What's New in XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

Describes new features and documentation in XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh.

• Creator's Club Online is now App Hub
• Changes from XNA Game Studio 3.1 to XNA Game Studio 4.0
• New Features in XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
• New and Updated Tools Features for XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
• New Documentation for XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
• Updated Documentation for XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

Creator's Club Online is now App Hub

The community site previously known as Creator's Club Online has been incorporated into App Hub. This new site provides forums, tutorials, samples, and guides for getting your games and applications to the Xbox 360 Marketplace and the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Changes from XNA Game Studio 3.1 to XNA Game Studio 4.0

XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh is an in-place update of XNA Game Studio 4.0. Changes that occurred between XNA Game Studio 3.1 and XNA Game Studio 4.0 still apply to this release. For a full discussion about those changes, see What's New in XNA Game Studio 4.0.

New Features in XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

• Visual Basic support
• Fast Application Switching
• TCP/UDP Sockets
• Silverlight and XNA Interoperability, Overlay Rendering
• System-Enforced Memory Limit Tracking
• Access to Camera Feed
• Compass
• Gyroscope
• SIMD Support
• Generational Garbage Collection
• Updated Hardware Checking APIs

Visual Basic support

Visual Basic (VB) is now supported in XNA Game Studio. For more information in this documentation set, see Developing XNA Framework games in Visual Basic. For more articles and VB samples, see Visual Basic Support for XNA Game Studio on App Hub.

Fast Application Switching

Games on Windows Phone are no longer automatically suspended when an interruption occurs. They will remain in the background and reactivate without needing to pass through the exit/resume states, although they may still be suspended or closed based on resource needs and time elapsed since deactivation.

This is a major difference in behavior from XNA Game Studio 4.0. Title deactivation code must now handle the potential for the application to remain active and reinitialize. All title behavior is frozen, but can be resumed, during a switch to another application, so timing and logic code may require changes. Use of MediaPlayer cut-scenes to allow asynchronous content loading or processing is no longer available.

TCP/UDP Sockets

In addition to pre-existing support for HTTP-based networking, titles on Windows Phone can now use raw TCP/UDP sockets to communicate with servers and other devices.

This provides additional support for title-controlled custom matchmaking, near-synchronous gameplay, peer-to-peer networking, cross-platform gameplay, and other scenarios.

Silverlight and XNA Interoperability, Overlay Rendering

Silverlight-based titles on Windows Phone can now host an XNA-rendering control, allowing mixing and matching of Silverlight-rendered and XNA-rendered content.

Use of Silverlight requires significant re-architecture of game code; there is no XNA game object, and no GameComponent class support for Silverlight titles. There are some performance penalties for this when compared to a pure XNA Framework solution. These performance penalties should be weighed against the benefits of being able to use Silverlight font and user-interface methods, which are otherwise unavailable to XNA Framework games.

System-Enforced Memory Limit Tracking

In previous releases, there was no easy way for a game on Windows Phone to know its memory limit; 90 MB was used as a best practice to avoid potential termination by the system. Querying title memory generated garbage, and could also degrade performance. A new method allows for more deterministic, performance-oriented, and dynamic memory management behavior for games.

Access to Camera Feed

Titles can leverage the Windows Phone camera feed that is exposed via Silverlight/XNA interop. This new title functionality is unavailable for current Windows Phone Marketplace titles without a title update.

Compass

The Windows Phone system compass is now exposed to titles. Without a title update, this new title functionality is unavailable for current Marketplace titles.

Gyroscope

Gyroscope data is now exposed to titles where it is supported by hardware. Titles can leverage gyroscope in place of, or in addition to, accelerometer data.

SIMD Support

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) support has been introduced for XNA vector and matrix types, providing significant performance advantages.

SIMD typically outperforms hand-inlined vector operations by 16 percent to 20 percent; we recommend enabling and leveraging this for new projects. For older projects, some returned value differences are possible—so before adopting you should validate what impact this will have on your project.

Generational Garbage Collection

A generational garbage collector makes memory allocations and frees less expensive memory allocations from a CPU perspective, and reduces a significant bottleneck to a game's memory "growth" phase.

Garbage collection is mostly transparent to games. You can still make manual calls for garbage collection, but load/allocation times are reduced. Games should continue to minimize garbage collection through preallocation of needed memory.

Updated Hardware Checking APIs

Updated hardware checking APIs provide the ability to get more detailed information about device capabilities.

Games may be able to more accurately scale gameplay experiences based on such reported hardware capabilities.

New and Updated Tools Features for XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

• Code/Memory Profiler Tool
• Windows Phone Emulator
• Debugging Support During Media Playback
• Isolated Storage Explorer Tool

Code/Memory Profiler Tool

The Code/Memory Profiler allows you to measure code hot spots, memory allocation, and performance bottlenecks directly on a Windows Phone.

This also allows CPU and memory debugging on a Windows Phone rather than solely through profiling of a Windows version of the game.

Windows Phone Emulator

The Windows Phone emulator now adds support for memory and CPU performance throttling, to enable closer emulation of the reduced capabilities of some devices or device use scenarios.

The Windows Phone emulator now supports both accelerometer and GPS simulation.

The GPS simulator removes the requirement to physically travel with a device to test location-based functionality. Accelerometer emulation provides some access to relevant gameplay when the hardware device is unavailable.

Note

While the emulator is useful when hardware devices are unavailable, it is important to note that the emulator is not a simulator—in other words, it does not share the performance characteristics of an actual device—and will not match the behavior of hardware devices in some circumstances. In addition, Xbox LIVE functionality currently is unavailable through the emulator.

Debugging Support During Media Playback

Restrictions on Zune services when a Windows Phone is tethered have been lifted—you can now debug games while they are playing music.

There is no longer a need to use the separate WPConnect tool to attach, deploy, and debug titles while playing Zune media.

Isolated Storage Explorer Tool

This tool allows title developers to transfer data between a development PC and your game's isolated storage on a Windows Phone. This improves save game and other storage debugging scenarios on Windows Phone.

New Documentation for XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

The following topics are new since the release of XNA Game Studio 4.0.

• Tasks
• Concepts
• Reference

Tasks

• Loading Content
  Demonstrates how to load content such as models, textures, sounds, and effects.
• Loading Content Within a Game Library
  Demonstrates how to load content within a Game Library.
• How to: Add Game Assets to a Content Project
  Demonstrates how to add an art asset to a game content project.
• Sprite Font XML Schema Reference
  Describes the valid tags and values for Sprite-Font (.spritefont) XML files used by the Content Pipeline to create SpriteFont textures.
• Parameterized Processors
  Describes how parameterized processors work in XNA Game Studio. Many of the standard Content Pipeline content processors shipped with XNA Game Studio support parameter usage.
• XML Elements for XMLImporter
  Describes the elements of an XML file that can be processed by the XmlImporter Class.
• Adding an XML Content File to a Visual Studio Project
  Describes how to add custom game data as an XML file through the Content Pipeline.
• Loading XML Content at Runtime
  Describes how to load custom game data at game runtime through the Content Pipeline.
• Using an XML File to Specify Content
  Describes how to use XML files for custom game data through the Content Pipeline.
• Creating an XML File
  Describes how to use IntermediateSerializer from a Windows application to generate XML content to add to a XNA Game Studio application.
• Game Asset Properties
  Describes property settings, indicating which actions the project system should perform on a game asset file of a supported type.
• How to: Add a Game Content Project
  Describes the process to create a new content project in an XNA Game Studio solution.
• Game Content Project
  Describes a project type designed to store all content for a game.
• Game Content References
  Describes the use of the Content References node within a game project.
• How to: Create a Localized Game
  Describes the process of creating an XNA Game Studio game that can be localized.
• Visual Studio Differences Between Game Platforms
  Describes the differences in the appearance and behavior of the integrated development environment (IDE) of XNA Game Studio when developing for the Xbox 360 or Windows Phone.
• Visual Studio Unsupported Features
  Describes the features of Visual Studio that are not supported for XNA Game Studio.
• Content Build Page, Project Designer
  Describes how you can use the Content Build page of the Project Designer to specify the build configuration properties for the content project.
• XNA Game Studio Properties Page
  Enables the user to change profile and other properties for the current XNA Game Studio project.
• Game Component Development
  Describes how to use XNA Game Studio to develop custom game components for your game projects.
• Registering Assemblies
  Describes how to register new assemblies so they are displayed in the Add Reference dialog box.
• Expert Settings
  Describes how to enable expert settings features in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone.
• Game Studio Features
  Describes features and usage of XNA Game Studio.
• Extending Game Studio
  Describes how XNA Game Studio can be customized to support special functions to aid development of games.
• Project Properties
  Describes the unique property settings of Project Designer in XNA Game Studio.
• Accessing Custom Item Templates
  Describes how to access custom item templates.
• FuelCell Example Game
  Discusses the FuelCell 3D game tutorial.
• Creating a Windows Game or Library Project
  Describes how XNA Game Studio includes a set of project templates that will help you to develop Windows-based projects using the XNA Framework.
• How to: Change the Game Name
  Describes how to change the name of the game that is displayed on the platform device.
• Troubleshooting XNA Game Studio Projects
  Provides some helpful troubleshooting tips for XNA Game Studio projects.
• Cross-Platform Game Support in XNA Game Studio
  Describes how XNA Game Studio facilitates developing a game that will run on multiple platforms.
• Managing Cross-Platform Builds and Deployment
  Describes how to build and deploy individual projects within a cross-platform solution.
• Cross-Platform Conditional Compilation Symbols
  Describes the conditional compilation variables available for maintaining common source code in XNA Game Studio cross-platform projects.
• Managing Platform Profiles and Properties
  Describes the default properties for projects on each platform, and how to change these properties.
• Creating a Cross-Platform Game Solution
  Demonstrates how to create a cross-platform solution and manage game assets between platform projects.
• Developing Cross-Platform Games
  Describes how XNA Game Studio and the XNA Framework facilitate the development of games that work on several platforms.
• Adding New Platforms to an Existing Game
  Describes how to convert a game for Windows, Xbox 360, or Windows Phone to build and run on any of the other two game platforms.
• Migrating from Zune to Windows Phone
  Discusses how to migrate games written for Zune and Zune HD on XNA Game Studio 3.1 to Windows Phone with XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh.
• Creating a Windows Phone Game or Library Project
  Describes how XNA Game Studio includes a set of project templates that will help you to develop game projects for Windows Phone using the XNA Framework.
• Debugging a Windows Phone Game
  Discusses issues that apply to debugging Windows Phone games on your retail console.
• Deploying a Windows Phone Game
  Describes how XNA Game Studio can copy executable and media files to a Windows Phone emulator or device once you are ready to deploy them.
• Changing your Game Thumbnail on Windows Phone
  Describes how to change the thumbnail of the game that is displayed on the Windows Phone device.
• Configuring the Genre of Your Windows Phone Game
  Describes how to configure your game package so that it appears in either the Application List or Games Hub when installed on the Windows Phone device.
• Localizing a Windows Phone Game
  Describes how to create a localized title of the game that is displayed on the Windows Phone device.
• Developing Windows Phone Games
  Describes how to develop games for Windows Phone.
• Using the Windows Phone Emulator
  Describes how the Windows Phone emulator can be used with XNA Game Studio.
• Troubleshooting Windows Phone Deployment
  Provides some helpful troubleshooting tips for Windows Phone deployment if you are unable to establish a successful connection between your computer and your Windows Phone device.
• Running a Windows Phone Game at 60 HZ
  Describes how to enable a Windows Phone game to run at 60 HZ.
• Adding XNA Rendering to a Silverlight Application on Windows Phone
  Describes how to add XNA rendering to a Windows Phone game.
• Developing Xbox 360 Games
  Describes how to develop games for Xbox 360. Although there are several notable differences, Xbox 360 game development is similar to Windows game development.
• Connecting to Your Xbox 360 with XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
  Describes how to use XNA Game Studio Connect to connect and deploy a game to your Xbox 360.
• Additions to the .NET Compact Framework for Xbox 360
  Identifies namespaces, types, and members unique to the .NET Compact Framework for Xbox 360.
• How to: Generate a Garbage Collector Heap Dump
  Explains how to generate a heap dump using the XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor.
• Heap Dump File Information
  Describes the information contained in heap dump files created by the XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor.
• How to: Monitor Performance at Run Time (Xbox 360)
  Describes performance monitoring with the XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor.
• Performance Counters in the XNA Framework
  Describes the performance counters used by the XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor.
• XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor
  Provides information on the XNA Framework Remote Performance Monitor.
• Creating an Xbox 360 Game or Library Project
  Describes how XNA Game Studio includes a set of project templates that will help you to develop game projects for Xbox 360 using the XNA Framework.
• Debugging an Xbox 360 Game
  Discusses issues that apply to debugging Xbox 360 games on your retail console.
• Deploying an Xbox 360 Game
  Describes how XNA Game Studio can copy executable and media files to the Xbox 360 retail console once you are ready to deploy them.
• Troubleshooting Xbox 360 Game Deployment
  Provides some helpful troubleshooting tips for Xbox 360 deployment if you are unable to establish a successful connection between your computer and your Xbox 360 console.
• Using XNA Game Studio Device Center
  Describes how to use the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
• Developing Xbox 360 Games
  Describes how to develop games for Xbox 360. Although there are several notable differences, Xbox 360 game development is similar to Windows game development.
• Setting up your Firewall
  Describes required settings for third-party firewall products.
• Getting Additional Help
  Describes additional resources for developing with the XNA Framework.
• Software Install Requirements
  Describes the software required to use XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh.
• Software Installation Notes
  Describes various scenarios under which XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh may be installed.
• Hardware and Operating System Requirements
  Describes the operating systems that fully support XNA Game Studio, and the computing hardware you need to use XNA Game Studio.
• Exiting a Game
  This section provides topics that demonstrate how to exit a game using a game loop in XNA Game Studio.
• Initializing a Game
  The XNA Framework Game class implements a game loop, which provides not only the window which displays your game, but also provides overloadable methods that your game implements to facilitate communication between your game and the operating system.
• Updating a Game
  This section provides topics that demonstrate how to update a game using a game loop in XNA Game Studio.
• Retrieving Gyroscope Input (Windows Phone)
  Demonstrates how to detect and use gyroscope input in an XNA Game Studio game on Windows Phone.
• Enable XNA Framework Events in Windows Phone Applications
  Describes the the process of manually initializing and updating a FrameworkDispatcher to support XNA Framework functionality from other application models that use the Silverlight application model.
• Windows Phone Networking
  Describes the available methods for creating networked games with XNA Game Studio on Windows Phone.
• Making Web Requests (Windows Phone)
  Demonstrates how to make a web request using HTTP on Windows Phone.
• Push Notifications (Windows Phone)
  Introduces push notifications on Windows Phone, and describes how to implement them in your game title.

Concepts

• Best Practices for Windows Phone Games
  The practices discussed here will help you have the most success possible with your Windows Phone game.
• Content Compression
  XNA Game Studio offers data compression—an easy way to decrease the size of certain built game assets such as textures, shaders, and meshes. Data compression reduces not only the size required for media storage and downloads, but also the deploy time required for debugging a game.
• What Is Content?
  Describes the purpose of the XNA Game Studio Content Pipeline and how it helps you add art and data assets to your game.
• Standard Importers and Processors
  Describes the standard Content Pipeline importers and content processors of XNA Game Studio that support various common art asset file formats.

Reference

• GameTimer Class
  Manages a timer which updates a game by firing actions at specific times.
• GameTimerEventArgs Class
  A snapshot of the game timing state based on game time and not real time.
• SharedGraphicsDeviceManager Class
  Handles the configuration and management of a shared graphics device.
• GraphicsDeviceExtensions Class
  An extension of the GraphicsDevice class that enables primitive based rendering for an application that renders using both Silverlight and XNA.
• UIElementRenderer Class
  An object for rendering a Silverlight UIElement into a texture.

Updated Documentation for XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

The following topics have been updated since the release of XNA Game Studio 4.0.

• Tasks
• Concepts
• Reference

Tasks

• Your First Game - XNA Game Studio in 2D
  Describes the steps necessary to create a simple sprite-based game by using XNA Game Studio.
• Upgrading Projects to XNA Game Studio 4.0
  Describes how to upgrade your XNA Game Studio 3.0 or XNA Game Studio 3.1 game to target XNA Framework 4.0 in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
• Introduction to XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
  Provides helpful prerequisities for installing and using XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
• Sharing Your Source Code and Assets
  Presents information about sharing your game's source code and assets with other XNA Game Studio users.
• Sharing Your Game Package
  Describes how to distribute your game to other XNA Game Studio users in a package that protects your source code and assets.
• Packing and Distributing Your Game
  Describes how to share and distribute your game to XNA Game Studio users and others.
• XNA Game Studio Package Utility
  Describes the XNA Game Studio package utility.
• Initializing, Updating, and Exiting a Game
  The XNA Framework Game Class provides a game loop for initializing, updating and exiting a game.
• Restricting Aspect Ratio on a Graphics Device
  Demonstrates how to create a custom GraphicsDeviceManager that only selects graphics devices with widescreen aspect ratios in full-screen mode.
• Pausing a Game
  Demonstrates how to add pause functionality to a game.
• Creating and Playing Sounds
  Provides overviews about audio technology, and presents predefined scenarios to demonstrate how to use audio.
• Adding a Sound File (XACT)
  Demonstrates how to add wave (.wav) files to an XACT project that can be built and interpreted by an XNA Game Studio game to play audio.
• Playing a Sound
  Demonstrates how to play a simple sound by using SoundEffect.
• Streaming Data from a WAV File
  Demonstrates how to stream audio from a wave (.wav) file.
• Audio API Developers Guide
  Provides developers with information about the audio buffer format used by the XNA Game Studio Audio API.
• Sounds Overview
  Provides a high-level overview about the capabilities of the Audio API in XNA Game Studio in addition to general audio terminology.
• Getting Started with XACT
  Introduces the Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT).
• Using Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT)
  Demonstrates how to play sounds created using XACT in XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh.
• Adding New Content Types
  Describes the architecture and features of the Content Pipeline, and how to add new content types.
• Extending a Standard Content Processor
  Describes how XNA Game Studio lets you modify or extend the behavior of any standard Content Pipeline processor that ships with the product.
• Displaying Graphics
  Describes using XNA graphics for rendering 2D and 3D graphics.
• What Is a Sprite?
  Summarizes the basics of using sprites.
• Drawing Text with a Sprite
  Demonstrates how to import a SpriteFont into a project and to draw text using DrawString.
• Rotating a Group of Sprites
  Demonstrates how to rotate a group of sprites around a single point.
• Dynamically Updating Vertex Data
  Describes techniques for dynamically updating vertex data in an XNA Framework game.
• 3D Pipeline Basics
  The 3D graphics pipeline uses a graphics device to load resources and render a 3D scene using an effect.
• Creating a Custom Effect
  Demonstrates how to create a custom effect that transforms an object and applies a texture.
• Creating a Basic Effect
  Demonstrates how to create and initialize an instance of the BasicEffect class and use it to draw simple geometry.
• Achieving Good Performance on Different Hardware Types
  Demonstrates how to write games for a variety of hardware configurations. Specifically, this topic addresses ways to write a game so that it works on high-end hardware, but continues to give adequate performance when the game is run on a less capable computer.
• Responding to User Input
  Demonstrates techniques for accessing various input devices and responding to user input.
• Overview of User Input and Input Devices
  Describes the various types of input devices that can be used with XNA Game Studio.
• Using Alternative Input Devices (Xbox 360)
  Discusses various controller subtypes and mappings for each of these controllers to the standard Xbox 360 gamepad.
• Detecting an Xbox 360 Controller Button Press in the Current Frame (Xbox 360, Windows)
  Demonstrates how to detect if a user just pressed a digital button on a connected Xbox 360 Controller.
• Detecting Xbox 360 Controller Button Presses (Xbox 360, Windows)
  Demonstrates how to detect whether a user has pressed a digital button on a connected Xbox 360 Controller.
• Determining If an Xbox 360 Controller Is Disconnected (Xbox 360, Windows)
  Demonstrates how to detect if an Xbox 360 Controller is disconnected.
• Detecting a Key Press (Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360)
  Demonstrates how to detect if a user pressed or released a key on the keyboard.
• Displaying a Message Box (Windows Phone, Windows, Xbox 360)
  Describes how to show a message box.
• Displaying a Software Input Panel (Windows Phone, Xbox 360)
  Describes how to show a sofware input panel (SIP).
• Detecting Gestures on a Multitouch Screen (Windows Phone)
  Demonstrates how to detect and use multitouch gestures in an XNA game.
• Retrieving Accelerometer Input (Windows Phone)
  Demonstrates how to detect and use accelerometer input in an XNA Game Studio game on Windows Phone.
• Working with Touch Input (Windows Phone)
  Demonstrates how to detect and use multitouch input in an XNA game.
• Working with Multitouch and Accelerometer Input
  Topics that provide guidance on writing code to support multitouch and accelerometer input for XNA Game Studio.
• Transformations and Collision Testing
  Provides classes and methods for manipulating vectors and matrices.
• Bounding Volumes and Collisions
  Collision detection determines whether objects in a game world overlap each other.
• Selecting an Object with a Mouse (Windows)
  Demonstrates how to check whether the mouse is positioned over a 3D object by creating a ray starting at the camera's near clipping plane and ending at its far clipping plane.
• Testing for Collisions
  Demonstrates how to use the BoundingSphere class to check whether two models are colliding.
• Rotating and Moving the Camera
  Demonstrates how to rotate and move a camera in a 3D environment.
• What are Vectors, Matrices, and Quaternions?
  Presents an overview of the math-related functionality provided by the XNA Framework.
• Windows Phone Programming
  Provides topics that are specific to programming games on Windows Phone.
• Handling Interruptions on Windows Phone
  Provides detail about how to handle interruptions, such as incoming calls, on Windows Phone.
• Prerequisites for Developing Xbox LIVE Multiplayer Games on Xbox 360
  Introduces the key prerequisites for creating a networked XNA Framework game on Xbox 360.
• Adding Networking and Multiplayer Support
  Contains introductory articles describing how to add networking and multiplayer support to your game.
• Network Session Management
  Defines the network session management capabilities in the XNA Framework, which allow for matchmaking access to profile data on all the gamers in a potential game.
• Creating a Network Session
  Describes the process of creating a new network session.
• Finding and Joining a Network Session
  Describes how to find and join a network session.
• Joining an In-Progress Game
  Describes how to enable the AllowJoinInProgress property to make an in-progress game available to peers searching for available sessions.
• Managing Player Movement Between Lobby and Gameplay Modes
  Describes properties and events associated with a multiplayer session that allow a game to move between lobby and gameplay modes. It identifies the game's current mode.
• Joining and Leaving a Game
  Manage data associated with a player by subscribing to events that occur when players join or leave a game.
• Receiving Network Data
  Describes how local players on a gaming machine receive data from the other players in a networked game.
• Sending Network Data
  Describes the options available for sending data to all clients or to a specific player.
• Writing Data (Windows Phone)
  Describes how to save game data on Windows Phone.
• Saving Data to a Save Game File
  Demonstrates how to use the XmlSerializer class to write data in a custom class to a saved game, and how to load the data from the file.

Concepts

• What Is a Configurable Effect?
  A configurable effect is an optimized rendering effect designed for Windows, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone. A configurable effect is created using a built-in object with options for user configuration.
• What Is a Programmable Effect?
  A programmable effect is a general purpose rendering effect designed for Windows and Xbox 360 (not Windows Phone). A programmable effect is created from vertex and pixel shaders written in the High-Level Shading Language (HLSL) and is completely customizable.

Reference

• InstancePlayLimitException Class
  The exception that is thrown when there is an attempt to play more than the platform specific maximum SoundEffectInstance sounds concurrently.

• SoundBank.GetCue Method
  Gets a cue from the sound bank.

• SoundEffectInstance Class
  Provides a single playing, paused, or stopped instance of a SoundEffect sound.

• DrawableGameComponent.DrawOrder Property
  Order in which the component should be drawn, relative to other components that are in the same GameComponentCollection.

• Game.Draw Method
  Called when the game determines it is time to draw a frame.

• Game.ShowMissingRequirementMessage Method
  This is used to display an error message if there is no suitable graphics device or sound card.

• Game.Update Method
  Called when the game has determined that game logic needs to be processed.

• Game.IsActive Property
  Indicates whether the game is currently the active application.

• Guide.BeginShowKeyboardInput Method
  Overloads for showing the software keyboard interface asynchronously.

• Guide.ShowGameInvite Method
  Overloads to display the game invitation user interface.

• Guide.ShowGameInvite Method
  Overloads to display the game invitation user interface.

• Guide.ShowMarketplace Method
  Displays the marketplace user interface.

• Guide.IsTrialMode Property
  Determines whether the game is running currently in limited trial mode.

• AlphaTestEffect.FogEnd Property
  Gets or sets the maximum z value for fog.

• AlphaTestEffect.FogStart Property
  Gets or sets the minimum z value for fog.

• BasicEffect.FogEnd Property
  Gets or sets the maximum z value for fog.

• BasicEffect.FogStart Property
  Gets or sets the minimum z value for fog.

• BlendState.Additive Field
  A built-in state object with settings for additive blend that is adding the destination data to the source data without using alpha.

• BlendState.AlphaBlend Field
  A built-in state object with settings for alpha blend that is blending the source and destination data using alpha.

• BlendState.NonPremultiplied Field
  A built-in state object with settings for blending with non-premultipled alpha that is blending source and destination data by using alpha while assuming the color data contains no alpha information.

• BlendState.Opaque Field
  A built-in state object with settings for opaque blend that is overwriting the source with the destination data.

• BlendState.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• DepthStencilState.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• DualTextureEffect.FogEnd Property
  Gets or sets the maximum z value for fog.

• DualTextureEffect.FogStart Property
  Gets or sets the minimum z value for fog.

• DynamicIndexBuffer.ContentLost Event
  Occurs when resources are lost due to a lost device event.

• DynamicVertexBuffer.ContentLost Event
  Occurs when resources are lost due to a lost device event.

• Effect Class
  Used to set and query effects, and to choose techniques.

• Effect.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• EffectAnnotationCollection Class
  Manipulates a collection of EffectAnnotation objects.

• EffectParameterCollection Class
  Manipulates a collection of EffectParameter objects.

• EffectPassCollection Class
  Manipulates a collection of EffectPass objects.

• EffectTechnique Class
  Represents an effect technique.

• EffectTechniqueCollection Class
  Manipulates a collection of EffectTechnique objects.

• EnvironmentMapEffect.FogEnd Property
  Gets or sets the maximum z value for fog.

• EnvironmentMapEffect.FogStart Property
  Gets or sets the minimum z value for fog.

• GraphicsDevice.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object. Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• GraphicsDevice.DrawUserIndexedPrimitives Method
  Renders geometric primitives.

• GraphicsDevice.SetVertexBuffer Method
  Sets or binds a vertex buffer to a device.

• GraphicsResource.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object. Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• IEffectFog.FogEnd Property
  Gets or sets maximum z value for fog.

• IEffectFog.FogStart Property
  Gets or sets minimum z value for fog.

• IndexBuffer.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• OcclusionQuery.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• RasterizerState.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• RenderTarget2D.ContentLost Event
  Occurs when resources are lost due to a lost device event.

• RenderTargetCube.ContentLost Event
  Occurs when a resource is lost due to a device being lost.

• SamplerState.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• SamplerState.MaxAnisotropy Property
  Gets or sets the maximum anisotropy. The default value is 4.

• SamplerState.MaxMipLevel Property
  Gets or sets the level of detail (LOD) index of the largest map to use.

• SamplerState.MipMapLevelOfDetailBias Property
  Gets or sets the mipmap LOD bias. The default value is 0. A negative value indicates a larger mipmap level; a positive value indicates a smaller mipmap level.

• SkinnedEffect.FogEnd Property
  Gets or sets the maximum z value for fog.

• SkinnedEffect.FogStart Property
  Gets or sets the minimum z value for fog.

• SpriteBatch.Begin Method
  Begins a sprite batch operation using deferred sort and default state objects (BlendState.AlphaBlend, SamplerState.LinearClamp, DepthStencilState.None, RasterizerState.CullCounterClockwise). Begins a sprite batch operation.

• SpriteBatch.Draw Method
  Adds a sprite to a batch of sprites to be rendered.

• Texture2D.FromStream Method
  Methods for loading an image.

• Texture2D.GetData Method
  Copies texture data into an array.

• Texture2D.Height Property
  Gets the height of this texture resource, in pixels.

• Texture2D.Width Property
  Gets the width of this texture resource, in pixels.

• VertexBuffer.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• VertexBufferBinding.VertexOffset Property
  Gets the offset between the beginning of the buffer and the vertex data to use.

• VertexDeclaration.Dispose Method
  Immediately releases the unmanaged resources used by this object.

• Viewport.Unproject Method
  Converts a screen space point into a corresponding point in world space.

• MouseState.MiddleButton Property
  Returns the state of the middle mouse button.

• MouseState.RightButton Property
  Returns the state of the right mouse button.

• MouseState.ScrollWheelValue Property
  Gets the cumulative mouse scroll wheel value since the game was started.

• MouseState.X Property
  Specifies the horizontal position of the mouse cursor.

• MouseState.XButton1 Property
  Returns the state of XBUTTON1.

• MouseState.XButton2 Property
  Returns the state of XBUTTON2.

• MouseState.Y Property
  Specifies the vertical position of the mouse cursor.

• MediaLibrary Class
  Provides access to songs, playlists, and pictures in the device's media library.

• MediaLibrary.SavePicture Method
  Saves the image to the media library.

• MediaPlayer.Play Method
  Plays a song or collection of songs.

• MediaPlayer.Volume Property
  Gets or sets the media player volume.

• MediaSource Class
  Provides methods and properties to access the source or sources from which the media will be read.

• Song.Rating Property
  Gets the user's rating for the Song.

• VideoPlayer.Volume Property
  Gets or sets the video player volume.

• MediaSourceType Enumeration
  Type of the media source.

• NetworkSession.GamerJoined Event
  Occurs when a new player joins a multiplayer session.

• NetworkSession.WriteArbitratedLeaderboard Event
  Notifies the game of its final chance to write data to arbitrated leaderboards for the specified player.

• NetworkSession.WriteTrueSkill Event
  Notifies the game of its final chance to write TrueSkill data for the specified player.

• NetworkSession.WriteUnarbitratedLeaderboard Event
  Notifies the game of its final chance to write data to unarbitrated leaderboards for the specified player.

• NetworkSessionType Enumeration
  Defines the different types of a multiplayer session.

• MaterialContent.SetTexture Method
  Sets a value in the contained TextureReferenceDictionary object.

• MeshBuilder Class
  Provides support for writing a custom importer for mesh objects.

• SetProcessorAffinity