If you read my last post, then you will know that I have recently finished my second Torque book, "Multiplayer Gaming and Engine Coding for the Torque Game Engine" (forever after to be referred to simply as MGEC).

Finishing my book meant I would finally be able to start digging into the ideas I'd been stashing away over the past years. So, I quickly chose a few of the best sounding ones off my list and got started.

My first project is a datablock editing tool designed to give you full-access to all of the features in each of the datablocks used by a Torque Wheeled Vehicle. For now, I'm calling this tool the "Wheeled Vehicle Editor" WVE.

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Why, you may ask, did I choose this particular project to start with?

My primary motivation is quite simple,

"Torque has great built-in tools for editing worlds and world objects, but it

doesn't really have anything for designing and prototyping datablocks."

I recognized this fact way back when I was writing GPGT, and I finally have the opportunity to do something about it.

So, where am I on, "doing something about it?"

WVE is Currently Ready For Testing

I finally had the time over the last few weeks to really push and get a nice first version ready for testing. Sure, it still needs some work and a bit of beautification, but it has most of the features I envisioned for it when I started making it. In fact, as you read this, testers will probably be looking at the tool (in its current form) for the first time.

Of course, your next question is probably, "When can I see it?" The answer to that question is, "right now."

WVE Videos

For you, the reader, I have put together nine short videos demonstrating some of the features of this tool (all of these are DivX encoded):

1. Editor Zooming, Panning, and Test Tracks
2. Generating new datablocks
3. Adjusting Tire Settings
4. Adjusting Spring Settings
5. Adding New Springs and Attaching Them To The Back Axle
6. Adjusting Chassis Settings (including values you can't usually edit after loading a DB)
7. Playing With Steering and Wheel Drive
8. Various Vehicle Tests
9. Impulse Testing

(Get a DivX player here if you need it.)

Note: I know these videos are a little small (screen-wise). I promise to make future videos a little bigger. For now, I hope that you get the gist of what this tool can do.

-edo