There is no material, but just give me a few minutes and I´ll create a shot just rendering the shadowmap, then we´ll see if it was the map compiler or not

sorry but i just thought that was funny: "this is the topic of this thread". the topic of this devastated thread is actually the "Gears of Torque" demo, which exhibits static lighting on what might-as-well-be level geometry, normal mapping, and nice artwork.

if people aren't feeling more than a little bit silly by now, then i calculate the average age of posters in this thread to be: 9 (which i know it isn't).

julz

Thanks for being insulting Julz. I think this was the strongest insult so far.

But I agree in one fact (though you could have brought it without being personal anyway): The thread is about showcasing the video. But most of the thread has dealt with realizing something similar in A7. This was my intention to tell to Spike and maybe you did not get this intention at first glance.

Nevertheless you don't have to be 9 years old to talk about issues that come up when you create static shadows.

By the way: Your post did not contribute at all. You insulted all people in this thread and you did not talk about shadows, the demo or solutions how to get static meshes into A7. You are a pure spammer this time.

i didn't mean to come across insulting frank, and you have my apologies. it wasn't directed at you; instead your quote was used to illustrate the direction most people appear to think the thread has taken in general.

i'm not saying anyone here has the maturity of a 9 year-old unless upon realising how far off-topic they've gone over and over again (particularly the repeat-offenders) they don't feel a bit silly.

most of this thread seems to be about rendering static shadows on static meshes, which doesn't have anything to do with that video. static meshes are an avenue they may have taken, but given the simplicity of most of the geometry it might as well be level blocks.

i'm not a pure spammer, you're just feeling hurt from my comment. i contributed to the thread by assisting people in adjusting the path this thread is taking without fueling the fire of the argument with personal opinions about it.

i hope i'm a lot more clear now.

julz

Yes. This is more clear to me.

I am also not sure how they made it. But look at the video again. There are many detailed meshes. I don't think they are made out of blocks.

But we should not start so much guessing. We will see when GarageGames offers more info or even the level itself to the community. I am looking forward to that and I am excited about it and I will analyze its structure for sure.

you're right, a lot of the scenery would be better suited to static meshes, and given that torque supports them they probably are.

and i'm glad you can understand where i was coming from.

is the demo itself made by GarageGames? many of the comments in this thread seem to imply it is.

julz

Here are two quotes from Stephen Zepp (Garagegames Employee) about the video:

GarageGames is involved in this demo but probably there is another studio behind the content displayed in this. But this still is only guessing since there is no official information currently about this demo.

GarageGames works on a game called "Legions - fallen Empire". It is some kind of Tribes3, made with their shader engine and will be published soon via Instant Action as a game playable through web browsers.

Besides that they work on new engine versions based on a new code. So they re-write the complete engine code.
Juggernaught is the base that should power all three engines (TGE, TGB and TGEA) with their base functionality. It is told to be component based software. Then they can improve shadows only in Juggernaught and all 3 engines can take advantage from this.

But they said, Juggernaught will first power at least one internal produced game before it will become public for all. So they want to achieve that their code will be battle-proven.

I think, this is a good approach.

cheers. as a company they seem quite capable; the fact that they've published loads of indy titles themselves is also quite cool and is a good selling-point for the engine, especially if my assumption is correct that they lean towards (or even perhaps publish exclusively) torque games. not that everyone who makes a torque game would be able to publish through them, but most people are either a n00b assuming they'll be good enough to get a deal or a veteran who actually is

julz

Today (Apr. 5th 2008) TGEA 1.7 is Officially Released!
Here is another video.

"MegaTerrain" TGEA Flythrough Demo Video