Well, check for NULL in code then you will know if it's really not NULL.

I checked if my bitmap was NULL, and if it was, I'd end the game; it ended the game. I don't understand why though, because it's right there. I feel like I'm telling an old dog to fetch a stick that's two feet from it, yet it won't.

Anyway, I decided to check out some of the examples that were found in the examples folder within Allegro 5. I ran the ex_draw_bitmap, but it returned this to the terminal: "Error loading data/mysha256x256.png". I checked the corresponding folder, and it was there; it exists, yet it cannot be procured.

Thoughts?

I am slightly confused by your message.

Let's say that all of my game data is located under /home/pi/Desktop/game. Within that directory, I have a sub-directory called "data" (/home/pi/Desktop/game/data). In code, let's say that I load up a bitmap called "player"... ALLEGRO_BITMAP *player = al_load_bitmap("data/player.png");

Now let's assume that I compile my game and am left with "mygame" under home/pi/Desktop/game. I'd run ./mygame (within the directory of my game) to execute it. Are you saying that mygame (the executable) must reside within the same directory as all of my sources? So within /home/pi/Desktop/game, I would have mygame and /data?

Edit
Does this look right?

ALLEGRO_PATH *path;

path = al_get_standard_path(ALLEGRO_RESOURCES_PATH);
al_change_directory(al_path_cstr(path, ALLEGRO_NATIVE_PATH_SEP));

ALLEGRO_BITMAP *player = al_load_bitmap("data/player.png");

Is that how I'd use the path code?

Hi again.

I tried that, and it said that the current directory is "/home/pi/Desktop", which is right. Alas, it still won't load my images.

I used data/player.png as an example. In reality, all of my files are on /home/pi/Desktop: game.cpp, object.png, etc.

I ran his test program from the Desktop. In the terminal, I went there (cd /home/pi/Desktop).

I honestly do not know why any of this is not working; it's quite troublesome. I am constantly returned with NULL for my resources.

I found an article on the wiki and followed its instructions. Here's what I now have...

al_init_image_addon();
al_install_keyboard();
al_install_mouse();

ALLEGRO_PATH *path = al_get_standard_path(ALLEGRO_RESOURCES_PATH);
al_append_path_component(path, "data");
al_change_directory(al_path_cstr(path, '/'));
al_destroy_path(path);

std::cout << al_get_current_directory() << endl;

ALLEGRO_BITMAP *player = al_load_bitmap("player.png");

I compile and run it, and am still returned with "al_draw_tinted_bitmap: Assertion `bitmap' failed." My current directory (from running in the terminal) is (pwd) /home/pi/Desktop/game. The game itself tells the console that it is in /home/pi/Desktop/game/data (from line 10).

Yes, player.png is within the data directory. No, I do not believe I did install those prior to building Allegro 5, nor after... Perhaps that's my issue (how stupid of me).

Okay, so I'll need to install these. Should I purge Allegro 5 from my system first, then run through its installation again, or could I just build it again now, thus overwriting what I did before?

Eureka (ha ha)! I placed a bitmap called "test.bmp" within the data directory, then referenced it in code... It works wonderfully! So then, it appears that .png files are the issue.

I sincerely appreciate the assistance, truly I do.

I'll try this out in a bit. I guess I'll have to redo CMake in my build directory, then make, then ultimately make install. Awesome.

Update
That worked wonderfully. Allegro 5 is working just fine now on my machine, as are .png images! Thanks everyone!