Allegro 5 Template for I2P(1)_2019

We will use Allegro 5 in the final project.

Administrative

  • 12/02 (二) Allegro5 簡介

    希望在黑客松前大家可以先把 Allegro5 在自己電腦上裝好。

  • 12/14 (六) 09:00-20:00 Prof. Yang 黑客松 (占總成績 2%)

  • 12/15 (日) 09:00-20:00 Prof. Hu 黑客松 (占總成績 2%)

  • 01/13 (一) Demo, 詳情一週前會公布 (占總成績 13%)

Tasks: tasks, task video

PPT: allegro5_tutorial.pdf

Installation

Follow the steps here.

Useful Links

Tutorials

C++ Allegro 5 Made Easy

2D Game Development Course

Allegro Game Library Tutorial Series

FAQ

Final Project

  • If you want to use GIF images, you can download the plugin algif.

    It can be used like videos after putting the library under your project folder.

  • If you play multiple BGMs or sound effects at the same time, the al_play_sample could fail.

    You can either:

    1. Set RESERVED_SAMPLES to a higher value.
    2. Don't abort if al_play_sample fails.
  • Unable to find resources when open the executable file located in ...\bin\ directly.

    You can copy all used resources to the ...\bin folder, since the executable file searches for the resources file located in the same folder.

  • Error message: assertion failed ... bitmap_draw...

    A high chance is that you didn't initialize one of your image file before drawing it. e.g.

    ALLEGRO_BITMAP* img;
    ...
    al_draw_bitmap(img, ...);

    The full error message:

    Assertion failed!
    
    Program: <PATH>\final.exe
    File: <PATH>/bitmap_draw.c, Line 140
    
    Expression: bitmap
    
  • al_load_bitmap, load_resized_bitmap keeps failing, but I've done nothing wrong.

    Some image files you downloaded from the internet might be in the incorrect format. You can open it in PhotoShop, GIMP, Paint.NET, ... and re-save it as *.png or any format you want. This problem occurs sometime if you are using Chrome, but it doesn't occur if you use Firefox.

    For example: You can try to save this image: http://img1.3png.com/340af8a9dd2e666738f797b6573a963e1e8f.png. Although it says it's a PNG file, but it's actually a JPEG file. If you don't believe it, you can open it in Notepad, Notepad++, ... You'll see the JFIF at the beginning lines, if it's a PNG file, you should see NG.

  • Task 1, 2, 3 are independent, you can test the game behavior after finishing each part.

  • If your game lags (drop frames), you can comment out the line below:

    #define LOG_ENABLED
  • If your game loading time is very long, it is caused by the large music files. You can change the file to other audio, or simply disable (don't load) background music.

  • Space key cannot be detected.

    You should change your input from Chinese to English, otherwise the keycode will be different.

Installation on Windows

  • fopen is not safe ... in Visual Studio

    Download template again, or add #define _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE at the top of your file.

  • Visual Studio cannot compile

    When setting the configuration of Allegro5 plugins, make sure to set in All Configurations and All Platforms.

  • File allegro-5.0.10-monolith-mt-debug.dll is missing in Code::Blocks

    Find the file allegro/bin/allegro-5.0.10-monolith-mt-debug.dll located inside the unzipped library folder.

    Copy it to your project folder under bin\Debug. If these folders don't exist, you can create them by yourself, or simply compile and run the code, your IDE will create them for you.

  • task_2_ans.c compile error in Code::Blocks.

    error: could not convert 'al_init_font_addon()' from 'void' to 'bool'
    

    Change

    if (!al_init_font_addon())
        game_abort(...);

    to

    al_init_font_addon();
  • Header not found using the new version Allegro5.2 in Dev-C++

    fatal error: allegro5/allegro.h: No such file or directory

    The include and library paths assume that you have extracted the library using the built-in Extract All..., and put it into the C drive.

    A way to check if you had put them in the correct path is to see if the include path really exists in the file system.

  • Cannot find resource files (when running task_2_ans.c)

    You should drag your files (pirulen.ttf, 32largebugs.jpg) into your project folder (same folder as your main.c or task_n_ans.c).

  • Redefinition of ...

    You need to keep only one main function in one project, for example you may have both task_1_ans.c and task_2_ans.c in your project. You should only keep one.

    Or you might accidentally edit the Allgero5 library header, re-installing the library may help.

  • When reopen the project, all settings are gone.

    For Code::Blocks you should open the *.cbp file.

    For Dev-C++ you should open the *.dev file. If all files disappear, use Project > Add To Project... and select all files.

  • On Code::Blocks Release mode: The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)

    You should copy both allegro_monolith-5.2.dll and allegro-5.2.dll to your /Release folder.

  • I want to hide the console window.

    For Code::Blocks:

    Set the build target type to GUI application.

    For other IDEs there are also such settings.

Installation on Mac OS

  • There are OpenGL related bugs in newer version of XCode make sure to use XCode versions prior or equal to 10.3.

    Or you can use a custom Makefile.

  • Command not found - brew

    When installing homebrew, it'll ask you to press Return to continue, you must press Enter and type your password to continue installing.

    If you press any other keys, it'll abort the installation process.

  • Password are not read by terminal

    The password you type won't be shown on the terminal (it won't have something like ****). You can just type your password and press Enter.

  • Cannot find resource files (when running task_2_ans.c)

    You should drag your files (pirulen.ttf, 32largebugs.jpg) into your project.

  • Redefinition of ...

    You need to keep only one main function in one project, for example you may have both task_1_ans.c and task_2_ans.c in your project. You should only keep one.

    Or you might accidentally edit the Allgero5 library header (e.g. fmaths.inl), re-installing the library using the command below may help.

    brew uninstall allegro
    brew install allegro