Frost_Salamander

Hi @stgatilov What I was looking for primarily is a code repository and also a collaboration platform. Google Drive or just plain storage don't give you that. As a mapper, something like this is precisely what I need: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/models/tree/main/darkmod/lights/non-extinguishable/streetlamps/streetlamp_with_signs As a consumer of It, it is: It is all in one place in a central, stable location (this is key) publicly available, viewable, and browsable it includes documentation about what it is I'm looking at I don't need an account, or need to understand how to use Git or any other oddity it has a 3D preview! It is discoverable: I don't have to download some zip file, extract it and load the files in some other program to see what is in there - it's all there in the browser I don't need to search a forum to find some link that may or may not work after someone decided to update/remove it. If something IS changed, there is always the version history to look at I can be notified of changes whenever someone updates it (we can do this with Discord or other methods) As a contributor, it is: version controlled, so I am confident my stuff will always be safe on a resilient cloud platform. Despite the many arguments and claims to the contrary, this is absolutely fine for binary files as well. I can see diffs and change history for text-based files I can see diffs for image files and model files I can update the content any time I like, and present it in a way that benefits the community (readmes, previews, code comments, examples, etc) Anyone with a Github account can contribute, even if they don't want to be added to the organization. They can fork the repository into their own account and do pull requests from there. No need to ask for permissions, etc. Even as a contributor, you don't even need to know how to use Git. You can add files and create pull requests using the UI if you want. As an administrator: as above, it is a resilient cloud platform where I can be confident the content will be safe it is easily managed by a community. You can delegate permissions to teams or individuals on individual repositories (this is why I did it as an organisation, not a single repository). See the current teams, or the docs: https://docs.github.com/en/organizations you have some control over the quality of the content. Using the pull-request model, you can review contributions and ensure they conform to some sort of standard or convention. I'm not suggesting some sort of stifling draconian controls, but the functionality is there for basic moderation. Unlimited storage. As I mentioned in the original post, individual file sizes can be up to 100 MB and repository size can be up to 10 GB. We can create an unlimited number of repositories. If one gets too large, you simply create another one. This can be mitigated somewhat by being organized about it (e.g. different repos for different texture types, etc). This is a total non-issue. It is not tied to someones individual account, like Google Drive. Sure, there are 2 of us that are admins right now, but anyone else is welcome to come on board to help manage it. If anyone gets 'hit by a bus', it is easy to take over. No need to transfer everything to some other account, etc. I'm glad to hear there is a plan to have a mirror for the TDM source code in Github. I am one of the people that would love to help contribute to that, but the whole SVN thing has put me off (like many, many others I've seen over the years). However I don't want to get into that debate about SVN vs. Git here, that's a different story and has been done to death here. However - there is no need to create a new organization just for that. I would strongly suggest we discuss this first. Why separate them? TDM is an open source project! Keep it all together. You mentioned you need multiple owners of the repositories. I have shown you can do that using the 'teams': https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/managing-access-to-your-organizations-repositories You can have a 'core TDM' team which has admin or write access to the TDM source repositories - and keep these permissions separate from the other repositories. It is not my intention at all to be the sole administrator of this - TDM is a community effort and there should be lots of people in the organisation, with multiple administrators. This is what Github organizations where designed for. All we need to is some volunteers, like any other community effort

@datiswousyeah that's just a non-frobable pouch, it's not loot. Not everything in a container needs to be something interactable. However, if you look closely there IS some loot in that room....

Yes the expert loot goal is probably a little high, but since it's optional I decided to leave it to keep the even numbers (3000/4000/5000). I also figured the loot-obsessive types would want to get all of it anyways

For models, there is also a built-in 3D previewer, you just need to include an .stl file. For example: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/models/blob/main/darkmod/lights/non-extinguishable/streetlamps/streetlamp_with_signs/lamp_sign.stl and also a diff-viewer, if anyone would find that useful: https://docs.github.com/en/github/managing-files-in-a-repository/3d-file-viewer#diffs

Well, there is also a scripts repo, and that is all I originally needed. Too many places to post stuff - I'll never get it right

FYI I wasn't sure what open source license to add to the repos, so I've just added the LICENSE.txt from the root folder of the TDM installation. If anyone thinks it should be anything different, please let me know.

I've also added a 'models' repository. Here's the first addition: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/models/tree/main/darkmod/containers/bucket_wood_vertical_handle

Hi @freyk yes this is the goal. Asking people to search the forums and wiki isn't ideal. The wiki is out of date and the forum search is terrible IMO (and I've seen plenty of others say the same). This is primarily targeted at mappers who want to be able to find and re-use things quickly and easily.

Hi all, I've created a new Github organisation to host any sort of assets people maybe want to share: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity A Github 'organisation' is a collection of separate git repositories that can store code snippets, assets (model files, textures, sound files, etc) or documentation. I know there is debate over the suitability of Git for binary files, but for small files and most things you'd use in a FM, it works totally fine. FYI the maximum file size for upload is 100 MB, and the maximum repository size is 10 GB. You don't need to know anything about Git to browse the repositories, or download files. You just need to be able to use a browser. I've created a repository for script snippets: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/scripts and one for models: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/models and one for prefabs: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/prefabs For models, it even has a built-in 3D viewer (just need to provide an .stl file). It won't show textures unfortunately, but you can switch between solid, wireframe and 'surface angle' views. Example: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/models/blob/main/darkmod/lights/non-extinguishable/streetlamps/streetlamp_with_signs/lamp_sign.stl The models and prefabs are accompanied by a .jpeg preview image that is displayed automatically in the readme file. Example: https://github.com/thedarkmodcommunity/models/tree/main/darkmod/lights/non-extinguishable/streetlamps/streetlamp_with_signs I did this to help solve the following problems: frustration with trying to locate existing code (searching through other FMs, searching the forums, having to ask) frustration with the frequently out-of-date wiki. There is some really great stuff on there but I would just like to be able to contribute and share in a central location without having to ask permission, or ask someone else to do it. hopefully people won't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again - they can just browse the repositories make updates easier - anyone with a Github account can create a pull request, or just send an admin the files they want added TO BE CLEAR: this is NOT intended to replace SVN, or the Wiki, or the forums, but just to provide a central place for sharing assets, primarily for mappers want to easily share what they've done, or borrow existing stuff without having to reinvent the wheel. So, if anyone wants to donate files, script snippets, whatever, please get in touch by replying, sending me a DM (here or on Discord), or by the 'normal' way and just create a pull request. Also, if anyone else want to volunteer to help maintain this, please get in touch as well. These people would just need to be able to create repositories (if needed), or review/merge pull requests.

The rest of the screenshots:

I am pleased to announce the release of our new fan mission, The Hare in the Snare: Part 1 Mission type: City Missions + Inn/Tavern Description: People are being abducted off the streets and a Watch Captain requires the services of a thief to help him find out why. Download link (v1.0.2-release): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HYvM_u56wDB16uIlb7qgS_q3P24V69MO/view?usp=sharing Credits: Mapping and original characters: @Frost_Salamander Story, readables, custom models, voices and cinematics: @Kerry000 Menu title track produced and mixed by @JackFarmer with selected gigagooga sound samples Beta testers: @Cambridge Spy @Zerg Rush @Amadeus @Acolytesix @Lzocast @wesp5 @nbohr1more @Kerry000 @ate0ate @Wellingtoncrab @prjames Additional thanks: @Dragofer, @nbohr1moreand @peter_spyfor technical help @Springheel for the modules and tutorials @kingsalfor allowing @Kerry000to abuse his manbeast everyone else on Discord and the TDM forums who offered assistance Requirements and notes: This mission requires TDM 2.09. Earlier versions will probably work but you might see one or two missing models. You may experience some FPS drops in some areas with lower-end hardware. Mid-range and above should be fine. If you have issues, I highly recommend you use shadow maps instead of stencil (settings -> advanced -> shadows implementation). It makes a big difference. For 'Hard' and 'Expert' the light gem sensitivity has been increased by '1' (meaning easier for AI to detect you). Screenshots:

and also, we're pretty much ready to release this FM. However the wiki says to PM people in this list to get it on the official servers, but it's just a missing page. Do I instead just upload to wherever and post that in the release thread, and someone will add it later?

I've tried to build in I18N support into my FM by running the perl script on it and putting all strings into a 'strings\fm\english.lang' file. I did this several weeks ago and it seemed to work fine. However we since changed all the readables and I wanted to run it again before release. But now when I run it I get this: c:\dm\I18N>perl I18N.pl --english hareinthesnare_v0.6-beta.pk4 I18N.pl v0.19 - The Dark Mod Fan Mission translation helper. Cannot read 'strings/english.lang': No such file or directory at I18N.pl line 1084. My .pk4 has a 'strings/fms/english.lang' file as mentioned - not sure why it's doing this? Also, the other thing I was never quite clear on is how this works for the readables. For things like inventory names, the entity will have something like '#str_20018' for the inv_name spawnarg, but I couldn't see anything like that for readables (or did I just miss it somehow)? Anyways, the way it is now I've got everything in english.lang and I can create the separate .pk4 for I18N, but it's missing the readables text (and there are quite a lot of readables in this FM). I'm not sure what I should do with this next to make sure I18N is fully supported?

OK cool - were portals involved? In my case, the light didn't leak unless a portal was opened (a window).

Hmm I had a screenshot from one of the beta testers for feedback, but they appear to have removed the image from their Google drive. Basically the issue is light bleeding through brushes when a portal opens. That is, the light rays reaching places they shouldn't. Dragofer mentioned those properties to me for the other problem I'm having with models showing up in the wrong visleaf (with showtris = 2), but I tried it and it didn't help. I think @Obsttorte is right though and that's due to the bounding box. @JackFarmer what was the exact problem you had that these properties solved for you?

@OGDAthe name of the candle entity I had the light issue with 'atdm:moveable_holder_small_plus_candle2'

I'll check tonight and let you know, as it's still in my mission because I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the problem. It's one of the basic candles in the holder with the ring on it.

Hey @Obsttorte I was just reading through this thread and saw this post you made about lights (that cast shadows) shining through brushwork. I saw this behaviour as well with candles, and was wondering if you ever found out why it happened? I know this post is ancient, but thought I was ask anyways EDIT: I read several pages after the post, and it didn't look like you found an answer (or at least didn't post about it if you did).

Is it possible to see the 'bounding box' in Dark Radiant? This is the first I've heard of such a thing. I guess then this is something that is sort of out of our control, and perhaps nothing to really worry too much about?

So I created a small test map and I can't reproduce it now either! But I've definitely had this problem, gone and moved the model, and that has fixed it. But I don't think it's as simple as I thought. Here are 2 screenshots from my current WIP mission where something is happening. In both cases, the model is outside of the current visleaf. I need to look closer tomorrow, but in the 2nd screenshot the model wall (to the right of the window) doesn't even appear to be touching the sealing at all, so I have no idea why it is showing up here. If I was wrong about what I said about the effects of models poking into sealing geometry then I apologize for spreading misinformation. If that's the case then I am even more puzzled about what is causing this. It's not an 'internal leak' either, as I am very familiar with those now (location entities wouldn't work and you'd see everything in the next visleaf, not just a single model).

What I meant by this is the following scenario: Say you use module walls on the inside of a house which is separated from the outside by a portalled window. If all the modules are touching the sealing geometry then they will be 'visible' in the outside visleaf if using 'r_showtris 2', even if the portal is closed. I had this in my first map and had to go back and fix a lot of them, along with loads of other models that were also sticking into the seals. It's not a big issue if you have a model or two, but whole rooms of module walls will cause all your indoor models to be 'visible' to the engine/renderer from other visleafs. I don't know if I'm using the correct terminology here, or if I even fully understand what I'm talking about, but I don't think this is a good thing for that to happen regardless

Hi thanks for the replies/comments. I guess my main issue with thick walls is when you go to join rooms using a doorframe or window frame model. Say you are using the 'door_frame_wood_96x48' model. It's 24 units thick, so if you have an 8 unit thick seal, plus 2 8 unit thick walls then the doorframe will be the same thickness as the walls and will look weird. If you use thinner walls (or make your own frames) I guess the issue goes away. It's even worse with the module walls because if you use them for both inside and outside and you have an 8 unit thick seal, things like window and door frames will absolutely NOT be wide enough unless you move them into the sealing geometry, which is a big no-no. It's still doable, but you have to use thinner seals (and mess around with smaller grid sizes) which conflicts with popular advice, and that's kind of where I got confused a little bit. I haven't quite figured out what works best for myself - maybe by the 3rd or 4th map I will have it down .

@Obsttorte(and anyone else) may I ask, when you use this approach what grid sizes (thickness) do you use for the detailing walls? Do you use 8 for the sealing brushes, and then something thinner for the walls? I'm kind of trying this approach for my second map, but the problem I keep having is if you use 8 + 8 the sealing + wall is too thick (especially if using the modules, which I love but am starting to find them too restrictive so using them less now). If you use a smaller one for walls, you end up with weird grid sizes all over the place. What do people find works best?

Doesn't this happen if the first thing you create in the map isn't worldspawn? I've done this a couple of times (being a n00b myself). I can't remember the reason why I kept doing it, but it might have been the idea that one of the first things you need to create is the ambient_world light (which is obviously an entity). I can't remember if one of the tutorials suggests this or not. Also, there is no troubleshooting entry for that exact error in the dmap section on the Wiki, which would be helpful to have.

Yes this could be it as there is one repeating structure that has angles in it. Okay, I'll assume it's the nature of the map and there is no issue. Thanks!