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odl, short for Object-Oriented DirectMedia Layer, is a cross-platform .NET Core C# library for displaying graphics, handling input and audio playback.

This GitBook is a work in progress.

What is odl?

odl, short for Object-Oriented DirectMedia Layer, is first and foremost a cross-platform .NET Core C# library for creating a window and displaying and manipulating the content of that window. It also includes simple input handling and audio playback.

odl was initially created for RPG Studio MK, a light-weight, cross-platform, fast editor program, and as such may have functionality catered to it. I plan to isolate odl and the projects that use it more where needed in the near future, however.

The official GitHub repository for odl can be found at https://github.com/Marin-MK/odl.

Setting up odl

To get started with odl, you must first download the .NET Core 3.1 Software Development Kit (SDK): https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download.

Installing odl is very simple. You can either use a binary from the Releases page in the GitHub repository linked above, or you can build it yourself using Visual Studio 2019.

To use odl's graphics implementation, a few more dependencies must be present in your build folder (whichever folder you're using odl from):

• SDL2-CS - https://github.com/flibitijibibo/SDL2-CS

• decodl - https://github.com/Marin-MK/decodl/

• SDL2 - https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php

• SDL2_image - https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/

• SDL2_ttf - https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/

• libpng16-16 - Comes with SDL2_image

• libfreetype-6 - Comes with SDL2_ttf

• zlib1 - Comes with SDL2

odl also supports audio playback, but you need a few more libraries if you intend to play audio:

• bass - http://www.un4seen.com/ - Download your platform's version at the top of the page.

• Bass.Net - http://www.un4seen.com/ - Download your platform's version near the bottom of the page, where it says Bass.Net.

• bass_fx - http://www.un4seen.com/ - Optional, provides support for pitch and speed manipulation. Download your platform's version under BASS FX near the middle of the page.