Getting CS to work?

[Shadox]

Hi all, well, Im new and would like to start using (learn how to use) Crystal Space, but thers a problem.

Its all so confusing and I cant understand anything...

For example, I downloaded some zip file from the CS site and I goes that its the Source Code but than it says something about building or compiling CS, and I have no idea what that means... so could some one please tell me what I have to do exactly?  Or is there some site with a tutorial(s) that could help me?

Basically all this stuff is so confusing, I even got lost on the site and the forums o.0

Sorry, for being so noobish but its the first time I have problems like those.

Thanks

[bookeater2]

Well, do you know how to use the c++ programming language, and if not, do you want to learn? There are ways to learn that seperately from CS which would be best. There are also other posibilities, you could try to use the scripting languages that are supported, and you could use CellStart for that, I don't have much more info than that off the top of my head.

To answer about compiling, it requires a compiler software, and that converts the text code into executable files etc.

[Shadox]

Well, I thought that you could use Python in CS to.. (I was thinking about learning that one bcoz it I readed somewhere that its a easy programming language. even if not that easy, maybe a bit easier than C++?)

But how do I compile CS than?  What kinda of compile software do I need to compile CS?


I tried this one:
http://community.crystalspace3d.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=17

But there was a problem at the end and actually I have no idea what I should get at the end when the compiling is done... like do I get a bunch of exe files (or at last one?) o.0?

[bookeater2]

like do I get a bunch of exe files (or at last one?) o.0?

yes the main cs folder will have multiple .exe files and .dll files (windows) if compiled fully.

Python is supported, and if you want to get straight to using it with Crystal Space and the features of Cell use     CELstart   - is a CEL-based environment for self-contained game packages, allowing easy game creation via scripting, thereby making the development process easier for those less proficient with C++. The package nature of games also make distribution simple.

That is on the crystalspace3d.org homepage

compiling is good too though since you will want that skill eventually.

[Shadox]

do I need to compile that CEL program to, because I cant find any exe files there to.. if so, how do I do that and what program do I need for that? (Same question regarding CS  to)

[bookeater2]

CS comes with documentation to answer that, you can also go to the CS homepage and click documentation.
CEL is not required I was showing you wat it said about cellstart, which does not need to be compiled. See the main page for that too.

[Shadox]

The doucmentation does not really help, its more like a hint or tip..

Anyway, thers what I have done/tried so far:

I tried this method:
http://community.crystalspace3d.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=17

But the Jam command did not work
So I tried to compile it using MSVC++ 08 Express but it had to convert the code bcoz it was writen fro a older version...
Than I tried to compile it with MSVC++ 05 Express but it always gave me a error(some file was missing)... after searching the forums it I found a thread about the same problem, where som1 said that that the Platform SDK is needed, so I downloaded and installed that... (Windows® Server 2003 SP1 Platform SDK)
after I installed the SDK I still got the same error in MSVC 05 that the file was missing so I started to look at the MinGW folder and found a exe file that automatical downloaded a update, so I did that to...
after the update was downloaded I tried to compile CS with MSYS again...
When I tried the ./configure command a list of some thing appeared.. looked to me like it was checking for files or so, (sometimes it said yes and sometimes no about one of the lines..)
after that I tried the Jam command and it worked.. after like 30 min. (or more) of compiling the only thing it did (at last as far as I can tell) .. it created a msysx86 folder in the out folder that appeared in the CS folder..
but there were no exe files, the only exe file that appeared was the jam.exe after I tried the ./configure command..
and the walktest didn't work..
ah, and I installed the the Win32Libs somewhere in there between (cant really remember when)
so, is that it? Because you said that I would get a few exe files, but I dont see any except the jam one... :s

[edit] ah, I remembered that I wanted to ask another question...

Why is there no already compiled version of CS available on the site? That would make things a lot easier..

[edit 2] Ok, I give up.. at last for now.. but I wil probably try it again later.. maybe..

Anyway, thats for trying to help me .. ^^

[bookeater2]

well I was trying to explain that cellstart is already compiled, it is basically CS with cell and python or something (I'm not sure exactly don't have it right now).

 you seem to be saying you installed the win32 libs thing in the middle of the process. I can't tell you exactly what went wrong without seeing error messages etc.

[Shadox]

Thanks, but I goes that I wont have to compile it after all .. (even thou I would like to know what I did wrong .. hehe...)

After a bit more looking around the internet I found a link to http://b2cs.delcorp.org/index.php/ArtistInstall

I goes that I actually dont need CS, my bad ^^;

But thanks for helping

[Vincent]

Just to clarify some points:
CS is a toolkit for programmers, so they can write 3D apps without having to start from scratch.
So, unless you want to stick to artist role, you have to learn some programming stuff, like, how to compile/build CS,
which is a pre-requisite to using it...

Building CS is explained in the manual: http://www.crystalspace3d.org/docs/online/manual/Platform-Instructions.html
You have to build CS even if you want to use it just with Python.

There's no official pre-compiled release of CS/CEL yet, because it's quite some work, to do it properly and for all platforms CS runs on.

Now, the "artist packages", like the one you found (and which is a bit outdated), allow people loading their art stuff in CS, without having to
build it beforehand. But it can't be used to build/compile a CS-based application.

I hope that clear things a bit