No idea how to start

[Jossos]

I've actually figured out the problems I've been having, and am following this tutorial to learn openGL: http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/

If you would like to help me, just check out the latest post in this thread. I'll keep all my problems together in one thread, rather than a new thread for each.

This was what this thread was initially.

So I've spent the last few hours scouring google for answers and haven't gotten anything. I have a decent knowledge of c++ and Microsoft visual studio set up, and I just can't get any openGL programs to work. The problems are weird and the programs I copy/paste are always missing stuff (even with all the include files working fine). For example I copy-pasted the code from this page: http://duriansoftware.com/joe/An-int...Slideshow.html and there's 3 things I'm missing apparently ('render' and 'update_fade_factor' are undeclared identifiers and 'make_resources' can't be found.) and somehow the code used by the originator worked just fine.

I'm pretty newbie, and I just want to play with this thing, but it's impossible to even get a blank window. All tutorials I have found are either outdated or assume you know how to get everything perfectly set up.

I'm eager to learn, but I can't even start with all this crap getting in the way. If I can just make a blank window that would be totally awesome, and I could work my way from there.

PS: freeImage has no freeImage.lib file included with it now, which is annoying since tutorials using it require that this file be included.
PSS: VS refuses to acknowledge the existence of glaux.h, but it recognises all the other files in the same folder. This is really frustrating and makes no sense to me.

Any help/guidance is very much appreciated.

[ZbuffeR]

http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/
This one should have everything you need. The author is often around these forum if you need help.

[Jossos]

"The source to this tutorial, found in Tut1 Hello Triangle/tut1.cpp, is fairly simple. The project file that builds the final executable actually uses two source files: the tutorial file and a common framework file found in framework/framework.cpp. The framework file is where the actual initialization of FreeGLUT is done; it is also where main is. This file simply uses functions defined in the main tutorial file."

Where am I meant to get these?

[Alfonse Reinheart]

Where am I meant to get these?

Maybe from the page that explains how to build the tutorials.

The book is meant to be read front-to-back.

[Jossos]

"MSVCRTD.lib(wcrtexew.obj) : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _wWinMain@16 referenced in function ___tmainCRTStartup"

I'm about to give up. I'm frustrated beyond belief

[Alfonse Reinheart]

If you're so frustrated, just stop already and come back to it when you've calmed down.

If there is a problem, you need to explain the steps you took that led to the problem. Simply posting an error message isn't helpful to anyone.

[Jossos]

Ok I calmed down, and am following this: http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/Bu...Tutorials.html

I'm at this line: "The SDK his library uses Premake to generate its build files. So, with premake4.exe in your path, go to the glsdk directory. Type premake4 plat, where plat is the name of the platform of choice (Type where???). For Visual Studio 2008, this would be “vs2008”; for VS2010, this would be “vs2010.” This will generate Visual Studio projects and solution files for that particular version."

I got no idea wtf it's talking about. I downloaded premake4 which when run opens a console window and quickly dissapears. What am I suppose to be doing here? where do type this stuff?

[Alfonse Reinheart]

As stated at the top of the page, "You will need minimal familiarity with using the command line in order to build these tutorials." You type that line into the command line. If you don't know what that is... I'm not sure how much I can help. I don't know of any Windows help pages that explain what a command prompt is and how to use it.

[Jossos]

I TYPE THat line in command prompt and nothing happens. I'm in the directory.

[Jossos]

Good news folks I did a crash course in command prompt and got it working. Just want to say, despite my frustration, you guys have actually helped a lot! I'm going to continue to bump this thread with my problems as I come accross them. You may respond or not as you see fit, but I do want to thank you helpful folks for your replies.