teh_saccade

I dislike GOG for killing the abandonware scene and profiting from exploitation of dusty old crap and donations, like a cat charity shop that pockets all the cash to look after "the cats" which are their own cats and give a can of premium tuna for their mates every now and then. They even use the same exact same cracked .exe for Covert Action that we sorted fkn years ago. The only good thing about GOG is it saves sourcing a dodgy crack for the new titles, imho. No big loss - I forgot about the F2P thing. But you guys are in a bit of a bind with this one, with steamworks and trying to get onto a major platform, if you want to keep it as a free game... I can't think of a solution that doesn't involve you spending money to not break even that doesn't involve donations from, eg, kickstarter for incorporation and licensing, etc. Plus, you're gonna be in the same category as Clicker Heroes... and that makes it a tough decision on which F2P game I want to download... Have you tried itch.io or Humble Store? They get press fairly often in the rags.

You in Texas, AH? I'm heading there in a few weeks for a couple of days. Was gonna shoot automatic weapons, if you fancied heading down the range in Houston? Reckon BikerDude's the fella for the key - like I said, I wouldn't make as much use of it...

My playstyle is indicative of a very niche audience, not of a very large one. My browser history displays sites catering to a very niche audience also... But, now you know that these tricks are possible - would you remain a one-trick pony and keep playing the same way or do something like "today I'm going to try something new?". Lately, I've been playing Farcry 2 on infamous with infamous fusion mod - decided, "i'm only going to pick up enemy weaponry and finish the game with max (minus 4 spent in tutorial) diamonds, 100% completion. Then, speed-run it, exploiting every glitch I know. Also - Farcry2 is an excellent stealth game. One run I took at it my accuracy was around 90% because I barely shot a bullet and those that were came from the silenced pistol at the right moments. However, it's also fun to drive a grenade launching truck into an enemy outpost, with IED strapped to it, dive for cover and blow it up and then set the whole place on fire with molotovs and a flamethrower, before cutting everyone down with a grenade launcher and an Uzi, massive overkill... -- I used to train and teach martial art before a car accident and one thing that an old Korean man said to me was, "anyone can adapt the tools to the situation, but a master must adapt the situation to his tools". My interpretation is, basically - meta-gaming and not confining yerself to a single style in order to gain as broad a toolset as possible. As a player of TDM, my toolset is dictated by the tutorial (which I did for the first time last night) and figuring stuff out as I've had to deal with it - usually cos I messed up and got caught and refuse to reload because I want to finish this mission in one go, like a master thief. But I steal every tip I can that I read - I've always lobbed away duplicate keys / keys I've used as distraction and sometimes a dropped weapon from an AI that's had to be conked out (esp. now it's noticable) - I still shoot water arrows at bloodstains and scorch marks, even though idk if it makes any difference and sometimes forget that moss arrows won't grow when you water them (and will use a moss arrow to cross an area, even though I'm pretty sure AI sometimes don't notice it in the dark, which is weird, when they step on it - they spot ropes in the dark for sure). Actually, I think the vine arrows grow when you hit them with water? But I've only ever played one or two missions with them (they are dangerous to include in a mission, as they allow you access to pretty much everywhere inside and out the play areas...). Mix it up V-Man - learning to learn from mistakes is a good lesson and to ignore a tool is folly when you're trying to hammer in a nail with a spoon, cos you're used to only eating refreshing foods instead of heeding the words of the almighty builder and using them fire arrows cos wtf - equipment doesn't count towards loot at the end (AND I SPENT SO MUCH ON WATER ARROWS I DIDN'T EVEN NEED). Do u even flashbomb bro?

Epifire - that safe looks fkn awesome (idk if I'd open it onto a prize bust tho) and the distress on the metal is mint. However, the hinges and handle look pristine or plastic compared to the rest of the metalwork. There is a visual disparity between the mechanical parts that would experience wear (hand-wear on wheel and oil/movement wear on hinge) and the static parts that would remain polished and in good order (that are the most distressed). Only my eye - pinch of salt, mate. But... wow... Really nice.

I break stuff for a living, 1st and 2nd line, in between the graphics and art stuff - so playing games like this is sometimes more fun than actually playing them, you know... Give me a rope arrow or moveable furniture (or enough bodies and physics glitches) and often there's found a way to avoid most of the level Playing the level properly - it is good fun:) But it's a lot quicker to start near the end and work backwards! gg - sorry to pick on yours, there's plenty of others where stuff like this is possible - it was just the one that I came across first yesterday:~)

I guess association with the word "ethnic"... I was unaware of this feature - speculated only - thanks for letting me know about it. However I agree that to disable the feature might not be a good idea. That is a decent idea... I like the idea of the sabotage and filling with water or some other event that would either remove [drown] AI or provide barriers or alternate routes through water - nice one. I was going with, eg, a player kills or KO's someone or is spotted and causes an alarm, thereby failing a secret objective - this causes a symmetrical room to spin 90 degrees and so, later, when the player reaches this point, they are left with a single pathway that is based upon previous actions. All roads lead to rome, but the final area is determined by the number of rotations/triggered fails that caused previous rooms to spin. Perhaps adding something similar such as increased patrols (easier to open a door to release a few guards, than copy-paste the entire area and change it accordingly) is a much better idea for certain sections and would certainly decrease the map size (esp. since most of it is not visited due to denial of access during each playthrough) - neat.

I know that mission, demagogue - I also used the flashbomb and snatched the key

Where I can basically finish it by climbing outside of the level and moving straight to go, collecting 200 dollars and avoiding all the hard work the level designer has put into everything:

Try speaking with fables on reddit, perhaps..? https://www.reddit.com/user/fables22 There's also this that contains the form to submit your game to their catalogue: https://www.gog.com/indie However, they have a policy that they don't publish F2P games and - essentially - because TDM is free... it might be why you've not received a reply. Money talks and all that... fkn abandonware thieving cyberpunk ruining mthrfkrs.

"cleanse the place from all living things"..? That's a misquote - I said, "the whole secret place is an affront and must be cleansed" - nothing about mass murder... Who do you think I am? Stalin? Easy enough to assume from the context, though... Might be sabotage by shifting some barrels of bang or setting a fuse to destroy a chapel or something - who knows if you're working alone..? Would be easier to play an explosion and lighting in the distance towards exfil., skybox transition for burning or something, than script a massive scenery change or risk the player being caught in the blast or otherwise stuck. Easier to close a passageway once conditions are satisfied, reckon, so player cannot return and see that nothing is different (although that would be cool to return a scene of devastation). -- I've always thought the difficulty scaled the AI, but I guess if it's the same and must be set manually, that's something to consider early. Not only perceptive - faster patrol routes and combat anims, eg. as well as the usual extras or seeded coin loot or whatever (which I still can't seem to always get to land on the surface). Thinking of that - never got around to seeing if it was possible to seed AI with random interest behaviour over a larger map, to flesh out the streets a little and provide some unpredictable foot traffic... in a forested area, this would be very useful. -- I usually go for the undetected also, then react on mess up... Once one goes down, may as well take the rest It's usually after a few runs that it's possible to ghost at an acceptable pace that doesn't require quick-loads. I'm wondering the best method to prompt players for "checkpoints" before tougher challenges..? Often "danger zones" might be divided by water (like in thief, if you went swimming under - probably some trouble in the next section) or some other ambient transition - music, environment and architecture, lighting, accomplishment, "It's too quiet" calm, etc... (no comms in this game to report to player that danger lies ahead such as in Deus Ex or Splinter Cell) - that would cause enough tension/relief to want to save. Is it too obvious to leave a trail of notes from a previous explorer which might include the words "*save me* from xxxxxx". Or too subtle..? It would be good to discourage overuse of the QS/QL feature so that players must deal with the reactions to their actions/mistakes, rather than QL and be fore-armed with the knowledge that this thing will happen. I've found TDM to be a game where players might do this and it would be good to introduce the concept of consequence of decision (which is why the entity limit has blocked progress on the town mission - it has too many branches for different consequences of the secret objectives).

Nice to see you've already stepped on it and used a more engaging method for the tutorial/intro. I've not seen this mission - will check it out one day.

Maybe when the game was installed, the tutorial mission was already loaded in - hitting "new game" (which'd be the first thing after keybinding and graphics options for me) would mean doing the tutorial (start this mission) before heading to "select/install mission". It's included in the download, with the other two, is that right..? Then we can go scrolling through an ever increasing list to pick at random or jump into creep's place or load tears of st lucia or one of the series like thomas porter or something or downloading everything for the tickmarks and going random or whatever (which is my way atm). The little pop-ups in the corner might be used to better effect in order to deliver the information than an empty and uninviting hub with some doors. If you're gonna hit big-time steam-stuff... just sayin' - maybe it's time to revamp the tutorial mission to be a tutorial mission rather than an empty training room. Like... what's "frob"? I goto melee and archery, down some boring stairs, because that's the first to the left of the book and there are crates with which idk how to interact (but I do, so I find the loot and use them to make a wall between me and the melee guard and I didn't even take a swipe and it's autoblock now, so np). It was fun because I messed about and played stupid games because... well... there wasn't anything else to do except chores... No narrative, no purpose, I finished it and, well... I didn't have much fun doing so. However - I love to replay thief's den because it takes a few minutes, contains everything I need to know about the game, has narrative, purpose, alternate routes and approaches once you know the place (which doesn't take long) and - if something like this was the tutorial - with the difficulty options being "tutorial", "normal", "hard" - it could be a tutorial mission AND a mission to do without having to draw swords or knock out and carry bodies or whatever... // gotta admit, it was several missions before I realised I could shoulder bodies and corpses - total game-changer... Dying so much at Mount & Blade is what forced me to do the tutorial now. Brothers in arms (Ubi, not nUbi) it was part of the first mission and story - Having just completed TDM's tutorial, it is like a list of chores to complete, rather than a tutorial mission. All these things could be included in a mission similar to thief's den, where there are "live" challenges and some story and whatever... I really thing TDM's intro tutorial would benefit from a remake, especially if you are expecting many more players in the near future - it was dull. I'm sorry - that's the truth.

I'd say yes, mate, cos RS2 is sucking big time compared to RO2 - mega disappointment. But... idk how much I'd use it since I'm devoting this year to finishing off all the games I was playing with the mrs and youngun, so they can be deinstalled for some extra closure, and going camping for a few months in a few... Plus I'm almost half-way to the centre of the galaxy on perma-death mode in No Man's Sky, and I'd like to try to be the first person to get that achievement. However - if no-one else pipes up this next week and you still have it - I'll give it a blast for a few hours a couple of nights for sure:)

TL;DR - do you prefer ghost or predator (not the movies, cos obviously predator is way better than ghost - certainly has a better scene with the clay) Personally, I dislike missions that automatically fail when you are spotted, because I'm constantly having to restart or am quick-save/quick-load OCD (optional, please). I also dislike missions that automatically fail if you are forced into a confrontation and have to kill someone, or there's an accidental death (again, optional). They force me to play at lower difficulties and miss out on the tougher AI and objectives, simply because sometimes I feel like just shooting that guard rather than spend the next 10 mins waiting for his patrol route to come round so I can follow him down the street. Again. For the third time. I'm looking for a little feedback from players before I dig into something further. What's the general feeling of players of the dark mod for things such as: - Assassination mission options. - Sword-fights and confrontation instead of patience and sneaking. - Bow headshots / sniper challenges as the most viable option - Stuff like dropping crates on people from a little too high up / pulling out a board so that it might drop a tonne of objects onto a group of guards having a chat..? (aka "accidental death"). - Aggressive play-style options and blowing stuff up or sabotage and that kind of thing, as an alternative to a puzzle or switch or number-hunt. I've a story that fits with the "open-area/hidden places" cross comp. (even though I'm on a trek at the time for a few months) and figured, why not make one anyway cos I'm a little tired of the towns and mansions and problem solving / scripting contraptions thing (and playing towns and mansions and "find the key", no half the town isn't enterable - it's a facade). No offence intended or intent to belittle anyone's efforts - it's just me - I've had a lot of fun playing many missions (and finding that a rope arrow or a few chairs at the start of a mission means I can climb up and walk over the whole level, directly to the objective). I'm the sort of player who will knock out the bar wench and systematically pile everyone in the pub on top of her, before covering them with chairs and boxes or maybe using a body as a distraction / target practise. --- The storyline I had in mind that I kinda started working on a while back involved - after a short prologue - the player finding themselves in the role of an unwitting pawn in a Pagan ritual, carrying out various tasks for the summoner, on behalf of a Pagan god. Closest to any kind of pagan-like thing is the servant-classes and the brigands and stuff. Figured these type of "unofficial" character styles would make it easier to cross-over from invisible ghost to fiend. I don't much like to kill anyone in a uniform, as they're doing their job... But militant religious fanatics and scum-bags, I've no problem putting an arrow in their eye or lobbing their unconscious body over a cliff. To satisfy all types of playstyles, I thought maybe the difficulty levels could be something like: - Trickster (perform objectives, quiet or noisy as you like) - Woodsie Lord (perform objectives with an assassination required) - Worming Death (the god has decided the whole secret place is an affront and must be cleansed, main objective becomes optional) But AI'd have to be the same throughout. As it seems that many people design their FM's here for stealth and many aim for low stealth scores and ghost: How would it feel, for the Dark Mod / Thief player, to be not only a cut-purse but a cut-throat?

(I am cutting a glory hole in the wall between the toilets after this comment, maybe leave a readable, "meet here at 1am" and at gamePlayTime 1hr, chuck a pickpocket noble to go stand there on alert, "hello? is anyone there..?" - sorry mate, but i'm still laughing at that phrasing - thanks for that)

Fair enough. Sometimes, if the source doesn't want to tell - it can help to ask someone who's been through the process. WRT advertising, I can see the benefit - so I hope it is worth the expense, time and effort that you will put into this and best of luck. Life's a bitch and you learn from it so you don't catch syphillus next time. --- I'd say to the comment above: Why disregard GOG, (who basically screwed over the abandoware scene, but allow me to play any £40 game I want DRM free, for free before I decide to buy it since there's no demo)? Would a game like Thief 2 appeal more to GOG users or Steam kids? Why must it be so black and white that it cannot be both, eh? "I don't see the point of selling sandwiches anywhere but the biggest sandwich shop, cos there's loads of people who go there - even though there's the bakery where people love our fillings and like the bread". Duhhhhhhhh 0 or 1 only please. No other input acceptable. Must. Close. Mind.

Flashbomb's bound to F for me. Compass to C. Rope arrow to V and Gas Arrow to G. Lockpicks to Z. Noisemaker's N, but a broadhead usually does the trick. (Or jumping one side and just stepping round the opposite direction as the AI turns...) But, gotta agree - chucking a note or something like your sword across the room works well if cornered. It would be nice to be able to pick up the AI weapons - if I could trade my sword for a massive hammer, I'd use that instead of the blackjack just for fun. Flashbombs tend to work better for me to get past guards before they spot (even if it does alert them, a broadhead in the other direction makes them search the wrong way), or away from them if they're chasing (though I like to fight them by pushing them into a corner with furniture and bashing them with the cosh til they run in circles - more fun than a pile of bodies). I've never done the training mission for TDM... Maybe it's my personal vendetta against nUbisoft, but - yep - hand holding down the corridor is the big thing and I dislike it with a passion. That and "player feedback" for "pre-release" which ends up as a QA nightmare and simple jobs become massive bug-hunts for no extra dosh. Manuals and maps were king back in the day - even if you did crack the game so you didn't have to enter word 21 on page 4 to play it. Most players these days wouldn't know how to even do a simple JMP - google is god. So much knowledge, so little understanding. I miss BBS. But flashbombs are great - never got the point of flashmines though... Maybe they make good distraction and escape devices if you're stuck up a wardrobe..?

Them's fightin' words! ;-) Nice thread, btw - very enlightening. (not sarcasm)

Thanks - might do the trick. Just gotta figure out how to set a brush parameter to change dependant upon this... Depending on what or how it reports, perhaps $func_mover.rotate (wha, tev, er) might work.No idea how to do that with the strobe - it's always been set through DR's interface in the past. Might just press the fuckit button on this one. I'm using comic sans from now on - idk you could change font. // doesn't work... ;`( appears that movers require integers to operate and cannot be , eg variableName = value returned by get.tic. // eh well, never mind. Thanks for showing me the thing anyhow, mate - I wouldn't have been able to do it with the strobe light, which is the important one, really. Another one bites the dust.

Stumpy - would you have any idea how to pull a player's current FPS from the game so that a rotator and strobe might be timed to match using such a variable?

Hi, I have found that it requires that there must be another spline that is in ante-rotation to the original one, scripted, eg, as follows: // (oh i see you've fixed it with more elegance... well...)

Since this was, apparently, already catalogued in the wiki - it was something that was difficult to find (although I knew where it was already ). I would have first checked AI args rather than pathing, too.

Check your skyboxes, perhaps they might need to be closed. Is the unwanted view the player view..?

I had to exercise so much restraint yesterday to not answer that question with - "have you checked the wiki: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Animation_playback_speed / http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Animation_List"? - but reckon i'd've gotten told off. Might be useful to add that run arg to the table here, grayman: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=AI_stats - it ain't in there. Idk how many people use the wiki instead of asking questions, but it's one of my bookmarks.

This is the second method described - it unfortunately rescales the spikes. // dw about it - i'll figure something out. NS' method sounds far too complicated and involved for something that doesn't matter a great deal.