BlackTopp Studios inc
The following steps for additional library configuration with the Mezzanine only apply when using MinGW32.
If you want to use OpenGL and WinMM as the video and audio backends for your application there are no additional steps you need to follow here. However if you want to use DirectX and/or DirectSound then you will need to install the DirectX SDK.
For Windows 7/Vista users you can download the SDK as it's own thing from here . The Feburary 2010 version has been tested and is known to be bad/faulty with our configuration, so ensure you download the June 2010 or newer version.
For Windows 8/8.1/10 users M$ has packaged the DirectX SDK with all the other major Windows SDKs. You can get the Windows SDK for Windows 8.1 from here , and for Windows 10 from here
After installing the appropriate SDK you must add its install location to the system “Path” variable. During installation it will prompt you for where it will be installed, make note of that location when it does. In the event that you are reading this and already installed it, the typical locations for the DirectX SDK install are:
Windows Vista/7 32-bit:
Windows Vista/7 64-bit:
Windows 8.1/10 32-bit (is this even a thing?):
Windows 8.1/10 64-bit:
For Windows 8.1 and 10, there will be additional folders for different SDKs available. For example you may have a "v8.1" folder or a "10" folder inside the folder noted above depending on the SDK. Check those directories first and verify its location. Once you do copy that path to the system “Path” variable with the following the instruction on the Changing the Windows System PATH page.
That is all the only step needed to get DirectX working. This also applies for DirectSound if you are using MSVC/Visual Studio. DirectSound on specific versions of MinGW needs a little bit more help, however. If you are using 32-bit MinGW from Msys then proceed to the next paragraph. Otherwise other distributions of MinGW that have been tested (such as TDM-GCC64) do not need extra steps.
You need to copy a header file available in a Microsoft Visual Studio install, and make it available to MinGW. So download and install the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio express. The version I used and tested was Visual Studio 9.0. Once installed navigate to its install folder. For me this was in “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0” (you may or may not need to append “x86” to the “Program Files” folder name). Once there you need to get to it’s include directory, to do that enter the “VC” folder, then the “include” folder. In there you should find a header file named “sal.h”. If you don’t, you may not have the proper version of Visual Studio installed. Once you find it you must copy it to your MinGW include folder which by default is located at “C:\MinGW\include”. This should enable the DirectSound backend for the audio subsystem with MinGW on Windows. You can check the output when you configure CMake to verify.
Libraries using DirectX components should be able to detect and use the DirectX SDK provided by the compiler at this point. You may need to close and restart applications for this to take effect (such as CMake if you are using the GUI).
1.8.9.1. Thanks to the
Open Icon Library
for help with some of the icons.
