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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

Who is actually working on new missions right now? That I, the greatest mapper of all times (and I say this in all modesty, it is innate in me) am working on something epochal is clear to everyone by now. But who else is working on new missions? Please let me, your God, know, because it's so depressingly quiet here and I don't like to post pictures all the time, because even for me it gets a bit too boastful (although justified) with time.

Why have I been so quiet for the last several months ? I am slowly developing my series of missions again. I will prefer the individual release model, I might release at least one mission before the year is out. A smaller affair, but with some added verticality.

Hope everyone has the blessing of undying motivation for "The Dark Mod 15th Anniversary Contest". Can't wait to see the many magnificent missions you all may have planned. Good luck, with an Ace!

Our friend datiswous has created subtitles for "The Black Mage". He also managed to shrink the size of the briefing video file without significant quality losses. Version 3 of TBM is now available through the in game mission downloader. Thank you, datiswous and happy Christmas everyone!

In addition to voting for TDM, let's help our friend Skacky garner some Moddb recognition for the momentous release of "The Black Parade" https://www.moddb.com/mods/thief-the-black-parade

Well then, it's been about a week since I released my first FM and I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised by its reception. I had expected half as much interest in my short little FM as I received and even less when it came to positive feedback, but I am glad that the aspects of my mission that I put the most heart into were often the most appreciated. It was also delightful to read plenty of honest criticism and helpful feedback, as I've already been given plenty of useful pointers on improving my brushwork, level design, and gameplay difficulty. I've gotten back into the groove of chipping away at my reading and game list, as well as the endless FM catalogue here, but I may very well try my hand at the 15th anniversary contest should it materialize. That is assuming my eyes are ready for a few more months of Dark Radiant's bright interface while burning the midnight oil, of course!

Moddb article is up: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/the-dark-mod-212-is-here

All services hosted on the server were sluggish. I've rebooted and it appears to be better. Let me know if there are still issues.

Sorry for my absence. I am recovering from a recent Covid infection. Dr told me I can return to work ( wfh ) Sunday. Not sure about that timetable…

Encouraging news: I have finished the rough structure of my first FM. It's a single-building style mission, a small mission, but hopefully it'll prove interesting. Now comes the hard work of sprucing up and furnishing the interiors of the thing, finalising the texture work, populating the FM and all that good stuff concerning patrol routes, loot placement, environmental effects, and the like. It's been good fun so far, though I'm well aware there's still a lot of effort ahead of me. For those interested, this historical structure provided the initial inspiration for the FM's setting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kõpu_Lighthouse

Congrats to all the busy Dark Mod developers! TDM 2.12 is here!

Server definitely still has some issues. I think I've narrowed down where the issue is, so I'll take a proper look after work.

https://youtu.be/VJ49pCVQaf8 short film by Daniel Thron

TDM missions are eligible to enter the TDS Anniversary Contest:

Bachelor Mapping Challenge! The girlfriend will be away to her mum's place for almost a week, which means more mapping time for me! I'm planning a speed build. Hope it will go my way I'm starting by downloading 2.11. Don't know if I'm going to use any fancy new stuff. Just want to crack those itching map muscles that has gone dry and dead since almost a year's worth of no-mapping

With my workload finally decreasing and having to stay at home far longer than I planned for this spring, I think I'll try to find more time for TDM as well. For the time being, I want to work on those audio projects.

I've finally managed to log in to The Dark Mod Wiki. I'm back in the saddle and before the holidays start in full, I'll be adding a few new FM articles and doing other updates. Written in Stone is already done.

I've been gone for a while, but now I'm back, have a new desktop and I want to get back to making missions and playing missions. And doing other contributions. Waiting for my reset password for the wiki, but I'll take a look at it soon. Hello, all.

Just want to get a sense of the current server performance since I haven't had to manually intervene for around a week. Is it feeling better, or is anyone still running into issues?

168 hours

Dear ChatGPT, What are The Builders in the Dark Mod? The Builders is a popular game mode in the video game community called "Dark Mod," which is a fan-made tribute to the classic "Thief" series of stealth games. In this game mode, players assume the role of builders who construct structures in a dark and ominous environment while trying to avoid detection by patrolling guards. The Builders game mode is unique in that it offers players the opportunity to create and design their own levels using the in-game tools and resources provided. Players can experiment with different building materials, construct intricate traps and puzzles, and create their own unique gameplay experiences. While The Builders game mode is not an official part of the Dark Mod, it has become one of the most popular and well-loved aspects of the game, thanks to its emphasis on creativity, strategy, and stealth. You guys did not know that, did you?

I just dreamed that I was on a Dark Tranquility concert and then the vocalist took me out of the massive crowd on the stage just to leave it with me and the band together. We went to the back stage where they showed me a game they were developing with the crowd outside waiting for the next song. Then we went out for dinner and ice skating in an abandoned mall. lol

Moddb article for 2.10 is up: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/the-darkmod-210-is-here I will be extending it with more details soon!

Woo!! 2.10 Beta "Release Candidate" ( 210-07 ) is out: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21198-beta-testing-210/ It wont be long now ...

Sorry for the delay. The 2.09b Hotfix is now up at Moddb https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/downloads/the-dark-mod-209-full

Some of you who've been on the TDM discord know I was out of work last Winter, just putting in hrs for the developer portfolio. Currently I've been working a seasonal job to pay the bills and now I'm finally in my last week before I get bumped off. Things will be tight but I'm planning a long off period to make as much content as I can. Big plans in Unreal Engine as well as my most ambitious TDM collab yet! Never been so excited to be a stuck at home to pursue my life's work. With a lotta time and maybe some luck, I'm hoping to get enough art work done that I may start applying around to studios.

This weekend I've had a unique opportunity to compare not two, and not even three, but four 2-1 transformers 2016 HP Spectre 13 2017 HP Envy 15 2019 Yoga 720-15 2020 LG Gram 13 Among other things I tested sustained 3D performance with TDM. TL;DR Intel Iris does not make sense in 15W chips (well, it did not on 14nm) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ujhtjCu477khi6LeeztGt_1sX2YC6LI-kUgk3lpLaMI/edit?usp=sharing

It is so satisfying developing a habit to have an everyday time window for mapping. Waking up early before work just to lay in a "bed" with mouse and keyboard on both sides, lazily adding detail after detail to the map, listening to some ambient rain, storm, wind or blizzard sound to cut off anything around. I wonder if I will manage to finish it for Halloween, but tempo is promising. And waking up being excited how I will suprise myself this day is great!

Finally got my PC back from the shop after my SSD got corrupted a week ago and damaged my motherboard. Scary stuff, but thank goodness it happened right after two months of FM development instead of wiping all my work before I could release it. New SSD, repaired Motherboard and BIOS, and we're ready to start working on my second FM with some added version control in the cloud just to be safe!

I was playing Skyrim, got bored fast. Got back to The Dark Mod just for one mission, played "Somewhere above the City" which is not really a great mission but still good, as in above-average. My biggest regret is living in this country, where there's a heat wave, I am sweating at 20c and I really wish for temperatures below 5c.

Sometimes when I try to post comment in bugtracker page that I opened days ago, bugtracker says my session is expired and my comment is lost. I have discovered plausible workaround. When I see expiration message, I open browser's dev tools, go to network tab and refresh page. Then I select POST request and copy my text from its content.

2.11 Moddb article is published: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/the-dark-mod-211-is-here

The Dark Mod 2.11 is out!

How awesome is this?! (A google earth overlay with historical maps) https://earth.google.com/web/@25.30711253,62.68751313,-6494.44298033a,3672433.08470786d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CjQSMhIgY2NjOGJhYWVhYjg5MTFlODg4N2U3MWQ2MDFiMTRkNzUiDnJ1bXNleV9tYXBfMTIw

Ran TDM on a 5950x in pure software rendered OpenGL mode. lol Shows you just how powerful modern CPUs actually are. Also, anyone on the dev team or any mappers need a Ryzen 3700x? I've got a spare; and since you gave me a free game, might as well give you some free hardware.

I'm starting to think we need another mapping contest.

Oh look the status updates are back!

I like house-cleaning and taking out the trash.

Happy Birthday to me! I've already got a birthday gift, although indirectly, from @Airship Ballet, thanks lil' lady, you're great!

This is a status update.

Finished Deathloop yesterday. My verdict: Arkane Studios showing off once again that they are one of the best in game design: Pick the timeloop mystery adventure mechanics of Outer Wilds and remix them, add "Dark Souls"-like invasions in the form that other players can play your antagonist Juliana, and wrap it all in 60s-stylized first person shooter with abilities and upgrades, and an interesting story to unravel. This culminates in such a unique gameplay experience that "Deathloop" would have deserved Game of the Year 2021 WAY more than "It Takes Two". Especially the invasions add so much tension to your playthroughs, it is absolutely exhilarating. That is, unless your opponent lags incredibly, which sadly happens quite often. Combine this with the performance issues many players experienced, and you know why the game did not win game of the year. It is really sad to see technical issues hinder such a masterpiece of a game from doing well. The only criticism I have with respect to gameplay is that the first shot of any weapon is apparently always 100% accurate, which enables you to headshot enemies hundreds of meters away using your submachine gun, but other than that the gun play is on point. All in all, just 9/10 due to technical issues.

Do we want fur in TDM? Like https://duzenko.github.io/webgl/

Woohoo! My third mission is released!

Congratulations on the 2.10 release, friends! All of you who worked on it deserve a reward--What am I saying? Many rewards! And many well-deserved vacations too. I especially love the faster loading times, this is something that has been bugging me since Thief 1, but back then I had an HDD, now I have an SSD and no matter if I save or load, the mission is huge or not, TDM is just incredibly fast, never had I have to spend more than 50 seconds anymore!

I finally got around to play Prey and I truly loved it. It is an incredible homage to System Shock and Deus Ex. While the gameplay is not en par with those two titles, the game makes up for that with its well written lore and story. The whole "world" just feells so authentic and it features a ton of really god environmental story-telling. Recommended for every immersive sim fan, i.e., everyone on this forum.

To any core team members and senior devs: If you're willing to provide voice acting supervision/QC for the following audio project for the core game, please let me know. We need a supervisor from among the core team, preferably one who's worked with audio and contributing voice actors before, to get this project properly completed. Any sustained help with providing quality control minded feedback to the VA (not just technical things, but performance feedback) is deeply appreciated. It's been a while since the core game received any new VA, and this is one particular old gap that could be filled with a completed side-project like this one.

Shadow Creepr of TTLG.com has provided samples for what might become our female player voice set: Emphasis on might, as this is still in development.