Documentation
by Elgin Perry · in General Discussion · 01/30/2008 (10:17 am) · 3 replies
First off, Torque is an amazing product in itself. I am truely fasinated with all the features and it's flexiblity.
One of the biggest problems I have with Torque is the lack of docs and version control within the forums.
Ex:
The first reply to a post points to a resource that was posted in 2004, does it work with all version of TGE? Is it an trial and error excerise expected everytime you search and find a resource on these forums or even the TDN? And as for the second reply, I cant even see that one because I havent purchased the correct product version. So sometimes it will allow me to see irrelavent stuff and others times it stops me?
Is there any official documentation for Torque 1.5.2 toolset? I mean docuentation on using World Editor in 1.5.2 or using Terrian Editor in 1.5.2 or any of the tools included with my purchase that is provided by GarageGames staff and not end users that may or may not have you version of the engine?
If there are could someone please point me to them.
I could use the Oxy builder and pull of the function/procedures out of the source, but even then it doesn't say what the function/procedures does, it just gives you the correct parameters. Again back to crawling code ( code which is remarked up better by far then any I have ever written, this is a huge plus) or using fourm posts which most of the time you arent even sure they will work with your version.
All this equals a huge timesink.
Like setting up an AI path in the IDE, something that simple shouldn't take abunch of time to do. And it wouldnt I am sure with current docs. So bottom line I guess is if you arent going to provide Documentation I would have liked to know this before I purchased Torque.
I will say that I have recently found that this doesnt seem to be only a Torque issues but an industry issue. Some of the other engines are just as poorly documented, but hey most of them are free. Again I will plead
If someone knows where official Documentation is for using 1.5.2 toolset please point me to them. I truely believe this would cut my fourm search time down by 90% P.
/rant off
One of the biggest problems I have with Torque is the lack of docs and version control within the forums.
Ex:
The first reply to a post points to a resource that was posted in 2004, does it work with all version of TGE? Is it an trial and error excerise expected everytime you search and find a resource on these forums or even the TDN? And as for the second reply, I cant even see that one because I havent purchased the correct product version. So sometimes it will allow me to see irrelavent stuff and others times it stops me?
Is there any official documentation for Torque 1.5.2 toolset? I mean docuentation on using World Editor in 1.5.2 or using Terrian Editor in 1.5.2 or any of the tools included with my purchase that is provided by GarageGames staff and not end users that may or may not have you version of the engine?
If there are could someone please point me to them.
I could use the Oxy builder and pull of the function/procedures out of the source, but even then it doesn't say what the function/procedures does, it just gives you the correct parameters. Again back to crawling code ( code which is remarked up better by far then any I have ever written, this is a huge plus) or using fourm posts which most of the time you arent even sure they will work with your version.
All this equals a huge timesink.
Like setting up an AI path in the IDE, something that simple shouldn't take abunch of time to do. And it wouldnt I am sure with current docs. So bottom line I guess is if you arent going to provide Documentation I would have liked to know this before I purchased Torque.
I will say that I have recently found that this doesnt seem to be only a Torque issues but an industry issue. Some of the other engines are just as poorly documented, but hey most of them are free. Again I will plead
If someone knows where official Documentation is for using 1.5.2 toolset please point me to them. I truely believe this would cut my fourm search time down by 90% P.
/rant off
About the author
#2
But the GarageGames Official TGE Documentation link from Getting Started FAQ
top of the page for the TDN says.
Torque Game Engine Documentation
Version 1.3
I didnt find the links to the Zombieshortbus.com site when I searched for docs. They are bookmarked now and I will read them tonight.
And if you know of any books that address 1.5.2 and up that would be great. I have purchased the advance 3d game programming (all in one) book that is mentioned here. But reading it you can tell it is for an earlier version.
Thanks again.
01/30/2008 (3:27 pm)
Thanks Micheal for you post and providing the Docs that you created. But the GarageGames Official TGE Documentation link from Getting Started FAQ
top of the page for the TDN says.
Torque Game Engine Documentation
Version 1.3
I didnt find the links to the Zombieshortbus.com site when I searched for docs. They are bookmarked now and I will read them tonight.
And if you know of any books that address 1.5.2 and up that would be great. I have purchased the advance 3d game programming (all in one) book that is mentioned here. But reading it you can tell it is for an earlier version.
Thanks again.
#3
01/31/2008 (1:35 am)
Check out the Accedemic Resources page in the Products section and take a look at some of the books listed there. I recommend the Game Programmer's Guide to Torque if you're looking for some type of documentation. It's based on TGE 1.4 and doesn't get into the source code, but it gets pretty in-depth with the editors and scripting, which is the same in 1.5.
Employee Michael Perry
GarageGames
New Community Documentation 1
New Community Documentation 2
New Community Documentation 3
The available books also cover a lot of stuff not provided by GG. In all honesty, I've learned Torque pretty well with the current documentation and community support (forums, resources, etc).
Even if you had an extensive and comprehensive manual on every Torque feature, I'm pretty sure it would take about the same amount of time to learn since you still have to create the code yourself.
Also, over the past few months there have been hints and mentions of new documentation coming from GG.
I'm sure there are other documentation links out there, but that should be a start.