Melan

It is, I believe,

Isn't that a problem, though, with AI seen from a distance? Or does "portal" refer to "all open visportals plus adjacent areas"? I think I may have seen an AI "return to consciousness" in one of the released missions.

The clipper tool is the safest method: in a box-shaped room, make two vertical incisions in the wall, then pull up the middle brush to make an opening. Method B is the substract tool. This can be used for simpler operations, but unfortunately, it is not equivalent to Dromed's air brushes, and can reduce more complex architecture into a mess of splintered mini-brushes (and occasionally produces some weird artifacts). Use if you need to, but use with care! [edit]Doh!

Hasn't this been tested in Dram's mansion mission or the Bonehoard? Or are these not yet at a stage where they can take in a number of AI? Thanks for the info on neverdormant, that may come in handy. Some guards could be given that attribute, e.g. those which are stationary or are bound to a smaller locale.

Considering that TDM has very few known technical limitations, could not a hub-based FM series be simulated via a mission that was just very large? Individual "missions" then would be treated as separate objectives; a skilful group of mappers could set up a sequence with some effort & forethought. The main downside I see would be ungodly loading times, of course. There is also the question whether in-mission cutscenes are possible, and if yes, how - via animation or something like a camvator. (Doom3 had cutscenesm but I don't know if TDM could handle them.)

That's a good start, if that works, you've already got the basics. The rest is a matter of practice (my first TDM experiment was also just like that - a throne room, an AI, a few moveables and a connecting corridor with basic trim and a vaulted ceiling made out of patches. Oh, yeah: learning patches is the logical next step to take, so continue with that. [edit] If you have previously tried Dromed, familiarise yourself with TDM's scale. I underestimated terrain dimensions, and my architecture turned out larger than initially expected - e.g. a narrow street became much less narrow when finished.

I would not be for a hub, but a suitably sizeable free-roaming mission like Uncadonego's Thief's Highway? Very much. Just note that even with a toolset as versatile and relatively hassle-free as TDM, building a large level is bound to be a lot of work. To put things into perspective, Bad Debts and Disorientation took 9 and 11 months, respectively. I'd estimate an equal-sized TDM mission would be about the same, although with more detail (assets allowing - there is no equivalence since the textures, objects etc. are different).

Wow, ceiling-walking and all? I am absolutely positive a certain Mr. Constantine would love to hear that.

Interesting bug cropping up: if I open a (prefab) footlocker, it works as intended. If I close it, it works as intended. But once it closes again, it becomes unfrobbable. What could be causing this?

Still no guarantees that I will have a mission ready by New Year's, but I thought I would post a new screenie for inspiration. Here: The downside is that I suspect the mission will murder a slower PC, even after visportaling. It doesn't run very well on my laptop at all.

Springheel: it may have been from a non-member; I don't remember. I am asking because that sort of detail wouldn't be easy to normalmap, so if someonehad already done the task, it would be a godsend. I will manage without if nobody knows it, of course.

More of a random question than a newbie one, but can someone tell where I could get my hands on the following textures I saw on this board about a year ago? The source image for the first is a tileable from CGTextures, but I am lacking a normalmap; the second I am entirely unfamiliar with. However, they would be a great addition to my map.

Something that could work - and I am thinking of this - is to take some of the default textures that are already tiled and normalmapped, darken them in an image editor and repackage them for the mission with a custom material file. That may work. OTOH, it is not a hopeless cause even with default resources: (This is without decals and some further work I did afterwards)

Lights are very easy (even compared to TDP/TMA where you always had to readjust them), and pathfinding is IIRC automatic. Use the startpack mission, and that takes care of basic objectives and stuff. Scaling might be a tricky, but hardly rocket science (I use colourful AI-sized markers for a visual indicator). A dirty look is not entirely problem-free yet, since most textures are on the cleaner side. Still, decals and texture selection can be helpful.

Bikerdude: if you can manage the time, you should be able to whip up something. A lot of it is very straightforward, and the rest, I guess, can be asked here. It helps that this is a non-anonymous contest.

Hardware makes a huge difference, too. My level is fairly open in one big skybox, and I got some ungodly slowdowns on my laptop (decent, but not a gaming config). On my regular PC, the same areas breeze by, even though that's not state of the art either - it just has a bit more RAM (2 GB instead of 1) and a better GFX card. But either way you build, building convoluted levels with a lot of corners and turns will generally help your performance tremendously even if you operate with a lot of small detail.

I would recommend betatesting on a dedicated forum instead of PMs. Dussander's forum is the perfect place for this; you can ask him for your custom subforum and manage access for people you want to invite. Of course, if the mission is just some small-scale affair, PMs may work. But if the mission is large or complex, forums are the way to go.

I think it is better to commit to the fixes/polish you wish to add to the mission and release when you are satisfied. If you relaease it prematurely and then keep on tweaking, people may not redownload the FM just to see the differences. On the other hand, people can also get lost in detail-work. It can be a fine balance to walk.

I think archery, and combat in general, may actually be a bit too fast-paced - while I have no complaint against them, I would not want to see them sped up any further.

That's one good-looking sewer section!

Interesting shots there! I hope we will be able to play this sooner or later. (I'd put some grime decals on walls, though - they look just a bit too clean with those textures. It is not much work, but a nice improvement in visuals.)

Which category would tdm_lantern and biground_candleflicker fall into? I used those a lot.

Mortem Desino: aha, so flickering is the big performance consumer! I have an area in my map that's incredibly laggy despite no overlapping lights (which I suspected), but a lot of flicker. Good to know that; I guess I can change most of them to static.

Should I input this in the entity window? Nothing happens.

I wonder if there is a method to adjust lights on objects created as entities, e.g. a candleholder+candle combination. The light inspector dialogue does not work here.