Is there a general overview? and a couple of other questions
by luggage · in RTS Starter Kit · 02/02/2005 (11:10 pm) · 5 replies
Hi Guys
I'm new here so be gentle. :)
I've just purchased Torque and the RTS Starter kit. Amazing stuff by the way. I've looked through the documentation and I can't seem to find a general overview on things. Is there a cookbook style doc anywhere? I've checked out the editors and had a play around and now I'm unsure of where to start.
For example there's forum posts on how you get a vehicle not to turn on the spot, I thought, "hey, I'll need to do that", so had a read. Implementation isn't much of an issue, but I wouldn't have had a clue where to implement it!
I tried hosting a multiplayer game of the RTS Demo but my artist couldn't see my server. Is there anything special I have to do?
What kind of stuff should be implemented on the server, client or both?
The minimap wouldn't work in D3D, (nor the transparent buildings), this is a bit of a worry. On another forum (hello to any of you from there), I frequent, a guy has stats and about 35% of windows users are unable to run his game due to a lack of OpenGL drivers. I don't expect it to be much of a problem as the folk who can run the game will have a decent enough card but it's a nagging thought.
Thanks
Scott
I'm new here so be gentle. :)
I've just purchased Torque and the RTS Starter kit. Amazing stuff by the way. I've looked through the documentation and I can't seem to find a general overview on things. Is there a cookbook style doc anywhere? I've checked out the editors and had a play around and now I'm unsure of where to start.
For example there's forum posts on how you get a vehicle not to turn on the spot, I thought, "hey, I'll need to do that", so had a read. Implementation isn't much of an issue, but I wouldn't have had a clue where to implement it!
I tried hosting a multiplayer game of the RTS Demo but my artist couldn't see my server. Is there anything special I have to do?
What kind of stuff should be implemented on the server, client or both?
The minimap wouldn't work in D3D, (nor the transparent buildings), this is a bit of a worry. On another forum (hello to any of you from there), I frequent, a guy has stats and about 35% of windows users are unable to run his game due to a lack of OpenGL drivers. I don't expect it to be much of a problem as the folk who can run the game will have a decent enough card but it's a nagging thought.
Thanks
Scott
About the author
#2
I do not think there are any SK specific overviews, however the information contained here:
www.garagegames.com/docs/torque/general/
would be an excellent place to start. Especially if you are new to the engine, and if you are let me just say that Torque is really big, if you try to swallow it all at once it has the tendancy to make you gag :) So I would suggest to start reading through the introductions and scripting overviews, and while you are getting through those just try playing around with things. Try making small, specific changes, like simply changing units speeds, weapon damage, etc. As you hunt this stuff down you will start to understand the layout of the scripts. Then you can go into changing the game behavior, make things work differently. TGE can be overwhelming if you try to get the big picture all at once, but if you start whitteling away at the smaller things, you'll start grasping the overall layout pretty quick.(Just don't give up!)
As for the server/hosting problem, it's a know issue, and it shouldn't be very long before they release an update to address it.
D3D in Torque is another ongoing issue, but as far as I know there aren't any plans to change it. OpenGL is specifically supported because it is cross-platform making Torque avalable for Linux and Mac's as well as windows, and around here, cross-platform is really important. Now D3D won't be an issue for TSE as it was started in D3D (OpenGL will be added once the specifications for it are completed). Of course with TSE a person would be required to have some pretty decent hardware, but John Kabus will be bringing the Lighting Pack to TSE which should provide an avenue for it to support lower-end hardware.
Personally I would think that any hardware that doesn't support OpenGL would have to be pretty old (on the order of 4+ years) My own opinion would be to tell them to go upgrade their machine, but that's just me :)
02/03/2005 (2:59 pm)
Welcome to the family Luggage!I do not think there are any SK specific overviews, however the information contained here:
www.garagegames.com/docs/torque/general/
would be an excellent place to start. Especially if you are new to the engine, and if you are let me just say that Torque is really big, if you try to swallow it all at once it has the tendancy to make you gag :) So I would suggest to start reading through the introductions and scripting overviews, and while you are getting through those just try playing around with things. Try making small, specific changes, like simply changing units speeds, weapon damage, etc. As you hunt this stuff down you will start to understand the layout of the scripts. Then you can go into changing the game behavior, make things work differently. TGE can be overwhelming if you try to get the big picture all at once, but if you start whitteling away at the smaller things, you'll start grasping the overall layout pretty quick.(Just don't give up!)
As for the server/hosting problem, it's a know issue, and it shouldn't be very long before they release an update to address it.
D3D in Torque is another ongoing issue, but as far as I know there aren't any plans to change it. OpenGL is specifically supported because it is cross-platform making Torque avalable for Linux and Mac's as well as windows, and around here, cross-platform is really important. Now D3D won't be an issue for TSE as it was started in D3D (OpenGL will be added once the specifications for it are completed). Of course with TSE a person would be required to have some pretty decent hardware, but John Kabus will be bringing the Lighting Pack to TSE which should provide an avenue for it to support lower-end hardware.
Personally I would think that any hardware that doesn't support OpenGL would have to be pretty old (on the order of 4+ years) My own opinion would be to tell them to go upgrade their machine, but that's just me :)
#3
Thanks for the info. That approach makes sense, best start nibbling away then. Good to hear about the server\hosting problem, at least I know it's not me.
The trouble with the OpenGL thing are the folk who buy a recent PC with XP, they'll have Direct3D drivers, but no OpenGL ones even though their card may well be good enough. That'll be the price they have to pay though I guess. :)
Thanks again!
scott
02/04/2005 (9:41 am)
HiThanks for the info. That approach makes sense, best start nibbling away then. Good to hear about the server\hosting problem, at least I know it's not me.
The trouble with the OpenGL thing are the folk who buy a recent PC with XP, they'll have Direct3D drivers, but no OpenGL ones even though their card may well be good enough. That'll be the price they have to pay though I guess. :)
Thanks again!
scott
#4
Welcome aboard luggage! ... that sounded strange. :) As for an overview doc, there is a basic overview document provided with the RTS SK, and the page above links to the main TGE doc page. There's also this page. And the detailed SDK documentation.
02/05/2005 (7:40 pm)
We do plan to fix the mini-map w/ DirectX. :) And the server / hosting bug will be fixed early next week... don't know what happened there really, it looks like we missed a file in the Windows installer or something. Anyway, the bug is already fixed in our internal repository, we just need to package up the installer now and post it on the site.Welcome aboard luggage! ... that sounded strange. :) As for an overview doc, there is a basic overview document provided with the RTS SK, and the page above links to the main TGE doc page. There's also this page. And the detailed SDK documentation.
#5
03/29/2007 (7:20 am)
I am having the same problem and I recently downloaded the RTS starter pack. Has that fix for D3D and the mini map been included into the install yet ?? 
Torque Owner Franich