D(box_uv, rot),vec2(1));
uv = rotate2D(fract(uv),rot);

Вращать можно не только отдельно текстуру, но и всю поверхность целиком, если трансформировать координаты сразу после разделения на секции.

vec2 uv = vec2(
var_texcoord0.x * resolution.x / pixels_per_unit,
var_texcoord0.y * resolution.y / pixels_per_unit );
uv = rotate2D(uv,PI*0.2);

Осталось раскрасить в любимые цвета

Цвет фона:

Цвет для зверьков:

vec4 bg = vec4(0.21, 0.09, 0.41, 1);
vec4 mc = vec4(0.33, 0.08, 0.54, 1);

vec4 col = random_texture(uv, vec3(resolution, pixels_per_unit), 1.4);
if (col.a > 0)
gl_FragColor = col * mc * tint_pm;
else
gl_FragColor = bg * tint_pm;

Параметры шейдера в defold

Для того, чтобы передавать значения цвета, размера текстуры и размера экрана в шейдер, можно добавить переменные в материал, объявив их как uniform в коде

uniform lowp vec4 resolution;
uniform lowp vec4 bg;
uniform lowp vec4 mc;

В game object, где лежит model можно добавить скрипт и менять параметры шейдера в runtime. На практике это полезно при изменении размера экрана.

Код fp целиком

varying mediump vec2 var_texcoord0;

uniform lowp sampler2D tex1;
uniform lowp sampler2D tex2;
uniform lowp sampler2D tex3;
uniform lowp sampler2D tex4;
uniform lowp sampler2D tex5;
uniform lowp vec4 tint;
uniform lowp vec4 resolution;
uniform lowp vec4 bg;
uniform lowp vec4 mc;

#define PI 3.14159265358979323846

float random(vec2 st)
{
    return fract(sin(dot(st.xy, vec2(12.9898,78.233))) * 43758.5453123);
}

vec2 rotate2D(vec2 _st, float _angle){
    _st -= 0.5;
    _st =  mat2(cos(_angle),-sin(_angle),
    sin(_angle),cos(_angle)) * _st;
    _st += 0.5;
    return _st;
}

mat2 scale(vec2 _scale)
{
    return mat2(_scale.x,0.0,0.0,_scale.y);
}

float box(vec2 _st, vec2 _size){
    _size = vec2(0.5)-_size*0.5;
    vec2 uv = step(_size,_st);
    uv *= step(_size,vec2(1.0)-_st);
    return uv.x*uv.y;
}

vec4 random_texture(in vec2 uv, in vec3 resolution, in float _scale)
{
    vec2 id = floor(uv);
    float rot = PI*random(id);
    int index = int(id.x + id.y * resolution.x / resolution.z) % 5;

    vec4 col = vec4(0);

    vec2 box_uv = fract(uv) - vec2(0.5);
    box_uv = scale( vec2(_scale) ) * box_uv;
    box_uv = box_uv + vec2(0.5);

    float alpha = box(rotate2D(box_uv, rot),vec2(1));
    uv = rotate2D(fract(uv),rot);

    uv = fract(uv) - vec2(0.5);
    uv = scale( vec2(_scale) ) * uv;
    uv = fract(uv) + vec2(0.5);

    if (index == 0) 
    col = texture2D(tex1,uv);
    else if (index == 1) 
    col = texture2D(tex2,uv);
    else if (index == 2) 
    col = texture2D(tex3,uv);
    else if (index == 3) 
    col = texture2D(tex4,uv);
    else
    col = texture2D(tex5,uv);

    col.a *= alpha;
    
    return col;
}

void main()
{
    vec2 uv = vec2(var_texcoord0.x * resolution.x / resolution.z, var_texcoord0.y * resolution.y / resolution.z);
    uv = rotate2D(uv,PI*0.2);
    lowp vec4 tint_pm = vec4(tint.xyz * tint.w, tint.w);

    vec4 col = random_texture(uv, vec3(resolution.xy, resolution.z), 1.4);
    if (col.a > 0)
    gl_FragColor =  col * mc * tint_pm;
    else
    gl_FragColor = bg * tint_pm; //chess(botom_color, top_color, uv);
}

Проект целиком: https://github.com/busovikov/Shader-Showroom

Мой телеграм канал: https://t.me/pasha_gamedev

https://yandex.ru/games/app/216779?lang=ru

Следуя трендам, персонажей, конечно, сгенерировал с помощью нейросети. У меня были клипарты из предыдущей игры, которых я нарисовал еще год назад.

Я уже пробовал проделать этот трюк, но ни Dall-e ни Stable Diffusion не давали нужного результата. Если коротко, то результат получался хуже, чем исходник. Да, нужна тонкая настройка и возня с промтом. Но мне не хотелось инвестировать много времени в персонажа для игры, на создание которой я суммарно потратил 3 дня.

Совсем по-другому себя показала Lexica Aperture v2. Эта модель как будто поняла контекст рисунка и не изменяя пропорции начала подставлять разные варианты глаз, ушей, носов и т. д.

Несколько прогонов дали результаты, которые можно смело нарезать на куски в ФШ и комбинировать для разных персонажей. Я же, для быстроты, просто выбрал те, что мне понравились и лишь вырезав фон сразу вставил в игру.

В итоге:

Я не потратил много времени на создание персонажей (если не считать моих художеств год назад) и получил довольно симпатичный результат. Результат можно подрихтовать в ФШ в дальнейшем, но если игра не взлетит, то и беспокоиться не о чем.

Посмотрите на игру в действии:
https://yandex.ru/games/app/216779?lang=ru

Подпишитесь на мой телеграм канал:

https://t.me/pasha_gamedev

Отличия от Google Play

• Браузерные игры не требуют установки. Это значит доступер более широкий пул устройств (iPhone, iPad, Android телефоны и планшеты, телевизоры на Android, компьютер под любой операционной системой)
• Яндекс молодая платформа. Здесь гораздо меньше пользователей (в основном это СНГ), но также гораздо меньше разработчиков. Это значит, что здесь больше органического трафика и меньшая конкуренция за внимание пользователей.
• Консоль разработчика в Яндекс Играх уступает в функциональности. В Google Play разрабочику доступны A/B тесты, экперименты с оформлением, аналитика.
• Яндекс SDK прост в использовании. Подключение межстраничной рекламы, рекламы за вознаграждение, внутриигровых покупок осуществляется в консоли разработчика и лиш требует вызова функции SDK. Тестирование происходит на реальной рекламе.
• Поддержка отвечает в течении нескольких минут! Чат находится прямо в консоли разработки, он также интегрирован с другими сервисами яндекса (Метрика и РСЯ). В отличие от Google Play, AdMob, AdSense, Google Ads все это разные сервисы, с разной поддержкой, до которой очень трудно добраться.
• Модерация проходит в течении 5 дней. Быстро, но с развитием платформы время модерации увеличивается. Также модераторы в отличие от Google Play гораздо серьезней относятся к оформлению и соответсвию заявленым функциям игры. Выступают в роли тестировщиков и временами находят баги в геймплее подробно описывая проблему.

Из Bubble Beasts в Зверьки Пузырьки

Я взял игру из предыдущего поста. Она уже довольно давно лежит на Google Play и было бы интересно сравнить результаты на одинаковом продукте.

• Пришлось переделать интерфейс и ориентацию экрана на альбомную, чтобы уменьшить разницу в отображении на различных устройствах.
• Создание билда WebGL делается простым переключением платформы в Unity
• Интеграция SDK добавлением одной строчки в index файл. Также есть прекрасный плагин для Unity, которым я не пользовался в этот раз, но активно использовал в последующих играх.
• Игровые покупки подключаются в консоли в пару кликов, но также следует отправить письмо в поддержку и подписать присланный шаблон акта приема-передачи неисключительных прав на использование игры.
• Платформа имеет широкое распространение в СНГ странах, поэтому я добавил локализацию на Русский язык, а также по рекомендации Яндекса на Турецкий.
• Облачные сохранения добавляют асинхронности в архитектуру игры, поэтому пришлось изменить подход в загрузке и сохранении.
• Таблица лидеров доступна в окне игры на Яндекс, я не стал добавлять таблицу в интерфейс самой игры.

Зверьки Пузырьки: Три в ряд — играть онлайн бесплатно на сервисе Яндекс Игры (yandex.ru)

Факты

• Игра на Google Play за год своего существования получила 50+ установок. Можно взглянуть на графики установок и конверсии в предыдущем посте.
• Игра на Яндекс играх за 2 месяца нахождения на Яндекс играх набрала 1000+ новых пользователей.
• За 2 недели, находясь в категории "новые", игра набрала 600+ пользователей. Сейчас приток новых пользователей более чем скромный.

Выводы

• К сожалению, в Яндекс играх сейчас отсутствует возможность проводить A/B тестирование. Поэтому экспериментировать с оформлением смысла нет.
• Я не использовал все доступные символы в описании игры, что могло бы помочь при индексации
• Также можно добавить рекламный ролик. Яндекс сам занимается распространением.
• При всей простоте SDK, были допущены архитектурные ошибки, в следующих проектах я использовал плагин, что существенно ускоряет разработку.

Вводные данные

• Это MVP - Minimal Viable Product. Два режима игры, бесконечная прогрессия.
• Я не прибегал к помощи художников и не использовал готовые ассеты.
• Промо-материалы (Иконка, Обложка, Трейлер) были сделаны самостоятельно.
• Как и большинство начинающих разработчиков игр, я ничего не смыслил в ASO оптимизации, упаковке продукта, A/B тестировании и т.д.

Каков результат?

На графике посещений за год можно наблюдать небольшой рост с середины сентября по конец октября - это Хэллоуин. Игра сделана в этой тематике, также содержит слово "Хэллоуин" в названии и описании. Тем не менее, было не больше 20 посещений.

График установок за год

Конверсия

На таких маленьких цифрах смотреть эти данные не очень репрезентативно, но все равно можно заметить, что игра привлекает больше посетителей из Юго-Восточной Азии. Возможно, способствует стилистика рисовки.

Выводы

• Стоит ли делать пробную закупку трафика? Думаю, нет.
• Стоит разобраться с ASO оптимизацией и попробовать увеличить количество посетителей. При большем количестве посетителей можно провести A/B тестирование иконки, обложки.
• Увеличив конверсию, можно делать доработки по игре, чтобы увеличить удержание. Например, добавить туториал, супер-тайлы, как в прочих match3 играх, компанию или мета-игру.

Last updated: March 08, 2024

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

• Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.
• Affiliate means an entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with a party, where "control" means ownership of 50% or more of the shares, equity interest or other securities entitled to vote for election of directors or other managing authority.
• Application means the software program provided by the Company downloaded by You on any electronic device, named Bubble Beasts Match 3
• Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to Bubble Beasts Match 3.
• Country refers to: Russia
• Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.
• Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
• Service refers to the Application.
• Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.
• Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).
• You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

• Usage Data

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as Your Device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

• To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.
• To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user.
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• To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application's push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
• To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.
• To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.
• For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Us about our Service users is among the assets transferred.
• For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience.

We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

• With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, to contact You.
• For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company.
• With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include Our parent company and any other subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that We control or that are under common control with Us.
• With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.
• With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside.
• With Your consent: We may disclose Your personal information for any other purpose with Your consent.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

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I am a newbie in 3d, graphics, gamedev, etc. This tutorial is my way of learning of these things.

Intro

The Ogre is 3d rendering engine. This article is dedicated to Ogre-next (2.x version) which is more powerful than first version but has less learning resources found online. In fact, there are API Reference and code samples located in source code:

• ogre-next\Samples\2.0\Tutorials

Even a basic app that shows an empty scene requires relatively complex setup.

Here we will cover how to build a prototype using CMake which could be used as a template for future projects.

The example is for Windows, but it is not so different for Linux. BTW Macoy Madson has similar blog post making it for Linux. He avoids using CMake, but goes far beyond basic set up.

I also assume you have installed CMake and compiler and git

Build or Install ogre-next

You can start from here. Just download and unpack SDK or build it using scripts provided or manually:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/OGRECave/ogre-next.git

Go to ogre-next-deps and build it

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 ..
cmake --build . --config Debug
cmake --build . --target install --config Debug
cmake --build . --config Release
cmake --build . --target install --config Release

Go to ogre-next folder and make link to build\ogredeps

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -D OGRE_USE_BOOST=0 -D OGRE_CONFIG_THREAD_PROVIDER=0 -D OGRE_CONFIG_THREADS=0 -D OGRE_BUILD_COMPONENT_SCENE_FORMAT=1 -D OGRE_BUILD_SAMPLES2=1 -D OGRE_BUILD_TESTS=1 -D OGRE_DEPENDENCIES_DIR=..\..\ogre-next-deps\build\ogredeps -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 ..
cmake --build . --config Debug
cmake --build . --target install --config Debug
cmake --build . --config Release
cmake --build . --target install --config Release

Note: use the latest version of CMake as there is a bug in configuration.

At this point you should have SDK. It is located in ogre-next\build\sdk

CMake

Create CMake project using your IDE or create a folder with CMakeLists.txt in it.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.8.0)
project(Test VERSION 0.1.0)
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} main.cpp)

Using Ogre is not that different from using other libraries in your projects. It has FindOGRE.cmake so we can use find_package to get all includes, links, etc. All we need is to forward SDK path to CMake like this:

-DOGRE_SDK=F:\Libs\Ogre\ogre-next\build\sdk

if(NOT OGRE_SDK)    
  message(FATAL_ERROR "OGRE SDK is not found!")
endif()
list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${OGRE_SDK}/CMake")
find_package(OGRE)

Manual says we need:

• Include OgreMain/include
• Include Components/Hlms/Common/include
• Include Components/Hlms/Pbs/include
• Include Components/Hlms/Unlit/include
• Include build/Release/include (that's where OgreBuildSettings.h is)
• Add the link path build/Release/lib/
• Link against OgreHlmsPbs.lib
• Link against OgreHlmsUnlit.lib
• Link against OgreMain.lib
• Bundle the data files in Samples/Media/Hlms/Common with your application
• Bundle the data files in Samples/Media/Hlms/Pbs with your application
• Bundle the data files in Samples/Media/Hlms/Unlit with your application

A brief examination of FindOGRE.cmake shows that the OGRE include directories are defined by OGRE_INCLUDE_DIRS and OGRE_${COMPONENT}_INCLUDE_DIRS

set(PROJECT_INCLUDES    
  "${OGRE_INCLUDE_DIRS}"    
  "${OGRE_HlmsPbs_INCLUDE_DIRS}"    
  "${OGRE_HlmsUnlit_INCLUDE_DIRS}"    
  "${OGRE_HlmsUnlit_INCLUDE_DIRS}/../Common" )

Note: for some reason there is no variable for Hlms/common so add it manually.

Same logic for libraries.

set(PROJECT_LIBS     
  "${OGRE_LIBRARIES}"     
  "${OGRE_HlmsPbs_LIBRARIES}"     
  "${OGRE_HlmsUnlit_LIBRARIES}" )

Add it to the target.

add_executable (${PROJECT_NAME} ${SOURCES} ${HEADERS})
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${PROJECT_INCLUDES})
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} ${PROJECT_LIBS})

HLMS

HLMS stands for "High Level Material System", because for the user, the HLMS means just define the material and start looking at it (no need for coding or shader knowledge!).

There are two options:

• PBS: Stands for Physically Based Shading. The most common for most of your material needs.
• Unlit: Basic system with no lighting or skeleton skinning. Great for GUI, billboards, particle FXs. Supports multiple texture layering with photoshop-like blending modes.

It seems to make a "basic" demo app we do not need Hlms at all. But to make something more complicated than an empty window we have to initialize it. So, in order Hlms to work it has to load some data files which are conveniently located in sdk\Media\Hlms. All these share common hierarchy that we will define in configuration file. It can be generated directly in CMake

Create Resources.cfg.in

[Essential]
Zip=DebugPack.zip

[Popular]
FileSystem=./
FileSystem=Materials/Common
FileSystem=Materials/Common/GLSL
FileSystem=Materials/Common/HLSL
FileSystem=Materials/Common/Metal

# Do not load this as a resource. It's here merely to tell the code where
# the Hlms templates are located
[Hlms]
DoNotUseAsResource=./

This file will be copied as is. Doing this we leave us a space for future modifications.

set(DATA_DIR "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/data")
set(RESOURCES_CFG "Resources.cfg")

configure_file("${RESOURCES_CFG}.in" "${DATA_DIR}/${RESOURCES_CFG}")

file( COPY "${OGRE_MEDIA_DIR}/Hlms/Common"  DESTINATION "${DATA_DIR}/Hlms" )
file( COPY "${OGRE_MEDIA_DIR}/Hlms/Pbs"     DESTINATION "${DATA_DIR}/Hlms" )
file( COPY "${OGRE_MEDIA_DIR}/Hlms/Unlit"   DESTINATION "${DATA_DIR}/Hlms" )
file( COPY "${OGRE_MEDIA_DIR}/2.0/scripts/materials/Common" 
      DESTINATION "${DATA_DIR}/Materials" )

Note: RESOURCES_CFG can be also used as a parameter for a header file template. This allows you avoid hardcoded literals as I will do later in source code.

Plug-ins and dynamic libraries

Unless Ogre was build with OGRE_STATIC_LIB, you will have a plug-in for every render system. It means rendering backend will be loaded at runtime. Happily for us all plug-ins are registred automaticaly by providing configuration file to Root.

The same *.cfg.in approch is applicable to plug-ins configuration. Keep in mind that we have two sets of binaries: Debug and Release. Let's make configuration file for each.

Plugins.cfg.in

# Defines plugins to load
# Define plugin folder
PluginFolder=@OGRE_PLUGIN_DIR_REL@

# Define plugins
Plugin=RenderSystem_Direct3D11
Plugin=Plugin_ParticleFX

Plugins_d.cfg.in

# Defines plugins to load
# Define plugin folder
PluginFolder=@OGRE_PLUGIN_DIR_DBG@

# Define plugins
Plugin=RenderSystem_Direct3D11_d
Plugin=Plugin_ParticleFX_d

Now we need to copy cfg and plug-ins according to build configuration. Let's go further and define also a list of dynamic libraries to be shipped with executable.

if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL  "Debug")    
  set(DEBUG_POSTFIX "_d")    
  set(OGRE_DLLS         
    "${OGRE_BINARY_DBG}"        
    "${OGRE_HlmsPbs_BINARY_DBG}"         
    "${OGRE_HlmsUnlit_BINARY_DBG}"
    "${OGRE_SDK}/bin/Debug/amd_ags_x64.dll")
else()    
  set(OGRE_DLLS         
    "${OGRE_BINARY_REL}"        
    "${OGRE_HlmsPbs_BINARY_REL}"        
    "${OGRE_HlmsUnlit_BINARY_REL}"        
    "${OGRE_SDK}/bin/Release/amd_ags_x64.dll")
endif()

Note: Windows documentation says

If a DLL has dependencies, the system searches for the dependent DLLs as if they were loaded with just their module names. This is true even if the first DLL was loaded by specifying a full path.

Sadly, this is the case for amd_ags_x64.dll as it is a dependency for RenderSystem_Direct3D11.dll. So even having a full path for plug-in itself it could not be loaded because of its dependency located in same directory but unseen for loading function. Moreover the Ogre source code gives as a hint that we can not specify our own search path

 #define DYNLIB_LOAD( a ) LoadLibraryEx( a, NULL, 0) 
// we can not use LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH with relative paths

For now, it is enough to put all of necessary DLLs to executable location. Let's finally generate cfg and copy them.

set(PLUGINS_CFG "Plugins${DEBUG_POSTFIX}.cfg")
configure_file("${PLUGINS_CFG}.in" "${DATA_DIR}/${PLUGINS_CFG}")

foreach(DLL_NAME ${OGRE_DLLS})    
  file( COPY "${DLL_NAME}"    DESTINATION "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}" )
endforeach()

That's pretty much it. After CMake is done with your project you will see all necessary DLLs and data folder in building directory.

Main.cpp

For me the starting point was ogre-next\Samples\2.0\Tutorials\Tutorial00_Basic

It is a bit messy but completely suits us as an example. I moved Hlms part away and removed all platform specific defines to focus solely on Windows.

#include "OgreCamera.h"
#include "OgreRoot.h"
#include "OgreWindow.h"
#include "Compositor/OgreCompositorManager2.h"
#include "OgreWindowEventUtilities.h"

class MyWindowEventListener : public Ogre::WindowEventListener
{    
  bool mQuit;
public:    
  MyWindowEventListener() : mQuit(false) {}    
  virtual void windowClosed(Ogre::Window *rw) { mQuit = true; }
  bool getQuit(void) const { return mQuit; }
};

It is just helper class, notifies us when window is closed.

int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{    
  using namespace Ogre;
  const String pluginsFolder = "./data/";    
  const String writeAccessFolder = "./";
  
#ifndef OGRE_STATIC_LIB
#if OGRE_DEBUG_MODE    
  const char *pluginsFile = "plugins_d.cfg";
#else    
  const char *pluginsFile = "plugins.cfg";
#endif
#endif    
  Root *root = OGRE_NEW Root(pluginsFolder + pluginsFile,
                             writeAccessFolder + "ogre.cfg",  
                             writeAccessFolder + "Ogre.log");

Here we are using plugins.cfg generated by CMake. Note that there is also ogre.cfg, it would not be created unless you call saveConfig. The example code uses dialog window to choose a rendering system. We already know which to choose, let’s hardcode it as well.

Ogre::RenderSystem *renderSystem = 
  root->getRenderSystemByName("Direct3D11 Rendering Subsystem");    
if (!(renderSystem))    
{        
  printf("Render system not found!\n");        
  return -1;    
}
root->setRenderSystem(renderSystem);

You can set up it using ogre.cfg or manually.

root->getRenderSystem()->setConfigOption("sRGB Gamma Conversion", "Yes");
root->getRenderSystem()->setConfigOption("Full Screen", "No");

Create window.

Window *window = root->initialise(true, "Tutorial 00: Basic");
MyWindowEventListener eventListener;    
WindowEventUtilities::addWindowEventListener(window, &eventListener);

Create SceneManager.

const size_t numThreads = 1u;    
SceneManager *sceneManager = 
  root->createSceneManager(ST_GENERIC, numThreads, "ExampleSMInstance");

Create camera and position it at 500 in Z direction looking back along -Z.

Camera *camera = sceneManager->createCamera("Main Camera");
camera->setPosition(Vector3(0, 5, 15)); 
camera->lookAt(Vector3(0, 0, 0));    
camera->setNearClipDistance(0.2f);    
camera->setFarClipDistance(1000.0f);    
camera->setAutoAspectRatio(true);

Setup a basic compositor with a blue clear colour.

CompositorManager2 *compositorManager = root->getCompositorManager2();    
const String workspaceName("Demo Workspace");    
const ColourValue backgroundColour(0.2f, 0.4f, 0.6f);    
compositorManager->createBasicWorkspaceDef(workspaceName, 
                                           backgroundColour, 
                                           IdString());    
compositorManager->addWorkspace(sceneManager, 
                                window->getTexture(), 
                                camera, 
                                workspaceName, 
                                true);

Main loop that just waiting window to be closed.

bool bQuit = false;
while (!bQuit)    
{        
  WindowEventUtilities::messagePump();        
  bQuit = myWindowEventListener.getQuit() || !root->renderOneFrame();    
}

Clean up.

WindowEventUtilities::removeWindowEventListener(window, &eventListener);
OGRE_DELETE root;    
root = 0;

If you build and run, you will see the window filled blue.

HLMS

Though there is nothing we can use material system for, let's initialize it. Add Hlms.h

#include "OgreConfigFile.h"
#include "OgreArchiveManager.h"
#include "OgreHlmsManager.h"
#include "OgreHlmsPbs.h"
#include "OgreHlmsUnlit.h"

void registerHlms( void )
{    
  using namespace Ogre;
  String resourcePath = "data/";
  ConfigFile cf;    
  cf.load( resourcePath + "Resources.cfg" );    
  String rootHlmsFolder = 
    resourcePath + cf.getSetting( "DoNotUseAsResource", "Hlms", "" );
  if( rootHlmsFolder.empty() )        
    rootHlmsFolder = "./";    
  else if( *( rootHlmsFolder.end() - 1 ) != '/' )        
    rootHlmsFolder += "/";

  auto mng = Root::getSingleton().getHlmsManager();
  mng->registerHlms( CreateHlms<HlmsUnlit>(rootHlmsFolder) );    
  mng->registerHlms( CreateHlms<HlmsPbs>(rootHlmsFolder) );
}

Create an instance of Hlms, specifying the location of the shader templates.

template<class T>
T* CreateHlms(const Ogre::String& rootFolder)
{    
  using namespace Ogre;

  String mainFolderPath;    
  StringVector libraryFoldersPaths;    
  StringVector::const_iterator libraryFolderPathIt;    
  StringVector::const_iterator libraryFolderPathEn;
  ArchiveManager &archiveManager = ArchiveManager::getSingleton();
  T::getDefaultPaths( mainFolderPath, libraryFoldersPaths );    
  ArchiveVec archiveLibraryFolders;    
  Archive *archive = archiveManager.load( rootFolder + mainFolderPath, 
                                          "FileSystem", true );    
  libraryFolderPathIt = libraryFoldersPaths.begin();    
  libraryFolderPathEn = libraryFoldersPaths.end();    
  while( libraryFolderPathIt != libraryFolderPathEn )    
  {        
    Archive *archiveLibrary = 
      archiveManager.load( rootFolder + *libraryFolderPathIt, 
                           "FileSystem", true );        
    archiveLibraryFolders.push_back( archiveLibrary );        
    ++libraryFolderPathIt;    
  }
  T* hlms = OGRE_NEW T( archive, &archiveLibraryFolders );
    
  RenderSystem *renderSystem = Root::getSingletonPtr()->getRenderSystem();
  if( renderSystem->getName() == "Direct3D11 Rendering Subsystem" ) 
  {       
    bool supportsNoOverwriteOnTextureBuffers;        
    renderSystem->getCustomAttribute("MapNoOverwriteOnDynamicBufferSRV",
                                     &supportsNoOverwriteOnTextureBuffers);
    if( !supportsNoOverwriteOnTextureBuffers )        
      hlms->setTextureBufferDefaultSize( 512 * 1024 );
   } 
   return hlms;
}

Note: That setTextureBufferDefaultSize is only for Direct3D11 and if MapNoOverwriteOnDynamicBufferSRV is not supported. Comment from samples says:

Set lower limits 512kb instead of the default 4MB per Hlms in D3D 11.0
and below to avoid saturating AMD's discard limit (8MB) or
saturate the PCIE bus in some low end machines.

I did not found any clarification on this matter, but it seems a common practise.

Last words

Afterward it is not so hard. Now I am planning to add some proper rendering loop, play around with some meshes and materials. I will definitely describe my experience in next article.

If you find any misprints, errors or have any thoughts, please let me know.
Thank you.

You can find whole project on GitHub. each tutorial chapter will have a tag.

© 2021 Pavel Busovikov.

Here I am going to share my experience in IT industry and programming and show how I learn a new technologies