[The painters wife - inventory bug]

This sounds like the kind of thing that would happen after you frob an invalid readable. However, all such errors should've been fixed after I fixed all causes of console warnings in this FM.

[[Resolved] TDM doesn't render properly on AMD RX 550]

17 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

MAX_SHADER_PARAMS is no longer part of our GLSL shader files.

Are you sure there's no glprogs folder somewhere in your install?

Thanks! This was it, the typical old remnants of a dev build causing graphical errors.

Turns out this GPU is surprisingly capable at TDM, rendering the whole Perilous Refuge harbour at 50+ fps @1440p, albeit without fancy settings like AO, soft shadows or shadowmaps. Edit: ran out of VRAM at these settings, unfortunately.

[Newbie DarkRadiant Questions]

On 3/21/2025 at 6:34 PM, ERH+ said:

I want an objective that will trigger something every time it is fulfilled, e.g. by killing any entity. After completion it should be reseted (by script .setObjectiveState(1, 0) or by $target_setobjectivestate) to state 0 (incomplete), and work on and on the same way. But in reality after first reset it looks like it stopped checking reqired action - killing more entities just dosnt trigger its fulfillment anymore? Is it the way objectives should behave?

Did you have "irreversible" unchecked? Otherwise I guess it's a limitation of the objectives engine and could be worked around via other means, like an on-death script for each AI or a looping script that checks the kill statistic or every killed AI.

[[Resolved] TDM doesn't render properly on AMD RX 550]

1 hour ago, nbohr1more said:

Looks like you have some broken packages.

Can you try deleting your tdm_base01.pk4 and any gui pk4's the running tdm_installer

I've removed all .pk4's and ran tdm_installer.exe, but that only got rid of the GUI warnings:

peril_550_2.txt

[[Resolved] TDM doesn't render properly on AMD RX 550]

Edit: the problem was simply leftover glprogs from an old TDM version.

I've recently "upgraded" my office desktop with a 2nd hand GPU so that it can supply video to 2 modern screens. However, it appears unable to compile GLSL shaders for TDM and is therefore unplayable. As an example, this is what I see on TDM 2.13 or latest 2.14 dev build in Perilous Refuge:

And this is the condump: peril_550.txt

The GPU in question is an RX 550 with 2 Gigabytes of VRAM. It came out in April 2017, so I suppose it should still be able to open TDM. I've installed the latest drivers according to AMD Adrenalin, and never had a GPU or GPU drivers installed in this machine before. The screenshot is identical to what I'm seeing, so to me this suggests the GPU is at fault and not the cables or monitors.

Specs of this PC:

• Make: HP OEM small form factor desktop PC
• OS: Win11 (upgraded from Win10)
• CPU: Intel i5-9400
• RAM: single stick of 8 GB DDR4-2660 CL19
• GPU: XFX RX 550 2 Gb GDDR5
• Motherboard: HP 8653 (proprietary)
• PSU: rated for 180W
• Monitors: P2711 TS QHD x2, via HDMI and DP from the GPU ports
• SSD: INTEL SSDPEKNW512G8H 512 Gb, NVME PCIe x4

Maybe this proprietary HP motherboard isn't designed to be compatible with dedicated GPUs... These days I have better things to run 3D apps on, but maybe solving this case would help improve TDM's compatibility.

[Much Ado about Breakable Doors]

9 hours ago, chumbucket91 said:

Ah, this might be the piece I'm missing.
What would I set this to if I still want to spawn the flinderize pieces but I want the model to effectively disappear? The point of attacking the door is so that you can proceed to walk through it, so I don't want to leave an even-more-broken mesh behind, if that makes sense. Currently I'm removing the door with a func_remove when it reaches a health value of <= 0, but if I could instead replace it with some empty mesh maybe the flinder bits will stick around.

You could use the spawnarg hideModelOnBreak 1 to hide the entity completely. You may still need to set the broken spawnarg, even if its the same as the model spawnarg.

A suitable broken model if it were still visible could be something that just has the hinges and one board left, but probably not that easy to tweak models when youre still new to mapping.

[[2.12] Turrets]

At long last there is also an accompanying Wiki article here: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Turret, complementing the info that was found in spawnarg tooltips and entity and prefab descriptions.

[Much Ado about Breakable Doors]

I have a working setup of a destroyable 3D objects in the form of the camgoyle, security cameras and the turret. I've extended the flinderize system for these entity types, but the basic components that should work on any static entity type are:

• A health spawnarg, so that the entity knows when to break. By default it'll be vulnerable to sword attacks, broadheads, fire arrows and fast-moving moveables.
• A "broken" spawnarg, which defines the model to switch to when the entity is broken.
• The flinder spawnargs shown above.

The damage detection on a func_static is simple. For example, a fire arrow's splash damage is always 30 as long as the entity was within the splash radius, and you can't disable certain damage types. I don't recall a general-purpose entity type that offers better control atm, but technically you could turn your door into a disabled security camera if you wanted to make use of all of the damage spawnargs described on this wiki page, but you'd need to assign a simple collision mesh to the door.

[Blocking Elemental AAS, A Selective Alternative to Monsterclip?]

10 hours ago, Jnon said:

If I use monsterclip I can confine him to the room, but of course this also blocks other NPCs from being able to enter or exit. Is there a way to selectively block AAS elemental to keep the fire elemental stuck to that room without interfering with other AI?

You can try to make monsterclip that doesn't touch the floor. This might allow walking AIs to still use that space, but elementals would be blocked.

Another idea is to vertically restrict the elemental to the upper part of the room using a large flat monsterclip brush.

3 hours ago, datiswous said:

Maybe trigger_entityname and then make the elemental turn backward, or move backward.

The problem is that once an AI is alerted it can no longer be directed via script.

[Slowfall Potion Test]

2 hours ago, datiswous said:

I was suddenly thinking, what if you could do spiderman flying through the map. It seems to fall into this category..

You could use a special rope arrow that pulls you forward and midway you can then shoot at something else and then..

Sorry don't want to derail the topic

Spoiler

I liked the 0-gravity ladder in one of the early, Noir-style Thief 2 FMs (Ranstall Keep?). You could go anywhere with it by placing it in front of yourself, even while hanging from it in mid-air.

 

[[2.12] Feature discussion threads]

12 hours ago, Bergante said:

tdm_loot_stealth_stats.pk4

Why hasn't this been implemented in TDM ?

Personally the stealth counter feels like a diagnostic tool to me, which is at odds with TDM's design direction of a minimal GUI and moves focus away from audio and visual cues coming from AIs, towards a number in the corner of the screen. So I wouldn't have it enabled by default.

Adding it as an option in the settings would be possible, on the other hand. My approach would be to let the setting add or remove a stealth counter item to the inventory which shows stealth scores in real time, without altering the existing loot counter item and without adding a gimicky-feeling scroll + GUI popup.

[Slowfall Potion Test]

20 hours ago, datiswous said:

Ok but it crashes to desktop, so I'm not sure if it was properly tested.

(although I have no clue what the reason is)

Is the crash to desktop when you attempt to launch TDM, when you load the map or when you drink a potion?

[Slowfall Potion Test]

3 hours ago, snatcher said:

When using the Slowfall a regular jump is way longer than usual. And I think this goes in detriment on when mappers can make the potion available in their maps (shop? half way through? right when required?). A seasoned mapper such as yourself will understand. Perhaps the slowfall effect should apply only after a certain downwards speed is reached?

Yep, a side-effect of the current implementation is that your horizontal jump distance is significantly longer, even if your vertical jump height is still the same. It kind of makes sense to me that you would be able to cover more distance if you hang in the air for much longer, and I don't think it would feel good for gravity to abruptly change depending on your vertical velocity. But it would be be possible to scale your horizontal acceleration with your vertical velocity, if this is more widely desired. Maybe gravity, too, should scale with velocity in some way.

[Slowfall Potion Test]

3 hours ago, Amadeus said:

Glad you're diggin' it, snatcher! As for changing directions, we tried looking at that, but it seems to be a limitation for now. You can hit the Run/Walk key and gain a bit more movement control while your falling, but that's about it. As for reducing momentum.... that's an interesting idea

That was what my latest commit shortly before the test went live was about actually. Core TDM already supports moving towards any direction while falling, but it's very slow so the slowfall potion amplifies your horizontal acceleration by about 5x. That said, something in spoilers for people who have already tried changing direction mid-air:

Spoiler

While falling, the run key still works and lets you change direction much faster. Did it occur to you to hold down the run key while you were falling (assuming you don't have always-run enabled anyway)?

Please feel free to reply in a spoiler.

 

[Slowfall Potion Test]

2 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

Some sort of buffer overflow.

Are you using any parameters that reference "long" floats?

Are all your variables lower case or case matched ? ( Linux is case sensitive )

I dont think DoomScript allows you to use any other kinds of floats, and variables always have to be case matched since DoomScript, too, is case sensitive.

[Development versions (2.13)]

On 12/10/2024 at 9:55 AM, stgatilov said:

Most likely the question goes to @Dragofer.

There is a commit which renames spawnarg which is never referenced with similar-named spawnarg which is referenced in the code. This is obviously some behavior change, but I have no idea if this is intended or not.

Seems the issue is that inv_count (like the original, defunct inv_item_count) has a default value of 0 in the base playertools class, which items like health potions dont change in their own def.

Line 593 in Inventory.cpp assigns a default value of 1 if the "inv_count" spawnarg is missing (which was always the case so far unless the mapper specified a value for certain entities). So to preserve the old behaviour we should set the default value of inv_count to 1 for playertools.

On 12/10/2024 at 5:18 AM, datiswous said:

What was the reason for changing code in the stack system?

I realised that the base entity definition for all playertools was referencing a spawnarg "inv_item_count" which is not used anywhere in the code or in any core scripts. It appears to be a typo of "inv_count", which is used in the code.

This meant that when mappers attempted to change the amount of an item using "inv_item_count" presented to them by the editor, it would have no effect. They probably wouldn't realise that they should be using the "inv_count" spawnarg instead.

I overlooked that the default value of inv_item_count and now inv_count was 0, so stackable items currently don't work as intended.

 

I've fixed the bug, and also attach the fixed file here for use until the next dev build is out. Create a "def" folder in your darkmod installation and put the file in there. It will take effect after restarting the mission.
tdm_playertools.def

For people without a forum account, here's a Google Drive link.

Remember to delete this folder and file after the next dev build, to avoid getting locked out of future changes to this file.

[Use of areaLock spawnarg]

5 hours ago, stgatilov said:

And it gets worse if the wall is not axis-aligned, or not even planar.

I observed the majority of issues with objects near diagonal walls, even when they were perfectly grid-aligned with the walls, or even some units apart from the wall. The engine seems to be very conservative by treating the entire bounding box of such diagonal walls as the boundary, rather than the actual wall itself. So objects quickly start to leak to the other side's visleaf when they begin to approach such walls.

You can see a very stark instance of this issue in the ship in Perilous Refuge, where almost the entire ship's contents leak to the exterior visleaf due to the many curved sealing walls. areaLock is crucial there.

[Fan Mission: Down by the Riverside, by Dragofer (2016/09/25)]

On 11/9/2024 at 12:09 AM, datiswous said:

You died by jumping from the staircase?

Spoiler

I imagined the player to survive the fall (if anything, the ghost would have ensured it) and go on to perform tasks in the service of the ghost to eventually return to the location in the Veil where it met its demise when it was still Johan.

For the sequel I had been working on an XL version of the Down by the Riverside mansion and was imagining a Sword-like encounter in the Veil, but ultimately it tapered off due to inefficiencies in that particular mansion's design (low mapping performance on my hardware, some poor mapping practices on a large scale, and poor backup practices with significant consequences).

I think the WIPs I have now would be better FMs than what the sequel to Down by the Riverside was going to be, whenever I get around to pushing them over the finish line. That mansion WIP is in the abandoned missions repository, by the way.

 

[Fan Mission: Down by the Riverside, by Dragofer (2016/09/25)]

Just uploaded version 4 of this FM:

• Primarily this is a bug fix update, using TDM's many new diagnostic tools to fix issues like non-functioning visportals, dead-end GUI elements and sounds not playing due to a wrong sampling rate. The console now posts no warnings about FM-specific assets.
• Added subtitles provided by datiswous.
• Adjusted the river forest skybox to look more like it did when I originally released the FM, counteracting subtle, but significant changes to how transparent (leafy) surfaces are rendered in fog.
• Added a black fog to make the ravine scene look more bottomless. Also, wisps no longer leave behind black boxes at their starting positions.
• The AI in the bunk cabin of the starting ship should no longer be able to see the player through the corner of the bunks model (all nonsolid items should have visual-clip now).
• Cleaned up obsolete clutter from old-era material shaders. As a side effect, Linux users should now be able to start up the FM.
• Switched moonlights in certain outdoor scenes to the new parallelSky system.
• Got completely rid of the rotation hack for scaling models.
• Recompiled the maps using the newest version of TDM's compiler, benefitting from a lot of things that stgatilov changed over the years.

[Newbie DarkRadiant Questions]

4 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:

Firstly is it normal that you need to set the sit_down_angle spawnarg on every path_sit to make the AI face the way of the chair when navigating to one and sitting on it? I thought just changing the angle of the path_sit entity would be enough.

Yes, the first angle is to set which direction the AI faces while playing the sit down animation, then the second angle is needed to make the AI spin in place so it faces forwards while seated.

4 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:

I also noticed AI with the drunk spawnarg can't walk through doors: They're able to open a door, but then proceed to stand in front of it and never move from that spot.

No idea whether @Amadeustinkered with something in this direction while reworking the drunk spawnarg?

[Newbie DarkRadiant Questions]

13 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:

Noted and will be giving that a try, cheers! Had another question in mind: Is it possible to turn off a readable by triggering it, essentially create a readable that works like a light and can be turned off? This means its text disappears when its disabled until it's triggered back on again. I guess I could set it not frobable when disabled, but its world GUI would still display the text... perhaps changing skins could solve that as well, is that the right way or is a better approach possible?

Seeking Lady Leicester features Precursor tablets which translate their world GUI text whenever the player frob highlights them. This would be a suitable starting point for figuring out how to hide or fade out your readable's GUI text.

6 hours ago, Sotha said:

Any ideas to fix this on map level, or is it TDM level bug?

I guess it happens because some part of the AI's ragdoll is clipping into the bed's collision mesh at the time of the ragdoll event, so it falls through the bed just like when you activate a moveable that's clipping into a table. You could try making the bed nonsolid and putting in some nodrawsolid brushwork where the level of the bed surface is a unit or two lower to reduce the risk of this bug happening. If it happens a lot with specific beds they should have their collision mesh changed on the core side.

[[2.12] Multi-addons support]

On 11/1/2024 at 9:13 PM, datiswous said:

This if from the wiki page. It sounds like these contradict each other. Or does it mean that same names are not compatible because they would override each other?

I don't think there's a contradiction: if an addon has the same .pk4/script/asset names as another addon they will interfere with each other's function if both are installed. However, addons can intentionally overwrite core .pk4 files as an intended feature.

[Newbie DarkRadiant Questions]

54 minutes ago, Sotha said:

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?

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.

[Fm Down by the Riverside crash to desktop]

6 hours ago, datiswous said:

If you wanted to do what's in this code. How would you currently do that?

void dematerialise(entity fade_entity, entity glow_entity)		//causes the entity and its accompanying glow entity to 'disappear'
{
    float i;
    for (i=0;i<120;i++)
    {
        fade_entity.setShaderParm(5,i*0.01);
        glow_entity.setShaderParm(5,(i-10)*0.01);
        sys.waitFrame();
    }
}

void materialise(entity fade_entity, entity glow_entity)		//causes the entity and its accompanying glow entity to appear
{
    float i;
    for (i=0;i<120;i++)
    {
        fade_entity.setShaderParm(5,(120-i)*0.01);
	glow_entity.setShaderParm(5,(110-i)*0.01);
        sys.waitFrame();
    }
}

 

Edit: Actually where can I find more info on shader parameters?

This is a custom script based on shaderParms, whereas all old material definitions contain some code that's based on globalParms. The script has nothing to do with what you find in the material defs and still works the same way today.

[Fm Down by the Riverside crash to desktop]

33 minutes ago, datiswous said:

Is there a save being made when you click the book?

Because saving being done by the mission crashes some Linux systems.

No, to my knowledge the only thing special about it is that there are hidden objectives that get completed when you reach certain pages.