PA Scripting types/3D modeling types

True enough, though I've never encountered compilers that compile C++ into anything other than machine code.

Agreed, but I haven't heard of any languages that are better (in regards to execution time) on any architecture than C/C++, at least not on anything that modern games are run on.

It does make sense, you would only ever compare languages under matching conditions, so the best compiler for each of the respective languages and for the same architecture, otherwise you'd just be comparing apples and oranges. Under such circumstances I have not heard of any other language that can produce a program with a shorter execution time than one compiled from C/C++ (excluding assembly) to achieve the same results, therefore C/C++ would be the fastest language to use. Though obviously it's highly dependent on the programmer to utilize C/C++ correctly to achieve such results, but if performance is your main concern and you are a skilled enough programmer then C/C++ is going to give you the best results.

Take a look at the assembly that C++ compilers create some time, even with all the compiler optimizations there's sometimes room for a little improvement by a human. The problem is that a compiler has to handle everything as a general case so some times it creates an extra instruction or two to handle uses that you don't need handled in your specific case, 99.9% of the time it's not worth the effort to track down such things and fix them by writing that section of code in assembly instead without those instructions, but the point is that assembly can produce better execution times than a C++ compiler.

I absolutely agree. Even though I'm much faster at producing programs in C++ compared to other languages I'm fully aware that it is only because I'm more proficient with C++, if I had the same level of proficiency in other languages I'm sure I'd be able to produce programs much quicker in something like Java instead, but since C++ is much better suited to games than other languages I've never seen the need to become as proficient in anything else.



At any rate, I'm sure Uber will look at all the factors such as performance, ease of deployment and development time to choose whether or not to use a scripting language for modding and if they do choose to use one they'll pick one that fits best with what it needs to do. I'm very interested in how much freedom we'll have for modding as for something with the scale of PA it would be very hard to decide what should be exposed for modding and what shouldn't.

As I always say, C++ does not make your code faster, it just gives you the ability to perform micro-level optimization if you know how. It also gives you the ability to seriously mess up your computer's memory!

I don't know about that, I've done some straight port of Java code (literally just copy and paste) to C++ and even with a good JIT compiler for Java the C++ code ran faster, but I know what you mean. It's just a lot easier to say that "C++ is faster" than it is to say "with a highly skill programmer writing code for performance, code written in C++ can be compiled into machine code that has fewer CPU instructions than are needed to achieve similar results in other languages".

Damn straight, though once you get past the whole "I'm an idiot" phase of learning C++ and become semi-decent at structuring your code properly it becomes very rare to write code that could do something like that, it's been several years since I last had serious memory issues in my C++ code (though I still accidentally create minor ones from time to time, I'm only human ), but that usually takes a few years of experience.

In which case, since I'm a c++ idiot.... *gets out my laptop that's duct taped together* let's hope I don't screw my main PC. I was set back because I needed to format my main PC's HDD. 4 years of searching the internet for the best downloads.... Wasted. I had software I searched 3 years for... Good thing I use chrome. Had a custom boot loader on my windows 7 partition , installed xp without unplugging the drive, and it got ugly.

It's pretty difficult to mess up your machine if you're just starting out with C/C++. At very least, the operating system will keep your stuff from messing anything critical up. But it's unlikely you'll learn anything that could mess up your system anytime soon.

I don't do graphics modelling, but I do 3D work for engineering.
I wonder what kind of software I would most likely need to learn?

How were models created in SupCom 1, FA and 2?

Created in 3D Modeling programs then converted to .SCM and .SCA.

Mike