TGEA 1.8.1 Progress Update
by Alex Scarborough · 01/29/2009 (12:01 pm) · 39 comments
Hello all! It's time for a TGEA 1.8.1 progress update. At a high level, we're progressing quite well towards our goals of a faster and more polished product. With over 40 issues resolved, TGEA 1.8.1 is already as fast or faster than TGEA 1.7.1.
Below is a list of issues which are already resolved and guaranteed to be fixed by 1.8.1
Here is what remains on our todo list at this point
There were a couple of things we weren't able to reproduce in our own testing. If you have any additional information about them, it would be greatly appreciated
As before, keep submitting your bug reports. The vast majority of the issues above were community reported and some were even community fixed, which is just awesome. Every fix we get into 1.8.1 makes it a better product, so go find some more!
Below is a list of issues which are already resolved and guaranteed to be fixed by 1.8.1
- Fullscreen support on OS X
- Fix lockup with OS X and X1600
- Legacy terrain performance improvements
- Fix for incorrect terrain texture paths
- Fix bad sun color on legacy terrain in OS X
- Fix audio bug in Projectile
- Fix lighting preferences
- Fix for ShapeBase::getCameraTransform
- Fix so changing datablock in mission editor actually changes the object datablock
- Remove need for DDS mipmaps
- Render bitmap gui controls with linear texture filtering
- Fix FontRenderBatcher::render assert
- Fix scrolling with touchpad on OS X
- Fix for WMIVideoInfo init
- Fix LightManager initialization
- Fix fullscreen in Vista
- Disable fences by default
- Implement/Fix waterFind function in ShapeBase
- Fix mismatched method signatures in GameBase
- Fix for Splash emitters and explosions
- Color Picker support on OS X
- Mac: Fix sound volume issues post mission start
- Fix issue where cursor is offset after drag operations
- Fix billboard meshes
- Reimplement/fix BillboardZ meshes
- Mac: Key events processed by action map while GuiTextEditCtrl is active
- Mac: Modifier keys incorrect
- Fix getScheduleDuration, getTimeSinceStart
- DSQ import crashes/has incorrect orientation
- World editor defaults overwriting world editor prefs
- Win32: Cursor offset after resizing window
- Fix IFLs
- Pink lines in gui
- MegaTerrain match up problem
- Fix crash if DDS fails to load
- Fix memory leak in legacy terrain
- Clipmap not updated to reflect changing/unsetting of previously set terrain texture slots
- Fix inverted shift-snapping logic in GuiSliderControl
- Fix bitmap operator in terrain terraformer
- Terrain center in newMission moved to 0, 0
- Fix crash caused by dangling pointer held by world editor
- Win32: Attempting to use OpenGL device when using prefs from mac OS
- Terrain terraformer locked to first terrain block turned up by server query
- Terrain edge files getting out of sync
Here is what remains on our todo list at this point
- Fix terrain heightfield loading
- Update OpenAL dll
- Dedicated server should not open window
There were a couple of things we weren't able to reproduce in our own testing. If you have any additional information about them, it would be greatly appreciated
As before, keep submitting your bug reports. The vast majority of the issues above were community reported and some were even community fixed, which is just awesome. Every fix we get into 1.8.1 makes it a better product, so go find some more!
About the author
#3
01/29/2009 (12:27 pm)
Kewl! 
#4
Nail the bugs and optimize, happy days
01/29/2009 (12:28 pm)
Great work Alex and all involved, this is the kinda transparency I imagine many peeps want to see and need to see. I feel much happier knowing 1.8.1 is in the works after being well disapointed with 1.8. Nail the bugs and optimize, happy days
#5
01/29/2009 (1:03 pm)
Look forward to them bugs being terminated.. :) Great work. 
#6
01/29/2009 (1:09 pm)
Wow, lots of bugs to squash. You are going to be busy for a while. Thanks for all the hard work you are doing to make tgea better and better. It'll be nice when it's as stable as tge. :-)
#7
01/29/2009 (1:09 pm)
Bloody buttered onions that's a nice list of fixes!! And to regain/exceed the performance that 1.7.1 had is awesome too!
#8
2 others "bugs" I didn't see mentioned in your list :
01/29/2009 (1:34 pm)
TGEA / Torque 3D is in good hands !2 others "bugs" I didn't see mentioned in your list :
- On Mac, in World Editor mode, will the menu bars be visible ? (I think I remember Matt listing this bug in TGEA 1.8.0 beta1)
- When moving a project from Win to Mac or the other way, I have to delete client/prefs.cs in order for the engine to start. I think that come from renderer D3D not available on Mac of course, and from OpenGL not available on WIndows of course too.
#9
@Mike: No, I was busy. Those bugs have all been squashed :).
@Nicolas: TGEA uses platform native menu bars. So in the world editor, your menus are, well, in the menu bar. And the second issue is fixed, I just forgot to log it.
01/29/2009 (1:44 pm)
@All: Thanks for the encouragement. It's been intense working on this update, but your responses make it worthwhile.@Mike: No, I was busy. Those bugs have all been squashed :).
@Nicolas: TGEA uses platform native menu bars. So in the world editor, your menus are, well, in the menu bar. And the second issue is fixed, I just forgot to log it.
#10
01/29/2009 (2:23 pm)
Thanks Alex for taking care. You are like a mother for us. ;-) 
#11
>>Fix billboard meshes
>>Reimplement/fix BillboardZ meshes
>>Fix IFLs
So, four of my main concerns will be fixed. Now I can start working in a port for Warscale from TGE to TGEA... or maybe just skip TGEA, finish my game with TGE and then hop into T3D when its finished... decisions... decisions...
Keep the good work!!! :)
Guimo
01/29/2009 (3:24 pm)
>>Faster than TGEA 1.7.1. >>Fix billboard meshes
>>Reimplement/fix BillboardZ meshes
>>Fix IFLs
So, four of my main concerns will be fixed. Now I can start working in a port for Warscale from TGE to TGEA... or maybe just skip TGEA, finish my game with TGE and then hop into T3D when its finished... decisions... decisions...
Keep the good work!!! :)
Guimo
#12
Torque now does the correct thing.
01/29/2009 (3:27 pm)
Oh hey, I should clarify on the billboard stuff. When I say "fixed" I don't mean they act just like they did in TGEA 1.7.1. They are genuinely fixed, as inTorque now does the correct thing.
#13
01/29/2009 (3:34 pm)
you guys are god. 
#14
Awesome. Well done!
TGEA 1.8.1 is already as fast or faster than TGEA 1.7.1.
Double awesome!
01/29/2009 (3:49 pm)
Torque now does the correct thing.Awesome. Well done!
TGEA 1.8.1 is already as fast or faster than TGEA 1.7.1.
Double awesome!
#15
Easy decision to make...upgrade to 1.8.1 when it comes out and you'll be 2/3ds of the way there when T3D comes out.
@ Alex, That's awesome. The way billboards have always worked never set right with me. Now they'll be working properly. Thankyou. <- and that's a big one.
01/29/2009 (4:37 pm)
Quote:Now I can start working in a port for Warscale from TGE to TGEA... or maybe just skip TGEA, finish my game with TGE and then hop into T3D when its finished... decisions... decisions...
Easy decision to make...upgrade to 1.8.1 when it comes out and you'll be 2/3ds of the way there when T3D comes out.
@ Alex, That's awesome. The way billboards have always worked never set right with me. Now they'll be working properly. Thankyou. <- and that's a big one.
#16
So I will start with TGEA. Now we need to shake Jeff Faust a little so he gets the AFX ready for TGEA 1.8.1 ASAP!
Luck!
Guimo
01/29/2009 (7:37 pm)
Hi Mike!So I will start with TGEA. Now we need to shake Jeff Faust a little so he gets the AFX ready for TGEA 1.8.1 ASAP!
Luck!
Guimo
#18
As a reminder these are all guaranteed to be fixed in TGEA 1.8.1.
By the way, huge props go to Rene Damm. Rene has done an amazing amount of work on Legacy terrain to make it better than ever before, and a lot of these fixes wouldn't have happened without him.
01/29/2009 (9:45 pm)
Oh, whoops. It seems that I missed a few other fixes. There are so many it can be a bit hard to keep track. I'll update the list shortly, but here are the ones I missed:- Fix crash if DDS fails to load
- Fix memory leak in legacy terrain
- Clipmap not updated to reflect changing/unsetting of previously set terrain texture slots
- Fix inverted shift-snapping logic in GuiSliderControl
- Fix bitmap operator in terrain terraformer
- Terrain center in newMission moved to 0, 0
- Fix crash caused by dangling pointer held by world editor
- Win32: Attempting to use OpenGL device when using prefs from mac OS
- Terrain terraformer locked to first terrain block turned up by server query
- Terrain edge files getting out of sync
As a reminder these are all guaranteed to be fixed in TGEA 1.8.1.
By the way, huge props go to Rene Damm. Rene has done an amazing amount of work on Legacy terrain to make it better than ever before, and a lot of these fixes wouldn't have happened without him.
#19
01/29/2009 (10:34 pm)
Hooray for Alex! Hooray for Rene! 
#20
The mouse pointer wont lock in normal playmode. In order to rotate the camera around i have to open the mission editor and hold down right mousebutton. Iv been trying to figure out what creates this bug ... iv now started from a cleaen install 10+ times .. and as far as i can see the issue arise if you lose focus on the client window while it's loading.
And only way to fix it is to start over from a clean install, deleteing pref files wont help.
01/29/2009 (11:33 pm)
I don't know if this issue have been fixed .. didn't find it in your list. But it's one of my main problems with 1.8.The mouse pointer wont lock in normal playmode. In order to rotate the camera around i have to open the mission editor and hold down right mousebutton. Iv been trying to figure out what creates this bug ... iv now started from a cleaen install 10+ times .. and as far as i can see the issue arise if you lose focus on the client window while it's loading.
And only way to fix it is to start over from a clean install, deleteing pref files wont help.
Torque Owner Michael Branin
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