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I'd made inner logic of card game and successfully made console version using pure Mono.

Now I started iOS version of game. I tried to use JPG textures, but with no luck (popular "Could not load <NAME> asset!" error). It should in XNB (proprientary?) format.

After some googling I found some tutorial how to create dedicated project for building game's content into XNB files. That should be ok, but that project should be created and built in Visual Studio. I haven't have Visual Studio on my mac.

So, True or False: one should have Windows PC (real or virtual) with Visual Studio to build MonoGame resources?

References:

Maxim Korobov
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2 Answers2

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You do NOT need a Windows PC to program MonoGame games on other platforms. If you have a Windows PC, it just makes things easier as the XNB format will have pre-multiplied alpha and dependent on platform, the XNB will be optimised for that device/console/PC. For example under iOS, the XNB will internally be a PVRT texture, which iOS devices have hardware decoders for.

You should still be able to use formats like png and jpg, as long as you set the "Build Action" correctly. Under iOS the "Build Action" for png and jpg should be "Content" and I tend to have "Copy to output directory" set to "Copy If Newer", just to make sure I'm picking up the latest (my paranoia).

You may find that you get a quicker response to MonoGame related questions by posting on our forums over at http://monogame.codeplex.com/discussions.

Let me know if you have other issues.

Btw, what console did you target using Mono?

Dominique
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  • Thanks for info. Let me know, could I use resources directly (without XNB packing) under `Windows` too? For console project, I'm using `x86` platform target. – Maxim Korobov May 06 '13 at 15:12
  • @MaximKorobov If you use the MonoGame stack on Windows, we would allow it. I can't remember if XNA allows it. The issue you will have under MonoGame for Windows, is that it is our least supported platform, because XNA is currently available there. We do have plans to put in a DX11 back-end and update it soon, so that you can do more interesting things than XNA's DX9 back end, but so far there hasn't been enough call for it. IF you are interested in that, speak to Tom Spilman on the MonoGame forums. – Dominique May 06 '13 at 15:19
  • I'm using a Windows PC (real) with Xamarin Studio (rather than Visual Studio) to make Android games. I don't bother with XNB files or the content pipeline. I just use PNG and WAV files directly. First I make my games in Windows then I port them to Android when they are nearly finished. So yes, there's multiple ways to tackle this one. – craftworkgames May 06 '13 at 23:33
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A little bit of both..

Platform support matrix

Baby Groot
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RyanskyHeisenberg
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  • Huh? No support for `Content pipeline` at all? BTW, is this matrix a little bit outdated since `MonoGame` 3.0 release? – Maxim Korobov May 06 '13 at 07:20
  • This Matrix is out of date as we now support Windows Phone 8 and OUYA. For everyone's information, the team is already working on cross-platform content pipeline that will allow you to create XNBs on MacOS, Linux and Windows. It will be binary compatible with existing XNBs, but will eventually support multiple resolutions, distance field rendering for fonts, and other niceties. I hope this helps. – Dominique May 06 '13 at 18:00