Third version of "Greg's Pool 3D". New features include better playability with basic European rules for eight-ball pool and some bug-fixes. For those of You, who have not seen the previous versions, I include the original description:
"The programme is an example of a relatively simple game written in Visual Basic 5.0 with Direct3D, DirectSound, some physics and a handful of mathematics. It uses DirectX 8.0, thus appropriate libraries must be installed on Your computer in order to run the code. Techniques used in this project include: collision detection and response, matrix transformations, linear interpolations, vertex and index buffers, textured meshes, shadows, lighting and few more…"
Note: Due to the size or complexity of this submission, the author has submitted it as a .zip file to shorten your download time. Afterdownloading it, you will need a program like Winzip to decompress it.Virus note:All files are scanned once-a-day by Planet Source Code for viruses, but new viruses come
out every day, so no prevention program can catch 100% of them. For your own safety, please:
Re-scan downloaded files using your personal virus checker before using it.
NEVER, EVER run compiled files (.exe's, .ocx's, .dll's etc.)--only run source code.
Scan the source code with Minnow's Project Scanner
If you don't have a virus scanner, you can get one at many places on the net
including:McAfee.com
Terms of Agreement:
By using this code, you agree to the following terms...
You may use
this code in your own programs (and may compile it into a program and distribute it in compiled format for languages that allow it) freely and with no charge.
You MAY NOT redistribute this code (for example to a web site) without written permission from the original author. Failure to do so is a violation of copyright laws.
You may link to this code from another website, but ONLY if it is not wrapped in a frame.
You will abide by any additional copyright restrictions which the author may have placed in the code or code's description.
This is very very good work m8! The 3D Objects are very cool too. I think it would we nice to complete this game, with official rules, and make a pool game (with 2 different balls).. then make it shareware :) (or something) Anyway, Good job! Greets, Melvin (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Wow... This is the best game ever submitted to PSC. I've been a keen fan of PSC for years. If I could give it 100 smacks I would !!!! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Wow! This is well sweet. Excellent work Greg! Add the rules and some AI and you have a good shareware game. Also be nice to have a better control method like using the mouse to shoot. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Excellent ! Looked at your Readme.txt Couple of comments; 1: Please finish this. 2: Read the rules for 9 Ball pool. (It is not a difficult game and it's easier than snooker ! ) (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
This is just to cool. Awesome physics, shawdows, awesome Collsion Detection, Graphics, on and on. 5 from me! I actually played it for a while. Awesome!
-James- (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Excellent, I suck at this when I see codes like this. Makes me realize how much I still have to learn. Great job and I hope you keep submitting the updates (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Except for when I hit a ball 'hard' into the corner pocket and it flew off into infinity...everything else was EXCELLENT! (had probs loading project as paths were absolute in .vbp but not a big problem) (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Uh lol... I shot the cue ball at a triangle and now I'm shooting at all my lost balls out in "space." (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
For the people who voted with less than 5 globes, please show us what you got and let us know how advanced you people are. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
great code, 5 from me, but I can see de balls with the textures, i change the path in the code but It isn't work, I have DirectX 8.1 installed in my PC, any Idea (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Hi Greg. I made the pockets a trifle larger and reduced the bumper elasticity; this makes it easier to sink a ball in the corner pockets. Btw, you wouldn't believe it but its true: one of the Do Loops waiting for g_dt got hung at midnight :-) Now that it has happened it probably will never happen again. One final thing: cam elevation at PrepareForAim is a little to large, I changed it to .33 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
It's already been said, If I could give you a 10 I would. What I GREAT piece of code and a fun game too. If you don't win something from this one, you got ripped. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
I changed it so that the longer you hold the left mouse button down on the "Shoot" label, (? I forget) the harder the shot is. A picture box progress bar shows the strength your shot is currently at as you hold the button down.
I stole the idea from candystand.com's Life Saver Billiards. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Awesome!Awesome!Awesome!Awesome!Awesome!Awesome!Awesome! Please do you self a favor and sell this! You could make money! This is a keeper! Just make the balls the right colors (eg solids and stripes), some rules and fix the rolling (it takes too long, unreal). Wow! ***** (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Could someone tell me where i can get direct draw (or what ever program it is to edit .dds files). (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Very nice submission. I think you need to add a drag routine (increased friction and reduced spin) once the ball's speed has slowed to bring it into a more "realtime" simulation. There was just too much roll for my liking. Try these adjusted lines as a quick "fix", but not a viable solution; D3DXVec3Scale .vVelocity, .vVelocity, 1 - g_dt * 1.25 'friction change and D3DXVec3Scale vRotation, .vSpin, g_dt * 0.75 ' spin alteration Further tweaking might help. As it is, there is a loss of total force. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Wow!! Impressive! The level of detail is amazing, as is the physics. Are you a professional game programmer? (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Jesus This Is Good Work Im A Begginer And This Looks Like Chinese To Me But Jesus This Is Good If I Could 10000 But I Cant So I'll Have TO Give It A 5 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Very nicely done. Would you give me permission to make this a multiplayer app and resubmit it to PSC? I'd love to play this game with someone over the internet.. Now that puts the best of these worlds in this. Great job .. 5 globes (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Oh my god! Go commercial with this game, I beg of you! Become rich! Please! You're good! Why can I only give you 5??? (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Amazing stuff - hopefully you'll put some form of networking capability in via Winsock and maybe some spin controls for the cue ball?? (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
grr i would rate it but when I play it, it says player 1 breaks, then it's a black screen with a green line.. wtf is up with it? nobody else has problems? help me out here before i rate it a 1 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Make sure you have DirectX 8.0 installed, Jake. Also read over the project description and check to make sure you have the requirements. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
8/31/2002 2:01:35 PM:
yeah, try again... I just installed DirectX 8.1, and there are no system requirements.. This is one of the worst games i've ever seen on psc.. all the other ones at least worked. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
outstanding. i downloaded your first version. the responsiveness of this version feels about right. 5 globes for you and the education system of your country (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Sorry, I wanted to vote 1 for another code (I had 2 browser windows opened...) but I accidentaly voted (1) for your code... I wrote an e-mail to Ian asking him to remove my vote. After it will removed I will put 5 globes!
Excellent code! Sorry again... (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
I changed the colors of the balls, speed, drag, etc... Also added 9 ball, allow alter rules, crown the rack, the ability to break from left or right of center, network and internet game, USB and com port head to head...
1 of the few icons on my desktop! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
9/6/2002 12:44:01 AM:
AWESOME doesn't even begin to describe this. I mean, HOLY COW AWESOME! I too have been a HUGE fan of PSC for YEARS now and this is BY FAR THE BEST I've ever seen. WAY TO GO!!! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
What can i say... vb is not as slow as many peoples think after all... excellent and smooth running graphic! And this have a very nice thing that many other 3D games i have seen here is missing... gameplay =) This is the best 3D game on PSC! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Superb, definately worth 5 g's. I'm glad you didn't fall to the pressure and kept the red and yellow balls. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Greg, this is absolutly brilliant, I could not believe that something like this could be written in VB. Well, well done. I have always wanted to write a game, but I don't want to learn C++ now, so this gives me insperation to write something in VB. Again well done, 5 globes from me and thanx for submitting this to PCS. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Can you please tell me what's the reason behind ?? How to solve the problem ??
Thanks.
Ruturaj. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
10/9/2002 5:54:51 PM:
I was asked if I could do something in VB6 with simple moving graphical objects. Knowing nothing about graphics, I came here and downloaded this solely to pull it apart to see how it worked. I expected the usual top view coloured circles etc… Hmm 4 or 5 games later I let my grandson have a go. The 3 yr old picked up how to use it in about 30 seconds then claimed it as “his game” Very well written, very smooth and very usable (addictive??) - Not something that has ever been said about my attempts at code. Well done!!
(If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
10/16/2002 12:24:19 PM:
I just wanted to Thank you for writting some very nice code and sharing it with us. 5 globes from me. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
wAHAY! I sooo wish i could find a tutorial which wud teach me directX but REALLY good work well done m8 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Excellent work greg, when i first wanted to learn VB, everybody said it was slow but now i see this i think WOW!, i have been looking for some sort of pool game for a while now, and when i typed in to look for matrix there it came accross it, hmmm i dont know why it dint come up when i searched for pool, anyway well done i give it a A' *Star* well done and Thanks for submitting it on PSC (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
1/31/2003 12:20:11 PM:
One word Incredible, and heres another for free HOW! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Good job,still I have not found an accurate collision detecion method which is fast and returns many veriables.The way I see this collision detection here working is a ball has a vertex location (x,y) and from it's center a check is done if another ball has clipped the area of that circle generated from a set radius.This is good for a pool game saves processing power and so on but I still need a more complex method of collision detection. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
5 globes from me excellent code! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
4/8/2003 5:10:43 AM:
I seem to be having downloading the zip file (again), its probably something to do with AOL. Anyway, can someone email me the file? It sounds great! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
this is good greg (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
4/10/2003 1:44:09 AM:
How can I give more than 5 globes ? pls help. This is the best ever game I have seen on PSC I must congrat the writer. Brilliant Work !!!!! Qamar Bukhari. qbukhari@yahoo.com (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Hi Greg. I love your game, it must have taken you some time! Except one thing - it takes the balls to much time to stop, it's an EXCELLENT game!!! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
hi, great code, I've been using it to test my Code Fixer program. (still one small thing I don't get right but it does produce a working version of your code) Any way I've been looking at your code a lot and found a couple of quick and easy additions:
mouse shooting
Private Sub Picture1_DblClick() FireCueBall m_Power End Sub
For hi-res screens full screen is better to look at:
Hello Greg, an excellent piece of work. My video card did not support this program months back when I first tried to view it. I have finally updated the video, which is the reason for the time delay. Here's my vote too. Regards, Chris :) (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
6/19/2003 3:19:29 PM:
Very nice game... although the balls jump out aster of the kushen then they came in:-) (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Balls roll a bit long though, I think that is the only thing preventing this program from going commercial (shareware etc...).
Thanks for sharing it! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
7/31/2003 11:19:03 AM:
Wow! thanks for sharing this. I love it! Im messing around with it right now. So far i've only done simple things like adding real colors to the balls and table. Cant wait to see what you do next with it! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
9/24/2003 7:20:22 PM:
Excellent game with nice code! Great 3d graphics, and camera work. Would be even better with a "line targeting system" that could be used from the ceiling perspective. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
9/28/2003 11:31:48 AM:
Best game i've played on PSC Gw m8 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
10/2/2003 6:23:16 PM:
I luv this game! this is a great game , on shockwave , the pool game is not as good , but they got stick thingy , and it's not free, AWESOME GAME YOU MADE! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Excellent. Congratulations. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
1/19/2004 1:07:54 PM:
My 7 year old has a new best friend. Thanks Greg...awesum stuff! 5 from me. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
6/6/2004 8:28:16 AM:
Looks BRILL! Read ALL the comments too, downloaded it, opened it up fine, but upon running it I get "automation error, bailing out..." then thats it :|
Any help on that would be good running an fx 5600xt GeForce, 1gb ram, 2.2 athlon (direct X 9.1). Gotta say dude, nicely done coding, and nice work with DirectX, can't wait to mess about with it myself and see how I can learn from your project on working with DirectX. :rock: !!!! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
10/20/2004 4:08:12 AM:
wow! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
10/30/2004 8:13:57 PM:
how do i get to play? (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Congratulations! This is really the best DX example on PSC. I was searching for something good and nothing... Now, I found... amazing, but really, amazing example! I see that first feedback on this example was in 2002. Now it's 2004. What You've been done during this time??? :) (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Maan! This is great. Do you even read the comments any more? Doesnt matter. Its still a great program!
(If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
5/28/2005 2:37:01 PM:
hey if any1 has made a networkn version I WOOD LUV IT!!!!! Mike Canejo u said u made a network game of it if greg allowed it well if he says yes PLZZZZZZZZZ send it to me by email VBCodeMan@hotmail.com is my address or if any1 else made a networkn or internet version PLZ SEND IT 2 ME!!!!! --------------------------------------- greg I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i gave u a 6... o... w8 i cant :-( can i give u a 5.9? i wish i gave u a five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!` (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
It is very very good code. I think you should make it a full screen thing and make it "keyboard - only" very nice! 5/5 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Haven't got the code to run but working on it. Man this one sounds great. Been looking for a good VB Pool game for a lomg time. still gettiong the same error. Getting following error. "Unable to create Device. Bailing out ..." You get a 5 from me anyway for the other great Commrnts. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
This is exelent. Can't believe it hasen't progressed into a network game. It would be great. 5/5 to you. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Fabulous everything. Thank you gerg. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Add Your Feedback
Your feedback will be posted below and an email sent to
the author. Please remember that the author was kind enough to
share this with you, so any criticisms must be stated politely, or they
will be deleted. (For feedback not related to this particular code, please
click here instead.)
By 163 Users
Download code
8/3/2002 1:07:05 PM: 
