Where to Start?????
by Michael Welch · in Technical Issues · 03/14/2008 (5:22 am) · 3 replies
I am wanting to start on a small test project. I am going to be using the starter.fps kit. I also want to be as organized as possible.
I am wanting to remove the unnecessary files and folders from the project folder so that it is organized and clean. Also, because I am fairly new to it, I don't want to be looking through a bunch of unnecessary code files and such. I want this to be as uncomplicated as possible. On top of all that, I believe it is good practice to be well organized so that if others have to use or improve upon your code, it will be easy to find what they are looking for.
My question to you all is: If I am just using the fps starter kit, what files and folder do I need to transfer to a new project folder? Is it just the starter.fps folder, or are there other files that needed to be included in the project folder?
The reason I'm asking is because it's pretty overwhelming opening the root Torque folder and trying to find everything, without confusing this folder for that, or opening the wrong main.cs, etc.
Any help you all can give is great!
Thanks in advance.
Mike
I am wanting to remove the unnecessary files and folders from the project folder so that it is organized and clean. Also, because I am fairly new to it, I don't want to be looking through a bunch of unnecessary code files and such. I want this to be as uncomplicated as possible. On top of all that, I believe it is good practice to be well organized so that if others have to use or improve upon your code, it will be easy to find what they are looking for.
My question to you all is: If I am just using the fps starter kit, what files and folder do I need to transfer to a new project folder? Is it just the starter.fps folder, or are there other files that needed to be included in the project folder?
The reason I'm asking is because it's pretty overwhelming opening the root Torque folder and trying to find everything, without confusing this folder for that, or opening the wrong main.cs, etc.
Any help you all can give is great!
Thanks in advance.
Mike
About the author
#2
I'm eventually going to turn this whole thing into a tutorial, but here is an overview:
Since you provided the situation of using starter.fps, let's target that. If you exclude the other mods (like starter.tutorial), you are left with the following:
common
creator
show
starter.fps
Base files that allow your game to run (executable, dlls, root main.cs)
So, if you were to try to create a base project from scratch, with no other folder dependencies here's what I recommend *IF* you are familiar enough with using Torque:
Merge the common folder with starter.fps. Among other responsibilities, the common folder is to provide client/server/data content (both scripts and assets) to all the projects you create. So, starter.fps and demo rely on common. You will have to modify any exec(...) made to the common path.
I highly, *HIGHLY* recommend you leave the creator folder alone until you are finished with your game. All of your WYSIWYG editors are found here. Unless you plan otherwise, when you ship your game you probably want to delete this folder, any calls to it, and any engine code that can launch the editors. This will prevent end users from breaking your game. Until that time, the location and purpose of the creator is pretty organized, so leave it be.
You can delete show, but it is a mod that allows you to run ShowTool Pro over your game to view models. If you don't plan on using this, delete away. I still find uses for it occasionally.
So, what does that leave? Your starter.fps (project) folder. As you know, it is organized as client - server - data. However you wish to organized your project is, again, completely up to you. This is just an example, and maintains the separate of assets from client scripts from server scripts. This helps remind you to maintain the client/server architecture.
Well, that's a brief (haha) overview. A full tutorial will take time, but in all honesty, you probably do not need to do this right now. If you bork something up, repairing the drastic changes you've made will be frustrating if you are new to Torque.
If this is just a test project, which means others will follow, why not just create your mod from scratch instead of the entire base directory?
Your call; you're in charge of this project, right? =)
03/15/2008 (8:00 am)
@Michael - Organizing the folder hierarchy of your project is completely up to you. What has been provided in the stock installation are example projects and recommended folder placement/naming.I'm eventually going to turn this whole thing into a tutorial, but here is an overview:
Since you provided the situation of using starter.fps, let's target that. If you exclude the other mods (like starter.tutorial), you are left with the following:
common
creator
show
starter.fps
Base files that allow your game to run (executable, dlls, root main.cs)
So, if you were to try to create a base project from scratch, with no other folder dependencies here's what I recommend *IF* you are familiar enough with using Torque:
Merge the common folder with starter.fps. Among other responsibilities, the common folder is to provide client/server/data content (both scripts and assets) to all the projects you create. So, starter.fps and demo rely on common. You will have to modify any exec(...) made to the common path.
I highly, *HIGHLY* recommend you leave the creator folder alone until you are finished with your game. All of your WYSIWYG editors are found here. Unless you plan otherwise, when you ship your game you probably want to delete this folder, any calls to it, and any engine code that can launch the editors. This will prevent end users from breaking your game. Until that time, the location and purpose of the creator is pretty organized, so leave it be.
You can delete show, but it is a mod that allows you to run ShowTool Pro over your game to view models. If you don't plan on using this, delete away. I still find uses for it occasionally.
So, what does that leave? Your starter.fps (project) folder. As you know, it is organized as client - server - data. However you wish to organized your project is, again, completely up to you. This is just an example, and maintains the separate of assets from client scripts from server scripts. This helps remind you to maintain the client/server architecture.
Well, that's a brief (haha) overview. A full tutorial will take time, but in all honesty, you probably do not need to do this right now. If you bork something up, repairing the drastic changes you've made will be frustrating if you are new to Torque.
If this is just a test project, which means others will follow, why not just create your mod from scratch instead of the entire base directory?
Your call; you're in charge of this project, right? =)
#3
I ran through the PDF and it worked the first time. When I closed everything out and loaded it again it seemed to revert to the original files, even though when I opened the console it said it was compiling the new folders. I think I'll start the PDF frm scratch again to see what I did wrong.
Thanks again both of you.
03/26/2008 (5:01 pm)
Thanks for the responses guys. I am still a beginner programmer and I'm used to looking only at what I create, not what others created. It can be overwhelming at times and seem like I'm chasing my own tail. I ran through the PDF and it worked the first time. When I closed everything out and loaded it again it seemed to revert to the original files, even though when I opened the console it said it was compiling the new folders. I think I'll start the PDF frm scratch again to see what I did wrong.
Thanks again both of you.
Torque 3D Owner Scott Warren
Hope this helps.
On the other hand, I find it more useful to me by using a game style folder already made and test with it.
For myself, I find it more useful to build upon Startfer.fps for Learning / Testing since the folder is already functional.
After I have copied that folder in the same directory as Copy of Starter.fps.. I rename it.
Then I use the new renamed folder as testing / learning grounds.
I only modify the main.cs file to point to my new folder name, before i work with anything else.
A learning process for me. Maybe it will work for you this way also.