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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.

"Out of all the districts in Bridgeport, the Pagan Quarter is probably the second worst... it's certainly the last place I'd want to live. Sadly, I don't have a choice in the matter." It's with great pleasure that I present my third Dark Mod FM, "The Maybury Idol, Part 1: A Trip to the Museum" https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=maybury1 This is the first in a planned 4-part series which is largely already plotted out to conclusion, and I'm planning to get started on Part 2 soon. Compared to the last FM I submitted, this one is a lot more linear and story-driven, but it also includes conversations and a mid-mission cutscene... which along with learning some basic scripting has really opened up a lot of possibilities in mission creation, and I'm looking forward to putting the lessons learned here to use in future. I'd like to thank everybody in the Beta Testing thread for ironing out the many, many wrinkles that came up and for offering helping advice in how to patch up the map's shortcomings: @Baal, @Cambridge Spy, @Bikerdude, @wesp5, @Bergante, @Keruah, and @tapewolf I hope you enjoy it.

Oh ok so you don't use Steam for games? With Steam on Linux there's usually not much work to make it work.

It seems a driver problem, not really strange for me. I don't think that it is really a TDM problem. In other Forums I see a lot of different issues with Logitech Mices and drivers, myself I had also problems with Logitech Mices. Nerer had again Problems buying specifically gaming mices with cable, these are way more robust and stable for obvious reasons. Maybe changing the Mouse will solve the problem. Currently I use the Rival 3 Gen 2 from Steel Series since several Years, very precise and responsive, apart with a good price (some Years ago I paid ~€30, now it costs somewhat more as I saw in its Homepage.

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

I think that maybe it is legit to use an AI as tool for some subroutines in a bigger project, but not to use it of the whole project with an simple prompt, because even if it works, nobody later knows how, which make it very difficult, even impossible to guarantee a maintance and needed updates, apart of data security, when the own dev don't really know the code made by an AI.

My new mission, A Night in Altham, is available. We are already up to version 2! @Dave the Tafferfound an problem that deserves a fix, so here is version 2: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y4r1dmziuq6clh2im3qz1/altham2.pk4?rlkey=m3cv5v6v70lxbc9xha61nuxoj&dl=1. I will ask @nbohr1more to update the databases. A special thanks to JackFarmer for several pieces of custom ambient music. They "complete" the mission, providing a unique feel to its locations. Also thanks to the many beta testers (jaxa, Shadow, wesp5, Cambridge Spy, thebigh, datiswous, Mezla, MirceaKitsune, Melchior, Acolytesix, TheUnbeholden, prjames, Bergante). Thanks to @peter_spy for his beautiful Builder Compound assets. This is a large mission, so be ready to take some time. I recommend that you do named saves occasionally (I actually implemented auto-saves for this mission, but it was causing crashes on Linux, so I removed it). This mission has a lot of keys, so it implements a key management mechanism. Keys are removed from the game when no longer needed. This includes when you use a key to open a door, or if you pick a door/lock that also uses a key. Most keys are automatically removed, but there are a couple that aren't (for example, if they open up more than one door). In a certain area, this mission uses the Keyhole Peek feature of TDM. Typically, this is when you lean forward (F key) into a door keyhole and you can see into the next room. But in this case you don't lean into a keyhole. It's a hole of another kind. It's an unconventional use of something that isn't used a lot in TDM; hopefully the mission context will make it clear when to use it. The mission does not use Keyhole Peek for regular doors. Be aware, there is a known problem on Linux, where the peek feature can cause a crash. Peeking is not required for mission completion. This has been tested on TDM 2.11a and the current dev build of 2.12 (dev16854-10518). Scary things warning: Difficulty settings make a difference. Things that are affected by the difficulty level: Enjoy!

I am happy to announce the release of the first post-release Dark Mod FM: Patently Dangerous by demagogue. http://www2.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?id=6 Briefing: "Nobody said hypocrisy didn't have its uses. The Inventor's Guild, always so secretive about its own inventions, isn't beyond a little espionage when it comes to the inventions of others. They've hired me to steal the design notes from a young man named Soren Rikk, just on the outskirts of the Highlands Ward. He's reputed to have made a huge discovery in a field the Inventors have some interest in. It should be an easy job. Soren isn't known to be a dangerous person." Notes: - Thanks to my beta-testers: Fidcal for early testing, Broken Arts & Leatherman, and everybody else that gave comments (basically most of the Dark Mod team ). Thanks also to alacazam for permission to use his cool ambient. - Notice there is a map in your inventory. The default key-bind "m" will bring it up. - There have been some reports of a little slow-down near the start on some systems, but it should pick up after that. If performance is slow for you, see the Performance Tweaks wiki entry. - Enjoy! Happy Halloween everybody. Screenshots:

@stgatilov, could you confirm that your new all.lang --> latin-x process, still invokes (after that conversion) the use of .map files like strings/hungarian.map (or a comparable procedure)?

The still ongoing Windows 10 topic sparked my curiosity why people do not just switch to Linux. But users of other OSes are also allowed to vote.

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.

I see we have independently noticed this problem. I have proposed named strings for these instead of numbered strings in https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/23204-proposed-i18n-improvements-for-tdm-215/ Would you be willing to change your patch to use those names? I'm translating those strings into the 16 languages now. I'll look to your translations for the German versions.

toying with the windows version of wined3d, been some years since i last tried it and back then it was not working to well performance wise but now it does seem to have catched up somewhat. there is still some performance degredation but it is much better now. tried it with dark corners of the earth and it runs well but has the same problem as standard d3d has where the game crashes if using alt + tab. one peculiarity the game is a good deal darker with wined3d than with standard d3d9 or the dxvk variant but it is also a lot more detailed so i dont mind as it fits in with the atmosphere. if the alt + tab issue could be fixed i would use it instead of dxvk. it is a bit strange though with the different looks as wined3d is just a wrapper for opengl as dxvk is a wrapper for vulkan ?. also works fine with blood 2. EDIT: works with blood 2 if you preconfigure resolution with windows own directx, for some reason wine hangs on enumerating resolutions with this game (lithtech's engine has allways been a bit weird).

This was also always an issue for me. When I place lights, I like to control and fit the location of the light volume exactly into its environment (for example to keep lights from extending into adjacent areas or to create shadows). That means the center (or origin) of the light volume is at some random location in the room, and almost always the wrong place for the model (which is on the wall or ceiling in most cases). But that's how all the light entities work and I have to use an inconvenient workaround.

hmm several things like its amazingly stable when you look away from the current problem with kernel updates breaking nvidia gfx (hope it gets sorted soon). i also like the interface on the KDE variant of solus. and so far i had no problems getting any game to run on it. it does use flatpak but it is not forced unless the app in question has no port to they're current kernel or runtimes. so far the onlly user app i have that uses flatpak is kodi and it works just fine so no complaints in that regard. i had it on all but one of my pc's but untill the nvidia situation is resolved im going to try out the nightlies of bazzite with the fix for scaling. the only pc i currently run windows on is my main gaming machine and it is mostly due to it having so many titles that it would take me months to setup on nix . at some point im going to do it though but currently been busy with the house building a new terasse and fixing the walls on my garage which were rotten (previous owner had not reapplied wood protection in decades).

Are you sure this is a bug? Brushes aren't made of polygons, they use planes and vertices in the editor aren't actually real vertices. It was like that since the old days but some modern level editors(like NetRadiant-Custom) can autosplit faces when you drag one vertex.

there are still adapters sold for both com and db9 since many firms use matrix printers or other specialized hardware that would be to expensive to just upgrade unless they totally melt down . matrix printers are pretty much stoneage but also solid as rocks as they usually newer break if taken care of. and many cnc machines dont need overly complicated cad programming so the older models are still in use.

the dev of the dcotepatch actually managed to recreate the script engine source code from the debug files on the cd. you can also modify running speed and jump height with the patch as well as sanity thresholds to make it a little less painfull to play. i use an old tool to patch the game executable to limit cores to 4 since it has problems with todays multicore processors (also needed with the gog version if you have a cpu with more than 4 cores) the gog version is limited to 60 fps cause unlimited breaks multiple sequences like attack of the fishmen so you cannot escape when they break down the door to your room. there was an old bug with shaders that caused raindrops to look like diamonds on ATI/AMD cards. this was also fixed by the gog version as well as the invisible sorcerer bug in dangerous voyage. if you encounter stuttering while moving it is caused by mouse polling acting up (many old games from back then had the same problem on modern machines "F.E.A.R feks.). there is a directinput wrapper on the pc gaming wiki that fixes this though it is for F.E.A.R it works fine with this game as well. alt tabbing crashes the game, use dgvoodoo2 or dxvk to allow it. the game also looks kinda bad on widescreen this can be fixed by using this https://github.com/ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack/releases/tag/callofcthulhu for other bugs that might crop up see https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu:_Dark_Corners_of_the_Earth there is also a HD pack for it though it uses an old version of sweetfx (reshade nowadays) works quite fine though the upscaled textures themself do not up the looks by that much (probably because upscaling filters back then were rather poor "no AI"). if you want to try your hand at upscaling the games texture use this -> https://dcotetools.sucklead.com/p/xbdsplit.html be sure to backup all files just in case. the game uses dds format so they will have to be converted beforehand if using upscayl as it does not support dds format. afterwards you will have to convert the upscaled images back so be sure to note which dds format the game uses.

for the heck of it i actually tried to install xp 32 bit on my moms gigabyte h81m-ds2 and f... me it actually worked . runs completely fine with the only problem being the igpu driver which is kinda moot since i use an external gfx card. looking up info on the net i noticed that this is probably one of the few haswell boards that can run xp 32 bit due to it still using some of the older chipset features. usb 3 can also be a problem but the since it is using asmedia i found out the oldest driver actually had xp support so yay!. nvme is a nogo though but with AHCI you can easily use a standard SSD with this setup and it will feel plenty fast.

forgot to mention the tool used to limit cores on game executables. its called imagecfg.exe easily findable with google. the format for patching is imagecfg -u game.exe this sets the game executable to uniprocessor mode = 1 core. then use imagecfg -a 0x01 game.exe to lock it to core 0 or imagecfg -a 0x01 0x02 0x03 0x04 game.exe to set affinity to cores 0 to 3 (overrides uniprocessor mode). the change is permanent so backup your original game.exe dark corners runs quite ok using only one core though so just use the -u switch.

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

Might have to use both.

I think we should create a thread where you can put requests and suggestions for Orbweaver. This thread should be NOT a discussion thread. If you want to discuss a proposal, create a specific thread for it. I want it to be only for collecting proposals, so we have an overview of what people might want to have. I guess this might also help Orb to decide what he should focus on once he gets productive. BTW: I really appreciate your effort, because we can really use this. So my personal wishlist proposal is that I would like to see a group handler. Similar like in Blender, where you can select several objects and put it in a group. When you select one or more of these groups, the objects are visible. If the group is not selected, it's invisible. In Blender and other 3D apps this is called layers (forgot the name before so I had to look it up).

yeah lovecraft can be a bit hard to adapt in a game but can be really good if you capture the elements correctly. intro starts of as more of a sneaking and gathering information sequence, then things heat up in attack of the fishmen with a lot of running and gunning. at the marsh plant it becomes a mix between action sneaking and puzzle solving as well as survival untill you nail the younger marsh brother. at the esoteric order it goes into more sneaking puzzle solving and occasional action while gathering more information. this is where you get the knife which might actually be the most effective weapon in the game, but it requires stealth. you also team tag with another game character. and yeah the game can be pretty brutal to survive in, maybe something to look into in a remake. game saves are dependent on signs which are used as save points. while the idea is cool (bit like the save gems in daikatana or the consoles in dead space) it does ruin things a bit cause there arent many of them and autosaves only work by chapter. if you struggle in some parts, use dcotepatch to enable developer mode and use noclip or yuck god mode. the game was rushed due to the developer going bankrupt (one guy had to finish it up) so it is pretty unpolished gameplay wise.