FPS starter kit in 1.5.2
by Chris Sargent · in Torque Game Engine · 08/17/2008 (5:09 pm) · 15 replies
I just got around to trying to look at the fps starter kit in version 1.5.2 so I could see how water was implemented.
I'm having a problem. I can load the barebones and the combo packs in the starter fps though the combo packs run extremely poor to the point i move the mouse and 10 seconds later the scene jumps to where i moved the mouse too.
I can't get the stronghold to load at all. Torque keeps going to not responding halfway through the lighting scene. I did not have this problem with the previous version of torque.
I have a pentium 4 3.2gighertz pc with 2 meg of ram and a Nvidia Geforce 7600 with 512 meg of video memory. I'm running Vista as well. When I'm trying to get into the stronghold mission i have every non-essential program shut down.
I also tried to get into the console to see what is happening but once torque goes to not responding I can't bring this up.
Any ideas on what may be going on?
Thanks,
I'm having a problem. I can load the barebones and the combo packs in the starter fps though the combo packs run extremely poor to the point i move the mouse and 10 seconds later the scene jumps to where i moved the mouse too.
I can't get the stronghold to load at all. Torque keeps going to not responding halfway through the lighting scene. I did not have this problem with the previous version of torque.
I have a pentium 4 3.2gighertz pc with 2 meg of ram and a Nvidia Geforce 7600 with 512 meg of video memory. I'm running Vista as well. When I'm trying to get into the stronghold mission i have every non-essential program shut down.
I also tried to get into the console to see what is happening but once torque goes to not responding I can't bring this up.
Any ideas on what may be going on?
Thanks,
About the author
#2
Torque may not actually be hanging on the lighting pass. It takes an extremely long time (several minutes on a slower computer) to light the starter.fps scene.
As for your other problems, they tell me you may need to update your video drivers. Go to your video card manufacturers site to get the driver. Do Not rely on windows to find it for you.
08/17/2008 (6:47 pm)
To fix the missing texture, just make a small, (2 X 2) white texture and name it Unnamed.jpg. Place it in starter.fps/data/shapes/Winter/ and that will fix the problem without adding a monster texture. The only other way would be to figure out which tree calls for that texture. Torque may not actually be hanging on the lighting pass. It takes an extremely long time (several minutes on a slower computer) to light the starter.fps scene.
As for your other problems, they tell me you may need to update your video drivers. Go to your video card manufacturers site to get the driver. Do Not rely on windows to find it for you.
#3
08/17/2008 (7:07 pm)
Thanks. I have updated my Nvidia drivers with the latest drivers out there. So I'm current there. Is my 3.2 gigahertz pc considered slow nowadays? lol I haven't really looked to see what is out there. But, I can understand being slow, but Torque is going to not responding as this flashes in the title bar and shows in task manager as not responding. Should I just let it sit for about 10 minutes or so?
#4
My son's computer has a small p4 with 512mb ram, and torque runs fine on it. Which video card do you have?
08/17/2008 (7:24 pm)
I'd wait 5 minutes. If it isn't responding by then, it's stuck. My son's computer has a small p4 with 512mb ram, and torque runs fine on it. Which video card do you have?
#5
My video car is Nvidia 7600 and it has 512 meg of video ram
08/17/2008 (7:37 pm)
Oh doh i have 2 gig of ram not 2 meg lol. Ok i'll let it sit and see what happens.My video car is Nvidia 7600 and it has 512 meg of video ram
#6
Also if you're running the debug binary of Torque this can take a lot longer since it is compiled with no optimizations, 15 minutes or so to light the stronghold mission on a slower computer in the debug version can be expected..
08/17/2008 (11:55 pm)
Make sure you delete any cached lighting maps for the mission, then just let it run, the first time you load a mission it performs lighting, which can take a very long time. This only happens the first time you load a mission, after that there will be a cached lighting map and it will load fairly quickly. The cached lighting map is in the same directory as the mission file and has the same name with a bunch of random characters tacked on the end.Also if you're running the debug binary of Torque this can take a lot longer since it is compiled with no optimizations, 15 minutes or so to light the stronghold mission on a slower computer in the debug version can be expected..
#7
One thing both of you keep mentioning slower computers, are you telling me that my 3.2 gigahertz pc with 2 gig of ram is not adequate enough to run 1.5.2 when I had no problems with the previous version?
Thanks again,
08/18/2008 (7:51 am)
Ok, I'll give that a try as well, thanks.One thing both of you keep mentioning slower computers, are you telling me that my 3.2 gigahertz pc with 2 gig of ram is not adequate enough to run 1.5.2 when I had no problems with the previous version?
Thanks again,
#8
08/18/2008 (7:56 am)
I am using the debug version as that is what I compiled. Compiling a release version is better? I guess i'm just not entirely sure what the difference between the release and debug versions are :/
#9
The Debug configuration of your program is compiled with full symbolic debug information and no optimization. (Optimization complicates debugging, since the relationship between source code and generated instructions is more complex.)
The Release configuration of your program is fully optimized and contains no symbolic debug information. Debug information may be generated in separate PDB files
08/18/2008 (7:58 am)
Never mind that last post lol. I just looked it up which is what I should have done before I posted. I'll post the differences here in case anyone else was unsure as I was.The Debug configuration of your program is compiled with full symbolic debug information and no optimization. (Optimization complicates debugging, since the relationship between source code and generated instructions is more complex.)
The Release configuration of your program is fully optimized and contains no symbolic debug information. Debug information may be generated in separate PDB files
#10
So I guess a question I would have is if and when I create a game I would want to send the lighting cache files along with any release? I'm thinking yes because it would be unacceptable to expect a player to wait around 19 minutes to get into a game.
08/18/2008 (8:23 am)
Ok i let it just sit there and it took 19 minutes to light the scene. The stronghold looks so much better than the original version. I went back and reloaded it and it loads in virtually no time now that I have lite the scene once.So I guess a question I would have is if and when I create a game I would want to send the lighting cache files along with any release? I'm thinking yes because it would be unacceptable to expect a player to wait around 19 minutes to get into a game.
#11
I would NOT consider your computer to be slow.
I'm running a Toshiba Satellite laptop P4 3.46GHz with 448RAM
Torque runs hot, but after my initial loading (17 minutes) it runs fine, just like your, I guess.
08/18/2008 (9:55 am)
Just to answer an earlier question,I would NOT consider your computer to be slow.
I'm running a Toshiba Satellite laptop P4 3.46GHz with 448RAM
Torque runs hot, but after my initial loading (17 minutes) it runs fine, just like your, I guess.
#12
haha, no. That's a monster machine compared to my sons. (mine is only slightly faster than his)
08/18/2008 (3:27 pm)
Quote:So I guess a question I would have is if and when I create a game I would want to send the lighting cache files along with any release? I'm thinking yes because it would be unacceptable to expect a player to wait around 19 minutes to get into a game.The lighting files have the extension of .ml, I would only send the last one. (highest number) The rest are outdated versions.
Quote:One thing both of you keep mentioning slower computers, are you telling me that my 3.2 gigahertz pc with 2 gig of ram is not adequate enough to run 1.5.2 when I had no problems with the previous version?
haha, no. That's a monster machine compared to my sons. (mine is only slightly faster than his)
#13
Any ideas on what is happening in content pack 1 demo? That demo I get into with no problems but it literally runs like a slideshow. Everything is soooooo slow and jerky.
08/18/2008 (5:33 pm)
Thanks for the information :) I can get into the stronghold mission now with no problems and it runs absolutely fine.Any ideas on what is happening in content pack 1 demo? That demo I get into with no problems but it literally runs like a slideshow. Everything is soooooo slow and jerky.
#14
Using the release binary stronghold mission lights in under 1 minute, using the debug version it takes just under 4 minutes.
So yes I think your computer is slow =p but my main point is that the debug version takes three to four times longer than the release version. So if you're not modifying the engine source code and don't need to run it in a debugger, for example if you were just modifying the script files and art, consider running the release binary as it will be a lot faster!
As to content pack demo, is it running a dedicated server and client on the same system? Doing this causes terrible performance for me.. You could try running a dedicated server on another system to the client and see if that makes any difference..
08/18/2008 (7:14 pm)
Sorry, I say "slower" because I'm running it on a 8 core Xeon..Using the release binary stronghold mission lights in under 1 minute, using the debug version it takes just under 4 minutes.
So yes I think your computer is slow =p but my main point is that the debug version takes three to four times longer than the release version. So if you're not modifying the engine source code and don't need to run it in a debugger, for example if you were just modifying the script files and art, consider running the release binary as it will be a lot faster!
As to content pack demo, is it running a dedicated server and client on the same system? Doing this causes terrible performance for me.. You could try running a dedicated server on another system to the client and see if that makes any difference..
#15
08/19/2008 (4:17 pm)
Unfortunately, right now I have no other pc to do this on. I just set my main.cs to the starter.fps and am running them that way 
Torque Owner Chris Sargent
Glorious Software