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In post https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/profile/254-orbweaver/&status=3994&type=status @nbohr1more found out what the Fixup Map functionality is for. But what does it actually do? Does it search for def references (to core?) that don't excist anymore and then link them to defs with the same name elswhere? Also I would recommend to change the name into something better understood what it is for. Fixup map could mean anything. And it should be documented in the wiki.

Since due to the nature of this forum, file/image sharing is used quite frequently, I thought to present some alternatives to the widely used Gdrive, which I don't like so much, especially since the last TOS change. File Sharing To share large files there are several options that also do not require registration. The first is File Hosting Online, which supports files up to 25 Gb, encrypted and also includes a Virus Scan that ensures safe use Another good option is Gofile, free to use, privacy focused and unlimited Bandwith. No refistry needed. While the files are accesed or downloaded at least one time a week, they are never deleted, otherwise inactive files are deleted after 10 days. If you prefer to use P2P, that means to share files directly from PC to other, without a hoster in the middle, there are also very good options, which permits to share files and folders without limites of type and size. The most easy to use is O&O File Direct, a small Desktop app (sadly only Windows), very easy to use 1 Open the app and drag the files/folders you like to share in its window 2 Optional adjust the days and amount of permited downloads and if you want a password 3 Share the link which apears in the app Done The only limits are, that the receptor only can download your files, when your PC is online, on the other hand this permits that you can stop the download in any moment, going offline or shutting down the PC. The other limit is, that the files to share can't be in a protected folder. Her are an Example with a list of Search Enines (Html file 423,56 Kb). While I am online, you can download it https://file.direct/f/pmjVFnjfkjFTKTt5 Videos One of the best options is Streamable (need a free account, inactive videos are deleted after 90 days in the free version) Alternatively you can use Streamja, a simple Video sharer with good privacy, free account optional (nick, mail) Images Ok, there are a lot of Image sharer, most used the known Imgur, because of this I add only one which offers some advantages over Imgur. ImgBox (free account) is a reliable platform to share and host images like Imgur, but it make it very easy to upload and post dozend of images simultaneous, selecting all the images you want and drag them on the window, offering coresponding bulk codes from the selected images to post them with one click for forums (BBcode), Html and others, fullsize or thumbnails. More since Imgur used since some time the hated webm formats for gif images, hardly accepted in most forums.

Quick FAQ: What is this thread for ? It is for discussing the narrative elements of a fan mission you're working on, and how they tie into the gameplay and technical aspects of the mission. If you're stuck with developing the plot for your FM, or are unsure of how to continue, or have the feeling your writing is not up to snuff, you can always seek advice in this thread. Why did you start this in the Editor's Guild ? Truth be told, I was seriously considering starting this thread in the I Want to Help subforum, but then I noticed (and realised) that most of the FM development threads are in the Editor's Guild anyway. So, I decided to rather start this discussion over here, in order to avoid making it "orphaned". But I have a really minor storytelling question... Is it still okay to ask about it here ? Of course it is ! This is practically the only "official" thread on narrative design we have now, so feel free to ask about anything that's primarily related to the storytelling or characters of your FM, and so on... Do we already have any useful resources on narrative and storytelling design ? Oh, certainly. The Story and Plot Design article on our wiki, contributed by demagogue. You should definitely give it a read. Any other threads or articles you might recommend ? Sotha's Mission Design Tips article is also just as helpful as demagogue's (and quite entertaining in places). There's also the Inspiration Thread, providing mostly visual inspiration for FM building, and the Historical resources article, providing links and bibliography for topics related to period living and social history that could influence an FM's design and events. If you find any more in that vein, feel free to recommend them here, and I'll add them to an impromptu list. ---- Ladies and gentlemen, the thread is your's. ---- (Last updated: 18 April 2018)

NVIDIA announced the 16nm Pascal GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 GPUs. The $599 GTX 1080 will be more powerful than Titan X, GTX 980 Ti, or two GTX 980s. Neither card uses High Bandwidth Memory like the top Pascal GPU, Tesla P100. Intel's Broadwell-E flagship enthusiast CPU, the Core i7-6950X, is expected to have 10 cores. AMD Zen mainstream desktop CPUs could have 6-8 cores. The architecture has moved from Bulldozer's Clustered Multithreading to Simultaneous Multithreading, which is closer to Intel's design and has two threads per core. Zen desktop CPUs will be released before laptop CPUs. There could be a 16 core APU in 2017. AMD's 14 or 16nm Polaris GPUs will apparently be cheaper and cooler, rather than trying to compete with the GTX 1080's performance. The Radeon R9 490 could cost $300. The Polaris GPUs will not have High Bandwidth Memory, which will instead be added to 2017 Vega GPUs as successors to the Fury series. Sony could launch a "PS4K" console using an AMD Polaris GPU and faster Jaguar CPU capable of playing the current PS4 games in 2160p instead of 1080p. It could also boost frame rates for the PSVR.

For the people eager to play with the latest state of development, two things are provided: regular dev builds source code SVN repository Development builds are created once per a few weeks from the current trunk. They can be obtained via tdm_installer. Just run the installer, check "Get Custom Version" on the first page, then select proper version in "dev" folder on the second page. Name of any dev version looks like devXXXXX-YYYY, where XXXXX and YYYY are SVN revision numbers from which the build was created. The topmost version in the list is usually the most recent one. Note: unless otherwise specified, savegames are incompatible between any two versions of TDM! Programmers can obtain source code from SVN repository. Trunk can be checked out from here: https://svn.thedarkmod.com/publicsvn/darkmod_src/trunk/ SVN root is: https://svn.thedarkmod.com/publicsvn/darkmod_src Build instructions are provided inside repository. Note that while you can build executable from the SVN repository, TDM installation of compatible version is required to run it. Official TDM releases are compatible with source code archives provided on the website, and also with corresponding release tags in SVN. A dev build is compatible with SVN trunk of revision YYYY, where YYYY is the second number in its version (as described above). If you only want to experiment with the latest trunk, using the latest dev build gives you the maximum chance of success. P.S. Needless to say, all of this comes with no support. Although we would be glad if you catch and report bugs before the next beta phase starts

Yes this worked chakkman thank you. Much better. So far I'm enjoying the game in a very Hitman Absolution type of way. The sound effects and sound design overall is simply unpresentable to me. Lack of footstep, nice pick up loot and and satisfying lock pick sound cues makes it hard for me to give the game more than a 6 out of 10. With good sounds this game could have been a 8 or 9.

Another failure by @kingsal. Firstly the mission is way too short. And like his other missions, the quality is supreme, keeps me playing and neglecting real life duties. Never feeling the frustration of getting stuck, never resolving to walkthrough material. Is it a sign of excellent design or rather a lack of challenge? Also extreme attention to detail, engaging maps from room to a room, gorgeous visually. I understand this is just a free-time effort for someone who could instead make money out of his skills but, I'm sure you could do better.

Hey I just wanted to create a Thread where everybody can post his improvement wishes. I Personally love this mod. There are so many features in it, and because it is a mod created by a community, why not write what could be improved. My wishes are: Some special weapons. I loved T2X and the variety of weapons. Some really hard to find special weapons, like the confusion arrow or a special bomb would be cool. But they have to be very special, for example as a result of a side quest - or maybe a usable torch for easier killing the undead More enemies, I think there will be an improvement, we just got spiders and zombies, but a higher variety is always good. More (custom) conversation. Thats one of the main parts I'm missing - so much flair and atmosphere is getting lost without them. Also some comments from he main charakter would be nice. For example when a guard gets knocked out "hah, now who's the taffer" ... better AI when the hear a voice. They start looking for you, but most of the time I just sneak into another room or a higher area and just have to wait, they should at least get someone with a torch or call other guards for help These are only small parts of the game which could be improved and are only my points of view, maybe it's either not possible to create or it fits not in the design of TDM.

Thought it would be a good idea to collate a useful list for new and old mappers alike and this post will update as we go. Abandoned works: Any WIP projects that were abandoned by the original author - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12713-abandoned-works/ Darkradiant & Darkmod shortcut settings: Some example settings for new mappers - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/15152-darkradiant-and-darkmod-shortcut-folder-settings/ Darkradiant howto, must knows, tips and faqs - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12558-usefull-important-editing-links/?do=findComment&comment=272581 Info for Beginners: Newbie DarkRadiant Questions - http://forums.thedar...iant-questions/ Dark Radient Must Know Basic Intro - http://wiki.thedarkm...now_Basic_Intro Editing Tips for Beginners - http://wiki.thedarkm...s_for_Beginners Editing FAQ (Troubleshooting & How-To) - http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Editing_FAQ_-_Troubleshooting_%26_How-To Sotha's excellent Mapping Tutorial series: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18680-lets-map-tdm-with-sotha-the-bakery-job/ Springheel's New Mapper's Workshop: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18945-tdm-new-mappers-workshop/ Inspiration: Collection of screenshots and images people have found online - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/11610-darkmod-inspiration-thread/ Mapping Resources: List of Voice actors available for voice recording - http://modetwo.net/d...6-voice-actors/ Lengthy collection of city reference pictures - http://modetwo.net/d...rence-pictures/ Collection of texture resource sites - http://modetwo.net/d...ture-resources/ Free Ambient Tracks - http://skeksisnetlabel.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/10-songs-for-free-download-vol-10-full-moon-over-noricum/ Mapping Tools: 3 useful tools for texture creation - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18581-must-have-tools-for-the-descerning-mapper/ Modular Building: What is Modular building - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/14832-modular-building-techniques/ Working example tutorial on modular building - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18680-lets-map-tdm-with-sotha-the-bakery-job/ Springheels new modular models - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18683-using-springheels-205-modules/ Some related mapper recipies - Easy Vaults - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/14859-easy-vault-recipe/?hl=%2Beasy+%2Brecipe Easy Outdoors - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/16159-easy-outdoors-recipe/?hl=%2Beasy+%2Brecipe Easy Caverns - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/14469-quick-caverns-recipe/?hl=recipe Easy Alert Ai - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/17157-easy-alert-ai-recipe/?hl=%2Beasy+%2Brecipe Easy Alert Ai Custom Behavour - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/17160-easy-alert-ai-custom-behavior-recipe/?hl=recipe Tutorials: Collection of video tutorials for DR - http://modetwo.net/d...in-darkradiant/ Using Lighting and detail effectively: - http://forums.thedar...l-and-lighting/ Voice Actors list: List of available voice actors - http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12556-list-of-available-voice-actors/ Usefull Console commands: A list of console commands for testing in-game - http://wiki.thedarkm...Useful_Controls

After some amount of work I'm happy to be able to share my Christmas gift for TDM! Or at least half of it, considering the other half is still only in design phase. I created an addon that implements detailed player functionality, inspired by the first DeusEx game (The Conspiracy). It's NOT a mission script but an addon, meaning you place the pk4 in your TDM directory to enable the system and it will automatically work in each and every FM. Note that due to using tdm_user_addons.script / user_addon_init() it may disable or get disabled by other addons you have installed... this is a design limitation which can hopefully be lifted at some point in the future. This plugin will be included in my cyberpunk total conversion The Dark Module and automatically active with it, but first I shall design it and make it available as a small independent addon for vanilla TDM. In the current initial release it implements just per-limb damage; The upcoming plan is to add a skill / augmentation system, allowing the player to use loot as skill points to enhance various body parts and gain new or improved abilities. Due to the scripting system being very limited in what it lets me modify, I'm still gathering documentation on how to implement those skills and which I can have. So until then detailed body damage with penalties remains the only part that's theoretically finished so far (further improvements are required here too)... including a HUD component above the lightgem showing the status of each body part: Green = full health, yellow = half health, red = (close to) no health, black = no health left. The individual limbs available: Head, Torso, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, Right Leg... arms and legs work in unity however. They each take damage with the player as well as healing together with them. The more damaged a group is, the more a respective penalty is applied to the player. Groups and penalties include: Head: When the head is damaged, the player begins to get dizzy and has their vision impaired. Currently the only effect replicates the flashbomb, causing white dots to appear around the player and disrupt their view until the head is healed. As the player can't live without a head, reaching 0 will cause instant death. More effects are possible and pending. Torso: Damage to the torso translates to damage to the cloak, increasing the player's lightgem and rendering them more visible even in dark spots. As the player can't live without a torso, reaching 0 will cause instant death. Given script limitations I'm unable to simulate lung damage and decrease / limit the amount of air the player has. Arms: Arm damage makes it difficult for the player to hold items: In-world objects being held will probabilistically get dropped, more often the worse your arms are hurt. When both arms reach 0 health, the player can no longer pick up anything in the world without instantly dropping it... you also become unable to use any weapons. Due to limitations in the scripting system, I'm unable to decrease the speed or accuracy of the blackjack / sword / bow as was desired. Legs: As expected leg damage will make the player walk more slowly. It was desired that when one leg is lost the player can no longer jump, whereas when both legs are gone you remain stuck in crouch mode until healed... due to limitations in the scripting system this part is also not possible at the moment. A crude limitation is the fact that limb damage is primarily based on the direction the player is walking toward... for example, increased likelihood of suffering damage to your right arm and leg if strafing right the moment you take the damage. The script system doesn't let you extract the vector direction of the last damage event, thus I can't use the real direction the hit came from when calculating which body part should absorb the most health loss. This means that even if an arrow comes from above and hits the player's head area, the player will only take damage to the legs if they're falling downward the moment they got hit... for the time being this provides a bare minimum amount of realism but is a very bitter implementation. For this reason it would be greatly appreciated if any of the code developers could join this discussion and verify if they can help with adding the necessary hooks to external scripts: With 2.09 getting periodic beta releases at this point in time, it would be a great opportunity to make changes to the builtin player script that allow an external function to modify more player variables. This includes the efficiency of weapons, if the player is allowed to jump or forced to always crouch, and I'd also really appreciate a hook to manipulate the breath so air can be lowered as if the player is underwater. I understand other priorities exist or if the work may be considered too much, however this would help in being able to finish this mod with the proper functionality and planned skill set. In the meantime let me know what you think of this idea and how I went about it! So far no new assets are included except the GUI graphics: Everything is done with less than 250 lines of script which I'd say is a good achievement I've attached the pk4 and since it's so lightweight I'll also add the main script straight in this post. player_damage_1.0.pk4 #define DAMAGE_WAIT 0.0166667 #define EXPOSURE_ARM_LEFT 2 #define EXPOSURE_ARM_RIGHT 2 #define EXPOSURE_LEG_LEFT 2 #define EXPOSURE_LEG_RIGHT 2 #define EXPOSURE_HEAD 3 #define EXPOSURE_TORSO 1 #define PENALTY_TORSO_LIGHTGEM 4 player self; float damage_gui; boolean dizzy; entity dizzy_particles; float bound(float val, float min, float max) { if(val < min) return min; if(val > max) return max; return val; } // Range based probability: Calculates a probability per frame independent of wait time (0 - 1 range at 1 chance per second) boolean prob(float x) { return sys.random(1) > x && sys.random(1) < DAMAGE_WAIT; } // Directional exposure calculator float dex(vector dir, float ex_front, float ex_back, float ex_right, float ex_left, float ex_up, float ex_down) { float maxvel = 100; float dir_front = bound(dir_x / maxvel, 0, 1) * ex_front; float dir_back = bound(-dir_x / maxvel, 0, 1) * ex_back; float dir_right = bound(dir_y / maxvel, 0, 1) * ex_right; float dir_left = bound(-dir_y / maxvel, 0, 1) * ex_left; float dir_up = bound(dir_z / maxvel, 0, 1) * ex_up; float dir_down = bound(-dir_z / maxvel, 0, 1) * ex_down; return dir_front + dir_back + dir_right + dir_left + dir_up + dir_down; } void player_damage_update_arm(float dmg_l, float dmg_r) { float hl_l = self.getFloatKey("health_arm_left"); float hl_r = self.getFloatKey("health_arm_right"); float hl = (hl_l + hl_r) / 2; if(dmg_l != 0 || dmg_r != 0) { hl_l = bound(hl_l - dmg_l, 0, 1); hl_r = bound(hl_r - dmg_r, 0, 1); hl = (hl_l + hl_r) / 2; self.setKey("health_arm_left", hl_l); self.setKey("health_arm_right", hl_r); self.setGuiFloat(damage_gui, "PlayerDamage_ItemArmLeft", hl_l); self.setGuiFloat(damage_gui, "PlayerDamage_ItemArmRight", hl_r); // Penalty #1: Disable the weapon once the arm are damaged to minimum health if(hl == 0) { self.selectWeapon(WEAPON_UNARMED); self.disableWeapon(); } else { self.enableWeapon(); } } // Penalty #2: Probabilistically drop held items based on arm damage if(hl == 0 || prob(hl)) if(self.heldEntity() != $null_entity) self.holdEntity($null_entity); } void player_damage_update_leg(float dmg_l, float dmg_r) { float hl_l = self.getFloatKey("health_leg_left"); float hl_r = self.getFloatKey("health_leg_right"); float hl = (hl_l + hl_r) / 2; if(dmg_l != 0 || dmg_r != 0) { hl_l = bound(hl_l - dmg_l, 0, 1); hl_r = bound(hl_r - dmg_r, 0, 1); hl = (hl_l + hl_r) / 2; self.setKey("health_leg_left", hl_l); self.setKey("health_leg_right", hl_r); self.setGuiFloat(damage_gui, "PlayerDamage_ItemLegLeft", hl_l); self.setGuiFloat(damage_gui, "PlayerDamage_ItemLegRight", hl_r); // #Penalty #1: Make movement slower self.setHinderance("health", 0.25 + hl * 0.75, 1); } } void player_damage_update_head(float dmg) { float hl = self.getFloatKey("health_head"); float time_current = sys.getTime(); if(dmg != 0) { hl = bound(hl - dmg, 0, 1); self.setKey("health_head", hl); self.setGuiFloat(damage_gui, "PlayerDamage_ItemHead", hl); // Penalty #1: Without a head the player dies if(hl == 0) self.damage(self, self, self.getOrigin(), "damage_suicide", 1); // Penalty #2: Simulate dizzyness starting at half health if(hl <= 0.5) { if(!dizzy) { dizzy_particles = sys.spawn("func_emitter"); dizzy_particles.setModel("flashbomb.prt"); dizzy_particles.setOrigin(self.getEyePos()); dizzy_particles.bind(self); dizzy = true; } } else { if(dizzy) { dizzy_particles.remove(); dizzy = false; } } } } void player_damage_update_torso(float dmg) { float hl = self.getFloatKey("health_torso"); if(dmg != 0) { hl = bound(hl - dmg, 0, 1); self.setKey("health_torso", hl); self.setGuiFloat(damage_gui, "PlayerDamage_ItemTorso", hl); // Penalty #1: Without a torso the player dies if(hl == 0) self.damage(self, self, self.getOrigin(), "damage_suicide", 1); // Penalty #2: Torso damage negatively affects the lightgem self.setLightgemModifier("damage", (1 - hl) * PENALTY_TORSO_LIGHTGEM); } } void player_damage() { sys.waitFrame(); self = $player1; damage_gui = self.createOverlay("guis/player_damage.gui", 1); float health_old = 100; // Init by sending a heal event filling the limbs to full health player_damage_update_arm(-1, -1); player_damage_update_leg(-1, -1); player_damage_update_head(-1); player_damage_update_torso(-1); while(1) { // sys.waitFrame(); sys.wait(DAMAGE_WAIT); float health_current = self.getHealth(); float dmg = (health_old - health_current) / 100; float dmg_arm_left = dmg * EXPOSURE_ARM_LEFT; float dmg_arm_right = dmg * EXPOSURE_ARM_RIGHT; float dmg_leg_left = dmg * EXPOSURE_LEG_LEFT; float dmg_leg_right = dmg * EXPOSURE_LEG_RIGHT; float dmg_head = dmg * EXPOSURE_HEAD; float dmg_torso = dmg * EXPOSURE_TORSO; // If this is damage and not healing, apply directional damage to each limb if(dmg > 0) { // Currently we estimate damage direction based on the player's velocity, we should fetch the real direction of a damage event when this becomes possible vector dir = self.getMove(); vector ang = self.getViewAngles(); // Protections based on the player's position and relation to the environment // protection_look: 1 when looking up, 0 when looking down // protection_low: Higher as the lower part of the body is exposed float protection_look = 1 - (90 + ang_x) / 180; float protection_low = 1; if(self.AI_CROUCH) protection_low = 0; else if(self.AI_ONGROUND) protection_low = 0.75; // Use the dex function to calculate directional exposure patterns, direction order: Front, back, right, left, up, down // Arms: Somewhat likely to be hit, no added protection // Legs: Somewhat likely to be hit, added protection when the player is crouching // Head: Unlikely to be hit, added protection when the player is looking down // Torso: Likely to be hit, no added protection float exposure_arm_left = bound(sys.random(0.375) + dex(dir, 0.5, 0.25, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.25), 0, 1); float exposure_arm_right = bound(sys.random(0.375) + dex(dir, 0.5, 0.25, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.25), 0, 1); float exposure_leg_left = bound(sys.random(0.375) + dex(dir, 0.75, 0.5, 0.0, 0.5, 0.0, 1.0) * protection_low, 0, 1); float exposure_leg_right = bound(sys.random(0.375) + dex(dir, 0.75, 0.5, 0.5, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0) * protection_low, 0, 1); float exposure_head = bound(sys.random(0.25) + dex(dir, 0.25, 0.75, 0.5, 0.5, 1.0, 0.0) * protection_look, 0, 1); float exposure_torso = bound(sys.random(0.5) + dex(dir, 0.75, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0), 0, 1); // Apply the exposure to damage, multiplied to simulate the sensitivity / resistance of each limb dmg_arm_left = exposure_arm_left * dmg * EXPOSURE_ARM_LEFT; dmg_arm_right = exposure_arm_right * dmg * EXPOSURE_ARM_RIGHT; dmg_leg_left = exposure_leg_left * dmg * EXPOSURE_LEG_LEFT; dmg_leg_right = exposure_leg_right * dmg * EXPOSURE_LEG_RIGHT; dmg_head = exposure_head * dmg * EXPOSURE_HEAD; dmg_torso = exposure_torso * dmg * EXPOSURE_TORSO; } player_damage_update_arm(dmg_arm_left, dmg_arm_right); player_damage_update_leg(dmg_leg_left, dmg_leg_right); player_damage_update_head(dmg_head); player_damage_update_torso(dmg_torso); health_old = health_current; } }

The Dark Mod 15th Anniversary Contest! To celebrate our 15th year, we are holding a fan mission contest! The Dark Mod project trundles onward for it’s 15th year in a row. In that time we have improved our game engine in countless ways and have grown to over 170 missions! To celebrate our perseverance and the years of improvements to come, we are hosting a contest to mark 15 years since the 1.0 release! Now is your time to demonstrate the mission design that best exemplifies your personal style and capabilities! Please consider entering this event! Unlike most recent contests, there is no defined theme and we are simply going to score based on our standard metrics of Story, Gameplay, and Visuals with our standard weighted scoring: Max Possible = Total Votes * 5 (Outstanding) TotalMaxPointsPoss (TMP) = AllCategoryVotecount(ACV) * 30 Full Weighted Score (FWS) = (Gameplay score*3 + Visual score*2 + Story score) / TMP Contest Submissions should be provided before October 16th so that players can start playing and celebrating on the 17th! The players have been keen to relay that they would like really creative missions so it may be worthwhile to examine our “Community Unusual Contest” to get an idea about the wild range of possibilities we offer to designers. Also, since the contest submission is in October, there will probably be an increased desire for Horror themes. The Dark Mod 2.12 was just released so including new 2.12 features is strongly encouraged. Finally, it might be nice if authors name their protagonist Corbin to match the included missions. ( None of the above suggestions are requirements for the submissions. ) Please post your intention to enter in this thread. Thank you! The Poll on this is to demonstrate the intended design used in the mission release threads.

I wrote earlier that I owe this masterpiece a review, so... Here is my detailed review of this groundbreaking and seminal Mission Fan. SPOILERS ABOUND ! TDM PLAYER BEWARE, YOU'RE IN FOR SPOILERS AND MAYBE EVEN A SCARE ! This mission... subverted my expectations. Starting with the briefing video. Not since the days of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns have I seen such daring subversion right at the start. You're expecting one thing... then, bam ! I tried everything to infiltrate the mansion from the outside ! No luck ! Well and truly, expectations subverted ! NPC dialogue heard from the inside... stellar ! Brought a tear to my eye. Or was it just one of the raindrops that fell on my head ? What else brought a tear to my eye ? The senselessly slaughtered guard at the courtyard ! Clearly, a cautionary story that he who grabs a sword... and yet, forgets to dim his lantern, the fool... shall die by someone's sword or arrow. Figures ! That you hid the masterful sidequest of collecting the pennies-for-a-thought from the rather racy fountain, in order to later thoughtfully redistribute them to the poor and hungry street urchins of Bridgeport, is nothing short of design brilliance worthy of at least a two hours long, detailed GDC lecture. I'd watch such a lecture on a loop, 24 hours a day, twelve times a day. Brilliant stuff ! Ah, the side-yard, with steps and a basement entrance that looked and felt straight out of Thief II's opening mission, Running Interference... Could the cunning TDM homages to the classics get any better ?! Could they ? Well, soon enough, I discovered that, yes, they could get even better ! There was an even more amazing homage that I didn't expect ! Read on to find out what... The chefpick was... indescribably cool. I now yearn for it to be included in every single FM. The classic lockpicks feel completely passé. I knocked out both NPCs and... what is this unexpected social commentary ?! The knocked-out have names ?! I applaud your deeply incisive observation, worthy of a skilled chef with a kitchen knife, that the NPCs in games are not mere fictional constructs, but fictional beings with names, hearts and souls ! I confess, upon this moving revelation, I started shedding tears so uncontrollably, I nearly had to quit playing the mission. Yet, I pressed on, heartened and refreshed by such displays of humanity in a work of stealthy interactive fiction ! The commentary was no less subtle and stealthy, I tell you ! As subtle as the protagonist's gritty, grounded accent ! Two different entrances into the local vent system... I... I can't even... So many possible routes of entry. Truly, in the grand tradition of the TDM immersive sim design philosophy ! The choice of giving the intrepid protagonist a temporary rat companion, bribable by cheese, who fetches priceless hidden loot, was equal parts innovative and a hard-hitting social commentary on the abuse of animals for theft and burglary, and people "ratting out" their fellow tenants by revealing the hiding places of their priceless belongings ! I was deeply impressed ! I was thoroughly amazed ! You even had my 'stalgia sense tingling ! Why ? That minor element of your FM even reminded me of the old but gold Thief II FM campaign The Flying Age: The Abominable Flying Machines of Dr. Zeppelinger, where you escape a prison cell by giving a mouse a bit of cheese you've managed to find, and the mouse then provides you with a means of escape. I have scarcely ever seen such a wonderful duo of homages to other past LGS missions and fan missions ! Of course, the shocking revelation with the undead in the freezer was an even more biting commentary on the undead precariat of today, and their ruthless and dehumanizing exploitation by The Man, maaan, the snobby culinary establishment. Undeadkind merely want to roam their abandoned tombs and catacombs in peace (pieces ?) and get a bite or two out of a stray vagrant or drunk guard every now and then, no big deal. Society needs to be more charitable to undeadkind ! And you've even included a gas arrow up in the rafters ! You well and truly know your audience, as I'm an old, die-hard gas arrow collecting enthusiast. I am a sophisticated, yet simple man: I see a gas arrow in Thief or The Dark Mod, I immediately grab it, owing to its rarity. Thank you for such generous mission design. To cut a long story short, I have had a thorough, engrossing and moving cultural experience with this short-but-dazzling mission ! In the shadowed alleys of TDM fan mission sites, I have crossed paths with missions that were ruthlessly difficult and confounding, yet rewarding, but never have I played a mission this... authentic... avantgarde... thought-provoking... It even made me feel hungry ! Riveting, simply riveting. Like working on the skeleton of a 1930s Art Deco skyscraper. Ultimate verdict: 22 frommages out of 20, with a happy cheese-filled rat as the cherry on the top. (But what kind of frommage ? Cheddar ? Swiss cheese ? Gouda ?! I dunno. Don't have a cheesemaking degree.) In other words, I cannot rate this mission other than with the Chef Excellence Award for... Excellence ! *chef's kiss* Le Mission Légendaire Magnifique ! Roll over, Requiem ! Roll over, Crucible of Omens ! Roll over, Iris ! This, this... is the pinnacle TDM fan mission of all time.

Hello, all. This thread is meant as a follow-up companion piece to my previous thread listing royalty-free music by Kevin MacLeod that could be usable for new missions for The Dark Mod. In this thread, I take a slightly different approach. Instead of focusing on one author and his royalty-free music, I'll be writing an ever-expanding list of songs, compositions tracks and ambients by various musical artists that could come in useful for mission makers working on FMs for TDM. Aside from ambient music for background atmosphere, I'll also be listing some historical music and compositions from the real world's ca 14th-17th century that are in the public domain and could be used as background music in your missions, provided that someone does a royalty-free recording of them (i.e. not released on some payed-for album, but at most a royalty-free album or online collection/archive). Please note that, though I will try to provide you with links to royalty-free versions of historical compositions in particular, I sometimes might not be sure of the status of some of these recreations/recordings and you'll have to snoop around for their royalty-free status on your own. However, if you do confirm that, e.g. some freelance artist recorded a well-known 16th century piece of music, and is giving it away royalty-free, possibly with the only necessity being attribution, then please let me know and I'll include any download links and the details concerning necessary attribution. Thank you ! And now, it's time to begin... ---- Royalty-free ambients As in "free to distribute and use (though possibly with attribution)", not necessarily "free of the TDM universe royalty". Free Music Archive (FMA) From his particular website, I'll only be including tracks that have broad Creative Commons licenses or free licenses, and tracks that are suited to both Non-commercial and Commercial use. In other words, largelly CC BY 4.0 and CC BY 4.0 Deed. It's better to search for ambients and tracks that are more lenient with their licenses. Lee Rosevere - All the Answers - Awkward Silences (B) - Baldachin - Betrayal - Compassion (keys version) - Delayed Reaction - Edge of the Woods (kind of too modern sounding in parts, but maybe you could find a use for it á la some of the old grungy-sounding ambient tunes in Thief) - Expectations - Everywhere (sounds like a calm but moody mansion ambient to me) - Gone - Her Unheard Story - It's A Mystery - Not Alone - Old Regrets - Reflections - Slow Lights - Snakes - Something To Fill The Space - Thoughtful (especially the first half to first two thirds, before the more electronic beat kicks in) - The Long Journey - The Nightmare - The Past - Time to Think - Under Suspicion (maybe the bit between 2:26 and 2:48 would be the best for a tension sting, the rest sounds a bit too modern spy-fi for the TDM setting) - What's in the Barrel ? - You're Enough (A) - Maarten Schellekens - A Bit of Discomfort - Daydream - Deliverance - Free Classical Theme (arguably more like for an SF film with classical music portrayed electronically, but not bad) Salakapakka Sound System - Aiti, joku tuijottaa meita metsasta - Holle - Kadonnut jalkia jattamatta - Privatomrode i Vasteros - Syttymissyy tuntematon 1 - Syttymissyy tuntematon 2 Sawako albums - 098 (ambient for background humming and buzzing, perhaps machinery, electricity, industrial ambience, etc.) - Billy Gomberg Remix - If You're Ther (odd city ambience, between moody music and city background ambience, mild background thumping) - Lisbon ambience (maybe usable as background ambience in some mission set at a more Mediterranean city) - Mizuame (Sawako Sun) (could work as ambience for a larger baths or spa hall, with the sound of water, and human voices occassionally heard in the background) - November 25, 2007 - Snowfall - Spring Thaw - Tim Prebble Remix - UNIVERSFIELD - A Beatiful Sky (this track would actually be good for a church or cathedral interior) - A Calm Soulful Atmosphere For A Documentary Film (calm but somewhat mysterious ambient, reminds me of some of the Dishonored ambients) - A Grim Horror Atmosphere - A Music Box With A Tense Atmosphere - Atmosphere for Documentaries (rather suspensful ambient with an undertone of woodwind instruments) - Background Horror Tension - Beautiful Relaxing Ambient (a calmer ambient that's good for a location with some degree of grandeur or one that provides relief to the player) - Blood-chillingly Creepy Atmospheres - Bloody - Cloaked in Mystery - Corpse Rot - Crime City - Dark Background - Deep Space Exploration (has a nice atmosphere of mystery and exploration) - Drifting in Harmony (calm but suspensful ambient) - Embrace of the Mist - Exoplanet (mysterious ambient, could work for various environments) - Exploring the Cursed Cemetery (short, fifteen second tension sting with piano) - Evening Meditation In The Open Air (could work for a number environments during evening hours) - Fading Memories - Gloomy Atmosphere for Documentaries - Gloomy Reverie - Grim Atmosphere - Horror Atmosphere (Version 2) - Horror Background Atmosphere 6 - Horror Background Atmosphere for Horror and Mystical - Horror Background Atmosphere for Scary Scenes - Horror Background Atmosphere for Suspensful Moments (1) - Horror Background Atmosphere for Suspensful Moments (2) - Horror Dark Atmosphere (Version 1) - Horror Music Box - Intergalactic Ambience (good calm theme of mystery and wonder) - In the Embrace of Darkness - Mars (suspensful ambient for a suspensful location, with a metallic undertone in its melody) - Meditation in Nature (aside from outdoor environments, could work in a number of other environments as well) - Melodies of Fear - Midnight Secrets - Mild Heaven (a calm ambient, maybe could work for night time city streets and city rooftops) - Moment of a Dream (suspensful theme, hopefully not too electronic in undertone) - Mysterious Passerby - Mystery Atmosphere - Mystery Horror - Mystery House - Mystical Dark Atmosphere - Nebula Soundscape (sounds like a good ambient for outdoor or cave environments or maybe even churches and city rooftops) - Ominous Criminal Atmosphere - Sad Emotional Piano for Documentary Films - Scary Dark Cinematic For Suspensful Moments - Scary Horror Atmosphere - Sinister Mystery - Sinister Piano Melodies (short, fifteen second tension sting with piano) - Siren's Call (I feel this one has more limited uses, though maybe it could work for suspense in an industrial environment) - Soothing Serenade (calm, soothing ambient, with a slight hint of mystery, could work for several types of environments) - Soothing Soundscapes (calm, soothing ambient, with a slight hint of mystery, could work for several types of environments) - Spooky Hallway - Suspense Atmosphere Background - Tense Dark Background - Tense Horror Atmosphere - Tense Horror Background Atmosphere - The Box of Nightmares - This Sunset (good for an evening or night time ambient, even includes subtle cricket chirping sounds) - Tropical Escapes (good for an outdoor environment with a waterfall, flowing stream or falling rain) Many of these tracks by UNIVERSFIELD are quite short, about a minute or slightly under a minute, but good as tension-building themes or as suspensful ambients. ---- Historical background music - lute and similar string instruments La Rossignol ("The Nightingale"} - a Renaissance era piece, anonymous composer. This one was written as an instrumental duet for two musicians. So, if you'd use this for a scene of AI characters playing their instruments, you should use two such characters for added believability. Here's what the composition sounds like when played as a duet on: - lute (obviously the most medieval/Renaissance instrumentation) - acoustic guitar (example 1) and acoustic guitar (example 2) - 11-string guitar what it sounds when played as a duet on an 11-string guitar - licensed album version (presumably lute) If you find any royalty-free version in good quality, let me know. Lachrimae ("Tears", sometimes known as "Seven Teares") by John Dowland - another Elizabethan era piece, by a 16th-17th century composer. Various reconstructions: - on lute (example solo performance at the Metropolitan Museum) - on lute, with vocal accompaniment (lutist and female soprano) - on lute, violas, and other (six musician ensemble performance) - on viola da gamba (five musician ensemble performance) Lachrimae Pavan ("Teary Pavane / Pavane of the Tears") by John Dowland - a variation on the previous composition, for the Renaissance pavane style dance. Various reconstructions: - on lute - on acoustic guitar (example 1), (example 2), (example 3) Again, I'd like to find a royalty-free version of these two compositions. Frog Galliard - one more by Dowland, for now. Another composition for a Renaissance dance style, the galliard. Reconstructions: - on lute (solo performance) - on lute, deeper sound (solo performance) - on acoustic guitar (example 1), (example 2), (example 3) Royalty-free version would be appreciated. Greensleeves - by an anonymous 16th century author, quite possibly a folk song of the era. Trust me, you know this one, even if you don't know the name. It's one of the most well-known bits of Renaissance secular and courtly music in the popular imagination. (Trust me, it's been referenced in everything. Even the first Stronghold game from the early 2000s had an in-game character sing a made-up ditty to the tune/melody of this song.) Reconstructions: - on lute (solo performance) - classical guitar (solo performance) - acoustic guitar (solo performance) I bet there's a royalty-free version of this one somewhere. I'll snoop around, and if you find one before I do, let me know. In taberna quando sumus ("When we are at the tavern") - anonymous period song from the 14th century, of Goliard origin. Written and sung entirely in Latin (so if you can explain Latin within the TDM setting or use only an instrumental version, go for it). An unabashed drinking song, you could use this for more rascally Builder priests/monks or for various commoners and lower-ranking noblemen while they're having a good time at the inn. A pretty well-known song even nowadays (though the most famous melody for it might be the more recent arrangement). Reconstructions: - example performance 1 - example performance 2 Again, an entirely royalty-free version of this one could come in handy. Historical background music - by Jon Sayles Jon Sayles is a musician who runs the Free Early and Renaissance Music website. His recordings are in .mp3 format (so you will need a conversion to .ogg) and Sayles has made them all freely available. The instrument he used for his musical reconstructions is the classical guitar. Some examples of Sayles' reconstructions of period music by anonymous or known authors: Saltarello, based on the late-medieval and Renaissance dance tune from Italy Madrigal by Anthony Holborne Al fonsina by Johannes Ghiselin Ich weiss nit by Ludwig Senfl So ys emprentid by John Bedyngham, mid-1400s Riu, riu, chiu, famous 15th century Spanish Christmas carol Fantasia, by Orlando Gibbons, late 16th and early 17th century Die Katzenpfote, German-speaking lands, anonymous author, 15th century A gre d'amors, 14th century, anonymous French author Nightengale (unrelated to La Rossignol), by Thomas Weelkes El Grillo, 15th to early 16th century composition by Josquin des Prez The Witches' Dance, by anonymous, Renaissance English composition Ma fin est mon comencement, by 14th century composer Guillame de Machaut In Nomine, late 15th and early 16th century composition by John Taverner Ricercare ("ricker-caré", nothing to do with rice or care), by Adrian Willaert Fantasia by Thomas Lupo, 16th-17th century English composer The Nite Watch, composed by Anthony Holborne - appropriate for TDM Plenty more where these came from... Historical background music - from the A-M Classical website This website offers plenty of freely available, royalty-free .mp3s of early and classical musical compositions and instrumental songs. The only thing you need to do is provide attribution, as everything on the site is via a Creative Commons license (this is noted on every page). Counting Christmas songs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance alone, I was able to download loads of them already years and years ago. Though they're far from epic recordings, if you're just looking for a competently done free version of these compositions, this is an excellent site. A few examples of medieval music from the A-M Classical site: Angelus ad Virginem (played quietly on organ), Diex soit en cheste maison by Adam de la Halle (organ and other instruments), Greensleeves (this is for a carol version of the lyrics, but the melody is the same as standard Greensleeves) Historical background music - by Vox Vulgaris The Swedish band/ensemble Vox Vulgaris aren't very active nowadays, but they did plenty of early music recording in the early-to-mid 2000s. From what I've read about their song releases, they're okay with others using the songs from their 2003 album and other material they've done. I don't know if their website is still around (there's an archived version) and whether you can still contact the band members, but if you'd like to be extra sure and ask, go ahead. I don't think they've changed their copyleft stance to their own works, but it pays off to be sure. So, here are some of VV's own takes on period music: Cantiga 166 - based on the eponymous song (full title "Cantiga 166 - Como póden per sas culpas (os homés seer contreitos)"), by Spanish composer Alphonso X from the 13th century (yes, king Alphonso X ! They didn't call him Alphonso the Learned for nothing). To provide you with a point of comparison, here, here and here are versions by other artists. (If I remember correctly, this particular VV song was also used by moonbo in his Requiem FM, as part of an inn's muffled background music. I did a real double-take when I played the mission for the first time and recognised it.) Cantiga 213 - based on the eponymous song (full title "Cantiga 213 - Quen sérve Santa María, a Sennor mui verdadeira"), again by Spanish composer, king Alphonso X from the 13th century. To provide you with a point of comparison, here and here are versions by other artists. Saltarello - based on the well-known melody for the Italian late-medieval Renaissance dance, the saltarello (also the saltarello trotto specifically in this case). To provide you a point of comparison, here and here are versions by other artists. La Suite Meurtrière - I can't quite source this one, it might be their own original composition, though "in the style of" some particular period music. Rókatánc (Fox Dance) - this is a really wild bit of period dance and festive music, possibly Hungarian-inspired, given the name. I think this would fit both a tavern environment or some public event for the nobility and patricians, including an armed sparring tournament or similar. Final note from me New suggestions are always welcome as I expand this thread. For any suggestions concerning Kevin MacLeod's royalty-free music, please use the other thread I've already made, purely for listing MacLeod's stuff.

Hello, all. I've decided to post some lists of royalty-free music from Kevin MacLeod's well-known site Incompetech.com, lists that include tracks and themes chosen as potentially useful for The Dark Mod mission creators. Mr. MacLeod's made plenty of really good royalty-free music over the years, including various ambient themes and other music that could work pretty well in The Dark Mod. From what I know and remember, there's already been a fair few released FMs that used a few tracks from MacLeod's archive, so he is not unknown to the TDM community. The older (and fully usable) version of MacLeod's site is here and another archive of his royalty-free music can be found here (on Wikimedia Commons). I've added the links as well. As of April 2024, I have also added links to the official YouTube uploads of the individual tracks, all part of MacLeod's official YouTube channel. For the sake of easier reading and finding a song in the lists below, I've arranged them all in alphabetical order. Religious / churchly ambients Types of settings: Builder churches, chapels, cathedrals, monasteries, abbeys, etc. Various solemn and calm religious ambients. - Agnus Dei X (YT link. Somber but livelier in places, male and female choir vocals in muffled Latin.) - Bathed in Light (YT link. A rather soothing ambient, I suppose it could work inside a pleasant-seeming Builder church, including as a place of relief in a scary mission.) - Gregorian Chant (YT link) - Lasting Hope (YT link) - Midnight Meeting (YT link) - Organic Meditations 1 (YT link) and Organic Meditations 2 (YT link) - Rites (YT link) - Private reflection (YT link) - Supernatural (YT link. Good for an abandoned church, spooky candle-lit catacombs, etc.) - Virtutes Vocis (YT link) Potentially: - Tiny Fugue (YT link) - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (YT link. Famous organ composition by Bach, IMHO might sound too Barocque for a late-medieval style setting, but good for a hint of eerieness.) Spooky / horror / ominous ambients Types of settings: Crypts, catacombs, haunted caves, eerie ruins, lairs and places where undead and other monsters roam, etc. Some of the more industrial-sounding ones could also be useful for missions set at factories or warehouses occupied by criminal gangs, and so on (i.e. also for non-supernatural threats and non-supernatural creepiness). - Aftermath (YT link), WiCo link) - Ancient Rite (YT link, WiCo link) - Anxiety (YT link, WiCo link) - Apprehension (YT link, WiCo link) - Blue Sizzle (YT link, WiCo link) - Bump in the Night (YT link, WiCo link) - Chase Pulse (YT link, WiCo link) and Chase Pulse Faster (YT link, WiCo link. Both could work in some ghost-haunted location, with ghosts pursuing the player.) - Classic Horror 3 (YT link, WiCo link. Good for a haunted house, manor house or other private household interior.) - Crypto (YT link) - Dark Pad (YT link) - Dark Standoff (YT link) - Darkness Speaks (YT link. Shorter sting, good for a scripted creepy event.) - Decay (YT link, WiCo link) - Deep Noise (YT link, WiCo link) - Digital Bark (YT link, WiCo link) - Distant Tension (YT link, WiCo link) - Dopplerette (YT link, WiCo link) - Echoes of Time 1 (YT link, WiCo link) - Echoes of Time 2 (YT link, WiCo link) - Fire Prelude (YT link) - Gathering Darkness (YT link, WiCo link) - Ghostpocalypse 1 - The Departure (YT link) - Ghost Processional (YT link) - Ghost Story (YT link, WiCo link) - Grave Matters (YT link) - Heart of the Beast (YT link, WiCo link) - Himalayan Atmosphere (YT link. Eerie theme, could work in some ancient ruins.) - Ice Demon (YT link, WiCo link) - Irregular (YT link) - Land of Phantoms (YT link) - Lithium (YT link) - Long Note 1, Long Note 2 and Long Note 3 - Medusa (YT link) - Mind Scrape (YT link) - Mirage (YT link) - Nervous (YT link, WiCo link) - Night Break (YT link, WiCo link) - Ominous (YT link. Shorter ambient, but pretty spooky.) - One of Them (YT link, WiCo link) - Ossuary 1 (YT link) - Ossuary 5 (YT link) - Ossuary 6 (YT link) - Penumbra (YT link, WiCo link) - Political Action Ad (YT link. Yes, a song for this concept has such an ominous atmosphere. ) - Redletter (YT link, WiCo link) - Right Behind You (YT link, WiCo link) - Satiate - strings version (YT link) - Spacial Harvest (YT link) - Spacial Winds (YT link, WiCo link. Might be good for Middle Eastern themed scares.) - Spider Eyes (YT link. This could work well inside a household, or inside some public building.) - Supernatural (YT link. Calmer melody, good for a haunted religious buldings and its grounds.) - Sunset at Glengorm (YT link and YT remastered link) - Steel and Seething (YT link) - Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Mermaid (YT link. Sounds serene, but is rather creepy and tense, maybe underground/underwater ruins.) - The Dread (YT link, WiCo link) - The Hive (YT link, WiCo link) - The Voices (YT link, WiCo link 1, WiCo link 2. Very otherworldly, good for some haunted area or other dimension.) - Unnatural Situation (YT link) - Unease (YT link, WiCo link. Would sound best in a manor house, museum, or other fancy interiors.) - Unseen Horrors (YT link, WiCo link) - Very Low Note (YT link, WiCo link) Tension-building / mysterious / general ambients Type of setting/situation: General ambients, especially in parts of FMs where the plot thickens and some coded development is triggered that makes for a new "act" in the overall story of the mission. (Imagine the likes of moonbo's missions and how they're structured and you get a bit of an idea.) - Air Prelude (YT link) - Awkward Meeting (YT link, WiCo link. Our thief hero or heroine meets an ally or informant for a bit of chit-chat.) - Blue Sizzle (YT link, WiCo link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Calmant (YT link. A calm, quiet piano theme, but it has an air of mystery and isolation. An emotionally neutral, uncertain theme.) - Crypto (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Dama-May (YT link. A bit of a peculiar tense theme, but some might find some uses for it.) - Dark Times (YT link) - Disappointment (YT link) - Disconcerned (YT link) - Dopplerette (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Dragon and Toast (YT link) - Enter the Maze (YT link) - Fantastic Dim Bar (YT link) - Fire Prelude (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Frozen Star (YT link. Exploring some long-lost ruins, mysterious compound or complex, it's soothing but creepy.) - Ghost Processional (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Gloom Horizon (YT link) - Grave Matters (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Greta Sting (YT link. A short sting, under twenty seconds, useful for revelatory scripted scenes and building suspense.) - Grim League (YT link) - Heavy Heart (YT link) - Industrial Music Box (YT link. Somber and personal, reminds me of the music box theme we already have in the game.) - Interloper (YT link) - Invariance (YT link) - Irregular (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness/mysteriousness.) - Isolated (YT link. A calm, somber ambient, for thoughtful situations. A bit more modern and guitarry-sounding, but could work in TDM.) - It Is Lost (YT link, WiCo link. Maybe a theme for exploring some mysterious underground ruins ?) - Lamentation (YT link. Maybe a castle or manor house household where bad events transpired.) - Lasting Hope (YT link) - Lithium (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Long Note 1, Long Note 2 and Long Note 3 (YT link 1, YT link 2, YT link 3. These are IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Lord of the Land (YT link. Maybe usable as a quiet background theme while sneaking through a busier castle or manor house.) - Lost Frontier (YT link. Exploring some city or castle ruins in The Empire that seem majestic at first glance but could hide a darker secret.) - Mourning Song (YT link) - New Direction (YT link. Very interesting ambient, could work well for a slow-burning urban noir atmosphere and doesn't sound modern.) - Night of Chaos (YT link) - Night on the Docks - piano version (YT link. Part of a trio of slow noir themes, the others use a sax and trumpet. This is the only one of the three that sounds pre-1900 compatible.) - On The Passing of Time (YT link, WiCo link) - Oppressive Gloom (YT link) - Overheat (YT link) - Quiet Panic (YT link. Short and quiet, good for tension-building, including for scripted events.) - Relent (YT link. The clarinet in this one might be slightly anachronistic, but it's an interesting contemplative melody.) - Road to Hell (YT link) - Satiate - strings version (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild horror.) - Satiate - percussion version (YT link. This one's IMHO better purely as a tension-building theme.) - Scissors (YT link. This would be an excellent theme for a mission set at a factory, inventor's workshop or a warehouse.) - Shores of Avalon (YT link. Quieter tension-builder.) - Simplex (YT link. A pretty good one, though some of the quieter beats are a bit more electronic.) - Spacial Harvest (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild horror.) - Spring Thaw (YT link) - Stay the Course (YT link) - Sunset at Glengorm (YT link and YT remastered link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Temple of the Manes (YT link. I'd imagine this could work in an atmospheric mission set inside a castle or fortified manor house.) - Tempting Secrets (YT link) - Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Intermission (YT link. Tense but melodic theme, with some heavy background percussions.) - The North (YT link) - Thunder Dreams (YT link) - Tranquility (YT link. A longer and very calm ambient theme, but has an air of mystery and strangeness.) - Unanswered Questions (YT link) - Unnatural Situation (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness.) - Unpromised (YT link. Can work both in an urban and a rural/wilderness environment.) - Very Low Note (YT link. This one's IMHO versatile enough both for tension-building and mild creepiness, would be ideal for a cave or basement.) - Winter Reflections (YT link. Good for a mission set during a snowed-in winter night.) Period instrument background music (stylistically European) Types of settings: Taverns, village scenes, town life, feasts, scenes among commoners or nobles. Mostly stuff with a calm and cosy atmosphere. - Achaidh Cheide (YT link) - Angevin B (YT link. This one sounds a bit more aristocratic or courtly, good for a feast or public event.) - Danse Macabre - harp version - Errigal (YT link. This one sounds a bit more aristocratic or courtly, but it's a good secular piece of music.) - Evening Fall - harp (YT link) - Folk Round (YT link) - Heavy Interlude (YT link. Short but really cool, IMHO could also work for a background scene of two AI characters sparring for fun.) - Master of the Feast (YT link. Good for a scene with at least two or three musicians and multiple noble/patrician characters attending a feast.) - Minstrel Guild (YT link) - Midnight Tale (YT link) - Old Road (YT link) - Pale Rider (YT link) - Pippin the Hunchback (YT link) - Suonatore di Liuto (YT link) - Teller of the Tales (YT link) North African, Middle Eastern and other "exotic" background music Types of settings: The TDM universe's analogues of the Mediterranean, North African, Middle Eastern regions, and other "exotic" locations. - Asian Drums (YT link. Could work for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, good slow, tension-building ambient theme.) - Cambodian Odyssey (YT link. This is better suited to a south Asian or southeast Asian setting, but could work in a Middle Eastern locale as well. Tense theme, quiet percussions.) - Desert City (YT link. Could work for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, good all-around urban ambient theme.) - Drums of the Deep (YT link (shorter) and YT link (longer). Could work for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, good tension-building ambient theme.) - East of Tunesia (YT link. Could work in a mission with either a Mediterranean or North African style environment, e.g. a port city.) - Ibn Al-Noor (YT link. Good for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, especially for a palace or public event environment.) - Lotus (YT link. Good as a general ambient theme for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, or some other exotic locale.) - Mystery Bazaar (YT link. Another good one for a Middle Eastern or North African style mission, ideally some marketplace or square.) - Perigrine Grandeur (YT link. Middle Eastern style percussions interspersed with a grunge-like tune reminescent of those from Thief.) - Tabuk (YT link. Slow, but slightly more dramatic theme for a Middle Eastern or North African style environment.) - Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Snake Lady (YT link. Has a Middle Eastern feel to it, very good for building suspense and tension.) Wilderness / nature ambients Types of settings: Outdoor areas with groves, forests, rivers, small lakes, mountain valleys, caves. Potentially also some Pagan villages and camps. - Black Bird (YT link. Tribal type stuff.) - Dewdrop Fantasy (YT link and YT link) - Kalimba Relaxation Music (YT link. Maybe could work in a cave or similar environment ?) - Evening Fall - harp (YT link) - Firesong (YT link. Tribal type stuff.) - Intuit (YT link. Tribal type stuff.) - Healing (YT link. I think this one could also work in an urban environment.) - Heavy Heart (YT link. Also works as a general ambient theme.) - Magic Forest (YT link) - River Flute (YT link) - Moorland (YT link. Could work for an isolated Pagan tribe village.) - Shamanistic (YT link) - Spirit of the Girl (YT link) - Thunderbird (YT link) - The North (YT link. A very short but looping theme, IMHO also works as a general ambient theme.) - The Pyre (YT link) - The Sky of Our Ancestors (YT link) - Unpromised (YT link) - Very Low Note (YT link. IMHO very good for a cave or cave system.) - Virtutes Instrumenti (YT link) - Willow and the Light (YT link) - Winter Reflections (YT link. Good for a mission set in winter or in some cavern strewn with magic crystals.) Non-serious bonus suggestion - Crunk Knight (YT link. When the Bridgeport City Watch throw an annual office party :-))) ) Giving MacLeod proper attribution if you chose to use this music in your mission Each song comes with an attribution quote that you need to include if you're going to use any of this music in your fan mission. If there is a final credits sequence in your mission, or you can include this quote at least as part of the mission's release notes, please do so. Though you can buy a license from Kevin and don't need to use attribution, all of this music is for free, as long as you give him credit. The credit-giving (attribution) is as follows: Name of Song Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Replace "Name of Song" with the actual name of the song, keep the rest of the quote in this format and include it in your "free music used" credits for your mission, and you're golden. Final note from me If you've found some other good tracks in Kevin's musical archives that could fit the tone of The Dark Mod and its setting and would like to include them in this list, please let me know and I'll update this post. Don't send me a personal message, just post your suggestion in this thread. Thank you ! I sincerely hope these lists will be of at least some use to mission builders. Good luck ! If you want to seek out non-MacLeod royalty-free music and public domain music, I've started a thread for that as well. Not too many download links yet, but it's meant to give you inspiration what sort of ambients or period music you could search for.

I'm happy to present my first FM, The Spider and the Finch. There may be a spider, but no ghosts or undead. It should run a couple hours. It's now available on the Missions page or the in-game downloader. Many thanks to the beta testers Acolytesix, Cambridge Spy, datiswous, madtaffer, Shadow, and wesp5 for helping me improve and making the mission to the best of my abilities. This would not be have been possible without Fidcal's excellent DarkRadiant tutorial. Thanks also to the many people who answered my questions in the TDM forums. Cheers! 2023-12-13 Mission updated to version 3. Fixed a bug where the optional loot option objective was not actually optional. Updated the animations for Astrid Added a hallway door so the guards are less likely to be aggroed en masse.

Yes. Sure, I will change it, but I do mind. In addition to changing the forum title, I have also had the name of the pk4 changed in the mission downloader and the thiefguild.com site’s named changed. It's not just some "joke". The forum post and thread are intended to be a natural extension of the mission’s story, a concept that is already SUPER derivative of almost any haunted media story or most vaguely creepy things written on the internet in the past 10 or 15 years. Given your familiarity with myhouse.wad, you also can clearly engage with something like that on some conceptual level. Just not here on our forums? We can host several unhinged racist tirades in the off-topic section but can’t handle creepypasta without including an advisory the monsters aren’t actually under the bed? (Are they though?) I am also trying to keep an open mind, but I am not really feeling your implication that using a missing person as a framing of a work of fiction is somehow disrespectful to people who are actually gone. I have no idea as even a mediocre creative person what to say to that or why I need to be responsible for making sure nobody potentially believes some creative work I am involved in, or how that is even achievable in the first place. Anyway, apologies for the bummer. That part wasn’t intentional. I am still here. I will also clarify that while I love the game, I never got the biggest house in animal crossing either. In the end Tom Nook took even my last shiny coin.

DarkRadiant 3.9.0 is ready for download. What's new: Feature: Add "Show definition" button for the "inherit" spawnarg Improvement: Preserve patch tesselation fixed subdivisions when creating caps Improvement: Add Filters for Location Entities and Player Start Improvement: Support saving entity key/value pairs containing double quotes Improvement: Allow a way to easily see all properties of attached entities Fixed: "Show definition" doesn't work for inherited properties Fixed: Incorrect mouse movement in 3D / 2D views on Plasma Wayland Fixed: Objective Description flumoxed by double-quotes Fixed: Spinboxes in Background Image panel don't work correctly Fixed: Skins defined on modelDefs are ignored Fixed: Crash on activating lighting mode in the Model Chooser Fixed: Can't undo deletion of atdm_conversation_info entity via conversation editor Fixed: 2D views revert to original ortho layout each time running DR. Fixed: WX assertion failure when docking windows on top of the Properties panel on Linux Fixed: Empty rotation when cloning an entity using editor_rotatable and an angle key Fixed: Three-way merge produces duplicate primitives when a func_static is moved Fixed: Renderer crash during three-way map merge Internal: Replace libxml2 with pugixml Internal: Update wxWidgets to 3.2.4 Windows and Mac Downloads are available on Github: https://github.com/codereader/DarkRadiant/releases/tag/3.9.0 and of course linked from the website https://www.darkradiant.net Thanks to all the awesome people who keep creating Fan Missions! Please report any bugs or feature requests here in these forums, following these guidelines: Bugs (including steps for reproduction) can go directly on the tracker. When unsure about a bug/issue, feel free to ask. If you run into a crash, please record a crashdump: Crashdump Instructions Feature requests should be suggested (and possibly discussed) here in these forums before they may be added to the tracker. The list of changes can be found on the our bugtracker changelog. Keep on mapping!

Flakebridge Monastery In this mission you will visit a Builder outpost to steal some valuable books. It is the first in what I hope will be a series about Selis Woderose. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my beta testers: Aprilsister, Bikerdude, Chiron, lost_soul, and prjames. As well as Fidcal for his starting map, and Melan for his texture pack. Known bugs: A small number may appear at the bottom left corner of your screen when the mission loads. Press sheath weapon to make it disappear. As already mentioned this is the first mission in a series. When you have completed it you may know what you'll be going after in the next mission. You may even know where! Enjoy! And please use spoiler tags where appropriate. A couple of screens: (thanks lowenz) http://2.bp.blogspot...0/shot00001.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot...0/shot00003.jpg

I've decided to make a list of my posts in this thread thus far. Only the posts where I shared images of real world locations for inspiration (mostly reference images of various historical architecture). 19th century octagon houses as inspiration for more fancy houses of industralists (12 May 2015) Old electric powerplant building in Poprad, Slovakia - red brick Gothic Revival stylistics (17 July 2015) - needs image fixin' Plas Mawr in Conwy, Wales - well-preserved medieval and early modern Welsh townhouse, with interior museum (29 July 2015) Castell Coch in Wales - reconstructed medieval castle, with minor 19th century industrial details (13 August 2015) + addendum Illustrations and concept art for Bree from various game projects (3 September 2015) Run-down Neo-classical manor house in a rural area (15 December 2015) - dated image links, I need to fix 'em Smaller but interesting manor houses and fortified manor houses in Slovakia (30 August 2016) Manor houses and fortified manor houses in Slovakia (13 March 2017) Environmental storytelling inspired by "reading" real world ruins (3 May 2021) Stokesay Castle rural fortified manor house, one of the few of its kind in England (26 March 2024) Houses, inns and market halls of medieval and early modern England (26 March 2024) Aberconwy House in Conwy, Wales - well-preserved 14th century Welsh medieval merchant townhouse (27 March 2024)

Stokesay Castle, one of the best-preserved fortified manor houses in England and the British Isles in general. Rather than remain an original castle or castle ruin, or completely converted into a mansion, manor house, chateau, or romantic folly, this older rural castle was converted into a traditional fortified manor house in the early modern era and hadn't really changed its nature throughout the centuries. I feel this is a very good inspiration for TDM, given the style of architecture in TDM's fictional universe. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stokesay_Castle https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stokesay_Castle_(interior) https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/6359 https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/4859 Loads and loads of great photos behind these links, so don't think these are the only interesting ones I could share. There's a huge amount of interesting details in this fortified manor house.

Author Note: Shadows of Northdale is a new campaign that takes place in a city called Northdale that is situated up in the mountains of the western empire. Across the campaign the player will traverse through the varying districts of the city with each mission featuring it's own unique location as well as different locations in the city hub to access. ACT I is the first mission which is designed to introduce the player to the city hub area and the new mechanics available to them. During the first night in the city hub section there are a couple of places to explore however this will expand and open up further as you progress through the campaign's missions. This mission features some aspects which are different to the usual dark mod FM experience which are: - Food is an item that is picked up and stored in your inventory, pressing the use key with the food item highlighted will cause the player to eat it and gain 5hp - There is an ingame fence where you can purchase gear using any loot you may have found during the mission, you can visit him as many times as you wish but do be mindful of your loot goals - Also inside the fence's shop are contracts, these are readables which detail tasks that a client wishes you to complete for an agreed sum of gold. Upon completing them you will be rewarded with the designated sum immediately - Because you are not a wanted criminal (yet) the citywatch will only attack you if they catch you breaking the law or find you near the scene of a crime - Candles are pinchable in this mission, frobbing them causes Corbin to pinch them to put them out rather than pick them up The mission was designed and tested on 2.05, if you are playing on any other version there may be bugs present. If you enjoyed the mission please feel free to leave a review, I enjoy reading them and it gives me inspiration for my next projects. Tell me what you felt worked and what you felt could be improved for next time. Have fun taffers! - Goldwell. 2.06 UPDATE INFO: If you are experiencing any path finding issues (AI walking around in circles or getting stuck) on 2.06 then please enter the following console command to resolve these issues cm_backFaceCull 0. Thanks goes to Nbohr1more for solving that! Testers Crowind Epifire Kingsal Random_Taffer Skacky SquadaFroinx Voice Actors AndrosTheOxen Goldwell SlyFoxx Custom assets Andreas Rocha Bentraxx Bob Necro Dragofer Epifire Freesound Kingsal MalachiAD Tannar And a very special thank you to the following people without whom the mission would not exist: Epifire for creating some amazing detailed custom models that help bring a unique layer that wouldn't be possible without it. Seriously go check out his modeling page! Dude is very talented https://sketchfab.com/Epifire Grayman for helping to debug a lot of critical bugs in the mission, without him there wouldnt be a mission Kingsal and Skacky for helping out with excellent tips on level design, flow and lighting Moonbo for lending his writing talents to help optimize the briefing video script Obsttorte for making the majority of the scripts featured in this mission, and for dealing with my constant nagging about issues and bugs, you are awesome! SlyFoxx for lending his vocal talents and making the fence character come to life and sound great SquadaFroinx for providing thorough beta reports (that are equally hilarious as they are useful) And finally a huge thank you to Tannar for drawing the fantastic looking ingame map Available via in-game downloader MIRROR File Size: 295 mb

I couldn't help thinking of another realism related suggestion, don't know if it was discussed before but it seemed like an interesting idea. If this were to be changed on existing lights by default, it would have minor gameplay implications, but the sort that make missions easier in a fair way. So... electric lights: Like the real ones of the era, they're implied to use incandescent light bulbs... the kind that in reality will explore and shatter upon the smallest impact, and which like real lamps are encased in glass or paper. In any realistic scenario, shooting a broadhead arrow at a lamp or even throwing a rock at it would cause it to go through the glass and break the light bulb inside. Is it wrong to imagine TDM emulating this behavior as a gameplay mechanic? Just as you can shoot water arrows at flame based lights to put them out, you'd shoot broadhead arrows at electric lights to disable them... you must however hit the glass precisely, there's no room for error and it must be a perfect shot. As a way to compensate for the benefit, AI can treat this as suspicious and become alert if seeing or hearing a lamp break, or finding a broken lamp at any time if that's deemed to provide better balance. A technical look at implementing this: Just as broadhead arrows can go and stick through small soft objects such as books, they should do the same if you hit the glass material on a lamp, while of course still bouncing off if you hit metal: Lamp glass would need a special material flag that sends a signal to the entity upon collisions but allows arrows to go through, unlike glass in other parts of the world which is meant to act as solid and changing that everywhere would break a lot of things. When pierced by an arrow, the lamp should immediately turn itself off while playing a broken glass sound and spawning a few glass particles. The glass material should be hidden if the model is a transparent surface, or replaced with a broken glass texture in case the glass is painted on a lamp model without an interior... obviously this would be done by defining a broken skin for the entity to switch to. This does imply a few complexities which should be manageable: Existing lamps supporting this behavior will need new skins and in a few cases new textures, the def must include a new skin variable similar to the lit / unlit skins in this case a broken skin. Any electric light may be connected to a light switch, we don't want toggling the switch to bring the light bulb back to life... as such a flag to permanently disable triggering the light from that point on would be required. For special purposes such as scripted events to reset the world, we should allow an event to unbreak lamps, setting their state back to being lit / unlit while re-enabling trigger toggling. What do you think about this idea and who else wants it? Would it be worth the trouble to try and implement? If so should it only be done for new lights or as a separate entity definition of existing ones, or would the change be welcome retroactively for existing missions without players and FM authors alike feeling it makes them too easy?

I liked the atmosphere, build up of tension, without actual scares. Although, when I started, and got into Captain's quarters... I read the readable and thought.... Okay, so there are 11 sailor thugs, only to find a lot more in the house, and wonder what the heck. Maybe I didn't scroll it? I liked the dialogue too, but I was a little disappointed that the interior didn't match the description, it wasn't until I returned for the first time did it change to match. And I expected some sort of ghost or ghoul to pop up. Then the transition, and when I went looking for the spot, I noticed the way it was highlighted. =D That was pretty funny TBH. Then - Two missions in one was a bigger surprise than I expected. How does it even work? The only thing I don't get is the finale, but I suppose that's the point.

I've seen fun workarounds like that in other game modding as well. Years ago, maybe even a decade, some fella who was making a mod for Mount & Blade over at the Taleworlds forums revealed that he put invisible human NPCs on the backs of regular horse NPCs, then put the horse NPCs inside a horse corral he built for one of his mod's locations/scenes and then did some minor scripting, so the horses with invisible riders would wander around the corral. The end result was that it looked they're doing this of their own will, rather than an NPC rider being scripted to ride around the corral slowly. Necessity is the mother of invention. I don't know about the newest Mount & Blade game, but the first generation ones (2008-2022) apparently had some sort of hardcoded issue back in the earlier years, where if you left a horse NPC without a rider in its saddle, the horses would just stand around and wait and you couldn't get them to move around. Placing an invisible rider in their saddles suddenly made it viable again, at least for background scenes, of riderless horses wandering around, for added atmosphere. First generation M&B presumed you'd mostly be seeing horses in movement with riders, and the only horses-wandering-loosely animations and scripting were done for situations when the rider was knocked off their horse or dismounted in the middle of a battle. Hence the really odd workarounds. So, an invisible NPC trick might not be out of the question in TDM, even though you could probably still bump into it, despite its invisibility.