Custom Shader Interface

Procedural generation of shaders is a real time saver, but it can't create every kind of shader imaginable. For special effects or custom "looks", the CustomMaterials are available. They allow shader programmers to easily drop in their own .hlsl or shader assembly files right into TGEA framework. There are even fallback hooks for each level of shader hardware, so there is full control over how it looks on all platforms.

Fallback hooks

TGEA's rendering fallback system automatically adjusts the graphics effects it displays to the particular hardware it is running on. For example, TGEA can automatically adjust per-pixel effects so that they work optimally with full detail on hardware which supports 2.0 level shaders, but can also automatically adjust the effects downward to work optimally on less powerful hardware. This system saves developers the hassle of needing to create by hand different shaders for all the hardware configurations their product might encounter. TGEA can fallback from 3.x to 2.x to 1.x shaders. TGEA currently does not support fallbacks to non-shader-enabled / fixed-function hardware (such as the Geforce 2 or the Radeon 7500).