Torque Explorer Continued
by Lars Boldt · in Torque Game Engine · 09/11/2004 (11:51 pm) · 57 replies
Time for more updates!
Based on early beta feedback Torque Explorer just got even cooler!
Torque Explorer now supports filtering in the project files, don't care about anything but your .cs files? .cs in the filter box fixes exactly that! Also supports filtering on multiple files at the same time just by separting with a ;. Example: .cs;.gui;.mis;
Tired of going command prompt or making shortcuts for launching TGE with parameters? TE now supports parameters, simply select from a set of pre-defined parameters or type in your own then press the launch my game button. Don't get much easier than that.
GUI has gone through some minor changes to ease the workflow, now with a "quick jump" box to switch projects.
Define project! Well, you define it, your imagination is the limit really! If you want to map up your music folder to play music while working, go ahead. Media center now has a fully supported playlist with shuffle and repeat, easily create a playlist, start playing, and quick jump back to your project. No need to close any open files before switching either.
If you want to map up your graphics folder with 1000's of textures go ahead! Browse through the images and simply copy/paste files between projects using the file explorer and quick jump menu.
Over the next week or two special attention will be give the code editor to ensure it supports the standards you are used to.
I will be randomly selecting new beta testers from the last thread over the next few weeks to gradually expand the current beta team. I want to ensure I have the time to carefully read and evaluate all the feedback I get, therefore I must limit the number of testers to what I can handle. Many of the above features were suggested by beta testers, meaning your feedback DOES count, for alot!
Thanks to everyone for your support and feedback.
P.S, if you want to help write up some new newbie friendly TGE tutorials, send me an email!
Lars
Based on early beta feedback Torque Explorer just got even cooler!
Torque Explorer now supports filtering in the project files, don't care about anything but your .cs files? .cs in the filter box fixes exactly that! Also supports filtering on multiple files at the same time just by separting with a ;. Example: .cs;.gui;.mis;
Tired of going command prompt or making shortcuts for launching TGE with parameters? TE now supports parameters, simply select from a set of pre-defined parameters or type in your own then press the launch my game button. Don't get much easier than that.
GUI has gone through some minor changes to ease the workflow, now with a "quick jump" box to switch projects.
Define project! Well, you define it, your imagination is the limit really! If you want to map up your music folder to play music while working, go ahead. Media center now has a fully supported playlist with shuffle and repeat, easily create a playlist, start playing, and quick jump back to your project. No need to close any open files before switching either.
If you want to map up your graphics folder with 1000's of textures go ahead! Browse through the images and simply copy/paste files between projects using the file explorer and quick jump menu.
Over the next week or two special attention will be give the code editor to ensure it supports the standards you are used to.
I will be randomly selecting new beta testers from the last thread over the next few weeks to gradually expand the current beta team. I want to ensure I have the time to carefully read and evaluate all the feedback I get, therefore I must limit the number of testers to what I can handle. Many of the above features were suggested by beta testers, meaning your feedback DOES count, for alot!
Thanks to everyone for your support and feedback.
P.S, if you want to help write up some new newbie friendly TGE tutorials, send me an email!
Lars
About the author
#42
Upon further inspection, you are absolutely correct. Now I feel REALLY dumb :P Thanks.
@Lars,
My most humble apologies. It does actually work once you create the project. I only gave it a 5 minute glance and judged pre-maturly.
Anyway, I have to say that this IS truly awesome! I've only just started tinkering now but the editor seems good and easier to setup than the recommended TorqueScript editor (I forget what it was). Thanks heaps for your quite useful creation. I'll be sure to buy it if you create a purchasable version later, or donate if you provide such a facility, if I find it useful (which I'm sure I will).
Just a thought, will there be a Linux version?
Thanks again Lars, way to go!
11/08/2004 (12:49 am)
@PatrickUpon further inspection, you are absolutely correct. Now I feel REALLY dumb :P Thanks.
@Lars,
My most humble apologies. It does actually work once you create the project. I only gave it a 5 minute glance and judged pre-maturly.
Anyway, I have to say that this IS truly awesome! I've only just started tinkering now but the editor seems good and easier to setup than the recommended TorqueScript editor (I forget what it was). Thanks heaps for your quite useful creation. I'll be sure to buy it if you create a purchasable version later, or donate if you provide such a facility, if I find it useful (which I'm sure I will).
Just a thought, will there be a Linux version?
Thanks again Lars, way to go!
#43
Anything that I think may be wrong is modifiable.
Lars, I love you!
11/08/2004 (2:13 pm)
I haven't found any obvious bugs in it.Anything that I think may be wrong is modifiable.
Lars, I love you!
#44
George, there are a few bugs here and there.
Unfortunatly I trusted some features to work, that did before, such as the bookmark, and went open beta without properly testing this. Of course some stupid bug caused this to malfunction :)
It has been corrected and a new beta download will be avilable some time in november.
What I would ask in return for all you who have downloaded and tested it and like it, please atleast register at the forum.
The member count would give me vague idea of how big of interest a tool like this has in this community.
I hope you all understand that it takes a great deal of time to keep something like this up to date and I don't want to spend my time making something only a few use.
Lars
11/08/2004 (7:18 pm)
Todd, no sorry, no Linux nor mac version of this. The only thing useable in the current version would be the ideas of implemented features :pGeorge, there are a few bugs here and there.
Unfortunatly I trusted some features to work, that did before, such as the bookmark, and went open beta without properly testing this. Of course some stupid bug caused this to malfunction :)
It has been corrected and a new beta download will be avilable some time in november.
What I would ask in return for all you who have downloaded and tested it and like it, please atleast register at the forum.
The member count would give me vague idea of how big of interest a tool like this has in this community.
I hope you all understand that it takes a great deal of time to keep something like this up to date and I don't want to spend my time making something only a few use.
Lars
#45
This tool is great. nice job mate!
One bug i have found so far is in the project properties window the drop down gave me a index out of range error when i selected an existing project. I had ot remove the project TE then re-add it to get it to work. However, it works great now.
I have signed up on your forum. And i would hope anyone else who uses this software would too. this is a great resource.
With the game i am making, once your TE is out of beta i would love to be able to distribute it with my game as a Great Modding tool.
would this be something you would allow?
11/08/2004 (10:42 pm)
Lars,This tool is great. nice job mate!
One bug i have found so far is in the project properties window the drop down gave me a index out of range error when i selected an existing project. I had ot remove the project TE then re-add it to get it to work. However, it works great now.
I have signed up on your forum. And i would hope anyone else who uses this software would too. this is a great resource.
With the game i am making, once your TE is out of beta i would love to be able to distribute it with my game as a Great Modding tool.
would this be something you would allow?
#46
12/19/2004 (11:03 am)
How's this thing coming? Is it going to go commercial, or is it free after all?
#47
thanks for taking the time to ask question about the development of Torque Explorer.
I'm not sure to be honest. That is the best answer I can give for now.
I am currently splitting each tool into their own program, but keeping them all as one package. One of the main problems i'm facing with Torque Explorer is that it's only for Torque. If a piece of software like this is going to survive it needs alot of users, no question about it. That is why i'm looking into going after a number of different engines on the market yet keeping it configurable enough to almost feel like it was made for one engine.
Torque Explorer is a good start, but at the moment, I do not feel Torque has a large enough userbase to support such a tool alone.
Merry christmas everyone!
Lars
12/22/2004 (3:24 pm)
George,thanks for taking the time to ask question about the development of Torque Explorer.
I'm not sure to be honest. That is the best answer I can give for now.
I am currently splitting each tool into their own program, but keeping them all as one package. One of the main problems i'm facing with Torque Explorer is that it's only for Torque. If a piece of software like this is going to survive it needs alot of users, no question about it. That is why i'm looking into going after a number of different engines on the market yet keeping it configurable enough to almost feel like it was made for one engine.
Torque Explorer is a good start, but at the moment, I do not feel Torque has a large enough userbase to support such a tool alone.
Merry christmas everyone!
Lars
#48
I mean, you can make money now, and make another app for another engine (like "Unreal3 Explorer")
Did you expect this to make enough money to cancel your dayjob? Or did you just expect to make a few hundred/thousand people happy?
If it's the second one, make a little money now by publishing this product today (or soon ^^). I'm not sure I would buy it personally, but I'd have my unquestioned leader at SLO take a look at it.
12/22/2004 (7:22 pm)
That's good and all, but I'm pretty sure that you've already got garagegames' attention for publishing this thing.I mean, you can make money now, and make another app for another engine (like "Unreal3 Explorer")
Did you expect this to make enough money to cancel your dayjob? Or did you just expect to make a few hundred/thousand people happy?
If it's the second one, make a little money now by publishing this product today (or soon ^^). I'm not sure I would buy it personally, but I'd have my unquestioned leader at SLO take a look at it.
#49
12/26/2004 (7:33 pm)
This is an awsome tool. Maybe make plugins for other games as needed instead of trying to support lots at once. That way Torque Scripters can use the full product, when the bugs get worked out, and the rest of the world can wait. I can see this being a premium tool comparable to Ultraedit, my favorite. My 3 cents due to inflation. 
#50
I agree with the others. The Torque Show Tool just came out and I pounced on it. If you were to polish this up I'd do the same. You can bog yourself down in the larger effort but you might get nothing from it in the long run. If you do a Torque only module you might get some income from it and real experience from what users like or don't like for future platform versions.
12/28/2004 (8:27 am)
@LarsI agree with the others. The Torque Show Tool just came out and I pounced on it. If you were to polish this up I'd do the same. You can bog yourself down in the larger effort but you might get nothing from it in the long run. If you do a Torque only module you might get some income from it and real experience from what users like or don't like for future platform versions.
#51
So will I update this tool or not?
No. However, like I said above, I am splitting each tool into it's own program, which isn't much work, since I already have written most of the code. The reason I am doing this is because it's getting hard to navigate in this code bloat, cough, and separate programs are just easier to update.
I've already built a language engine which i've successfully installed into the new programs. So future releases will allow you to use any language you want, assuming it's been translated to whatever you want, if it isn't, you can do it yourself in a few minutes.
mPack, which is the name of the new set of tools that will be available in January 2005 (atleast some of the tools), will be somewhat free of charge. I want to take an approach where I can take advantage of powerful sound libraries like fmod. To be able to use fmod without paying, the software has to be free. So what I need to do is make the sound part of the program free of charge, letting it be able to operate stand alone, while still taking advantage of being part of mPack.
That way, I can charge for something, not sure what yet, to keep developing the tools, and still take advantage of powerful libraries already written. Obviously my intent is not to make money on other people's work, but to provide the gaming community with powerful tools at low or non cost and without cryptic licenses that prevent the mass usage of great software.
I don't have all the answers before I start writing applications, and obviously I learn too while I write them. Torque Explorer was a good start, but unfortunatly it doesn't work well in the long run. This isn't all about how it was written, but it also has alot to do with how Borlands C++ Builder compiler works, and in some cases, it just doesn't. Torque Explorer is dependant on IRC libraries, sound libraries, image libraries and code editor libraries...unfortunatly Borland C++ Builder doesn't allow me to separate the different sections well enough and it causes long compile times aswell as unefficient programming techniques.
However I've learned from my mistakes and I believe this new approach will enable me to make even more powerful tools in the future.
mPack will also have some sort of "Explorer" but it won't have all the programs built into it.
Please do not be afraid to air your thoughts even though you disagree with where I am going with this.
Until next time!
12/30/2004 (5:33 am)
I appreciate the nice comments from everyone. Glad to hear many of you like it.So will I update this tool or not?
No. However, like I said above, I am splitting each tool into it's own program, which isn't much work, since I already have written most of the code. The reason I am doing this is because it's getting hard to navigate in this code bloat, cough, and separate programs are just easier to update.
I've already built a language engine which i've successfully installed into the new programs. So future releases will allow you to use any language you want, assuming it's been translated to whatever you want, if it isn't, you can do it yourself in a few minutes.
mPack, which is the name of the new set of tools that will be available in January 2005 (atleast some of the tools), will be somewhat free of charge. I want to take an approach where I can take advantage of powerful sound libraries like fmod. To be able to use fmod without paying, the software has to be free. So what I need to do is make the sound part of the program free of charge, letting it be able to operate stand alone, while still taking advantage of being part of mPack.
That way, I can charge for something, not sure what yet, to keep developing the tools, and still take advantage of powerful libraries already written. Obviously my intent is not to make money on other people's work, but to provide the gaming community with powerful tools at low or non cost and without cryptic licenses that prevent the mass usage of great software.
I don't have all the answers before I start writing applications, and obviously I learn too while I write them. Torque Explorer was a good start, but unfortunatly it doesn't work well in the long run. This isn't all about how it was written, but it also has alot to do with how Borlands C++ Builder compiler works, and in some cases, it just doesn't. Torque Explorer is dependant on IRC libraries, sound libraries, image libraries and code editor libraries...unfortunatly Borland C++ Builder doesn't allow me to separate the different sections well enough and it causes long compile times aswell as unefficient programming techniques.
However I've learned from my mistakes and I believe this new approach will enable me to make even more powerful tools in the future.
mPack will also have some sort of "Explorer" but it won't have all the programs built into it.
Please do not be afraid to air your thoughts even though you disagree with where I am going with this.
Until next time!
#52
12/30/2004 (9:52 am)
Well then... Is it ok if I download the beta to help me with my game?
#53
The new set of tools i'm working on will be very similar to Torque Explorer, and I'm hoping to be able to put out the first versions around 20-25th of january.
Stay tuned!
01/03/2005 (4:59 pm)
Sure George. The new set of tools i'm working on will be very similar to Torque Explorer, and I'm hoping to be able to put out the first versions around 20-25th of january.
Stay tuned!
#55
01/19/2005 (9:28 am)
There is a link a little way up in this thread. I have used it and it seems pretty descent
#56
01/19/2005 (10:00 am)
In my development world Alpha comes before beta!
#57
Lars has expanded his project and now calls it mCode (you can find it on the forums).
It's alittle broader than this was, but this should have more than enough functionality to streamline your workflow. =)
01/19/2005 (10:06 am)
That version is all you're going to get.Lars has expanded his project and now calls it mCode (you can find it on the forums).
It's alittle broader than this was, but this should have more than enough functionality to streamline your workflow. =)
Torque Owner Patrick Larum
I have a similar configuration to yours and seemed to have the same issue... the Torque files on my E: drive did not appear in the directory listing initially. However, once I created a new project under using the 'myGames' panel, the Torque files of my project directory now appear as intended in the file explorer. You may have to reselect your project name in in the 'open project' dialog box for the files to show up in the file explorer. At least this is what worked for me...
Thank you Lars for all the work on this excellent resource!
Patrick