TGEA on Windows Vista/7
by Matthew Koch · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 05/22/2009 (1:14 pm) · 0 replies
In my other thread, I outlined the demo we are working on and talked a bit about integrating TGEA GUI with web services and the problem I am trying to solve. To quickly summarize that post, I've arrived at two conclusions: 1) Implement all the web services functionality in Torque Script. (databinding, service discovery...) or 2) embed TGEA in a Windows Forms application and use the native Windows UI, skinned to look like it belongs in a game.
The more I talk about it, the more I like the idea of taking advantage of the 3D accelerated desktop in Windows Vista/7. For good reason, today's games turn off Vista Aero when they start. Today's games must run on Windows XP so the opportunities of an accelerated desktop manager cannot be discussed. If you're going into a two year development cycle today, is Windows XP and DirectX9 even in the discussion? For a AAA game, I'm beginning to think not. Vista's two years old. Two years from now Windows 7 will be two years old and Windows 8 or whatever will be less than a year away. Only businesses will remain holdouts for Windows XP. It's possible that a game entering into development today, could target DirectX10+ exclusively, assuming a MAC version is something held off for a later date. Once DirectX10 is the baseline, then we can talk about simply using the Windows UI as the basis for our game's UI and there's alot to like about doing that for a PC only title.
Pros:
All the beauty of Windows Forms, Visual Studio IDE designers, .Net 3.5 and later 4.0. Perhaps even WPF.
The full power of the .Net libraries for connecting to all types of data sources.
A complete XML processing engine built in to the UI framework.
Simple control to add an IE7/8/9 browser to any game UI.
Controls can even be transparent in Vista/7.
Running a game in windowed mode under Vista takes a significantly smaller performance hit than XP.
GUI elements could span multiple monitors even when the game is in Full Screen mode. Put the Map, Quest Dialog and bags on the second monitor and play the game on the primary one.
Cons are not that big if you buy into the above statements about Vista/7/Mac DirectX9/10/11:
Vista and Windows 7 Only. (This is huge if you think XP will live on gamer's machines for more than a few more years)
TGEA requires a significant modification to get the engine working as a DLL. Maybe TorqueX 3D could be used instead though I don't know enough about TX3D to say if it's the C# equivalent of TGEA.(server and client)
What are your thoughts? Put your future caps on and let me know what you think.
The more I talk about it, the more I like the idea of taking advantage of the 3D accelerated desktop in Windows Vista/7. For good reason, today's games turn off Vista Aero when they start. Today's games must run on Windows XP so the opportunities of an accelerated desktop manager cannot be discussed. If you're going into a two year development cycle today, is Windows XP and DirectX9 even in the discussion? For a AAA game, I'm beginning to think not. Vista's two years old. Two years from now Windows 7 will be two years old and Windows 8 or whatever will be less than a year away. Only businesses will remain holdouts for Windows XP. It's possible that a game entering into development today, could target DirectX10+ exclusively, assuming a MAC version is something held off for a later date. Once DirectX10 is the baseline, then we can talk about simply using the Windows UI as the basis for our game's UI and there's alot to like about doing that for a PC only title.
Pros:
All the beauty of Windows Forms, Visual Studio IDE designers, .Net 3.5 and later 4.0. Perhaps even WPF.
The full power of the .Net libraries for connecting to all types of data sources.
A complete XML processing engine built in to the UI framework.
Simple control to add an IE7/8/9 browser to any game UI.
Controls can even be transparent in Vista/7.
Running a game in windowed mode under Vista takes a significantly smaller performance hit than XP.
GUI elements could span multiple monitors even when the game is in Full Screen mode. Put the Map, Quest Dialog and bags on the second monitor and play the game on the primary one.
Cons are not that big if you buy into the above statements about Vista/7/Mac DirectX9/10/11:
Vista and Windows 7 Only. (This is huge if you think XP will live on gamer's machines for more than a few more years)
TGEA requires a significant modification to get the engine working as a DLL. Maybe TorqueX 3D could be used instead though I don't know enough about TX3D to say if it's the C# equivalent of TGEA.(server and client)
What are your thoughts? Put your future caps on and let me know what you think.
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