Stand alone TGE tools?

#1 The world editor and GUI editor run within the engine.

I don't know what you're talking about regarding the "animator", never heard of such a thing.

#2 There is no animator that is supposed to come with TGE. You use a third-party application (Max, Lightwave, Maya, Blender, GameSpace, Lightray3D, XSI, Milkshape, etc) to build your static and animated models.

The GUI builder is built-in. There is no third-party GUI application for Torque that I know of.

#3 Http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tge/features/puppeteer/

seen something in a video too but im not sure what the link is

it was a torque tool in the video, not a 3rd party animator

well i guess if there is no stand alone GUI tool like constructor what needs to be done to strip the demo from it?

i got the minapp file hoping that would do the trick but it doesnt have the torque editor functions in it (F10,F11)

guess im going to have to make a stand alone GUI editor if there isnt one?

#4 Puppeteer is an animation format that supports boned animation and exporters for a number of popular packages. It is not an animation program included with Torque. It is an animation system that Torque uses.

Why not use what is there for GUI creation? I'm not sure why. Getting used to the GUI system is strange. The tutorial.base is a good place to get started with GUI creation since it doesn't have any other than the main getting started GUI. I'm not sure why a third-party one is necessary. It might be nice, however. But my GUI creation is usually simple enough that a third-party app would be overkill.

#5 Ive got the gui editor down pretty good so far but im having problems saving my files and i think the demo files and folders are whats cuasing the problem

got another thread in "getting started" about that
http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=60739

#6 Open the folder and see if it is updating the file when saving it. Then re-exec it to see if it changed.

#7 K, let me try that

i tried saving to the commons folder where the other middle bar gui's are being shown but that didnt work either

all of the files that are showing up in my 2nd version are located in the commons folder

the only lines i see in all of the CS scripts that mention these GUI's is this

// Load up common script base
loadDir("common");

in my 1st version

// Load up the shell and game GUIs
exec("./ui/loadscreen.gui");
exec("./ui/loginpopup.gui");

to load my GUI files works fine

i directly copied the folder for a 2nd version and it doesnt load them into the middle bar of the GUI editor anymore

#8 Nope didnt work

any idea what the defualt folder is that the editor is calling from?

a simple "open file" option would save alot of headaches :)

#9 Open your main.cs file in the Example folder. Under defaultGame, what is the value? That's the working folder. From the sounds of it, it is still set to "demo". Look in the client folder of the demo directory. Setting that to tutorial.base is a good shot since there are less GUI's than in the demo directory (or the starter.fps directory).

#10 $defaultGame = "minatures";

thats my project folder

#11 Are your changes taking effect in minatures/client/ui?

#12 It will save the file into the folder but it wont put it on the list so i can reopen it

also when i edit the command line for a guibuttonctrl and hit apply it goes back to the same thing before the changes. i have to erase the entire command then retype the whole thing over again

and even stranger still sometimes it will show up in the middle bar on the gui editor but once i restart the app its gone



oh also

i seperated the UI folder from the client

calling from minatures/ui instead of minatures/client/ui

// Load up the shell and game GUIs
exec("./ui/loadscreen.gui");
exec("./ui/loginpopup.gui");

that part is from the main.cs in the minatures folder

works fine in v0.01 :)
v0.02 is gremlinned :)

#13 You have to execute all GUI files.

You can see this being done in client/init.cs

// Load up the Game GUIs
   exec("./ui/defaultGameProfiles.cs");
   exec("./ui/PlayGui.gui");
   exec("./ui/ChatHud.gui");
   exec("./ui/playerList.gui");

#14 Im executing the GUIs from the main.cs?

your talking about

function initClient()

right tim?

#15 That's right.

#16 K, its all calling correctly then

looks to me like the gui editor is just buggy

working on striping the demo right now

im taking the minapp and putting the editor tools on that

im hoping to copy and paste the right files

might work out :)

#17 All of Torque is buggy! It's one of the most feature rich yet engines available though of all the engines I've tried it contains the most bugs, and they are slow to be resolved however that doesn't prevent people from creating products with it.

#18 Due to the thread topic, I feel no shame for plugging my tool =). I'm writing a WYSIWYG editor for the Arcane FX content pack found in the GG store. This tool's goal is to speed up the time it takes to develop new selectrons, particle effects, and spell effects.

Writing stand alone tools for Torque is no easy task, but there is a great way to start the project. I'll post dev diaries as I near completion of the tool, but here's how I started:

• Copied the example folder and renamed it AFX Creator[li]Modified engine code to load levels and datablocks faster[li]Deleted all mod folders within AFX Creator directory, such as starter.fps and tutorial.base[li]Created a new mod folder called AFX.Creator[li]Set AFX.Creator "game" to launch directly into a mission upon double clicking of executable[li]Developed placeholder GUIs[li]Began core development of tool

I toyed with the idea of writing the tool in C#, but I went with this approach is because a lot of Torque users prefer WYSIWYG editors, and hate exporting. With the approach mentioned above, developers know how their effects will look in the game and can test them on the spot.

#19 @ Tim

im starting to relize that

good thing im a veteren mmo gamer :)

my bug coping skills are at 793

im used to fighting bugs ten lvls higher ;)

@Mike

nice mike

i basically did the same thing to the folder to get it stripped down.

what did you modify to get the datablocks to load faster?

not into graphics for my project yet but looking forward to the release of your particale tool :)

#20 Reducing Level Load Times

This link is a must for TGE tool creation and single player games.

Then I added my own secret optimizations, one of which gets about a 10-20 fps increase based on one mathematical change =).