TSE quesion (preferably answered by employee)

#1 Of course MSVS is not required to compile.
It's C++ code (C+, C - whatever) and it can be read by many compilers and linkers.

GG is aiming in the cross-platform direction which also pretty much would make such a thing impossible.

MinGW should work.

#2 Yeah... I thought so... someone in the TSE dev screenshot discussion said VC was required -_-

#3 We're using VC 6.0 and 7.1 for day to day dev work, but it should compile on any modern C++ compiler.

#4 Ok, sorry to hi-jack!
But when would TSE be getting released? we're jumping up and down for it here (im the coder and the artist is the one drinking too much coffee in anticipation).

#5 Soon.

#6 LOL, of course. I knew that would be the answer, still brings a smile to me dial though.

Still cant express my thanks for making both TGE and TSE @ such a great price.
Just hope you guys realease the 'early adopters' version before August, thats what I conned my parents into getting me for my 21st b/d, should seen the look on thier face when I asked for books and the TSE.
"So, big party and lots of alcohol for your 21st aye?"
"Na, heres a list of books I need, oh and I need this too (TSE)"

#7 Heheheh.

I think we're into "weeks" soon, not "months" soon, but I shan't say specifics.

#8 On the subject of TSE. I havea few questions

1. How would I go about creating a level for a game created with TSE (i.e. what package would I use)?

2. How would I then add shaders to the level so that the walls are bump mapped or whatever shader I want applied to them?

3. Can I use existing scripted games?

Thanks

#9 Peter, my guesses, which are from what I've heard and read about so far...

1. It will be very much the same as before, using the mission editor (and gui ed) plus a level ed like Quark or Hammer.

2. Im guessing shaders will be like material mapping in a way.
Material "texture" "shader + params"

3. More than likely, since I dont think (guess) the scripting lang has changed *at all*, may be stuff added though. And probably, might need a little, if at all work done to get it running in TSE.

Like I say, just gusses from what I've read.
Ben will correct me if I need to be. ;P

Weeks seems to be less than a month, it'd be best to allow for an extra week or 2, possibly.

#10 1. Quark is still the recommended solution.

2. You can define material properties in a little script file or refer to your own custom shaders.

3. Most of the changes are to the rendering layer, you should be able to bring in your existing game fairly easily. Mostly you'll be doing texture upgrades.

#11 Porting is designed to be very easy with TSE. We were able to port the standard Torque demo app to it in a few days.

#12 Thanks Alex, Ben

I've had torque since day one :o) so will be getting TSE but, wanted to know if I was onto a whole new learning curve.

#13 Is TSE planning on being a complete replacement for TGE? An add-on SDK? In other words, are new license purchasers looking at having to buy both TGE and TSE for full "torque" functionality?

#14 I'm sure that Ben and Alex will correct me if I'm wrong but, as far as I understood it TSE was effectively TGE 2.0

I think the name is really to differentiate it from Torque 1.x

I think GG may introduce an upgrade price for existing users when the early adopter program runs out after all that would be the sensible thing to do given the loyal TGE users out there :oD

#15 TSE is not TGE 2.0.

If there were a TGE 2.0, it would be much more significantly rewritten than TSE is.

TSE can never be a full replacement for TGE. It's just a rendering API and support libraries.

#16 Oh! does that mean the I need to have both TGE and TSE or does TSE replace TGE?

I'm kind of confused now :oP

#17 No, just that TSE includes Torque, under its own license : ie if you already have TGE, you'll have both a TGE license and a TSE license.
Is that more clear ? :)

#18 No, it's not, hehe. If you are just now planning on purchasing the torque "suite", will you need to buy licenses for both current releases of TGE, and TSE? I am guessing GG marketing is trying to figure out how they want to do it themselves, so I'm not asking for a solid answer, just a "we think that you'll need to buy both", or, "you just need to buy TSE, we are packaging the rest of the (unmodified) TGE stuff with it", or something similar would be great.

#19 The new code for TSE is simply for rendering, so if you do not own TGE and wish to purchse TSE you will simply be purchasing both. If you do own TGE, you can just buy the replacement code (although it is a little more complicated then simply replacing code and I gather it would require a seperate check out of TGE, with the new TSE code, from the CVS repository).

The benefit of buying TGE now and not waiting for TSE is that GG will be offering a discount to current TGE owners when they first release TSE. I don't know the details of the discount but I would think the discount would only be offered to people who had purchased TGE before TSE was released but I could be wrong on that. :)

Think of TSE as a replacement for a part of TGE. To use an analogy, you have a reliable car that works great but is starting to look a little older (TGE) so you give it a paint job, some new rims, a good washing, etc. to make it look great (TSE).

#20 "You just need to buy TSE, we are packaging the rest of the (unmodified) TGE stuff with it"

This is correct.

In addition, if you already own the TGE, you can get an early version of TSE at a discounted price for a while after the TSE Early Adopter program rolls out.