Sahara for Torque 3D on sale
by Konrad Kiss · 10/05/2010 (3:44 pm) · 49 comments
Sahara is a tech extension for Torque 3D Pro (source required). It lets you create more realistic game environments by generating naturally accumulated dirt, snow, dust or any other material over your in-game shapes. It is a successor to Bitgap Games' Cliff Construction Kit and is currently available in our store for $59.95 (indie license).
Sahara is special, because it lets you use your existing shapes in environments where they would not normally fit in - without having to modify, re-texture and re-export them. This is something similar to what Crytek did in Crysis for their frozen over levels.
I've been delaying the public announcement for a while until I had the manual and the tutorial video done. Finally, they are ready, and I'm very happy to show it all off.
I owe thanks to many people who made this possible, most of all Tom Spilman (Sickhead), Sven Bergström (Luma) and Pat Wilson (Gameclay). To value our existing customers, Sahara was a free upgrade from the Cliff Construction Kit. It is available for the latest Beta 2 and Beta 3 versions of Torque 3D.
Purchasing Sahara is simple. Register on Bitgap.Com, buy via PayPal and see the product instantly appear under your account's list of products - very much like what you're used to here, on TorquePowered.Com. Sahara also gets the bonus cliff models from the Cliff Construction Kit.
The following is a short tutorial / quick start guide video for Sahara.
Excuse my accent, I'm not a native English speaker. :)
View on YouTube
And another video that shows off some of what really is possible with Torque 3D and Sahara:
View in HD on YouTube
Thank you for reading through.
As always, comments are much appreciated. ;)
-- Konrad
@konradkiss
KonradKiss @ GitHub
konradkiss.com
Sahara is special, because it lets you use your existing shapes in environments where they would not normally fit in - without having to modify, re-texture and re-export them. This is something similar to what Crytek did in Crysis for their frozen over levels.
I've been delaying the public announcement for a while until I had the manual and the tutorial video done. Finally, they are ready, and I'm very happy to show it all off.
I owe thanks to many people who made this possible, most of all Tom Spilman (Sickhead), Sven Bergström (Luma) and Pat Wilson (Gameclay). To value our existing customers, Sahara was a free upgrade from the Cliff Construction Kit. It is available for the latest Beta 2 and Beta 3 versions of Torque 3D.
Purchasing Sahara is simple. Register on Bitgap.Com, buy via PayPal and see the product instantly appear under your account's list of products - very much like what you're used to here, on TorquePowered.Com. Sahara also gets the bonus cliff models from the Cliff Construction Kit.
Sahara is now available for purchase at Bitgap.Com.
The following is a short tutorial / quick start guide video for Sahara.
Excuse my accent, I'm not a native English speaker. :)
View on YouTube
And another video that shows off some of what really is possible with Torque 3D and Sahara:
View in HD on YouTube
Thank you for reading through.
As always, comments are much appreciated. ;)
-- Konrad
@konradkiss
KonradKiss @ GitHub
konradkiss.com
About the author
http://about.me/konrad.kiss
#22
I do have one question. Am I understanding correctly that the cliff constructor is included with the purchase of Sahara? Maybe I am reading wrong.
10/06/2010 (3:26 pm)
Wow! This is truly amazing work! This will surely be going on my wish list for our game.I do have one question. Am I understanding correctly that the cliff constructor is included with the purchase of Sahara? Maybe I am reading wrong.
#23
Whoever had the CCK got Sahara for free when it came out. What they have in common are the cliff models that were originally provided as a part of the CCK.
10/06/2010 (3:33 pm)
@John: Thank you! The entire Cliff Construction Kit is not a part of the Sahara package. That is still a separate product, available for TGEA 1.7.1, 1.8.1 and T3D 1.0.1. Whoever had the CCK got Sahara for free when it came out. What they have in common are the cliff models that were originally provided as a part of the CCK.
#24
And for the price, thanks very much!
I'll be looking for the add-on you mentioned.
10/06/2010 (11:20 pm)
Great work Konrad! Installs easily and works great. This adds a whole new dimension to my levels! And for the price, thanks very much!
I'll be looking for the add-on you mentioned.
#25
About the addon - I've been thinking about it, and I'll let all of our customers get an EA version, but the final one I think I'll make available as a resource instead for everyone. And perhaps more code that allows procedural generation.
Procedural generation is the king-fu of the indie! :)
10/06/2010 (11:24 pm)
Thank you, Michael.About the addon - I've been thinking about it, and I'll let all of our customers get an EA version, but the final one I think I'll make available as a resource instead for everyone. And perhaps more code that allows procedural generation.
Procedural generation is the king-fu of the indie! :)
#26
10/07/2010 (11:57 am)
This looks awesome. I like it.
#27
10/07/2010 (11:00 pm)
Can we see some HD screenshots?
#28
10/07/2010 (11:06 pm)
Sure - I'll be able to prepare them the day after tomorrow. I wonder why I didn't think of that... 
#29
02/24/2011 (4:46 pm)
I'm thinking of buy this add-on I was wondering can Sahara do this Advanced Super-Shader or do you have plans on adding parallax map?
#30
02/24/2011 (5:09 pm)
I have plans to let the user set a material instead of a cover texture, and that would also take care of the parallax feature, but I can't honestly say when that would happen or if it would happen at all. 
#31
08/06/2011 (3:52 pm)
Any chance for an update for 1.1 Final or will it work out of the box?
#32
08/06/2011 (4:00 pm)
Should arrive in about a week or so - along with two surprises! :) 
#33
Also, are there any additional changes required for T3D 1.2 or should it work as is ? Will be trying to test it later today, if time permits.
EDIT: Think I understand, appears CCK was "discontinued" ? But some of its resources added to Sahara ?? Didn't use the CCK before, so not sure what its all about anyhow.
01/08/2012 (3:36 pm)
Konrad@ I'm confused about Sahara and your "cliff kit". Are they somehow combined into (1) product now ? Got that impression from past posts and such -- but unclear how to "use the cliff stuff" as I only see directions for using Sahara.Also, are there any additional changes required for T3D 1.2 or should it work as is ? Will be trying to test it later today, if time permits.
EDIT: Think I understand, appears CCK was "discontinued" ? But some of its resources added to Sahara ?? Didn't use the CCK before, so not sure what its all about anyhow.
#34
As far as changes that are required for T3D 1.2...there are a couple but mostly just in the line positioning. For instance, the manual for installation may say "put this source code on line 151", but since the T3D updates, the line numbers are completely off, so I had to use educated guesses to where the source should go...but I got it working :)
01/20/2013 (3:21 am)
@Jeff -As far as changes that are required for T3D 1.2...there are a couple but mostly just in the line positioning. For instance, the manual for installation may say "put this source code on line 151", but since the T3D updates, the line numbers are completely off, so I had to use educated guesses to where the source should go...but I got it working :)
#35
01/20/2013 (10:25 am)
Work width t3d 1.2? 
#36
01/20/2013 (1:28 pm)
Yes, Sahara works in all versions of T3D.
#37
Yep, works with T3D 1.2 etc. Konrad is great about keeping his tools updated and he's solid as a rock when it comes to support.
Ron
01/21/2013 (9:49 am)
Settimo,Yep, works with T3D 1.2 etc. Konrad is great about keeping his tools updated and he's solid as a rock when it comes to support.
Ron
#38
@Settimo: The code itself is compatible, the only inconvenience is that the automatic installer might not work without generating a few warnings. (It should still work.) Manual installation instructions have the wrong line numbers, but most of the changes are easy to find.
Thanks again, everyone! Things have been super-busy around me, sorry for the late response.
01/21/2013 (9:55 am)
Thanks Michael and Ron for having my back! :)@Settimo: The code itself is compatible, the only inconvenience is that the automatic installer might not work without generating a few warnings. (It should still work.) Manual installation instructions have the wrong line numbers, but most of the changes are easy to find.
Thanks again, everyone! Things have been super-busy around me, sorry for the late response.
#39
01/30/2013 (9:11 am)
I have just taken the plunge in upgrading from Torque 1.2 to Torque 2.0 but when trying to run Sahara, I am getting error "Incorrect const buffer Type!" when starting a mission. Anyone got any ideas what has gone wrong here?
#40
01/30/2013 (9:18 am)
During the merge, one line in MaterialFeatureTypes.cpp was accidentally commented out. 
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@Alan: Thank you. :)
@elvince: Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the great feedback!