A new Torque editor.
by J. Donavan Stanley · in Torque Game Engine · 05/08/2003 (1:53 pm) · 12 replies
I got tired of jumping around between editors to get syntax highlighting with Torque Script and Python so I jumped ahead in my project plans and put together a small editor for Torque users. This will eventualy develop into a comprehensive tool for GORPE / Torque developement but right now it's a handy editor.
Right now it supports Syntax Highliting for .cs, .gui, .hfl, .py. (It actualy supports a lot more than that but those are what's on the file open dialog).
Lest anyone think I wrote all this myself, it's based on CrystalEdit. All I really did was write parsers for hfl and cs/gui files, took all of about an hour to get working.
Anyone who's interested can download it here.
Right now it supports Syntax Highliting for .cs, .gui, .hfl, .py. (It actualy supports a lot more than that but those are what's on the file open dialog).
Lest anyone think I wrote all this myself, it's based on CrystalEdit. All I really did was write parsers for hfl and cs/gui files, took all of about an hour to get working.
Anyone who's interested can download it here.
#2
05/08/2003 (2:58 pm)
*sigh* I'll have to put together and installer it looks like, or do a rebuild in VC6.
#3
05/08/2003 (10:01 pm)
Perhaps in the meantime you could just explain what makes it different/superior in the form of some screenshots? Hmm?
#4
05/08/2003 (10:30 pm)
Yes! Screenshots! And a feature list!
#5
05/09/2003 (1:26 am)
Maybe this should be a resource? When its all working anyway.
#6
05/09/2003 (2:19 am)
Hey, J i havnt exported those actors yet. I need to figure out how to export all the different animations. Im interested in helping in other ways. I forgot gorpe was your project. Ill definetly work with you on it.
#7
Since GORPE isn't a game itself but a toolkit for others tools and what not are a big part of that. Eventualy this will include a "datablock designer" to build datablocks, and manipulate persistant objects. One of our goals is for a designer to be able to say things like "I want a new monster that's kinda like an orc only it's 20% faster and 10% stronger on average. Oh and hase these different skills." and never involve a programmer, just click a few menu options and make it himself.
The first part of this in nearly complete: My copy of Torque can serialize snapshots of SimObjects to and from XML streams, with a few minor issues (like nested simsets). Once those are cleared up, I can then build into the GORPE IDE the nessesary UI widgets for editing these files, either in forms enviroment or as raw xml.
05/09/2003 (2:51 am)
Heh at this point it's JUST an syntax highlighting editor. I put it together becuase I was using two different editors (Tribal and JEdit) to work on my script files. One advantage is it's the only editor I know that support hfl syntax, let alone hfl, cs, gui, mis and py.Since GORPE isn't a game itself but a toolkit for others tools and what not are a big part of that. Eventualy this will include a "datablock designer" to build datablocks, and manipulate persistant objects. One of our goals is for a designer to be able to say things like "I want a new monster that's kinda like an orc only it's 20% faster and 10% stronger on average. Oh and hase these different skills." and never involve a programmer, just click a few menu options and make it himself.
The first part of this in nearly complete: My copy of Torque can serialize snapshots of SimObjects to and from XML streams, with a few minor issues (like nested simsets). Once those are cleared up, I can then build into the GORPE IDE the nessesary UI widgets for editing these files, either in forms enviroment or as raw xml.
#8
05/09/2003 (2:57 am)
Can I ask you an unrelated question? When you've finished translating all the script to Python, will you make the changes public? I'd love to take them off you... 
#9
Great project Mr.Donavan.
05/09/2003 (8:47 am)
Heh, Well this would be great toolkit for the programmer challenge pen and paper artist like my self that's for sure. :)Great project Mr.Donavan.
#10
You can either drop me an e-mail, leave a post in this thread, or find me in the GG chat under the alias Sanguinus... hope to hear soon, I'd love to lend a helping foot ;-)
~ Sang
05/09/2003 (10:13 am)
Just out of curiosity, would you be interested in having someone who knows a goodly deal about torquescript and python on your team? I'd love to help out (I had envisioned something similar to what you are attempting, but I'm unable to back it up with the required C++ skills).You can either drop me an e-mail, leave a post in this thread, or find me in the GG chat under the alias Sanguinus... hope to hear soon, I'd love to lend a helping foot ;-)
~ Sang
#11
a) Be available on our SourceForge page (For Python and Torque Script).
b) Be submitted for inclusion in HEAD (For general features and bug fixes)
c) Be submitted as a resource.
I've not gotten nearly as far into the Python refactoring as I wanted to be. A new job, and other distractions have held me back. Plus there are some fundimental changes I'm doing that may invalidate some of the scripts. I've gotten XML serialization working for all SimObject classes and I want to explore methods for including code into the XML files. Basicly with the GORPE IDE I'm working on I want to be able to create new objects and also tie in script code that travels along with them. If you've ever worked with the NWN toolkit you have the general idea.
@Johnny: That's my general idea. My #1 goal is to enable creative types to get together and create some magic without having to involve C++ developers. I've got a very modular design that's highly data driven. Things like new spells and what not will be able to be built within the gui by picking and choosing from different parts. The key is to have enough parts available to choose from.
@Jeff: I'm always open to help. Since you've got serious Python and Troque Script experiance you'd be a great person to help with replacing Torque Script with Python. My Python binding is a lot beefier than TGEPython but it's not yet complete. I've been extending it as I did the refactoring, each time I found something I couldn't do without resorting to "TGECall" to get it done I'd go add that functionality to the Python binding. Right now I have modules for the dgl, math, net, video and game portions of Torque. Those are pretty much complete but there's still lots more to go. Drop me a line at jdonavan@gorpe.com sometime.
05/09/2003 (12:42 pm)
@Ian: Almost every single line of code I'm writing will either:a) Be available on our SourceForge page (For Python and Torque Script).
b) Be submitted for inclusion in HEAD (For general features and bug fixes)
c) Be submitted as a resource.
I've not gotten nearly as far into the Python refactoring as I wanted to be. A new job, and other distractions have held me back. Plus there are some fundimental changes I'm doing that may invalidate some of the scripts. I've gotten XML serialization working for all SimObject classes and I want to explore methods for including code into the XML files. Basicly with the GORPE IDE I'm working on I want to be able to create new objects and also tie in script code that travels along with them. If you've ever worked with the NWN toolkit you have the general idea.
@Johnny: That's my general idea. My #1 goal is to enable creative types to get together and create some magic without having to involve C++ developers. I've got a very modular design that's highly data driven. Things like new spells and what not will be able to be built within the gui by picking and choosing from different parts. The key is to have enough parts available to choose from.
@Jeff: I'm always open to help. Since you've got serious Python and Troque Script experiance you'd be a great person to help with replacing Torque Script with Python. My Python binding is a lot beefier than TGEPython but it's not yet complete. I've been extending it as I did the refactoring, each time I found something I couldn't do without resorting to "TGECall" to get it done I'd go add that functionality to the Python binding. Right now I have modules for the dgl, math, net, video and game portions of Torque. Those are pretty much complete but there's still lots more to go. Drop me a line at jdonavan@gorpe.com sometime.
#12
05/09/2003 (3:32 pm)
FYI I just updated the zip file to contain a version of the editor that's staticly linked to the MFC libraries so that should solve missing DLL problem. 
Torque Owner John Connell