Hey,

Got a question for those of you that have created, worked on or created software for 3D games.

as with any application you create, thorough testing is required before release.

now let's say your user base is diverse and you have 1/3 windows xp, 1/3 vista, 1/3 windows 7. (combination of 32 bit and 64 bit users also).

now to be thorough, you want to make sure your application works on all 3 operating systems so that you know all your users can run your stuff.

so you need to have a computer or multiple computers with each OS so you can test it out.

my question to you is:
- what method are you using to test multi-OS compatibility?
- are you running virtualization software (eg virtualbox, VMware, parallels?)
- are you multi booting?
- are you testing on different pcs with different OS's?

I ask for this reason:
- for 3D games, I've found that virtualization software for windows pcs blows hardcore. support for dx8, dx9, dx10 is limited. not many games work
- in contrast, parallels for Mac has amazing 3d support. the virtualization you get with parallel for Mac is the closest to a native OS experience. so testing windows apps on a Mac for multi OS's is easier because of how much better parallels for Mac is compared to windows equivlents (eg VMware workstation).

so yea, just looking to see what companies in the industry are doing to test games out?

any of you have any tips?

thx

This post was edited by PartyInMyPants on Oct 29 2012 02:24am

different pcs on different operating systems, though for multiple windows versions you can easily re-use the same box with multiple booting.

the actual development probably doesn't really care so much about the specific version, as you're developing against an API and not a specific OS.

this. just multi boot windows for general testing. you might need to overwrite windows native bootloader with grub though to allow multibooting.

you can only test your own game yourself so much. what you would need to think about doing is a small scale alpha/beta and then a large scale (if this is multiplayer it will help stress teh servers so you can see what to change for efficiency)

that also expands your hardware you are testing on because there are so many pieces of hardware out there you can possibly test them all (many gpus, cpus, clock speeds, driver versions, motherboards, resolutions)

so what i would do is when deving this game is create detailed error exception catching handlers and make a detailed error reporting applicaiton where it sends how it crashed where it crashed what file it crashed in and the like.

i actually made a really good one in vb6 while i was making bots that even printed out the line number the crash or error happened on.

Thanks.

I definitely thought about dual booting, but I've been hesitant to do it because I'm honestly not sure if my computer can run Windows XP. I mean..I got it in February 2011 with Windows 7 64 bit (its a laptop) and it has SLI GTX 485M graphics cards (which I'm not sure if it would be supported on XP). What I'm afraid of is my computer getting fried or something because I don't have the drivers for windows xp. I think I'll checkout notebook review forums to see if any other users with my notebook were able to dual boot successfully.

OK, if you don't even understand the basic role of operating systems (and the fact that lack of device drivers will not "fry" your computer), what the hell are you doing talking about developing 3D games?

tbh I only have knowledge of user mode programming. I know nothing about drivers and how they allow hardware to function properly.

my fear comes from the fact that my laptop cost me $5K. I've never built a pc so I know nada about hardware. all I know is I don't want my investment to turn to shit.

I've thought about dual booting ever since I bought it, but that fear is what always held me back from actually trying it.

worst that will happen will you would have to reformat

drivers wont do anything besides bluescreen if they arnt compatable or disable themselves.

why would you pay 5k for a laptop?

coding is a hobby for me, albeit a profitable one. I have a full-time job so I'm at the office more than I am at home. Thus I need a desktop replacement solution that I could transport between home and work every day. I also need a computer I could take oversees with me if need be. Ultimately, I needed a computer with desktop-level performance without the need to carry around a tower and monitor. that laptop met my needs. Ever since I purchased it I've been significantly more productive. The laptop has also had its purpose of enabling me to perform work-related tasks that my work computer can't handle (e.g. work computer too shitty to handle 150MB excel files with tons of formulas, whereas my laptop handles it with ease).

So yea, many people say I spent too much. I agree to some extent since I don't game on it nearly as much like I initially intended (coding and testing is all I have time to do now). I wrote the laptop off as a business expense regardless.

This post was edited by PartyInMyPants on Oct 29 2012 06:18pm