Mission Editor
by Kevin Bamonte · in General Discussion · 03/10/2008 (12:13 pm) · 4 replies
Hello All,
I've been playing with the programming aspect of torque for a few months now and seem to have gotten a decent understanding of it (TGE 1.5.2).
Now, I've moved onto creating a mission file, did lots of reading etc but don't quite understand all of the different tools out there - here are my problems/questions :
The ingame editor isn't very effecient - it takes forever to import dts or dif files and move them around to where i want them - i've tried just editing the .mis text file also which wasn't great either
what else is out there to do this ? I'd love just a 2d overhead view to add/rotate/delete the models - just something simple to get things in their general places - then i can muddle thru the built in editor to finalize items
quark - i've played with this and did create and import some of my purchased difs but how do i get the dts files in here ? or can't i ?
grome - i guess this only works with TGEA terrains and missions ? if i upgrade to TGEA will it support all of the work i've done in TGE 1.5.2?
atlas - is this the editor that comes with TGEA ?
torque constructor - just found this today and loaded it - it does import .dts files but i can't find a way to import my purchased .dif files - will it do that ? is there an addon to do that ?
again my main goal is to be able to easily create a scene, i have plenty of models etc, i can do the terrain in the terrain editor - i just want to import dts, 3ds and dif files into the scene and EASILY move the items around -
ANY help is appreciate - thank you in advance !
Kevin
I've been playing with the programming aspect of torque for a few months now and seem to have gotten a decent understanding of it (TGE 1.5.2).
Now, I've moved onto creating a mission file, did lots of reading etc but don't quite understand all of the different tools out there - here are my problems/questions :
The ingame editor isn't very effecient - it takes forever to import dts or dif files and move them around to where i want them - i've tried just editing the .mis text file also which wasn't great either
what else is out there to do this ? I'd love just a 2d overhead view to add/rotate/delete the models - just something simple to get things in their general places - then i can muddle thru the built in editor to finalize items
quark - i've played with this and did create and import some of my purchased difs but how do i get the dts files in here ? or can't i ?
grome - i guess this only works with TGEA terrains and missions ? if i upgrade to TGEA will it support all of the work i've done in TGE 1.5.2?
atlas - is this the editor that comes with TGEA ?
torque constructor - just found this today and loaded it - it does import .dts files but i can't find a way to import my purchased .dif files - will it do that ? is there an addon to do that ?
again my main goal is to be able to easily create a scene, i have plenty of models etc, i can do the terrain in the terrain editor - i just want to import dts, 3ds and dif files into the scene and EASILY move the items around -
ANY help is appreciate - thank you in advance !
Kevin
#2
I appreciate the info -
ok ... if this is the only mission editor available for torque then i have a couple specific questions
- when placing an object into a scene filled with objects - how do i turn the labels off so they aren't clouding my view ??? they appear even thru the objects for some reason and it gets very confusing
- when selecting an object, sometimes i click and click on parts of the object, i even click on the label of the object and it will not select it - is this normal ?
- there's something VERY glitchy when copying and pasting if the object details box is open, it keeps the position settings even if you edit them - anyone else have this problem
- after i get xx models in a scene i can no longer "fly" around the scene - just walk as if i was playing the game - is this normal ? is there a settign i'm missing somewhere ?
is there a new version of this editor ? i'm using TGE 1.5.2
i'm VERY surprised this tool has been used by everyone here to do their missions - it seems very ineffiecient and glitchy - am i missing something here ?
thanks in advance
kevin
03/10/2008 (1:08 pm)
Thanks for the reply David,I appreciate the info -
ok ... if this is the only mission editor available for torque then i have a couple specific questions
- when placing an object into a scene filled with objects - how do i turn the labels off so they aren't clouding my view ??? they appear even thru the objects for some reason and it gets very confusing
- when selecting an object, sometimes i click and click on parts of the object, i even click on the label of the object and it will not select it - is this normal ?
- there's something VERY glitchy when copying and pasting if the object details box is open, it keeps the position settings even if you edit them - anyone else have this problem
- after i get xx models in a scene i can no longer "fly" around the scene - just walk as if i was playing the game - is this normal ? is there a settign i'm missing somewhere ?
is there a new version of this editor ? i'm using TGE 1.5.2
i'm VERY surprised this tool has been used by everyone here to do their missions - it seems very ineffiecient and glitchy - am i missing something here ?
thanks in advance
kevin
#3
I think the copy-paste issue is due to not knowing where the focus is currently at. I often have this problem when copying between fields in GUI's or copying elements.
I'm not sure about the flying thing since I've put a ton of DTS's/DIF's/paths, etc in and not had the problem. Of course, I may not have put as many as you and crossed a threshold that I didn't realize existed.
TGE 1.5.2 is the newest version of the engine.
And it is pretty much what people use, though some teams have developed their own interfaces for creating mission files. Most use it for placement and final touches, AFAIK.
03/17/2008 (8:23 am)
I believe you need to click on the object itself and not the label to select it. At least that's what I do.I think the copy-paste issue is due to not knowing where the focus is currently at. I often have this problem when copying between fields in GUI's or copying elements.
I'm not sure about the flying thing since I've put a ton of DTS's/DIF's/paths, etc in and not had the problem. Of course, I may not have put as many as you and crossed a threshold that I didn't realize existed.
TGE 1.5.2 is the newest version of the engine.
And it is pretty much what people use, though some teams have developed their own interfaces for creating mission files. Most use it for placement and final touches, AFAIK.
#4
MainMenu->Edit->World Editor Settings: uncheck 'Render Object Text' and 'Render Object Handle'
This usually happens to a dts obj when it has been scaled in blender or 3dsmax etc without using the 'box trick'. Search the forums for 'box trick' to see if this is causing your problem.
Also with positions and rotations etc. you'll notice that the object will move but not the selection box. This is a bug with Torque. when you deselect and the reselect the object again the selectino box will be in the right position. Also when you use the transform gizmo (the coloured x,y,z arrows) the selection box will appear in the correct position.
03/17/2008 (7:24 pm)
Quote:- when placing an object into a scene filled with objects - how do i turn the labels off so they aren't clouding my view ??? they appear even thru the objects for some reason and it gets very confusing
MainMenu->Edit->World Editor Settings: uncheck 'Render Object Text' and 'Render Object Handle'
Quote:- when selecting an object, sometimes i click and click on parts of the object, i even click on the label of the object and it will not select it - is this normal ?
This usually happens to a dts obj when it has been scaled in blender or 3dsmax etc without using the 'box trick'. Search the forums for 'box trick' to see if this is causing your problem.
Quote:- there's something VERY glitchy when copying and pasting if the object details box is open, it keeps the position settings even if you edit them - anyone else have this problemMake sure you have the object you want to edit AND ONLY the object you want to edit selected. Always press enter when you've entered a new value into a field.
Also with positions and rotations etc. you'll notice that the object will move but not the selection box. This is a bug with Torque. when you deselect and the reselect the object again the selectino box will be in the right position. Also when you use the transform gizmo (the coloured x,y,z arrows) the selection box will appear in the correct position.
Quote:- after i get xx models in a scene i can no longer "fly" around the scene - just walk as if i was playing the game - is this normal ? is there a settign i'm missing somewhere ?Use Alt C to toggle the camera. If it doesn't work (as with me it sometimes decides not to) then use Main Menu->Camera->Toggle Camera.
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
Grome and L3DT are terrain editors. They do not include mission support.
ATLAS is the name for the TGEA terrain system, though ATLAS 2 is probably more useful since the original ATLAS has been deprecated. You can also use legacy terrain from TGE.
Basically, unless you roll your own mission editor, the world editor tools are the best you have currently.