Frequently Asked Questions: Development

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Do I #include <SDL.h> or <SDL/SDL.h>?
I have an accelerated video card, but SDL tells me that that I have zero video memory and no acceleration!
Q: Do I #include <SDL.h> or <SDL/SDL.h>?
A:
The most portable way to include SDL headers is to use quotes around the header name:
#include "SDL.h"
Q: I have an accelerated video card, but SDL tells me that that I have zero video memory and no acceleration!

A: Not all display targets can make use of hardware acceleration. In particular, this is the case for the X11 target which always presents you with a software framebuffer. Your video memory will always be reported to be zero if no acceleration is available.
Note that this has nothing to do with 3D acceleration, just 2D hardware acceleration support in the underlying operating system video drivers.

Q:	Do I #include <SDL.h> or <SDL/SDL.h>?
A:	The most portable way to include SDL headers is to use quotes around the header name: `#include "SDL.h"`

Q:	I have an accelerated video card, but SDL tells me that that I have zero video memory and no acceleration!
A:	Not all display targets can make use of hardware acceleration. In particular, this is the case for the X11 target which always presents you with a software framebuffer. Your video memory will always be reported to be zero if no acceleration is available. Note that this has nothing to do with 3D acceleration, just 2D hardware acceleration support in the underlying operating system video drivers.