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The bug (6425) where the player view could sometimes clip through the ceiling during a forced-crouch mantle is now fixed in SVN. Preview:

Hello, Bikerdude and I updated the mission. The new version is ready for testing.

This is actually a rather old request that we encountered often shortly after going standalone in 2013. Hardcore GNU\Linux folks, especially those who use Debian, think that all open projects should use GPL v3 licenses with full "Libre" licensed content ( Creative Commons ). The goal is that open projects should be a shared resource that no single person or group regulates and can be used for ANY purpose without fear of prosecution or litigation. The primary motivation is "extreme paranoia". Any license restriction is seen as a potential trap that could unintentionally jeopardize contributors or users. For example: Imagine that I create a blog where I review darkmod missions and earn advertising revenue by visits. Through a very convoluted legal premise, the owner of non-free assets used in TDM could claim I owe them revenue since their license doesn't allow "any" commercial exploit of their work. Likewise, the owner of an internet cafe where the game is played might owe the asset owner their revenue. The ISP that made the asset available to it's subscribers might owe them too. The overarching theme is that copyright scope is not clearly defined and can be perverted to sabotage open projects. A fully Libre compliant project is immune to these risks. People who want their favorite projects to be easily available in GNU\Debian evangelize this type of license change. The problem is that most TDM contributors would strongly object to allowing their work to be used by 3rd party commercial projects, especially if those 3rd parties simply rebranded darkmod and sold it as a game in an app store. Even if that were a palatable eventuality, it would also make Embracer Group ( current owners of Thief IP ) more inclined to attempt a legal take-down of our project. A Libre version would need to be a fork that is maintained outside our community so that we can still clearly state that we prohibit all commercial usage. Debian and other similar distros need an easy way to allow users to install projects that are strictly non-commercial rather than forcing all open projects to permit 3rd parties to resell their work.

Seeing this made me wish we also had a little search box in the top right corner. That would make finding missions a lot easier.

TBH, games from last two decades conditioned me to accept static mirrors and vampire player characters so much, that I don't even notice that anymore while playing

Would someone be willing to help adjusting some of the following mapping and model issues and suggestions? Mapping: * 0006364: Ladder cuts into the arch and the northern door when door is opened (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6364) * 0006365: Ladder in the wood shed cuts into a barrel (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6365) * 0006366: Clouds in the sky do not move in Tears of St. Lucia (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6366) * 0006374: Chandeliers in church hall (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6374) * 0006396: Return check is too sensitive (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6396) * 0006376: Wrong trigger for the hint about the hammer (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6376) * 0006395: Wall of church grounds unfinished (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6395) * 0006423: Graft map A New Job and map Tears of St. Lucia (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6423) * Training Mission, room Archery: Walking on the stone path outside the shooting range sounds like walking on grass. Floor in tower sounds OK. (-225.92 -807.79 240.29 32.6 -146.3 0.0) Models: * 0006373: Failure to pick lock of chest (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6373) * 0006375: Locked doors have no keyholes (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6375) * 0006381: Issues with model fence around the pulpit (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6381) * 0006382: The depth of the seats of the benches are too narrow (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6382) * 0006397: Some banners with builder symbol look sqashed narrow (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6397) The following are listed as authors of the mission: * Original map: Jdude * Story: Springheel * Additional mapping: Springheel, Fidcal, Bikerdude, Greebo, datiswous (not listed), JackFarmer (not listed)

When I write about "TDM-libre", I don't see it as targeted at any specific Linux distro, or even OS. I merely mention Debian as one example.

Well, I did write "something we may want". It was intended to investigate if it was true and to invite to discussion. But I get your point.

@datiswous I added three "wait" commands (code rev 10628). Please let me know if it fixes KP_SLASH for you. The fix should be included in 2.12 beta5.

Got to try it out with an older FM: Very nice stuff to see! Looks good for the most part: If anything I think there are a few issues with certain punctuation making sense... other than that, only change I'd like to see is a more stylized dialog box instead of a flat background, still black and transparent and subtle but better themed and maybe using a more appropriate font.

Well there is for example: https://www.appimagehub.com/ I actually like programs to be self contained, so I can move them around at will and easilly modify the files (this is more important with tdm) as well, so probably it wouldn't be for me anyway. Apart from that, many (Linux) gamers use an Arch -type distro (I use Manjaro), so for that the Debian repo is not useful. I'm in favor of a universal Linux version approach and your idea kind of goes against that.

Hmm, I might need this patch some day..

I agree, which is the reason why I made mission sorting in my patch like this, which is also how missions are sorted elsewhere in the web.

It stands for campaign or single mission.

Finally did it with success! Very nice and fun FM, loved every bit of it. Haven't found all of the hidden things, should definitely play this again someday but for now I'm happy I finished it at last.

I suggest following CMOS in this case. That sorting style would also be easy to implement on the web page, on the wiki, and anywhere else too. One detail may remain, though: How do we list a title like "The Lieutenant 1: In Plain Sight"? * "Lieutenant 1, The: In Plain Sight", or * "Lieutenant 1: In Plain Sight, The" I'm pretty sure the first alternative is better because it connects the title to the word it modifies.

Yes, the description is somewhat unclear. When it says "The in-game downloader might show something different than the main menu.", I don't perceive that as a problem. Sorting a list by titles (articles last) is one thing; presenting the full title (with article first) is another. And they serve two different purposes: * When presenting the title in a list along with other titles by other authors, I would want to put more emphasis on functionality, usability and the overall presentation of the list as a whole. It is in everybody's interest that the list is functional and neat. * When presenting the title by itself, I would want to put more emphasis on the author's wishes. I think the web page and the list on the wiki should follow CMOS too, for the same reasons. By the way: the web page (https://www.thedarkmod.com/missions/) has a column "Type" which has values "S" or "C" but it does not explain the difference. Does anyone know?

I am less familiar with the MLA Handbook, so I don't know what (if anything) it says about how to account for definite and indefinite articles when sorting lists based on titles. I can't find anything about it online. Let's hope they don't come after us if they find out and disagree. Edit: According to the link I provided in my previous post, "MLA style follows the The Chicago Manual of Style", so there is no conflict between them.

Something like this is already part of my Unofficial Patch and I guess Snatcher's Modpack too.

If someone would make a modification of the mission statistics screen gui, with an extra button for looking at the completed objectives, is there a chance that this gets included in core?

In a few lists, TDM missions are presented sorted (or sortable) alphabetically: * In the mission downloader GUI * On the web page: https://www.thedarkmod.com/missions/ * On the wiki: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Missions_for_The_Dark_Mod The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) recommends placing initial articles (The, A, An) at the end of the full title: "A Tale of Two Cities" would appear as "Tale of Two Cities, A". Titles do not include subtitles unless they are essential for identification. If a subtitle is included, the initial article should be placed at the end of the full title, not before the subtitle. (https://style.mla.org/articles-and-alphabetization/) I mentioned this in "0006339: Polishing menus: mission downloader" (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6339), but I suggest following CMOS in all cases where titles are an entry in a list.

You can create shortcuts to DR, passing an fs_game=your_fm parameters to DarkRadiant.exe, e.g. DarkRadiant.exe fs_game=fms/yourmission It will override the setting saved to the user.xml file in your settings folder. Works with fs_game_base as well.

Even though I've been absent a long while, I still find myself dreamily wishing for the free time to do TDM mission development. When working on new research projects I'll find myself involuntarily thinking, "hee hee this could be a fun texture or readable or bit of map architecture." Or I find myself absentmindedly responding out loud to odd noises with a drunkguard-like "must've been rats!"

The Black Parade is Mod of the Year: https://www.moddb.com/groups/2023-mod-of-the-year-awards/features/players-choice-mod-of-the-year-2023

No need of piracy https://sketchfab.com/features/free-3d-models https://3d.si.edu/collections https://www.freepik.com/3d-models https://www.blenderkit.com/asset-gallery?query=+is_free%3Atrue&page=2 https://www.turbosquid.com/Search/3D-Models/free/asset https://opengameart.org/content/free-3d-assets https://foxdevart.itch.io/victorian-study-3d-asset-pack Creating easily owns with AI Tools https://charmed.ai etc.

Oh no, we are gonna get stuck in a time loop! Yes, I believe that true alphabetical sorting was the original design. Some players complained that there were too many missions starting with "The" or "A" so finding the desired mission was tedious. The titles were changed to "Mission, The" or "Mission, A" and that worked but was clunky. Finally the design compromise was to sort them without the A or The prefix but display them naturally. I agree that true alpha sorting looks more tidy and am not sure why anyone entertained the "complaint" in the first place.

Great idea!

Chicago Manual really is a solid choice for sorting stuff like this; that'd be my vote (although, I've always been more of an MLA man myself)

CMOS all the way! It is in a way truly alphabetical, while allowing for efficient searching, and it is a world-wide standard way of sorting things.