Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!peter_alau@playstation.sony.com
From: Darco <rquat@datasys.net>
Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.programming.3d_graphics
Subject: Dynamic TMD Prob
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 20:37:31 -0400
Organization: SCEA News Server
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As you can probably tell from the subject line, I'm having a problem
with my Dynamic TMD generation program that I'm writing.

	After hours of pondering and trying to come up with the most efficient
method of Dynamically creating TMD data, I came to a conclusion. Because
the creation process is dynamic, I will not know going into the process
how many vertices, normals, and primitives I will need. Thus, I will
need to dynamically re-allocate the vertex space, normal space, and
primitive space as I add more vertices, normals, and primitives.

	The realloc() command (Green manual, page 212) seemed perfect for
reallocating the memory blocks.

	But SOMEHOW... My data gets corrupted in memory. This is what the
program should do: Create a flat shaded triangle primitive, and display
it on the screen, and you should be able to move it around with the
analog pad. I know my 3D object display routines work because I've tried
them on traditional TMD data. Only once have i gotten anything to
display - and that was a very tiny corrupted triangle - not even at the
position that I set it at.

	I even tried writing my own version of realloc() called re_allocate().
It allocates the new memory, copies the data from the old block to the
new block, then frees the old block, and returns the newly re-sized
block. But that didn't seem to help. re_allocate() is still in the
source code, but it's not used anymore. It's the first routine in tmd.c

	I've tried everything in my knowledge to get it to work, but no avail.
I hate asking people to debug my code, but I don't know what else to do.
I've re-commented the source, and you can find it here:

http://www.datasys.net/users/stu/rquat/dyntmd.zip
It's encrypted, the password is "butter". Without the quotation marks.
(It's encrypted because it contains PSX binaries)

	It's programed in codewarrior, but I'm including the binaries so that
GCC users can at least see what the program is doing. It dumps
EVERYTHING that it does to the console to help aid debugging.

	I know how hard it can be reading through someone else's code, so I've
tried VERY hard to make sure that it is legible and orderly. Tell me
what you think about the code structure, even though it doesn't seem to
want to work. :)

	There are allot of routines in this program that aren't used (like
random.c). They are there because I put them in my custom stationary.
Read through them if you want, you might find them useful.

	I've tried to denote everything that I didn't write with a comment, but
I might not have gotten everything. Just know that %99.9 of everything
is programed by me, and everything else I re-wrote.

What I eventually hope to have is a game that dynamically creates it's
playing environment. Randomly. So there is NO way to know how many
vertices, normals, and primitives there will be going into the process. 

Anyway, help me. Am I going about this the right way?

Thanks.

'Darco