> > > > > > Yes, TGA read/write is supported in the XCC Library.

> > > > > yeah, what good is that gonna do me?

> > > > You could use it to load TGAs.

> > > my program already loads TGA and BMP files since a long time.

> > Oh. In that case you can use the lib to load JPEGs ;->

> ok is that your lib then? how did you make it? did you use the info from www.wotsit.org? is that info complete?

> > > i was thinking maybe i should add capability to load GIFs and JPGs coz that's what most of the internet models use. but i guess people who make their own models (which is what they should be doing) make the textures straight in TGA or BMP so that's all that's needed. Does windows programming have capability to load any bitmaps using ready-made functions?

> > Yes.

> which bitmap formats?

See the Platform SDK docs.

> btw does anyone know if games use mp3 files for sound effects?

ReneGade uses MP3 for music, but IMA ADPCM WAVs for sounds.

> i heard there were legal obstacles to people writing mp3 decoders and encoders. is that true?

Yes.

> i want to add sound and music to 3ds2vxl but i know how big WAV files can get.

Use Ogg Vorbis.

> do we have sound accelerator cards now where we can load all the sound effects to the sound card and tell the sound card to mix them all together with scaling to change the pitch and volume of the sounds and maybe do a few other effects?

No, most soundcards don't have local memory. Main memory is used to store sounds. However, most soundcards (like SB Live/Audigy) have a mixer/processor.

> and can those sounds stored on there be compressed as well?

No.