[Dark Mod Pre-Beta Download links and discussion.]

We've been hearing this a lot, despite that the movement speeds were carefully timed to match Thief. There's been some speculation that either people aren't aren't aware of the run key or that something (perhaps footsteps, head-bob or field of vision) makes movement feel slower than it is. Any comments?

 

I may be repeating myself, but I think it's mostly the head-bob. We are used to Thief head-bob & speed which works perfectly fine. Now that we have only the correct speed left in TDM, the missing Thief style head-bob really stands out (e.g. gives impression that the player is slower) for those who remember it well. But as always with games a minor change like this is quickly forgotten by players and they get used to it soon. Finding the correct bob is hard but I'm sure you'll manage it .

[Dark Mod Pre-Beta Download links and discussion.]

Here's what I wrote to TTLG forum thread:

 

Just gave it a spin and my short good/bad things list (bugs ignored)

 

Goodies:

 

-Most models & textures are very nice

-Player control is mostly smooth

-Mantling

-Interacting with objects is accurate (e.g. you can drop something quietly)

-Challenging AI

-Thief athmosphere is spot on

 

Bad things:

 

-Movement speed is too slow or it's missing proper head bob, it feels like the player is walking in tar (Thief 2 had it just right IMO)

-Sometimes it feels like the controls are lagging, e.g I press forward but the player doesn't move immediately. In reality player is moving immediately but the slow movement speed just make it feel not right

-Bowsight is missing (you could make it optional for those who want challenge)

-You might increase frob distance a bit, I managed to drop the objective letter behind the chest and couldn't pick it up anymore (certainly not a too long distance for a good thief)

-Some world textures are out of place (too modern or too 2d compared to rest)

 

All in all this little demo left me want MORE and MORE.

 

And here's more regarding the player speed & head bob:

 

I see, then it's probably just the different head bobbing what makes it feel odd for me. It's not bad really, just feels a bit too robotic or something. Like the player is moving on a fixed track.

 

After further testing I found out why it feels so for me. There's very little or no straight vertical head bobbing at all. Thief 2 had quite a lot of that, in fact sometimes you had to count on it to fit through narrow spaces. I would try to reduce the current spinning head bobbing a bit and add more vertical bobbing. Hard to explain but I hope you understand what I mean. However the current way is lightyears further than the overdone body awareness of TDS, the biggest flaw in that game for me.

 

I tried various cvar settings for pm_bobpitch, pm_bobroll, pm_bobup, pm_crouchbob and pm_runbob but the biggest problem was the bobbing speed. I don't know if you can change it, but it would work great if it were more subtle and not so sharp. Bobbing speed concerns mainly vertical bob.

[Dark Messiah Demo]

If you want to get full experience out of the demo then check out this link: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8...43/m/7691028074

 

My demo thoughts:

 

-Waaaayy to short for its size. If I didn't know more about Dark Messiah this demo would have given an impression of basic hack'n slash "RPG" (something like 3d Diablo)

-All good/bad things of Source engine included (physics, good HDR etc, long loading times for small levels etc.)

-Good close combat, although enemies in demo were ridiculously easy to defeat (suicidical AI)

-Somewhat clumsy movement like said in previous posts (good thing that head bobbing can be disabled). IMO this so called "body awareness" never works in FPS games unless they are mainly concentrated on open terrains like Operation Flashpoint. Movement precision always suffers heavily from this feature and then like Komag said, small ledges and beams become very annoying .

-Object manipulation is not very precise, you can throw and drop items but putting a jar on a shelv isn't as easy as in Half-Life 2 or Thief games.

-Some nice and fresh ideas like kicking enemies to spikes

[Better Video Settings]

Well, the idea lately is to make it easier for people to just start playing, instead of confusing them with a myriad of detailed settings, opting to control most of that "under the hood".

 

True, that's why we have these low, medium, high and ultra settings. But it's pretty unfair for a player with computer that could run the game on custom quality that is almost par with ultra but he doesn't have a clue how to edit config or simply doesn't want to mess around with it.

 

TDS and Oblivion were good (bad) examples how minimal the options were (consoles ). With simple ini editing it was possible to get rid of many performance and quality issues.

[Better Video Settings]

I've been wondering why in todays games (especially in FPS ones) you usually have very limited options to adjust graphic quality to get more performance or just better visuals. There are usually one to four different quality levels (low to ultra like in Doom 3) but the problem is that you can't make your own custom settings unless editing some config file. I can play Doom 3 using my own "ultra" settings with no performance hit but I can only do this with custom config file .

 

I would like to see more video options in Dark Mod rather than the simple stock settings. A new menu window where you could change pretty much every significant setting that can be found from config.cfg would be very nice addition. There are some 3rd party tools where you make your own settings but for Doom 3 noobs a ready system included with the mod would be much more user friendly . A small explanation box that pops up when user places mouse cursor over a certain setting would be nice too and reduce unnecessary questions.

 

EDIT: Oh and if it's not too much work, new video settings shouldn't require restart of the game that's just plain pointless (Quake 4 does this right).

[New Stone Textures]

I don't know if this will work, but maybe try deleting editor.cfg?

 

No help unfortunately .

 

Anyway I can easily test my textures in Hell level as it has plenty of different surfaces and light effects. Here's another screenshot showing the next texture. Notice how it needs more curved surface to bring out the detail compared to flat surface seen on the right.

 

I'm leaving to Lahti now so expect another update on Monday .

[New Stone Textures]

Thanks NH, much appreciated .

 

I updated granitsand1 normal map, you can download the updated pack here.

 

Also, does anyone know how to "reset" DOOM3ED windows (surface inspector etc.)? I used to have two monitors last time I tried the editor but now I can't view some of the tool windows anymore with my current single monitor. It seems they are still in that second monitor . Same thing happened in Valve's Hammer editor .

[New Stone Textures]

I started another texture, this time a stone wall with big uneven granit blocks and some dark moss.

 

Screenshot

[New Stone Textures]

I updated the granitsand1 texture, you can download it here. This should be pretty much finished texture but there's always room for improvement. So try it and give some feedback .

 

If you still have the old height map (granitsand1_h.tga) from my earlier rar you can delete it as it's now useless.

[New Stone Textures]

I finally got that normal map look good.

 

Screenshot

 

I'm probably going to Lahti this weekend so expect another update on Monday . I will make a small bunch of sample textures now that I got hang of these special effect maps.

[New Stone Textures]

I made another texture, this time a mixture of granit stones, concrete and sand.

 

Screenshot

 

Download here (rar includes the texture + normal, height and specular maps)

 

Texture isn't tiled perfectly yet.

[New Stone Textures]

Here's another screenshot showing the texture after few tweaks. Normal maps are still quite flat, any hints how to make them better without making 3d model of the texture itself?

[New Stone Textures]

I made some tests with quick 5 minute normal and diffuse maps in Doom 3 Hell level. Here's a screenshot. My first ever normal and diffuse maps so they look quite flat .

[New Stone Textures]

You probably already know, but just in case: cloudy overcast days are perfect for bright, non-shadowed snapshots.

 

True, that's something I noticed while taking photos for FDFMOD textures .

 

I tried to make neutral version of my hires granit1.tga, you can download it here. The original granit1.tga shows the proper style for normal, diffuse etc. maps.

[New Stone Textures]

Thanks for comments. I can try to make some samples without shadows, unfortunately it's very sunny here almost every day but I'll figure out something .

[New Stone Textures]

I made some stone textures for all mappers out there.

TTLG forum thread (these are indexed and resized for Thief 2)

 

I also made hires version (just the texture) of granit1.pcx in tga format.

 

>>Download granit1.tga<<

 

Feel free to give feedback .