TGEA 1.8.1 Now Available
by Alex Scarborough · 02/09/2009 (5:00 pm) · 80 comments
I'm pleased to announce that TGEA 1.8.1 has been released and can be downloaded right now! In our internal testing it's approximately 50% faster than TGEA 1.8.0 and with over 50 resolved issues is significantly more robust as well.
In brief, TGEA 1.8.1 is the best engine we've ever released, and we're thrilled with it. Check out the results we found on two of our most popular engines. A couple things to note before you look at the graphs:
Here's what we found on T3D: big increases all around!
Forge is pretty high-end, but we increased PC-end performance while maintaining frame rates for the Mac.
This release wouldn't have been possible without the community's well written bug reports. Almost every issue resolved in 1.8.1 was brought up by the community. Even though we're done working on TGEA 1.8.1, we're not done making TGEA and Torque 3D even better. Please keep on reporting issues in the TGEA private forums, and we'll try to keep on top of them and ensure that they're resolved. But for now, here's a high-five for you.
It's been a blast working on this release, but it's back to R&D for me. You've already seen some of the R&D work we've done with GFX2 and Brett's posts on Torque 3D, and you'll be even more impressed by what else we have in store :).
Until next time, enjoy TGEA 1.8.1!
In brief, TGEA 1.8.1 is the best engine we've ever released, and we're thrilled with it. Check out the results we found on two of our most popular engines. A couple things to note before you look at the graphs:
- PC Specs: 2.40 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce 8600M GT w/256 MB VRAM
- Mac Specs: 2.40 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon HD 2600 w/256 MB VRAM
- We did not include Mac info for TGEA 1.7.1 because 1.7.1 was Windows-only.
Here's what we found on T3D: big increases all around!
Forge is pretty high-end, but we increased PC-end performance while maintaining frame rates for the Mac.
This release wouldn't have been possible without the community's well written bug reports. Almost every issue resolved in 1.8.1 was brought up by the community. Even though we're done working on TGEA 1.8.1, we're not done making TGEA and Torque 3D even better. Please keep on reporting issues in the TGEA private forums, and we'll try to keep on top of them and ensure that they're resolved. But for now, here's a high-five for you.
It's been a blast working on this release, but it's back to R&D for me. You've already seen some of the R&D work we've done with GFX2 and Brett's posts on Torque 3D, and you'll be even more impressed by what else we have in store :).
Until next time, enjoy TGEA 1.8.1!
About the author
#42
02/10/2009 (2:59 pm)
Well done Alex and look at those graph results. Can't complain about that. 
#43
Thanks very much :)
02/10/2009 (3:18 pm)
Wow great work on this release Alex, hadn't expected such a fast turn around on it... Thanks very much :)
#44
02/10/2009 (3:20 pm)
Awesome, can't wait to port my stuff :) 
#45
Thx as always Alex, you been kicking ass and taking names for some time. :)
Glad to see the evolution/marriage of TMK and TGEA!!!
02/10/2009 (4:03 pm)
Porting and not shedding a single tear.Thx as always Alex, you been kicking ass and taking names for some time. :)
Glad to see the evolution/marriage of TMK and TGEA!!!
#46
Pretty sure I found my problem, but uncertain. Turns out I don't have the latest DirectX SDK (November 2008 which you can find here.) My DirectX SDK is still November 2007. So I'm going to try to update that and go from there. Not looking foward to it though; I can remember how long it took to down load the 2007 SDK yuck.
As a side note, I tried looking for an update to just DirectX 10 but either there isn't one or apparently you have to hack your download through Microsoft to get DirectX 10.1. Supposedly DirectX 10.1 was included in the Vista SP1 update. I'm alittle confused on that though because I've checked my system information and I'm pretty sure I have the latest SP 1, yet when I run dxdiag (directX diagonsit for those that don't know) it's showing I only have DirectX 10.
Again any help/suggestion is appreciated.
02/10/2009 (5:56 pm)
Thanks for the help/suggestions David and Gerald.Pretty sure I found my problem, but uncertain. Turns out I don't have the latest DirectX SDK (November 2008 which you can find here.) My DirectX SDK is still November 2007. So I'm going to try to update that and go from there. Not looking foward to it though; I can remember how long it took to down load the 2007 SDK yuck.
As a side note, I tried looking for an update to just DirectX 10 but either there isn't one or apparently you have to hack your download through Microsoft to get DirectX 10.1. Supposedly DirectX 10.1 was included in the Vista SP1 update. I'm alittle confused on that though because I've checked my system information and I'm pretty sure I have the latest SP 1, yet when I run dxdiag (directX diagonsit for those that don't know) it's showing I only have DirectX 10.
Again any help/suggestion is appreciated.
#47
02/10/2009 (6:00 pm)
You don't have to download the SDK. You can just update the DirectX 9 runtime to the latest version. That should drop the download time a bit! :)
#48
02/10/2009 (6:04 pm)
DirectX 9 runtime will work ok with DirectX 10?
#49
EDIT: Thanks again and thanks in advance for answering my dumb questions.
02/10/2009 (6:07 pm)
Or is it that the SDK is still directX 9 even though my normal DirectX is 10?EDIT: Thanks again and thanks in advance for answering my dumb questions.
#50
I tried to find a way to email you, but couldn't, so here it is.
------------------
System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Mobo: XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLI
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz (4 CPUs),~3.0GHz
Memory: 8190MB RAM
Display: BFG GTX 280
Display & Cpu are watercooled(I have had it overclocked to 4ghz)
When I look straight up I get the max fps(256), the screenshot attached is just normal.
[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4291/forgefpsxz1.th.jpg[/IMG]
02/10/2009 (6:09 pm)
@BrettI tried to find a way to email you, but couldn't, so here it is.
------------------
System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Mobo: XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLI
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz (4 CPUs),~3.0GHz
Memory: 8190MB RAM
Display: BFG GTX 280
Display & Cpu are watercooled(I have had it overclocked to 4ghz)
When I look straight up I get the max fps(256), the screenshot attached is just normal.
[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4291/forgefpsxz1.th.jpg[/IMG]
#51
Thanks again David and all. I'll keep you posted if I have any issues when I go to compile. Though I won't probably do that right away, but I like to use the demos to test out my model as I make progress on it.
02/10/2009 (6:38 pm)
I installed the new Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime (found here) even though it didn't suggest anywhere that it supports DirectX 10 and bingo seems to be working ok now without any issues. Granted I haven't compiled anything yet, I've just tried some of the demos and they work now when before they didn't.Thanks again David and all. I'll keep you posted if I have any issues when I go to compile. Though I won't probably do that right away, but I like to use the demos to test out my model as I make progress on it.
#52
Dang, didn't realize that much difference in the Q9550 and the 9650.. Still havn't overclocked my CPU that much yet though..
Do you have the overclocked 280 as well?
02/10/2009 (6:41 pm)
@jason...Dang, didn't realize that much difference in the Q9550 and the 9650.. Still havn't overclocked my CPU that much yet though..
Do you have the overclocked 280 as well?
#53
Yeah it is overclocked by default, but I've gotten it over 700mhz, like 710mhz
www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx2801024h2ocwe.aspx
02/10/2009 (7:17 pm)
@Randy..Yeah it is overclocked by default, but I've gotten it over 700mhz, like 710mhz
www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx2801024h2ocwe.aspx
#54
X9770 (Quad Extreme overclocked to 4 ghz with amazing Zalman CPU Fan), NVIDIA GX2 (7.15.11.8122 drivers) running TGEA 1.8.1
RAWR!!!!
02/10/2009 (7:41 pm)
X9770 (Quad Extreme overclocked to 4 ghz with amazing Zalman CPU Fan), NVIDIA GX2 (7.15.11.8122 drivers) running TGEA 1.8.1
RAWR!!!!
#55
Thanks.. Got same card... Me thinks it's time to play with overclocking some:)
02/10/2009 (7:45 pm)
@jason..Thanks.. Got same card... Me thinks it's time to play with overclocking some:)
#56
02/10/2009 (8:24 pm)
Ported my project, it was painless, thank you! 
#57
Thanks for the fixes. :)
02/10/2009 (8:30 pm)
Great to see this released, even though I don't believe your charts. Nearly everyone who commented about 1.8.0 mentioned the reduced performance in 1.8.0 versus 1.7.1, whereas your chart shows 1.8.0 performing better than 1.7.1.Thanks for the fixes. :)
#58
02/10/2009 (8:39 pm)
woohoo Josh! I might have to overclock mine again :P
#59
@James Brad Barnette: Our aim was to compare 1.7.1, 1.8.0, and 1.8.1, not Mac vs. PC. These results definitely shouldn't be taken as Mac vs. PC numbers, and that was never their intent, hence why we felt no need to use identical hardware for Mac/PC testing.
@Ben Garney: I shouldn't tell you this... but in R&D we're working on Torque: Pretty Pink Pony edition. Among other things, it features this awesome new graphical scripting language where you use sprites of Pretty Pink Ponies as commands. I think you'll love it!
@Josh/Jason: Not. Fair. I think I'm going to have to steal a MacPro from QA now.
@Joe Melton: Those specific charts were chosen for (hopefully obvious) marketing reasons. We do have results from other demos, particularly the TGE Demo Advanced example project, that show 1.8.0 as being significantly slower than 1.7.1. Even in those cases 1.8.1 is as fast or faster than 1.7.1.
02/10/2009 (9:16 pm)
@All: I'm glad you're enjoying 1.8.1! I found a couple more fixes since the release, which I will post in the private forums soon.@James Brad Barnette: Our aim was to compare 1.7.1, 1.8.0, and 1.8.1, not Mac vs. PC. These results definitely shouldn't be taken as Mac vs. PC numbers, and that was never their intent, hence why we felt no need to use identical hardware for Mac/PC testing.
@Ben Garney: I shouldn't tell you this... but in R&D we're working on Torque: Pretty Pink Pony edition. Among other things, it features this awesome new graphical scripting language where you use sprites of Pretty Pink Ponies as commands. I think you'll love it!
@Josh/Jason: Not. Fair. I think I'm going to have to steal a MacPro from QA now.
@Joe Melton: Those specific charts were chosen for (hopefully obvious) marketing reasons. We do have results from other demos, particularly the TGE Demo Advanced example project, that show 1.8.0 as being significantly slower than 1.7.1. Even in those cases 1.8.1 is as fast or faster than 1.7.1.
#60
Will
02/11/2009 (9:19 am)
@Alex: Great update, question thou... in my acount page TGEA says 0 bytes and when I download it the file never finishes the 175meg or so completion... can u plez look into this and see why my account isn't showing the new size? Then when it download it just don't complete. Thanks much... using Firefox latest.Will
Torque Owner Gerald Fishel
Development Ninja