Torque 3D Status - 7/29/2010
by Matt Fairfax · in Torque 3D Professional · 07/29/2010 (8:02 am) · 111 replies
Hey all,
Let's start with the good news =)
We are fairly confident that we are going to be able to deliver Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2 in the next couple of days. We have a few more blocker bugs to work through before we will release it and the Docs team is jamming long, long hours to make sure that it ships with a complete script reference. As always, there is risk that something unexpected will pop up and push us into the beginning of next week but we are working hard to make sure that doesn't happen.
After I post this, I am going to be posting a preliminary changelog so that you can start to wrap your head around just how much work has gone into this release.
Here is some statistics that I hope you guys will find very exciting:
New Features - 21
Improvements - 191
Fixes - 254
Now the bad news...
Torque X 3.1.5 took a bit longer than we had hoped and we didn't really begin to ramp QA back up onto Torque 3D fulltime until last week. We have been working hard to capture a complete picture of exactly what is left to fix in Torque 3D 1.1 and the list is longer than we'd like despite the huge strides we have made (as you will see in the changelog). There is still a lot more bugs we want to fix before we call this 1.1 Final...so many so that we think we will need a Beta 3.
Now, before anyone gets too concerned...there will be a much shorter gap between Beta 2 and Beta 3 than there was between Beta 1 and Beta 2. By shorter, I mean closer to a month rather than 5 months. I will also be updating you guys weekly on what we have fixed and what new bugs we have discovered until we ship Beta 3.
Tomorrow, I plan to post a Known Issues list showing the bugs that we will be focusing on for Beta 3. This list isn't completely fleshed out yet because there are still bugs making their way through the QA pipeline that haven't been properly verified, documented, and prioritized for the developers. There are a lot of bug reports on the Torque 3D forums which is an amazing testament to how awesome this community is and we are still playing some catch up. As I mentioned above, this Known Issues list will get updated every week and I will also be adding some lower priority bugs as I get them organized.
There is a slight chance that I won't be able to get the Known Issues list posted tomorrow because I have some family business that could interfere but I will try my best!
Disclaimer: All timeframes in this thread are estimates and should not be considered final
Let's start with the good news =)
We are fairly confident that we are going to be able to deliver Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2 in the next couple of days. We have a few more blocker bugs to work through before we will release it and the Docs team is jamming long, long hours to make sure that it ships with a complete script reference. As always, there is risk that something unexpected will pop up and push us into the beginning of next week but we are working hard to make sure that doesn't happen.
After I post this, I am going to be posting a preliminary changelog so that you can start to wrap your head around just how much work has gone into this release.
Here is some statistics that I hope you guys will find very exciting:
New Features - 21
Improvements - 191
Fixes - 254
Now the bad news...
Torque X 3.1.5 took a bit longer than we had hoped and we didn't really begin to ramp QA back up onto Torque 3D fulltime until last week. We have been working hard to capture a complete picture of exactly what is left to fix in Torque 3D 1.1 and the list is longer than we'd like despite the huge strides we have made (as you will see in the changelog). There is still a lot more bugs we want to fix before we call this 1.1 Final...so many so that we think we will need a Beta 3.
Now, before anyone gets too concerned...there will be a much shorter gap between Beta 2 and Beta 3 than there was between Beta 1 and Beta 2. By shorter, I mean closer to a month rather than 5 months. I will also be updating you guys weekly on what we have fixed and what new bugs we have discovered until we ship Beta 3.
Tomorrow, I plan to post a Known Issues list showing the bugs that we will be focusing on for Beta 3. This list isn't completely fleshed out yet because there are still bugs making their way through the QA pipeline that haven't been properly verified, documented, and prioritized for the developers. There are a lot of bug reports on the Torque 3D forums which is an amazing testament to how awesome this community is and we are still playing some catch up. As I mentioned above, this Known Issues list will get updated every week and I will also be adding some lower priority bugs as I get them organized.
There is a slight chance that I won't be able to get the Known Issues list posted tomorrow because I have some family business that could interfere but I will try my best!
Disclaimer: All timeframes in this thread are estimates and should not be considered final
About the author
I am a Game Designer at PopCap who has worked on PvZ Adventures, PvZ2, Peggle Blast, and Bejeweled Skies. I am an ex-GarageGames employee who helped ship TGE, TGEA, Torque 3D, and Constructor.
#2
07/29/2010 (8:36 am)
HOLY AWESOMENESS. My eyes are burning from scrolling down. Amazing work, team.
#3
07/29/2010 (9:03 am)
thank you very much for keeping us updated, and thanx to your alarm for reminding you as well :P
#4
So we (having indie Licence only) can also expect to get this release !
Right ?
07/29/2010 (9:44 am)
Oh! Great Matt!So we (having indie Licence only) can also expect to get this release !
Right ?
#5
Especially since some of the nasty bugs irritating me are marked as fixed :)
07/29/2010 (10:11 am)
Great that we'll have a shiny new Beta to play with in the next couple of days (hopefully)Especially since some of the nasty bugs irritating me are marked as fixed :)
#6
07/29/2010 (10:26 am)
Will this release be only for Torque 3D Professional owners?
#7
- I truly appreciate that you acknowledged the amount of bugs and evenmore: I appreciate the fix list being quite extensive.
Rock on!
@Sailesh: binary users only receive final releases. Which means you will have another month(hopefully) or so to wait for 1.1 final.
07/29/2010 (10:57 am)
woot^2!- I truly appreciate that you acknowledged the amount of bugs and evenmore: I appreciate the fix list being quite extensive.
Rock on!
@Sailesh: binary users only receive final releases. Which means you will have another month(hopefully) or so to wait for 1.1 final.
#8
Thanks for reply "eb"
07/29/2010 (11:10 am)
Oh! no then I think I should buy the Professional one...Thanks for reply "eb"
#9
07/29/2010 (11:33 am)
That ground transformation on death animation issue was killing me. I can't for this one!
#10
Ultimately, Beta 2 isn't the release that we want, we are still raising the bar; however, getting this beta out in July was really important.
We've been striving to increase quality in all of our products and we know your expectations are high.
Our initial though was to continue to delay beta 2 more; but after more discussion, we decided that we shouldn't hold out on those who have been waiting for the work that has already been done. 466 updates and a significant documentation increase is substantial. And since some of those 466 might be blocking you from finishing your game, we wanted to put those in your hands so that you could start merging in anticipation of a Beta 3.
What do you think? Sound like the right move?
07/29/2010 (12:22 pm)
I'm glad to see the great responses so far. We really thought long an hard about our options and the impact on you.Ultimately, Beta 2 isn't the release that we want, we are still raising the bar; however, getting this beta out in July was really important.
We've been striving to increase quality in all of our products and we know your expectations are high.
Our initial though was to continue to delay beta 2 more; but after more discussion, we decided that we shouldn't hold out on those who have been waiting for the work that has already been done. 466 updates and a significant documentation increase is substantial. And since some of those 466 might be blocking you from finishing your game, we wanted to put those in your hands so that you could start merging in anticipation of a Beta 3.
What do you think? Sound like the right move?
#11
A bit off topic, I was wondering if the old wetness and precipitation code (that didn't work great with the AL). Could be released as a resource or something? Maybe someone here from the forum could fix it, so torquepowered can focus on other things, just a quick idea. Great Work, can't wait for the release.
@Eric, it sounds great to me!
07/29/2010 (1:03 pm)
Great list, I really can't wait until the beta is release I'm looking forward in trying everything out!A bit off topic, I was wondering if the old wetness and precipitation code (that didn't work great with the AL). Could be released as a resource or something? Maybe someone here from the forum could fix it, so torquepowered can focus on other things, just a quick idea. Great Work, can't wait for the release.
@Eric, it sounds great to me!
#12
Quite a list.
Better a B3 than a poor (1.0-esque) Release.
edit - slaps Kory around the head with a wet haddock for mentioning that damn shader ... realizes I've just mentioned that damn shader ... turns haddock upon self ...
07/29/2010 (1:06 pm)
Quote:lol.
RemapDlg is no longer shamed by ugliness
Quite a list.
Better a B3 than a poor (1.0-esque) Release.
edit - slaps Kory around the head with a wet haddock for mentioning that damn shader ... realizes I've just mentioned that damn shader ... turns haddock upon self ...
#13
07/29/2010 (1:17 pm)
@Steve, lol!
#14
Yup, definitively the right move IMO.
Change Log FTW, took some time to read tho. Can't wait for 1.1b 2 :D.
07/29/2010 (1:21 pm)
@EricYup, definitively the right move IMO.
Quote:RemapDlg is no longer shamed by uglinesslol, wonder how it looks then O_o.
Quote:I was wondering if the old wetness and precipitation code (that didn't work great with the AL)The TorquePowered guys still have it? If so then please release it to the public (as Kory suggested). Maybe someone in this community can fix whatever the problem was as Kory said.
Change Log FTW, took some time to read tho. Can't wait for 1.1b 2 :D.
#15
07/29/2010 (1:22 pm)
This is great information! Thanks for the update, Matt.
#16
I take the legacy ConsoleMethod/Function and con::executef() still works, right? That way I can migrate my custom classes into the new format over time, instead of all at once.
I also think with beta2 out of the way I can make the finishing touches to the gamma correction support so it can be integrated (I've been using it in production code for a while already).
07/29/2010 (1:27 pm)
Since there are some substantial changes, I agree it was a good idea to get it out already, since merging will take a while. I'll have a lot of fun merging all those, since my project's source has 1/3 of those fixes already plus some heavy changes to some of the updated subsystems (I had to completely re-write the way sequence loading and storage works).I take the legacy ConsoleMethod/Function and con::executef() still works, right? That way I can migrate my custom classes into the new format over time, instead of all at once.
I also think with beta2 out of the way I can make the finishing touches to the gamma correction support so it can be integrated (I've been using it in production code for a while already).
#17
This list is quite intimidating when considering the merge with my current work, but I am very excited as it looks like a lot of issues I was vague on whether or not they were being addressed have been taken care of.
I am basically a long-long time heavy lurker on the forums, don't post much unless it really really affects me, but have literally been spending 70+ hours a week for the last 10 months developing tech around the T3D core. (The company I worked for last year dissolved, and I have directly ignored the sage Jeff Tunnell's advice on keeping a job while you develop)
Although I am on this site EVERY DAY, as are many of us, I had no idea a lot of this stuff was being taken care of. What I find the most frustrating is trying to track progress using the forums and (necessarily) vague blogs (and memory, bookmarks...).
This is not meant as a 'complaint' as it seems some politeness police on the forums easily jump to assuming, but as a constructive criticism. I don't know how many of my type are out there, but I suspect a good majority of my type are similar, I keep my head down and code. I really don't have time to be heavily involved in the community, but have piped up a bit lately as my frustration level was very high (read 'pissed')... this will happen if you invest a large part of your life into something that is being co-developed by a somewhat silent partner(TP). I am glad I 'guessed right' on what was coming up in this release for many things, as I won't have to re-work a lot to integrate, but I'm hoping that I wont have to guess in the future, or at least have a lot more info to base my guess on.
Expectations ARE high, as you have set that bar there. I think that you have done a great job with how you are moving this project along - it cant be even close to easy wrangling this thing together.
Keep tightening the bolts like this and T3D will be the dominant player in the industry. Great Job Guys!!
07/29/2010 (1:54 pm)
Yes, Eric, That is the perfect move and in line with your move toward much faster incremental updates. From my standpoint, you can do another 8 'beta' phases on top of this, if they are faster (1 mo is a good timeframe) and much more transparent -- although I'm sure the non-Pros will have an issue with this ;)This list is quite intimidating when considering the merge with my current work, but I am very excited as it looks like a lot of issues I was vague on whether or not they were being addressed have been taken care of.
I am basically a long-long time heavy lurker on the forums, don't post much unless it really really affects me, but have literally been spending 70+ hours a week for the last 10 months developing tech around the T3D core. (The company I worked for last year dissolved, and I have directly ignored the sage Jeff Tunnell's advice on keeping a job while you develop)
Although I am on this site EVERY DAY, as are many of us, I had no idea a lot of this stuff was being taken care of. What I find the most frustrating is trying to track progress using the forums and (necessarily) vague blogs (and memory, bookmarks...).
This is not meant as a 'complaint' as it seems some politeness police on the forums easily jump to assuming, but as a constructive criticism. I don't know how many of my type are out there, but I suspect a good majority of my type are similar, I keep my head down and code. I really don't have time to be heavily involved in the community, but have piped up a bit lately as my frustration level was very high (read 'pissed')... this will happen if you invest a large part of your life into something that is being co-developed by a somewhat silent partner(TP). I am glad I 'guessed right' on what was coming up in this release for many things, as I won't have to re-work a lot to integrate, but I'm hoping that I wont have to guess in the future, or at least have a lot more info to base my guess on.
Expectations ARE high, as you have set that bar there. I think that you have done a great job with how you are moving this project along - it cant be even close to easy wrangling this thing together.
Keep tightening the bolts like this and T3D will be the dominant player in the industry. Great Job Guys!!
#18
Looking at that change list I am very assuming I will just re-work all of my added functionality on top of a new install. Can't wait to get my hands on the code to see for sure though.
Luckily, I've structured my code in a way to handle merges somewhat easily after a very painful merge into the last beta. The t3d file structure makes this far easier than older engine versions.
Regardless: yikes.
07/29/2010 (2:27 pm)
I am in a similar boat to Manoel with bug fixes... a good percentage of them I have already integrated from form posts (a good deal of them from Manoel himself, the man is a dev machine: thank you!). The difficulty this presents is partly symptomatic of the time it took between cycles.Looking at that change list I am very assuming I will just re-work all of my added functionality on top of a new install. Can't wait to get my hands on the code to see for sure though.
Luckily, I've structured my code in a way to handle merges somewhat easily after a very painful merge into the last beta. The t3d file structure makes this far easier than older engine versions.
Regardless: yikes.
#19
That's definitely a list to make one do a double-take and cringe in fear of porting -- but I look forward to it!
07/29/2010 (4:21 pm)
Excitement abounds, good to see that great things do come to those with patience :)That's definitely a list to make one do a double-take and cringe in fear of porting -- but I look forward to it!
#20
No more dAtof() and dAtob()s.... thats all done under the hood. You can thank Rene Damm for all that.
On porting: Remember that "porting" and constantly chasing the latest and greatest technical improvements has killed many a game project. If porting is too hard for you or your project you just shouldn't port and finish with what you have.
If anything selectively absorb fixes that you need and ignore the rest. This is where proper use of version control like SVN or Git will save you.
07/29/2010 (5:28 pm)
Quote:I take the legacy ConsoleMethod/Function and con::executef() still works, right?Yes... this shouldn't break any existing code or resources. Althought i bet alot of you will want to port to it as its much cleaner...
DefineEngineFunction( getFileCount, S32, ( const char* pattern, bool recurse ), ( true ),
"Lots of docs!" )
{
S32 numResults = buildFileList( pattern, recurse, false );
if(numResults < 0)
return 0;
return numResults;
}No more dAtof() and dAtob()s.... thats all done under the hood. You can thank Rene Damm for all that.
On porting: Remember that "porting" and constantly chasing the latest and greatest technical improvements has killed many a game project. If porting is too hard for you or your project you just shouldn't port and finish with what you have.
If anything selectively absorb fixes that you need and ignore the rest. This is where proper use of version control like SVN or Git will save you.
Associate Matt Fairfax
PopCap
Features:
- GFXShaders now create "instancing constant handles" from an instancing vertex format assigned in initialization
- GFXShaderConstBuffer now has support for "instancing constant handles" which write into a locked VB pointer
- Changed WindDeformationHLSL to use only two shader constants and support instancing
- We now use VPos for the screen space coords for fizzle (need to add fallback for SM 2.0)
- Big refactor of RenderPrePassMgr to manage 3 seperate element lists for terrain, meshes, and object render insts
- RenderPrePassMgr, RenderMeshMgr, RenderTranslucentMgr all support hardware mesh instancing
- Added various helper methods to ShaderFeatureHLSL which wrap lookups to some matricies which can change based on instancing
- Removed the unnecessary ProcessedMaterial::cleanup() virtual
- TSLastDetail now creates a private Material and a MatInstance for rendering imposters
- Added imposter bin to shadow pass
- Added $pref::imposter::canShadow to control if imposters are rendered into shadows
- "FPS Example.exe" -jPlayToVideo myJournal.rec (plays myJournal.rec and records a video using the same filename and default settings. Video extension is automatic depending on the encoder (defaults to Theora's .ogv))
- "FPS Example.exe" -jPlayToVideo myJournal.rec -vidCapWidth 1280 -vidCapHeight 720 -vidCapFile myVideo (plays myJournal.rec and records a video to "myVideo.ogv", resizing the frame to 1280x720)
- "FPS Example.exe" -jPlayToVideo myJournal.rec -vidCapFile myPNGVideo -vidCapEncoder PNG -vidCapFPS 60 (plays myJournal.rec and records a sequence of PNG files at 60fps to the folder "myPNGVideo")
Improvements:
- New property GuiAutoScrollCtrl.isLooping that determines whether to loop or not
- New property GuiAutoScrollCtrl.scrollOutOfSight that determines whether to scroll only to border or out of sight
- New method GuiAutoScrollCtrl.reset() that allows to reset scrolling
- New callback GuiAutoScrollCtrl.onStart()
- New callback GuiAutoScrollCtrl.onComplete()
- New callback GuiAutoScrollCtrl.onReset()
- You no longer inherit from MatTextureTarget... instead you create a NamedTexTarget and set parameters
- Fixed up all the dependent classes and objects to use new NamedTexTarget
- Removed all remaining traces of the BlurOp class
- Field referring to other objects can now have precise type information. Use TYPEID< className >() to retrieve type IDs of classes (or any other native type registered as a console type).
- Added BaseMatInstance::isForwardLit()
- Addded MaterialList::isForwardLit()
- All BL materials now get the MFT_ForwardShading feature
- Added SceneGraphData::init() which initializes the SceneGraphData for a SceneState
- RenderBinManager::setupSGData() only sets MeshRenderInst state to the SceneGraphData (no resets or repeated calculation of fog parameters)
- Changed SceneGraphData::objTrans into a const MatrixF* to avoid a matrix copy on every RenderInst
Editing a PhysicsShapeData in the datablock editor has been tested and live-updates. Other classes may or may-not actually be setup to do all reloading they would need for live-updates within their onNewDataBlock method.
- Added MFT_ForwardShading
- Changed Advanced Lighting functionality keyed off of MFT_IsTranslucent to be keyed off MFT_ForwardShading instead.
- Added BaseMatInstance::getUserStateBlock()
- Reflectors now use the material override delegate on SceneState to create reflection materials
- Added ReflectionMatHook to manipulate materials used for reflection rendering
Fixes:
- Fixed problem with toolbar button states not being set correctly from settings.xml
- Fixed problem when setting camera mode from status bar
- Made all text list control header rows un-selectable
- Show message box when mounting fails
- Resort thread list when sequence priority changes
Notes: