I decided to dig into C++ with harfang3d. I used Visual Studio, CMake, and a lot more than I can remember. This post might be a bit hateful, but I'll say it right away: I respect other people's work, but they could have done better.
How did this start?
I've been wanting to find a game engine for a long time that's a library, not a cumbersome IDE. I know Godot well, but I got tired of the interface and decided to look for something new. Something new to experience. And yes, there were so many that I almost drowned in the rush.
The list is long. I tried PyGame, Panda3D, and even tried drawing everything manually using OpenGL. But no, it was all limited. And then I found Harfang3D.
I immediately typed pip install harfang3d. Yes, it installed. I went to ChatGPT so he could explain everything to me. I wanted to stick to the "AI as Teacher" strategy I described in my post. But it wasn't to be!
Something went wrong
The problem was that the Python bindings were poorly implemented, at least according to GPT. It couldn't give me working code. So I decided to surf the internet and search for tutorials and examples. I found one. I installed it. It didn't work. I Googled the problem. I found a solution. I did it. It didn't work! It's so trivial, but it's painful!!! In the end, left alone with Python and this beast, I decided, as the saying goes, "I don’t give a hoot".
I switched to C++
According to this "fool" GPT, I switched to cpp and that was a mistake. It's all broken down into several painful steps.
Visual Studio
I didn't have the program installed. I was using Code. I decided to fix it. It was pretty easy. I went to the website, clicked a button. I waited. I launched it. The installation was in progress. It took a while, though. After the installation, another installer appeared.
So wait, why is my installer downloading another installer?! Isn't that pointless? Okay, let's move on.
I select the components I need to install. But something was wrong. The functionality confused me. Okay, I continued the installation anyway. Why is it so big?!
During the installation, I decided to check the installation tutorial and saw this. Why does this installer look different?! Seriously, why is my installer stripped down, lol?! There were two tabs. The installer didn't have a language option, or a path option. What is this?! This is the official website. I don't remember which version I downloaded, but I decided to uninstall it anyway.
Remove VS
Guess what? After installation, my installer took a long time to load. I waited 5 minutes, and it just kept loading. I decided to uninstall everything the old-fashioned way. I ran Revo Uninstaller, and to my surprise, after uninstalling the program, nothing was deleted except the executable file! That's how Microsoft protects itself from people like me.
Okay, I decided to delete the entire folder. I clicked "uninstall with Revo" and... I CLICKED ON CODE!!!!! Guys, I'm such an idiot! Well, I don't need to say anything else; you already know.
Install 2
I downloaded Code back. What a great installer! Why couldn't Microsoft just squeeze Visual Studio into an MSI like this? It's so convenient! No, they need installers that take half an hour to run (and whose telemetry was blocked by my firewall).
Regarding Visual Studio, I was able to successfully install it as required. Victory, it seems! But that was just the beginning!
Installing Harfang3D
You can't change a person. So did I. I approached my friend. GPT told me I needed to download the repository and put it in the project folder. Then configure something in the editor and specify an include, I don't know.
He gave me the code. It was broken again! I couldn't figure out what the problem was. It couldn't find include and lib. GPT Chat insisted they were in the repository, but they weren't!
Okay, try number 2.
Installing Harfang3D 2
This time, I decided to do everything manually. I went to the repository, read the Readme and documentation, and downloaded the example. But I couldn't find anywhere how to download it and install it in VS! Perhaps for those who know C++, this is basic, but for me, it was hell.
Well, this time, Brave came to the rescue. I asked it how to install it. It gave me a bunch of commands: git, create a directory, compile C++.
I burned out
This was the culmination. It turned out I had the wrong CMake. Again, reinstallation. Then compilation. My head was spinning. The terminal, console, or whatever it was, was saying I didn't have Visual Studio.
How could this... 🤯 Okay, everything's in the recycle bin! I'm fed up!
Final
I don't remember how long I spent on this; it felt like an eternity. Finally, I'll give you some advice, as a regular noob user. Don't make installers like that. Put everything in MSI or something similar. I'm so tired...
Top comments (2)
Hahahaha, I can't remember ever having laughed so hard reading a dev.to post, and it's not even close - BRILLIANT !
P.S. (1) don't ever again attempt to code (even "vibe code") in C++ UNLESS you know C++, lol and (2) most MS software is bloated, torturous as in "extremely painful", and sucks monkey balls "from hell" ;-)
Thanks!