Issue with testing from Torsion

#1 Torsion doesn't really do anything other than run the EXE within the correct working directory. Its possible that having multiple installs is causing it to run an incorrect EXE in a different path.

TGB when its installed it registers TGBGame.exe (i think thats the right one) with the Windows registry. This allows TGB's project generator to create .torsion files using just the EXE name... without a full path... and Windows will look up the full path in the registry. If you have multiple installs there is no telling which EXE that registry key is pointing at.

Your best bet is to edit your project config in Torsion and browse for the correct EXE. In TGB it can be found under tgb\gameData\T2DProject\TGBGame.exe.

#2 Thanks, Tom. I'll try that out.

The really weird part is that the game run fines from the Level Builder, but it doesn't work at all from Torsion. I wouldn't be concerned except for the awesome debugging techniques available with Torsion.

I noticed this error happening right after I started editing the Game.torsion file. Could that have messed things up?

Thanks again!

#3 Ok, so specifying the exact TGBGame.exe didn't solve my problem, but I'm sure it only helped my development experience. :)

#4 Why were you editing the .torsion file? If you were trying to change the executable for a project configuration, heres how you can do that through the GUI.

project menu -> properties
configurations tab
edit a configuration
change the executable path.

I'm not sure what is causing your problem, but some other things to try...

You could copy the TGBGame.exe to your project folder (if its not already there), and point torsion to that one.
Also in the Project tab you can set a base directory, which should be your game folder.

#5 Thanks for the help James, I'll let you know how it turns out.

I edited the name of the project. I use a default folder called "BlankSlate" to start most of my projects; it has a bunch of scripts that I use in almost every game I make.

The even stranger thing is that now, sometimes Torsion starts up TGB properly, but sometimes it shows all the symptoms I described above. It seems to be random whether or not Torsion starts my project right or not.

Also, all my games that I didn't use BlankSlate work fine all the time, its only the ones that I used BlankSlate with that don't work most of the time.

Thanks again for the help. (I'm glad that the level builder starts my projects fine, otherwise I'd be really ticked off at this point, lol)

#6 It's pretty important to make sure that you click the option "copy executable to working directory" (or something very similar) when you are creating a new TGB project from within the level builder. The automatically generated .torsion project file expects the executable in that directory, and won't work well if the executable does not exist directly in that path.

#7 Thanks for the suggestion, Stephen; I've never used that option. It seems like if it is best to have it checked, then it would be so by default. Oh well!

I haven't tried yo copy the exe over to the game directory yet, I've been real busy working on a space game -- I'll probably see if that helps first thing tomorrow. One thing I did notice is that I can run my game from Torsion if TGB is running at the same time. With older projects, though, I've been able to run my games from Torsion without Torque at all.

I'll try your suggestion in the morning and thanks again!

#8 Alright, so testing from Torsion always works when you have the executable in the game folder. Thank-you so much! However, there are still some minor issues:

1.) Torsion doesn't play the right level file if Torque isn't running
2.) Torsion has crashed twice in two days (no harm done, no files lost)

Perhaps its still not reading the XML correctly? I don't know. Its working good enough, really. I'll post here if I can nail down anymore details.

Thanks for all your help, guys!

#9 @Kevin - If you've had a crash be sure to submit the crash report. It helps us nail the issue.

As far as the level file... Torsion doesn't play any level files. If i remember the TGB Builder app uses a special command line to make your scripts launch the level file active in the editor. Torsion just runs an EXE using the path and command line you give it and whatever level your scripts load is what you get.

Other than the .torsion file or the .preferences file in the Torsion install location, Torsion does not read any XML files. If your editing those by hand is not recommened or even supported.