Torque Shader Engine?

#1 TSE is stand alone, but to get in on the early adopter program, you have to be an owner of TGE.

#2 -----

#3 I think the OP meant to ask if the Shader Engine was a Seperate entity or an "Expansion Pack".

They're seperate you say? Interesting... I may need to look into that. :D

#4

Quote:I think the OP meant to ask if the Shader Engine was a Seperate entity or an "Expansion Pack".

That's exactly what I was trying to say!!

I'm brand new to Torque very confused, if TSE isn't an add-on to TGE what does it do? Is TSE a completely different game engine?

#5 TSE is a complete engine in itself, but it is based on TGE.

Like I said before, though, you still have to own TGE to buy TSE. This is not because TSE depends on TGE, it is just because that is how GarageGames has setup the early adopter program.

#6 OK, so:

1. You have to own TGE to buy TSE.
2. TSE is a stand alone game engine.
3. Once you buy TSE you don't need TGE anymore, as TSE is a stand alone game engine and is better than TGE.

#7 [qoute]OK, so:

1. You have to own TGE to buy TSE.
2. TSE is a stand alone game engine.
3. Once you buy TSE you don't need TGE anymore, as TSE is a stand alone game engine and is better than TGE.[/qoute]

Yes, TSE is not released yet. This is just an Early Adopter Program, hence the wierd way to buy the product.

#8 OK, thanks!!

#9 -----

#10 @Robert: It's "quote". ;)

Quote:3. Once you buy TSE you don't need TGE anymore, as TSE is a stand alone game engine and is better than TGE.

Many of the TSE owners still use TGE to develop their games, myself included. Mainly because TSE is in constant flux, and it's not "done" yet. TSE, for me, is really just cool toy to play with and get familiar with so I can do a project with it sometime in the future(same goes with T2D, actualy).

#11

Quote:1. You have to own TGE to buy TSE.
2. TSE is a stand alone game engine.
3. Once you buy TSE you don't need TGE anymore, as TSE is a stand alone game engine and is better than TGE.

Actually, just a bit more information:

TSE is *completely* separate from TGE. Whether GarageGames *requires* you to own TGE before buying TSE today I'm not sure, but during the Early Adopters program this is what you want to do anyway due to the pricing structure. You get both for less money than just TSE once it has been released.

TSE is just as standalone as TGE is. TSE is also more than just TGE with shaders. The code has been (and will be further) cleaned up quite a bit. Many new features have been added that do not exist in TGE. In addition, from what I understand, GarageGames will be putting the great majority of thier efforts into TSE from here on out and let TGE be as it is (for the most part).

As Josh mentioned you may still have reasons to use TGE over TSE for a game. They are in fact different, especially when looking at the fact that TSE is still pre-v.1.0. I wouldn't say "better" at all.. just different.

#12 One other important difference between TGE and TSE is that TGE is multi-platform, while TSE is windows only at the moment.
(no idea if they plan on making TSE multi-platform before release)

#13 Yes, the plan is to make it multi-platform... well... that's the plan anyways. :p

#14 Here is a good way to think about it. TSE is to TGE as Unreal 3 is to Unreal 2 (engine wise). The engines are mostly compatible with each other, but TSE has a lot of new features, like shaders, enhanced terrain and enhanced water. The only real down side of TSE (other than its not completed) is that it will only run on shader hardware. By the time TSE goes gold, that shouldn't be an issue. If you look at the system requirements for most new commercial titles, they require at least a GeForce3, which has shader support.

#15

Quote:
Once you buy TSE you don't need TGE anymore, as TSE is a stand alone game engine and is better than TGE

Nah. It's not "better". You could argue that TGE is better because more players can eventually use it when you're releasing.
So there's really no better or worse here.

#16 So why didn't Garage Games just update TGE instead of making TSE?

#17 @Nathan:

Read what I said:

Quote:
You could argue that TGE is better because more players can eventually use it when you're releasing.

For games that does not need the newest eyecandy or shaderTech, TGE is excellent. TGE and TSE complements eachother perfectly, TGE being geared towards more casual gaming, and TSE to the newer generation of hardware.

#18

Quote:Nah. It's not "better". You could argue that TGE is better because more players can eventually use it when you're releasing.
So there's really no better or worse here.

You know what the kid is asking. TSE is better than TGE in power and graphics. Saying TGE is arguably better than TSE is like saying that a 1975 Ford Pinto is better than a 2006 Ferarri because the Pinto has four or five seats and the Ferarri only has two. Maybe not that big of a difference in performance but there is a definate difference and TSE is the more advanced of the two, therefore it's better.
-Ajari-

#19 The name is really deceiving, Torque Shader Engine sounds like an extension (or an add-on) of TGE.
Thanks to everybody for clearing that up for me!!

#20 @Ajari:

That's your defination. Reaching more people might be someone else's defination of "better".