TSE Update - Milestone 3 release
by Brian Ramage · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 04/06/2006 (5:53 pm) · 123 replies
It's all checked in, here's what you get:
TGE 1.4 merge!!
Marble Blast Ultra merge!!
Skinned meshes no longer re-calculate tangent space matrices constantly
Fixed misc tangent space generation problems on curved .dts shapes
D3D now running a Pure Device
LOD's now work for .dts objects
Optional D3D Lib check - makes sure user updates to latest D3D libs for shipping builds
Precipitation bounty in place
Materials have double sided rendering option
Fixed glow offset in editor
Interior debug rendering bounty in place
FXSunlight and FXFoliageReplicator bounties in place
Fixed WaterBlock creation in editor
Fixed misc world and Gui editor crashes / broken functionality
Fixed render target stack issues - made more efficient
Fixed misc D3D render state initialization issues
Added unicode support
Sun color affects procedural materials
... many bug fixes...
OK, so this is not everything that was posted in my blog, some features got pushed to MS4 because we have some extra development bandwidth coming. I think you guys will be happy when you hear what we are doing with the lighting there. The render batching did not make it into this build, but that is a high priority for MS4, so there is still a lot of performance work coming that will make TSE run much faster. I expect there to be more updates with MS4 as well, so hopefully you won't be waiting so long between updates.
There are a _LOT_ of changes in this update, so please download a CLEAN copy from CVS before you report any build problems, thanks.
TGE 1.4 merge!!
Marble Blast Ultra merge!!
Skinned meshes no longer re-calculate tangent space matrices constantly
Fixed misc tangent space generation problems on curved .dts shapes
D3D now running a Pure Device
LOD's now work for .dts objects
Optional D3D Lib check - makes sure user updates to latest D3D libs for shipping builds
Precipitation bounty in place
Materials have double sided rendering option
Fixed glow offset in editor
Interior debug rendering bounty in place
FXSunlight and FXFoliageReplicator bounties in place
Fixed WaterBlock creation in editor
Fixed misc world and Gui editor crashes / broken functionality
Fixed render target stack issues - made more efficient
Fixed misc D3D render state initialization issues
Added unicode support
Sun color affects procedural materials
... many bug fixes...
OK, so this is not everything that was posted in my blog, some features got pushed to MS4 because we have some extra development bandwidth coming. I think you guys will be happy when you hear what we are doing with the lighting there. The render batching did not make it into this build, but that is a high priority for MS4, so there is still a lot of performance work coming that will make TSE run much faster. I expect there to be more updates with MS4 as well, so hopefully you won't be waiting so long between updates.
There are a _LOT_ of changes in this update, so please download a CLEAN copy from CVS before you report any build problems, thanks.
#62
take the TGB BETA as an example. it comes with a pre-build exe when you download it. this isn't some crazy request. it's crazy that it's not there already. do only coders have the tse ea?
04/07/2006 (4:34 pm)
I don't get you guys sometimes. it's so easy to just do a favor instead of deciding to teach someone a fucking lesson. take the TGB BETA as an example. it comes with a pre-build exe when you download it. this isn't some crazy request. it's crazy that it's not there already. do only coders have the tse ea?
#63
04/07/2006 (4:37 pm)
The EA TSE license isn't about buying a license for the source code. It's the shaders, atlas, new water, new graphics rendering, a million other additions to tge... all which can be used to make an entire game without ever ever ever touching the source code. SEE MBU for the XBOX 360 for the obvious example of a game that can be made with TSE right now.
#64
04/07/2006 (4:41 pm)
Anton, dont take it the wrong way... the way I learnt how to compile TGE and TSE, was by fixing the errors myself (when ever I asked if someone could send me the .exe, the answer was always "learn to compile it yourself") 
#65
this TSE.zip contains release build of TSE of April 7 2006 appx 3am (GMT) CLEAN CVS build.
Not sure, but very possible: you will need to have installed DX SDK Feb 2006 to run.
The build was done with MS VS PRO 2003 and DX SDK Feb 2006 with no any modification to sources.
If you need DEBUG version, I can build it within a few minutes.
@ all.. let's start another thread on forums about stuff that don't actualy about bugs in SDK..
04/07/2006 (4:44 pm)
Okay...this TSE.zip contains release build of TSE of April 7 2006 appx 3am (GMT) CLEAN CVS build.
Not sure, but very possible: you will need to have installed DX SDK Feb 2006 to run.
The build was done with MS VS PRO 2003 and DX SDK Feb 2006 with no any modification to sources.
If you need DEBUG version, I can build it within a few minutes.
@ all.. let's start another thread on forums about stuff that don't actualy about bugs in SDK..
#66
I put this up on a server. If anyone else wants this later and you've found this thread and want a copy and banks isn't working anymore, email me and I'll give you a link.
Thanks bank. :)
04/07/2006 (4:54 pm)
@bankI put this up on a server. If anyone else wants this later and you've found this thread and want a copy and banks isn't working anymore, email me and I'll give you a link.
Thanks bank. :)
#67
Anton - If you need help, I'm on MSN (I think you have my info from before) and I can help ya :)
04/07/2006 (4:57 pm)
Seem to have gotten it working.Anton - If you need help, I'm on MSN (I think you have my info from before) and I can help ya :)
#68
04/07/2006 (5:09 pm)
Quick question, probly an easy one, but I compiled it and everything compiled fine and gave me a TSE_debug.exe, but that seems to be the feature walkthrough demo. how do I get it to a blank mission to start throwing stuff in and playin around with it?
#69
For those of you getting unicode related errors, make sure UNICODE is added to the preprocessor definitions.
If someone could email me working VC2005 project files, I'll happily check them in.
I have to run now, I'll answer more of your questions this weekend.
04/07/2006 (5:44 pm)
OK, I fixed the compile errors with the TSE Lib, and made sure map2dif and map2dif plus compile. Haven't ran them yet though to test, so I'll do that this weekend or on Monday unless someone can confirm they are working properly.For those of you getting unicode related errors, make sure UNICODE is added to the preprocessor definitions.
If someone could email me working VC2005 project files, I'll happily check them in.
I have to run now, I'll answer more of your questions this weekend.
#70
04/07/2006 (6:02 pm)
So far so good with all of the proper fixes for Unicode.. :)
#71
04/07/2006 (10:18 pm)
@Dale - Check the getting started. Should be a guide somewhere on how to start up fresh with TSE and turn off the demo. 
#72
Was the material thing changed as stated above (scripting format, but not datablocks)?
As I remember, there are 4 milestones, but none of them tell about OpenGL support...
Brian, can you share when OpenGL (and Mac support) is planned to be implemented, please?
Thank you!
04/07/2006 (10:59 pm)
3. Milestone 3
1. Fix Major Bugs
2. Material Improvements
1. Restructured so still scripted, but not datablocks
2. Material data no longer sent over net
3. Refcount Materials - clean them up after each mission
3. DocumentationWas the material thing changed as stated above (scripting format, but not datablocks)?
As I remember, there are 4 milestones, but none of them tell about OpenGL support...
Brian, can you share when OpenGL (and Mac support) is planned to be implemented, please?
Thank you!
#73
Although I question the Material data not being sent over the net, as everything else will Download properly (Interiors, Sounds, etc).. but without no Material data sent, it sort-of limits a Server or Game adding content and allowing people to download them, since they would need Materials.cs file for everything to look right...
04/07/2006 (11:58 pm)
Material Improvements have been changed for awhile..Although I question the Material data not being sent over the net, as everything else will Download properly (Interiors, Sounds, etc).. but without no Material data sent, it sort-of limits a Server or Game adding content and allowing people to download them, since they would need Materials.cs file for everything to look right...
#74
@ Jeremiah - I can see where you are coming from there, but if the server is going to add new Materials, it will likely need to send the textures along with the new Material information and currently there is no mechanism for handling that. From the player's perspective, I think they would prefer to load their levels fast rather than have to wait for thousands of Materials to get sent to them just for the option of the server to change some of them. If it's an important option though, then you can put it back to dataBlocks for your app, that's why you have the souce code.
@Dale - try loading the terrain_water_demo, it's not a blank mission, but it's pretty darn close.
04/08/2006 (2:37 am)
@Alexander - we may or may not have OpenGL support for MS4. If we do, then it will likely be limited to fixed-function support, or CustomMaterial support only.@ Jeremiah - I can see where you are coming from there, but if the server is going to add new Materials, it will likely need to send the textures along with the new Material information and currently there is no mechanism for handling that. From the player's perspective, I think they would prefer to load their levels fast rather than have to wait for thousands of Materials to get sent to them just for the option of the server to change some of them. If it's an important option though, then you can put it back to dataBlocks for your app, that's why you have the souce code.
@Dale - try loading the terrain_water_demo, it's not a blank mission, but it's pretty darn close.
#75
@Ian - sorry man, no new water shaders. Check the forums though, there's some pretty cool improvements out there done by the community
@Phil - nope sorting and glow will be addressed with the new batching changes since it will be much easier to deal with there. Again, this is the highest priority for me from this point on and I've already been working on it the last few days.
04/08/2006 (2:44 am)
@Hokuto - for the most part yes, most everything from TGE 1.4 has been ported over.@Ian - sorry man, no new water shaders. Check the forums though, there's some pretty cool improvements out there done by the community
@Phil - nope sorting and glow will be addressed with the new batching changes since it will be much easier to deal with there. Again, this is the highest priority for me from this point on and I've already been working on it the last few days.
#76
Its sure nice being able to customize the water fresnel shader and the new terrain is pretty awesome!
04/08/2006 (2:47 am)
That terrain water demo is pretty damned nice to look at!!! Congratulations on that front of things!Its sure nice being able to customize the water fresnel shader and the new terrain is pretty awesome!
#77
As you said though, due to the fact that materials are no longer datablocks, it doesn't work properly over the Network and actually allows a Remote client to connect and it show White textures (just like it was a Local Connection). It may be something I look into, in the future, but for now, its not a necessity and I'm not sure if it will ever be.
:)
04/08/2006 (3:13 am)
Thanks Brian.. It was just something I was looking at, because, I noticed that for Interiors they still look for Textures the original way with setting of handles via MaterialList and such, but.. Upon commenting out portions of the loading, it could all be bypassed and instead would just use what was defined in the Materials.cs file (which is actually more on key with how I think it should be handled).As you said though, due to the fact that materials are no longer datablocks, it doesn't work properly over the Network and actually allows a Remote client to connect and it show White textures (just like it was a Local Connection). It may be something I look into, in the future, but for now, its not a necessity and I'm not sure if it will ever be.
:)
#78
www.foldinglemons.com/vs2005_tse.zip
This builds for me and everything seems to work ok. There are some compiler/linker warnings that I should really get rid of but I dont have the time at the moment. They are not fatal though.
I am using Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Hope it helps
04/08/2006 (4:59 am)
For those that are having problem building under Visual Studio 2005 I have put a fixed project up on my website until CVS contains one.www.foldinglemons.com/vs2005_tse.zip
This builds for me and everything seems to work ok. There are some compiler/linker warnings that I should really get rid of but I dont have the time at the moment. They are not fatal though.
I am using Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Hope it helps
#79
No doubt Anton is just doing the same as I did or some such because a clean build definetely DOES work, not only that but it also worked fine after I merged MS3 with our existing code base using the new project files and converting them to 2k5.
04/08/2006 (6:56 am)
My compile errors were indeed down to my own arrogance :p I assumed my old Visual Studio 2k5 project files would still work fine and kept them but apparently they didn't, getting the project files from the clean build and converting to 2k5 and it all worked fine. I guess I should listen to what Brian says about getting a cleaned build in future ;)No doubt Anton is just doing the same as I did or some such because a clean build definetely DOES work, not only that but it also worked fine after I merged MS3 with our existing code base using the new project files and converting them to 2k5.
#80
thanks a lot for the update! even if it will be just fixed function shaders and compile under Mac/Linux, I will be more then happy ;)
Keep the good work, guys!
04/08/2006 (9:20 am)
@Brian Ramage: thanks a lot for the update! even if it will be just fixed function shaders and compile under Mac/Linux, I will be more then happy ;)
Keep the good work, guys!
Associate Joseph Euan
Not much point buying source code if you don't know how to compile it (arn't you a programmer?)
I'm not a programmer. but I can compile it (with no errors)
If you still can't compile it by tomorrow, let me know and I'll zip up the files.