Any chance we can get a piece of the documentation made public?

#1 I agree. A large delay was added to my decision to purchase Torque because I didn't feel I understood how the engine worked well enough. I didn't want to shell out the money (although I can't argue with the price!) and get stuck with an architecture that I was uncomfortable with.

#2 There are plenty of resources listed on the Torque SDK home page (such as the Essential Guide to Torque) that are available to those without a license.

#3 I know there's a lot of resources there, but I just found those first 2 chapters particularly quick and easy to understand and would make a perfect primer of what TGE is and what you can do with it for someone that doesn't know anything about TGE.

#4 Have you tried logging out and taking a look at the preview version of the TGE general docs?

I just did and found that chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 are available. It is only chapters 1 and 6, plus the appendices that are not.

Coupled with the other resources I mentioned and the ability to ask questions in the public forums, that should be more than enough info for someone to decide whether TGE is likely to fit their needs.

#5 Hmm, I did not try that, though truthfully I thought 1 was the best for someone to read.

I'm also wondering if that's a mistake. I gotta assume GG meant for the whole package to be public or subscriber only...

edit: Added last line.

#6 Going on to this, there should be a downloadable version for the lisencees (like in PDF) so i can print it, and read it everywhere. (dont have internet on my laptop)

#7 I too do most of my development work on a computer that has no 'net connection, but I understand that making the documentation easier to download would encourage piracy (those who currently illegally distribute the source would do the same with the docs).

#8 @Robin: I thought to exact same thing when I first got TGE. I also work 'offline' on a laptop sometimes, and having a searchable 'offline' reference is handy. Even a new developer should have no problem creating these docs. It took me less than 30 minutes to make a searchable 'offline' .chm manual from the website. They make it quite easy considering the '< prev' and 'next >' navigation at the top and bottom of each page. After you save each page as HTML just compile into your favorite format.

Although this method it is not as easy as a one click download, I agree with GG not providing the one click download solution. It seems to me the those developers who have bought the engine have little problem creating offline docs; also I think once you have spent even 30 minutes creating your own documentation you are less likely to 'give it away' which helps minimize piracy and further support a great company that delivers a top notch engine at a fraction of the cost of its closest competitor.


B--

#9 I cant download it offline because i have to be logged in (cookie thing). I keep getting the preview documentation when i download.

true about the piracy thing. But it's to late for that, both torque and the shader engine are really easy to get... (i'm not saying it's a good thing)

#10 I'm sure the software is out there, but I was talking about the spread (piracy) of 'offline' documentation.

B--

#11 The amount of documentation available would produce a very large pile of paper if you printed it. Last time I checked there were well over 5000+ pages of documentation available from GG's, this doesn't include the 3DGPAI1 or tutorials provided by GG's members on their own sites.. And pretty much all of that is unique documentation... sure there is some overlap.. but not enough to really matter.

NOTE: The last time I checked was about 1.5 -> 2 years ago

#12 Well i dont need to print all the source documentation (like what headers are used etc... i could look that up myself), i could use the scripting docs mainly.

plus, pdf will do :)

#13 It sounds like you're trying to view the online version instead of the offline one.

To view an "offline" version of the documentation, you first have to log in and save it all to your hard drive. You can then view the local files and/or copy them to a machine without an Internet connection.

The exact details of how you go about saving HTML documents depends on which browser you are using. Just make sure that you save the *.php version of the pages, not the *.html ones.

#14 @Wysardry

I am a sdk owner so i can view everything allways. PDF is the acrobat reader format. It's Offline... (stored as 1 file on your harddrive). HTML/PHP files work to, but i'd rather have 1 pdf file then like 2000 html files.

#15 Yes, I know you're an SDK owner as this forum has restricted access, and what the Portable Document Format is. I was replying to the post where you wrote "I cant download it offline because i have to be logged in (cookie thing). I keep getting the preview documentation when i download."

It has already been explained why GG don't want to provide a single downloadable file (in any format). We are now trying to provide you with an alternative way of viewing the docs offline as it seems as if you have had problems doing so.

#16 Oh that's what you mean. Sorry. Yea. I've tried various site downloaders (even one that claimed to auto fill login forms and use cookies), and i end up with the public docs, and then a lot of pages that say "you need the torque engine sdk".

And i dont want to use the offline view function of internet explorer or firefox because that wont help me on my laptop. Oh well, i might just ctrl C what i think i'll need.

#17 We typically discourage people from downloading the docs off our site.

We are fully aware of how to deliver our docs for offline viewing. We choose not to because it discourages piracy and promotes out of date documentation. With TDN the docs might be updated multiple times a day - we want to encourage people to go to the source, not rely on old copies.

For people who work off the net (for instance, because of a secure network), we're exploring some options, but they're probably going to be restricted to people who are willing to pay extra for them, since they'd be the exact worst thing for pirates to get ahold of. :)