Tse?

#1 TSE is a stand alone game engine (TGE with shaders and lots of other cool stuff)

afaik You need a graphics card that supports shaders to run TSE. (I think it just means it will work on lower end shader enabled cards)

#2 Okay thank you :-)
But just out of curiousity, why do you need to have TGE license before buying a TSE license? Thats what really concerns me.
"afaik"?

#3 Because TSE is still in EA (Early Adopter) you need TGE to be able to buy it.

AFAIK = As Far As I Know

#4 Afaik = as far as i know

and once TSE gets out of its "early adoption phase" you should be able to buy it as a stand alone product...thats what ive heard...im not sure if its true.

#5

Quote:and once TSE gets out of its "early adoption phase" you should be able to buy it as a stand alone product...thats what ive heard...im not sure if its true..

Yes it is :)

#6 So to recap, TSE = TGE + nifty features? (TGE being the scripting engine, mission editor, etc.)

#7 TSE is built off TGE... so yeah.

#8 TSE is the "next generation" of the Torque engine, and while it is based off of the same original core technology, it is aimed at a higher target platform, and therefore leverages new technology such as shaders, as well as higher end machines for extremely advanced capabilities.

#9 I saw something that disturbed me,

Quote:
Further Terrain enhancements - Hardware texture blending will be implemented for the Atlas terrain engine, and a terrain editor will be added.

Does this mean theres no terrain editor in TSE?

#10 No not yet

#11 Not yet you would have to use a heightmap to make you terrain. the easiest way it to use a tool like terragen or l3dt and export the hieghtmap to a .raw file. there is instruction on how to turn a .raw file into a usable .chu file for your terrain. I perfer l3dt as a tool but terragen is nice too.

Here is a link on a tut for using it.

www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=8584

And yes TSE is like TGE + niftly graphics but it is also a totally seperate engine all together. When they are done with TSE it will be completely sweet but you will have to pay more than buying TGE and TSE now. I beleive its like $40 less.

#12 Ah okay thats no problem, I work with height maps on a daily basis.
Just kind of nice to have a visual method of working with large maps, though.

Is there still a way to put objects and stuff ingame, visually? Or do I have to edit a .cfg? :-/

#13 Yes...puting objects and items in game is EXACTLY the same as TGE. You can do it via .cfg or via the mission file but i prefer using the in game editor. You can also add effects, particles, etc just as you would in TGE. The only stuff that doesnt work is the stuff that involves the terrain.

I do agree about the terrain editor...its nice...but im sure they will make it work out nicely in the end.

#14 Okay thats great to hear, I'm reading the file you linked and something kind of worried me:

Quote:
Before you begin it is good to have an idea of what size terrain you want. When you create your new map, you should try to match the resolution with your map size as much as possible as this will make things come up much better looking. For example, if you wanted a terrain 1 kilometer on each side you would go with a 1024X1024 design map. Do not get carried away on the resolution though. As the site explains, L3DT can do heightmaps up to 32,768 pixels, but you will have to export it all out in chunks when you save it and it will be very rough to try to work on. Staying at or below 4,096 would be a good idea.

Can TSE read this split up file in? Or has L3DT changed, so it can export extremely large terrains as one file.

What about water placement? How does that work in TSE?

#15 Water placement is pretty much the same...the water has many more variables and features but thats due to the new waterblock. You can tune the different wave speeds in many different directions, clarity, etc. You also need to add the shaders to the water for reflections and such. (I have been just using the same waterblocks from demo mission files until I get the hang of applying shaders and how to make new ones) There is alot to configure but you make a waterblock just as you would in TGE. Simply adding it in through the world creator.

The way he wrote that kinda confused me and I doubt I'm the person to answer but I have been exporting terrains as large as 4km X 4km as one file. I have had no problem with it. I dont think that TSE can import multi-file terrains but I am also not the person to ask. I am by no means an expert. You might want to check out l3dt's docs to be sure. I have had success with huge terrain files and havnt tried to split them up.

#16 Okay...no terrain editor yet in TSE, but you can import a heightmap. How about texturing the terrain? Can you do that yet in TSE?