Hi,
Having difficulty getting several tutorials to work properly. Below is a partial list. Didn't want to bloat the thread with all of them that don't work, as perhaps an advanced user will see one or two obvious problems, and I can try to fix those on my machine, and that may fix the problems with the others:

Tutorials/.../Rendering/
Bumpmapping.cpp: black, nothing visible except updating FPS and D.text options 1,2,3 & 4
Fog.cpp: Exponent slider moves but does nothing
Particles.cpp: particle examples work fine; no base mesh visible.
Object Clouds.cpp: no clouds visible, but green terrain, sky and astronomical objects are visible
Volumetric Clouds.cpp: no clouds visible on load or on generate. Green terrain, sky and astronomical objects are visible
Layered Clouds: works fine (mentioned here in case it helps locate the problem)
Render To Texture.cpp: builds, but screen remains blank (never loads), but pressing <ESC> shuts OK.

Demos/
Lights.cpp: black screen with three lights orbiting an invisible object.
Game Basics/Lights.cpp: table with candle on terrain, ambient light but no other lights; no shadows

If that won't help - http://www.esenthel.com/community/showth...p?tid=2862
let me know

Thanks for your fast response: still the same problems.

I was up to date with the Windows 7, DirectX and I use the autoupdate.exe. I updated DirectX again and autoupdated EsenthelSDK and VC tutorials again just to make sure.

I have an MSI Wind u210, with integrated graphics ATI Radeon xPress 1270: couldn't find any more recent driver than the version 8.593.0.0 that it shipped with a year ago...and I'm wondering if that is where the problem might be, as ATI now list the x12xx series as legacy and list the following option as an alternative...which I tried to install but ATI Catalyst doesn't install/run anyway, so there appears no update option for me with this card:
"AMD’s DirectX 9 ATI Radeon graphics accelerators are not officially supported under Windows 7. Users can install the ATI Catalyst Windows Vista graphics driver under Windows 7. Please be aware that none of the new Windows 7 graphics driver (WDDM 1.1) features are supported (as the Windows Vista level graphics driver is limited to WDDM 1.0 level support)."

I think this is rather fault of your graphics card and drivers.

Still problems running some tuts, even though I did update my graphics card, so I know I have the latest drivers.

In bumpmapping.cpp specifically, for example, it builds with no errors, and I see a black window with white coloured FPS and the 1,2,3 & 4 text. The application appears to respond when I enter the numbers (as FPS goes down and then up), but the window remains black no matter what key I press.

If you can think of anything I can try, that would be great. Otherwise, it is not so serious at this stage, as most of the tutorials do work fine.

-a

Do you mean you have updated graphic card or graphic drivers?

Graphics driver only; ati xpress 1270 card is actually integrated with motherboard on my msi u210 laptop (an inexpensive low end system, admittedly!)

I can run materials.cpp tutorial with no problem, showing all four balls and the fur looking real (slow FPS though). So much works, it is perplexing...

Could you run any tutorial with the following line added in Init()


void Init()
{
Exit(S+D.shaderModel()+" "+D.deviceDesc());


and copy the result here?

The application builds OK, a window begins to open, then immediately quits. A small error window appears : "2 Ati Radeon Xpress 1270" with an "OK" button
When I click OK, that error window closes, then I get the "Tutorials.exe has triggered a breakpoint" with options: "continue", "break" or "cancel". If I choose break, I can see stuff in the Call Stack. I did it again, and if I click continue, then I'm just looking at VC at the .cpp file again, with no Call Stack info.

I see, to be honest I don't think I can do something about it.
Unless some other drivers could help, I suggest getting some other GPU.

I do appreciate your taking the time to try to help me, and it seems my problem is a low-end graphics card: shader model '2'.

[edit]
Having worked through the tutorials, I downloaded Bloody Massacre. The nearby fog was so thick and grey, I couldn't see the ground, and could barely see the aliens/houses/sky. After messing around with the options in "Enter" I changed rendering from the default "Deferred" setting to "Simple" or "Forward", either of which made the near-fog disappear, and I could see the ground. FPS increased a lot, too. Just thought I'd add this as it appears as if my problem is render-based problem, and that would explain why the fog.cpp tutorial had only one thickness of fog with no gradation. Still don't know why the clouds work, though!

Just set the renderer to Simple or Forward manually in every tutorial then. Default is Deferred which appears to be too heavy for your GPU.