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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/01/20 in all areas

  1. Since my first map might take a while to be finished (a few years at least), I developed TDMDB in the meantime, a database application that allows to more easily view and filter all available missions, simplifying the process of finding missions that are suited to one's taste. You can just go ahead and check it out here: tdmdb.com/missions. It's on a very limited shared server, so don't expect blazing speeds, although loading times appear to be reasonable enough. You can use the application to, for example, find all city missions that are also part of a series, and have them sorted by size. Or all independent missions that have undead and spiders. Or missions by a specific author that have EFX Reverb support. And so on. Or you can just scroll down through all missions, reading about them and looking at their pictures. All of the information was retrieved from the wiki and thedarkmod.com by a couple of scripts, and stored in a database. The application may be installed as an official TDM resource, which was my original idea and motivation (more on this thread). For this purpose, you may find the full source code and installation instructions on this GitHub repo. The data retrieval process might change if this becomes an official resource, but that can actually be a good thing, since scraping the wiki and thedarkmod.com is not ideal long-term. In any case, for the time being, the application can be fully used on tdmdb.com. Hopefully it helps many find the missions of their dreams! (it did help me find some amazing series). By the way, if this is breaking any rules, just let me know. Also, please feel free to tell me if you find any bugs, missing data, or if you have any suggestions on how to make the application better
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  2. Well, if some other people second your opinion that .obj would useful, I can add support for it in the future. It is very old, well-known and rather minimalistic format with specification freely available. Would it be useful to add some integration of .mtl files too? Maybe it's possible to convert some simple subcases to .mtr file automatically. By the way, .obj format is textual. It is good for debugging, but bad for storage. It has binary equivalent, which has .mod extension. Are .mod files as widespread as .obj files? Do you mean models in .ase take more video memory than same models in .lwo format? I cannot think why it could be so. Yes, they take more storage (perhaps even compressed) and more time to read, but in the end they have the same number of vertices and indices in memory... or not? I think it is bad choice for static meshes. Its main goal is to store animated scenes in a way that anyone can read it (basically, each frame is stored as separate data, like in motion jpeg). Such animated scenes are damn huge of course, but for movie industry it is OK. In game industry, I think it is only useful for complicated non-skeletal animations, e.g. precomputed liquid simulation.
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  3. Nobody uses Collada these days, for reasons already mentioned. The usual choice is .fbx or .obj, whether it's Unreal, Unity, or others. Either stick with these, or you'll be designing for yourself, not for actual users. I'm pretty much stuck with .ase, but it works well for me, and I haven't encountered a scenario where a higher polycount would affect video memory much, even though these files can be quite big over certain number of polys.
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  4. You can download Blender 2.80 compatible versions of both LWO and ASE export scripts from the link in my signature. The older versions floating around in other forum threads will probably not work with Blender 2.80.
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  5. There is a whole thread about this topic:
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  6. Blender 2.83 Long Term Support (LTS) has reached version number 5. Meanwhile Blender 2.90 finally came out.
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  7. Awesome job. Great to see this a searchable list of all TDM missions. Well done. Should definitely be made official and the link should be available on the TDM Game Download so people can peruse missions before downloading the game.
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  8. LOL. Poor siegeshop. Once I release version 5, I'll need to update the database so it doesn't show the crappy old version 1.
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  9. Ian Hubert is an independent filmmaker, director of "Tears of steal" open movie. He makes short, funny tutorials. He developed a super effective workflow that allows him to make entire worlds practically on his own.
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  10. TDM 2.08 Released! We are proud to announce the release of The Dark Mod 2.08! Long in development, many fixes related to Multi-Core, Uncapped FPS, and the 64-bit migration are now available. TDM 2.08 goes further with the process to modernize coding standards in TDM, replacing legacy OpenGL functions and ARB Assembly shaders with modern techniques. Mappers will be pleased to see many new quality assets as well as enhancements to rain, fog, skylight, AIs and visportal diagnostics. For the eye-candy crowd, new Bloom, 64-bit color mode, and SSAO options have been added! For Linux users, the project can now be compiled via CMake. A full changelog can be viewed here, but some highlights include: Better Visuals: Cabalistic has finally added the much requested SSAO feature to TDM. Using a method called Scalable Ambient Obscurance, now areas with flat ambient lighting come alive with new detail! He’s also implemented a new Bloom method, and brightness and gamma will no longer interfere with desktop brightness. Better AI: Grayman has refined the AI yet again, for instance ensuring that sitting and lying aren't thwarted by obstacles. Better Gameplay: The player’s ability to move and interact with the environment has been improved thanks to fixes to mantling as well as climbing ropes and ladders. Ragdolls are easier to handle and shouldering them is accompanied by an animation. Better Mapping: The mapper’s toolkit has seen several enhancements. A new X-ray surface and new spectrum spawnargs modify how objects are perceived. Rain is much less taxing and uses static collision detection to limit its fall. New visportal diagnostics make it easier than ever to track down notorious internal leaks. Better Performance: The dev team has as always been hard at work making improvements to performance and laying the groundwork for even more improvements in the future. Multi-Core’s stability has been enhanced and is no longer listed as an “Experimental” setting. New Assets: Many quality textures and models were added by both Team members and community contributors. Especially of note is the inclusion of Kingsal’s manbeasts and Springheel’s new zombies, and expect to catch glimpses of the werebeast. If you are a mission author, please take a look here. New Sounds: The player’s movement is now accompanied by new sounds when mantling, swimming and sliding down ropes and ladders. To update, simply run the tdm_update.exe file in your darkmod folder. Please be aware that old saved games will not be compatible with 2.08, so finish any missions you might be in the middle of first!
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