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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?

Hmm i know nvidia used the tile based rendering tech from guillemot's hercules cards in some of they're older models (the 900 gtx series alledegly had it). What it does for efficiency is that it only renders what is in the users view cutting out a good deal of horsepower needs for games that push it a bit much. I wonder if newer models are going to bring it back with some ai magic. The funny thing showing it worked was that my 970 gtx ran hzd with no problems even though the card only had 4 gb vram (3.5 gb useable due to some weird internals). But my 4 gb vram amd r9 290x could not run it unless i did some hackery to lower vram requirements (config hacking).

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 forget to mention some of it (perhaps even significant changes that has escaped my memory entirely), 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

"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

Currently Darkmod does not utilize the full potential of its high dynamic range rendering. When light gets bright colors get clipped. As I mentioned before, this makes highlights hard to manage and makes bloom option less useful (in my opinion). At least that's what I see on my old ass monitor that doesn't support HDR. I'll preface this with a disclaimer, that I have no idea what I'm doing. I also do not claim, that this code is ideal, or even good. I simply asked MS Copilot to modify the tonemap.frag.glsl file for me. It added a new color curve, that can be modified: Alternative set of ABCDEF values, should give slightly more contrast: All the footage and screenshots below were done with bloom set to the max.

On a lighter note (and because my holiday started today, oh yeah!), let's have a new thread for music, that you just enjoy and probably is not so well known...or somehow obscure but does not sound as strange as the songs we report in @STiFU's progessive music thread. Here is one of my new favourites, a similar recording of this track by other artists has been used in an US show broadcasted last year ( @Amadeus: What is the name of the show? )

As my custom assets work has increasingly shifted from models towards scripting, I'll open a new thread here to contain any scripts that I write which can be reused in other missions, starting with the A ) Presence Lamp This is a Lost City-style lamp that brightens and dims depending on the presence of the player or an AI. It fades between 2 colours and can trigger its targets whenever it switches fully on or off, so it should also be viable in various other situations. The standard setup consists of the following: - a trigger_multiple brush. The spawnarg "anyTouch" controls whether AIs, too, are able to activate it - a presence lamp, highly recommended with a colorme skin - one presence light, or any other light with appropriate spawnargs The targeting chain is trigger brush -> lamp -> light When the player or an AI stands in the trigger_multiple brush, the lamp switches on and starts a short timer. Subsequent triggers reset the timer. If the timer runs out because no one's standing in the trigger brush anymore, the lamp switches itself off. Notes - Multiple trigger brushes can target the same lamp, and one trigger brush can target multiple lamps. However, each presence lamp can only target one light, so if you want i.e. a bouncelight you'll need to hide an additional silent presence lamp somewhere and target it from the same trigger brush. - The lamp and the light use their own colour spawnargs respectively, since setting 0 0 0 on a lamp would make it appear pitch black. - Technically the trigger brush can be exchanged for anything else that triggers the lamp every 0.5s (this number can be changed via "update_interval" on the lamp), i.e. a trigger_timer. - This was originally named the proximity lamp and was one of many scripting jobs for The Painter's Wife. I've renamed it to "presence lamp" because the mapper may place the trigger brush(es) wherever he wishes: proximity to the lamp is not a factor. Credits go to Bikerdude for putting together the crystal lamp models. Download Presence Lamps - Google Drive Place or extract the .pk4 into your FM archive, then look up the presence lamp prefabs. If you already are using other custom scripts, remember to add the presence lamp's .script to your tdm_custom_scripts file. B ) Teledoor This is a Skyrim-style door which opens just a bit into a black_matt "void" before teleporting the player to a different area of the map, which may represent the other side of the door. This is used for connecting physically separated map areas with each other, such as when there's an exterior/interior split of a building or ship to allow for more mapping freedom. [Full Thread] C ) Mass Teleport This is a teleportation setup designed to seamlessly teleport the player and any moveables between two identical-looking areas. This allows the mapper to link 2 physically distant areas with each other while maintaining the illusion that they're connected. The teleportation zones should be free of AIs as they can't be teleported like this without their patrols breaking. [Post] D ) Automaton Station A station for Sotha's automatons (includes the automatons) which can be switched on and off by patrolling automatons. (Part of core assets as of 2.10) [Post] E ) Camgoyle A sentient turret originally made for the FM Written in Stone. It's based on the new security camera entity and augmented with scripting to allow it to fire magical projectiles at the enemies it detects. People are more than welcome to use it and to convert it into something else, such as a mechanical turret. [Post] [Download] F ) Audiograph The audiograph is an Inventor's Guild device for playing back recordings stored on spindles, which are small metal cylinders the player can pick up and store in his inventory. [Post] G ) Turret A new companion to security cameras familiar to Thief players. It will become active as soon as an enemy is detected by a targeted security camera, firing projectiles to fend off the intruders. Similar to the security camera and the camgoyle sentry, turrets are highly customisable in their behaviour and appearance. [Thread] G ) Fog Fade Dynamically change fog density depending on what location the player is in. [Thread]

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?

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/

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

What are the current missions with story subtitles present? To my knowledge (I update them from your responses as well): A house of locked secrets (datiswous) A new Job A Night in Altham Away 0 (using alternative subtitle system) Braeden Church (datiswous) By Any Other Name Coercion (datiswous) Cole Hurst 1: Eaton CoS1: Pearls and Swine (datiswous) Deceptive Shadows (datiswous) Down by the Riverside (datiswous) Eye on the Prize Hazard Pay Hidden Hands 2: Vitalic Fever (datiswous) Hidden Hands 3: The Lost Citadel (datiswous) Hidden Hands 5: Blood & Metal (datiswous) Lord Edgar's Bathhouse (datiswous) Mandrasola (datiswous) No Honor Among Thieves (datiswous) Now and then (datiswous) One Step Too Far (datiswous) Requiem (datiswous) Seeking Lady Leicester Sir Talbot's Collateral (datiswous) Sneak & Destroy (v2) (datiswous) Somewhere Above the City (datiswous) Spring cleaning (datiswous) Tears of St. Lucia The black mage (datiswous) The Elixir (datiswous) The Gatehouse (datiswous) The Hare in the Snare, Part 1 (datiswous) The Imperial Sword (datiswous) The Last Night on Crookshank Lane (datiswous) The Painter's Wife (datiswous) The Terrible Old Man Ulysses 1: Genesis (datiswous) Who watches the watcher Winter Harvest 2.5 (datiswous) Written in stone WS1: In the North (datiswous) WS2: Home Again (datiswous) WS3: Cleighmoor (datiswous) WS4: The Warrens (datiswous) WS5: Commerce Bank (datiswous) You Only Fly Thrice (datiswous) Yuletide Boon (datiswous) I added the included in mission ones to the mission list on the wiki: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Missions_for_The_Dark_Mod Missions that have voice sound files in them, but don't have subtitles yet (I have looked in all the mission pk4 files for such voice soundfiles): Springheel A Reputation to Uphold Springheel A Score to Settle Goldwell Accountant 1: Thieves and Heirs (ready for testing) Goldwell Accountant 2: New In Town Goldwell Noble affairs (ready for testing) Goldwell Shadows of Northdale ACT 1 Goldwell Shadows of Northdale ACT 2 Goldwell & Kingsal Snowed Inn Goldwell Sneak & Soufflé Sotha The Golden Skull (minor) Sotha TP1: Knighton Manor (minor) Sotha TP4: The Transaction Sotha TP5 Phrase Book Sotha TP6: Lich Queen's Demise Sotha Ulysses 2: Protecting the Flock (made, not included yet) Bienie CoS0: To Catch a Thief (minor) Bienie CoS2: A Precarious Position (minor) Bienie CoS3: Sacricide (minor) Bienie Langhorne Lodge Bienie The Night of Reluctant Benefaction (made, not included yet) Jackfarmer Hidden Hands: The Anomaly joebarnin The Heart of Saint Mattis (made, not included yet) Kingsal Volta 1: The Stone (made, not included yet) Kingsal Volta 2: Cauldron (ready for testing) Kingsal Moongate Ruckus (made, not included yet) Kingsal Volta III - Gemcutter (subtitles for intro video made) Melan, Bikerdude PD 2: All the Way Up (minor) (ready for testing) Melan, Bikerdude PD 3: Erasing the Trail (ready for testing) Bikerdude & team Crucible of Omens : Behind Closed Doors Mortem Desino The Creeps (made, not included yet) Jedi_Wannabe PtB:0 Moving Day RJFerret Inn Business (minor) Wellingtoncrab Iris (minor, only for shops) (made, not included yet) Spooks King of diamonds

There's bloom and I think ambient occlusion (?). Some kind of rim light on NPCs. I like new models, torches look nice. Some of the shots in the trailer look like nothing has changed though. I agree about the world geometry. I'm playing Toom Raider 2 remastered and they made some subtle touch-ups to level geometry here and there. 4k, 120 fps, widescreen aspect ratios. From what he says, it would suggest that Russel and Brosius recorded new lines, or maybe re-recorded old ones?

I frankly would have been p***ed off if they would have changed the level geometry in the Tomb Raider remasters. Especially considering the controls and movements were made with fixed units in mind. They had a hard time implementing the modern controls because of that. There are some things which are not possible with the modern controls. I'm a bit split regarding the Thief Gold remaster though. I don't really think it is as necessary as the Tomb Raider remasters, for example. TFix works fine. For Tomb Raider, the fact alone that you are not restricted to 30 FPS like in the original games was a huge advantage of the remasters, not to talk about the graphical improvements, widescreen support, and a lot of bug fixes. You pretty much have that with Thief Gold and TFix already. In the Steam forums, they mentioned the advantage of having new people getting into Thief, but, I don't think it will be that many.

LINUX SECTION: it was not really a microsoft comment, the linux world was pretty much first out to ditch 32 bit so even though you can still build something as 32 bit and make sure that your code has the best performance for that arch all dependencies like libc (bare minimum) will still not have been developed with 32 bit in mind making a good deal of what said developer does moot. its a bit like trying to fit a ferrari engine inside a beetle, it wont work to well or not at all. sure if you are adamant in bringing back the glory days of 32 bit you could go ahead and start optimizing dependencies for 32 bit (which for one person would take a lifetime or two in a worst case scenario) so it is not going to happen. even worse for 16 bit code or older which not many compilers today can handle (djgpp and open watcom are pretty much the only still developed ones with that capability and only the open watcom compiler even runs on a 64 bit OS). MICROSOFT SECTION: microsoft for all they're bad decisions have in most regards tried to keep compatibility with older software without going the way of using full fledged virtual machines. this was not like many belive to appease gamers but to keep the big companies locked in as many of them used in house tools developed ages ago which would be hard if not impossible to replace. with windows 11 that stance has changed though and most of the old cruft has been neutered or outright removed. for an example see ntvdmx64 which was a project that aimed to allow users to use the old dos mode and 16 bit vdm on 64 bit. it is now largely defunct due to them removing a boatload of old 16 bit compatibility code. you can still get it to work but instead of one VM you now need two. one is for DOS (ntvdmx64) the other is for 16 bit (WineVdm). and both require you to turn off a good chunk of the new security features because neither are compatible with core isolation etc.

they better retain the old techno music on mission #5(assains) and #6 and put new techno music in new level , no problem if they give a modern touch example of modern technos i like : daniel avery - drone logic eric brosius(is he involved?) pls do your magic

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.

I think the original is included in the new edition, which I think is ok. I think the ss2 new edition turned out nice so I expect the same for this release. Not sure I get it, I already have the excisting games. But I think it's nice for new player if the price is fair.

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.

Ideally there should be entirely new player character model made for this.

Yes, it may be enough to just change the def_projectile spawnarg. The flashbomb might have some unique scripting that depends on player inputs, but in that case it would be possible to clone the rock projectile, give it a flashbomb model and make it cause a flashbomb effect when it hits something. Likewise, you can change the weapon and arrow projectile spawnargs. As long as the new entity can function as a weapon (the right spawnargs in its entityDef, a collision model etc.) it will work. We have a selection of non-standard weapons in the core assets already.

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.

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.

Did Embracer give the Thief IP to Atari? Or did Embracer acquire Atari as well? Anyways, new campaign sounds good to me!

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

Btw now were talking about old phillips tv's all remotes from phillips are universal between models (atleast the pre smart era models were). I have a remote from a different model (silver) which works with mine as well . Something which makers of other models could learn from.