Help with sound/music and modules

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Help with sound/music and modules

Rico(Posted 2008) [#1]
Hi - just a couple of questions:

1) I'm at the stage where I am thinking about adding music to my game. I want to be able to choose from the widest possible number of formats. What do I need to do get this choice? (installation of modules, and which modules). I understand blitz Max can already play music in ogg abd .wav formats.
2) Some one told me (Jesse I think) that I should think about using the Chipmunk modules for the physics in my game. Where can I get these, and how do I install them?

Currently I have never used anything except the built in Blitz commands. So any info is gratefully recieved.

Thanks - Rico


Jesse(Posted 2008) [#2]
[read this whole post before going through the steps]
if you have never worked with modules, you got some learning to do, I am going to give you several links to get you started
this will teach you how to make, install and use modules:
bmax tutorial:
http://www.blitzmax.com/Community/posts.php?topic=42290

brucey's how to install modules:
http://code.google.com/p/maxmods/wiki/HowToInstallModules

you need to have MinGW installed:
http://www.blitzmax.com/Community/posts.php?topic=72892

this is the link to the actual chipmunk website:
http://wiki.slembcke.net/main/published/Chipmunk

and finally this is the BMAX chipmunk module:
http://maxmods.googlecode.com/files/chipmunk_1_03_src.zip

If you want the precompiled module you can get it from my signature in which case you won't need to install MinGW. Just put the bah.module in the mods folder within your bmax installation.
to learn to use it you are going have to go through the demos included in the module. There are no real tutorials for it as far as I know.
I know you seen "Brucy's modules", so if you have any questions post there he is the maker of the Chipmunk BlitzMax module. and he is very helpfull.

If you find his module helpfull consider donating. He is doing an excellent job helping this community and all of his work is free.


Rico(Posted 2008) [#3]
Thanks Jesse - I've visted all the links but I need some help if you wouldn't mind. I've put chipmunk.mod in mods/bah.mod/ as instructed. I'm a bit confused - what do I do now to get the demo programs to run
Is this now installed? or do I need to build this module (I don't know what Build means). The 'Build Modules' option on my Blitz IDE menu is disabled currently.
I've installled MinGW -I then went to command line and typed bmk makemods -r bah.chipmunk which generated loads of error messages and then bmk makemods -r bah.chipmunk.main which didn't produce any message at all.
Help please!


Rico(Posted 2008) [#4]
Ok - I gave up and downloaded the precompiled chipmunk module. (Thank you) Howver when I try to run any of the demo programs it opens a tab in the editor called chipmunk debug and stops on the line INFINITY#=inf#

and says 'Expecting ( but encountered #'

What do I need to do to the demo progs to work?
Thanks


Jesse(Posted 2008) [#5]
if the folder is in the right place it should work as soon as you try to run it.
did you removed the bah.module before copying the precompiled one?
do you have Bmax update to 1.28?
I know there is nothing wrong with the precompiled version sence That is the one I am using.
What version of windows are you using?

if you want to rebuild modules all you have to do is press CTRL D even when the option is disabled. If you get any errors here, it's probably because you didn't install MinGW properly. I know this part is tricky. I had to install it a second time on my laptop. Apparently I didn't do it right the first time.

[edit]
did you set the environment variables?


Rico(Posted 2008) [#6]
Muppet! - I didn't have the latest version of Blitz. Mine was 1.18 - I just assumed it was the most recent because it was only a few months ago that I bought it. (it didn't state version on the 'About' tab)
Anyway the Chipmunk demos now work - they are just a bit better than my block pushing/stacking program :)

I did set the environment variable in MinGW. What is MinGW by the way? I just installed it and set the environment variables. Don't really know if I'm supposed to do anything explicit with it.

Thank you for all your help

Rico


Jesse(Posted 2008) [#7]
http://www.mingw.org/mingwfaq.shtml

is the only way you can rebuild the modules containing c and c++.