Dont laugh at me, a simple question

Troubleshooting SDK
1

Hi everyone,
I am trying to develop a 3d game and found this amazing engine. But a question I need to understand before starting to learn it is that If I create a jar app, what are required for a computer to run it. In addition to JRE, how to deal with the library files of the engine. Should I embed them into the app or create a runtime environment on the target computer? Please help me. Thx.

2

The SDK will create a jar file and a lib folder that contains all needed libraries, the jar file mainfest contains all info about the libraries so it can be run directly with any JVM. The desktop deployment for windows .exe files allows specifying a relative folder for a JRE that you could supply with the game as well.

3
<cite>@normen said:</cite> The SDK will create a jar file and a lib folder that contains all needed libraries, the jar file mainfest contains all info about the libraries so it can be run directly with any JVM. The desktop deployment for windows .exe files allows specifying a relative folder for a JRE that you could supply with the game as well.
First, thanks for you reply. The thing is I am using Eclipse instead of SDK. When you are saying "a lib that contains all needed libs", do you mean only the necessary libraries or all libraries from the engine? Since I am using Eclipse, so just export all libraries when exporting projects?
4
@ascu said: First, thanks for you reply. The thing is I am using Eclipse instead of SDK. When you are saying "a lib that contains all needed libs", do you mean only the necessary libraries or all libraries from the engine? Since I am using Eclipse, so just export all libraries when exporting projects?

Well I can’t tell you the details as I use Eclipse only for GWT development. But most normal java applications I see coming from Eclipse either create a “fat jar” or supply a batch file that references the libraries on the command line when invoking the “java.exe” with the -jar and -classpath flag. So I don’t know if theres support for anything else really, check the manual of Eclipse.

5

TBH The SDK does all this for you, if you want to use eclipse rather than the SDK then you are welcome too but:

  1. You are going to miss out on a load of SDK features
  2. The number of people who can help you with questions will be much smaller.
6

Hmm… I wouldn’t say that in these general and abstract terms.

I’d say:
IF you are already basing all workflow on Eclipse, and comfortable with configuring Eclipse projects;
AND IF you already have an established toolchain for all the assets you may want to build (bitmaps, shaders, whatever),
THEN Eclipse is a viable path.
Just import the engine sources and the native libraries into your Eclipse project and integrate that into the build tool of your choice.
Use either “svn external”, or place the checkout in a different directory than the Eclipse project and use Eclipse’s “external sources” facility.

However, if you’re new to game programming, or to Eclipse, the SDK is your friend.
If you migrate from Eclipse to Netbeans, be warned that Netbeans has some gross deficits. This doesn’t mean that Netbeans is bad, Eclipse has its own set of gross deficits; people are simply used to the pain of their day-to-day tool that they don’t really notice anymore, it’s just noticeable while migrating.

7

Thank you all! Very helpful.