TGEA 1.7.1 First Impressions
So I have recently got the chance to start dabbling in TGEA (Torque Game Engine Advanced) Its an exciting time, coming from TGE. Garage Games have made quite a few really nice advancements (thus ‘Advanced’ 
) Seriously though, the changes that really jump out for me would have to be the implementation of Shaders, Polysoup Collision, and Mega Terrain. Beyond that changes become a little more technical and I will list the few things I have found in my first few hours of playing with TGEA!! This list will also include an upgrade from Max 7 to Max 9 and upgrading the DTS exporter to the Nool Preview version (which allows you to test the shaders within Max9)
Pros
- Polysoup Collision – Looks good so far, easy to work with, but will need testing.
- Built in JNG support on DTS files.
- Top, Left, Right & Perspective Views
- Resizable window (maximize)
- Shaders are relatively simple to work with from an Artist point of view!
Cons
- Overall sunlight ambient seems darker than TGE, but it could be preemptive for blooming or DRL?!*
- Specular, once turned on (per material) is visible all the time, even if the character is not in direct line of a light source.
Max 9 Exporter Differences
- I used to always put an _ (underscore) between the name of the mesh and the LOD size, this has been changed, and now I am having to use a . (period) Its not a problem, just means I have to rename all my meshs before exporting!!
- Been having some node config & sequence problems with the new exporter, when exporter a fully functional Max 7 vehicle. One error was a ‘Expression: enormals.size() == verts.size()’ Thankfully I managed to debug that problem!
- An xRef’d object threw a xRef material error on export to DTS (but the material was still functional in the engine, it could be the Nool Preview Exporter)
*this is just me making pseudo educated guesses, as I have only spent a few hours delving into the engine..
Related Posts:
- XRef in Max 9 with Nool DTS Exporter
- Blur In Depth Interviews
- Document your Workflow & Pipeline Changes
Just a note, my guess about the overall lighting being darker was proven right. We recently discovered that TGE had an Over Exposure correction of somewhere around 1.6. Making everything in TGE appear brighter!