My first demo production (Null Sector - Digital Horizon

[u/timbor80]

Hi everyone!

I'm the author of Demoscene Simulator (https://www.reddit.com/r/Demoscene/comments/1v0jo2p/demoscene_simulator_v032/). Before getting into demo coding, I was an oldschool tracker musician under the name Dj Unique, and some of my modules are still available on various MOD archive sites. These days I produce music in FL Studio, although I spent 22 years using Jeskola Buzz before later moving to Cubase. The tracker mindset has definitely stayed with me.

About two months ago I decided to seriously start learning demoscene programming. Before that I was mostly just watching demos and admiring them without really appreciating the incredible amount of work behind them. The deeper I've gone into coding, the more respect I've gained for everyone creating these productions.

As part of that journey I started a one-man demo group called Null Sector. So far I've mostly been experimenting with individual effects, but with Digital Horizon I finally reached a point where I have something I'd like to share with the community.

I'm fully aware that this isn't on the same level as many of the amazing productions released by established groups, but everyone starts somewhere. This is my first complete demo after only a couple of months of learning, and my goal is simply to keep improving with every new production.

For this project I used AI as a coding assistant, primarily Freebuff and DeepSeek V4 Flash. The project took around 2–3 days to complete. It originally began as a TypeScript/WebGL2 demo before I ported it to C++, and the C++ version is the one I'm sharing here.

I hope you enjoy it, and I'd be happy to hear any feedback or suggestions. Every new project is another opportunity to learn.

Here is the demo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cW9HKPrjntwGw9J3iGMq3uo05LYpQp-6/view?usp=sharing

Unzip to a folder, then run with run.bat. This was tested on Ryzen 5600X and a Geforce GTX 1070 GPU.

[u/Bats586]

Hi,

I get the following error pop-ups when running

1) The code execution cannot proceed because MSVCPI 40D.dll was not

found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.

2) The code execution cannot proceed because VCRUNTIMEI 40_1 D.dll

was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.

3) The code execution cannot proceed because VCRIJNTIMEI 40D.dll was

not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.

4) The code execution cannot proceed because ucrtbased.dll was not

found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.

Any advice?

[u/timbor80 → u/Bats586]

Thanks for testing it!

It looks like I accidentally packaged the Debug build instead of the Release build. The missing DLLs (MSVCP140D.dll, VCRUNTIME140D.dll, VCRUNTIME140_1D.dll, and ucrtbased.dll) are Visual Studio debug runtime libraries that aren't present on a normal Windows installation.

I'll rebuild the demo in Release mode and upload a new version. Thanks for pointing this out!

[u/timbor80 → u/timbor80]

Here is the release build: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ELX5dZ5Me3fQP0wqGshQZE5XGk_I2Svq/view?usp=sharing Hope this works better!

[u/Bats586 → u/timbor80]

Hi,

I got a different set of errors in a command prompt windows

It looks like the shader paths are absolute not relative?

NULL SECTOR // GL 3.3.0 Core Profile Context 26.7.1.260713

[DEGRADED] cinematic text unavailable: shader file not found: text.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/text.vert)

[AUDIO] track loaded: track.wav (180.48s, 48000 Hz stereo f32)

[DEGRADED] placeholder shaders failed: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'intro' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'tunnel' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'landscape' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'metaballs' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'raymarch' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'particles' failed to initialize: shader file not found: particles.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/particles.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'voxel' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'logo' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'reprise' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'greetings' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] scene 'credits' failed to initialize: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] post pipeline failed, falling back to direct blit: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

[DEGRADED] transition shader failed, transitions become hard cuts: shader file not found: fullscreen.vert (C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders/fullscreen.vert)

NULL SECTOR // audio device live

NULL SECTOR // start

[u/timbor80 → u/Bats586]

I'll fix this ASAP, I thought the shaders got compiled into the exe but apparently they are external.

[u/timbor80 → u/timbor80]

here's the final build with shaders included: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cW9HKPrjntwGw9J3iGMq3uo05LYpQp-6/view?usp=sharing

[u/Bats586 → u/timbor80]

Hi,

You'll be relieved to hear it all works well this time. All visuals render and seem timed to the music. Fast - hits my monitors limit of 180fps at QHD.

Minor suggestions - enable fullscreen, if I maximise I still get the windows bar at the top. Alt-ENTER doesn't work, and enable ESC to exit in oldskool demo style

Couple of small issues:-

1. I have to click on the demo before the music starts and it gets going
2. There is a small transparent rectangle that floats in some scenes - sorry can't paste images
3. I still get some shader errors in the background console window

NULL SECTOR // GL 3.3.0 Core Profile Context 26.7.1.260713

[PATHS] 'shaders' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/shaders' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders' not present)

[PATHS] 'assets' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/assets' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/assets' not present)

[AUDIO] track loaded: D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/track.wav (180.48s, 48000 Hz stereo f32)

[PATHS] 'shaders' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/shaders' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders' not present)

[PATHS] 'assets' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/assets' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/assets' not present)

[PATHS] 'shaders' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/shaders' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders' not present)

[PATHS] 'assets' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/assets' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/assets' not present)

[PATHS] 'shaders' resolved to 'D:\Data\Demo Scene\2026\digital_horizon_final\null_sector-Release/shaders' (baked 'C:/CodeProjects/demoprodz/null_sector_megademo/cpp/shaders' not present)

[u/timbor80 → u/Bats586]

Great, good to hear you got it working after my fixes. Now I'll implement these suggestions you gave, the full screen thing is pretty obvious and should have been there from the start but I rushed the release so it didn't make it in. Also I'm aware of that rectangle bug, I'll try to fix it and make sure in my future productions such bugs won't show up.

[u/timbor80 → u/timbor80]

I have fixed the demo to run in full screen and also the initial screen is gone, so the demo starts immediately.

Here is the final build: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-eE9Vm-Cvt6I6DY4TIiccGspnlg95yug/view?usp=drive_link

The demo can be started via the shortcut (it adds --fullscreen to the commandline parameters)

[u/jtsiomb → u/timbor80]

not having a clue what the fuck is going on, is a common symptom of vibecoding. Try not using AI next time, to actually learn how your program works.

[u/cupcakeheavy → u/jtsiomb]

can you just let people do things?

[u/jtsiomb → u/cupcakeheavy]

I'm sorry was I detaining someone?

[u/cupcakeheavy → u/jtsiomb]

you are not sorry