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How you can help depends a lot on what skills you have. I can Record Video Recording "Let's Play" videos or simple walkthroughs of existing missions and posting them to Youtube is great exposure for the mod (see example .) Be sure to let us know so we can link to them. If you have some editing ability, Video tutorials, where you explain how the mod works, or how to use specific tools, would also be great. Video trailers, showcasing interesting places and features, are also great for publicity. An example is . I can Write Writing reviews for missions are always nice, especially if they include good screenshots. Not only does it give us something to post on other forums, but it makes mappers feel good when their mission gets attention (especially if it's positive). We have a collective thread to post reviews in: http://forums.thedar...s-walkthroughs/ Writing reviews of the mod as a whole, targetted an an audience that doesn't know much about TDM, is also very useful. You could also try offering your services to mappers to create interesting readables, or to proofread for their mission. I can Act and Record Audio We are always on the lookout for good quality audio recordings for vocal sets. If interested, you can pick a few different lines from this script: http://wiki.thedarkm...t:_Average_Jack and send the recordings to Springheel, who then writes a script based on the type of voice you have. I can Translate We could always use translations of our menu/hud into more languages. Also, only a few FMs are aavailable in more than one language, so there is a lot of work there, see the I18N Translator's Guide in the Wiki. I can Model Great! Take a look at the model request thread:http://forums.thedar...-requests-here/ and pick something that interests you. Or just post a, "Hey, anybody want a model?" thread in this forum and I'm sure mappers will get back to you. I can Animate Fantastic. We can always use more good animations. Our current character rigs use a Maya skeleton. PM Springheel for more info. I know C++ Have a look at our coding section in the wiki, pick an issue or feature from the bugtracker of the mod or the leveleditor, download the recent sourcecode release (or better ask for an SVN checkout) and get cracking. Make sure nobody is already working on that specific issue and feel free to ask questions. I can Edit Images We can always use completely new textures and/or improved versions of older textures. How to get started and how to import them into the mod. I can Take Photos Good quality photos of useful textures (medieval-ish building facades, dirt, rocks, wood, etc) are always welcome. The fewer directional shadows and higher resolution, the better. I don't have any skills Even if you can't do any of the above, you can still help out. Talk about TDM in other forums; share your (preferably positive) experiences with other gamers you know. Last, but not least, compliment people when you like their work. Saying "thanks", to a developer or, "I really enjoyed your mission" to a mapper will make their day. -------------------- I'll update this further as more things occur to me.

Oh, the modified holy water don't bother me much, the other way arround. It's way more effective as before, it is like knocking out an guard, while before with the water arrows, the undeath often only get fucked up, needing 2 or more shots. Maybe better to put more holy water bottles in the missions, or make water arrows with it stronger. (Implementing holy water arrows?) Some 3D zombies I found (free), maybe usefull https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/zombie-6ff73b06cf63405d9557720c78cf5e0c https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/possessed-undead-7394bdf26d664810b42b83153411cf74 https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/terrifying-hooded-horror-woman-f59d17be392f4494a5b85d927df48ffd (Mother Rose update?)

Dear TDM folk, If anyone would like a break from the lovely summer weather, I'm offering you a couple of hours sitting at your keyboard in a dimly-lit room. Thank you if you can spare some time. Cheers, Groden

A famous painting is on display at the local museum. Steal it, of course! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An update, version 3, is now available (19 March 2025). The mission has a new look and feel (well, look and sound), thanks to the talents of @JackFarmer. Changes include: * A new briefing video (courtesy of @JackFarmer) * Several new ambient tracks that cover much of the map (again, credit to @JackFarmer) * Subtitles, provided by @datiswous (better late than never) * Several fixes for other little issues that were found since version 2 was released. The mission downloader has been updated with this version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An update, version 2, is now available: (use Version 3). This fixes many of the problems found by those who played version 1. Besides general clean up, the primary goal of this version is to Special thanks to Bikerdude, whose did a quick beta test of this version and whose suggestions I mostly (but not completely) implemented. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Title: Now and Then Author: joebarnin Briefing video and ambient tracks: JackFarmer Date of release: 08 September 2020 (Version 2: 25 January 2021) (Version 3: 19 March 2025) Version: 3 EFX: Yes Requires: TDM 2.12 Author: joebarnin Gameplay notes Thorough investigation is encouraged. Scary AIs: No spiders, skeletons, undead, or ghosts. One live rat and one dead one. Makes use of the 'peek' ability, allowing the player to peek through a keyhole by leaning forward. The use of this ability is optional (it is never necessary resolve the mission). Thanks to: Beta Testers: Cambridge Spy, thebigh, JackFarmer, Amadeus, Kerry000, wesp5 Voice actor: Mike Components: Builder Compound models & textures - Peter Spy (dr.judym81@gmail.com) Museum painting lights - Grayman Gramophone with record - Goldwell & Epifire Custom ambients - JackFarmer Main menu screen & music - JackFarmer Ambients - Orbweaver Many many modules - Springheel https://freesound.org/people/LucasDuff/sounds/467697/ https://freesound.org/people/humanoide9000/sounds/422245/ Thanks to Springheel, Sotha, and Fidcal for their tutorials. I keep going back to them and I always learn something new. Notes Slight spoiler: Fun fact: I have released 3 missions, each almost exactly one year apart: Mission of Mercy - September 14, 2018 The Heart of St. Mattis - September 10, 2019 Now and Then - September 8, 2020. Not by design, it just worked out that way. So I guess look for my next mission in early September next year! Hints (contains spoilers)

Hello, At long last - at long freaking last - I finally got into The Dark Mod. Back when I was a teenager/young adult, about 20 years ago, I wasn't too keen on the idea of The Dark Mod. Since it didn't use the Eidos IP, it felt more like a knockoff than a tribute. Looking back, I noticed that in 2009 I even posted a thread here about how much I loved TDM, but at the time I didn't have a decent computer, and the experience was ruined by bugs. Then, after 2010, when I finally got a good gaming rig, I became completely absorbed in World of Warcraft, LOTRO, and other MMORPGs, so I never really gave new single-player games much attention. I still revisited Thief 1 and Thief 2, replayed fan campaigns, and so on, but I never seriously got into TDM. I also played Thief (2014). At first I liked it, but I eventually ended up disappointed by the lack of variety, the absence of the old lore, the Hammerites and Pagans - you know, all the things that make Thief feel like Thief. Now, with the upcoming reboot on the horizon, I've replayed The Dark Project, The Metal Age, Deadly Shadows, T2X, and even Thief (2014) - yeah, I'm a masochist, I know - and I finally decided to give The Dark Mod the time it deserved. This time I completed Tears of St. Lucia, and then, over the course of just two days, I finished the entire William Steele campaign. I was blown away by how good it was. The detective mission, where you discover the disguise and eventually confront the killer, was fantastic, and the bank mission was absolutely gorgeous. So now I'm looking for more missions. Being almost 40 rather than a teenager, I have a pretty good idea of what I enjoy. Here's what I'm looking for: Cathedrals and churches - these are always my number one choice. I don't enjoy forced ghosting missions. No-kill is perfectly fine, and I don't mind if blackjacking is allowed, but mandatory ghosting isn't my thing. I'm not a huge fan of complicated puzzles that require piecing together clues from lots of different written sources. It wasn't an issue in the William Steele campaign since I played on Normal difficulty, though. I love rooftops, so I'd definitely like more missions featuring them. That said, I think verticality is a bit overrated these days and overused by many modern Thief FM authors. I enjoy believable cities with accessible rooftops, but I'm not a fan of skyscraper-like climbing mazes. In fact, I think the final William Steele missions came close to crossing that line, although I still enjoyed the way the climbing was integrated into reaching the rooftops. I'm not particularly interested in horror or zombie-themed missions. Classic mansion/manor heists are always welcome - I never get tired of those. Regards, Svetlio

Indie Game - Window/PS/X-Box I am not native English, but for my German ears the English voices sound very German. The voice acting in the German trailer is much better though...and ends with a much better statement! Anyways, looks promising and since @chakkmanintroduced me to the genre with "Arx Fatalis" (which I am currently playing), I think I will give this a shot.

https://youtu.be/fwJwNLRY4kg "I am not enjoying my journeys, its so cold at the moment I imagine the chill could freeze a candle flame into a fire-gem and ole scratch's tears solid to his stoney face. Suffice to say, I'll be happy to get out of these whipping winds. A friend has asked me to keep an eye on his place while he is out of town. That part of Bridgeport is quiet enough, but he has been having a few problems he would like sorted out. I will know more when I get there." Download Link: v3.45 - https://mega.nz/file/jFEh3AYC#6EwN8eJ0uaioddse4iBTbTs-YKDsHAr_oHx9M4LI4T4 Thanks:- - As always espect to the Dark Mod team and for all the hard work they put and continue to put into it. - Flanders for his excellent models and textures. - Special thanks to the people that answered my technical questions on the forum. - Beta testers: (v3.45) Mat, DavyJones, Keruah, Oldjim, Amadeus, (v3.0) Lowenz, AluminumHaste, Greyman, nbhormore, McPhisto, Lost_soul, Pranqster and the original testers! Info: An update of the original Christmas Contest mission for TDM 1.08. Now requires version 2.14 List of fixes: For version 3.0 - (19-01-2013) The Tavern has been tweaked for better path finding and the punter's all sit down better, the barmaid now has RITS and there is new tavern music The south city gate barracks has a new room to explore, you have to climb to get to it. The Hotel has been improved for better path finding. The hotel apartment has been redecorated and a couple of new things for the player to interactive with and look at. There is a completely new shop for the player to explore and loot. Applied Grayman's winter breathing script, so when Ai are outside they all breath hot breaths of air The Thief's hideout was raised and tweaked for better game play. All side alley's have been tweaked visually. The north city gate has been visually improved. I have added a few new locations for the player to climb to for loot The objectives, briefing and readable's have all been tweaked. All top facing external surfaces have snow texture applied (this took frikin ages...) Added frost decals to every applicable window (this also took frikin ages) I increased perf again through out the map And finally lot of the bugs and issue and request players had have been fixed and addressed. For version 3.45: have placed a bunch of Volumetric lights in LOD better setting there were over a dozen broken or leaking vizportals and or overlapping vizleafs. found and fixed numerous texture misalignment. tweaked the locations and the monster clip for all the sleepers, to try and resolve the ko-death issue. tweaked/edited all the NPCs in the tavern, and one or more them was alerting all the others. edited the first objective so it only triggers after you read the note. remove the drop start for the player, very old mapping method that is no longer required. added Volumetric light version of a bunch of light sources and placed them on LOD better. added a area wide fog light to the sewer system. made the wine shop basement less aggravating to enter. fixed the pathing issues between the gnd and basement in the wineshop. lowered the brightness of some of the lights that were overly bright. fixed some broken lights that had been poorly placed and never spotted when this mission was release. fixed a shed load of broken, misaligned, misplaced, or just plain wtf is that there bits of brush and objects. will update this list as I go. added a building façade behind the SE city gate lookout and made some roof a single FS to enhance the skyline. added some winterised trees from Scrooge FM. moved the window on the small room to the south west and made it an opener, as it had been blocking access to a piece of loot. fix a couple more random issues spotted by the testers.

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

Hello again TDM Forums. I'm close to finishing a new FM, "The Maybury Idol, Part 1: A Trip to the Museum", and I'd like to request help with beta testing. Any assistance is appreciated, thanks.

As we talked about: There's new mission fodder for Quake 1, another official campaign by Machine Games (yay!):

So TDM has a lot of textures with alpha, and an added level of detail I like to make this textures cast shadows. Where said textures are twosided this isnt possible, but when said texture is on a model you can remove the twosided line and still see both sides of the texture. And because you have remove the twosided line that textures with then cast a shadow. I have attached a stock fern that I have tweaked to cast a shadow. The issue I'm running into is I am trying to do the same thing on the palmtree leaf texture and for the life me I cant get the alphatest to work on the leaf texture. Its just casting a shadow of the whole patch, instead of the edges of the leaf... So any idea's on what I'm doing incorrectly in this instance?

Dark works now. My theory is that I was using an older skin. They updated the dropdown menu with the new dark mode, and I got stuck with a non existing skin. I looked at the console, and it was searching for a skin file that didn't exist, and it broke the interface a bit.

This is a problem that started out of the blue ca. two (or three?) years ago. At first I thought, there was maybe something broken with my Windows install, but after migrating to Linux, I see the same problem: I create a map with a leak (or defective portal) and save it (name, for example: m1) dmap , console shows leak when going back to DR for the pointfile, a message appears stating that there is no pointfile for this map then I save the map with a new name (m2) dmap again back to DR: then there is a pointfile Anyone has seen this problem as well and if so, is there a fix?

I think it is actually quite weird that we don't have a thread on graphics technology, yet. So, I would like to encourage you to share awesome new demos, talks, articles or papers about graphics technology here. I recently came accross this brilliant analysis of the rendering pipeline of "Rise of the Tomb Raider". I would love to see something like that for Doom Eternal, but so far, I could only find this rather superficial (but nevertheless interesting) review by Digital Foundry. Epic revealed Unreal Engine 5 today, which looks absolutely stunning. That Nanite-Technology will probably save game developers quite a bit of time. I do wonder, 'though, how the actually do it? Do they dynamically generate LOD-models? Also, does their Lumen technology require RTX?

Miscellaneous asset fixes done: * More fixes in fonts and better support for Cyrillic and Romanian (post, 6642, 6661). * Added all missing mipmaps in DDS textures (post). * Fixed shop description of slow match (6629). * wood/panels/trim_wood_grunge_moulding_desat: fixed parallax confusion. * models/md5/chars/builders/guard/builder_armor material: brought back specularmap. * textures/darkmod/stone/brick/blocks_light_stained_trimmed material: fixed specularmap. * prefabs/doors/trapdoor_w-padlock prefab: fixed wrong particle (6662). * prefabs/mechanical/switches/wall_lever01 prefab: fixed frobbox of the lever (6060). * models/darkmod/architecture/doors/door*hinge models: fixed gaps in almost all versions (6671) [02]. * models/darkmod/furniture/wardrobe_open model and prefab: fixed clipping through frame (6272) [02]. * models/md5/chars/heads/female03_head_local and dds/models/md5/chars/heads/face_freckle textures: replaced (5545) [03]. * models/darkmod/readables/book_* model: fixed UV maps in sp1 and red1 versions, texture fix (6672) [03]. * prefabs/doors/curvedtop_door_96x48_3hinge_w-frame prefab: fixed hinge material (3212) [03]. * models/darkmod/readables/book_tome model: minor fixes [03]. * models/darkmod/containers/bucket model: gap fixes (6675) [04]. * models/darkmod/containers/barrel_wine model: fixed shadowmesh (6685) [04]. * New assets added: * atdm:ai_undressed_old_man_01: added new character model, including LODs, ragdoll, swappable head. * textures/darkmod/wood/panels/trim_wood_* material: added red variants. * textures/darkmod/wood/panels/panel_decorative_redder_grated material. * textures/darkmod/paint_paper/gold_pedals_* material: added RGB versions. * textures/darkmod/paint_paper/fleur_* material: added RGB versions. * textures/darkmod/stone/brick/red_worn_dirty_trim_wet material. * textures/darkmod/stone/brick/old_bricks_darkgrey_wet material. * models/darkmod/lights/non-extinguishable/painting_downlight model. * models/darkmod/containers/openable/safe_door_003_* and safe_wheel_003: added wall-in-safe door model and prefabs (6590). And there is a big set of assets added by @Wellingtoncrab and @Amadeus from the upcoming mission "Displacement". New models by TDash: * models/darkmod/furniture/beds/rustickingbed with skins DRustBed* * models/darkmod/furniture/seating/darmch1 with skins ArmCh* * models/darkmod/furniture/desk_pagan with skin JPagDesk2 * models/darkmod/furniture/steps_library with skin LibStepup1 * models/darkmod/mechanical/typewriter * models/darkmod/kitchen/wine_bottles_shelved*: versions A, B, C, D * models/darkmod/kitchen/whiskeyglass_silver * models/darkmod/kitchen/bottle_simple_* * models/darkmod/containers/crate_long_* * models/darkmod/containers/crate_simple* * trunk/models/darkmod/containers/wine_crate_03 * models/darkmod/furniture/cabinets/cupboard_* More models: * prefabs/mechanical/switches/red_button prefab along with models/darkmod/mechanical/switches/switch_redbutton* and switch_toggle* models and redbutton_glow* skins * models/darkmod/decorative/statues/bust_emperor_* model (and bust_emperess) * models/darkmod/kitchen/food/bread_loaf*: new versions 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 * models/darkmod/kitchen/food/croissant * models/darkmod/lights/non-extinguishable/streetlamps/streetlamp_iron_01 with skins streetlamp_iron_01_lit, streetlamp_iron_01_unlit * models/darkmod/decorative/trophy_plaque_* * models/darkmod/decorative/stuffed_hart* * models/darkmod/decorative/statues/statue_face_cover* * models/darkmod/loot/loot_golden_goblet* * models/darkmod/loot/loot_golden_vase_* * models/darkmod/decorative/ashtray * models/darkmod/decorative/cigar* with skins cigar and cigar_unlit * models/darkmod/loot/loot_crystalore* (and loot_rareore) New skins: * cabinet1_* for furniture: versions A, B, C * book_sp1_gold_crest for various books Stone, cobblestone, brick materials: * textures/darkmod/stone/brick/bricks_old_light* * textures/darkmod/stone/brick/blocks_sandstone_grime_trimmed * textures/darkmod/stone/brick/blocks_concrete_small_trimmed2 * textures/darkmod/stone/cobblestones/flagstones_bricks_multicolored* * textures/darkmod/stone/flat/tile_dirty_terracotta * textures/darkmod/stone/flat/tile_herringbone_grime* * textures/darkmod/stone/flat/tile_checkered_grime_tricolor* * textures/darkmod/stone/flat/tile_checkered_grime_small* * textures/darkmod/stone/natural/gravel_multi_color Other materials materials: * textures/darkmod/paint_paper/wallpaper_grunge_* * textures/darkmod/plaster/plaster_worn_painted_peeling_autumnal* * textures/darkmod/roof/rooftiles_clay_red_decorative* * textures/darkmod/wood/boards/planks_floor_* * textures/darkmod/glass/glass_brick_clear [03] * lights/watercaustics01 Note: [03] at the end of line means that this change appeared only in beta214-03.

Hello and thanks for checking out this post. I'm delighted to announce that version 1.1 of my fan mission "Cole Hurst 1: Eaton" is now available to download and play. This post is spoiler free, so please don't avoid digging into the details below if you are interested. I'm just using the spoiler tags to organize this post a bit. Let me start by saying "thank you" to anyone who has either previously played - or is considering playing this mission. It really means a lot to me. I have been away for a while, but following a round of beta testing that took place some time last year, I've only just recently managed to finish this update. I'm slightly embarrassed by how long it has taken me to complete, but I wanted to make sure that the valuable feedback I received was all properly addressed. Mission description "Tonight, Eaton's wealthiest citizens will gather at Lord Mayor Zelmer's estate to celebrate the city's founding. Nobles, dignitaries, a famed musician, and even the Queen will pass through its gates. While the guests celebrate Eaton's future, Cole Hurst is looking for a way out." For those new to and/or curious about this mission: I guess I would describe it as a traditional heist-style mission - although with a couple of major plot twist along the way. It's a very large map and I think it should take most players at least a few hours to complete. Screenshots Changes in version 1.1 Countless additions and a large amount of smaller tweaks and changes have all made it into this release. I may have already forgot a few things, but here are what I consider to be the main highlights: * New secrets & optional side quests * Story tweaks and reworked readables * Subtitles * Difficulty tweaks and related changes * Stability fixes * Various cosmetic changes * Audio tweaks * TDM version 2.13 now required Contributions and acknowledgments A special thanks to all of those listed below. I'm sincerely grateful for all your contributions! Mission testers and technical support @nbohr1more, @stgatilov, @duzenko, @Acolytesix, @Dragofer, @JackFarmer, @Shadow, @Cambridge Spy, @wesp5, @madtaffer, @prjames, @suzy8track, @datiswous, @boissiere and @Bergante Story Kelly Hrupa Voice actors twhalen2600 (AKA @Benny_the_guard) and Kelly Hrupa

There's now an editable fan mission list on the wiki, for the sake of tracking missions made for The Dark Mod. Please read and follow the guidelines, and help keep the list up to date! Direct link, but also accessible from the wiki title page: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Missions_for_The_Dark_Mod Discussion of changes (format, policies, entries, etc.) can take place in this thread. --------------------------------------- There is also now a wiki page to track upcoming fan missions: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Upcoming_Fan_Missions Submissions, progress, and any discussion for missions under construction can take place here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/11639-upcoming-fan-missions/

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9050-launches-at-279-in-asia-pacific-japan-and-latin-america https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-confirms-radeon-rx-9050-4gb-exists-but-it-is-oem-only https://videocardz.com/newz/sapphire-launches-radeon-rx-9050-pulse-with-8gb-memory-and-100w-tbp RX 9050 8 GB: 16 CUs, $279, limited to Asia-Pacific, Japan, Latin America. AsRock and Sapphire models spotted. RX 9050 4 GB: 16 CUs, OEM-only, in a single pre-built PC. They are disabling 50% of the Navi 44 die to make these, so it is a waste of silicon by any stretch of the imagination.

Yes, probably a bug of some sort. I tested another new mission that had no efx def nor entity args and the same thing was printed to the console.... ( eg, it "found" and efx def that matched the mission name )

So following on from the conversation here - Here is the first draft of a basic block-out of that church, if there is interest I will complete the creation info a flashed out prefab and model - church.pfbx

Back in the day, Tels managed a squad of volunteer translators for TDM. I am not Tels, and could never do that. Nowadays, language translation using AI, either traditional machine learning (ML) models or large language models (LLMs), is common and increasingly fluent. It is often used as an adjunct to speed the work of professional human translators. By itself, AI translation can be imperfect but usually sufficient. Can this "sufficient" approach be used for TDM, to expedite translations? Let's see. I gave some initial thought to a bulk-translation daemon that might range across FMs and fill in all missing translations, without necessarily involving mappers. In the future, possibly AI could tackle that whole enchilada. I was at first visualizing something more modest: a backbone in a standard programming language (I sketched out C++ and C# projects, but lots of other possibilities) that would make calls to an API (I looked at those of Google Translate and ChatGPT). However, I changed focus due to certain concerns... Different FMs, and subsets with each FM, would likely have far better translations if they were properly grouped, ordered, and translated separately, with an appropriate context (e.g., phrase engineering) added. The FM's mapper is best placed to provide this grouping and context. I'll detail what I mean in the next few posts. The mapper would not be expected to know any TDM-supported languages besides English. Instead, each translated phrase could be back-translated to English and examined. Is the "round-trip" meaning OK, even if the English words have changed? Problematic translations could have their context tweaked and rerun. Many AI systems, particularly for API access, require a billing commitment (e.g., credit card). For a professional translator, this is no problem, and subscriptions allow access to more (and putatively better) models and higher quotas. This seems less appealing for TDM. A few paid AI systems have a no-subscription, pay-as-you-go account tier. The cost per translate is typically pennies. But it does introduce quota- and expense-management, and may exclude API usage. Access via API requires an API key (or at the higher end more elaborate security regime), with attendant key-security headaches. Which AI model is thought "best" for translation? Doesn't matter too much, because we can't afford the best. Furthermore, there's endless churn among AI models, with antidotal reports that a given model fluctuates in quality over time, and successor models can be worse than their predecessors. So, with these concerns in mind, I looked for public web-based AI sites that require no billing and provide low-quota but adequate AI. The mapper would enter and retrieve data manually. I will focus on ChatGPT in this exploration, after a quick preliminary test confirmed some promise. Also, as this exploration proceeds, I hope to propose changes to TDM to make it more viable for "sufficient" quality machine translation. Problem areas are incomplete fonts, space-constraints, and layout issues for translated strings. My proposals will likely surface as separate forum threads. That's enough for now. I'll be trying for 1 or 2 substantive posts per week, as I tackle a particular FM.

Hello! Tracking down information on software and plug-ins that work with D3 / TDM can be a tough. So I have created a thread here where people can post what software/ plug-ins/ tutorials or other references they've had success or failure with in TDM. 3DS MAX 2013 64bit .ase - Default .ASE model exporter works. However you have to open the .ase file in text edit and manual change the *BITMAP line on each material to read something like: "//base/textures/common/collision" which allows the engine to read the correct material path. md5.mesh / animation - Beserker's md5 exporter/importers for 3dsmax. http://www.katsbits.com/tools, Importing and exporting works. The model must be textured, UV'd, with a skin modifier attached to the bones to export. PM me (Kingsal) for help with this. Imported models using the script will not be weighted appropriately, so this is not recommended if you are simply trying to edit existing tdm content. (Use blender instead) MAYA 2011 32bit md5.mesh - So far I've not had any luck with Maya 2011. I am using Greebo's MayaImportx86 for Maya 2011. I've got the importer working however I get a "Unexpected Internal Failure(kFailure)" and the import fails. This could be due to something finicky in Maya that I am not doing correctly. Will keep trying.. Blender 2.7 about - Blender is commonly used and pretty well supported on the forums/ wiki. Various versions may work as well - https://www.blender.org/download/ md5.mesh / animation Blender MD5 importer/exporter (io_scene_md5.zip): https://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderbitsbobs/files/ Sotha's guide Blender Male/ Female rigs by Arcturus - Here Edit by Dragofer: more links found in this post.

I think it's time to replace the frob material stages with a shader (probably add a param to the existing ambient shader) There is more than one angle to this issue but I am mainly concerned about too many stages in materials that are somewhat taxing in terms of performance. Imagine rendering of 3K surfaces interacting with 3 lights in average and using materials with 7 stages in average. The renderer loops through every stage for every surface making it ~ 20K checks per loop. It has to happen during the depth stage, then each light and then the ambient pass resulting in 100K checks. It makes sense to try to reduce this load, especially considering that the frob stage is relatively rarely invoked and the checks happen on the backend making it hard to parallelize the computation. I am thinking adding a top-level material keyword that would apply as frob color and get passed to the ambient shader when the surface is a part of a frobable entity. I would like to hear your thoughts from the mapper/designer POV.

redhat is one of the oldest players in the linux world which is why i guess most proliferate them. redhat is also the developer who took over cygwin from cygnus solutions and further promoted it as a way to build linux software for use on windows and spawned multiple subprojects like msys and rtems who were used as frontends for building pure windows and other OS based binaries using native compilers (mingw gcc for msys and a mix of both msvc and gcc with rtems). cygwin itself relies on the cygwin dll as a dependency for running linux applications on windows by creating a minimal shim based on a subset of the linux runtime environment via newlib. unfortunatly while it works it is also rather slow because of the emulation so some people created a neutered version of cygwin as a frontend for driving the mingw compiler (msys or minimal system). this allowed users to build software from the linux world as native windows binaries but it did take quite a lot of patching because some of the software relied heavily on the linux api so these parts had to be rewritten to work with the windows api. Rtems was used heavily by the firefox team before they changed the engine. Mostly because of hurdles with gcc's windows incompatible exception models (dwarf and sjlj) C code was still handled by gcc but for C++ they used msvc so that exceptions were still compatible. in the end developers started doing most of the gruntwork to make things work on both but it took close to 30 years before we got that far. the original msys is now dead and replaced with msys2 which collaborates tightly with the cygwin developers and is much closer to the original cygwin code than msys was, in fact you only need to set a few environment varables to turn msys2 into cygwin. it has even been discussed to add X11 like cygwin does but as a real windows based desktop system for applications that only have gui's compatible with the X system like many of the gnome gtk packages. The old msys can still be downloaded and used with both 32 and 64 bit mingw, but it a bit buggy and uses a very old package manager that is incompatible with 64 bit mingw. Might be possible with a lot of work to port the msys2 pacman to it if anyone wanted to. The biggest problem is the instability of the old versions fork implementations and the fact that old msys is 32 bit so it has problems with large memory footprints.