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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?

So what are you going to do with the new joints then? Is it for new animations or the rework of the current animations ?

Lovely. But, I'm mostly interested in whether we get a new campaign.

just for giggles i enabled the highest setting to see the impact it would have on performance and ouch... looks stunningly good but my rtx 3070 only manages single frame fps and not much better with the new 9070 xt. as far as i can see the lighting and other stuff can be controlled by game files, right now it is on all the time which is insanely performance heavy. lets see if the modders come up with something cool for this . wooh 3 fps but it sure looks purty.

okay 1 testbed is done , time to post to ttlg , here is the link : https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153456&page=2&p=2542791&viewfull=1#post2542791 originally windows 7 isnt recommended but i decided to go down the path i have no dx9 gpu left ( and the hwtl document itself doesnt recommend dx9 era gpu) The remaining test results from other PCs and laptops will follow

looks liek entirely a new game, almost. 100 % fresh truthfully I'm curious about the performance when running something like this (hwtl), especially on the RX 6500 XT 4GB, GTX 1650, RTX 2050, or RTX 3050 4GB. Because with certain settings maxed out, you can really feel a drop in performance. some people have already reported this talking about hardware accessibility for broad audience.... for integrated GPU, i have no intel iris testbed . For older intel IGPU I already know which HWTL settings to tweak to keep the frame rate above 30–40 fps (especially in Thief)

@SeriousToni It's similar to popular rigs like Rigify or Blenrig, albeit not as powerful. I forgot to show pauldron joints (used by city watch) and skirt joints. Of course most of it isn't new and already was in the previous versions.

edit: TL;DR: I've tweaked the .lwo exporter to preserve autosmooth angle Ahem. When I started writing this post a couple of days ago, it was supposed to be a "please help me, models won't smooth" kind of thing, but as I started taking screenshots and such for a comprehensive view of the problem, the question morphed into a "is there a hack to get .lwo's to export the way .ase's do", then to "how to get the same surface smoothing from Blender as you can get from Lightwave" and eventually to "does anyone around know python and blender enough to fix the export plugin". But then I fixed the addon myself, so it was almost as if there's no point to the thread. However, while googling around for a solution I stumbled upon a whole bunch of incomplete (1,2) or outright wrong (1,2) information, and whenever the question came up the issue was never really resolved completely. That might be because the problem isn't obvious, since a lot of exported models will actually end up correctly smoothed on export, leading one to believe wrong shading in rare cases is due to modeling mistakes / bad shadowmesh / etc. Point is, having the definitive .lwo smoothing post seems useful. Identifying the problem: Here's the mesh. I add an 'edge split' modifier (I use sharp edges while modeling the low poly, so I can uncheck the 'edge angle' option). I can now apply the modifier(s) and export to .ase (triple the mesh either in export options or in modifiers beforehand). The .ase looks alright in-game: Now I'll export it to .lwo using this script. Depending on export options, here are the results: If I also check "remove doubles", I'll lose all of the split (sharp) edges: (recalculating normals on export can be unpredictable as well, so clean up the model beforehand instead) Right about this point I start searching for a solution online, stumble upon this and try the renderbump hack. However, all it seems to do is weld all of the vertices back together at runtime and attempt to smooth the whole surface, similarly to "remove duplicates", but with no upper threshold. (to anyone possibly reading this in the future: don't forget to revert your changes to the materials!) Source of the problem: At this point I still wasn't sure if it's even possible to get .lwo's identical to .ase's, so I installed Lightwave. Naturally, it took some time to eventually stumble upon Surface Editor (F5), and the "smoothing threshold" contained therein. But then I just had to crank it up to 180 and export to "LWO2". That fixes everything in-game: So the issue is trivial, I just have to find a way to somehow pass on a smoothing angle through the exporter. However, the "auto smooth" option on the object data tab doesn't seem to affect anything regardless of angle. Long story short, after some hex-comparison magic, I home in on SMAN block in the exporter script: So what it actually does is set your smoothing angle to either 90°, 86°(??), or 0°, depending on whether you've chosen "idtech compatible", "smoothed", or neither. The solution: Now, I don't know Python and I don't know Blender scripting, so I can't say with full certainty that I didn't break anything. But I did cobble together a version of the script that seems to do the job. Here it is, mirror / do whatever you want with it. If your mesh has autosmooth enabled, and you've checked "idtech" or "smoothed" on export, your chosen autosmooth angle will now transfer to the surface in .lwo: I took the liberty of changing the default export options to what seems to suit TDM the best, you can just open the script in notepad and edit them to your taste. Wrapping up, there are still some mysteries I didn't solve, such as "idtech compatible" models taking up only half the size of models exported otherwise (including from Lightwave itself), there doesn't seem to be any visible difference in-game, at least in TDM. That "1.5 radian" in the code still makes me scratch my head. And I still don't know if the 4-8x size savings over .ase matter for in-game memory at all (but at least I know I won't have to edit the *BITMAPs manually anymore). Even after all this, the .ase still has just slightly better shading, but since the outputs of the exporter and Lightwave itself are now identical, seems safe to say it's as good as it gets.

got a few old dx9 gpu's left if you want to hear results from them. ATI X1900 or nvidia quadro fx1800. i even have a matrox G450 but i suspect that one would croak rather spectacularily if i tried the hwtl version on it . a bit more modern but i also have two geforce 560 ti i run in sli in my retro gamer. these are however dx 10/11 cards (no vulkan support). transform and lighting is as old as the first geforce card but i suspect it would fail rather badly at running this . system shock 2 runs at about 45 fps on my rtx 3070 so even a relatively new card has problems getting good fps with all the bells and whistles on. i suspect that it needs some modifications to game files before it will run without the horrible frame pacing it currently suffers. might also fix the problem it currently has with no dynamic shadows due to most lightmaps being static. that said i managed to make it look rather good now with some modifications to the default values for the lights bloom parallax ssao etc. i disabled shadows completely (no reason to have it on when they dont work).

Hi team, I've come back to the FreeBSD native port that I was working on and have some patches that I would like to upstream. What is the best way to submit patches for consideration? Is there a public tracker/email list, or is it best to post patches somewhere here on the forums? Thanks!

My old friend Andreas urgently needs my help. He asked if I could meet him at the Lion's Head Inn, our favourite retreat in a quaint part of the city called Mirkway Quarter. He’s got a small apartment nearby where he makes a modest living off paintings he sells to pompous nobles and the odd merchant. Not long ago, his wife Lily was hired as a servant at the manor of the local alderman, one Lord Marlow. Now she hasn't been home for days. Andreas went to the manor looking for her, but the guards shoved him into the gutter and warned him not to return. Andreas is certain that something bad has happened, and I don’t think he’s wrong. Gallery Authors’ Notes It all started many years ago when Shadowhide laid the foundation for a sprawling and convoluted city and worked with MoroseTroll and Clearing to create a macabre storyline to befit this medieval metropolis. At some point, however, the beast grew too large to handle, so he handed the keys to the City to Bikerdude and Melan. Together, the two worked tirelessly, passing the map back and forth, each playing to their respective strengths. Notably, Melan reworked the story concept, toning down many of its darker, R-rated elements. Eventually Melan, too, moved on in 2017, but by then large swathes of the community had become involved in this map’s development. Mapping work was contributed by Baal, Grayman, Fidcal, Ubermann, Skacky, and Flanders, while Destined, nbohr1more, and Obsttorte wrote story texts. Several scripts were provided by Grayman, Baal and Obsttorte, such as an elevator with scissor gates, a TDM first. Even after all this input, the daunting task still remained to transform what had grown into the largest TDM map ever made into a playable mission. Bikerdude hammered away at this for some more years still, on and off between other projects, until in early 2020 when he deemed it ready for public viewing. It was then that Dragofer and Amadeus joined in. In the months that followed, the trio reworked, finished, and polished the mission in nearly every aspect, fully writing out and editing the story as well as adding countless scripted effects and (with help from Bienie) many new readables. The good working atmosphere and pooled creativity brought forth several new secrets, of which the largest likely hasn’t been done before in TDM (hint: check the libraries). In the very end, the name “Fractured Glass Company” was drawn up to refer to everybody who was involved in creating this very special mission. Without the hard work of all these people, most of all Bikerdude and Shadowhide, this mission would likely never have seen the light of day, let alone become what you see here before you. The mission is, as Bikerdude puts it, a homage to Thief 1 & 2, and it’s our hope that you catch these vibes as you explore and enjoy this mission. Update 1.2 (released 04/04/2021) Update 1.1 (released 11/11/2020) Credits - Mapping: Shadowhide, Bikerdude, Amadeus, Baal, Dragofer, Fidcal, Flanders, Melan, Skacky, UberMann - Original Story Concept: Clearing, MoroseTroll, Shadowhide - Story & Readables: Amadeus, Bienie, Bikerdude, Dragofer, Destined, Melan, nbohr1more, Obsttorte, Shadowhide - Editor: Amadeus - Scripting: Dragofer, Baal, Grayman, Obsttorte - Voice Acting: AndrosTheOxen (Andreas), Joe Noelker (Player) - Video Editing: Bikerdude (briefing), Goldwell (briefing intro) - Custom Models: Bikerdude, Dragofer, Dram, Epifire, Grayman, Obsttorte - Custom Textures: Airship Ballet, Dmv88, Hugo Lobo - Custom Sounds: GigaGooga, Sephy, Shadow Sneaker, alanmcki, andre_onate, Deathscyp, dl-sounds.com, Dmv88, dwoboyle, eugensid90, gzmo, lucasduff, mistersherlock, qubodup, randommynd, richerlandtv, sfx4animation, Speedenza - Betatesting: Amadeus, ate0ate, Biene, Bluerat, CambridgeSpy, Cardia, Dragofer, Garrett(Monolyth-42), JoeBarnin, Kingsal, Krilmar, ManzanitaCrow, MikeA, Noodles, S1lverwolf, s.urfer Download Note: this mission requires TDM 2.08, which is now available for download. Please be aware that old saved games will no longer work after you upgrade to 2.08's release build. Note: it’s highly recommended to run this mission using the 64-bit client (TheDarkModx64.exe), since there've been frequent reports the mission won't load on the 32-bit client (TheDarkMod.exe). Both are found in the same folder. The mission is available from the ingame downloader. In addition to that, here are some more mirrors, as well as the official screenshots for anybody uploading this mission to a FM database: Mission: Google Drive / OneDrive Mission (v1.1, slimmed down version for 32-bit clients): Google Drive / OneDrive Official Screenshots: Google Drive / OneDrive Hi-Res Map: Imgur Links Secret loot & areas walkthrough by @Lzocast

Author Note: Thank you for downloading and playing the sequel to The Accountant 1: Thieves and Heirs this FM picks up right from where we left off in accountant 1. This is the second part in my three part series following Corbin on his journey to discover who and what the accountant is. This mission is a little different to what you may expect from a Thief mission but still has plenty of classic Thief moments as well. This is the largest mission I have ever built with an average play through lasting between 2 - 3 hours. A few aspects in game are different to what you may expect as well and those are: - Candles are pinchable (frob to put out instead of pickup) - Food has been hot fixed so now it heals you for 10 health points when eaten - Doors that are missing handles means you cannot enter that room/building - All secrets can be found before you enter the sewers As a little piece of fun trivia there is a small cameo in my mission from a very special guest. He is a longtime voice actor in the industry and you may know him from roles such as Deckard Cain in Diablo, Captain Price in Call of Duty, Elder Lyons in Fallout 3, or just about any Nordic character in Skyrim. In addition to all of the fantastic people who have helped me along the way I have personally spent a lot of time, effort and energy devoted to bringing this out to you all so I hope you can enjoy the fruits of my labor and have fun! File size: 358 mb

"When the leaves change and the air is still, there is a quiet." -Lady Blackbriar -=| DISPLACEMENT |=- BY AMADEUS & WELLINGTONCRAB = DOWNLOAD = <( | )> -REQUIRES TDM 2.14- -JOIN THE BETA NOW- "Seek not the prideful sin that is perfection The Builder's light shines through all flaws. It is His wisdom to recognize a thing is done Before it is ever truly finished." -St. Edgar's Sermon of Rust LAMPFIRE HILLS... They say the woods around here give the tourists bad dreams, but I don't mind. I like it here. I feel like a piece of me belongs here. ... That it fits. DISPLACEMENT is a medium-sized traditional manor mission with a highly variable playtime. *2.14 provides a number of improvements to gameplay, performance, and stability. It is strongly encouraged to play on the latest 2.14 beta release. Join in testing now!* *Mods such as the “Unofficial Patch” and “TDM Modpack” are not supported by this mission and should be used at your own risk* https://www.thiefguild.com/fanmissions/97429/displacement CREDITS: ADDITIONAL MUSIC: -AIRSHIP BALLET -GIGAGOOGA ADDITIONAL SCRIPTING: -DRAGOFER -OBSTORTTE -FROST SALAMANDER -KINGSAL ADDITIONAL ASSETS: -KINGSAL -TDASH -SKACKY -BIKERDUDE -GOLDWELL -EPIFIRE -STRUNK -SHANNEN ART -POLYHAVEN -TEXTURES.COM -SKETCHFAB CULTURAL HERITAGE CC0 COMMUNITY -LOISTE INTERACTIVE -COLINFIZGIG -CDMIR BETA TESTERS: -KINGSAL -GOLDWELL -MAT99 -FROST SALAMANDER -MIKE A -STGATILOV -STIFU -MARBLEMAN -DETEEFF -THEBIGH FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: -STIFU FOR HIS EFFORT IN FIXING THE NOTORIOUS STUCK AI AND ARROW CRASH BUGS. -STGATILOV WHO MADE A NUMBER OF 2.14 OPTIMIZATIONS AND BUG FIXES. -KINGSAL FOR PROVIDING SOME OF THE MAIN MENU GUI ASSETS -PURAH FOR ORIGINATING THE SETTING OF LAMPFIRE HILLS, REIMAGINED HERE, IN HIS THIEF FMS. -GUY-ON THE COUCH AND JAM61 FOR THEIR SILENT HILL COMMUNITY MAPS WHICH HEAVILY INSPIRED THE LAMPFIRE HILLS REGION MAP. -SPECIAL THANKS TO LOISTE INTERACTIVE FOR ALLOWING US TO USE ASSETS FROM THEIR GAME "INFRA." SOME ADDIITONAL DETAILED LICENSING INFORMATION: SOME NOTES ON PERFORMANCE: NOTE TO MAPPERS: MOST OF THE NEW ASSETS IN THE MISSION ARE INCLUDED IN 2.14

seems there is a new version of newdark out https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153456 version 1.29 the hwtl version supports shadowmaps postprocessing effects (bloom etc) and other nifty stuff. this one done by le corbeau himself. the hwtl version gets rather spooky with dynamic shadowmaps on . EDIT: ah just noticed it was posted earlier lol.

There was a dicscount for the RX 7900 GRE at $400 new stock around 3-4 months ago, I kind of regret not checking it out. The RX 6600 isn't comparable to that card. Before the “Rampocalypse,” it could even drop to $20($370) below the $400 discount price that would go brrr for 1080p and obviously power hungry Right now, there’s still an RX 6900 XT deal for $380 at one of the computer stores around here, but it just seems pointless to buy it

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)

@stgatilov, I've tried to get up to speed on the xgettext/.pot/.po stuff, and the implications of migrating to using that for the core all.lang data (setting aside usage for FM data). In my remarks here, I'm going to use REVALL to refer to my revised/restructured all.lang[English] file. My goals were – to preserve in some form the new manual contextual structuring (order & comments) I developed for REVALL. The .pot/.po format is not ideal for that, being flatter than .json or .xml, but probably close enough. avoid having such contextual structuring accidentally deleted by updates. (That is, don't use standard xgettext to automatically extract and update the .pot file, since this would throw away manual structuring) support the "stays the same" annotations from translators. be likely compatible with editors like poedit. (These would presumably ignore the use of trailing comments. The "po way" of doing things is to have preceding full-line comments, each beginning with "#".) Although TDM engine code would not have to adhere to standard "gettext()" syntax/semantics when parsing a .po file, introducing our own customizations to .pot/.po might well conflict with standard po editors. Anyway, given where we are now with REVALL, I don't think it's viable to use standard (or even customized) xgettext to extracts translatable content and generate a .pot file. Instead, a reasonable, poedit-compliant .pot can be one-time hand-created from REVALL. This would then be used with msgmerge (or more likely from within poedit) to generate language-specific (BUT still utf8) .po files. Consider this 2-line fragment from REVALL: // Used after applying the holy water. Appears also in inventory: "#str_08610" "Holy Water Arrow" Here's what a corresponding .pot entry would look like, where "#." (hash-dot) here indicates a message TO the translators (as if extracted from the source material). Messages FROM the translator (e.g., "stays the same", would be on a preceding line beginning with "# " (hash-space). FORMAT A - #str_id as comment #. Used after applying the holy water. Appears also in inventory: #. "#str_08610" msgid "Holy Water Arrow" msgstr "" // Will be filled in to make language-specific .po FORMAT B - #str_id as key #. Used after applying the holy water. Appears also in inventory: #. "Holy Water Arrow" msgid "#str_08610" msgstr "" // Will be filled in to make language-specific .po With Format A, there is some possibility of multiple meanings for the same msgid. To prevent key collisions, standard Gettext uses an optional msgctxt (message context) attribute. The combination of msgctxt + msgid forms a unique composite key. Probably TDM's Translate() could just look for the preceding #str_id comment. I didn't show reference comments beginning with "#:", to indicate the file(s) and even line numbers where the pseudo-extraction was done from. These could be added with additional work. Also, the REVALL special "//&" notation... I'd have to think further about that.

I recently installed Comfy UI. Turned this photo into depth and normal maps using Depth Anything v2 and Marigold. https://www.lvsdecorativearts.co.uk/en-GB/sold-archive/19thc-carved-walnut-panel-of-medieval-man/prod_11757 There's Marigold v2 now which is supposedly better. https://huggingface.co/spaces/huawei-bayerlab/marigold-v2-web I played with Trellis 2. At least the version that I was able to run on my machine can't compete with commercial models, but I was able to generate some simple 3d models. Edit: Asked Chat GPT to extract albedo / color from the original image. This way highlights are removed while small details are retained.

Looks like at least some other Frenchies have access to it: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152974

Ah, yes, I did not take this into account. Maybe the Nightdive guys are currently sitting in their offices like "shit, now we need volumetric light and other stuff as well!" However, I for one do not really care about visual upgrades; I am more curious regarding the new campaign...and that is the main reason I will buy the remaster.

I have committed my changes to SVN, now SVN works on the UTF-8 system. It reads all language strings from all.utf8lang file, and only reads old-style {language}.lang files for missions if the equivalent new-style files are not available. The core .lang / .map files are present yet, but will hopefully be deleted. In the end, I had to manually add some characters to utf8map to suppress warnings. They were not handled by the old engine: I simply remapped them all to the question mark. It seems that the majority of them come from language names, and I don't care if they look broken or have question marks. I have already stated my position about language names. At the current moment, .utf8lang uses the same format as .lang, but this is temporary. As I said before, this must be changed in order to not lock us into compatibility trap. The format should be a sequence of "commands", each command starting with a keyword saying which command it is. And global state should be kept to minimum (e.g. current language seems acceptable). In addition to the current "#str_{name}" placeholders, I'd like to add two more types of replacements for missions. 1) Plain-text replacements, i.e. replace "Not enough drive space to save the game." with "Não há espaço para salvar o jogo.", as I suggested before. This approach provides zero inconvenience for the mapper, but it rather unreliable. It becomes especially bad for short strings. This kind of replacements is not cheap to perform, but I think I know how to do it efficiently. The first version will do it with bruteforce algorithm, we don't have any plain-text replacements yet anyway. 2) Full-text + ID replacements, i.e. replace "Not enough drive space to save the game.#id_nospacesave#" with "Não há espaço para salvar o jogo.#id_nospacesave#". The #id_...# placeholders are stripped from the text by the engine even if translation does not exist. If translation exists, then the engine verifies the context around the placeholder and does not apply it in case of mismatch. This approach gives mild inconvenience to the mapper, since he can clearly see the original text but has to tolerance this annoying tag at the end. The mapper can even edit the text without touching the placeholder: the obsolete translations will stop working automatically. I have a feeling that plain-text replacements won't be enough for the missions, and hope that such extra "tags" can be used here and there to make it more reliable.

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.

This reminds of the DarkPlaces engine. At first people were very enthusiastic about all its features but later they realized that all this gloss simply kills the artistic appeal and unique look of the original Quake. And then someone made Quakespasm and it became the standard for all new mods. Same story about Doom. Remember that abomination called Doomsday and especially all the graphics mods for it? Ugh... That was something else. So I wonder how long it will take for a new fork of The Dark Engine to appear that would be much more strict about changing the vanilla experience.

Absolutely. They showed with Arx Fatalis and Prey that they very well understand what made those classics' (Ultima Underworld and System Shock 2) so enjoyable to play. They showed even with Dishonored why Thief was so enjoyable to play. Even though Dishonored did its own thing, of course, but, it has quite a few similarities to Thief. I had no idea that they were in question to do a new Thief as well. Shame that they didn't. And, also a shame that they followed the industry's modern bullcrap trends with their later games (Dishonored 2 already started it). If they decide to dissolve Arkane Lyon as well, I wouldn't be too sad, to be honest. With most of the key figures gone (most recently Harvey Smith), I don't see much of a future for interesting games from that studio anyway.

Oh, that was new to me: Very early on in this video, they mention that (maybe around 2010?) they had been very close to develop the next Thief game. By the Master Builder, I like Dishonored (although I did not like the royal allegiance stuff), but somehow I have the feeling, these lads would have created an amazing Thief game.