TSE Clean start (rants & raves)
by Petteri Huttunen · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 02/15/2007 (5:41 am) · 25 replies
Hi there !
Brief history first:
I've worked in the games industry for 4 yrs. now
as an 3d Graphics Artist/Level Designer (Bugbear Entertainment LTD), at the time of writing still my day job.
But I started recently my own company for developing games of my own liking :)
Just bought the TSE engine two days ago + the programming book (which ships in 1-2 months)
I've been fiddlin' with the TGE demo version now about a month before making my buying decision.
I though that as I buy this little gem of a software I'll get my hands on information
that was restricted from me before I purchase & register.
But what's this ?
This jigsaw puzzle of "tutorials" and "excellent support" (as stated in the sales babble) which most of them are missing/not written yet/are not current/ are found on someone else's webpages/scattered around the net/some things work like as in TGE some things in TSE,/ no-one seem to see things from an artist view.
I really wasn't expecting a catered table, as I've worked with different engines int the past,
but this is just plain frustrating/silly.
Personally I just LOVE to learn new things,
well, actually let's put it this way :
I think that it's like trying to read the latest Stephing King's novel
but the most important parts of it are missing/or as the author has ment that the readers just GOT TO
figure out those parts themselves, LOL.
OK, there are couple of things that I've already figured out by gathering/hunting data across the web,
I would just like to get the BASIC information, how do I get the
development enviroment running from a clean start (as in the TGE 1.5 demo, without any demos & stuff ).
So, please tell me how get an empty/clean development TSE enviroment (as for creating own levels),
-step
-by
-step ?
I've already extracted the RC_1.zip file to my c: drive, and taken copy of the demo folder
(modified the main.cs to point to the test folder ), but I'd like get rid of those intro/features stuff.
PS. Why's that the TGE 1.5 demo came with the starters guide/manual but the TSE not ?
ps2. After this hassle's over I'm definite that'll write a tutorial for noobs like me to ease
the pain for getting in to the production pipeline. (Torque TSE, Getting Started for Ultra Dummies)
PS3. Thank You in advance !
Brief history first:
I've worked in the games industry for 4 yrs. now
as an 3d Graphics Artist/Level Designer (Bugbear Entertainment LTD), at the time of writing still my day job.
But I started recently my own company for developing games of my own liking :)
Just bought the TSE engine two days ago + the programming book (which ships in 1-2 months)
I've been fiddlin' with the TGE demo version now about a month before making my buying decision.
I though that as I buy this little gem of a software I'll get my hands on information
that was restricted from me before I purchase & register.
But what's this ?
This jigsaw puzzle of "tutorials" and "excellent support" (as stated in the sales babble) which most of them are missing/not written yet/are not current/ are found on someone else's webpages/scattered around the net/some things work like as in TGE some things in TSE,/ no-one seem to see things from an artist view.
I really wasn't expecting a catered table, as I've worked with different engines int the past,
but this is just plain frustrating/silly.
Personally I just LOVE to learn new things,
well, actually let's put it this way :
I think that it's like trying to read the latest Stephing King's novel
but the most important parts of it are missing/or as the author has ment that the readers just GOT TO
figure out those parts themselves, LOL.
OK, there are couple of things that I've already figured out by gathering/hunting data across the web,
I would just like to get the BASIC information, how do I get the
development enviroment running from a clean start (as in the TGE 1.5 demo, without any demos & stuff ).
So, please tell me how get an empty/clean development TSE enviroment (as for creating own levels),
-step
-by
-step ?
I've already extracted the RC_1.zip file to my c: drive, and taken copy of the demo folder
(modified the main.cs to point to the test folder ), but I'd like get rid of those intro/features stuff.
PS. Why's that the TGE 1.5 demo came with the starters guide/manual but the TSE not ?
ps2. After this hassle's over I'm definite that'll write a tutorial for noobs like me to ease
the pain for getting in to the production pipeline. (Torque TSE, Getting Started for Ultra Dummies)
PS3. Thank You in advance !
#23
A couple of helpful hints....
Examine the file console.log regularly. A lot of useful diagnostic info is sent there whenever you run the engine.
The engine compiles your .cs and .gui files into P-Code (or something) whenever it sees that you have changed them. It will create a .dso file corresponding to your source file. If you create a new file, or you have deleted the .dso file, and there is a syntax error in your code, the engine will not be able to run your new code, and it won't be able to fall back to the last valid .dso it compiled so bad things will happen.
You can find syntax errors by looking in the console.log file
You can also see which files are loaded in which order by looking there.
This will give you the thread you need to pull on to unravel the inner workings of the scripts.
02/26/2007 (4:46 pm)
Good luck Petteri,A couple of helpful hints....
Examine the file console.log regularly. A lot of useful diagnostic info is sent there whenever you run the engine.
The engine compiles your .cs and .gui files into P-Code (or something) whenever it sees that you have changed them. It will create a .dso file corresponding to your source file. If you create a new file, or you have deleted the .dso file, and there is a syntax error in your code, the engine will not be able to run your new code, and it won't be able to fall back to the last valid .dso it compiled so bad things will happen.
You can find syntax errors by looking in the console.log file
You can also see which files are loaded in which order by looking there.
This will give you the thread you need to pull on to unravel the inner workings of the scripts.
#24
04/11/2007 (11:09 pm)
Well this has been very informative for me also :) Thanks Petteri :)
#25
04/12/2007 (1:10 am)
Don't mention, we're in the same boat after all :)
Torque 3D Owner Phil Carlisle