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Hello! I sat and read a book and felt an urge to map/play TDM, so I went to the computer and started up the mod and saw that my current version was out of date. I haven't mapped (seriously) for some years but I see now that you've released 2.08! It makes me really glad and brings tears to my eyes that the dev team still cranks out exellent content! I must bend away my thoughts and thinking of "I cannot make anything useful..." and try to make another mission! In other words, Fieldmedic is not dead, I'm trying (again) to take up mapping! Cheers!

I was playing around with older version of TDM to try and compare performance and it's such a drastic improvement that I had to share. On v2.03 On TDM 2.08 that just released On Cab's 2.09 Alpha branch Both have as close to the same settings as possible. Well done everyone. Amazing work.

The new rain in 2.08 is so fucking awesome!

Some time ago I started investigation for a better differential update algorithm. The first attempt was known as time-travelling tdmupdate (also "tdmsync"). The second attempt has been much more cumbersome, but I think it has reached some usable state. Here is the new tdm_installer: Windows (32-bit) Linux 64-bit Note that it is not a finished application yet: it has some important features missing, probably bugs also. If your TDM installation is important to you, better copy it before running the installer on it. Please read the comments below to know how to workaround some issues. If you select "Get custom version" check, then you will be able to choose which version to install. Notice that it includes the very first dev build of TDM (with manbeast changes and the new experimental rendering backend). Needless to say, development builds of TDM come unsupported: they are very likely to contain bugs. They are not intended for normal playing. We would be happy if you report bugs for recent dev builds of course, but won't mind if you wait until next beta phase. Obviously, old versions of TDM won't get any fixes Some known tdm_installer problems: 1) Installs/updates cannot be canceled/interrupted properly yet. If you click on "START" button, there is no turning back except for killing the process in task manager. 2) It is strongly recommended to always enable "Force scan" check on the first page. It will spend some time, but will save you from error at the end of installation procedure. Normally, you don't need to scan if you did not modify your installation after previous install. But it's better to be safe yet. 3) The installer does not unpack zips yet. So after install you will have to unpack everything from tdm_shared_stuff.zip manually. 4) As of now, the installer downloads data from the main TDM server. It is rather slow, so think twice before running it in empty directory. Instead of clean install, better copy all tdm_****.pk4 files from any existing installation into a new directory and run updater there. Note that you can see how much data is going to be downloaded on the page with "START" button.

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!

Finally completed my first full run through, highest difficulty, non-lethal ending to main quest and loot count 5535 04/07/2020 UPDATED 06/07/2020 with new bugs and Hidden Loot locations now found UPDATED 07/07/2020 with clearer instructions on how to discover and complete various side quest objectives and events Side Quests/Events found and Completed; 13 Hidden Loot found so far (If anyone has found something not on this list let me know and I'll add it in); Compiled bug list found so far; Phew, this has been a hell of a ride. I'll keep combing the streets for those elusive Hidden Loots and hopefully have a definitive guide to the events and secrets posted up here soon enough. Once again folks, sterling work.

My old friend Andreas urgently needs my help. He asked if I could meet him at the Lion's Head Inn, our favourite retreat in a quaint part of the city called Mirkway Quarter. He’s got a small apartment nearby where he makes a modest living off paintings he sells to pompous nobles and the odd merchant. Not long ago, his wife Lily was hired as a servant at the manor of the local alderman, one Lord Marlow. Now she hasn't been home for days. Andreas went to the manor looking for her, but the guards shoved him into the gutter and warned him not to return. Andreas is certain that something bad has happened, and I don’t think he’s wrong. Gallery Authors’ Notes It all started many years ago when Shadowhide laid the foundation for a sprawling and convoluted city and worked with MoroseTroll and Clearing to create a macabre storyline to befit this medieval metropolis. At some point, however, the beast grew too large to handle, so he handed the keys to the City to Bikerdude and Melan. Together, the two worked tirelessly, passing the map back and forth, each playing to their respective strengths. Notably, Melan reworked the story concept, toning down many of its darker, R-rated elements. Eventually Melan, too, moved on in 2017, but by then large swathes of the community had become involved in this map’s development. Mapping work was contributed by Baal, Grayman, Fidcal, Ubermann, Skacky, and Flanders, while Destined, nbohr1more, and Obsttorte wrote story texts. Several scripts were provided by Grayman, Baal and Obsttorte, such as an elevator with scissor gates, a TDM first. Even after all this input, the daunting task still remained to transform what had grown into the largest TDM map ever made into a playable mission. Bikerdude hammered away at this for some more years still, on and off between other projects, until in early 2020 when he deemed it ready for public viewing. It was then that Dragofer and Amadeus joined in. In the months that followed, the trio reworked, finished, and polished the mission in nearly every aspect, fully writing out and editing the story as well as adding countless scripted effects and (with help from Bienie) many new readables. The good working atmosphere and pooled creativity brought forth several new secrets, of which the largest likely hasn’t been done before in TDM (hint: check the libraries). In the very end, the name “Fractured Glass Company” was drawn up to refer to everybody who was involved in creating this very special mission. Without the hard work of all these people, most of all Bikerdude and Shadowhide, this mission would likely never have seen the light of day, let alone become what you see here before you. The mission is, as Bikerdude puts it, a homage to Thief 1 & 2, and it’s our hope that you catch these vibes as you explore and enjoy this mission. Credits - Mapping: Shadowhide, Bikerdude, Amadeus, Baal, Dragofer, Fidcal, Flanders, Melan, Skacky, UberMann - Original Story Concept: Clearing, MoroseTroll, Shadowhide - Story & Readables: Amadeus, Bienie, Bikerdude, Dragofer, Destined, Melan, nbohr1more, Obsttorte, Shadowhide - Editor: Amadeus - Scripting: Dragofer, Baal, Grayman, Obsttorte - Voice Acting: AndrosTheOxen (Andreas), Joe Noelker (Player) - Video Editing: Bikerdude (briefing), Goldwell (briefing intro) - Custom Models: Bikerdude, Dragofer, Dram, Epifire, Grayman, Obsttorte - Custom Textures: Airship Ballet, Dmv88, Hugo Lobo - Custom Sounds: GigaGooga, Sephy, Shadow Sneaker, alanmcki, andre_onate, Deathscyp, dl-sounds.com, Dmv88, dwoboyle, eugensid90, gzmo, lucasduff, mistersherlock, qubodup, randommynd, richerlandtv, sfx4animation, Speedenza - Betatesting: Amadeus, Biene, Bluerat, CambridgeSpy, Dragofer, JoeBarnin, Kingsal, Krilmar, ManzanitaCrow, Noodles, S1lverwolf, s.urfer Download Note: this mission requires TDM 2.08, which is now available for download. Please be aware that old saved games will no longer work after you upgrade to 2.08's release build. Note: it’s highly recommended to run this mission using the 64-bit client (TheDarkModx64.exe), since there've been frequent reports the mission won't load on the 32-bit client (TheDarkMod.exe). Both are found in the same folder. The mission is available from the ingame downloader. In addition to that, here are some more mirrors, as well as the official screenshots for anybody uploading this mission to a FM database: Mission: Google Drive / OneDrive Mission (slimmed down version for 32-bit clients): Google Drive / OneDrive Official Screenshots: Google Drive / OneDrive Hi-Res Map: Imgur

Necro-posting to add this one:

I always love the surprise when I stumble into a FM that I have done voicework for, because as a Certified Old Guy, I lose track of them... But some real joy in getting to play this gem! The graphics really take advantage of the latest version, and it is absolutely MASSIVE in scale! My chosen style is knock out everybody you can and get on to the MYSTERIES! I LOVE exploring, and man, this one gives a LOT to explore. I had expected it to be Just Another Mission, but the huge scope is wonderful... kudos to everyone who had a hand in this amazing FM! (And if you like my grieving husband character, check me out at www.everybodyandme.com , and keep me in mind for your own future missions. I have done a LOT of Dark Mod/Thief character work, and would love do donate some to your next project!)

Congratulations on putting together this epic-scale map with some interesting and frustratingly, fun missions. I can tell a lot of work went into it from many different people. I enjoyed the main storyline, the idea of the player being more than just a simple thief. And how you can choose the method of exacting revenge on the villain makes it more than just a Mario World level —collect coins, free the princess... Oops! She's in another castle. And as much as I enjoyed the missions, I do feel the need to share my critic of the map. Humans build cities based on a geometry for planned growth or asymmetrically for natural growth. This map uses neither and is difficult to navigate. All the buildings have near identical exteriors in the dim light, there are no landmarks to reference. And the street signs are dark placards sitting in the dark, of limited use on the ground, but definitely not helpful if you've gone vertical. Another issue with the mapping is that, because of the hodgepodge of structures, there are many areas where you can literally walk on air (Hill Street is a good example), or get pushed sideways during a jump by an invisible wall. The latter is a feature found throughout the map. I have no suggestions on how to fix this other than through a walkthrough in Dark Radiant. But about the layout of the city, I do have a suggestion. It's based on my past work within government public works. And I give it as advice, to be regarded or disregarded —not for me to be a know-it-all or an attacker. I know a ton of work went into this project. Any building that was constructed by the government, a church, or wealthier faction should be part of a geometry. It can be part of a grid —polar or Cartesian— a militant triangle, star, diamond, etc. (as long as it's pointy), or your choice of polygon. Poorer areas, or places where the sprawl has grown with the city's population, are normally going to be like tree branches or rivers. The passageways flow around larger buildings (connecting to but not overpowering geometric ones) and natural formations. So for this map, the area around the church, the clock tower, and all major buildings housing the wealthy or government services (electrical and water centers) should be on a geometric pattern. This includes the verticals. The pipes and lines should radiate out in the same pattern as the ground-level roads. The "sprawl" is not random. There is a pattern to how sprawls develop, and often it grows like a tree. main branch of traffic forms, and the smaller branches bud out after that. If the sprawl is growing out of decay, the original large structures will look more like rocks in a river if you take a bird's-eye view. In areas where geometrical growth meets asymmetrical growth, in a newer city (only a couple hundred years old) you often find its a no-man's zone. There's not really any established business or housing from either side that seems to be permanent. It's in flux. Older cities will still maintain the line, but there is a mix of well and poorly funded architecture. Two of the biggies for navigation are the facades and the roads. In an area around a well-funded, high-profile project such as a church, the church will decide the look of the area. If its design is sedate and dark, many of the major structures in the neighborhood will to reflect that. And the road, which is normally funded by the builder, will be uniform in that area and wider than those found elsewhere. So around our theoretical church, that's in an older city, the buildings should show signs of having started out from the same designer. The roads should all be the same material and wide enough for high traffic or parades. A more recently built clock tower nearby our church will have it's own sycophantic buildings, but in better condition, and its own unique, wide pavements. If the structures' properties meet, then there is a distinct border. More often than not though, there is an intermediate section of sprawl that connects the two areas. Where sprawl sits closely between two properties, it leans more towards one design or the other. This is not really important for smaller maps. Smaller maps are tiny sections of larger geometry or asymmetric growth and can be treated independently. There are fewer high-level patterns to consider, and the above topics won't affect a player's run. But on a large map such as this one, consideration to city planning and growth can drastically increase a player's ability to navigate. One last note. This advice is given based the growth of a city considering material wealth only. Vying political factions and wars will change the footprint of various parts of a city in different ways than I described above. Asymmetric and geometric patterns will still arise, but density and direction will be different.

Congrats guys! This thing is one beast of mission and well worth the time. Lots of incredible scenery and just an enormous amount of exploration. Not too mention some unbelievable secrets.

Here's a blue version of the elemental, to better befit environments with a cooler colour palette. The download link has been added to the front page, and is slated for inclusion in 2.09.

welcome. we dont know what type of missions you like. So i suggest to play them all.

Someone at PCGamer has noticed TDM and published it. He specifically mentions the new The Painters Wife mod. https://www.pcgamer.com/free-thief-like-game-the-dark-mod-updates-with-graphical-revamps/ Thought it was nice to see this.

Started to to just that. Blocking out sections with void sealing caulkwork and then building my street sections inside these areas.

This map is an exquisite smorgasbord of Thiefy goodness. I've been in two hours and I haven't even considered the main quest yet.

Let's not go overboard. It's nice if the mod gets a mention in the gaming press, but that isn't a reason to bow down and kiss the feet of the media. That sort of thing is likely to alienate some of the potential playerbase (they will perceive it as "media whoring", "selling out" etc). Of course there's nothing wrong with engaging with their community in a friendly (and non-spammy way), helping people with installation issues or particular missions. But I wouldn't vote for blatant marketing-related things like putting commercial banners in the game.

Seems like what's one's life project can light many lives, too! Congrats to all involved, I'm sure you put all of yourselves into this project. I've just found this mission and...even after the intro and MAP - are you kiddin' me? An FM? It's a whole new game! WOW! Thanks a lot, I feel like discovering the entire chocolate manufacture just for me My preciousss...

Sure, here is the map file in 2048x2048. I'll check whether an even higher res original can be found somewhere. (Probably ought to revise some of the annotations in an update). @Bumbling Thief @kin

In the WIP list, there are many very old missions that I suspect have been abandoned at this point. Still listing them clutters up the list. So we can get a much clearer view of what's in the works (and actually has a chance of being released), could mission authors remove from the list missions they're no longer working on? Thanks!

So, I got stereoscopic rendering working. Unfortunately, I'm currently unable to get OpenXR working reliably with SteamVR. It's throwing runtime errors, and generally seems to cause significant CPU overhead. It's entirely possible I'm doing something wrong, but the same code seems to work fine with the Oculus runtime, so this might also be early adopter pain on the SteamVR side. I'll need to dig a little deeper to determine whether I need to open bug reports or not. Anyway, for the time being I added an OpenVR backend and am trying to keep them in sync. That shouldn't be too hard as long as I'm not diving into input handling. Issues I'm currently focussing on: Light scissors. They are vital for performance, but I need to recalculate them for each eye view, and if done improperly, they can lead to flickering lighting or even mismatched lighting between the eyes. It should be a fairly simple calculation, but oddly enough I still struggle with some border cases. Still, might be good enough for a first alpha. Subviews, particularly mirrors, are broken, which is expected, since they need a different approach to adjust them to the eye views. Should hopefully not be too complicated to fix. Other than that, I think the version I currently have is already a massive improvement over the previous alpha. UI (both menu and ingame elements) render to a virtual screen that is placed slightly in front of you. Not the most immersive solution for the ingame elements, as now the lightgem basically "floats" in the air in front of you, but it was a simple solution that makes everything usable in VR, so a good starting point, I think. Also, I uncoupled the mouse vertical movement (pitch) from the VR view, which makes it a lot more tolerable to navigate in VR, I think. Downside is that it makes it a little harder to aim and pick up stuff with the mouse, as you don't have any indication where you are pointing at until an item lights up. Will need to figure out a way to render a simple 3D pointer target to indicate mouse aim. Performance is alright; I'd hoped for more, but current headsets have increased the resolution quite a bit, and TDM is ultimately fill-rate limited. That means there's little (if any) room for AA or supersampling, and you better keep expensive effects like soft shadows or SSAO off - the latter isn't really that important for VR, anyway. I played through "New Job" with my Index set at 120 Hz and could keep that framerate most of the time, but there were a few instances with reprojection. Not too bad, though, but this is with an RTX 2080 Ti, so... There's still one relatively simple optimization that I can do that should save a bit of fillrate.

This is giving me a pretty bad guilt trip. I was planning on scouring the "What are you working on?" thread and updating this wiki but never got around to it. On the plus side, this sitcom where grayman is the boss and PranQster is the employee is sorta entertaining... Thank you for your efforts all!

Perhaps missions can get out of the list if they don't get any "keep-alive" action in a year...

@Geep Oh, doesn't it work sending me PMs? Strange Anyhow, you are free to include my work. I'm flattered Tips! This table/balls was made way back when the game was "plagued" by a bug that made the vertexes slide, especially on brushes with intricate angles. That mean that the models MAY have "holes" and things might be unaligned. @Jedi_Wannabe Glad you liked my missions! Looking back on them, I'm not that impressed myself, and that's mostly because I did a lot of experimenting and going outside the box regarding gameplay and design. My future missions will be more straight forward and a general boost in design. I have Discord installed but how do I find you? Is there a generic TDM-channel? Discord-noob here

Agreed, great actor, sucks that the writers of that episode couldn't have done him justice

This mission definitely gave me those T2 City mission vibes (some of my favorites). Never did find the way into the Blacksmith's, but was able to finish the mission without it. Thanks to everyone involved in this epic project!

silly me. iforgot to get the installer, lol. i guess i wasn't suppose to just install the update. opps.

Check here: Grayman, Goldwell, Melan, Kingsal, and Moonbo all are acclaimed for having a good balance of story, gameplay and visuals. The Painter's Wife Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors Penny Dreadful 3 are missions that are VERY large and rich with content.

I understand where Fieldmedic is coming from pretty well, because I am also a very sporadic contributor and sometimes I kind of have a bad concsience about that. About once a year, I have a phase where I am really enthusiastic about a project for TDM and hustle like crazy, but the rest of the year, I mostly just hang around the forums. It's just that free time has become scarce, especially since my son was born, and I also want to play games, enjoy a movie or go out sometimes. But there really is no reason to feel bad about anything, because this is a community project and, first and foremost, a hobby.

hahaha ! i have bought a new Laptop today. A MSI with a card with 8 GB Ram :)) Dark Mod is sonce 5 years my game Nr.1

This is a work-in-progress screen from a mission that Spooks is working on...

It works, it works. And everywhere if the driver is instructed to allow it (you can always modify this via Nvidia Profile Inspector, to allow it *everywhere* ). It's AMD MLAA that has a totally erratic behaviour about working or not in a game when forced via driver control panel. Remember to force the Triple Buffering in OpenGL games when you don't see the option in the game itself and you use VSync to avoid tearing Otherwise you'll got the framerate as a submultiple of the refresh rate (refresh rate 60 -> framerate: 60 if FPS>=60, 30 if 30<FPS<60, etc.)

I'll probably open a new thread once I believe the new version to be ready for alpha testing. But since you're interested, I thought I might give a status update on my progress in the meantime: all the backend rendering improvements I wanted to do before returning to VR are now merged to the base game and to be released in 2.09. This makes my life significantly easier in maintaining the VR mod, because I don't have to juggle additional rendering overhauls when merging changes from the base game. I have the basic OpenXR setup done and can successfully initialize a VR session with it and acquire all the rendering resources I need. Next up is getting actual rendering to the headset - this won't be a stereo rendering, yet, I just want to get some output so I can verify that what I've done so far actually works The roadmap / vision for the first new release is roughly to get a decently usable keyboard/mouse sitting experience working. In particular, I hope to have the following improvements over the initial version I released: usable UI, i.e. rendered to a virtual screen instead of glued to the eyes decouple vertical mouse movement from the view, but possibly introduce an (optional) reticule to indicate the mouse's aim Let's see how it goes. Can't promise a particular timeline, but I'll try to get something workable asap

2.08 contains a lot of the technical prep work that makes the improvements in 2.09 possible in the first place Also, the improvements in 2.09 require scenes that are CPU bound. If they aren't you won't see much of an impact.

Beautiful work Goldwell!! Only you can make rain look oh so good

I'm not sure what you are talking about. Rendering in browser lags behind desktop rendering in terms of features by several years. Until WebGL 2.0 came out, I estimated the difference to be about 10 years. Moreover, even if someone managed to build working TDM for browser, working with it would be a major pain for programmers (less/worse tools, more problems, everything is slow, etc). Just forget about browser, it is completely pointless.

Definitely not. It would be a massive time waste for a big step into the past.

How about 2021? Likely early in the year or late 2020.

Thanks for your help Dragofer.

If you don't get the PM response, maybe your mailbox is full? Thanks too for the tip. I'll be on the lookout for model problems

@Fieldmedic I tried to send you a PM, but you're not able to accept those currently, so here it is in public - Subject: Request for Use of your ANTR Billiard Table I'm leading an effort to create a new FM (working title "Away0"), which will be a prequel to my "Away1: Air Pocket" FM. This extends and re-images Atti's 2007 "Setting the Scene" mission. A beta-release might be expected in Q1 2021. The map includes a large 4-story building, which is being recast as a casino and entertainment complex. In one of the rooms, we'd like to include your billiard table, balls, cues, and cue rack from A Night to Remember. Most likely this would be in the "Map Room", a members-only lounge. Might we do so? You would of course be given credit... and let me know if anyone else should be credited for these billiard-related assets. Thanks for considering this. Geep

Do you have SSAO enabled? Try setting r_ambientGamma higher in the console or Darkmod.cfg

Too bad. Well, at least he made some really nice missions Yes, I remember fiddling with your exellent modules and during my sporadic mapping over the last years I've created some by myself, although my are all made in DarkRadiant. My brain isn't ready for Blender or any advanced stuff just yet But it's really nice to create them and then being able to relatively quickly create alleys and stuff and get a better vision for where to add objects.

Both look and feel very heavy-handed IMO. And I didn't find any logo, sticker, etc. that would look natural in TDM world, this would need to be more of a creative hint or playful reference. In any case, you can always give a shout out to them in the mission readme or credits.

I turned off the ingame anti-aliasing now, and use FXAA. Wow, pretty big impact. I didn't know that AA was so critical in this game. I could even crank up some of the other options now, without significant impact, and easily run 60+ frames with Nvidia forced VSync in any area of the training mission now. Thanks for the tip, I'm pretty sure the other missions will run fine now as well.

I ask myself how well this would run on my 249 Euro Laptop from 2019 I will try

Regarding highlight of lockpicking: something nondeterministic happens to it. It looks different to every player: some people have it non-transparent, some have it huge, now you see it yellow.

No, it also happens with single missions. I just downloaded The Painter's Wife and ended up with it two times in the downloadable list after it had already been downloaded. I guess everything is okay after you go to the main menu and come back, at least everything is as it should be after you restart the game. I bet it would be fixed if this reset script is run directly after downloading...

It's going slow, but steady. Since Valve finally published on OpenXR runtime, I decided that I would go the OpenXR route for the new VR version, which I think makes the most sense. Unfortunately OpenXR is, like every Khronos API before it, an absolute pain to use, particularly compared to the simplicity that is OpenVR. So it's taking longer to learn and implement

Hidden teleports do this, and we can do that. It's mostly a matter of careful map design with the teleports.