mmij
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Posts posted by mmij
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Found the solution to the issue by accident. One or more of my libraries were outdated/corrupted (not sure which, moxy didn't say), did a system update and restart. Now it works.
I have a strange error that I never had before.
I can set a brush to a function static and make a perfectly standard door. But if I try to make a brush into a sliding door (using either the premade default or modifying the parameters of a default door) then the door goes +X+Y+Z whenever it's opened. This doesn't change if the tranlation direction is set to a different value.I've tried this on a couple different maps, I don't know what to make of it, and I have no clue about where to start.Please help.DarkRadiant 2.5.0x64
TDM 2.08
Description: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia
5.4.0-56-generic #62~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 24 10:07:50 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2020 @ 2.90GH -
Here's a weird one.
I can make a brush into a standard mover door and it works. But if I try to make a brush into a funcstatic door that translates, it shoots off (literally at high speeds) towards +x+y and sometimes also +z.
I'm baffled. I followed the tutorials on Wiki just in case I'm missing something, but it's so simple, it appears I'm not.
Has anyone else ever seen this? -
Yeah, it's still blocked. You gotta love communism! Of course socialist Russia is just as bad (I was there for three years from 2015 and on) for doing this.
But aside from things live Voice of America, BBC, and AP News--sites you'd expect--they also block the oddest ones as well.
I noticed that for bulletin boards and forums, it just takes one comment being noticed and disliked, and then BAM! The whole site is blocked.
So I guess that's what happened here. It just caught me by surprise.
(Who is the rapscallion who voiced slanderous commentary and caused issue `tween TDM and an ASEAN nation? Stand forth, ye braggart!)
Was just sent this article:Vietnam Threatens to Shut Down Facebook in the country because it has failed to block more political content on its website, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified senior company official.
Facebook agreed to step up censorship of anti-government posts in April, the official said, according to Reuters.
The government in August made another request for the company to block content critical of the state, it said.
“Over the past few months, we’ve faced additional pressure from the government to restrict more content,” Facebook said in an email statement. “However, we will do everything we can to ensure that our services remain available so people can continue to express themselves.”
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By John Boudreau
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Oddest thing happened. For some reason, I can't access the forum or the Wiki anymore--and this is only for things related to TDM.
I tried opening in another browser, no go. Attempted thru a VPN, nothing. Only thing that works is on my mobile or by using Tor. (This just started sometime earlier this week. )
I'm wondering if it's because I'm in Vietnam, they do block a lot of sites and addresses--sometimes randomly.Has anyone else had weirdness like this before?
-mmijimm
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Nice mission and good story. I have a framerate issue too, a lot of shaking and jerkiness.
I'm stuck:SpoilerThe elemental gate won't open. Are there more than two switches (one by the flame jets, and the other directly across the roo from it) that open the gate?
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I get the feeling there's a belief that creating a structured tool means enforcing strict rules and badgering people into compliance. But that's the opposite of what was proposed. I think the term 'peer review' sent some people into thesis-defense flashbacks.
Whether it's for a history, geography, or even file naming conventions, structure is a tool that you can pick up and use, or leave lying on the bench. As it has been stated, not all mappers might want to use a tool or participate in its creation. That's fine.
So I'd like to put something back on track. The question is not what do you think of the idea of creating the tool; the question is what do you think about the proposed method for creating the tool?
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52 minutes ago, thebigh said:
As long as this project doesn't end up putting vetoes on fan missions for contradicting canon, or compels authors to flood their maps with infodumps, I'm happy to help.
Don't worry it won't if people behave, and I think in this forum people will. That was specified in the preamble of the SOP outline.
1 hour ago, demagogue said:[Page 2]
October 21stThe shard seemeth to be but a simple piece of metal
For text like this, where there is only a day and month, there's not really much that's applicable to a world timeline unless this same information has been used by parallel creators in other missions. From what's posted here, it seems pretty nonessential to the initial project.
______________________________________Now Onward
To start a histrorical timeline, you first need the large canonical events to place as markers. After that smaller common events can be placed. Histories for each individual mission are not really applicable unless you're trying to make a "Grimm's Thief Tales."
What I proposed is like a working storyboard. (If you're not familiar with video/animation, it's all the vital scenes and events posted in chronological/filming order.)
The base is done first, then after that's complete, we can go into finer detail.Below is the fastest and most effective way to do this.
1. Instead of searching through the scripts... ask creators to signify what missions they have created containing valuable historic information of the first order. This also includes any snippets they added to the Wiki. (Another mess for another day.) If missions no longer have an active creator to contact, then those will need to be gone through individually.2. Since the locations for first order information is known, it can begin to be collated. Creators can be contacted for needed clarification.
3. This data is compiled into a major event timeline.
4. Creators need to review it and indicate where they roughly feel their minor histories need to be in the timeline.
5. Information is reviewed. It needs to be analysed for logic, paradoxes, overlaps, and other flaws.
6. Repeat the same process with minor historical data as needed.
Number One is the most vital part of accomplishing this without undue delay. Everyone's busy, so the longer the process, the more people will drop out of it.
So what is the most effective way, outside of a forum post, to contact all active builders/creators? -
In a collaborative story, there has to be a trade-off. You and your partner agree to allow leeway in one area by putting some firmer measures in another.
What the SOP proposes is to make a map and history from cenus. Everyone has a say, and the results would be freedom within a clarified and adaptive structure --not a rigid one.
One problem with a creative group endeavor is that people don't always know when they're pushing the envelope too far. People on the forum want their projects to be DARKMOD PROJECTS. They like to be creative and innovative, but they also don't want to end up accidentally wandering off into My Little Pony vs Corbin. (I exaggerate only for levity, but I'm sure you understand my drift.)
If we have guidelines that are changeable and agreeable to players and creators, then the players know what to expect, and the creators don't have to spend so much time considering if a readable or actionable is going to confuse or alienate a player who knows their canon.
Sometimes you need to organize to make chaos easier. -
(After reading everything, I wanted to put in my two-cents and see how everyone feels about structuring a procedure for the history and geography.)
Outline for SOP'ing Historical and Geographical Records
This idea we're discussing is something that has been scratching around my brain like a spider for sometime.
I've only been playing for a few months, and recently I've been putting together a mission for submission, but I have been bothered by an undefined vagueness in the history and geography of the DarkMod universe.
I looked at the articles that were linked in the previous posts and there is a lot of good food for thought. But the goals commercial games have for a backstory don't really work with TDM.
When a commercial company produces a game, they have precise control over the whole storyline and universe. They define and design every nuance to fit. What we have is a herd of cool, creative cats all working on the same canvas, some on the front, some on the sides or back, but very few of them seeing all aspects as one work.
Please review and provide your opinion.
NOTE: For the proposed SOP, the term "peer review" is defined and used here as a voluntary, consensual disclosure of information to and between other members of TDM Forum. It does not imply any loss of independence, intellectual rights, or creative concerns for submitting party who chooses to submit to a peer review. The submitting party has no obligation to make any changes relating to any form of feedback generated during a peer review.
Other than through polite suggestion, parties that perform a peer review have no right to use —or attempt to us— coercion, force, or by any means try cause the submitting party to change their design or any of their ideas. Any suggestion than is rejected by the submitting party is not allowed to be repeatedly suggested, or pushed, by parties involved in the peer review.
For approval of any item to become canonical, there must be an agreement by the non-abstaining, majority members of the active forum members.
Consensual Continuities vs Strict Canonical Timelines
An astronomical calendar, sequencing all the major and minor events in the universe, won't work well for a creative, free-for-all of activity. A calendar-based system will only work well for when people are referencing larger events in the timeline like wars, revolutions, and significant personages —the big milestones.
It's better to detail modern events similar to shaggy-dog stories between beers at the local pub: "This happened before Joe's story, but at the same time as Anne's, only it was in Norfolk, not Italy…" Modern history should be mainly anecdotal. This will keep us within a flexible framework of good lore, but also provide enough structure to base strong connections between events.
Dark Continents, Empirical Empires, and Mysterious Metropoleis
Regarding a map of the world, there has already been some confusion as to locations and coastal outlines. We don't want or need to define all borders, but if a player goes South, they should at least know what will be in that direction and in what order. There needs to be some "loose" geography for better creativity.
The technology of the universe has both sail and flying ships. That implies a semi-effective mapping system for the coastlines and near the mountain masses. We also have complex machinery that indicates a standard rule of measurement, meaning that inland surveying is accurate withing areas controlled by ruling governments. Any area inside an empire or along its coasts should be treated with more precision than somewhere out in the boondocks of "Thar' be dragons."
Mapping the cities themselves is a really bad idea. This would put a tight stranglehold on a creator's ability to make missions effectively. They would spend so much time revamping and patching their visions and goals in order to match a predefined landscape, that the soul and vibrancy of their creation would be lost. Mapping the general outline of oblasts is fine, but leave the cities to mutate and be fickle within their walls.
How to Build Harmonious Chronology
Each contributor should make their own timeline of only their missions. All events that affect anything larger than a small, localized area must have a specific date, area of consequence, projected longevity of the effect, and list all affected entities. These timelines will be subject to peer review. Any other historical occurrences that they wish to include must be clearly noted as such and will be subject to peer review.
Basic Guidelines
The majority of the timeline should be based on a common oral history, and missions should use major historical events as a reference only when it's absolutely necessary for a story. Historical missions will need these references primarily, and they must be given priority for the use of major events in order to avoid possible paradoxes.
If a mission event could affect the timeline or conflict with an coinciding event, the story should be submitted for peer review and necessary editing.
Because many missions are not outright declared as occurring on a specific date, a standard mission only needs to be viewed as happening sometime in the modern era. We will define the modern era to be approximately a span of 30 to 35 years, plus and minus the character's age. This gives a total range of 60 to 70 years of events that could influence the player.
This span of time also allows for a wide range of minor and major technological and civic change without drastically changing the atmosphere between mission storylines. Architectural styles and events inside of this area will have plenty of room for change without causing disruption to the lore.
To help with continuity between created works, newspapers and other publications (even diaries) don't need anything beyond the day and month noted unless it's absolutely essential for the story.
Creating Cartography by Committee
The primary map should be of modern times. The map must include every important geographical feature that they either use regularly or is shared by other creators. Single mission features should be annotated as such, and will be subject to peer review.
If a map is for a historical mission, then an appropriate historical map also needs to be made. These need to be separate maps, not annotations on a modern map, and should follow the same guidelines as the primary map.
Mapping Guidelines: Human Geography
Each map needs to have these unnatural features: controlled borders; areas of influence (nomadic or indigenous people's territories, unincorporated areas, etc.); cities and towns; roads, trade routes, and other paths of travel (to include sea and air routes); main ports; notable inns and villages; mines, prisons, outposts, etc. If it's man-made, mark it.
Mapping Guidelines: Mapping Beliefs and Architectural Influences
Beliefs are important for lore construction. Everyone needs to know the areas that are influenced by different belief structures. Is an area Builder, Pagan, Agnostic, what? These sectors can overlap. Your main sectors will be up to peer review, but because beliefs are generally unbound, there can always be influence found as a minority in any area.
Architecture sometimes changes drastically in a inside a homogenous area. A mapper is always free to use whichever style they want, but there should be some evidence of the architectural source. A Builder outpost doesn't match the confines of a Pagan village unless there was some event that caused its inclusion.
If a contrast like the example above exists and it is a major feature outside of the single mission, then the creator needs to mark on a timeline when this occurred and annotate how it happened. (See: How to Build Harmonious Chronology)
Mapping Guidelines, Natural Geography
Each map needs to have these natural features: a rough coastal outline; major bodies of water (nothing smaller than a Great Lake unless it's utilized); mountains and valleys; rivers, swamps, and bogs; cave systems; forests, etc. Other features may be added upon peer review. Most of the area should be unused, allow plenty of room for growth and imagineering.
The degree of mapping will vary depending on how close it is to civilization. Features closer to civilizations that use a metered rule will have more precise measurements predominately along trade routes, around its ports and other shoreside structures, and in the vicinity of any habitation. Denizens outside the city, i.e. Pagans, will have less detailed mapping around there habitual areas. An indigenous village can be defined as being somewhere within a one or two-days travel of the location on the map.
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On a brush there is a different format:
( 0 0 1 -8 ) ( ( 0.0078125 0 0 ) ( 0 0.0078125 0 ) ) "textures/common/caulk" 0 0 0
Again, some numbers I think have to do with texture, but I have no idea what to do with them.
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Hello. I know I'm reviving an old topic, but could someone help me out. I want to make several patches by computation for a project. I've been doing my homework, but I don't want to guess at this point.
When I open the map file and look at an existing patch, inside a set of parentheses I see the xyz coordinates followed by two more places. What are these places and what do they affect? I think it might be something with the texture, but I'm not 100% on that. My experimentation is not satisying me.patchDef2
{
"textures/common/caulk"
( 3 3 0 0 0 ) <---This is patch size, 3x3, but I'm not sure of the trailing digits either.
(
( ( 16 0 6 0 0 ) ( 16 4 6 0 -0.03125 ) ( 16 8 6 0 -0.0625 ) ) <---Texture orientation maybe? But how do you align it properly?
( ( 20 0 6 0.03125 0 ) ( 20 4 6 0.03125 -0.03125 ) ( 20 8 6 0.03125 -0.0625 ) )
( ( 24 0 6 0.0625 0 ) ( 24 4 6 0.0625 -0.03125 ) ( 24 8 6 0.0625 -0.0625 ) )
) -
Ignore this. Me dumb. Not can read. I stupid.
Hi. I see that the last post on this was in 2014. Will this patch still work with v2.08/64? Is anyone using this now?I've been trying to figure out how to split and cut holes in patches, this looks like it can do the splitting part.Sidenote: I'm on Linux. Under /home/me/.darkradiant there is not a folder for scripts. Do I have to make one? (I installed DR from the package manager.) -
I can try. I've only been able to do it less than 10 times. That's a few shots out of A LOT of attempts, but it does work. (I used no_target and just kept reloading the game when I ran out of "volunteers".)
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I found this yesterday, it's really a difficult bug to reproduce due to the timing, but if you shoot a broadhead it can instant kill through armor. The trick is to time the shot so that the arrow has just enough power to launch, but no more.
You know how when you are holding the attack button, the bow comes out and you begin to draw? If you release too soon, you put the bow away. But if you time the shot exactly after that, then the arrow flies slowly, makes a strange wooshing sound. If your timing is off a little, it just wooshes, but it's a nice woosh. If you have it timed perfectly, it makes the sound and will penetrate right through heavy armor. Sometimes even a knee or elbow shot kills.It's the Goldeneye golden gun!
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Compared to the ultra-violence that people are complaining about, yes.
I'm ex-military, among other things, and I don't have an issue with the murder/raider themes. These follow the rules of storytelling.
But when we're talking about dragging an NPC/player under a car with points for distance, or shooting a recently "loved" prostitute in the head to avoid payment, then I think we're talking about excessive violence and poor thought.
More John Wayne, less Natural Born Killers.
Mainly, I would like to see TDM more popular. It's a great game. There's wonderful stories, nice graphics, and it's thought provoking. Teens to adults looking for something different would love this, if they knew. Plus, with DarkRadiant, it's a great way to teach game creation (a real job), architecture, physical security (yes, I know that's sorta reaching), geometry and trig... a lot of things.-
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Not something to read before you go in your local bank though. Your eye movements will make the guards twitchy!
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This thought came trickling through my head when I was contemplating educational games, and I wondered: This is a low-violence, imaginative, and stimulative game. There should be more people (mainly parents) interested in this game. How many of them know about this as an alternative to the genres they dislike?
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A Burglar's Guide to the City, by George Manaugh
I'm readng this book right now. I think it's pretty interesting considering the game we play and mod.
It's about how architecture is used by criminals and how they view walls and doors differently than norms.
The author is an architect himself, and his interviews are with law enforcment officers and reformed (if retired counts as reformed) thieves.
It's worth a quick peek.Here's the Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22237142-a-burglar-s-guide-to-the-city
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I was pondering something earlier this week. They're just some academic questions that came to mind, and they have left me quite curious.
1) How many players (outside of the people active in the forum) are there of Darkmod?
A) How many inside the forum?
2) And who else aside from TDM modders use DarkRadiant?
A) What is their use of it?
A.1-2) I believe DR might also be used by Doomers[1], and if this is true, how many[2]?_B) How many active modders of TDM and of other softwares are there?
Still pondering,
mmijPS. I hate these [insert seven-word, obscene English intensifier] emojis that keep replacing typed material. Can we shoot the program and kill it forever?
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Dragofer,
I completely understand what you're saying. I've dealt with problems that fit this profile before, it is most assuredly a work of gigantic proportion and has myriad complexities to consider. And I love what everyone did to build this wonderful map and write these delightful missions.
One thing that can be done to make things easier is modularization of the textures. The architecture throughout the game follows a similar style, so that is not something to be too concerned about in a build. So if the map is laid out by what will be natural or planned city growth, then it's mainly just selecting what textures to place on roads and facades of buildings that will fit an area's theme.
I believe the routes through the city are fine, it just gets a little disorienting for the above mentioned reason. I played for most a day and night (much to my wife's dismay), and I really enjoyed running around and exploring. I even took the targeting off for a while just so I could bebop around and have fun without Builder interference. Some of it reminded me of the Dragon Temple near Nakon Pathom and the Golden Mountain in Bangkok.
(If you ever want inspiration for something to build with verticals and unique subterranes, look at some of the Buddhist temples in Thailand.)-
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- Popular Post
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Congratulations on putting together this epic-scale map with some interesting and frustratingly, fun missions. I can tell a lot of work went into it from many different people.
I enjoyed the main storyline, the idea of the player being more than just a simple thief. And how you can choose the method of exacting revenge on the villain makes it more than just a Mario World level —collect coins, free the princess... Oops! She's in another castle.
And as much as I enjoyed the missions, I do feel the need to share my critic of the map.
Humans build cities based on a geometry for planned growth or asymmetrically for natural growth. This map uses neither and is difficult to navigate. All the buildings have near identical exteriors in the dim light, there are no landmarks to reference. And the street signs are dark placards sitting in the dark, of limited use on the ground, but definitely not helpful if you've gone vertical.
Another issue with the mapping is that, because of the hodgepodge of structures, there are many areas where you can literally walk on air (Hill Street is a good example), or get pushed sideways during a jump by an invisible wall. The latter is a feature found throughout the map. I have no suggestions on how to fix this other than through a walkthrough in Dark Radiant.
But about the layout of the city, I do have a suggestion. It's based on my past work within government public works. And I give it as advice, to be regarded or disregarded —not for me to be a know-it-all or an attacker. I know a ton of work went into this project.
Any building that was constructed by the government, a church, or wealthier faction should be part of a geometry. It can be part of a grid —polar or Cartesian— a militant triangle, star, diamond, etc. (as long as it's pointy), or your choice of polygon. Poorer areas, or places where the sprawl has grown with the city's population, are normally going to be like tree branches or rivers. The passageways flow around larger buildings (connecting to but not overpowering geometric ones) and natural formations.
So for this map, the area around the church, the clock tower, and all major buildings housing the wealthy or government services (electrical and water centers) should be on a geometric pattern. This includes the verticals. The pipes and lines should radiate out in the same pattern as the ground-level roads.
The "sprawl" is not random. There is a pattern to how sprawls develop, and often it grows like a tree. main branch of traffic forms, and the smaller branches bud out after that. If the sprawl is growing out of decay, the original large structures will look more like rocks in a river if you take a bird's-eye view.
In areas where geometrical growth meets asymmetrical growth, in a newer city (only a couple hundred years old) you often find its a no-man's zone. There's not really any established business or housing from either side that seems to be permanent. It's in flux. Older cities will still maintain the line, but there is a mix of well and poorly funded architecture.
Two of the biggies for navigation are the facades and the roads. In an area around a well-funded, high-profile project such as a church, the church will decide the look of the area. If its design is sedate and dark, many of the major structures in the neighborhood will to reflect that. And the road, which is normally funded by the builder, will be uniform in that area and wider than those found elsewhere.
So around our theoretical church, that's in an older city, the buildings should show signs of having started out from the same designer. The roads should all be the same material and wide enough for high traffic or parades.
A more recently built clock tower nearby our church will have it's own sycophantic buildings, but in better condition, and its own unique, wide pavements. If the structures' properties meet, then there is a distinct border. More often than not though, there is an intermediate section of sprawl that connects the two areas. Where sprawl sits closely between two properties, it leans more towards one design or the other.
This is not really important for smaller maps. Smaller maps are tiny sections of larger geometry or asymmetric growth and can be treated independently. There are fewer high-level patterns to consider, and the above topics won't affect a player's run. But on a large map such as this one, consideration to city planning and growth can drastically increase a player's ability to navigate.
One last note. This advice is given based the growth of a city considering material wealth only. Vying political factions and wars will change the footprint of various parts of a city in different ways than I described above. Asymmetric and geometric patterns will still arise, but density and direction will be different.
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I solved the problem the old-fashioned way, I went back to zero. I wiped the whole project, redid the files structure back to the original way I had it, and re-built the map. Now it works.
Either I had a system glitch, or I just got myself stuck in a loop of erroneous actions.
Thank you for the advice and the video link.
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I'm also having the problem of textures not being found. I've been reading and messing with this for a week before bothering the community, but I'm stumped.
I have what I believe to be the correct file structure, the materials file looks correct, but whether I use TGA or DDS images, I have either a black brush or a blue 'no shader', respectively. The only thing visible is `oh_ed.jpg' in DarkRadiant.
My images are being processed through Gimp. I am using mipmaps, I've tried dxt1 and dxt3, no RLE, origin is bottom left, they are to the power of 2, etc.
The normalmap is visible if I use the DDS (but there's no diffuse image), and if I uncomment the DDS in order to force TGA, then the brush shows up flat-black in the game and DR's full-light view.
There is always a warning or two about missing images no matter what I try when I run dmap, eg: WARNING:Couldn't load image: textures/darkmod/map_specific/oh/oh
On a sidenote: When it's said to put a copy of the textures in the main Darkmod folder, I've tried putting the textures in as a PK4. 'tdm_textures_oh.pk4' contains:darkmod
└── map_specific
└── oh
├── oh_ed.jpg
└── oh_local.tga-or, another attempt-
├── dds
│ └── darkmod
│ └── map_specific
│ └── textures
│ └── oh
│ └── oh.dds
└── textures
└── darkmod
└── map_specific
└── oh
├── oh_ed.jpg
└── oh_local.tgaI even tried a PK4 that included the materials file.
What is wrong and what is correct?
Linux Mint 4.15.0-99 x86_64
DarkRadiant 2.5.0 X64
Darkmod 2.07/32 -
I've eliminated a bunch of stuff from the map to see if I could figure out the cause, but no luck. Here is the map file with the creatures we have spoken of.
There's three of them in that pose, so it gets interesting when they begin greeting one another.Originally it was every AI, but now it only seems to be these wenches. I had a couple nnoblemen that appeared contorted, but I could not make it reproductable. Horses were fine, a couple guards looked a little weird, but that went away.
The attached map is a wreck, but it went from a work in progress to an experiment quickly; don't mind the mess.
Newbie DarkRadiant Questions
in TDM Editors Guild
Posted
I have been hitting my head on this for days. I can't get the speaker to play any sound (custom sounds or TDM standalone sounds) using either right-click "create speaker" or "create entity".
I made a sndshd file with my custom sound and a text file with the sound as a wav and ogg --neither worked. So I made a speaker using the create speaker, and still have no sounds. My debugging info says that the default cannot be found.
Any ideas, please?
I'm runing DarkRadiant 2.9 on Linux Mint x64 and TDM 2.8
mmij-nosound.txt