Lighting Pack version 1.3.5 Release Notes
by John Kabus (BobTheCBuilder) · in Torque Game Engine · 04/27/2005 (6:37 pm) · 34 replies
Hello Lighting Pack community,
Welcome to the new Lighting Pack private forums!
Lighting Pack for TGE 1.3.5 - Release Notes
Introduction
We're going to try something a little different for this release: we're rolling out an early release to the Lighting Pack community while the finishing touches are added to the demo, documentation, and the press releases. The Lighting Pack download page (available in the 'Downloadable Products You Own' section of the 'My Garage' page on the GarageGames site) now has links to both versions 1.3 and 1.3.5 (the latest version) of the Lighting Pack, allowing you to choose the release that's right for you.
This Lighting Pack release is absolutely packed full of new features, tweaks and optimizations. In fact this release nearly doubles the number of features in the Lighting Pack. Most of the core Lighting Pack features were updated (all are still 100% backwards compatible) and extended to support the new features. All of the features, new and old, were heavily tested to verify that they're functionally sound and backward compatible, but with the number of updates added to the Lighting Pack something may have been missed. If you find anything odd or have any questions, please post them in the Lighting Pack forum.
Here are a few questions you may have about this release (based on questions I've received lately):
"Should I upgrade?"
Absolutely. If you see features that your game or project needs, then definitely upgrade to the latest version.
"I'm releasing a demo within a few weeks, should I upgrade?"
I would advise against it. Introducing new code (even your own) into a demo right before the release is always a risky move. Instead consider merging the Lighting Pack into a separate branch of your code for internal and/or demonstration purposes.
"It looks like the Modeler's Guide hasn't been updated."
That's correct, this is an early release and we're still working on the documentation, however the Migration Guide was updated to help with upgrades (don't use the online Migration Guide, use the new guide that ships with the Lighting Pack). This document (the Release Notes) covers a lot of the new Lighting Pack features and how to use them.
"Why is the Lighting Pack version only 1.3.5 when so many things were added after 1.3?"
The new Lighting Pack version number scheme is based on the TGE version number and the Lighting Pack Core Library version number. Using the TGE version avoids confusion for new and potential licensees (the Lighting Pack for TGE 1.3 is based on TGE 1.3).
"Why is the Lighting Pack based on TGE 1.3, I thought TGE 1.4 was out?"
TGE 1.4 is available, but it still contains many bugs. To ensure that teams could immediately begin to work with this release of the Lighting Pack, we decided to use the more stable TGE 1.3 as the base. The Lighting Pack has been tested on TGE 1.4, and apart from the renaming of the method 'getServerConnection' in 1.4, it works great. Once TGE 1.4 is completely ready the Lighting Pack can easily plug right in.
Latest Features
In this document we're going cover the latest major features and how they work. There are a ton of new features, so I've broken them into the following categories:
1. New Lighting Pack Editor
2. Lighting and Cinematic Filters
3. New and Custom Lighting Models
4. New Lighting Object Tools
5. Zone Based Lighting
6. Cool Misc Features
...
For more info check out the full Lighting Pack 1.3.5 Release Notes.
-John Kabus
Synapse Gaming
Welcome to the new Lighting Pack private forums!
Lighting Pack for TGE 1.3.5 - Release Notes
Introduction
We're going to try something a little different for this release: we're rolling out an early release to the Lighting Pack community while the finishing touches are added to the demo, documentation, and the press releases. The Lighting Pack download page (available in the 'Downloadable Products You Own' section of the 'My Garage' page on the GarageGames site) now has links to both versions 1.3 and 1.3.5 (the latest version) of the Lighting Pack, allowing you to choose the release that's right for you.
This Lighting Pack release is absolutely packed full of new features, tweaks and optimizations. In fact this release nearly doubles the number of features in the Lighting Pack. Most of the core Lighting Pack features were updated (all are still 100% backwards compatible) and extended to support the new features. All of the features, new and old, were heavily tested to verify that they're functionally sound and backward compatible, but with the number of updates added to the Lighting Pack something may have been missed. If you find anything odd or have any questions, please post them in the Lighting Pack forum.
Here are a few questions you may have about this release (based on questions I've received lately):
"Should I upgrade?"
Absolutely. If you see features that your game or project needs, then definitely upgrade to the latest version.
"I'm releasing a demo within a few weeks, should I upgrade?"
I would advise against it. Introducing new code (even your own) into a demo right before the release is always a risky move. Instead consider merging the Lighting Pack into a separate branch of your code for internal and/or demonstration purposes.
"It looks like the Modeler's Guide hasn't been updated."
That's correct, this is an early release and we're still working on the documentation, however the Migration Guide was updated to help with upgrades (don't use the online Migration Guide, use the new guide that ships with the Lighting Pack). This document (the Release Notes) covers a lot of the new Lighting Pack features and how to use them.
"Why is the Lighting Pack version only 1.3.5 when so many things were added after 1.3?"
The new Lighting Pack version number scheme is based on the TGE version number and the Lighting Pack Core Library version number. Using the TGE version avoids confusion for new and potential licensees (the Lighting Pack for TGE 1.3 is based on TGE 1.3).
"Why is the Lighting Pack based on TGE 1.3, I thought TGE 1.4 was out?"
TGE 1.4 is available, but it still contains many bugs. To ensure that teams could immediately begin to work with this release of the Lighting Pack, we decided to use the more stable TGE 1.3 as the base. The Lighting Pack has been tested on TGE 1.4, and apart from the renaming of the method 'getServerConnection' in 1.4, it works great. Once TGE 1.4 is completely ready the Lighting Pack can easily plug right in.
Latest Features
In this document we're going cover the latest major features and how they work. There are a ton of new features, so I've broken them into the following categories:
1. New Lighting Pack Editor
2. Lighting and Cinematic Filters
3. New and Custom Lighting Models
4. New Lighting Object Tools
5. Zone Based Lighting
6. Cool Misc Features
...
For more info check out the full Lighting Pack 1.3.5 Release Notes.
-John Kabus
Synapse Gaming
#22
04/29/2005 (1:21 pm)
Thanks John...did you update the gui files to look for the profile bitmaps based on the variable you created? I replaced the old GUIs with the files from the update and it's still looking for common/ui.
#23
I updated the zip file, and it's ready for a second try.
04/29/2005 (2:05 pm)
Sorry, I changed the scripts in my dev tree then zipped up the release tree (whoops). :)I updated the zip file, and it's ready for a second try.
#25
05/02/2005 (7:36 am)
You have outdone yourself again: this upgrade is simply incredible! Well done, and thank you very much for supporting this pack so heavily.
#26
Cant wait to get them into our game. I plan on using every single one of em :)
05/04/2005 (7:43 pm)
The new features look amazing.Cant wait to get them into our game. I plan on using every single one of em :)
#27
Ok ok, it's all gonna be kickass. Thanks, John.
05/05/2005 (10:25 am)
I'm waiting for the 'final' packaged release before I merge into my codebase (oh what fun that will be) but I'm very excited about the DTS shadows. That, and pluggable lighting models. Well, then there's the... Ok ok, it's all gonna be kickass. Thanks, John.
#28
gui\bigendian\sglighteditor.gui.sgo
gui\littleendian\sglighteditor.gui.sgo
both the files refer to starter.fps, but my mod is called "race". I don't see any problems when I run the game, but still, should this be a concern to us?
05/18/2005 (9:51 pm)
Ok i got the beta working, however I"m just concerned about the files:gui\bigendian\sglighteditor.gui.sgo
gui\littleendian\sglighteditor.gui.sgo
both the files refer to starter.fps, but my mod is called "race". I don't see any problems when I run the game, but still, should this be a concern to us?
#29
nevermind, see:
http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=30260
05/18/2005 (11:38 pm)
Good catch Kuni...can we simply modify the sgo file with a text editor?nevermind, see:
http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=30260
#30
That's just dirty temp data that gets re-initialized when the gui components are created that's the value it was set to when the sgo library file was generated.
-John
05/19/2005 (8:41 am)
Hey guys,That's just dirty temp data that gets re-initialized when the gui components are created that's the value it was set to when the sgo library file was generated.
-John
#31
05/19/2005 (10:11 am)
I looked at the above linke and kind of understood it. So basically I shouldn't worry about it right?
#32
05/19/2005 (2:13 pm)
Right, nothing to worry about. :)
#33
05/23/2005 (8:33 pm)
John, I saw this in lightmanager.cc and thought it was strange. Is this code that was used in previous lightpack versions and then got depricated?//-----------------------------------------------
// Lighting Pack code block
//-----------------------------------------------
/*
void LightManager::scoreLight(LightInfo * lightInfo, const SphereF & sphere) const
{
switch(lightInfo->mType)
{
case LightInfo::Ambient:
case LightInfo::Vector:
{
// 100 + (color_intensity * 100)
float intensity = (lightInfo->mColor.red + lightInfo->mAmbient.red) * 0.346f +
(lightInfo->mColor.green + lightInfo->mAmbient.green) * 0.588f +
(lightInfo->mColor.blue + lightInfo->mAmbient.blue) * 0.070f;
lightInfo->mScore = 100 + S32(100.f * mClampF(intensity, 0.f, 1.f));
break;
}
case LightInfo::Point:
//-----------------------------------------------
// Lighting Pack code block
//-----------------------------------------------
SG_LIGHTMANAGER_SGSTATICPOINT
SG_LIGHTMANAGER_SGSTATICSPOT
//-----------------------------------------------
// Lighting Pack code block
//-----------------------------------------------
{
Point3F diff = lightInfo->mPos - sphere.center;
F32 lenSq = diff.lenSquared();
F32 sumRadiusSq = (sphere.radius + lightInfo->mRadius) * (sphere.radius + lightInfo->mRadius);
if(lenSq > sumRadiusSq)
{
lightInfo->mScore = 0;
break;
}
F32 radSq = sphere.radius * sphere.radius;
lightInfo->mScore = 1 + S32(99.f * (getMin((sumRadiusSq - lenSq), radSq) / radSq));
break;
}
default:
lightInfo->mScore = 1;
break;
}
}
*/
//-----------------------------------------------
// Lighting Pack code block
//-----------------------------------------------
#34
You got it - that was the previous version's scoreLight and instead of hacking the code apart in the TGE source I moved scoreLight into the Lighting Pack source files (similar to methods from sceneLighting).
-John
05/23/2005 (11:55 pm)
Hi Todd,You got it - that was the previous version's scoreLight and instead of hacking the code apart in the TGE source I moved scoreLight into the Lighting Pack source files (similar to methods from sceneLighting).
-John
Torque Owner John Kabus (BobTheCBuilder)
Here's the update, let me know if it works for you, so I can post it were people can find it.
All of the editable globals moved to 'synapseGaming/contentPacks/lightingPack/sgDeployConfig.cs'. You can unzip this right into your root module folder ('common', 'starter.fps', ...). Make sure to update your 'client/init.cs' and 'server/game.cs' files to point to the new library location.
Lighting Pack Script Library Update
-John