Torque Game Engine Advanced Open Beta 2

Full of Awesome!

What an amazing community! It has been just over a week since we released the TGEA 1.7 Open Beta 1 and it is hard to believe how much you guys have pitched in and helped!

We've been working hard to address your bugs and to roll further improvements into TGEA 1.7 and I am proud to share that with you as the TGEA 1.7 Open Beta 2!


You can go grab it from the TGEA download link on your My Account page. Quickly! Go get it!


What am I getting myself into to?


We've managed to pack in a ton of fixes into this release!

I could not have done it without the amazing help of Josh Engebretson, Tom Spilman, Michael Perry, John Kabus, Jeff Faust, and Stephen Zepp. These guys have really pitched in to help, going above and beyond the call of duty!

You can see a list of all of the changes we've rolled into the release here:

• Sound files (.ogg) are now being properly included in the installer (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73290)
• fxShapeReplicator should now clean up properly when applying changes (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73281)
• The lighting system now correctly samples the lightmaps underneath the Player for its ambient lighting (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73224)
• Changed to TGE message boxes to work correctly in fullscreen (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73287)
• Fixed the mipmap wrapping related terrain edge seam (fixed function and shader) (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73224)
• Added some code to GuiCanvas::setVideoMode() to handle 0 sizes for the resolution dimensions (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73259)
• Fixed a typo in the configureCanvas() script code that was causing the resolution width to be blank when having to fallback from a resolution too large in windowed mode
• Fixed a comparison in configureCanvas() that was causing it to falsely think fullscreen was windowed (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73289)
• Applied fix for when Player SplashEmitter is not present (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73340)
• Fixed some of the incompatibility issues with integrated Intel video cards (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73350)
• Fixed problems with ganerating a new mission (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73304)
• Fixed dynamic field rename and deletion in the Inspector (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73245)
• Now validating TerrainBlock clipMapSizeLog2 and texelsPerMeter settings (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73473)
• Terrain Texture Editor now properly handles multiple TerrainBlock's (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73465)
• Made it so that you can't walk up walls on polysoup collision TSStatic's (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73244)
• Fixed all of the references to #include "game/" (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73510)
• The WheeledVehicle wheels render again (with shadow) (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73352)
• Removed the unused buildresults.html (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73226)
• Fixed weapon push back and aim being affected by Trigger's (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73348)
• Fixed multiple Atlas issues (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73515)
• Shadows no longer project through polysoup TSStatic's (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73243)
- The TerrainBlock rendering code will skip the detail texture pass if no detail texture is specified (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73325)

• Fonts now correctly generate themselves on non-US English versions of Windows (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=73257)
• PrimBuilder::end() now takes an optional argument which can be used to override its default behavior of calling setupGenericShaders(), (which calls disableShaders())
• Fixed translucent material handling to work correctly when 'mMaterial->translucent' is set, but 'mMaterial->translucentBlendOp' is set to None. This enables pure alpha test materials without any blending.
• Fixed mMaterial->alphaTest and mMaterial->alphaRef to be set on CustomMaterial.
• Fixed an incorrect use of IF in the compile.bat files
• Added game/shaders to include path for relative imports
• Clean up InteriorSimpleMesh's on Interior deletion
• Fix the incorrect network packing of mConeOutsideVolume
• Added a fix for getting the client side SFXDescription
• The Weapon Picker in T3D is now functional
• Fixed the mounting code in GuiObjectView
• Fixed off center text in the loading bar
• Majorly sped up mission loading for singleplayer and hosting servers
• Datablocks were not being sorted correctly before transmission
• Debris was not rendering correctly
• Fixed dynamic lighting attenuation for non-normal mapped materials
• Added better Inspector fields validation
• Fixed some uninitialized data on the TerrainBlock that could cause a crash on in the WheeledVehicle
• Added the buggy data and scripts to T3D (have to add it in the Mission Editor or spawn as it)
• Improved the Terrain Painter functionality: left-click to select active block for painting. This avoids the Terrain Painter from going crazy as you mouse over terrain.
• Fixed dynamic lights bug with CustomMaterials
• Beefed up the GFX device creation code to handle falling back from incompatible settings and attempt to find something that works
• Added toggle to allow you to enable DRL as long as FSAA isn't turned on
• Cleaned up the version numbers and versioning scheme in the engine and application
• Fixed stack overflow in Mission Editor selection (deselection via script was disabled)
• Container::castRay() was not properly filling in the distance parameter
• Did a nice polish pass on the Documentation
• The TerrainBlock's will now send position changes across the network (like when applied in the Inspector)
• The Inspector datablock fields should properly filter according to datablock type
• Applying a new datablock in the Inspector now works properly

A little goodie for you!

One of the most exciting things that this release brings, is a solid version of the Forge Demo that we are happy to be able to share with all of the people who have yet to purchase the TGEA SDK (shame on you ;).


Click here to download the Forge Demo

What's next?

One of the coolest things that Brett hit on in his recent blog about the whole IAC deal is that we finally have the resources to properly follow through on our releases and to continue development. We no longer have to immediately move on to something totally unrelated in order to keep the company afloat. This means that you are going to be seeing a lot more frequent updates to our products (measured in weeks and months rather than in years).

Our bug list for the TGEA 1.7 Release is getting pretty short and Beta 2 is very nearly a release candidate. Assuming no show stopping bugs pop up (*knocks on wood*) we will be launching TGEA 1.7.0 really soon! But don't worry if your particular issue hasn't been fully addressed. We are going to continue active development on TGEA and you will be seeing the fruits of that labor much sooner rather than later.

Final Stretch

With all of that in mind, I want to further encourage people to help us find bugs and to continue to offer feedback. You have our ear and our attention...now it is up to you to put it good use!