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.map 61.5M .proc 200M brushes 22362 patches 16507 (<- a you were saying...) entities 9357 # of patches is no doubt because in most cases I just copy/pasted the non-.ase func_static concoctions. So I'll do as you suggest and replace all of them with the corresponding .ase models and see how that works out. And as you said, models render better with fewer glitches. Following on @Geep reply I tried compressionator v4.1. I had the thing installed but forgot what it was! v4.1 is quite easy to use to batch convert .tga->.dds, but it adds a string of capital letters to the end of the original names and no way to change that behavior, and also capitalizes .DDS. I used a batch renamer (metamorphose) to get the names I wanted. However, the newly compressed .dds (DXT1) in the env folder couldn't be found or read by TDM, and sad to say but it makes quite a difference losing all those fake window reflections. A loss of vitality. Perhaps like .dds textures, .dds env files need to be in another directory?

Springheel's prefab facades, the one on the right fitted out as a tavern, as per Springheel's sign outside. My instinct when looking at this screenshot is to replace the 'lit' widows in the backmost prefab with ones more subtle, that change in intensity as the player moves around.

The TDM original is in the middle.

A 200MB .proc file in maps. In models there's 159MB of TDM models scaled, 81MB made by me. I might be able to eliminate some from the 81MB batch. There's no way I'm going to learn from scratch how to use Maya or Blender. If I need a model I export an .ase from DR. I made a lot of alpha/translucent textures, for lampshades, windows, vases and so on. Since I don't know how to combine an alpha with a translucent in the same material definition I overlay the two. I might be able to save a few bytes by checking for duplicate .tga/.dds from before I learned how to refer to the same ones from multiple definitions (this IS my first FM and has there's no way I'll get rid of all the newbie messes made while learning. Like everyone, I learn as I go.)

OK, the FM won't be released.

Sigh. Then I wonder why you would ask if I made the new textures etc. myself? Of course I, in the widest sense, made the new stuff myself. But that doesn't mean I used "all new textures, sounds and models". I interpreted the "all new" to mean I built a bloody TC. The few new sounds are all downloads from freesound. I didn't make them. But they aren't stock. The "new" models are mostly either resized stock or are exact copies of existing models made in DR so I could retexture and add onto them etc., plus some stuff I made into models because as simple DR func_statics they were problematic and -- I don't quite know why -- as models the problems vanished. Copying those lamp etc. models was a great way to learn how to use patches, to learn about how objects are sized and so on, and gave me an unforeseen insight into all the deep work that must have gone into figuring it out and putting it together from scratch. As I said, it has been my intention to capture an impression of the existing TDM universe. If a regular TDM player drops in and goes wtf? this isn't TDM, so what is it? Then I didn't do what I wanted to do. Anyhow, anyone wandering down Springheel Lane, past the intolerable Builders, and entering Spooks' tavern will recognize the vibe.

No. A few things I did were global, like handling windows, light fixtures, transparencies esp., but hopefully the impact is subtle. If not, I did it badly. My intent has been to make an FM that dovetails in with the TDM universe. If it doesn't then I won't release it.

Yes. Damn. It doesn't break down as I thought it would: dds : 159MB, 399 textures env : 108MB, 144 textures, all .tga Does anyone know of a good simple batch convertor .tga->.dds? maps : 432MB models : 242MB (I was surprised by this) (eta: scaled models are 160MB) sound : 84MB textures : 476MB. These have been near 100% culled of unused ones and seems to be entirely _ed.jpg and _local.tga files the rest : 83MB Total = 1,584MB _____________ and since I've got your attention @Dragofer, do you (or anyone reading this) happen to know whether the authors of the original core model assets are listed somewhere? I've done a lot of copying of stuff like gaslight4.lwo, standing_oil_lamp.lwo, etc, into brush/patch duplicates that I retexture and use as base, so where the hard work was already done. I'd like to credit the creators. Somehow I got the impression that you might be one of them.

After the tedium of mind-numbingly endless playthroughs I "finished" my work in progress and am studying up on how to package it. The packagings, loading screens and briefings etc. of some of the new missions are daunting in their artistry. I'm not going to try for that! Problems with the FM in its current state: 1. Low fps in some places will cause premature hair loss and possible heart attacks in high-fps junkies. 2. The FM currently weighs in at approx. 1.70 GB. I can whittle that down some, but not much. 3. The FM requires TDM v2.10 to load. 9350 entities.

Yes, the outline on 3 doesn't handle alpha meshes well. I like both 1 and 2 with a slight preference for 2. I've been working/playtesting my WIP intensively with outlines 1 or 2 on. IMO both are an improvement over the no-outline version and neither are more immersion breaking than with no-outline. I'll also be happy to see the last of that mandatory frob-highlight script that I have to write into every material just in case I use it on a frobable.

This version works for me, too - thank you

I'd be happy to join the crowd.

This portcullis is made with brushes only, no patches. You can see that the instance on the left where I made the brushes into an atdm:mover_door_sliding has broken geometry with seams in the spikes. The instance on the right follows AluminumHaste's advice to export as an ASE model, then import the model and change the properties from func_static to atdm:mover_door_sliding, then adding in all the required spawnargs (in my case: transparent /1 (since there's a visportal there), frobable /1, locked /1, translate /0 0 -176, used by whatever_key, snd_open /silence, snd_closed /silence, snd_move /door_metal01_move, ...). The geometry is clean on the model.

What I'd do is replace the patches with brushes. I've found that cylinders in particular tend to show seams after any rotation and quite often with no rotation at all, and that trying to fix this by fiddling around eliminating intersections, manipulating vertices, etc. etc., just wastes time causing endless frustration.

I've been playing TDM quite intensely for the last little while, going through my own WIP and playing the Hidden Hands series and haven't seen any problems with the new geometric frob outlines. I use preset 2, the soft outline, which appears more finished. I rejected preset 3, the image based preset, because my WIP has a lot of frobable 'grill' type transparent shaders where the outline fills the holes with white, not allowing for a peek thru'. Thanks stgatilov. You guys are doing an awesome job.

I've been playing the HH series in order from Initiation and just finished #3, HH TLC. Wow. The series was great from the start and got better and better, tighter and tighter with TLC being a tour de force, a masterpiece right up there at top level of my gaming experience. Way to go JackFarmer and the crew that helped flesh it out. I've now started The Anomoly.

The entryways need visportals too, else it's still just one area.

Sometimes - quite often in fact - when I KO an AI that I've sat in a chair or bench the AI will be killed. Since I've set "no kills" in objectives, this loses the game through no fault of the player. I've been managing this problem by reconfigure chairs (usually by giving more space so the AI isn't caught in geometry and bounced around) or simply eliminating the sitting entirely. A problem is that such fixes aren't 100% reliable. In some cases an AI that is usually just knocked out will die instead. I can't figure a way to predict the problem or counter it. My guess is that there isn't an absolute fix for this but I wonder how other mappers handle the problem.

I think it was a remoteAdmin trojan thing that wrote a loginscript to the registry. I've been on the net since before Mosaic browser blew everyone away and have never been hacked. At first taking internet security quite seriously I then got very lax, sleepy, not accounting for how the net was rapidly taking over the world, shopping, banking, stuff like docusign, everything. I left myself wide open.

Thanks Dragofer. So I'll dedicate my next editing sessions to mastering the conversation system - using dummy files when necessary. There're many reasons why I'm reluctant to call for voice volunteers. Voice acting is intense work, a lot to ask for. It's my first FM and I wouldn't be comfortable doing that until some experienced mapper has actually looked at it, delivered a critique and maybe pointed out any fixes that might be needed first (I don't mean like z-fighting fixes etc., but game-flow fixes that I might be blind to.) There're other reasons but that's the major one. I haven't earned the right to make such a request, yet. ps. and damn but some ... succeeded in hacking my laptop and PC, grabbing all my passwords including to my bank. Luckily I was online posting the above note to the TDM forum etc. when it happened so quickly caught on and started shutting things down. They did come close to breaking into my bank acc't tho'. Kinda hair raising..

It seems like I'm at the finishing stages of my first WIP. I have to add an overriding caveat that in the end I might not think the mission should be released at all. It's a large mission - probably too large to be a first mission, regardless of how "done" it might appear on the surface. The reason: I discovered how, as missions grow in size, so also they grow in not only technical complexity, which at least can be handled by perseverance and a bit of luck haywiring parts together, but also in the need for developing depth, as in characterization, cohesion, etc., so that it becomes more interesting rather than less as the mission is played through. And that's where I'm hitting a wall. All the architecture, objectives, pathing, lighting etc. is done. I'm still working on ambient sound. There are no conversations. I'm unable to supply them. In lieu of conversations I've been using different light/sound effects etc. to enhance the moments of ai/player interaction where conversations are usually found. This works to a significant degree. The problem is that the AI, on whatever path it's at, is indifferent. I would like at least as much control of AI as required to get it to -->STFU<-- while the events are happening, then to resume its idle banter. I've tried using S/R to change spawnarg def_vocal_set from e.g. atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_civilian_01 to atdm:ai_vocal_set_mute, then back again, but I can't get it to work. I don't know how to write a script that'll do such a thing - and can find no info on that particular. Changing def_vocal_set works on an AI if I set the spawnarg permanently at game start. But I can't figure out how to swap the spawnarg in game. I've tried calling a fake conversation with a atdm:conversation_info and the actors all told to WaitSeconds NN, hoping that would shut them up. That didn't work. So OK, enough complaining- I need help. Just pointers to any detailed info on how to do this. How to even begin to do this. Hopefully with none of the critical steps left out because "everyone should already know...". Because I confess: I'm too fucking stupid to know any such thing.

Put an empty .txt file in your darkmod root directory and rename it autocommands.cfg autocommands.cfg serves the same function as autoexec.cfg - console commands put in there will automatically execute on loading, e.g bind F1 toggle r_showportals 1 r_frobIgnoreDepth = "0" If it's suddenly missing, somehow the file got messed with since last good load map. Perhaps reinstall the game in case other things got messed with.

That appears to be models/mechanical/gears/gear_metal_fancy.ase which sandwiches the model between two square patches that have the spoke pattern texture. Also, in my WIP I struggle with framerates and I get much the same results as you, tho' I use the TDM frame rate counter which bounces around a lot and doesn't do decimals. There's virtually zero difference in fps between 1/0 on the showdepth hack, and I REALLY DO like the outline with r_frobIgnoreDepth = "0"

I use DR. I suppose some existing missions put buttons under desk tops, etc, to hide them. If not, then it wouldn't be a problem. I'm not going thru' them all for you. Also, you asked, specifically: "What are the steps for me to reproduce?"

put a "secret" switch under a desk.