Add-on Trouble

#1 I hope you didn't try adding all of those of once!

I don't actually own any of those packs so can't offer any advice other than to check each one's documentation. All of them should have at least a "needed files" or "how to install" instructions. A few of those packs were written for TGE so you would have to make allowances in the script files for that by opening them up and modifying the filepath directories for things like particles, shapefiles, sounds, etc.

General asset directory names are still the same across both engines so you should be able to tell what goes where: interior shapes go in the interiors directory, sounds go in the sounds directory, etc, etc. Some of those packs will probably have necessary script files also. You don't want to just blindly let these script files overwrite each other -- that's how you end up with some things working and others not working. You'll have to look carefully through the script files and merge the contents if any two packs modify the same scripts.

Kaboom Pack

I wrote that :D The artist wrote the documentations and honestly I never looked at it, but it should detail how to merge into a standard project. Do you have the TGE version or the TGEa version? All shapes, sounds, particles, and special directories are the same across both engines. In the "~/server/scripts" directory you'll need to overwrite two existing files -- crossbow.cs and staticShape.cs. After that you'll need to add files bomb.cs and fxData.cs plus the entire contents of the "destroyables directory (maintaining that directory name). You'll need to exec these files in game.cs with the rest of the exec commands -- I marked/commented every changed and/or added file in there, so you should be able to refer to the Kaboom example's game.cs to see how to add the exec statements. Now is where the tricky part comes in. I don't actually know if the TGEa version of Kaboom ever got uploaded to GarageGames. If not you'll have to make a few minor changes to make the sounds and the particles to work properly. Every instance of AudioProfile or AudioDesciption in the Kaboom scripts would need to be changed to SFXProfile or SFXDescription to work in TGEa. Some of the particle effects will have to be changed for use in TGEa since TGEa doesn't allow multiple particles per emitter -- if you have any problems with that I'll post the changes for the particles in the Kaboom Feedback thread.

Quote:
Invalid st coord encoding in Interior::readLMapTG

The Interior format had a few changes done to it since that pack was created -- some of these Interiors will have to be re-exported.

The Aste Pack was created for use in TGE, some people have reported problems having the DIFs work in TGEa and that they need to be re-exported to work correctly. It should have the source art files in the pack and Constructor will be able to "fix" them. All other assets should work the same (sounds, particles, skies, terrains, shapes, and environmental effects). You'll have problems with the scripts not pointing to the correct TGEa directories (they're correct for TGE). You'll have to go through the environment.cs and any particles effect scripts and fix the filepath in the scripts. Other than that you should be able to just drop it in, albeit with a little minor tweaking.

#2 wow. Ok. The Kaboom pack looked like the easiest so I had left that one for last. Its nice to meet the writer of it.

You just explained most of my problems. Its nice to know someone understands all my babbling. I did try to download all of the programs in TGEa format so that they would all work. I will go and try one of the packs(like the sticks and twigs one) and see if I can get at least one to work.

I had heard about Constructor being able to "fix" the bad files in the aste pack. I cant get them to load into constructor though. I have tried both opening a object file and trying to import one, still nothing.
Is there an easy way to do this?

#3 Edit:
Sci-fi Soldier pack works

I had a file in the wrong place. Now for the rest...

#4 Constructor should be able to open the .map files from the Tim Aste pack -- I think I remember reading that code was added just for that pack. Once you've loaded the -XXXX.map file just go to file -> Export To DIF. Constructor is only for Interiors, you would need a 3d modeling application to modify/reexport any of the other shapes/objects.

Quote:
The Kaboom pack looked like the easiest so I had left that one for last.

Hope the Kaboom addition goes well, it was our intention to make things as simple as possible for the end user. I'm always willing to answer questions about it.

Quote:
Sci-fi Soldier pack works

I had a file in the wrong place. Now for the rest...

Ah! Yeah, you have to watch those directories and filenames ;D

#5 Thanks so much for the info. Its really gonna help me a lot.

One more quick question: I cant seem to locate any .map files in the Aste collection. I see .mis, .ter, .ml, DV Mov, .dts, .dml, and tons of jpeg. But no .map files. I cant seem to find them in any of the files. Do I have to convert one of these files into a .map? Or am I just not understanding you correctly?

Thanks again for your time.

I hope to have the Kaboom Pack working tonight.

#6 I don't actually have the Aste pack(s) so I'm just basing this on what I've seen and read on the forums. If the .map files aren't in the Interiors folder then there should be a Source Art directory that contains all of the source artwork. The .map file format is the source file format for the Interiors objects, these are converted into the .dif format for use in game. Once converted they can't be disassembled for further modifications -- which is why the source art should be in there somewhere.

#7 I see what your saying. It really helps having someone who knows about this stuff explain it. I owe you big time.

I'll go look for them now.

Just to make sure that I completely understand you:

Take the .map files and "Import" them into Constructor...Then convert them to .dif...Then "Export them back into torque as .dif?

Then hopefully that will work. All this and I wanted only a couple parts from the pack, lol.

Edit:
Do I need to "Import" all 4 "parts" of the .map file into Constructor at once(to make 1 big .map file) or one at a time(for 4 smaller .map files) and hope that Torque reads them and makes sense out of it all?

#8 Yes, that's basically right. Just find the .map files for the buildings that give you the Invalid st coord encoding in Interior::readLMapTG error. You can open them directly from Constructor. Some people mentioned having a few brushes that had to be corrected on a couple of buildings... Then when you're ready to export use the "Export To Dif" option found under the file menu.

#9 Awesome. That's gonna help a lot.

Do I need to "Import" all 4 "parts" of the .map file into Constructor at once(to make 1 big .dif file) or one at a time(for 4 smaller .dif files) and hope that Torque reads them and makes sense out of it all?

#10 Mike, if you are using Tim Aste's combo pack, look in: "comboPack/sourceArt/interiors/" to find the .map files.

I would import and export one at a time. If you attempt to make the dif too big, it may cause problems.

(thanks Michael, I didn't know constructor had a fix for the buildings. :-) Learn something new every day)

#11 Thanks for the info. I'll go try it right now and see how it works.

#12 So close.

Now it just crashes the program again. But I did get rid of the error message.

Back to square one: I converted all the files to .dif so the individual pieces should be ok. Now to try and figure out where the next problem is.

#13 Have you looked in the console.log to see where torque is stopping? There should be some comments in the log.

#14 Not quite sure where I should be looking in the log. Here are the main ones that I found. Sorry if I seem lost, this is new to me and i'm still learning. Hopefully this makes sense to someone.

Warning! You have a duplicate datablock name of TerrainPainterContainer. This can cause problems. You should rename one of them.
Warning! You have a duplicate datablock name of TerrainEditorContainer. This can cause problems. You should rename one of them.

--- Resetting D3D Device ---
Mapping string: dropCameraAtPlayer to index: 3
Set::remove: Object "2289" does not exist in set
Set::remove: Object "2293" does not exist in set
Tried to get the object for item 127, which is not InspectorData!
Tried to get the object for item 18, which is not InspectorData!

#15 Those are just editor errors. They won't cause a crash.
Since none of us (including you) know what is causing the crash, Look in your mission file and delete all the new dif objects you added. (they will be at the end of the file. .mis is just a text file. open in any text editor) After you have removed all the dif objects, check to make sure you can get into your game world. You should be able too. Then, just add one object at a time, save, exit completely, then reenter. If it works, add the next one.
Important: Make sure you exit all the way out of torque. This way, you won't see console spam from your last try at gaining access to torque.

#16 Ok. I thank you for all the help. I bought 2 books that reference torque as their main program and neither have mentioned a "troubleshooting spot. I just have one more stupid question before I begin.

Where is the .mis file located? I have been through all the files in my Project and still cant find one.

It could be i'm screwing this up from the very beginning, but everything works fine except for the couple add-ons. Constructor also will only let me export basic shapes into torque. If i make something custom, I can see it in the World Editor Creator mode, but if I place it, nothing appears and then if I try to remove it the program crashes.

I do have 3 versions of torque installed under the same root file ex: C:Torque/...(Versions 1_5_1, 1_5_2 and 1_8_1 all in that folder. I don't know if that will screw it up or not.

#17 .mis files are located in the "~/data/missions" directory. They are text files just like script (.cs) or .gui files.

So long as each Torque version is installed in it's own sub-directory being under the same part or root directory shouldn't affect anything.

I missed you question earlier about LOD (level of detail). That's the purpose of those numbers at the end of the filenames. BUILDINGa01.map would be your highest detailed version of that object. BUILDINGa02 would be the next level that is shown as you move away from it and it gets smaller in pixel size on the screen. BUILDINGa03 would be shown from even further away. The purpose for this is for optimization because you shouldn't have to render a highly detailed mdoel when it is only 10 pixels big when you're halfway across the map from it.

You would have to open all of them up, fiddle with some numbers in the "Manage Entities" window (I think), and export the whole group to one DIF file that will be optimized for LOD in Torque. There should be instructions/tutorials on how to use Constructor and LOD somewhere around here.

#18 Thanks. I'll go look now.

Yes, after the main Torque file each version has its own separate folder from then on out.

So, in essence, with TGEA then I should be able to create a new "project" to get a new base to work with and be able to modify from there. Then, once the new "project" is created, I should be able to add the pieces that I want one at a time.

With that in mind. Is there a way to get a "blank" project, or would I have to just take what is there in the game folder(same as the Template one) and modify it from there?

Is it possible to take just the missions file (.mis, .ml and .ter) and import those into the project i'm using and get results? or would I have to modify .cs files or add textures or anything like that?

I ask because I have narrowed down what I want and would like to just get those pieces working. Thanks again for the help all, I really appreciate it. There is a spot for all of you in my game when it gets rolling.

#19

Quote:With that in mind. Is there a way to get a "blank" project, or would I have to just take what is there in the game folder(same as the Template one) and modify it from there?

tgea doesn't have a blank project, but you can move the .mis/.ter files over to your project and use them. .ml is a lighting file that is generated each time you launch torque, so you won't need it.
If you move a .mis file, make sure to look inside it and delete any objects ( or check the path to make sure it's still appropriate) before launching tgea. The project generator uses a pretty bare bones setup tho, so using it should be simple enough. It has multiple avatar choices by default, so if you don't need that, just you'll need to do some exploring in the server/script and client/script files to change the references.

#20 Awesome. That's gonna help a lot. Save me lots of time. Thank you very much.

Now, on to a new set of questions. Is it possible to take a character "look" from another editor and import it easily into torque?

Also: Is adding textures from a add-on as simple as moving them from where they are to the right spot?

I have UT3 and found an awesome mod that displays part of the characters I want perfectly. I was wondering if I had to do the import..convert..export thing again or if there was another way? I am gonna go try it right now and see if it works.

I have been reading around and can't seem to find much, probably lookin in the wrong spot.

Edit: I can get the missions working now. Thanks to all of you. Still no luck with the buildings, even ones I make myself. I will keep trying though.

Edit 2: Anyone heard of some program called Colada?...or something like that, and know if its compatible with TGEA?