How to assign material to GUIBitmapStyle

#1 You can't.

If you have Pro, you could add a "set" to GUIStyle.Materials.

Otherwise, I guess the only alternative is to define you own control (inherit from GUIControl).

#2 Thanks Scott.

This is the exact kind of thing that keeps making me toss Torque aside and work with other engines. The poor documentation and support for features is mind-numbing. Most of the response that I get when I bring up the poor documentation and lack of tutorials/features is that "its in early stage/beta". Well, its not beta anymore, they're charging 150$ for it and its nowhere near a complete product.

I know quite a few people who simply will not give GG another dime because of their past history with engines. Being able to assign a material to a gui item is not quantum physics, it should be an included feature, and I shouldn't have to pay 150$ to write my own code to do it.

1. Release engine
2. Charge people so they can write their own code for basic features
3. Profits$$$

/torque'sLastChanceRant

#3 I understand completely, but when I look at the price of TorqueX vs other engines (like Unreal or id's tech) you have to admit you get a lot for what you are paying. TorqueX is also the only shipping 3D engine for XNA that I am aware of.


Now where are the devs and why no roadmap or information? Who knows... maybe they're all on vacation or maybe everyone at GG is working on TGEA right now. Or maybe they're heads-down cranking away on the 2.1 release.

#4 You can use whatever engine you like. I know a lot of people who have left Torque for engines like Unity or Beyond Virtual. I know a lot of people who have come to Torque from both because they wanted access to the source code for their projects. And I know a ton of people who have chosen open source projects like Irrlicht or Quake 3 or Sauerbraten as their bases of operation so that they can have the source code and ease of use (especially in the case of Sauerbraten).

It sounds like Torque is not a good match for you, and XNA is especially not a good match for you if you want user-friendly GUI's...especially if you are planning on XBox deployment.

Hopefully we will have a more advanced GUI system in the future that fits more needs. Hopefully XNA will have one that fits several needs. But right now there are several of them out there, and the vast majority hook into other .Net libs and invalidate any use on the 360. It may not seem like quantum physics, but a lot of people are having a problem with it, and most of them are using straight XNA.

And our team is working on documentation, especially on the 3D side, but as you know (and as you correctly, though vehemently, critique, it is not done. I'm not here to convince you to use our free XNA engine or to purchase the pro version so that you have the source code to the engine. I'm here to tell you to choose an engine that matches your project. If it is not TorqueX or XNA or TGB then that's too bad for us (and Microsoft in the case of XNA). And I'm sure it will be a benefit to whichever community that you join and whichever engine you choose.

I give that advice out freely and often. Our engines are great for some developers and projects, and not the best for others. And since I'm a fan of indie gaming, regardless of engine, I'd rather you pick up the pieces of your project and get your game done even if you don't use our tech to do it.

Our timeline for documentation updates, TorqueX 3D editor, and John's TX book are probably not in-line with your project's needs and expectations. It is a great engine for other people's projects and their development style. Could the documentation be better? Of course! Could the functionality be stronger? Of course! Can people make games with it in its current state? Of course!

I'm not sure what you were expecting as a "complete product", but I guess TorqueX is not it. What exactly where you expecting? I'm curious and might be able to point you in the right direction.

#5 Well said Dave!

I forgot that the binary was free... what can people ask for from a free engine, exactly? Plus a source code license is so cheap anyway.

Can you share any information about what is coming up next? I know you can't give release dates, but something like we're working on X, Y, and Z in that order.

#6 Dave, I'm done with my rant, and apologize for doing so. I'm not here to bash torque, although it may have come off that way. TorqueX is a great product for being a free binary. Currently, I don't think its at the point where I'm willing to pay for the pro license. I may someday when there is more documentation/support.

My original request came because I was porting my XNA GUI system to inteface my editor with torque's GUI objects, so I have a fair idea of what it takes to write a GUI system. It seemed to me that writeable materials is a pretty easy feature to implement, especially since XNA has methods to load textures from a memory stream. My rant came from frustration because I want torque to be the engine for me, but clearly it is not unless I'm willing to go for the pro license.

Being free isn't an excuse for being poorly documented. The Irrlicht engine is free and has the best documentation I've ever seen for a 3d engine.

** edit **

just for kicks, you should pretend like you know nothing about torquex and try to make a GUI based on the information that you can find by searching the documentation/tutorials. I'm willing to bet you'll see my point.

#7 Along the line of Russell's question, all I'd like to know is if a 2.01 release is being worked just to address the bugs identified so far.

#8 I do know that most bugs discovered within these forums (including this one) are tested and then rolled into the base source code. A point-update should be coming out pretty soon.

John K.

#9 Excellent!

#10 Thanks John.

Do you know if the ClipMapBlenderCache issue on the Xbox is being fixed?

#11 I know it's on the to do list. I'm not sure what it's relative priority is, but I'll check.

John K.