Midnight

Isn't this what happens if you're not running the patched version of Doom3? You need v1.3.1.1304

I like both the shouldering and the dragging options, they serve different purposes. I was playing Chalice and wanted to hide a body in the kitchen storeroom. To my surprise, the dragging lets you grab hold of individual limbs so that you can perfectly position a body just where you want it. There, now no-one will notice. This will make things like hiding a body under a bed so a guard doesn't spot it possible (I'll have to test this out with a guard patrol though, don't know if they would notice or not).

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant the sound coming from the player character makes you think you're still dropping the body, even though the body was released immediately. Try this out next time you're in a mission and I think you'll see what I mean. My suggestion was to have the drop key perhaps initiate an animation (or just a simple timer), then the body is released from the player nearer to the end of the sound file so they sync up better. Maybe it's not as noticeable as I thought since nobody else has mentioned it before, but I'd be interested in hearing what other people think.

I've already mentioned how awesome this mod is, but wanted to just say thanks again after having now played and completed all the available missions. Well done to all involved and thank you for the dedication and hard work that must have gone into this. I wasn't sure where to post this, but I wanted to provide a little feedback on some of the sounds and animations: I love the animations when the guards cough, sneeze and especially spit! These little touches really bring the AI to life, though one of the sound files, I think one of the sneezing ones, sounds like it was recorded inside an aluminium can. Sometimes the guards will keep looking at something when patrolling, and occasionally this looks great (like when walking past a doorway I noticed a guard keep an eye on the room as he walked past). Other times they don't seem to be looking at anything in particular and I was wondering whether this animation is just random, or if they are coded to pay attention to certain things (like alcoves / shadows, doorways, loot etc). When mantling a higher object, the animation takes longer (which is great) but there should be an audio cue that suggests it took some effort to climb the object. When dropping a body, it falls to the ground immediately, but the sound carries on, suggesting that you're still in the process of dropping the body long after it has hit the ground. My preference would be to have a longer animation to match the sound, since you would realistically be careful not to quickly drop a body and make a lot of noise in the process.

First off, congratulations to all who worked and continue to work on this mod. It is beautiful, atmospheric, and best of all made by and for fans of this genre (and it shows). I apologise for the long post, but I've been playing since it was released (no download, installation or rendering problems by the way) and wanted to cover a few points about combat. I've been playing with auto parry disabled, and it is very satisfying. The blocking mechanism is difficult to get used to at first, but once you master it the challenge of blocking each type of attack is extremely rewarding when you get it right. I understand that as a thief you are naturally at a disadvantage in a fight and the aim of the game is to avoid combat, so I don't want to appear to place too much emphasis on combat, but I can't help but point out the few problems in the current combat model because it is so close to being the best close combat system I've ever come across. Firstly, when fighting a guard, they will rush towards you and then stand right next to you, attacking about once every two seconds or so. If I stand still, blocking their attacks, the pause in combat as we stand next to each other feels comically unrealistic. They should attack, then back away a little and maybe try and circle me before attacking again. Secondly, if I injure a guard before they have completed their attack, this doesn't deflect their strike at all. If I stab a guard before they have struck me, they should recoil and possibly back away and cover their injury with their hand for a moment. The way it is at the moment is extremely unfair, not to mention unrealistic (carrying out an attack when you've just been stabbed can't be that easy ). The thief is already disadvantaged (I assume) with less armour and a less powerful strike, so this change would not level the playing field so to speak, but would at least make combat possible if you are both very skilled at it and paying close attention (timing the parry requires oodles of concentration ). I also just wanted to add that I'm really impressed with the difficulty of the combat. Most games nowadays are becoming too much an exercise in hand holding, so it's refreshing to see something that requires this level of concentration and interaction.

I suppose it could be considered rare depending on your playing style, but I was giving the scenario of jumping off the table as an example. There are other times when the same type of - dare I say it - acrobatic ability, comes in handy (not only when evading guards). I wasn't aware that a quick tap wouldn't initiate the auto mantle though, I'll have another go through the SL mission and give this a try. I suspect that I simply want it to 'feel' the same as Thief, where I would hold the space key when making any type of jump. Still, I don't have a problem with changing old habits, though as Komag says this may need to be tweaked a little.

The one thing that I didn't like about the SL demo (which in every other respect was fantastic), was the automatic mantling. I remember a situation in the original thief where I was running from some guards in a dining hall only to have some more appear in front of me. While running, I jumped towards the table on my left, then immediately (as I touched the edge of the table) launched towards the doorway and the guards barely missed me with their swords. I can't do anything like this in DM as the automatic mantling kills the momentum I had when jumping towards an object. Mantling already has it's own dedicated key, so is there or will there be a way to disable automatic mantling when using the space / jump key?

Worst. Update. Ever! Seriously though, if there isn't an update soon I'm going to start worrying that you're too busy with some kind of drastic major change, like re-doing the whole thing using the Quake II engine or something