Turbulenz SDK 0.15.0 is an update for both the Turbulenz Engine Installer and SDK components.
Please see the Change List for details on API changes.
Essential
Optional
Note
Performance of any Python modules could potentially be slower if speed-ups cannot be compiled. It is recommended that you install Visual Studio before installing the Turbulenz SDK, so that the speed-ups can be configured in the environment. If you are using a 64bit version of Python you must have installed a 64bit version of the Visual Studio compilers.
Three new Turbulenz Services are supported for games, Leaderboards, Badges and User Profiles. Leaderboards can be added to your games, allowing players to compare their high scores within the game. Badges allow games to reward their players for progressing within the game. User Profiles allow games to display a player’s name and query their prefered language.
For an overview of the Turbulenz Services please read: Turbulenz Game Services.
A new app has been added called Worm that demonstrates a minigame using the Leaderboards and Badges APIs. The app shows the basics of creating a small 3D game with Turbulenz technology.
A new tool has been added to the Turbulenz tools: deploygame. deploygame allows a game manifest to be deployed from the command line without directly interacting with the Turbulenz Local Server. This tools is accessed like the other Turbulenz python tools using ‘python -m deploygame‘. For more information see the deploygame API.
Experimental: Additional libraries allowing Turbulenz apps to use take advantage of WebGL in compatible browsers is now available! This feature allows you to use a WebGL compatible Engine, Graphics Device and Input Device interface. Although this feature is in experimental stages, you can see examples of its use in samples, sampleapp and Worm app.
Note
Sound Device, Network Device and Physics device interfaces are only available from the Native Engine API.
The Turbulenz Engine now supports the following browsers:
- Firefox 4/5
- Internet Explorer 9
Minor fixes to camera, deferred/forward shadows
A bug related to the PIXELFORMAT_D24S8 format.
The Turbulenz Native Engine now uses stable_sort as the method of sorting renderables.
The nVidia drivers (version 8.17.12.7061 - 8.17.12.7533) bug causes multiple render targets to render the output for the first target to all target textures. The current work around for shaders generated with cgfx2json is to reorder any writes to gl_FragData so they are in order. nVidia have now fixed this bug through windows update or the latest driver download on their website. If an update is not possible follow the steps in this example.
The WebGL samples are experimental and not all are currently supported.
WebGL performance in Firefox 4/5 is limited by the browser’s current implementation. Consider using Chrome to get a better representation of WebGL performance.
Keyboard controls in the following browsers also map to the browser’s default behaviour e.g. F1 brings up the help window.
This issue will be addressed in future SDK releases.
The following version of this browser is not compatible with the Turbulenz Engine:
The MathDevice ignores JavaScript arrays as destination parameters and acts as if no destination has been given.
The engine requires a CPU that supports SSE2.
For shader support the engine requires a GPU that supports GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language).
The SDK HTML help search feature does not work on Chrome. See http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=47416.
Running Turbulenz tools at the same time as the Local Server can sometimes result in access errors in “simplejson_speedupds.pyd”. Please close the Local Server before running any Turbulenz tools.
When running intensive JavaScript applications, such as the multiple animations sample may lockup the user interface. You may have to manually terminate the process to regain control. Make sure the browser you are using can handle JavaScript running at full load and scale up slowly. Turbulenz recommends Firefox 3.6.
The following browser(s) do not fully support the samples in development mode:
The following browser(s) do not fully support the samples in release mode:
Firefox 4/5
The following browser(s) are performance limited for the samples in development mode:
When debugging with Chrome it may repeatedly warn the plugin is unresponsive.
Some browsers don’t support delete on native engine object properties, e.g. delete techniqueParameters.diffuse does not work, use techniqueParameters.diffuse = undefined instead.
Sound stuttering can be heard when the browser is using 100% of CPU.
In some cases, refreshing a web page when a Turbulenz application is requesting data can leave the browser in an inconsistent state. Please avoid refreshing when the application is still loading.
Compatibility
In some cases on Windows 7, the SDK installer is unable to automatically open the Windows Firewall for the Local Server on a local network if UAC is enabled. To allow the Local Server to be accessed over a local network, please manually update the Windows Firewall rule.
When using the Input Device, certain browsers can take a little longer to release the mouse pointer when pressing ESC. Try holding ESC for a longer period of time, or alternatively use alt-tab to navigate to a different window (windows only) or end the process if the browser stops responding.