1. CIS 487/587 Bruce R. Maxim UM-Dearborn
Torque Basics
CIS 487/587
Bruce R. Maxim
UM-Dearborn
4/3/2019

2. Goals
Based on the tutorial example shipped with the Torque (TGE) game engine
Build a simple 3D game
Show basic use of the world, terrain, and GUI editors
Demonstrate use of Torque Script in client/server programming
4/3/2019

3. Where to begin? Start in the directory C:Torque/SDK/Example
Clicking on the torqueDemo icon starts a windows executable that will process the script stored in the file main.cs found in the same directory (by default)
This brings up a splash screen with several links
4/3/2019

4. Using the Links
You need Internet connectivity to use several of the links
There are also links to the Torque editors, console, and exit
Typing quit(); in the console command line also allows you to exit the tutorial
4/3/2019

5. Building a Game
Start by making a copy of the folder tutorial.base called GameOne
Use NotePad to edit the main.cs script file in the GameOne folder
Change line that describes the game to read $defaultGame = “GameOne”;
Save your changes
4/3/2019

6. GameOne Folder client data server
contains several client scripts and ui folder (graphics and widget scripts)
data
contains resources (models, textures, sounds, scripts associated with resources)
server
several server scripts
Note: xxx.cs.dso files contain compiled xxx.cs code
4/3/2019

7. World Editor
The World editor link on the demo splash screen loads a mission that can be edited
F2 - turns off the inspector windows
F11 - toggles World Editor on or off
F10 - toggles GUI Editor on or off
4/3/2019

8. Movement Camera view Camera menu is in the World editor
Alt-C - camera/player toggle
R-Click-drag - look around
W, A, S, D - walk around
R-Click-Tab - toggle 3rd person player view
Alt-Q - drop camera at player
Alt-W - drop player at camera
Camera menu is in the World editor
4/3/2019

9. Terrain Shaping
Move camera so you look down on the player off to the side and select the Terrain Editor
Adjust Brush size (Ctrl-Z or Menu)
Use Mouse to adjust height (determined by Action menu setting)
Relight the scene from Edit menu
The Player may end up underground if you are not careful toggle camera mode (Alt-C) and drop camera at Player (Alt-W) to check
4/3/2019

10. Terrain Painting - 1
Return to Camera view (Alt-C) and select Terrain Texture Painter from Window menu
Select change under the checkerboard box
Find the file sand.jpg in the folder GameOne/data/terrains and press load
This changes everything to sand
4/3/2019

11. Terrain Painting - 2 Select change under one of the empty boxes
Locate patchy.jpg file in the folder GameOne/data/terrains and press load
The Action menu item has changed to Paint Material
Select a Brush and paint some of the hills (relighting not necessary)
4/3/2019

12. Terrain Painting - 3 Terrain looks great from a far but not up close
To add a detail texture, go to the World Editor Inspector and select the Terrain TerrainBlock from the MissionGroup
In the Media section find the detailTexture browse button and load Game/One/terrains/detail1.png
Save your mission using the file menu as GameOneMission.mis in the folder GameOne/data/missions
4/3/2019

13. Placing Objects - 1
Change to Camera view and select the World Editor Creator item in the Window menu
Default action is to drop item at screen center so rotate screen so center is on the ground
Expand Shapes in lower window, drill down to TorqueLogo, mouse click on this item will place it in the center of the screen
Be careful it is easy to put things underground or in the air where they are nor visible to the Player
4/3/2019

14. Placing Objects - 2
The number under an object is its number (null is its default name)
The axis lines can be used to drag object to a new point
The object can also be moved by going to the World Editor Inspector and selecting it from the Tree
Object attributes can be modified in the Inspector window as well (remember to use the Apply button before you Save)
4/3/2019

15. Interiors
Shapes are based on .dts files interiors are based on .dif files
Interiors are placed using the World Editor Creator
Go to Interiors/GameOne/data/interiors and drill down to place a box on the screen
Relight the terrain when prompted
Move the box so it is not on a hill and its floor is level with the ground (so the Player can enter the box and explore it) and save it
4/3/2019

16. Organizing Objects
You can create folders called SimGroups to hold related objects
Expand the MissionObjects/System/ in the World Editor Creator
Click on the SimGroups item and use the dialog box to create a logos SimGroup and drag each of the logo items to the logos SimGroup (name is important for scripting)
Create a buildings SimGroup for the box and then save your work
4/3/2019

17. Graphical User Interface - 1
Return to the TGE main page by quitting the World Editor (File – Quit) or Restart Torque
To Select the GUI editor or use F10
You will see 3 buttons on the left side of the screen
New Control
MainMenuGui
640 x 480
4/3/2019

18. Graphical User Interface - 2
Select MainMenuGui in the Tree view
Scroll down in the inspector window and find the bitmap field
Change background to gameonebg and hit Apply
You can remove the buttons from the top, but if you do you should add a Start and Quit button
4/3/2019

19. Graphical User Interface - 3
To add a button use the New Control drop down menu and select GuiButtonCtrl
Drag the button to its desired location
Change the text field from ‘Button’ to ‘Start’ and type “loadMyMission();” in the command field then hit Apply
4/3/2019

20. Graphical User Interface - 4
You might also want to go back and change the horizSizing and vertSizing to relative and hit Apply and Save again
To create a Quit button, repeat process and label the control with ‘Quit’ and enter “quit();” in the command field of the new button
4/3/2019

21. Graphical User Interface - 5
To add a score counter use the Start button to enter the game
Use F10 to open the GUI editor and select PlayGui from the pull down menu
Add the new control by selecting the GuiTextCtrl from the pull down menu
Enter ScoreCounter in the name field
4/3/2019

22. Graphical User Interface - 6
In the General section enter Score: 0 in the text field
In Parent section change the profile to GuiBig TextProfile from the menu (…)
Use the Apply button and Save
4/3/2019

23. Scripting - 1
Find the script logoitem.cs in the Windows folder GameOne/server
Enter the following function at the end
function TorqueLogoItem::onCollision(%this, %obj, %col) {
// collision function for all Torque logo shapes
// %this – data block
// %obj - object itself
// %col - object that collided with %obj
4/3/2019

24. Scripting - 2 // check for logo collision with player object
if(%col.getClassName() $= "Player") {
// %client becomes client whose player hit logo
%client = %col.client;
// increment score and message with score to client
%client.score++;
commandToClient(%client, 'SetScoreCounter', %client.score);
// remove object from logos
%obj.delete();
4/3/2019

25. Scripting - 3 // find out how many logo items remain in logos
%logoCount = logos.getCount();
// if more logos remain continue game
if(%logoCount > 0)
return;
// otherwise have client display victory screen
commandToClient(%client, 'ShowVictory', %client.score); }
4/3/2019

26. Scripting - 4
Open the folder GameOne/client and create a new text file containing the following functions in a file called clientGame.cs
function clientCmdSetScoreCounter(%score)
// This function processes the onCollision server call
// commandToClient
// (%client, 'SetScoreCounter', %client.score); //
// replaces text in GuiTextCtrl in play screen {
ScoreCounter.setText("Score:" SPC %score); }
4/3/2019

27. Scripting - 5 // (%client, 'ShowVictory', %client.score);
function clientCmdShowVictory(%score)
// this function processes the server call
// commandToClient
// (%client, 'ShowVictory', %client.score); //
// displays a message box to get user choice {
MessageBoxYesNo("You Win!",
"Would you like to restart the game?",
"loadMyMission();",
"quit();"); }
4/3/2019

28. Scripting - 6
Last we need to add a line to file main.cs in the folder GameOne/main.cs
This line goes at the end of the Client scripts section to link our new script into the game
exec("./client/clientGame.cs");
Now all that’s left to do is play test the final game and fix any problems
4/3/2019

29. Scripting - 7
One of those problems is getting the Score to display as 0 when the mission reloads
Add these lines to function onMissionLoaded( ) in the file game.cs found in the folder GameOne/server/game.cs
%score=0;
ScoreCounter.setText("Score:" SPC %score);
4/3/2019