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jaredmitchell

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  1. jaredmitchell
    Okay, sorry, more help plz: I wanted to add a bool to the player script object (defined in tdm_player.script) to toggle when they come into/out of the range of a place where they can tie off their tether (defined by the entity tie_off which I've defined). I created a copy of this script and put it in the appropriate place with my mission files, included it in my tdm_custom_scripts file, and made the appropriate changes (adding the bool, as well as getter and setter functions). Previously, I used a modified player_thief entityDef to get the player to be able to pick up my new tether arrow entity. However, it doesn't seem to be reading my version of the player script, with the map file crashing when I try to access my specific functions. I then changed the object name to "player_tether" and told the entityDef to use this as its script object. Now when I try to run my map it gives me this error, which seems to confirm that it can't/won't load my version of the player script object: Does anyone know how to get around this? Thank you very much (again)!
  2. jaredmitchell
    Ah ha! That got me pointed in the right direction. Thank you. According to a post on the iddev site, the weapon slots were defined in the player.def file. Making a copy of it in my mission files and changing the rope arrow slot to the tether arrow slot now allows me to pick it up. Hopefully now I can try and figure out the logic of this arrow without bothering you guys too much.
  3. jaredmitchell

    Finished the original Deus Ex a couple of weeks ago, which was great, so I decided to try playing Invisible War. My first play session was... less than ideal.

    1. Show previous comments  9 more
    2. STiFU

      STiFU

      Well, back in the day, Deus Ex 1 was my favorite game. I was sooooo eagerly awaiting Deus Ex 2, and when it was finally released, I realized everything was dumbed down massively. That was not what I was expecting and I was really disappointed.

    3. Tarhiel

      Tarhiel

      Definitely try it, if for nothing else, just to see how bad it is. Deadly Shadows are masterpiece compared to that.

    4. jaredmitchell

      jaredmitchell

      I played it again last night, and got out into the Seattle overworld. It's an improvement, but I still feel like the stealth is really poorly communicated.

  4. jaredmitchell
    Sorry to prolong this now, but now I have an issue where the tether arrow won't be added to the player's inventory (on frobbing it, a message is generated in the console saying it "couldn't be added"). As far as I know, my entityDef and weapon script are basically the same as from when I copied them from the rope arrow files, with changes only made to the class names and text for the inventory. Anyone know what's happening? Here's the .def file just in case: As well as the .script: EDIT: Removed the code snippets, since they were really long and ended up not being relevant Thanks again!
  5. jaredmitchell
    Yeah, that's how it's set up. I just only have experience with scripts for levels so far, so I was unfamiliar with the placement of entity scripts. Turns out, that worked! The map runs again now. Thank you very much.
  6. jaredmitchell
    I see. So what, exactly, is <myfilename> referring to? The .map file?
  7. jaredmitchell
    Hey, so a bit of an update on this! I just started to play around with getting a new entity in a test level so that I can start figuring this out. I wrote an entity def file, "tdm_weapon_tetherarrow.def", which shows up in editor and appeared in my map prior to me writing a new script for it. However, when I made a new script and tried to get my in-level tether arrow to connect to it via spawnargs, I started getting an error saying that the scriptobject couldn't be found, and the map wouldn't launch. I have a feeling this is related to the location of my "tdm_ammo_tetherarrow_small.script". So, where's the appropriate location to put the weapon script file? Does it need to be within a .pk4 like the others? Just in case, here's the entity with its spawnargs: And here's the error I get when trying to run the map: Thank you!
  8. jaredmitchell
    Thank you, Judith. I await further critique! You and nbohr1more seem to put a lot of emphasis on lighting, which I'm wanting to improve in. I'm aware of the key/fill/rim light setup, though that's for static compositions. Are there any resources on this topic that you could point me to?
  9. jaredmitchell
    I'm thankful for the attention I inadvertently gave my FM here. I'll respond here, but I'd prefer if future discussion of Nothing's Sacred took place in its own thread. I think this thread's topic of finding the community's level design shortcomings so that we can better them is interesting and important, so I don't want to distract from it (and I'm also worried about being perceived as "hijacking" the thread ). Yeah, I wasn't exactly following a set milestone schedule. I guess I'm used to a game dev's definition of beta, as opposed to what the community here (or gaming communities in general) would consider beta. This was also muddled by my sending the level-in-progress to my friends several times during development already before approaching the TDM community, so I guess I considered it somewhere between "Beta" and "Release" (often called "Release Candidate"). Uhhh, that's a good question. Given the lack of feedback I got initially, I did fix some things, but didn't really mention that in the initial thread (which I think I'll do now), such as adding a guard, removing most helmeted guards, and replacing a model that didn't show up properly in the .pk4. Now that I'm getting more feedback on decoration and spaces that should be more filled (mostly from nbohr1more), I might go back and fix that, but most feedback seems to focus on decoration. So, I guess I consider it finished, since I posted it on my portfolio site, but if you find a couple of things that would make it look better, I wouldn't be averse to fixing them.
  10. jaredmitchell
    Edited my post to include a link. Thanks for pointing that out. Is that why? I realized as I was releasing it that I hadn't placed it in the right area (since the beta testing forum is hidden).
  11. jaredmitchell
    I guess I should've been more transparent about what I'm trying to do here in the initial post: I'm interested in creating a "tether arrow", i.e. a rope arrow whose rope doesn't necessarily need to be vertical. To make this work, I think I'd need another entity (an "anchor point") for the player to tie the end of the rope onto, both for it to make sense in the world as well as to restrict the player from using it anywhere. Does this seem like it could be accomplished via scripting and .def files? Ah, I was not aware that the .def files contained some logic (as I haven't worked with them before). I'll try to familiarize myself with them- even if I ended up in C++, I'm guessing I'd need to write a .def file to get the arrow into the editor. Thought that might be the case. I'll keep that in mind in the future. Somewhat. I'm familiar with scripting for missions, and looked at some of the articles for coding when I first tried to figure out where to start. The general coding articles seemed like basic knowledge I had already encountered elsewhere ("Coding in the SDK", re: performance and debugging), and the other articles seemed too specific to help me get acclimated ("Adding new Cvars", "Adding Script Events to sys"). I didn't look at Doom 3-specific articles, either, because I figured that hypothetical "arrow" class I was looking for would be unique to TDM. Ah, I see. The logistics of that make it seem like more trouble than it's worth. :/
  12. jaredmitchell
    Hey guys! Sorry if this isn't in the appropriate place, but I don't see a coding-specific forum here (is it hidden?). So after my not terribly great first FM, I was interested in making a level centered around a couple of new systems the player could use, so that I could get more level design experience, as well as some experience working in a game engine with C++. My idea was to make a new type of arrow, so I started looking around TDM's codebase to find an "arrow" class or something similar that I could extend off of. Looking around the project, though, I started to realize that this class definition might not exist, or that arrows are implemented in some way I didn't anticipate. Would someone be able to point me in the right direction, please? Thank you very much!
  13. jaredmitchell
    Having released only one, not-terribly-well received FM, I know I'm not the most qualified to chime in here, but I really agree. What irks me most about a lot of levels here is how linear and constrained they are. One of the biggest appeals of Thief for me were the many paths that intertwined, giving players more options to approach an encounter (or circumvent it altogether). It's also worth remembering that one of the skills Thief tests players on is spatial navigation, so if you're asking players to follow a straight path, they're not being engaged on that level. That's not to say linear paths are never appropriate: the first level in Thief II really constricts the player through the use of locked doors to teach the player about certain obstacles. Later on, the player can obtain keys to open up previous areas, allowing the level to fold in on itself later. I attempted to do this with my level, but I don't really know how effective it was.
  14. jaredmitchell
    I'm guessing he's mostly considering foot and leg models. Some non-VR games have been utilizing these for the sake of immersion already (Outlast, Alien: Isolation and Thief: Deadly Shadows being three examples, if I remember correctly). It's not strictly necessary, but it's helpful, especially since TDM is supposed to be a simulation of being a thief. Until we get omni-directional treadmills and foot-mounted trackers, foot models are going to have to be animated regularly. Yes, TDM is open-source. Penumbra and its engine, HPL1, are as well, and have been since 2010.
  15. jaredmitchell
    Oh whoops, guess I didn't consider that. I'll work on changing that. I'm also guessing I should ask about access to this hidden forum. I'll get on that.
  16. jaredmitchell
    Yes, I've been having friends test as I go along, and have done so at several points. Is there a specific beta test forum? I guess I missed it.
  17. jaredmitchell
    Hello there! I'm putting the finishing touches on my first full fan mission, with the goal of putting it on my portfolio. Because I want this to be the best example of my work, could you guys give me some feedback on my current build? I want to finish this up soon, but still want to get one last round of critique in. So: Nothing's Sacred In this mission, the player is tasked with stealing a religious artifact from Baron Magnus, a devout Builder who has amassed his wealth from shipping. Magnus is keeping it somewhere in his manor, a former Builder church that he's repurposed into his estate. Some notes: I'm mainly looking for feedback on the environment and decoration. Art has been one of my weaker skills for a while, so I've spent the past couple months solely working on this aspect of the level so I can get some practice. For that matter, feedback on use of sound would be helpful as well. Design feedback is welcome, too, though at this stage major changes to the level layout would be a logistical nightmare. I'll gladly take advice, it's just that some of that might need to be put into the "For Next Time" folder. Please also keep in mind that this is supposed to be an easier level, with a fairly linear beginning that covers the basics before branching out further on (think the intro mission from Thief II). Download Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6PSlQNxhtKoRFFsSG9SNFpaNFU/view?usp=sharing Feel free to post your feedback below, or email me at thefakejaredmitchell [at] gmail [dot] com. Thank you very much!
  18. jaredmitchell
    Lots of good advice, Dragofer, thank you. That forum post you linked does seem helpful, especially because I found out a method I used to merge levels and 3D skyboxes in Hammer won't work with idTech's skybox camera. Because of the lighthouse, though, a lot of it isn't really applicable, I'm afraid. I've got a rotating light in the skybox, so the player would be able to tell if it was all just a texture. I'm using noshadows on all of these models, as well, so fortunately I don't need to worry about the shadowmesh issue. In terms of performance I actually seem to be doing just as well as before, maybe an average of 2-3 fps lower? I've had the skybox implemented for a while now with a rough terrain patch, so maybe that's why. Yes, kinda. The level takes place in a coastal manor that used to be a Hammer church. With the mountainous terrain and pine trees, it's starting to feel really Scandinavian, which I am more than fine with!
  19. jaredmitchell
    Oh, you can scale models? Feel like I should've found that out by now. And yes, I agree about using "noshadows". Thanks for the reminder, especially since I have a rotating light for a lighthouse at the other end. Thank you very much!
  20. jaredmitchell
    Hey there, guys. I'm currently trying to finish up my map, and the last thing I need to do is decorate my 3D skybox to look like a convincing forest. Since I had prior experience using these in the Hammer editor, I didn't think that what was available to use for this feature would be radically different in Radiant. The biggest issue I'm running into right now is a lack of models that are intended for use in the 3D skybox, trees being the most pressing need. I just wanted to double-check: are there any models made for this purpose that I'm not seeing in the directory? And if not, has anyone else found a good solution for this problem? I'm currently using patches to make miniature trees, but they look almost exactly like something a kindergartener would draw. Thank you very much!
  21. jaredmitchell
    Oh, uh, I solved it while you were posting, and that was part of it. So you were right! I poked around some more in the .pk4s and found the .mtr and .skin entries for this model. I was able to copy and paste them, then add the frob conditions. I was also unaware that it was using the bump and spec maps from the medium-sized model, so that might've been part of it. Thank you again, everybody!
  22. jaredmitchell
    Oh, I see, I was pointing to the .jpg file. I'l try that real quick...
  23. jaredmitchell
    Hey there, I've been making a map for a few months now, and am finishing up with polish before I can pass it off for critique. One thing I want to fix is making it so that an instance of the model the_hammer_small1.lwo can highlight when frobbed, as the goal of my map is to steal this particular item. I understand that this particular model wasn't intended as a loot item (as I had to make it an atdm:loot_broach entity), but I figured getting a highlight wouldn't be too much work. Several hours later, I'm ready to pull my hair out. I've managed to make a .mtr file: sk/the_hammer_small_highlight { metal diffusemap models/darkmod/props/textures/thehammer_small_bronze_d_ed { if ( parm11 > 0 ) blend add map models/darkmod/props/textures/thehammer_small_bronze_d_ed rgb 0.15 * parm11 } } As well as a .skin file, which is showing up in DarkRadiant: skin small_hammer_highlight { model models/darkmod/decorative/statues/the_hammer_small1.lwo sk/the_hammer_small_highlight models/darkmod/props/textures/thehammer_small_bronze_d_ed } However, the texture used in editor and the game isn't the bronze texture that I've specified, which makes me believe there's an issue with the .mtr file, either in its being read, or its syntax. Would someone be able to explain to me how to get this working? Much appreciated!
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