Scope
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Posts posted by Scope
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Hi all,
I couldn't find a precedent for this problem so I have opened a new thread.
I have copied my dark mod folder over to a new folder (away from my Doom3 install), in preperation for v2.0 and then I ran the update which seemed to work just fine. However, when launching the game I get the following error message in the console...
"Couldn't load default.cfg"
Its as if TDM is still looking for the doom 3 base folder? is there a way around this or am I going to have to do a fresh install in an empty folder?
Thanks,
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Cheers Bikerdude!
I was only downloading at 20kB/s, im at an acceptable 40 - 50kB/s now I have filtered out the slower mirrors using your method
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Hehe
I have noticed a trend that many past releases have co-incided with Dark Mod's release anniversary
A double event for me seeing as my birthday is 16th of October... no pressure intended though 
... *taps watch impatiently*Looks like I was right, the TDM team always deliver like clockwork!
I can always count on a Birthday pressie from the team, My birthday is the 16th of October (the Mod was released on 17th October 2009 and nearly always gets an update around the anniversary time!)
Thanks guys, downloading now (uninstalls Doom 3!)
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Just saw the April News update on the progress on going standalone, but couldn't find a thread to post in...
.....
To keep the standard at that level, I am not at all shocked that it will take until Autumn/Fall release for 1.9.
Anyways keep up the great work, I usually get to see most new release's around my birthday month of October -
October...
Ruh-roh ... pressure.
Looks like I was right, the TDM team always deliver like clockwork!
I can always count on a Birthday pressie from the team, My birthday is the 16th of October (the Mod was released on 17th October 2009 and nearly always gets an update around the anniversary time!)
Thanks guys, downloading now (uninstalls Doom 3!)
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Watching this video makes me wish TDM had some sort of Thives vs Guards multiplayer (although not as fast paced as Thievery UT), where you get to play from the other sides perspective. I don't know how it would work though...
At the very least, this would be brilliant for a trailer or a cutscene.... AI walking along on his patrol, talks to the other guards on his travels... see's a light go out or a door ajar... goes to investigate all creepily.. then get's blackjacked out of the blue.. last thing he sees is a thief standing over him and a fade to black as he goes unconscious
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I think weighting would be the best idea.
This way the Thief has to think carefully about how much disturbance they can make in a room/area, without having to worry too much about an AI raising the alarm over one or two minor infringements which could have been caused by anything other than an intruder.
Personally I think the main reason to raise alarm should be finding a dead body - this alone should give enough weighting for an AI to sound an alarm on it's own. Also an AI surviving a projectile should be enough for him to sound the alarm.
An unconscious body should give pretty high weighting, but not enough for the alarm to be sounded on its own - he could be sleeping on the job, or banged his head etc.
However - an unconscious body plus 2 minor infringements i.e door left open and the sound of fleeing footsteps or some missing loot should be enough to make the AI certain it was no accident.
On the subject of missing loot, it should not be enough ON ITS OWN to raise an alarm unless it is marked as important by the map author. For instance the Crown in the "Crown of Penitence" mission. It would be a little taxing if the AI decided to call a full scale alert over a couple of missing candlesticks and a drinking vessel.
Obviously it would be good if missing loot caused some suspicion, but it all depends on how the weighting system would be implemented. It may be a little drastic if AI count how many items are missing and gains weighting to raise the alarm for each item, as a room full of candlesticks or other minor value loot items like silver plates could unfairly trigger an AI to sound the alarm.
The best way for loot weighting to work (in my opinion), is once the AI notices an item missing - all missing loot within say 30 feet is noticed as missing (to prevent the AI going back into invetigation mode on loop for each item it sees), and the entire incident is counted as one minor infringement. During it's investigation, any other loot it notices missing will no longer count, and only other infringements - I.e bodies, doors etc will count towards weighting for sounding an alarm.
The other option is if you tie loot weighting to the items actual loot value. So if AI notices X amount of missing loot during one investigation phase it will be enough to to tip the alarm - however I feel this will have to be significantly high enough that the AI doesn't sound the alarm unless a dragons horde, or bank vault's worth of loot is robbed.
If you can tie the weighting into the difficulty settings, weighting can be made harsher for a tougher challenge or easier depending on the players specification.
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Ruh-roh ... pressure.
Hehe
I have noticed a trend that many past releases have co-incided with Dark Mod's release anniversary
A double event for me seeing as my birthday is 16th of October... no pressure intended though ... *taps watch impatiently* -
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
Just saw the April News update on the progress on going standalone, but couldn't find a thread to post in -
http://www.thedarkmo...m/posts/test-2/
I have to say, I am really impressed with the quality of the replacement models for the Doom 3 assets! Especially that skeleton mesh - Bravo Mr Lemony Fresh.
It shouldn't be a surprise really, the TDM team always creates great art assets. But when I heard that many of the default Doom 3 assets would need to be replaced to allow for an untethered dark mod, I had the yukky feeling that quick and dirty placeholders may be susbstituted to allow for a quicker release... What a pleasant surprise that higher polycount, quality textured models have been produced instead!
To keep the standard at that level, I am not at all shocked that it will take until Autumn/Fall release for 1.9.
Anyways keep up the great work, I usually get to see most new release's around my birthday month of October -
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Actually... No.
I just must be one of those unlucky few who hasn't noticed them before. I am a fan of Sotha's work - but I have never noticed cutscene's mid game. I am pretty sure I have Knighton Manor installed - I must give it another bash
Never played the transaction though - I will give it a shot as well.
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Gray, the architecture and aesthetics of this FM are stellar, as were puzzles, loot placements and random guard patrol's.
I feel the bar is always raised in FM's whenever we get a new patch and this FM is no exception.
The story telling was brilliant start to finish! - I have never once seen an FM use cutscenes (something I am hoping we will now see a lot more of) - it was a massive boon to the narrative. It felt like more than just a typical "Taff and Grab", looting mission - we were introduced to a Player Character with a motive other than just petty theft, and NPC characters with seemingly real personalities.
The use of...
... Optional Objectives helped to reveal more of the player characters personality - he see's a moral dillemma and it bothers him enough that he would go out of his way to put it right and make it an objective if he can. I found this to be a nice touch in endearing the player to the protagonist.
Other than having a great plot, the FM is aesthetically pleasing, and fun to play - the Snow was a nice touch as I have not yet seen it used in an FM - my only criticism on this would have been that the outside areas were larger - perhaps starting the mission in the grounds outside the building in oppose to being already in the tunnels would have made the mission feel less labirinthine and enclosed. But that is a small drawback on an otherwise brilliant mission.
I am really looking forward to the next installment in the Wm. Steele series,
Well done Gray!
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Springheel,
I have found a bugged item in the 1.08 release of ToSL that you might want to take a look at as it breaks the level.
The item is in a small room next to the elevator with two desks and an acolyte sat reading a book (the hooded guy complete with page turning animation).
Directly to his left is a bookshelf - on top of this bookshelf is a scroll which can be picked up - the scroll itself has no text and when used locks up the users ability to frob or equip items - this means your stuck in the room and need to reload.
Other than this the only other odd behaviours I have seen are NPC's walking around in circles near doors - although this behaviour may not be the level at fault but the AI itself.
EDIT:
Found another bug but only just remembered as it has happened to me yet again - managed to replicate this on two seperate run through's by accident.
The room near the start containing the letter to pere's wife - it is possible to become stuck between the bed and the dresser against the wall - this happens when one is stood on the bed, then walks off while trying reach for items on the dresser. It is as if your character starts to fall - but cannot hit the floor due to colision boxes of the bed and dresser models. Bed may need moving ever so slightly away from the dresser.
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That letter is still in the mission, it's just been moved into the church so it's a little less distant from what it describes. It's one of my favourites as well.
Ah great
admittedly it was a rush playthrough to see the changes - will play again later and look for it -
Ahh - well in that case since playing the level since 1.8 I am really impressed with the changes I have seen - nice one Spring and Biker.
The Sewers look really great Biker - I always thought that they looked a little square and rushed - a vast improvement
A fairly minor complaint (if you can call it that), was the omission of the letter about the bottle of wine donated to the church (now replaced by letter to pere's wife), which says something like "there isn't enough genteel breeding between them to tell the difference between good wine and horse-piss". That always drew an immature chuckle from me
t'will be missed! -
I love big Dark Mod Updates
- My birthday is the 16th of October - So each birthday usually see's me getting some Dark-Mod related goodness with the anniversary of the mods release.Had a play around with 1.8 - so far the biggest discernible improvement has to be the performance - it seem's that the game's unshackling from Steam has given me a vast performance increase.
I noticed a few graphical improvements which brought a smile - heat-haze over torches/fires was not something I remember from 1.7 and everything just looked prettier overall - and new sounds really makes the game feel more polished (no more D3 coke-can sounds for dropped candlesticks).
I have noticed one bug which wasn't there in 1.7 - If I draw back an arrow and then 'Jump' - the arm's, arrow and bow model do not follow the camera and instead float on the spot where you jumped - they do dissapear when you release fire but it is a little immersion breaking.
I am yet to play ToSL since the patch - but I can't wait to see how Bikerdude has improved it...
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Heh.. Actually, I got the idea, free of charge, from Springheel.
In Knighton Manor, SH said he carried the note of the murdered servant in the well to Knighton's room to help justice to happen.
I realized it would be an excellent idea to reward observant players doing extra things in the mission. A simple additional objective would give more joy of discovery.
So thanks SH!
Definately agree, there have been times both in TDM FM's and in actual Thief games where I have done similar things but they are never scripted in and it is done more for my own reward... I really like that you have recognised this, and while there is no tangible reward for carrying out such tasks - it gives some satisfaction in knowing i found a secret "easter egg" and makes me feel an increased level of involvement with the story for sure.
AluminumHaste, on 30 May 2012 - 05:58 PM, said: I don't think I ever found the ladies book ...Me neither.
I certainly didn't on my first run through - but since I was going for full loot, I stumbled upon it by accident... actually I found a lot of similar little things that I didn't notice on my first play through, the narrative of the whole story was told really well with these placeables I found
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On postponing a tragedy..
Guys! Does this mean nobody found the OTHER hidden objective dealing with Leofrick? There are two...
A hint: grayman is exactly right...
I think I did...
I dropped Annabelle's diary in Leofricks room, as common sense would predict that upon awakening he would read the diary and find out she was forced to write the letter, which would in turn stop him commiting suicide altogether.... It worked
got message for secret objective no#2 - "You have PREVENTED a tragedy".P.S. - I found that final 50 loot hiding in a bookshelf in the library - completed on hardest difficulty, with 1 knockout (on leo), 4000 loot, and both secret objectives in 1:00:51 - next play through will be with v1.08 as I don't want to dull my taste for this FM
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*accidental double post!* - delete me.
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Thanks for the heart warming feedback! I'm glad you have enjoyed the mission so much.
The outside generator controls only the lights nearby. It is good for distraction & easyish entrance via the front door.
I figured it out now.
On my first playthrough....
I didn't get the opportunity to find the hidden vault under the wine cellar as the book was found in the study, and I didn't actually notice the hidden button on the torch to open the passage behind the tapestry. On my second playthrough now, so I have a found almost all loot including the stuff in the display cases..
im on 3950 of 4000 - theres a pesky 50 loot out there somewhere which I am having problems finding - It is probably in a really mundane place as I think I have found most of the harder stuff on top of wardrobes and the likes
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I know it has been said over and over, but this mission is probably the only mission I have played where the whole mission feels like it is living and breathing!
The conversations between NPC's, the story telling -
The guy about to hang himself is a good example, the fact he looks like he is really contemplating killing himself.. walking randomly between the noose room and the bedroom to get another bottle to pluck up his courage - then loosing his nerve and weeping - the behaviour was priceless
. It was all superbly executed, and really showcased what options are now available to mappers to make a more immersive experience compared to what we had say 2-3 years ago.
I knew there was some random loot placement with the objective item moving around on playthroughs, but I had NO IDEA that guard patrols now had a random element until I was in the mission - and it led to some TRUELY TENSE moments.
I was trying to figure out the patrol path of the lord of the manor, I noticed he had been walking between rooms for some time, but just couldn't time how long he took to get full circle back to the cellar near the stairs... he didn't come for a LONG time. so when he did finally go downstair's to the cellar and resurfaced a few minutes later I thought I would have plenty of time to loot and get back up the well lit staircase again before he came back... WRONG. On my way up I had not extinguished the lamps as I wanted to save water arrows.... I got back to the top of the stairs and there he was turning the corner towards me! I literally jumped in surprise as he almost spotted me... I U-turned back into a semi-shadow behind me on the staircase a few feet away and extinguished the torch... he was coming towards me the whole time and if he caught up I would have been spotted. I had to run down to the bottom while he relit the torch - go back into the cellar and hide behind the door - a close call!
The fact it was truely unexpected meant I had to improvise a lot, and it really tested my taffing skills rather than my ability to remember a patrol path!
There is so much replay value in this I finished on the hardest difficulty without being spotted but I noticed there was at least another 2k loot to find - going for my second run through now
Cheers Sotha, your a legend.
P.S - I turned off the generator outside... does this stop me opening display cases?
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hey Scope
I'm a computer engineer by trade and the basic build of the cathedral was originally built by Lauren Schmit. I then customised and details the map to what you now see. Even working with a pre-made map was a big learning curve, but now I can work with patched a lot easer than could before.
On the realisim front, its been said I am a stickler for details - I try my best.
The cove was actually a cave model from doom3 and I just used 2 of them and them detailed up the insides etc, so it looked like a proper underground cave etc.. Im glad you enjoyed playing, that was the primary reason for building the mission and all mission I work on.
Talking of mission, I have been working on a revised and optimized version of Return to the City, which I will be released either today or tomorrow!
Now that is very clever.
I would never have thought of using Pre-fabs like that as I didn't know people made such complex things like that just so we can put them in custom maps. A great find
Recycling the doom 3 assets in the form of the cave was a genius move though my friend, there are some really well made structures in D3 - again I would never thought of doing that! I might have a look at some of the doom 3 missions myself to see if there is anything I can use myself
And I shall get v2 of return to the city asap!
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B1k3rdude - Are you a qualified / a student architect?
If not you should be! The architecture (especially in the cathedral itself) - is hands down the very best I have seen in any TDM FM so far. Absolutely faultless. The whole mission was very believable from a realism point of view. Right down to the smallest details in even the minorest of buildings. You can play FM's which try to be castles, or tries to emulate the feel of a church... and they do the job - but they dont come more believable than this!
This map has raised the bar on visual quality, as to me it was exactly how a cathedral should look. And hey - it runs perfectly no slow-down's experienced here. (Oh and the Cove was awesome too, very natural geometry
)10/10 for visuals definitely.
Ok onto the criticism and possible spoilers
My major let down, was the lack of guards in the cathedral. I appreciate the sheer size of the map, and that there were a lot of AI outside...
But I managed to count only 3 builder guards (and one undead) in the whole of the cathedral complex. It made things a bit too easy, as the whole of the upper level of the church was unihabited (lots of sleeping quarters, but not enough guards to inhabit them!). A few more guards patroling about the corridors, maybe a few sleeping in loot filled rooms upstairs, and 1 or two in the dining/ living area just above the crypt might make this a bit more exciting.
Secondly - the Loot objective... again was a bit low for me even on the highest difficulty. I had hit the 3000 mark and completed the objective just before reaching the church. Considering the end game statistics said there was over 7000 loot to be had, I would consider increasing this in future updates.
Finally, the story was quite well done but I thought it was a bit light. Not everyone likes scouring through readables, or carrying books in an already clogged up inventory - but i felt it could have been padded out a bit more... I didnt understand some of the plot while playing... i.e. Did the builders have the remains locked up or were they searching for them too? did they even know they were there? where did the first clue come from in the researchers bedroom? how come they had never found them before? This left me a bit confused about what exactly was going on and where I should have gone next. The clue which seemed to be in Latin had me running around looking for something out of place for ages as I had no clue what to do next.
Despite my minor gripes, the good far outweighs the bad on this one. You have set a benchmark for visual quality and thats definitely no small feat!
I look forward to seeing more of your missions!
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Since we can't comment in the announcement-proper...
I must say that this promises to be the Giantest Leapage yet.
Thanks to all of you guys for what it includes!
Really surprised to see this out so soon! Must have only gone live in the last few hours - grabbing it while its hot!
Some of the changes look good, I hope the new LOD system squeezes a few extra FPS out of the game
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Hey guys,
Was just over on the BCG forums for a nosey, its been a while since I last read the forums and I wanted to see if there were any developments in the Thievery section...
Its all been pretty quiet over there since "nightblade" was scrapped around mid 2009, and the Thievery mod has been in decline for years.
But I noticed this pretty new thread -
The end of a decade, but the start of an age..
Some of the forum vets (and some original team members by the looks of it), have gained the blessing of BCG to make a revamp on the Unreal Development Kit - A free UT3 tool kit for Indie developers.
For those who are not familliar (and I am guessing many of us are), Thievery is a UT99 mod bringing 'Looking Glass Studio's' vision of a Thief multiplayer game to life.
This saw enormous success back in the day, and a sequel (Nightblade) on the newer "Unreal engines" was in development for 5 years. It looked really promising, media update's were few and far between but what we did see was really exciting - however, for various reasons the development was not smooth and it was rethought 3 times, spanned 3 different engines and unfortunately it became the "duke nukem forever" of unreal mods finally being abandoned in 2009.
If there is one thing we have learned from duke nukem forever though, its that it is possible for a game project to come back from the dead and (eventually) see the light of day.
My expectations for this one are not high, but I thought I would drum up a little support and interest - and hopefully the grandaddy of multi-player stealth games might just see a modern re-release one day.
Check out thier moddb page and show your support -
Thievery for UDK - ModDb - watch this space!
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Hmm, I know those guards are set to be dormant, but they should activate as soon as you enter into their area (generally by opening the door). Are you saying you opened the door to the kitchen, but the AI were just standing there not moving?
Did you get any messages about "AAS" when starting the map?
No error messages,
If what you said about those two guards being dormant until the door opened is correct, then they must have been behaving correctly. I had no idea those two only came to life when the kitchen door opened and I assumed they were always on patrol.
The guard that wasn't behaving correctly was just a few yards away from where the kitchen door was, so I assumed the two in the kitchen were affected with the same issue as him. I saved this and tried it a few times, and noticed that the guards in the kitchen only went on thier patrols after I opened the kitchen door, but at the same time I was spotted with a "whats that in the shadows" voice emote when I walked in.. So there I assumed they started thier patrols only because I was seen.
The Thomas Porter Series
in Fan Missions
Posted · Edited by Scope
Thanks Sotha!
I had to do a clean install of TDM 2.0 due to problems updating from 1.8, and only last night was I looking for the list which explained what order the Thomas Porter series goes in so I could re-download them and play in order- you must have some latent telepathic ability!
I haven't yet played the Lich Queens Demise (which I assume concludes the TP story), I really enjoyed The Phrase Book and your other missions so I am looking forward to playing it