I’m thinking about getting back into game development and I was just wondering if it’s worth waiting until 3.5 gets an official release, or should I get started with 3.4 and then upgrade when 3.5 gets an official release or maybe tackle the 3.5 dev builds? I have a little bit of experience with MonoGame (I spent a couple weeks with it a year or two ago, so I’m far from an expert), but I am a software developer for a living so I’m alright with getting my hands dirty.
Any idea when an official 3.5 build would be out? That might help with the decision here.
Thanks for the input!
I am using 3.4 for quite a long time and the only problem I encountered so far is related to the sounds, however I did not spend too much time on it, so maybe the issues are coming from my end. So, yes, you can start using 3.4.
I am not sure, however if you should use the NuGet version or the installer. I have done a couple of different test, so I am not sure if I messed up my system, or what happened, but long story short, now I only have the installer-version of Monogame 3.4 and not the NuGet one, and when I created my game I had to manually remove the monogame dll references and reference them again from my installation path (from program files folder).
So my suggestion is in nutshell:
- Download the installer of 3.4 from the main page here.
- Install it.
- Do not install NuGet version.
- Create a new project.
- Build the project.
- You will probably get build errors, so remove the monogame framework dll (and any other monogame dlls, though I am not sure if there are anything else referenced by default).
- Reference the required dlls directly from the Windows folder of the installed Monogame in program files folder.
There are multiple folders under 3.4, it looks something like: program files\monogame\3.4, then Windows, and Windows8, and WindowsPhone, etc… I think I am using the Windows and not the Windows8 version of dlls. Sooner or later you will need most of the dlls from here, but I strongly recommend not to reference them until you need them.
And one final advice: do not remove those dlls from your Debug/Release folders after you build your game that look “unused”. I am using the SharpDX dlls, and although I do not have any direct reference on MediaFoundation.dll, if I remove it, the application will fail and give you an error message when you quit from it. Do not know why… So basically you will need:
- MonoGame.Framework.dll
- SharpDX.dll with Direct2D1.dll, Direct3D11.dll, Direct3D9.dll, DXGI.dll, MediaFoundation.dll, RawInput.dll, XAudio2.dll, and Xnput.dll.
Hope that helps!
Great. Thank you very much for the advice!
if you are working with normal mapped 3d models you would have to go with 3.5, 3.4 did not correctly import binormals/tangents. Overall 3d import has gotten a lot easier in 3.5.
But I did never have build problems with 3.4 like the previous poster either.
Thanks for the advice. I’m a 2d fan myself, but who knows what I’ll get into. I’ve also used 3.4 in the past without any trouble, but it’s nice to know a solution if I have any issues!