DNT released. (Replacing TorqueScript with CSharp)

#1 I have been to your site and have read your blogs on this, but correct me if I'm wrong, Is not your solution just an overlay to the torque scripting language ? A wrapper if you will.

Your solution as I understand it don't replace the scripting engine as it still call functions form it ?

#2 Actually it reads the c++ code for the console methods etc, and converts them to externs. Creates mappings for the externs to c++ and provide a simple framework to develop in.

So most of the time you are bypassing the TorqueScript engine completely and calling C++ directly.

So, for all intensive purposes you are not calling Torque Script, you are actually pin-invoking the T3D DLL.

Vince

#3 If you are curious how debugging works, I've thrown together a movie and put it up for download.

You can view it at Debugging DNT.

Vince

#4 Very Nice !!! I'm interested in this but for the moment it would have to wait.

What I'm really interested in is the metrics comparing Torque script to C# and especially the speed difference and overhead difference between the two.

#5 How much would this speed up a full scene like the south pacific demo with AI?

#6 @Kory
The one thing we noticed is that if all u want to do is run 1AI in a small area, it doesnt seem to make a huge difference. The framerate will stay reliably at a higher number as more things happen but that ABOUT it. there is nothing really there to "speed up".

Now.... we did have a FPS test server up and running. 100AI, 2 teams of 50 each... constantly killing each other... in a very small area on an unoptimized terrain. Players could log in and kill mobs - life expectancy was about 5 seconds. We experience no lag for the 3 months that we kept the server up and running.

What we did see by using DNT was that it was able to handle a heavier load more reliably where stock Torque would either lag or not be able to perform at all.

#7 Sorry for the downtime over the last 2 days, Sandy took out our datacenter. But everything is back online as of last night.

Vince

#8 Vince,
is it possible somehow to have a look at the documentation and/or the converted starter.fps Projects? I am very interested, but still somehow the product page does not provide enough info to make me buy it (yet).

#9 well, whats it missing besides the two things you mentioned?

the documentation... what would be of more interest to see - a few pages of the ~100 page installation manual or the ~4000 page SDK manual?

I dont see the FULL converted project listing happening, but a few code blocks.... Ill chat with Vince about.

If there is a bit of information that you would like, Id be more than happy to help you out. You can ask me here or email me at pyoskowitz@winterleafentertainment.com

#10 I think a few pages of the Installation Manual would be very nice along with some pages of the SDK Manual.

Agreed, a few code blocks would be enough...just to get a feel how it Looks. Possibly with some datablock examples. Maybe parts of the Player.cs and its datablock.

Also, are there some tutorials included? I mean tutorials that explain the code and why it works?

#11 I spoke with Vince and Luis today on this. We agreed on putting the 2 manuals up on the website. We were discussing what code to put up just before I read this post. If its the player.cs you would like,we can do that!

As far as tutorials..... maybe we need to specify it better. The Starter.FPS Full *IS* the tutorial. That project is a line by line conversion of the TorqueScript. All you would have to do is put up a function (like the player.cs) and compare the two.

Now the other projects, THEY are fully optimized and correctly written C# code.

As far as to *why* it works.... that would be several high level C++ classes to explain Marshalling and the other techniques that Vince used. If you are wanting a more layman explanation, I can talk to Vince about that too.

#12 Paul, thanks a lot for the effort! I will look into the docs in the next few days.
Again, thanks a lot...most probably I'll buy soon ;-).

#13 I came across this www.youtube.com/watch?v=p49vOX-_LyU
the original code is done in C#, so it I wanted to get this working using the C# code how much coding would be involved if I wanted to use DNT?

#14 @Kory,

The T3D engine is still c++, I just enabled it to use C# for running logic. So, really DNT would offer no real benefit in getting that working since the rendering code is still in c++

#15 Paul or Vince,
I saw that the docs are on your wiki. But is it intentional that most of the pages are empty?

#16 DNT Product Page

This was just being put up today. The manuals are still be converted over to a Wiki format so yes, there will be blanks until its completed.

#17 OK Paul. thanks for the fast follow up. Will go trough the docs as soon as they are there, and then decide.

#18 Andy,

Paul and I are learning as we go, some of this stuff is all new to us. So any feedback is appreciated and evaluated.

Vince