I have circa 100 projects I have worked on, but a lot of them I have not completed because they are too big and going to school gets in the way.

I did make a “complete” RTS engine with multiplayer and a map editor, but I am in the process of converting it to a modern os.

I did this in C++ and DirectX.

Previously, I made another engine with Java and OpenGL, buuuuut I had to factory reset my desktop and I completely lost the project because my computer was made unusable. 

Just now, rjhwinner03 said:

I have circa 100 projects I have worked on, but a lot of them I have not completed because they are too big and going to school gets in the way.

Okay, the reason why I'm asking is because maybe you're taking the wrong approach to game programming if you don't have enough practical experience completing games. I've seen people with years of learning but they still cannot open up documentation and create games without books or tutorials. I also know people who have a few years, but they're able to create and finish projects at a faster pace as the concepts 'click' and they have amazing problem solving skills on-top of being very analytical.

100 game projects within only 4 years of programming and 2 years of GPU programming is very good so I'm very confused on how you're running into any problems understanding the API, or conforming to optimal programming practices and workflows. I guess there is nothing I can offer if you've accomplished such a mile-stone considering the amount of experience you would get from working on so many games.

Best of luck with your project as it looks like you're going down the Quake source code route.

19 hours ago, rjhwinner03 said:

I may just quit trying to compile the source code and just use the code from Quake and just go from there.

A) Quake was originally written as a software renderer for DOS.

B) It's really old, C code.

C) It has no bearing on an RTS that you claim to be making.

51 minutes ago, Rutin said:

100 game projects within only 4 years of programming and 2 years of GPU programming is very good so I'm very confused on how you're running into any problems understanding the API, or conforming to optimal programming practices and workflows. I guess there is nothing I can offer if you've accomplished such a mile-stone considering the amount of experience you would get from working on so many games.

He said a lot of them were unfinished, but didn't state how far along they were.  I doubt in 4 years, while going to school many got more then a short ways in.  Starting 100 game projects I could do in a single day.  Getting them to a very early testing stage with programmer art is another thing completely.

1 hour ago, CrazyCdn said:

He said a lot of them were unfinished, but didn't state how far along they were.  I doubt in 4 years, while going to school many got more then a short ways in.  Starting 100 game projects I could do in a single day.  Getting them to a very early testing stage with programmer art is another thing completely.

My reply had a tint of sarcasm. I was just trying to see if the OP had any actual experience making real games which consists of a lot more than just having an idea and opening up VC++ 6.

Even though it might come across as being harsh I'm genuinely trying to help like everyone else here. I honestly think the OP needs to really build up a strong foundation in game development and slowly take on something like DirectX, not go full blast into RTS games and Online FPS games without any foundation. Playing around with old tools and APIs doesn't make sense unless you're just curious and looking to dabble, but this isn't something you should be doing when you're starting out.

I already figured out this was beyond the OP's scope. I've been at this long enough to know that if you're not able to take universal programming concepts, and apply them to a new API by reading the documentation, then you're running before you can even crawl.

If I'm wrong then so be it, but sometimes people need the cold hard truth...

I would work on a project for a few weeks then quit...

1 hour ago, rjhwinner03 said:

I would work on a project for a few weeks then quit...

We should find out why you're working on a project for only a few weeks and quitting. Are you losing interest in the project itself? Are you finding too many obstacles that is causing progression to be too difficult?

If this has been the trend throughout your 4 years, then you really have a rocky foundation and this will only be one of many more problems you're going to have day after day. If you don't want to continue wasting years of your time then I would suggest you start with baby steps and get to the point where you don't even need a book or tutorial to remake a certain game after learning how to do so. You also need to be using the proper tools on your way to success, otherwise I wouldn't even bother with programming and just look to another hobby.

Dump VC++ 6 for starters, and pick up Visual Studio which is free.

Are you able to make a 3D Pac-Man game within 30 days using DirectX without using any tutorials or book sources?

I think I have a copy of that on the shelf, I'll see if the CD is still in it. It was probably five years ago when I went through it the last time, but I think it was compiling fine on VS 2010, maybe with some little tweaks.

Thanks

2 hours ago, SkyPenguin said:

all windows languages/compilers/source code/philosophies are inherently evil, error-prone and time consuming.

C++ is not a windows language, there really is no such thing as a windows language.  If these things confuse you, like compilers, source code????? and what philosophies btw?  Then you are not a programmer honestly.  The language used rarely matters, pick the best one for the job.  A data structure is a data structure regardless of the language (within a few limitations) so if you know data structures you should be able to fairly easily switch languages.  Your post was very short sighted that really did nothing to contribute to the OP.