SDL3 + C++23 Project Template

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Template project to play around with SDL3 GPU API with C++23 using modules.

Using the template

Project Config

• In root CMakeLists.txt change project name, url, and description.
• In src/CMakeLists.txt change PRJ_APP_NAME
• Ensure dxc shader compiler is findable by CMake,
  • target_hlsl_sources cmake function accepts shader format as option. It will choose DXC location based on shader format in src/CMakeLists.txt Supports either SPIR-V or DXIL (DXIL is windows only)

CMake commands for configuring and building

VSCode will run these automatically.

• On Windows

  # Configure Project
  cmake --preset windows-default
  # Build Project, parameter order matters
  cmake --build --preset windows-debug

• On Linux

  # Configure Project
  cmake --preset linux-default
  # Build Project, parameter order matters
  cmake --build --preset linux-debug

Uses/Dependencies

• CPM.CMake for package management
• Ninja-Build for build engine
• CMake 3.31+ with cmakepresets for configuration and build
  • There is an issue, on my machine, with CMake 4.0. It fails to configure properly.
  • CMake 4.0.1 fixed the issue with configure, seems like it was regression in CMake.
• C++ modules enabled
• Uses C++ Standard Library modules
  • MSVC (Windows only)
  • Clang (Linux with libc++ only)
• Focuses on SDL3 GPU
• HLSL for all shaders

Example project dependencies

Uses following libraries retrieved from their project repos by CPM.CMake

• SDL3, obviously
• GLM, for math
• DXC, from Vulkan SDK (for Vulkan backend)

Basic notes on code structure

• As much as is possible, functions will not take ownership of pointers to objects.
• Where able, all SDL GPU types are wrapped into std::unique_ptr with custom deleters, so they self clean on scope exit.
• SDL init and quit is wrapped in C++ class and created/destructed by Application class.
• Application class does following
  • Create SDL Window and GPU, in Application C'Tor
  • Create Basic Pipeline, in Prepare Scene
    • Simple vertex shader that uses uniform buffer to fix rendering perspective
    • Simple pixel/fragment shader
  • Vertex and Index buffers for Square mesh, in Prepare Scene
  • Create Perpective projection, in Prepare Scene
  • Draws square using Indexed Primitives
  • Quit on any-key pressed, in Handle SDL Input

To be figured out

• Intellisense and clangd both cannot handle modules so don't work correctly
  • Hacky solution for intellisense to show STD library types.

references

• CMake 3.30 magic encantations, https://www.kitware.com/import-std-in-cmake-3-30/
• CMake module compilations, https://www.kitware.com/import-cmake-the-experiment-is-over/