Exporting an application to both Mac and PC from one computer?
by Matthew Lyles Hornbostel · in General Discussion · 03/31/2011 (12:03 pm) · 12 replies
I'm a new Torque user, and it seems to me that the Mac version of Torque 3d Pro 2009 only outputs to Mac by default (the Windows option is grayed out) and the PC version only outputs to PC.
This raises a few questions.
1) Is there a way to enable the Mac version of Torque to export a PC application, or for Torque on PC to export a Mac app? If so, how?
2) Alternatively, is there any way to take a T3d project made on one OS and open it in the other? I know there are some differences between T3d PC and T3d Mac - PhysX for instance - and that not everything will be compatible between the two, but is there any procedure for converting a project made with Mac Torque 3d and modifying it so that it can be opened on a PC? What about taking a PC project and modifying it so that it can be opened on a Mac?
This raises a few questions.
1) Is there a way to enable the Mac version of Torque to export a PC application, or for Torque on PC to export a Mac app? If so, how?
2) Alternatively, is there any way to take a T3d project made on one OS and open it in the other? I know there are some differences between T3d PC and T3d Mac - PhysX for instance - and that not everything will be compatible between the two, but is there any procedure for converting a project made with Mac Torque 3d and modifying it so that it can be opened on a PC? What about taking a PC project and modifying it so that it can be opened on a Mac?
About the author
#2
As for 'no conversion necessary'... well, simply copying the files doesn't seem to work for me; the PC version of Torque can't open, or rather, doesn't seem to be able to 'see' the project which was created on my Mac.
EDIT: I may have just figured out how to make this work.
03/31/2011 (1:15 pm)
I do have both Mac and PC computers... so that isn't a problem.As for 'no conversion necessary'... well, simply copying the files doesn't seem to work for me; the PC version of Torque can't open, or rather, doesn't seem to be able to 'see' the project which was created on my Mac.
EDIT: I may have just figured out how to make this work.
#3
03/31/2011 (1:18 pm)
Install the Mac version from your products, then copy your changed files from the PC version into the mac version.
#4
If you move a Mac project from the Mac "My Projects" folder into the PC T3d folder, "My Projects", the PC version of Torque won't see it, won't be able to open it.
The solution was to "create new project" on the PC, then erase the contents of the new project folder, copy the contents of the mac project folder (which Torque couldn't load directly) into that folder, then restart T3d. Wait a few seconds and the project will automatically update with the new data.
I know, this is obvious, but I thought I'd spell out this simple process just in case anyone else ever gets briefly confused about how to move a Torque project from Mac to PC... like I did.
03/31/2011 (1:35 pm)
It was really simple... I'm kind of stupid for not figuring out what to do sooner.If you move a Mac project from the Mac "My Projects" folder into the PC T3d folder, "My Projects", the PC version of Torque won't see it, won't be able to open it.
The solution was to "create new project" on the PC, then erase the contents of the new project folder, copy the contents of the mac project folder (which Torque couldn't load directly) into that folder, then restart T3d. Wait a few seconds and the project will automatically update with the new data.
I know, this is obvious, but I thought I'd spell out this simple process just in case anyone else ever gets briefly confused about how to move a Torque project from Mac to PC... like I did.
#5
I was able to get the project to show up in the PC version of Torque...
However, the project is missing a crucial .exe file, which is needed for the project to run on Windows...
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to fix this?
03/31/2011 (1:37 pm)
Okay, never mind - it didn't entirely work after all.I was able to get the project to show up in the PC version of Torque...
However, the project is missing a crucial .exe file, which is needed for the project to run on Windows...
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to fix this?
#6
03/31/2011 (2:34 pm)
Hold on, I've found a solution to that too, I think... 
#7
03/31/2011 (2:39 pm)
All you have to do is compile the project on the appropriate platform to get the .exe or .app.
#8
What if the project itself isn't working anymore after you copy it from Mac to the corresponding folder on your PC? Then you end up with a compiled version which also doesn't work.
As far as I can tell, the .exe which I am missing is not the result of the compile, but a .exe which is necessary to make the compile succeed... but both of these .exe files - the one needed for compile and the one resulting from the compile - have the same filename. (The project name + ".exe")
It is almost starting to seem like a maddening paradoxical thing. I need the file already correctly made to correctly make the file...
03/31/2011 (4:04 pm)
"compile the project on the appropriate platform"What if the project itself isn't working anymore after you copy it from Mac to the corresponding folder on your PC? Then you end up with a compiled version which also doesn't work.
As far as I can tell, the .exe which I am missing is not the result of the compile, but a .exe which is necessary to make the compile succeed... but both of these .exe files - the one needed for compile and the one resulting from the compile - have the same filename. (The project name + ".exe")
It is almost starting to seem like a maddening paradoxical thing. I need the file already correctly made to correctly make the file...
#9
03/31/2011 (4:14 pm)
I am missing a file, a .exe file, which should be in the /game/ directory but isn't.
#10
Because right now, the project which worked fine on the Mac, does not work on the PC.
03/31/2011 (4:33 pm)
This all leads me back to the original question: How do I get a Mac Torque 3d project to actually work in the PC version of Torque 3d?Because right now, the project which worked fine on the Mac, does not work on the PC.
#11
The project is still kind of a mess, of course, and there is a lot of work left to do on it, but now at least I have a procedure set up for moving the project to the PC version of Torque successfully.
The issue was - I'm guessing - certain files which exist in a PC Torque 3d project but which were absent in the Mac project... my mistake was erasing all the contents of the sample project folder before copying the Mac project files into it.
Thanks everyone for your help.
03/31/2011 (5:42 pm)
I just got it to work... it actually runs. :)The project is still kind of a mess, of course, and there is a lot of work left to do on it, but now at least I have a procedure set up for moving the project to the PC version of Torque successfully.
The issue was - I'm guessing - certain files which exist in a PC Torque 3d project but which were absent in the Mac project... my mistake was erasing all the contents of the sample project folder before copying the Mac project files into it.
Thanks everyone for your help.
#12
03/31/2011 (10:47 pm)
You are using 1.0.1 on both PC and Mac right? 1.1 Beta 3 is not supported on Mac right now. 
Torque 3D Owner Sherman Pendley
Mac hardware makes all this a bit easier, because you can use Boot Camp, or a VM solution such as Parallels, to run Windows on it. Doing the reverse, running Mac OS X on a PC, can only be done with unlicensed and often unreliable hacks.
As far as moving your project files, the easiest way is to develop your game first on your Mac. The differences are, as far as I know, features that are supported on Windows but not on Mac OS X. By developing on your Mac first, you guarantee that you're not using any of those features.
There's no conversion necessary to move a project - just copy the files over.