TSE Milestone 4
by Brian Ramage · 08/17/2006 (7:55 pm) · 88 comments
There are a lot of questions being asked about TSE with the announcement of Torque X and MS4 coming up fast. I thought I'd answer some of them here to clear things up a bit and also show some pretty orc pictures ;)
Thanks to John Kabus for all the lighting work he did to make this possible. Also thanks to Joe Maruschak and Mark McCoy for all painstaking tweaking to the Orc's textures and animations for this demo. Tim Aste has done some pretty cool work with his characters, check up with him for some more screenshots and video of his work. Pat Wilson and Ben Garney also jumped in for some last minute code tweaks on the Orc demo. Hope to get it to y'all soon.
On to the Q/A:
- When is MS4 release?
Sometime soon, not this week though.
- What's going on with TSE after MS4?
Like other launches, we will go through a period of bug fixes based on community feedback and push out some release candidates until we feel it's ready for a full 1.0 release.
- September release?
We're hoping that we'll be ready for a 1.0 release in September. It depends on how solid it's looking. We're not going to release in September unless it's really ready to go.
- Is the TLK included with TSE?
Yes, the TLK is fully integrated with TSE and has some new features like hardware shadowing (including self-shadowing), dynamic lighting with specular and normal mapping support, and HDR/DRL solutions. John can fill you in on the complete rundown of all the cool new features.
- What's going on with OpenGL and fixed function support?
OpenGL will not be supported in the 1.0 release, but we will have OpenGL and fixed function support further down the road.
- What's the status on Atlas?
Atlas is near to becoming "runtime feature complete" that means you'll have everything you need to run Atlas and import terrain from tools like l3dt. Full editor support will not be in for Atlas however in the 1.0 release. Please note that legacy (TGE) terrain runs just fine in TSE, incuding all the editing options. I believe it outperforms TGE's terrain as well, but I haven't actually done metrics to prove it.
- What's the deal with TSE/Torque X?
They are completely separate products with different feature sets. We'll be announcing more information about Torque X when it's closer to release. Torque X is completely C# managed code however, so if you are looking for a C++ solution with shaders, TSE is the only way to go. And of course, you can still go to the 360 with the TSE path with TSE 360.
- Will TSE be standalone when final?
Yes, TSE will be its own product, you won't need to purchase TGE in order to buy TSE. Yes, the price will go up.
- If I buy Early Adopter, will I have to pay extra for updates?
If you buy the Early Adopter version of TSE now, you will not have to pay anything for the full 1.0 update or bugs fixes from then on.
- Are we going to see some new demos we can download?
Yes, although when is a bit uncertain. We should be showing some of the new stuff at PAX coming up next weekend though, so stop on by to check them out.
- Will TSE ship with the Legions demo?
Probably not anytime soon no.
- What's going on with that forest picture on the DSOTD?
We might have an exciting announcement regarding that in the near future ;)
Thanks to John Kabus for all the lighting work he did to make this possible. Also thanks to Joe Maruschak and Mark McCoy for all painstaking tweaking to the Orc's textures and animations for this demo. Tim Aste has done some pretty cool work with his characters, check up with him for some more screenshots and video of his work. Pat Wilson and Ben Garney also jumped in for some last minute code tweaks on the Orc demo. Hope to get it to y'all soon.
On to the Q/A:
- When is MS4 release?
Sometime soon, not this week though.
- What's going on with TSE after MS4?
Like other launches, we will go through a period of bug fixes based on community feedback and push out some release candidates until we feel it's ready for a full 1.0 release.
- September release?
We're hoping that we'll be ready for a 1.0 release in September. It depends on how solid it's looking. We're not going to release in September unless it's really ready to go.
- Is the TLK included with TSE?
Yes, the TLK is fully integrated with TSE and has some new features like hardware shadowing (including self-shadowing), dynamic lighting with specular and normal mapping support, and HDR/DRL solutions. John can fill you in on the complete rundown of all the cool new features.
- What's going on with OpenGL and fixed function support?
OpenGL will not be supported in the 1.0 release, but we will have OpenGL and fixed function support further down the road.
- What's the status on Atlas?
Atlas is near to becoming "runtime feature complete" that means you'll have everything you need to run Atlas and import terrain from tools like l3dt. Full editor support will not be in for Atlas however in the 1.0 release. Please note that legacy (TGE) terrain runs just fine in TSE, incuding all the editing options. I believe it outperforms TGE's terrain as well, but I haven't actually done metrics to prove it.
- What's the deal with TSE/Torque X?
They are completely separate products with different feature sets. We'll be announcing more information about Torque X when it's closer to release. Torque X is completely C# managed code however, so if you are looking for a C++ solution with shaders, TSE is the only way to go. And of course, you can still go to the 360 with the TSE path with TSE 360.
- Will TSE be standalone when final?
Yes, TSE will be its own product, you won't need to purchase TGE in order to buy TSE. Yes, the price will go up.
- If I buy Early Adopter, will I have to pay extra for updates?
If you buy the Early Adopter version of TSE now, you will not have to pay anything for the full 1.0 update or bugs fixes from then on.
- Are we going to see some new demos we can download?
Yes, although when is a bit uncertain. We should be showing some of the new stuff at PAX coming up next weekend though, so stop on by to check them out.
- Will TSE ship with the Legions demo?
Probably not anytime soon no.
- What's going on with that forest picture on the DSOTD?
We might have an exciting announcement regarding that in the near future ;)
About the author
#82
There are some issues we're working out with regard to functionality that came up when we started doing some more useful real world tests, so its taking a bit longer than expected.
As with everything developed "in our spare time", its unpredictable in nature. But I can say that once I'm free of my current contract job, I'm going to have a bunch more time to work on things like the AI pack. Luckily, the other guys are working on it while I'm tied up a bit.
09/02/2006 (2:09 pm)
Just a quickie update. AI pack had some issues in terms of our dev time. But the guys are all back together and working now.There are some issues we're working out with regard to functionality that came up when we started doing some more useful real world tests, so its taking a bit longer than expected.
As with everything developed "in our spare time", its unpredictable in nature. But I can say that once I'm free of my current contract job, I'm going to have a bunch more time to work on things like the AI pack. Luckily, the other guys are working on it while I'm tied up a bit.
#83
09/06/2006 (1:47 pm)
When MS4 will be released ? Now it's September.
#84
09/06/2006 (1:54 pm)
Seriously, calm down. The render batch code was "A few days from now" but that ended up taking about 3 weeks.
#85
@ David Wilmot - do a resource search for "shader enhanced particles" ;)
09/06/2006 (9:17 pm)
awesome guys wtg!@ David Wilmot - do a resource search for "shader enhanced particles" ;)
#86
09/18/2006 (6:44 am)
Thanks john, will do
#87
09/18/2006 (6:45 am)
john lol sorry Kevin (i need more sleep).
Torque Owner Nick Zafiris