TSE & Backwards Compatability

#1 It will eventually but not yet.

#2 Heh - I expect there's a lot of things that are "not yet" in the EA version. No problem there.

Is that planned as a capability in the 1.0 release?

#3 We may actually not support the full fixed function fallback for the TSE. The TGE already supports these cards quite well.

The first shader driven cards are already around 3 years old now and not getting any younger. We'd rather spend time developing technology for newer hardware rather than hardware that is just about obsolete. In addition, making a shader-only engine is much cleaner than one that has to fall back to fixed function in every renderer.

Some games like Splinter Cell already require shader support to play them. Companies like Epic are setting the bar at a minumum pixel shader 2.0 support for their future tech, so we aren't completely out of line in dropping the fixed function pipeline.

Having said that, it wouldn't be super difficult to put that support in yourself if you absolutely have to. The interiors are already falling back fine, but the ts shapes and terrain would need some work.

#4 Thanks for the heads-up, Brian. I can understand that decision, and I even agree with it - it's the right way to go in the long term. Though it does force some harder choices in the short-term.

#5 If TGE / TSE remain network compatible that would be fantastic, since you could release two versions of a given program to cover both low and high end hardware.

#6 I don't think that will work Gareth. Many scripts will be modified and materials will be applied, and thus the "checking" will fail on machines running anything other than the server.

That's only a presumption from my side though ;)

#7 You could re-write the CRC checking functions to pick a different "base directory" for verifying files based on the client that connected.

#8 I don't have multiplayer planned for what I have in mind, so that wouldn't be much of an issue. Maintaining 2 executables might still be too much of a pain, though.

#9 My strongest reason for staying with TGE would be the Mac support, if you can keep as much as you can in the script then the 'dual' executables should be very similar.

As Labbie said, modifiying the CRC check would probably be easier than building a legacy rendering solution ;)

#10

Quote:
My strongest reason for staying with TGE would be the Mac support

TSE will be crossplatform when it is completed. Windows, Linux and Mac

#11 I would recommend developing your game on TGE for now, if you are serious about publication and support for older cards and other platforms, start developing with TGE now - then once it is done and published, port the graphics up to TSE and release a "Gold" version with shader support, etc.

The Early Adopters release is really not yet intended for commercial publication - just as a way for developers to start getting used to the technology and help us beta test it at the same time.

#12 So Alex, would you say it will not be a big task to port a TGE game to TSE? When you say that you can port the graphics over to TSE does that mean that all of the other functionality of the game like inventory, conversation editor, AI, etc. can remain intact?

Thanks,
Nick

#13 Everything will change over smoothly. The only stuff that will be a problem is if you have custom rendering code - that you will have to rewrite.

#14 For the most part, yes. Torque script will not be changed aside from the additions for shader definitions - so the task of upgrading to TSE is mostly on the art side. New textures with normal maps and alpha channels for handy effects will be needed, as will some changes to interiors (mostly to lighting).