Engine Confusion
by Marty Brown · in General Discussion · 02/22/2011 (5:49 pm) · 3 replies
Hey all,
I'm new to the forums and to actually trying to use the Torque engines, but I've been watching them for some time. Due to the recent price drop and my hope to see GG continue to exist, I purchased single licenses for TGB, Torque 3D and iTorque 2D.
Now I'm reading through the forums and trying out tutorials and I'm just not sure of the relationship between the previous and current engines. I *think* TGE and TGEA (née TSE) are now just Torque 3D, but I can't find anything that specifically states this (there's a ton of forum posts so it's very possible that I missed something).
It would be nice if there was a sticky note somewhere (maybe several somewheres) that presents a nice chart showing the relationships between the products.
The main reason I'm looking for this is because I see a wealth of community created tutorials, resources and code and I'd like to know if they're still applicable to the current engines.
I'm new to the forums and to actually trying to use the Torque engines, but I've been watching them for some time. Due to the recent price drop and my hope to see GG continue to exist, I purchased single licenses for TGB, Torque 3D and iTorque 2D.
Now I'm reading through the forums and trying out tutorials and I'm just not sure of the relationship between the previous and current engines. I *think* TGE and TGEA (née TSE) are now just Torque 3D, but I can't find anything that specifically states this (there's a ton of forum posts so it's very possible that I missed something).
It would be nice if there was a sticky note somewhere (maybe several somewheres) that presents a nice chart showing the relationships between the products.
The main reason I'm looking for this is because I see a wealth of community created tutorials, resources and code and I'd like to know if they're still applicable to the current engines.
#2
If you do run into issues, the T3D private forums are constantly watched by some extremely helpful types.
02/22/2011 (6:45 pm)
TGE, TGEA, and T3D are all iterations of the same underlying technology. T3D being the far more advanced, and newest of the three. It's also the only one you can purchase today. Most of the time, older scripting tutorials and examples will translate up with very little hassle, as the scripting language is largely the same (code is code!) Sometimes you'll run into issues when file locations have changed, or singletons become involved.If you do run into issues, the T3D private forums are constantly watched by some extremely helpful types.
#3
For the most part if it's script then it will still work with little modification. Key things to look for will be different directory structures and naming convention for a few classess. For example when translating/porting a Resource/Tutorial/Guide from TGE upwards to TGEa or even T3D know that TGE's AudioProfile is now called SFXProfile (etc, etc). There is a porting gotchas thread for each iteration of the engine, it's just a matter of finding them.
Source code modifications will take a bit more care, especially if it/they touched the rendering aspect of the engine. Not as big an issue going between TGEa to Torque3d since both use Directx, but there are differences. The 'new' console function interaction in Torque3D is easy to understand. The various classes have improvements, fixes, and extensions. The sound system is a bit different between the engines but becomes obvious with a little experience.
I would say that almost anything that worked in TGE will also work in Torque3D with some wrenching and possible frustration till you learn more about what changed and what hasn't over the years. If it worked in TGEa then chances are it will be an easier process to more towards Torque3D but still require some effort depending on knowledge and skill level.
02/23/2011 (10:47 am)
TGE became TSE became TGEa became Torque 3D.For the most part if it's script then it will still work with little modification. Key things to look for will be different directory structures and naming convention for a few classess. For example when translating/porting a Resource/Tutorial/Guide from TGE upwards to TGEa or even T3D know that TGE's AudioProfile is now called SFXProfile (etc, etc). There is a porting gotchas thread for each iteration of the engine, it's just a matter of finding them.
Source code modifications will take a bit more care, especially if it/they touched the rendering aspect of the engine. Not as big an issue going between TGEa to Torque3d since both use Directx, but there are differences. The 'new' console function interaction in Torque3D is easy to understand. The various classes have improvements, fixes, and extensions. The sound system is a bit different between the engines but becomes obvious with a little experience.
I would say that almost anything that worked in TGE will also work in Torque3D with some wrenching and possible frustration till you learn more about what changed and what hasn't over the years. If it worked in TGEa then chances are it will be an easier process to more towards Torque3D but still require some effort depending on knowledge and skill level.
Torque 3D Owner Sherman Pendley