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Hi, it's been 4 months (and change) since I posted about my tutorial jump map. Real life got in the way, as did my overthinking of things that shouldn't matter at this stage. But I have good news! About a week ago I dusted off DarkRadiant, scaled back my goals a bit, and got back to work. Now I have a full course built with 9 climbing tests implemented. It even has a tricky secret that came about organically, almost by accident. At this point I'm taking the opportunity to finally actually try some of the "housekeeping" tasks of mapping: visportals, location settings, objectives, etc. I imagine I'll finish cleaning up and have something nice to share in the Beta Testing forum within a week or two (for real this time!). Some screenshots: (The character above is set to Team 5 so he isn't hostile. No one to fight or sneak past here, just a couple of supervisors.) (That last one defies screenshotting but it's actually the final challenge. The rest of the tests/tutorials before it are made to be easy and simple, but this one could potentially take a little while.)

After skipping the prayer room for the time being, I am actually getting stuff done.

This is now a Campaign Pack courtesy of Datiswous! https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=vfatc

dev17380-11030 is available.

@Arcturus Victory! Posed model in a tentative environment:

So I realised that I never posted any WIP shots in relation to this query

Update HHTLC now available! - main title in higher resolution - briefing video (part 1) in higher resolution - subtitles for briefing videos, all conversations and all in-game comments, thanks to @datiswous

Zorin OS

The save game discussion is like a traveling circus. It rolls through town every year with the same old clowns. @SeriousToniThe loot save idea is interesting. Do you know how it works in Black Parade? Maybe the script checks the players loot score every so often to see if it incremented by X amount and then award a save. Or in TDM you could append the frob actions to force a check on every loot pickup. It might be weird to just save every 200 loot like thebigh mentioned. Might be better to gift the player a save item, similar to the savior schnapps in Kingdom Come. Interesting idea, not impossible to implement but definitely a little involved.

I know there's a lot of doom and gloom with missions being released but look at it like this; every year there's enough content to equal a full campaigns worth of missions. It's like a full thief game every year. And the quality just keeps getting better, as mappers get more and more experience.

I say this with the utmost respect and gentleness but the original poster really doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. CryEngine and TDM Engine (it's far enough removed from D3 to call it that) are two completely different engines, designed for VERY different purposes. CryEngine uses a type of height map based method to create organic looking outdoor terrain, the TDM engine is a brush work based engine. You can't simply 'PORT' TDM to CryEngine...what you would be doing is rewriting CryEngine to be like the TDM Engine...and then you would have to recreate all of the functionality that the TDM Editor provides for level creation. The lighting would all have to be recreated. Basically, you're starting over from scratch. I appreciate the enthusiasm but it's naive. As for us not wanting 'nice things'...we already have two VERY nice things...the TDM Engine and Dark Radiant, two of the best pieces of Modded software in community lead mods anywhere! If the original poster doesn't think the TDM Engine is optimized enough for outdoor environments...the time would be better spent optimizing the TDM Engine for those sprawling environments. That being said, TDM Missions / Thief is not about sprawling missions anyway. It's about being in close quarters. Sorry but this whole thread really annoyed me. lol

Diffusion Diffusion is the first-person shooter with an extensive singleplayer story (8-12 hours) and a multiplayer deathmatch mode, running on Xash3D-FWGS engine. You, James Smith (served in SWAT for a decade with no failed ops), on vacation and driving your car to some nice place, to take a break from your usual work routines. Driving on a deserted road somewhere in Utah, the car breaks down. With miles of nothing behind, J. decides to go forward and stumbles upon an abandoned rock/sand processing factory with just one yawning guard sitting there. Pointed by the guard, J. walks behind the factory to find the phone. When he comes back, he only sees two army trucks and the dead guard… J.'s curiosity leads him inside the factory only to find that this place is absolutely not what it seems to be… CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad or similar GPU: Any GPU with OpenGL 3.0 support (Nvidia 9800 GTX or similar); 1 Gb of VRAM RAM: 1 Gb HDD: 6 Gb Standalone, Windows/Linux

This thread provides insights from some of the then DM coders and there are other threads as well with similar content.

I think you vastly underestimate - the amount of work; the incompatibility with mission editors; the ability and availabilty of some sort of "conversion tool". But, nevermind, just go ahead, and lets us know about your progress. You pointed out the inferiority of TDM's engine often enough now. Time to port it to something superior. Good luck.

Like Arcturus said materials names do not need to be a real path to a texture. Thou afaik Radiant (and probably DR?) uses it to display it in a virtual folder tree in the editor, meaning if is a single word, it shows up in the root of the media window.

It's just a convention. It can cause trouble when the name is so long it doesn't fit inside Blender's character limit. But material names can be whatever, except they should be original so they don't conflict with each other.

I added info about DR feature "Selection focus" to the page: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=The_Parts_and_Whole:_DR_Groups and: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Grouping Edit: And also https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Layers#Alternatives I've also thought of putting the info in a separate page and then link to that in those pages. Since it modifies a big chunk of @Geep's original page, although it's pretty relevant to that. (Btw. here is the original topic about the feature)

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 100% off on Steam https://slickdeals.net/f/18848197-warhammer-vermintide-2-pc-digital-download-free https://store.steampowered.com/app/552500/Warhammer_Vermintide_2/ Was previously free, you may already have it.

Thanks everyone for your passionate feedback so far. The topic of save restrictions really brings out the “travelling circus” haha! Even with maybe a clown act or two! I appreciate all the perspectives! @kingsal Just to clarify, the idea was always meant as an optional feature. It was never something forced onto any player. The intent is not to punish or restrict, but to offer map authors and players another tool to curb quicksave and quickload habits if they choose to. So customization would be key part of this, whether you set the loot threshold, turn it off, or adjust it per mission. I completely hear those who feel any kind of restriction undermines player freedom in immersive games. That is why I believe this should be extra and opt-in only, not tied to standard difficulty or forced on anyone who does not want it. On the other hand, I think the proposal from @snatcher about rewarding restraint, such as stealth score bonuses for minimal saving and loading, is an alternative brilliant way to turn the concept into something encouraging rather than restrictive. That could motivate players to play differently without feeling confined. Anyways.. Let us keep the discussion creative and constructive. For next year’s circus, maybe we can add a small demo to show the crowd PS: Thanks a lot @datiswous for taking the time to search the forums again. I somehow wasn't aware that this topic came up already a few times, and the forum search itself often is not working so well. So thank you!

Just finished this mission a few days ago and it instantly became a favorite of mine. Took me a few days to realize why I liked it so much. It doesn't play like a classic Thief city mission, it feels more like the "open-world" city sections of Thief Deadly Shadows between the missions. A bigger and improved version of that. TDS is very close to my heart so it's probably why I liked it so much. Hope to see more like this in the future!

Other topics about save restrictions: Restricting saves in creative ways mod: Save At Will Why there should be restrictions on quicksaves Can every1 pls update his FM with a saveroom possibility on hardmode like in the Kingsals latest FM? POLL: Possibility for mappers to create missions where you cannot save manually, but use checkpoints or other systems instead.

Work of art

With Fidcal's permission Datiswous has applied the following fixes to the mission: Added efx Changed the map to add more info_locations and seperators. Fixed one occurrence of z-fighting. Mirrored the exit-door texture so that the lock is in the correct position. (extra material and texture) The new version is available in the mission database.

I had an idea... but I don't have a plan. New Volumes of Virtual Rooms must be the result of a collaborative community effort. We have to figure out everything: rules, content, plot, presentation... and we have to figure it out together. I am not the director or supervisor of this project. I can act as a coordinator during the initial stages but consider me as simply another member. Anyone is free to volunteer for any role. VIRTUAL ROOMS VOL.2 (ALPHA) Whenever there is new content new alpha versions will be made available and the good news is that the first alpha is already here! Member @thebigh quickly figured it all out on his own and he already created the very first room for Vol.2: Thaumaturgy! Please note Vol.2 is not available in the in-game downloader. It will be uploaded to the official repository only when the project is complete. Manual install instructions: Download the alpha from here Create the folder "fms/vr_vol2" and place the pk4 there Launch the game and look for Virtual Rooms Vol.2 (alpha) Room names: DISCUSSION What do we want Virtual Rooms to be? I propose we start with a basic set of Questions & Answers and let it grow from there. Can you help improving these Q&A? What is a Virtual Room? [Provisional] A Virtual Room is the container of an idea or an experiment. Anything that doesn't fit in a more serious project can have its home in the form of a Virtual Room. A Virtual Room can be large or small, simple or elaborated, short or long. Are there any rules? [Provisional] Yes, we want to have a cohering experience and for that we need a consistent set of main objectives. To keep things simple yet interesting the current main rules are: While having AI is not required being seen by AI is an instant failure There must be at least one optional piece of loot in the map The player must reach an exit point to complete the room Each room (map) can have its own set of scripts, textures, materials, sounds... As long as the main rules are respected, you are free to do what you please. Can I have extra objectives in my room? [Provisional] Yes but think how you will let players know about them. Do I have to adhere to a particular aesthetics? [Provisional] No, you do what you want. You can opt for a blocky design or you can go with your own style. How do I submit a room? [Provisional] Upload it somewhere and announce it publicly. Somebody will eventually include it in the next Alpha. Can I revisit the room I submitted? [Provisional] Yes, of course. As many times as you want or need. It is your room after all. In what order are rooms arranged? [Provisional] "First come, first served". When we have a good number of rooms we can see if authors agree to different arrangements for a linear or cohesive experience, if such thing is even possible considering the different sources. Will I be credited for my room? [Provisional] Yes by default but you can opt out. Authors will be listed in the release page, in a readme, and we can probably add something in the briefing or debriefing. Is there a tutorial on "how to create a room"? Yes, check the next post. Discuss!

No not yet. still in the thinking phase. But I have an idea..

rhanks chakkman, I'd got the menu zoomed off-screen! datiswous, all my missions are free to be used anyhow anyone likes with my best wishes.

That was an interesting mission. I enjoyed it for what it is, a set of quirky puzzles with nice minimalistic visuals, clever design encouraging unconventional gameplay, requiring some thought and creativity to go through. It does feel like a training mission in places, but again, even veterans' skills need some refreshing from time to time... One thing is for sure, rope mechanics won't feel the same again for me after this

@Arcturus ...and this result is the source for the painting material/texture: The torso of the Builder's body got somehow corrupted during import, it looked as if there is something missing (or had already been eaten by the zombies). I just put two brushes with a similar texture into the body. After applying a filter, one does not really see it anymore.

This is now fixed in newest 2.14 dev version. It's not a huge game-breaking issue, so people can still use the campaign functionality with 2.13, but it's nice this has been fixed in 2.14.

The mod's name is gonna see a change, since the scope has shifted a bit more since the last post. Besides including the overrides I attached before, AI alert 3 & 4 is gonna get a dramatic duration and fuzzyness decrease from core values and barks are going to be more frequent: meaning, guards are going to chill out before you get the temptation of quickloading, and they're going to mutter and snore way more frequently to prove they are alive. DaftMugi also shared with me another override for pickpocketting frob distance values, to make them closed to Thief's. Ironically, it also brings consistency to the general frob distance; TDM has longer distances for any other object, except items carried by AI. I can already see the argument that the shorter distance makes pickpocketting more "tense". The way I see it is that bump detection isn't a fun mechanic during this action, and the distance is annoying even when the AI has been knocked-out. If you are already in a hurry to get away with the loot because you are illuminated and the guard could turn around, you don't want to also worry about bumping your head against their back because you forward-leaned. Alerting them while crouched in a poorly chosen hiding spot actually makes the bump mechanic interesting; gives you a chance of getting away if the area is dark enough, or punishes you for being overconfident if not. I'll be checking all AI footstep declarations to be throughout and the monster walking volumes, then then release version 1.0 in Codeberg for easy versioning and issue tracking. I'm a bit unsure about the license; TDM LICENSE.txt says everything is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 "unless explicitly stated otherwise". TDM Modpack is Public Domain, on the other hand.

I'm currently running MX, PopOS, and CachyOS as my daily driver on my new hardware. Cachy has been a joy to use. I'll probably add Solus to the mix when I install the next HDD.

I might have it working. Converting the 3 missions into 1 campaign. I think it took me like half n hour. Probably more work for more complex missions. Is there a way to force an ending to the missions, so I don't have to play the whole campaign to test if this works? It loads the first briefing + mission fine. After completing the first mission the second briefing + mission started.

@Wellingtoncrab@JackFarmer I tried exporting with Scripts > Export ASE. That won't work. You have to use File > Export Selected as Model. I swapped zombie_idle.md5anim with af_pose.md5anim to get the T-pose. This might be a better way of dealing with broken md5 models. Instead of redoing weights you can transfer the shape from one model to another as Shape Keys > Join as Shapes: You'll need to apply it before exporting.

Personally I think most of the necessary improvements can probably already been done inside TDM. Better models Better animation Better textures Better and more sounds More voices from more voice actors Better looking (GUI) dialogs More and better documentation Better and more tools (for example a graphical editor for editing GUI files) There's so much content wise that can be improved in TDM's engine. And performance and graphics has very much improved over the years, so who knows what else is still possible? If TDM was a stuck engine, but it isn't, it's constantly evolving. The fact that the Cry engine does better in large areas isn't really something important for TDM missions overall. At least not a reason to port to a new engine.

https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134733

I have been told with the right archaic software there is a way, but with blender there is only pain. I will not say this is correct or easy, and would love to hear of an easier way, but I have “fixed” several md5 meshes by exporting a clean version of the model def from DR as an ase. The model def is what you actually see in the editor and appears uncorrupted, thus the output from dr is uncorrupted. You should make a copy of the model def and use a text editor to change its display pose to be the t-pose before exporting it. When you import that in blender it will be clean, but it will have no skeleton, no bones or joints, and no weight painting, which means it won’t animate. So you have to go through the corrupted mesh, and on the broken parts transfer their bone data to the equivalent part of your clean mesh. On the clean mesh add the skeleton modifier and point it at the same skeleton as the corrupted mesh. You then have to transfer or redo the weight painting - which is a whole thing. For the purpose of posing you may be able to use the auto generate weight paint feature using the skeleton - this probably wouldn’t be sufficient for compatibility with the games animations, but it will let you manipulate the model. Apologies in advance. Once you do it once or twice you make a kind of peace with it I suppose.

I got Thief 2 working on Linux Mint but it's via Steam using Proton 9.0-4

No. Go right ahead. Yes, it would be. I don't even want to imagine how much. And, I also don't really see the benefit of all that work. TDM engine is solid. Might not be extremely well optimized, but, that's also not really to be expected, with a total conversion. It performs well enough for what it does.

I personally use a couple of distros on several machines. I've got Linux Mint on an old desktop I use for browsing and stuff, Ubuntu for my Steam/gaming machine, and I have a travel laptop with Whonix on it (that I barely ever use). I've tinkered around with ZorinOS, but never stuck with it (for no reason in particular). I switched to Linux in early 2020 when Windows 7 went end-of-life. Windows 8 didn't sit will with me, and Windows 10 force-installing itself on peoples' computers was very upsetting, so I took the plunge. Been 5 years now, haven't really looked back.

Our man Biker is currently very stressed because he is diving into the Linux world...with lots of confusion negatively impacting his perception of other topics!

Here's a 64-bit Windows build: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s16AZhMNUjP8w3IUZ0RHY06-tXxgqN1M/view?usp=drive_link

No, it is not up-to-date. You can use gui::CurrentMission, but it is not flexible enough. You need to set defines to enable/disable mission stages, like briefing or briefing video. You can't enabled defines depending on GUI variable, you can only enable them depending on define like MM_CURRENTMISSION. I'd suggest the following way to set up campaign: Forget about campaign and concentrate on the first mission. Set up the first mission as you normally do. Save the customized files somewhere. Set up the second mission as you normally do. Save the files somewhere. Set up the third mission. Now look at all the differences in GUI code between three variants, and wrap them into #ifdef-s by MM_CURRENTMISSION however is more comfortable for you. For instance, if you need to separately enable/disable stages or change menu backgrounds, you can make 3 sections in mainmenu_custom_defs.gui inside #ifdef-s. If you want to play different briefing video, you can do #ifdef around MM_BRIEFING_VIDEO_MATERIAL_1 and set it to different stuff depending on the define. If you want to make GUI briefings with custom GUI code, you can put them into mainmenu_briefing_1.gui, mainmenu_briefing_2.gui, mainmenu_briefing_3.gui, then include one of these files based on MM_CURRENTMISSION inside mainmenu_briefing.gui. Of course you can avoid this copying around and keeping 3 versions if you understand how it works and how you plan to manage it.

I think it's better to have more missions and more creators than fewer. I don't know much about Dark Mod, but I think that with T1-2, a certain ceiling of what's technically possible has been reached, and that from now on, there will only be variations of what we already have. I don't think the quality of the best missions is much better now than in the pre-Newdark era. Yes, Newdark allowed for larger and more sophisticated missions, but they're hardly much better than their less technologically advanced predecessors. I found T2X just as (if not more) fun to play than Black Parade, despite the latter's larger and more complex maps. And something like Plot Thickens gave me just as much pleasure as a behemoth like the recent Venomous Ambition or even Reflections in Red. The basic stealth rules in latter are not much more complicated than in former. The quality issue, by the way, has another side to it. There used to be plenty of creators who weren't afraid to miss the mark, to release a not that great mission, a silly one, a stupid one, etc. Of the approximately 200 missions for T1 and 800-900 for T2, such missions and authors make up the vast majority. This is the case for the majority of missions in the Komag competitions. Currently, there are only a few of them, and everyone spends a long time carefully polishing their projects.

Skin file has reference to a material, so you can make a new version of the material with e.g. "scale 2,2" or "centerscale 2,2" added and use it in the skin file.

So I just read in a post about the black parade over at ttlg that someone was using a custom script to create a little challenge. You can only save your game for every 200 loot you gather. As many missions struggle to give loot a valuable sense of existence because it is only used as a mission goal (while not being part of a campaign where it would carry over), I personally found this a really good and refreshing idea. So, would this be possible in the dark mod too, either as a customizable game option or as a custom script j in a fan mission ? What are your thoughts on this idea in general ?

The plugin I mentioned earlier, (you commented in that thread) it's script gifts a save to use after 60% loot total is gained. Could be modified to happen on 30%, 60%, 90% for example.

If No-kills (or No-kos) objectives make sense in terms of the setting it then must apply to all difficulties, otherwise it doesn't actually make sense in terms of the setting and proves the client doesn't really care whether there is a bloodbath or twenty unconscious citizens in the morning, no?

I always have a hard time understanding why someone would need such a synthetic/automatic save system, when we already have the option to save whenever and wherever we want. If you want to save for every 200 loot you pick up, you can already do so. There's a loot objective for every mission, so you can plan whenever you want to save. There is a mission with a save room on high difficulty in TDM, and I absolutely hate it. These kind of automatic save schemes shouldn't be forced on the player, he should be free to save whenever he wants to save, not when the FM author intended him to save. That's the opposite of freedom in a game, and, in my opinion, the opposite of how an immersive sim or however you want to call it, should operate.

And here is what the water looks like in-game -

Sadly yes 2025 seems like a bit of a low year for TDM. I personally know of a handful of missions in active development. But as for their release, I would expect them all to be 2026 releases. For me, I’m still plugging away at Shadows of Northdale Act 3. It seems to have hit a bit of development hell, combined with my busy personal life. I was determined to get it out this year. But it’s looking like another 2026 release too. On the surface it might look grim, but behind the scenes there are some really cool FMs in the works. So I guess we just have to wait until that labour bears its fruit.