*.ml and *.hlsl files
by Rex Hiebert · in Torque 3D Professional · 04/26/2010 (3:06 pm) · 2 replies
When doing a sync of my T3D project with my laptop I see a lot of files with what look like a string of random numbers and then an extension.
For example, in the /levels dir I have a mission named main.mis. I also have a lot of files like main_10826663.ml and main_2ae5b8fa.ml
in the /shaders/procedural folder there are a lot of files like:
/shaders/procedural/82ba15c0aedb68bd_V.hlsl
/shaders/procedural/82c4f55b16675ed7_P.hlsl
/shaders/procedural/82c4f55b16675ed7_V.hlsl
/shaders/procedural/83f9238d8dd6e17_P.hlsl
and it seems there are more each time.
What are they? Are they temp files? Do they need to be shipped with the app or are they something that will be regenerated on the fly?
For example, in the /levels dir I have a mission named main.mis. I also have a lot of files like main_10826663.ml and main_2ae5b8fa.ml
in the /shaders/procedural folder there are a lot of files like:
/shaders/procedural/82ba15c0aedb68bd_V.hlsl
/shaders/procedural/82c4f55b16675ed7_P.hlsl
/shaders/procedural/82c4f55b16675ed7_V.hlsl
/shaders/procedural/83f9238d8dd6e17_P.hlsl
and it seems there are more each time.
What are they? Are they temp files? Do they need to be shipped with the app or are they something that will be regenerated on the fly?
Torque 3D Owner Sean H.
the _P and _V extensions indicate pixel shader files and vertex shader files respectively. the procedural shaders dont necessarily need to ship with your deliverable since the engine generates them when the program is run. however, there are a number of .hlsl files which aren't procedurally generated. Those need to be included with your release.
the .ml files are mission lighting files and are unique to the torque engine. these files define terrain light/shadow maps. these dont need to be included with your released product as well since the engine will generate them automatically if the file isn't found. however, the lighting process which generates the .ml file can be very lengthy the first time the game is run on a new system so you may opt to include it with your release.