Some newb assistance please.
by Richard Barfoot · in Technical Issues · 11/12/2002 (7:18 pm) · 6 replies
I just bought the Torque engine and I am kindof having trouble finding the documentation I want.
Here is what I want to do, hopefully someone can help me out.
I want to make a new program from scratch. Documentation I have found seems only to talk about how to modify the torqueDemo application.
I want to start fresh, not using an already existing program.
The first goal I have is to simply open a full screen window and draw a textured cube onto the screen. Really simple. I already have the cube model exported from 3DMax.
I found the big list of script functions on the site, that has been helpful for knowing what the different functions do. The problem I am having is how do I begin? What do I need to do in VC6 to make a new program? I have average to above average C++ knowledge, but the structure of the Torque engine is really baffling me.
Help me out, thanks! :)
- Rich
Here is what I want to do, hopefully someone can help me out.
I want to make a new program from scratch. Documentation I have found seems only to talk about how to modify the torqueDemo application.
I want to start fresh, not using an already existing program.
The first goal I have is to simply open a full screen window and draw a textured cube onto the screen. Really simple. I already have the cube model exported from 3DMax.
I found the big list of script functions on the site, that has been helpful for knowing what the different functions do. The problem I am having is how do I begin? What do I need to do in VC6 to make a new program? I have average to above average C++ knowledge, but the structure of the Torque engine is really baffling me.
Help me out, thanks! :)
- Rich
#3
What I want to do is make a new application from scratch (NOT taking some other application and modifying it).
My first program would be simple. Probably one script file that opens a full screen viewport, loads up the textured cube model I created in MAX, and then render it onto the screen.
- Rich
11/12/2002 (8:54 pm)
Ace, your site describes how to set up VC6 to build the engine, which I don't have a problem with.What I want to do is make a new application from scratch (NOT taking some other application and modifying it).
My first program would be simple. Probably one script file that opens a full screen viewport, loads up the textured cube model I created in MAX, and then render it onto the screen.
- Rich
#4
I saw a few posts about starting from scratch, they all had answers that dodged the issue at hand.
Can you create a project from the ground up? How do you create an project that is "empty" of sorts?
Maybe something I'm not understanding is what does the torqueDemo do? Does it initialize the graphics API and then leave the rest to the script files? torqueDemo has an editor in it. Is that editor in the actual application, or do script files contain the code for the editor? I don't want my game to have an editor right in it like that.
I'm hoping that modifying the existing example isn't the only way to design an application with this engine. That seems extremely strange.
We (us coders) are really used to our previous engine that we got rid of to come to torque (because it seemed like it had more features that we needed).
In our previous engine, the actual application was written in C, with calls to engine functions when we needed certain low-level things to be done such as rendering an object onto the screen, chainging lights, animating meshes, etc.
I had designed a simple "empty" .c file. It wasn't empty really, it was about 100 lines, it did basic things that every application would need: initialize directx, make a full screen viewport, and setup the main game loop.
Things our developers would add was anything else, loading meshes, rendering them, moving them around, checking collision, loading and playing sounds, ect, ect, ect.
That is what I want to create. A simple "template" source file that I can easily bring in and add to when I need it. That is called flexibility.
Having to take the darn demo and modify it any time I need to make a new application is really time consuming and not productive at all.
I am really trying hard to explain what I need, but it might not be coming accross right. I hope you get what I'm talking about.
- Rich
11/12/2002 (9:15 pm)
I searched through the forums.I saw a few posts about starting from scratch, they all had answers that dodged the issue at hand.
Can you create a project from the ground up? How do you create an project that is "empty" of sorts?
Maybe something I'm not understanding is what does the torqueDemo do? Does it initialize the graphics API and then leave the rest to the script files? torqueDemo has an editor in it. Is that editor in the actual application, or do script files contain the code for the editor? I don't want my game to have an editor right in it like that.
I'm hoping that modifying the existing example isn't the only way to design an application with this engine. That seems extremely strange.
We (us coders) are really used to our previous engine that we got rid of to come to torque (because it seemed like it had more features that we needed).
In our previous engine, the actual application was written in C, with calls to engine functions when we needed certain low-level things to be done such as rendering an object onto the screen, chainging lights, animating meshes, etc.
I had designed a simple "empty" .c file. It wasn't empty really, it was about 100 lines, it did basic things that every application would need: initialize directx, make a full screen viewport, and setup the main game loop.
Things our developers would add was anything else, loading meshes, rendering them, moving them around, checking collision, loading and playing sounds, ect, ect, ect.
That is what I want to create. A simple "template" source file that I can easily bring in and add to when I need it. That is called flexibility.
Having to take the darn demo and modify it any time I need to make a new application is really time consuming and not productive at all.
I am really trying hard to explain what I need, but it might not be coming accross right. I hope you get what I'm talking about.
- Rich
#5
If you really want to go from scratch, make a new directory in the 'example' dir. '/main.cs' is the first script file that runs in your new game.
I wouldn't recommend it, though. Why throw away all this work that's already been done for you?
11/13/2002 (4:38 am)
In torque, the .exe file is the engine, the scripts are your game. Torque is designed as an application, not as a library.If you really want to go from scratch, make a new directory in the 'example' dir. '
I wouldn't recommend it, though. Why throw away all this work that's already been done for you?
#6
Thats fine, I just needed to know exactly what was going on so that my confusion is less.
Thank you.
- Rich
11/13/2002 (5:12 pm)
Thats what I needed to hear. So that EXE, torqueDemo.exe, is THE engine, and I should use it to make my game around.Thats fine, I just needed to know exactly what was going on so that my confusion is less.
Thank you.
- Rich
Torque Owner Ace
heres how i make a new app for win98se
www.planetquake.com/noescape/torque/1vc.htm