Sotha
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Posts
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Joined
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Days Won
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Posts posted by Sotha
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This is very interesting!
So... Do we have have text to speech synthesis for existing TDM characters available already?
It would make sense if someone proficient sets that up and makes that available for mappers.
If yes, I will add custom conversation to my WIP mission for sure.
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About ambient_world colors:
1) The default ambient_world color is rather bright and influences the light gem, so that you get a little bonus for crouching.
2) people have different monitors and different settings.
3) too high ambient_world makes everything look a bit washed out, but too low makes it hard to see what's happening.
4) slight tone change in ambient_world color gives the more scene interesting, but can also make it unnatural looking. The default neutral ambient_world is a bit boring.
It is difficult art to adjust the color to get the most out of it. Are there nowadays some consensus about ambient_world color? What are good practices? Any tried and true settings? Any other advice?
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4 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:
I use the lightgem_adjust spawnarg to offset the player's visibility when the world is too bright, but is there an equivalent to lower how audible the player is to all AI? I'm almost ready to wrap up my upcoming FM but AI hearing is a bit too strong; I could offset it for everyone on the map but a global offset would be better if there one exists.
Interesting question! How exactly is the AI hearing too strong for you?
Reason for my question: in my experience, AI hearing level in unmodified TDM is pretty OK, but if your sound is leaking through walls, then the AI can be alerted strangely long distances.
Two examples:
1) You only fly thrice had sound leaking through windows. AI shouting inside the bowels of the ship could alert everyone in the ship, because audio leaked through the windows to the outside of the ship and back inside the ship.
2) Back in the days I made Glenham Tower, I noticed that if worldspawn walls are too thin, sound passes through them. They isolating worlds pawn walls must be 8 units minimum to seal properly.
Could your AI aquity be due to sound leaking in geometry?
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2 minutes ago, datiswous said:
So what did you do?
I checked Kingsal's map and found it was controlled by the spawnargs Dragofer was talking about. Very simple to adjust.
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Now works! It looks so much better and realistic when the door has acceleration. Thanks!
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6 minutes ago, datiswous said:
Which mission? Probably an external asset.
Hazard Pay has it.
Ach, it was with underscores.
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1 hour ago, Dragofer said:
Doors are a type of mover so they support accelTime and decelTime spawnargs (might have been with an underscore). That's all that's needed.
Nope, these are not spawnargs for door entities. They seem to be scripting functions.
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In one of newer missions, I've noticed that doors have smoother movement. I think it could be described as door having slower movement first, then moving at faster speed and slowing down before reaching end of the movement.
How does one do that? There was no info in the door wiki page. There, it says speed is only controlled by move_time and my doors seem to move at constant rate, which doesn't look as natural as the opening I've seen on other missions with the smoother opening.
Or did I just imagine it all?
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22 minutes ago, JackFarmer said:
Well, it works like that:
Example:
- AI with two targets
- target 1: sleep node - target 2: normal path node with idle_spawnarg
If you alert the AI just a little bit, the AI will go up from sleep, look around and will go back to sleep.If you alert the AI by showing yourself, then AI will go to target 2 and will never go back to target 1 (the sleep node). I think the logic behind this hard coded behaviour was, that you would not expect someone to go back to sleep once he has seen an enemy.
Brilliant! This works just like advertised and was exactly what I was looking for. I did not consider that the AI can have two targets. If I set the AI to have two, then it works perfectly.
This is going to be great: a barracks with AIs ready to go and a flee_point there and now there is backup available for alerted AIs.
Thank you!
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14 minutes ago, JackFarmer said:
I think there is only one way to do that with path node entities:
I see, thanks!
I suppose that means that the inactive AI needs to be doing something else occasionally.
AI -> path selection node, which diverges into two separate pathways, the other is alert and other non-alert.
Alert path -> go to patrol routes -> path selection node
Non-alert path -> go to sleep -> wake up and do something small like warm up hands -> path selection node.
What I mean here is that the path selection node must be revisited after every cycle to recheck which pathway the AI is going to take next.
Does that assumption of behavior look about correct? Would there be a way to do it so that the AI is just sleeping, and goes directly back to sleep after minor alerts, but proceeds directly to alert path if alerted enough?
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I was wondering if there is nowadays some good and bug-free way of making a bunch of inactive guards that get activated by alert?
Desired behavior:
Barracks room, guards are either sleeping in a bed or sitting in a chair doing nothing. If they get alerted (player alerts them to the level where they pull out the swords, or such an alerted AI passes by them), they get up and go on designated patrol routes and do not sit or sleep anymore. If the alert is not enough to pull sword out, they go back to sleeping or sitting after they recover from the alert.
It had been so long that I've forgotten, also the old ways I recall could have been replaced by smarter way of doing it.
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3 hours ago, DeTeEff said:
Edit: Perhaps this can help me:
- sound_loss "Soundprop: Loss in dB incurred when a sound travels through this portal. Cumulative with door loss if a door is present."
If I crisp up that value maybe I can dampen the sound propagation through the windows...
Good idea! If you set the dampening to same level as closed doors, it will probably do the trick!
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I played this tonight in the thief mode.
SpoilerI got the feeling there is something technically broken in the map.
Everything was great until I got out from the cargo bay to the crew quarters. Someone came in the room to sleep, a lightning flashed, they saw me and I KO'd them when they were rushing for the door.
I was satisfied that they did not get help, but boy was I wrong. Few moments later, the entire ship was looking for me in the room where where I KOd the escaping AI. Good thing I heard them coming and slipped to the maiden's room with the body. Heheh.
But that is the technical issue! I firmly believe that the windows are not sound proofing the interiors properly. Outside there is wind howling, thunder striking and all the noise from the machinery. But if you make one little noise in a room that has a window, EVERYONE hears that like they were in the same room.
This is a critical issue in the mission, that needs to be addressed. I would propose closing the windows with solid block of window texture. That would also remove the unrealistically loud thunder sound in the interiors.
Anyways, my adventure continued: I tried to proceed cautiously, but it was very difficult, because footsteps near a window would get AI attracted unrealistically easily. Therefore, I changed tactics and the mission turned into a KO exercise. It was the only way to complete the mission for me.
It was quite fun actually: "he's not gonna go past me agai...*thud*" "what was than noi..*whack*" But I would have preferred to have a more sneaky experience.
Another thing was the lighting. In the cargo bay, I pulled out everything from the machine room including the fuses. This, I think switched off all the lights from the mission. I probably KO'd the AI who was supposed to fix the lights. Therefore, all the other AI were standing and moving in the darkness, which felt a bit unrealistic and immersion breaking. Also, it truly a shame, because when the lighting was off, the mission looked a bit washed out and dull.
Those rooms that did have lighting remaining had amazing atmosphere and lighting quality, I think it might be good idea to prevent the fuse breaking and have some kind of pretty baseline lighting in the rooms.
Anyways, I will refrain from giving score for this mission, until the sound leakages are fixed. With those rough edges honed out, this would be an AMAZING mission.
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This was a lot of fun! Not easy though. There were very bright lights and high tension areas.
SpoilerThe mansion exterior was well built and I liked how you used the rooftops as well. TDM players don't get often to enjoy such a free movement in the rooftops. It took me a while to figure out that I indeed can climb to the roof and to the tower.
How did you make the skybox? That really with the moon and matching lighting all brought the mission aesthetics to next level. It was also really needed, too, because the player could access the roof.
The teleporting wizard was a nice touch and gave the mission something new for the player to experience. The possibility that he could appear any moment really raised the tension level. In fact, when I was in the tower, he appeared there but I barely managed to slip to the window while he had his back turned.
The player appearing inside the globe was also a nice idea and well executed. It was nice to hang around inside and wait for the wizard to leave the room.
I noticed you used semi-transparent windows, which I think was not a really good idea. They do not give much to gameplay, but they make the mission much more demanding for hardware. I had some choppy moments here and there. Also, I alerted the first floor guard and run to the upstairs and clambered on the roof, and the guard got permanently stuck into the staircase. I guess there was some sloppy monsterclipping there. It is usually a good idea to let the guard chase you a bit when you alpha- or betatest the mission.
All in all, nice 30 min sneaking mission with lots of good stuff and few rough edges here and there. Well done and thank you!
I gave:
3/5 for gameplay (minus one star for AI getting stuck in narrow geometry)
4/5 for story (creative and novel story elements!)
4/5 for aesthetics (it was functional, but performance hungry, but plus one for the gorgeous skybox!)
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Played this tonight. Great little mission and ingenious plot. Everyone has been in that situation, I guess.
SpoilerI straightforward proceeded to the house and cut the power and shot a gas arrow through the window to underline my point.
Excellent mission and a lot of fun sneaking.
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This was a great mission! It had everything I like:
SpoilerNice story with a clever plot twist, treasure map (!), custom dialogue and interaction, assassination, secrets, reviving.
The map was well designed and I really liked the burglar-simulation, i.e. whole house exterior, can walk around the entire building freely, observe, and then choose the entry point.
The mapper had placed visual clues to show that there is something important in the area, such as the little lights at the wall which is climbable.
Visuals were top-notch and performance good, even though there was huge outside area. Also, the tower was very well done.
Execution was brilliant, the mission flowed well for me and I had a lot of fun. Excellent job and thank you for this gem!
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This was a cool mission! High quality work all round: story, dialogue, visuals, geometry, atmosphere, patrols.
My only gripe would be these items:
Spoiler1) No in-game map. There was some pretty complex multi-level sneaking on streets and rooftops, which was very impressive, but I did not have clear sense I knew where I was going.
Instead, I was just wandering around like a fool. Also, the mission exit point was just mentioned as text in the objectives, and I had no idea where it was, and spend a lot of time looking for it. It was not obvious I need to climb out from the back yard of the manor.
2) The get the decree from library objective. There was an unaccessible library from the streetlevel, but also several bookcase rooms (I.e. libraries) in the manor. I was totally clueless where and how I am supposed get the decree from. it felt logical to be in the manor library, but instead it was in the library on the street, which was not accessible from the street level but was behind an obscure climbing exercise and thus easily missed by a taffer like me.
The climbing exercise was a chore for me, because I did not understand I can climb pipes. Also with aggressive exploratory climbing I could access locations where the geometry started clipping with the sky box, which felt a but jarring.
3) Get the sword objective. There was a sword in the gallery, but I could not pick it up to inventory, so I first thought the objective was bugged.
So, while the mission was awesome for me in the beginning, I started to grow frustrated because I didn't understand where to go, and had to resort to take peeks from youtube playthrough video to know where to go.
That is not good gameplay at all in my books, so therefore I gave only 3 stars. With a map and better description what to do, it would have been solid six-out-of-five, just like everything else in this mission was.
Thanks for the mission, overall it deserves its place in the TDM hall of legends!
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This mission was awesome! Almost perfect in every category:
Cool plot and scripted events, great visuals, nice atmosphere, amazing lighting, superb briefing and talking execution, smart and varied map geometry, provided tools.
I am running out of superlatives here: yet another masterpiece!
Plus....
SpoilerI got to blow up some zombies with mines. I love using mines, it is just so fun!
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This mission was great fun. Very difficult with all the bright lights. I think I alerted everybody but managed to crawl through the mission anyways.
One of the guards
SpoilerI tricked one guard into the guardhouse and locked them in.
I left the bow shop door open and the torch wielding guard came investigating. You can imagine what happened next. I ran off, closed the door and got enough time to climb on top of the little shelter over the fire pit. They almost saw me in the torch light, but happened to foolishly stare in the opposite direction. Very tense moments.
I liked that there was use for the rope arrow. We could use more of those.
The geometry was good, I liked the pacing, mission size was perfect for me and the experience was tense, but fun. Good work!
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I played this tonight. This was something special for me: I'm a big Lovecraft fan, actually.
SpoilerI liked the careful building of creepy anticipation. I was on my toes and high alert all the time waiting for when it all starts to happen. I was not disappointed and events built up pretty same way I would have done it myself.
I wasn't sure if I entered through the main door correctly. There was something blocking the door so that I barely could not get in, so I leaned in weirdly and was able to pick up the crate from behind the door. It felt a bit bugged, so I'm not sure if I was supposed to get in that way.
The moment I saw the ship steering wheel, I knew it was a switch for hidden door. Boom! Correct! Made my day!
I actually wanted to revenge my colleagues and engaged the Terrible Old Man with a good stab in the back, but that did not go so well so I had to bravely withdraw to better positions. Fortunately there was plenty of places to run and hide.
I also liked the story how it built up, spoon feeding parts of the story little by little. Also the ending was a nice touch. I've seen enough happy endings to enjoy this kind of ending, too. Perhaps they could have ended up even worse. Hehe...
The mansion felt otherworldly, because it looked rather small from the outside, but when I entered the library it was like a dimension breach huge. Lovecraftian for sure.
My only gripes would be that the mission was in fact quite easy. If the mansion had been smaller with more cramped corridors and with better lighting, dodging the spooks would have been more challenging. On the other hand the easy escape was perhaps merciful after keeping me at my toes and high alert for so long before meeting the Terrible Man.
Well done and thanks for making this mission! It was fun experience!
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This was a lot of fun! Also, great break of the expectations right from the menu and the starting animations.
I think I
SpoilerAlerted the thug several times, and even failed to KO him. To complete my bullying, I locked him up into the freezer. Stealth score 40. XD
The mouse I shot with fire arrow and it started running around and I pounced it like a beast, but couldn't get the trinket off. Moments later he scurried back in to the hole. I let him keep his prize.
Nice mission, good work, pretty visuals, excellent atmosphere!
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19 hours ago, chakkman said:
TBH, I played quite a few large missions lately which lacked the details of the smaller or medium szied missions (in TDM and Thief 1/2 fan missions).
I'm really more for quality (detail) than size.
Yes, what you said.
Also, for me, I have good sneaking stamina for approximately 1 h. After that I run out of energy and get sloppy, and I start making mistakes.
Therefore this kind of max 1 h sneaking mission is perfect for me.
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Lovely small mission with suprisingly large areas outside the main location.
I had really some difficulties finding the
SpoilerButton in the fireplace.
Seems like I am totally out of shape in looking all the nooks and crannies nowadays.
Thank you for making this mission, I had a lot of fun playing it. I personally like these small gems more than the larger ones.
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Thanks! I edited the original post to contain some design notes for those interested.
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How about AI voice generation using the already existing voices?
in TDM Editors Guild
Posted
Ok, from mappers point of view it would be either:
1) contact AI voice cloning specialist and send them the lines the mapper would like the AI to say. And then the AI specialist gets AI to read the lines and sends audio files back to the mapper, or
2) contact voice actor and send them the lines the mapper would like the AI to say. And then the voice actor performs the lines and sends audio files back to the mapper
From mappers point of view there is no much difference. But granted, original TDM character voice actors can easily be unavailable, but AI voice cloning could immortalise the characters forever.