Midnight

Well, 2010 was the start of a new decade. I think I'm going to wait for a steam sale and some hope of being able to remove some of the third person stuff (it does look jarring no matter what the devs say) before I buy. My biggest gripe is that they've stripped out a mission and only include it in the pre-order version. Maybe in the future they'll release it as DLC, but they'll no doubt charge an extortionate fee for it just like most DLC models. It's okay with a game like Section 8 Prejudice because it's pretty cheap and you can buy the mission packs separately (if it turns out you like the game), but when they try and entice you to spend another 30% on a single mission that was apparently not good enough to make it into the full game? I fucking hate that crap, and most new releases seem to be doing this now.

Again? idTech5 strikes me as id software's attempt to prove they can do outdoor environments better than anyone else after criticisms of past engines, so a different direction to TDM. The main problem (apart from idTech5 only being available for internal Bethesda projects for the foreseeable future) is that you'd need an army of dedicated artists to get anything like the quality you'll see from Rage, so it doesn't seem at all ideal for modders IMHO (specifically talking about the megatexture tech here).

There's no up to date single TDM download that I can find (and torrent doesn't seem to offer up any seeds either). Do you have another computer with Windows / Linux that you could use to download the base package? If so then you could copy the contents of the darkmod folder across. I think you'd need another Mac specific package once that's done, but this is quite small so I could PM you with a link.

Sorry, for some reason I thought you were getting the error when launching, not when running the updater. You won't have the library in the darkmod folder because it's in one of the files that the updater downloads. Re-reading your original post it looks like it is indeed a dependency issue, the 'libstdc++.6.dylib' library is required by the updater program. My guess is if you use the 'file' command with this library it will say it is PPC architecture only. If that's the case then I don't know what to suggest. It might be possible to replace your standard C libs for UB versions, but since the C library is such a core part of the OS you'd want to be careful about doing this. The only safe way to do this would be to install the latest developer tools package from Apple (which I think includes all necessary libs), but I don't know if this would recognise you're on PowerPC and give you a different set of libraries to the ones I have (mine are Intel + PPC). The developer tools package is huge from what I remember, so I'll try find out more info first.

I was about to, but my copy of the TDM library says it's a Universal Binary (i.e. Intel + PPC rather than just Intel). The missing symbol mentioned in the error is in the library, my guess is there might be some other dependencies that are Intel only. I'll try do some more digging, but it would be best to wait for a confirmation / explanation from a developer. Out of curiosity, can you use the terminal to find out whether your library is also a Universal Binary? Open terminal and cd to the darkmod folder (e.g. "cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Doom\ 3/darkmod/") then issue the command "file game.dylib".

I believe the problem is you're using a G5 PowerPC processor, and the MacOS version of TDM is compiled for the newer (2006 onwards) Intel processor Macs. I'm not sure that PowerPC would be supported as I doubt any of the developers have the relevant hardware to build on (correct me if I'm wrong) and it would possibly require code changes to support PowerPC architecture. Sorry.

Not to mention that the CryEngine doesn't look like it would be well suited to TDM at all anyway. Doom 3 was chosen for a reason, and with the source code it's only going to get better.

I've had this as well a couple times, but I think it's something completely different. I think it's the result of the mantle animation not completing 100%, so you end up in this weird 'drunk' mode. You can get out of it by noclipping then noclip again to fall the the ground. Sure would be cool if this mode could be enabled if you drink too many bottles of wine.

The cause of the plague quarter is already quite mysterious so it would seem fitting to also leave some mystery around who these men in masks are and how they came to acquire their unique appearance (this wouldn't preclude that they could be some Inventor offshoot, but I agree sometimes it's more interesting if you leave it to the player to come up with their own explanations to mysteries like this). I like the idea that there could be a link to gas chambers, some of them could use some kind of gas attack against foes to make them a formidable enemy (why is it that only the player gets to use gas as a weapon?), but clearly anything like this would need to be limited to a select few, maybe identified by a variation on the gas mask attachment. A google for "steampunk gas mask" brings up some interesting variations, though I prefer the worn leather look that Nosslak's mask has than the heavy brass look. I imagine this faction would mostly be relegated to the plague quarter itself, with a few individuals or even a small band occasionally venturing outside the plague quarter to steal fresh untainted food. The rarity of encountering these AI in regular FMs would increase their 'fear factor' IMHO. Just throwing ideas about really, a whole new faction is obviously a huge deal that would need a lot of discussion before even considering whether it's worth it or not to introduce new AI.

I'll repeat what others have said, this looks brilliant! I'd previously thought about a new faction type for the plague ward, "The Accursed" or "The Ashen Hordes" or something like that, but what I came up with was too similar to Zombies to make it worthwhile, but I think this mask would give this kind of faction a unique identity. Also, bird masks are scary as f**k, even more so if these characters had wheezy breathing and coughing vocals to go with them.

I guess it's fair to say that all TDM players must own a copy of D3, and by extension must therefore be 18+ years of age, although it's not uncommon for parents to play Thief FMs with their young children watching.

I would have thought that a FM introducing the Plague Ward would need to be quite large and require a lot of work. Regarding the bridges idea, from time to time I like to save images that provide inspiration for FM ideas, this is one of them:

The Lion statues and fish were missing for me, but other than that this was a stunning example of what's possible. The feeling I got from this was of a castle belonging to a 12th century knight during the times of the crusades. Please tell me that this is not going to remain "just a test map", I'd love to see this turned into a full FM someday.

Please don't do this. There's enough cool stuff in TDM for it to bring in new fans in its own right, I'm doubtful Eidos Montreal will allow FMs and they sure as hell won't be releasing their source code in the future. I'd like to think this approach is better than using a misleading ad campaign to attempt to ride on the coattails of T4.

I don't have any problem with the blind time of flashbombs which serve well as a means of escape 75% of the time (any more and they'd be too powerful IMO). I've got flashbombs mapped to the 'G' key, and the use key is 'Tab', so even in those emergency situations I never fumble when dropping a flashbomb. My one gripe is that sometimes I get stunned by my own flashbomb if I look upwards at the same time (surely this should protect me from the flash?).

I wonder if in 2027 we'll look back at this trailer and remark how prophetic it was. I hope so, I want me some upgrades!

Nice map Glyph Seeker, it could really benefit from being overlaid onto an 'aged parchment' to give it that authentic feeling. Don't forget, even real world maps contradict each other and aren't always to scale (especially old maps), so FM maps could have quite a bit of variety I feel.

I can't promise to be able to do extensive testing, but send me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

A guard by day, thief by night? Talk about inner conflict! Will we one day see a Komag FM called "A Guard's Life" (with static patrols)? This talk about 'static' patrols reminds me of everyday behaviour of humans and how we tend to have very little variety in our movements on a day to day basis. There are any number of reasons why we might settle on a particular route such as interesting scenery, shortest path, points of interest and combinations of these. I remember a couple years back a telecom company revealed anonymous user data from mobile phones showing how most people visit the same few places every day, and take the same route to those places. Knowing this, I now sometimes introduce random diversions into my routes to appear less predictable to the eye in the sky.

Even on higher difficulties? I'd vote for static on easy with some dynamic patrols and torch relighting on the harder difficulties. The trick is to make careful decisions about where these features should be used. Hardest difficulty will often include an objective not to knock anyone out or maybe have a limit to the number of KOs, so things are already much more difficult for the player.

Liking the latest screen. I'm a little late to this party, but regarding your previous screen: I don't know if much has changed in this area, but the scene would look better if the torch in the archway on the right was removed completely to create a darker area. This would increase the contrast with the well lit street area behind it, and the darkness would also make that pathway a more appealing choice for a thief.

That's a bit harsh, and obviously not what's going on here. It's already been said, but I agree that it seems largely futile to try and recreate the Thief games in a newer engine for nostalgic reasons. If you've already played and loved Thief TDP and TMA then you can still play them now (try Tafferpatcher maybe?) and you'll still enjoy them. The only reason why an older game might warrant being ported to a newer engine is if you want to attract new players who've never experienced the originals and might be put off by the older graphics. Purely from a mapping point of view this task would be immense. Many of the original levels had areas or rooms that were fairly bland, but they worked because of the engine. A more capable engine such as D3 demands more detail, you simply couldn't get away with recreating Thief in a modern engine without also investing a significant amount of time on re-designing each level. To pull this off you'd need an army of mappers, but I think most TDM mappers would rather explore a new universe and create their own stories.

Don't spurn all of Tels' hard work, throw some SEED on the ground.

Hmm, there's a lesson in there somewhere...