How can I make use of the High Level Shader Language (HLSL) in my game?
There are three ways that the High Level Shading Language can be incorporated into your game engine: • Compile your shader source into vertex or pixel shading assembly (using the command line utility fxc.exe) and use D3DXAssembleShader() at run time. This way even a DirectX 8 game can even take advantage of the power of the HLSL. • Use D3DXCompileShader() to compile your shader source into token stream and constant table form. At run time load the token stream and constant table and call CreateVertexShader() or CreatePixelShader() on the device to create your shaders. • The easiest way to get up and running is to take advantage of the D3DX Effects system by calling D3DXCreateEffectFromFile() or D3DXCreateEffectFromResource() with your effect file.
