Syzygy Miscellaneous

Object Viewer (szgview)

Thanks to Mark Flider for creating the Syzygy object viewing modules.

szgview lets you view supported 3D objects. To view a file, run:

szgview myfile.ext

If your HTR and OBJ files match:

szgview myanim.htr mymesh.obj

The bar at top displays the current mode. Press 1 to translate the object by click-dragging the mouse. 2 rotates. 3 scales.

If the file has animation, a slider and frame number appears at bottom.

• To scrub, drag the dark grey box along the timeline.
• To play/pause, press k.
• To single-step, press j or l.
• To change background colors, press ` (backquote).
• To dump database connectivity info to the console, press d.
• To dump a pretty hierarchy, press p.

Environment Variables

Syzygy's makefiles use a number of environment variables. Other environment variables can alter Syzygy's operation, and szgd will even alter, though not globally, some variables that are used by the system in general. This document briefly describes them all, and links to fuller explanations.

Environment variables affecting the Syzygy build process

• SZGHOME: Top-level directory of your Syzygy installation, whether DEVELOPER (you are compiling the library yourself) or EASY (you are using a prepackaged version). This must be set.

   

• SZGBIN: Where executables and DLLs go. Defaults to $(SZGHOME)/bin/$(MACHINE_DIR).

   

• SZGEXTERNAL: Top-level directory for external libraries.

   

• SZG_LINKING: By default, all the szg libraries are built as shared objects (dlls). However, by setting this variable to STATIC, you can have them built and linked as static objects. Note that this is the only mode available when compiling with the MinGW g++ compiler on Windows. Note also that you can't compile Python bindings and scene-graph plugins with static linking. New in Syzygy 1.2: You can now compile input device drivers and the DeviceServer program with static linking. The device drivers are linked directly into the DeviceServer executable instead of each comprising its own shared library. There are a few important and unfortunate exceptions when compiling with the MinGW g++ compiler: you can't currently build the joystick, Intel gamepad, and SpacePad drivers with this compiler.

   

• SZG_STLPORT: For Windows. Visual Studio 6's STL implementation is incompatible with dynamically linking the szg libraries. To use Visual Studio 6 (on Windows), use the STLport implementation of STL. (Set this to TRUE). By default, the native STL implementation will be used. This is fine for Visual Studio .NET and above.

   

• SZGDEBUG: By default, software is not built with debugging information. By setting this to TRUE, debugging symbols will be built in.

   

• SZG_BZR_INFO New as of 06/09: The current bazaar revision number and some other information is inserted into a source file during a build (and printed by most components on startup, at least if launched with -szg log=DEBUG). This requires both bzr and python. If one or the other is not available, set SZG_BZR_INFO=FALSE to skip this step.

   

• SZG_USE_PCH: Again, only meaningful on Windows platforms. By default, on these platforms, a pre-compiled header is used to (greatly) speed up compilation. However, this can sometimes be a pain when working with code produced by a variety of compiler patch levels. Consequently, setting this to FALSE negates the use of precompiled headers.

   

• SZG_MULTITEX: On some platforms, this must be set to false to allow the q33 demo to build. Consider running cubecake instead of q33 (another Quake3 level builder).

Environment variables affecting the operation of Syzygy components

• SZG_PARAM: In application standalone mode, if the parameter file (szg_parameters.xml or szg_parameters.txt by default) cannot be opened, try to open this file instead.

   

• SZG_CONF: The directory storing the computer's config file. Only set this if the default is unworkable.

   

• SZG_LOGIN: The directory storing user login (to szgservers) information. Only set this if the default is unworkable.

   

• SZGUSER: Run as a different szg user. Overrides dlogin's settings.

   

• SZGCONTEXT: The values of various options (like virtual computer identity) packed in a single string.

   

• SZG_DEX_TIMEOUT: How many seconds szgd waits for an application to launch. "dex -t" overrides it.

   

• SZG_DEX_LOCALTIMEOUT: How many seconds dex waits for a reply from szgd. "dex -lt" overrides it.

Environment variables altered locally by szgd

• PYTHONPATH: szgd manipulates this so that a particular user's Python modules will be loaded preferentially.

   

• PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LD_LIBRARYN32_PATH, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: szgd manipulates these so that shared libraries on its executable path will be loaded preferentially.

   

• SZGUSER: Allows running-as another szg user.

   

• SZGCONTEXT: The values of various options (like virtual computer identity) packed in a single string.

   

• SZGPIPEID: Used to communicate back from the launched process to the szgd.

   

• SZGTRADINGNUM: Used to communicate back from the launched process to the szgd.