Problems when using SpriteFont to draw text in XNA4

Question

I am trying to draw text on to the screen using a spritefont in XNA. I can get the text to appear, but no matter what I try there is always something going wrong with something else when I draw the text.

I am trying to display the FPS. I have tried it in a few different ways and in various different XNA projects I have made. Some of the things that happen when drawing the text to the screen include - Vertices being drawn further away and in the wrong spots, vertices not being drawn at all, wire frame mode not being able to be turned on. Just depending on how I try to render the text I always end up with one of these. And then if I comment out the part that draws the text, everything will be back to normal.

Here is some code My variables at the top of the code are -

    GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
    SpriteFont font;
    SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

In my LoadContent I have

        font = Content.Load<SpriteFont>("SpriteFont1");
        RasterizerState rs = new RasterizerState();
        rs.FillMode = FillMode.WireFrame;
        GraphicsDevice.RasterizerState = rs;
        spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);

And here is my entire Draw method -

protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        CreateMesh();
        GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.SkyBlue);

        effect.Parameters["View"].SetValue(cam.viewMatrix);
        effect.Parameters["Projection"].SetValue(projectionMatrix);
        effect.CurrentTechnique = effect.Techniques["Technique1"];
        effect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].Apply();
        GraphicsDevice.DrawIndexedPrimitives(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, 0, 0, vertices.Count, 0, indices.Length / 3);

        spriteBatch.Begin();
        spriteBatch.DrawString(font, frameRate.ToString(), new Vector2(1, 1), Color.Black);
        spriteBatch.End();

        frameCounter++;
        base.Draw(gameTime);
    }

This is the closest way I have foundto working yet, but for some reason it makes wireframe not work no matter what I try to do, and I really need wire frame.

EDIT: I debugged the fill mode as the program runs and it sets it back to solid on its own for some reason when using the sprite font. I can reset the the fill mode every frame before the vertices are drawn, but I'd really rather not have to do that.

Answer 1

You should apply your rasterizer state just before drawing somthing win wireframe mode, not only in the load method... because batch.Begin() method will set a default rasterizer state

if you want use other rasterizer state for spritebatch, you should provide one

spritebatch.Begin(SortMode,...,,.., rs );

your code should be changed this way:

static RasterizerState rs = new RasterizerState() { FillMode = FillMode.Wireframe; }

protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
    CreateMesh();
    GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.SkyBlue);

    GraphicsDevice.RasterizerState = rs;

    effect.Parameters["View"].SetValue(cam.viewMatrix);
    effect.Parameters["Projection"].SetValue(projectionMatrix);
    effect.CurrentTechnique = effect.Techniques["Technique1"];
    effect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].Apply();
    GraphicsDevice.DrawIndexedPrimitives(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, 0, 0, vertices.Count, 0, indices.Length / 3);
    ....

Answer 2

Using a SpriteBatch changes the render state to the point that 3D graphics no longer work unless you change the render state back to a 3D-friendly state. See this article for more details.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2006/11/13/spritebatch-and-renderstates.aspx