Setting up OpenGL with C++ and Visual Studio 2008

Question

Hey I was wondering if there are any good tutorial out there on how to set this up? I have seen the NeHe tutorials from gamedev.net but some of them seem to be out dated... any clues?

thanks

Answer 1

NeHe may be a little old, but it's certainly not outdated. Unlike DirectX, OpenGL gets updated very seldomly. The tutorials there are still perfectly good for modern OpenGL programming. The Visual C++ code for lesson 1 should work in pretty much any non-ancient version of Visual Studio, and the code for most of the samples is available in many, many languages and platforms.

Answer 2

Do you have Visual Studio 2008 Professional or one of the "Express" editions? The express editions require the Windows Platform SDK because they do not come with the OpenGL header files, etc.

Also, if you're going to use GLUT, you need to download that separately. If you need more information let us know!

This is a random site I found with Google explaining how to make it work with the Express edition.

http://thoughtsfrommylife.com/article-748-OpenGL_and_Visual_Studio_Express_2008

Edit: I forgot to mention the obvious counterpoint of all that -- If you have the full VS2008, OpenGL just works -- no setup needed. If you need GLUT, you still have to get it separately.

Answer 3

I think this is a good tutorial, step by step, very clear with the paths for the libraries:

http://ins.nafsadh.com/2009/09/07/opengl-and-glut-in-c-with-ms-visual-studio-2008-msvs9/

Also check my answer to a similar question.