Version 0.97 of the torque dts exporter (aka Torque Exporter Plugin) represents a major departure from previous versions.  The key differences are outlined below.

Defining Detail levels

Empties are no longer used to define detail levels.  Detail levels are now defined through the exporter GUI using Blender's scene layers.

By default, all layers are exported in a Detail1 detail level.  Detail levels can be edited, deleted, and new detail levels can be defined using the "Detail Levels" panel of the exporter GUI:

Each detail level has certain layers associated with it, as seen in the above screenshot.  All objects in a layer that is associated with a detail level will be exported as part of that detail level.

Objects can be excluded from export by moving them to a layer that is not in use by any defined detail levels.

The old naming convention for grouping meshes into "dts objects" across detail levels still applies.  Please keep this in mind to avoid creating inefficient dts shapes.

Geometry and Object Types

In addition to meshes; Text Objects, "Meta Objects", and NURBS Surfaces can now be exported directly.  All modifiers are taken into account.

"Triangle Lists" is now the default packing/rendering mode for all geometry.  Be aware that versions of TGE older than 1.5.1 contained a couple of bugs related to triangle list rendering (one of which can cause engine crashes).  If you have a license for an older version of TGE, fixes for these bugs can be found here.  If you are unable to apply the fix, the problem can be worked around by using "Triangle Strips" instead of "Triangle Lists".  TGE versions 1.5.1 and higher do not suffer from this problem.  Rendering meshes using triangle lists instead of "triangles" or triangle strips gives higher frame rates on most graphics hardware.

Mesh flags are now handled through the use of Blender's game properties.  The available mesh flags are "billboard" ("bb") and "billboardz" ("bbz").  Flags are assigned to a mesh object by adding a game property with the desired name.  The property should be of type "bool", and the value of the property must be set to true for the flag to take effect.

Nodes

Nodes are now generated for every object by default.  Named Empties and other types of objects can now be used as nodes.

It is no longer necessary to create a linked copy of an armature for each detail level.  Don't use more than one copy of a given armature or you'll have duplicate nodes in the exported DTS file.  Multiple armatures can be used, but bone names must be unique.  Nodes with duplicate names are automatically renamed by the exporter, and a warning is written out to the log file.

Animations

The exporter can now export object level keyframe animations (loc, rot, and scale) for Blender objects in addition to bones.  This means that objects can now be animated directly without parenting to bones or skinning.  All constraints are supported.

Because objects don't have a "default position" the way that Blender's bones do, frame 1 on the NLA timeline is used to define the rest postions rotations and scales for all blender objects.

Export of "floating actions" that are not anchored on the blender global timeline is no longer supported.  I wanted to retain this animation mode, but due to some problems was forced to leave it out.  Action Animations should now be laid out on the global timeline as action strips.

Due to the above changes (removal of support for "floating actions"), the method of defining an animation has changed.  Sequences are now defined by placing markers on the global NLA timeline to indicate the start frame and end frame of an animation.  Sequence marker names should contain the sequence name followed by ":start" or ":end"; for example, "walk:start", "walk:end", "jump:start", "jump:end", etc.

Other than skinned mesh animations, Animations that deform geometry in real-time remain unsupported.  Non-skinned meshes cannot deform in real-time in the dts file format without using a dts "morph" animation.  DTS morph animations are now deprecated and have been removed from TGEA, so future support for this feature in the Blender DTS Exporter is unlikely.

Collision meshes can now be animated directly, or animated using constraints, and can be parented to other objects or bones. Skinned collision meshes remain unsupported.

Animation Triggers are now created by placing named markers on the timeline.  Marker names for triggers should start with "trigger:" followed by a trigger state number, a colon and either "on" or "off".  For example, a marker named "trigger:1:on" causes trigger state 1 to fire with the "on" value.

Material Export

No changes.  DTS Materials are created using UV mapped textures.  Properties for these materials can be set in the exporter's materials panel.