Lex

Awesome mission! Nice flow, finished with no peeking to solve puzzles. Liked the visual part much, especially Also the main character's comments are very well used. Where can I listen to music from the menu? Who's the author?

Haven't finished it yet but in process. Is is a bug that the hand and weapon models (when I equip anything) don't show up for me in this very mission? UPD1: It suddenly appeared, dunno why. Also what's slow match for? And like the new music! UPD:2 Finally finished the mission (and don't regret about this)! This is I think the first mission with pagans I encounter in TDM. I know there are reasons why we don't have much pagan-themed maps but still... this one is a nice, even great pilot for me, very refreshing. I also would like to stress my enjoyment of the creaking window - that's one unnecessary yet extremely thoughtful element, bravo here.

Great mission, thanks! I like small missions - they're less tiresome. And what's important for me here - the mission is not only mansion but also infiltration with a nice vertical use. The tavern adds to the atmosphere which is awesome. The main con for me is that I think it's the third map where I encounter the same sewers. By coincedence I played the map with these sewers the very yesterday.

I've just finished it and... wow the mission's almost 10 years now. For me it has an outstanding flow and, what has been already mentioned, very very good patrol routes. In this case the lack of difficulty (I did it on the highest but it still was quite easy) is more of a plus because the mission feels like "come on, Garrett, in and out, 20 minutes adventure". Also it may seem a bit strange but I kinda liked the... door handles. Is that how they did the door handles for TDM back in 2009? A nice diversity.

Here's what I've managed to dig up. The issue for me is split in two: about the center channel and about the LFE channel. 1. As for the center channel - I've had a success. I've downloaded the OpenAL soft package and managed to hook up a preset from there called "itu5.1.ambdec" via editing alsoft.ini in darkmod folder or it can also be done by alsoft-config app that came in the OpenAL package. The latter sets a global setting, as I understand. It seems that OpenAL embedded in the Dark Mod simply didn't output sound to the center channel in 5.1 setting by default. I've noticed a no-center 5.1 preset in the downloaded OpenAL-soft package and I read about it somewhere on OA-soft related github brach - that they decided to sacrifice the center channel output for better sound positioning (which in my humble opinion isn't quite ideologically right). Maybe such a preset is used as default by the Dark Mod, I honestly dunno. Still, as I said, setting "itu5.1.ambdec" preset brought my center channel back to life. 2. As for the LFE channel I've found here and here that they simply didn't bother and left it without output unless OpenAL is commanded otherwise by the app, I think. And in our case The Dark Mod doesn't do so, obviously. One of the ways to do this nonetheless is to make a so-called bass redirection (when the low frequences are transferred from the front speakers to the LFE) but I have it switched off because it's like... not true, eh? What's so strange to me is that no one with 5.1 sound system replied here to confirm or dispel the issues I'm having. Don't we really have anyone with 5.1 audio here? If confirmed I would suggest fixing the first issue and thinking about modifying soundshaders (or what?) to give some specific events ability to use LFE. The easiest way to deal with the second i think is at least give LFE the ambient music low frequences as it was up to 2.05.

Thanks for the reply! Maybe I don't get it right but as I understand EFX reverberation concerns how the sound varies depending on the environment and isn't exactly charged with surround sound positioning. Still, I'll give a try to a mission that has EFX support and write about the results here. Also I read the HTRF related thread somewhere here, on the forum, and, as I understand, it's about emulating 3d positional audio for headphones. While I use 5.1 speaker system I don't think it's my case, isn't it? Upd: tried EFX missions (Sir Talbot's Collateral and Marsh of Rahena) - no luck, it's still the same. Tried with EFX menu setting on and off. I also tried disabling HRTF in alsoft.ini since as i learned that in 2.07 HRTF is set on by the default - no luck. I'm beginning to think that the game's somehow fixed in quadrophonic sound for me. Is there anything worth tackling to look into the issue?

Hey all! I haven't properly played the Dark Mod since 2.05 or maybe even 2.04 until now and I've noticed that whatever I do in game the center and LFE channels of my 5.1 sound system remain silent. In other words, the output is actually 4.0 (2 front + 2 rear speakers) rather than 5.1. Now, I am not sure exactly but I recall no problems previously - until the EFX update 2.06, I think. I even found my older post about extremely loud LFE channel here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/18741-really-loud-music/&tab=comments#comment-405277 As I understand, it is often made that the center and LFE channels are reserved for special sounds and not used often as the front speakers. For example, in Witcher3 center is mostly used for voices in the dialogs and the best way to check LFE is to use the aard sign magic. Or, in Skyrim it is known that LFE plays only when the dragon hits the ground. The first question is: do I have an issue with sound or not? Because maybe the sound output is ok and I've simply met no specific conditions utilizing the center and LFE channels? Minding my previous paragraph, I don't think it's EFX related but maybe the sound shaders simply changed since 2.05? This all brings me to another question: is there a way to check somehow in the Dark Mod wether the game outputs the sound correctly? About my setup now. I output sound via HDMI to Pioneer receiver with 5.1 setup. Everything works fine in modern games that provide 5.1 output support like the Witcher3 or Mortal Kombat 10 and 11. The windows sound configuration in control panel allows me to check all the speakers and it's fine. I have win 7 64 bit, OpenAl installed. The Dark Mod allows me to set 5.1 sound in options with no warning (I know that in other cases it gives a message like "your system does not support this sound configuration"). Please, help me to find out if anything's wrong with my setup and why my center and LFE channels are silent. Hate to start new threads but I didn't find anything related to my problem. Moreover, I feel the lack of sound-related discussions considering our community's interests.

I haven't been to the game for a year or so but here I am again completing this mission and it's amazing. I have very little to add to the points in the feedback section of the original post as they're pretty much accurate about my experience. Still, I can streess that the vertical use does not only feels right and awesome but it also adds to the flow because once you discover some passages it's not irritating to go back and forth around the map in case you need to return. I also appreciated the thoughtfulness about the size of the map. It's not big but it also doesn't feel cramped or a labyrinth. It's probably an ideal ratio between map size and it's content. Thank you.

I have been away for a while and I must say that the new shadows are awesome! But - is it ok that maps cause massive FPS drop for me, unlike stencil shadows? Do I get it right that maps' shadows are intended to be more good-looking than stencil? I play on gtx750.

I don't want to start a new thread so ask here. I've been away for a while, now I've just updated to 2.07, and when I frob objects I notice a crosshair-dot appear for a second, looks like it's no bug. I tried googling if it's the feature on darkmod forums and found no success. Is it intended to be? Is there a way to disable this? UPD: Oh, it's called a frob-helper. Sorry for the false-alarm, didn't notice that I turned it accidentally on in options!

Thanks, guys! Looking forward to seeing EFX in 2.06 release!

I've read the thread but I'm still left with 2 (probably dumb, sorry about that) questions. 1. Is this Alchemy restriction remover working with all games that have EAX support, not only TDM? 2. Regarding this: If, as I understand, EFX uses OpenAL, we won't be needing Alchemy anymore for TDM, right?

I'm in the I tried arrows, but they're simply stuck in the tapestry. I remember how I used to cut these in thief2 but there seems to be no sword in this mission. Also is it just me or my screenshot in the previous post doesn't show up anymore? UPD: Thank you and nevermind

Enjoying the mission here, hard to get 5k loot, however.

They seem to be pretty much the same. Even the track I mentioned - it plays ok, not loud, except for the fact that it loads LFE channel too much. It seems that some of the tracks have a certain amount of low frequences. Normally that wouldn't go through subwoofer, because they're originally encoded in stereo and I have my receiver set to output the sound as it is (for example if there is stereo, then the track plays only in front speakers, without subwoofer). As I understand the game supports surround sound 5.1 (via OpenAL, I guess?). So when it takes all the sounds to make a 5.1 output it loads LFE channel too much with ambient which would be ok if it was done to a much lesser extent. I really think that the issue is not in tracks, but in how the game operates them while making 5.1 sound

A house of Locked Secrets, the sound which plays at Sir Henry's room (master's quarters). Oh, I think I've just found it here: ahouseoflockedsecrets.pk4\sound\Soundtrack\MainWing.ogg But not in-game it plays fine as it coded into stereo so there's actually no LFE channel. The game sets it that way. And that's not the only example. In other FM's there's a similar thing (depending on the track played). So basically it appears that the game sets ambient output using LFE channel and that turns out to be strong as hell. My neighbours sh*t themselves, I guess.

I have similar problem. I play using 5.1 sound and everything is fine except the LFE channel (subwoofer). It's extremely loud (while playing music) comparing to not only other in-game sounds but comparing to other games as well. Lowering the ambient slider doesn't help much as it lowers the music yes, but LFE channel appears so strong that it still outstands. Only if I set the ambient slider close to 0 it's ok, but I hear no music at all. I don't want to play without music as it would hurt the atmosphere. Oh, I can of course control the subwoofer volume on the device itself (physically, I mean), but it's just strange that I play all games and watch movies with it set to 100% and playing the Dark Mod I have to set it to around 33%. Not to mention that it's tiresome to set it back and forth every time I play. What I ask is - is there a way to configure somehow multichannel output for the game? See what's in charge for the LFE channel's strength? How does the game decide to make it so strong?

I know this almost literally has been discussed to death, but maybe would you kindly add some bulletpoints to the original post about going to Greenlight? Just so that people who weren't actively participating in the discussion could simply know what to expect from that?

to Melan and Bikerdude I've completed the mission, using brute methods, but! I really enjoyed it, it's one of the best missions I've played so far. I saw some people here saying that the previous one was more enjoyable for them, but, to be honest, I didn't really liked the first two parts for various reasons and, I guess, it's the matter of tastes. (I've played all three in a row this week). City missions with vertical use are my favourite type. But the PD2 was confusing for me because of the arctitecture, maybe it was intended so, but I felt like a lilliputian there. This mission seemed more various (you got small shops, hovels, manors, some cryptic\mystic stuff, waterpools, roofs). Yet at the same time all of the mentioned things are inscribed in the whole setting of a crammed but still a large part of the City. Also I like the hero, our main protagonist - that he is not a professional, doesn't use picklocks and stuff... Had to do a lot of breaking-in. Yeah, it's kinda cool, though, again, I noticed that some people here didn't like it, but it stimulates the player for searching additional routes to your goal. In this regard the conditions are pushing you towards a certaing gameplay style and the map itself is satisfying with all these non-linear ways, mantling and stuff. So, the background, the plot on one side and the map design on the other side are very well fitting each other in this case giving birth to a fantastic flow of gameplay. Thats a resume. P.S. It would be awesome if you add the note to the description on the missions' loading page that you have here, in this topic, a high-resolution player map which you recommend printing. I didn't experience any trouble with it being small, but it's kinda a nice concept to immerse a player even more in your mission with such a gesture (if a player has the possibility to print it, of course). And the idea of printing a map didn't come by itself to my mind before I read it in the first post here, but unfortunately by that time I had nearly completed the mission.

I haven't completed the mission yet, but it's already my favourite part of Penny Dreadful series. I cannot however complete the second objective. upd: SOLVED. Other questions: Thank you.

Actually, I managed to get 5.1 sound via HDMI with no problem, Dolby Digital or not. After reinstalling the Dark Mod's sound works just fine that what's important for me. I also successfully tested the sound in the Witcher 2-3. Don't play much these days, anyway.

I usually play on maximum video settings. But it was noticeable with enhanced ambient rendering as well. I thought that lowering settings would make it better, but it turned out to be vice-versa.

Hi Spooks, I'm yet to complete the mission, but I already like it, especially the narrative design. I'll post here my impressions upon completion later. But now I'd like to point out that I've encountered a cosmetic issue. At first I thought that smth might be wrong with my videocard\in-game settings, but the guys here said that it's a mission design issue. Here's a link to the related thread. Upd: I finished the mission, it's really awesome, especially considering it was you first TDM FM. I like city missions very much. I think it has a pretty good vertical use. Also the narrative is interesting, you get new objectives and it prevents you from getting bored. I think the main achievement of the author is how narrative interacts with open, non-linear mission space. You go to one place, get objectives, go to another, find readables, look for keys, etc. It's all logically set up and well done, so the gamaplay really grips you. Thank you, Spooks!

Thank you, nbohr1more for such a fast answer! I was beginning to be afraid that I have something wrong.

Hey guys. I've come across... well not a bug actually, but I haven't noticed this before. Sometimes when I go from one area to another the gamma of the image tints and changes. In some cases (as in attached video) it's really noticeable and I wouldn't say that the effect is pretty. So the question is - is it an intended feature of the Dark Mod or the FM or I may have something wrong with my videocard\game settings? P.S. Before making the video I've disabled post-processing and put ambient rendering to simple - the effect persists, as you can see. Also my Nvidia Control Panel is set not to interfere in any way with the game settings - no additional stuff, like some people like to do.