What we need is a FAQ

I’ve been reading this board for quite a while and I’ve been noticing that there are some questions that are constantly being asked.

Would it be possible to make a FAQ (if there isn’t already one) and put a link to it on this page?

Here are some starting questions that I see all the time:

  1. How can I make a 2d overlay / draw 2d image to the background?

  2. How do I load / save .xxx file format?

  3. How can I get my transformed vertices is back?

  4. What is faster, x or y?

  5. How can I use OpenGL 1.2 and / or extensions under windows?

  6. How do I render text to the screen?

  7. How do I select objects on the screen with the mouse?

Now for some of my personal favorites :

  1. I am a glutton for punishment. Can I please please please micromanage texture / video memory myself? It’d really be great if I could poke pixel color values straight to video RAM.

  2. Which is better, Direct3d or OGL? Christianity or Hinduism?

  3. How does OpenGL do collision detection?

  4. I just learned to program and have never taken any math. How do I make a real-time 3d game engine like Doom3 only better?

etc.

These would be just a start. What does everyone else think? Does a good FAQ like this already exist that we can point people to?

– Zeno

Don’t forget some of my favorites.

  1. I’m getting unresolved linker errors for all of my gl functions, how do I fix this?

  2. I’m getting errors about WINGDIAPI being undefined, what do I do?

  3. I don’t know a thing about C/C++, but I want to use OpenGL, how can I learn this?

  4. Where can I get the 1.2 headers and libraries?

Sorry, but there is already a FAQ on www.opengl.org, and since this message board belongs to this same site, i don’t see the need to have a second one ?!

Y.

Doh! I just found it and most of the above questions are in there. Sorry about that.

– Zeno

So, a new question can be put in the FAQ:

Where is the FAQ on this site?

b

Last time I checked that FAQ, it had been awhile since it had been updated. A link to it directly from the forum pages would be helpful. But then… when was the last time anyone expected a newbie to read a FAQ? Most of them don’t even bother to check old posts before posting.

see here http://www.frii.com/~martz/oglfaq/
last updated a couple of weeks ago.

  1. Is there a FAQ page? only joking!

  2. How do I do lighting like in Q3?

  3. How do I do the water in UT?

  4. My Q3 level viewer is slow, why?

  5. What is a BSP tree?

I don’t mind people asking these questions becuase I now that many people here can answer them ( and I have asked similar things before such as specific programming questions) but they should be asked in the begginers forum.

Tim

[This message has been edited by Tim Stirling (edited 03-28-2001).]

glBegin( MY_TWO_CENTS );

One thing I think you all should keep in mind is the fact that this message board is like no other I have ever seen. When I post a question, it actually gets answered, not to mention that it usually happens within minutes, not hours or days.

I’ve been all over forums and boards and have never had results like this. Just try highend3d, if you’re even able to post ( got in an argument with the listserv ), or DevX or something remotely related to SQL Server. It can take days to get a response, and usually it’s some 13 year old point-and-click hack that’s just trying to amuse himself who writes you back.

So part of the reason that people feel so comfortable posting questions is the response time and the quality of feedback that this board represents. I’m sure I’ve posted a few no brainers that ended up being a bit redundant. I’m definately not trying to defend this behaviour, but the cause of it is rather a compliment to everyone.

This forum is a continuous knowledge-base accelerator, and everyone that contributes shoud get a pat on the back.

glEnd(); // MY_TWO_CENTS

“Knowledge-base accelerator”
hehehe, I’m still waiting for that quantum leap of knowledge. Then again, the time where man fuses with machine and silicon burts into life and the world is at a perfect bond with electricity would be pretty cool too. LOL seriously but it sounds kinda funny

  1. How do I load a 1,000,000+ triangle 3DS Max/Maya scene and display it at 60fps with collision detection. What, there isn’t a function for that?

j

  1. Where can I find the register specifications for the Voodoo3? (Inside joke for anyone who saw this thread a week or two ago.)

Where did that thread go anyway?

  1. Why do they all want to write a BSP engine now?
  2. Why do I have to go to school?
  3. Why am I posting idiotic question so early in the morning?
  1. Hey mcraighead, is function X accelerated on GeForce Y?
  2. I replaced OpenGL32.dll with SGI’s OpenGL.dll and now I get < 1 fps! I thought SGI’s was supposed to be faster?
  3. How do I use GL_NV_vertex_array_range?
  4. Why is line drawing so slow?
  5. Why the function glReadPixels/glDrawPixels is so slow? Sorry about bad my English!
  • Tom
  1. How do I use hardware T&L ?

I think a direct VERY VISIBLE LINK to the FAQ is required at the top of each thread in the forum.

Originally posted by Ingenu:
I think a direct VERY VISIBLE LINK to the FAQ is required at the top of each thread in the forum.

At the top of each thread would be cool, but more so than that, there needs to be a link to it on the “Post Reply” page in like 72 pt font or something. Maybe even a flashy animated GIF, and an audio clip that says “Read the damn FAQ”.

  1. How do I become a 3l33t h4x0r like E3JET.

Maybe the “Post new topic” button should link to the FAQ page. At the bottom of the FAQ, there could then be a “Really post new topic?” button. We should also find a bulletproof way of making people prove that they’ve really read the latest version of the FAQ. Any ideas?

  1. Feature X is slow in my engine. How does John Carmack do it?
  2. Is there a shadowing function in OpenGL?
  3. How do compiled vertex arrays work?
  • Tom

[This message has been edited by Tom Nuydens (edited 03-29-2001).]

Pretty soon everyone will read the faq instead of posting funny questions.

Aaaaany daay nooow…