Official Torque 3D Documentation Feedback

#81 @Hans - Thanks =)

#82 Hi,
I'm currently evaluating Torque 3D from a scripters point of view. To give you some idea of where I'm starting from: I have lots of experience with programming and I've used a couple of other engines at hobbyist kind of level.

The hello world example and Torque Script syntax guide were more than I needed but I've done a lot of coding and it looks like a good guide for those that haven't.

I could really have done with a T3D architecture diagram at some point to explain how it all fits together.

I had great trouble getting the console to open. To open the console the docs say to press the tilde key (~). On my UK keyboard that's Shift+# next to the return key. Eventually I found I had to use the apostrophe key (') which is between ; and # keys on my keyboard.

I think that the link to the torque script API .chm that is in the introduction here...
http://docs.garagegames.com/torque-3d/official/index.html?content/documentation/Introduction/Introduction.html
...should be also included in the scripting section. On my system (Win Vista 64) the .chm seems to be broken - I see the table of contents but get "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" in the right hand pane. I'd have got more benefit from the tutorial if I could have looked at the API docs at the same time as working through it.

The link to the Torsion editor on this page is broken:
http://docs.garagegames.com/torque-3d/official/index.html?content/documentation/Scripting/Overview/Introduction.html

I think the other thing that would be nice is some diagram and explanation of how all the default scripts in the Full Template fit together.

Justin.

#83 Broken link on this page to the "Torque 3D C++ Engine Reference"...

http://docs.garagegames.com/torque-3d/official/index.html?content/documentation/Beginners%20Guide/World%20Editor/Introduction.html

#84 Pardon my English, I hope I can get my point across.

For me networking is the strongest selling point in Torque however it is not documented at all(Not in current T3D doc).

For example, how do you set up a networked object? What class to derive from? Why server/client structure in single player game? How to code in server/client structure?

This kind of info are scattered over forum posts. Finding those info in forum posts is not really a good experience...

#85 @Sei - Thanks for the feedback. I'll add it to the higher priority list.

@ALL - Just had a meeting today about the server issues preventing me from pushing new documentation online. I have someone on our team working hard on getting the issues resolved. Stay tuned.

#86 One Tool - Fine Adjustment

#87 Tutorial Suggestions from Christian and J.

#88 I agree with Sei & Justin, I have the same problem here. The current documentation is great, but I miss a lot of advanced topics and also architecture documentation.

To go straight to the point, this is what I miss the most (more to less priority order):

-Networking. How connections are negotiated, how gamestate (including physics and custom data) is synched, what is kept server-side and what client-side, error control etc. Maybe a simple example just to know where to start and what to look for.

-Making a custom material with engine integration.
By the way the current material editor misses some documentation. I had to search the forums to find out the bump alpha channel is the way to use parallax bumpmapping and the diffuse alpha has also some other uses (environment mapping mask?). The layer system is undocumented as well.

-Making custom geometry, engine integration and drawing order.

-Scripting. How scripts are executed within a game (which scripts are called, in which order, basic file description like "game logic goes here" or "networking code should go here").

-Overall T3D game skeleton architecture. Game loop pseudocode.

And I'll stop here for now :) it's a lot but I think these are very important topics when building a game that haven't been documented.

Thanks!

#89 @Michael
How is the doc/server going?

#90 @Hans - Good. We are finally set up in the new office. I have all day today to finish converting stuff, generating the TOC and search database, then attempt a push later on. I think tomorrow is the best guess for the full push of all the new content.

#91 Mike

I opened this page:

http://www.torquepowered.com/documentation/torque-3d

ALL the links in the sections titled Editors and Artist are broken. All these links give a similar error:

The requested URL /torque-3d/official/content/documentation/Beginners%20Guide/World%20Editor/Introduction.html was not found on this server.

These topics open correctly when accessed from this page:
http://docs.torquepowered.com/torque-3d/official/index.htm

but not from the "Official Documentation" landing page.

This needs to be fixed as this is the official documentation page and does not look good for GG.

#92 @Justin - Thanks for the heads up. As most everyone has noticed, GarageGames.com is no more. TorquePowered.com is now the main site for our engines and community. Tomorrow I flip the switch on the documentation as well. After tomorrow, all links should work. I was hoping there would be a smoother transition, so I apologize for the down time.

#93 Moved to Tutorials request forum. www.torquepowered.com/community/forums/viewthread/106827/1#comment_form

#94 @Mr Perry
As one of the minor issues that are unlikely to be priority for fixing, you might want to mention the existance of this little oddity in the terrain docs to avoid any confusion. linky

#95 edit...nm found what i was looking for

#96 Michale Perry,

Maybe this is bad form or whatever, but would you be able to duck your head in my thread and throw out some useful information on the Camera?

Camera Changes

I'm trying to implement camera independent player movement in script only, and me and J are just getting frustrated.

I don't need to change the source, but I'd like to know, at least in vague terms, what the camera is doing with the inputs and why it's tied so closely to the player, and most importantly, how to separate it.

#97 Michael,

First thanks for the RTS prototype, its just what I needed, and as a simple question : I saw various people trying to implement A* for TGEA. does the "ClientGroup.getObject(0).player.setMoveDestination( getWords(%scanTarg, 1, 3) );" uses path finding to resolve around obstacles ? I adamantly suggest you include a simple A* solution for AI navigation and player navigation. Right now my interest switched to UDK, and I have learned a lot of things from meddling with it. One of them is that even though it is a very robust engine, I must confess it is a huge undertaking to learn everything needed to make a game. What Torque needs, is a simple plugin to help setup small cut-scene, like matinee, for the rest the simple fact that UDK needs Perforce is also pain to me. Anyhow good job, documentation is paramount to generating interest in your product and from what I saw, you need more in-depth tutorials like the RTS prototype. Just a simple nudge to get started and then we can ask questions in the forums.

#98 Mike

Thanks. Yes the links work now.

But there is an image missing on the GUI Editor.Introduction called "swarmer.png", just after this line:

"Once the above GUI is active in your interface, it would display the following: "

Missing image

#99 Mike

Also here:

WorldEditor.Adding a Water Block

"The default WaterBlock is a too choppy, fast, and murky. We are going to simulate a calmer, clearer lake similar to the placid Crater Lake in Oregon."

where "Crater Lake in Oregon" is a link that when clicked, gives the error:

"The requested URL /torque-3d/official/content/documentation/Beginners Guide/World Editor/20060703-CraterLake-DSC1012445.jpg was not found on this server."

Hope this helps.

#100 I would like to see a complete How To on compiling in VC++ 2008 Express