Whidbey (VS 2005) compiles Torque
by Danner Jones · in Torque Game Engine · 05/19/2004 (1:10 am) · 5 replies
For those that use Visual Studio, I've successfully compiled the Torque demo in Whidbey - Microsoft's next version of Visual Studio (due out in 2005).
After converting the solution to the new version, I only had to make one code change: dStrstr required a cast to "char*" on the call to strstr, which was returning "const char*".
I've only compiled in Debug mode which is notoriously slow - so I haven't had a chance to see if MS has made an performance tweaks in the new Visual Studio compiler (better or worse).
Since this is only a Technical Release anyhoo, I wouldn't count on the performance being the same in the end.
But, it IS good news to know that the new Visual Studio, at least for now, will be an easy transition for Torque developers. As usual, the project and solution files are in a different format. That means either three sets of files in the CVS archive or support for converting the solution/project to one version or another.
-Nerseus
After converting the solution to the new version, I only had to make one code change: dStrstr required a cast to "char*" on the call to strstr, which was returning "const char*".
I've only compiled in Debug mode which is notoriously slow - so I haven't had a chance to see if MS has made an performance tweaks in the new Visual Studio compiler (better or worse).
Since this is only a Technical Release anyhoo, I wouldn't count on the performance being the same in the end.
But, it IS good news to know that the new Visual Studio, at least for now, will be an easy transition for Torque developers. As usual, the project and solution files are in a different format. That means either three sets of files in the CVS archive or support for converting the solution/project to one version or another.
-Nerseus
#2
If you get a chance to compile a release version, a note regarding any performance at runtime may be of interest to others. I'm personally not as worried about compile time performance, unless it's inordinately longer.
I imagine however if it's too early a development snapshot, we may not get any real inkling of the code the final version may produce. Does this version produce 64 bit code? I've been dying to build a PC to run longhorn 64 bit, but haven't found the time or extra money to do so yet ;).
Obviously, MS isn't removing support for all native code anytime soon then (trying to push us all into .NET managed C++ only) :).
05/19/2004 (5:40 am)
Yes, if you are an MSDN subscriber, you can do this legally ;).If you get a chance to compile a release version, a note regarding any performance at runtime may be of interest to others. I'm personally not as worried about compile time performance, unless it's inordinately longer.
I imagine however if it's too early a development snapshot, we may not get any real inkling of the code the final version may produce. Does this version produce 64 bit code? I've been dying to build a PC to run longhorn 64 bit, but haven't found the time or extra money to do so yet ;).
Obviously, MS isn't removing support for all native code anytime soon then (trying to push us all into .NET managed C++ only) :).
#3
I personally can't wait for Whidbey to come out but it is unfortunate that the project files have to be converted over to the 'new' format.
05/19/2004 (8:32 am)
I believe Whidbey supports 64bit code. I personally can't wait for Whidbey to come out but it is unfortunate that the project files have to be converted over to the 'new' format.
#4
05/19/2004 (8:37 am)
I wouldn't expect noticable speedups of generated code when going to Whidbey. I'm also an MSDN Subscriber and have the preview and I've compiled a few of my other projects with it (haven't tried Torque). The performance seems just about the same. And from everything I've read, Microsoft's #1 goals with Whidbey are increasing the C++ standards compliance and making the Managed C++ interface cleaner, not upping the performance (which is already pretty damn good in vc7.1).
#5
As George says, I don't think MS would be changing much in their compiler in terms of performance unless they found a glaring or easy bug fix.
The Release version of Torque, btw, "seems" to run at the same speed as VS1.1 compiled Torque. I haven't taken any hard numbers, but the framerate seems the same (very good for me).
Don't get me started on the new (and VERY nice) features of Whidbey... it's very, very nice.
-ner
05/19/2004 (1:27 pm)
@Reobert and Pat - Whidbey does not currently support 64-bit, or that's what the readme says. I didn't try to change anything. This is a technical preview, not even worthy of a "Beta" title, so I wouldn't worry too much. Last I heard, MS will definitely have 64 bit support in Whidbey (by its RC day).As George says, I don't think MS would be changing much in their compiler in terms of performance unless they found a glaring or easy bug fix.
The Release version of Torque, btw, "seems" to run at the same speed as VS1.1 compiled Torque. I haven't taken any hard numbers, but the framerate seems the same (very good for me).
Don't get me started on the new (and VERY nice) features of Whidbey... it's very, very nice.
-ner
Torque Owner Stefan Lundmark