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snatcher

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Posts posted by snatcher

  4. Stealing paintings the right way

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    Thanks for the link,Ā wesp5!

    Yes, I tried the different built-in outline options. My conclusion is that we are not addressing the underlying problem, hence the ongoing discussion and disagreements. I will check your "dark version of the Frob Outline" out.

    Ā 

    1 hour ago, datiswous said:

    [...] I would think Corban needs to use a special knive on the painting to cut it loose. Maybe he can find one in the nearby kitchen?

    Cool! but when you build the house, you don't start with the roof ;)

    The problem with suggestions is that things can go south pretty fast, and while a good brainstorming can bring new and/or greater ideas, we many times lose focus and end up alienating developers.

    I try to bring to the table reasonable ideas that could be integrated into the environment that we already have without much hassle by recycling existing assets or mechanics.

    Ā 

    7 minutes ago, Wellingtoncrab said:

    The answer to this question is no unless itā€™s employed briefly and sparingly.

    While I could agree, this hardly has to do with game mechanics but with how these mechanics are put to work by mission makers. A different story altogether.

  6. Stealing paintings the right way

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, AluminumHaste said:

    Did you not play Thief 4? It was cool the first few times, then it was the most tedious, awful thing to do. Long ass animations are a fun killer.

    Who's talking animations? šŸ˜‰

    Ā 

    8 minutes ago, wesp5 said:

    I think you misunderstand what the frob helper is doing. For a big object like a painting it makes no sense at all...

    I am not talking about the helper. Refer to suggestion #2 in that topic.

  7. Stealing paintings the right way

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Xolvix said:

    Part of the issue is that there's so many paintings in missions that are decorative, it's hard enough to know if a painting is lootable without basically attempting to frob every painting you see [...]

    Yes, our hero is very picky when it comes to art šŸ§

    An interim solution to the problem, until a better solution is found, was proposed here:

    Ā 

    This mechanic should allow us to tell in a second if a painting is worth anything or not, under any light condition.

  9. Stealing paintings the right way

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    The idea:

    In order to successfully steal a painting you must stand in front of it and continuously frob it for about 4 seconds.

    Feedback on the progress comes in the form of a sound: short cutĀ > long cutĀ > quietly tear it awayĀ > loot sound.

    If you quit fobbing during this time you must start over.

    Think twice before approaching a painting and enjoy art while stealing it ;)

    • Like 1

  10. Things that could be improved

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted · Edited by snatcher

    2 hours ago, Araneidae said:

    [...] something like a number between 0 and 5 that I could filter on if I come back and want to revisit.Ā  For me 0 would mean "don't play this, you hated every minute", 1 is "really didn't like this very much", 2 is "meh, some elements of interest", 3 is "pretty average", 4 is "that was decent", and of course 5 for all those superb missions out there (Iris, Requiem, In the North (maybe a 4.5 for me), etc).

    If the problem is the (lack of) available space, and as a start, a simple icon besides each mission that I can toggle on and off at will would suffice to me.

    That single icon can, at a later stage, grow into a sequence of icons depending on the number of clicks:

    Default state: [nothing]

    Click: šŸ¤©

    Click: šŸ™‚

    Click: šŸ™

    Click: šŸ„“

    Click: [nothing]

    • Like 1

  11. Adjust player speed with mouse wheel

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    The external script is a proof of concept. It takes some time to get used to it and it doesn't work that well because for this new game mechanic to work at an acceptable level we require at least 5 incremental speeds, one for each mouse wheel step.

    In slow-paced games like this we don't need creep and run keys but a more refined, tactical movements (imho).

  12. Adjust player speed with mouse wheel

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted · Edited by snatcher

    Obsttorte, I have improved changed your script a little. I hope you don't mind. The highlight is that the script will only run when TDM is in focus (tested in Win 10).

    The only issue remains when leaning forward + switching speed. For some reason I don't quite understand we stop leaning.

    If anyone wants to test this:

    • Download AutoHotkey, install it, open Notepad, paste the below script inside, save it as whatever.ahk and double click on the file you just saved.
    • SettingsĀ > ControlsĀ > Weapons: Remove mouse wheel bindings from Next Weapon and Previous Weapon (or from any other setting you may have set the mouse wheel to)
    • SettingsĀ > ControlsĀ > General: Make sure Toggle Crouch is enabled and Always Run is disabled
    • SettingsĀ > ControlsĀ > Movement: The Run and Creep keys must match in both TDM and the script.
    • While using the script you can turn pages using Next Inv. Item / Prev Inv. Item
    • To end the script, go to the Windows taskbar, look for a green icon with an "H", right click on it and select Exit.

    Ā  

    ; =====================================
; Adjust player speed with mouse wheel
; -------------------------------------
; An AutoHotkey script for The Dark Mod
; version 3.0 by Obsttorte & snatcher
; =====================================

key_creep = c ; in-game creep key
key_run = r ; in-game run key
speed = 0 ; init speed (-1 = creep / 0 = walk / 1 = run)
steps = 1 ; amount of mouse wheel steps needed for switching state

; -------------------------------------
; do not edit anything past this point
; -------------------------------------

state = speed * steps ; counter for state switch

#IfWinActive ahk_exe TheDarkModx64.exe ; run only when TDM is focused

wheelup::
!wheelup::
^wheelup::
+wheelup::
state += 1
if (state >= steps)
{
    if (speed == -1) ; we are creeping
    {
        speed = 0
        Send {%key_creep% up}
    }
    else if (speed == 0) ; we are walking
    {
        speed = 1
        Send {%key_run% down}
    }
    state = 0
}
return

wheeldown::
!wheeldown::
^wheeldown::
+wheeldown::
state -= 1
if (state <= steps * -1)
{
    if (speed == 0) ; we are walking
    {
        speed = -1
        Send {%key_creep% down}
    }
    else if (speed == 1) ; we are running
    {
        speed = 0
        Send {%key_run% up}
    }
    state = 0
}
return

    Cheers!

  13. Interaction with objects

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted · Edited by snatcher

    40 minutes ago, datiswous said:

    Ā [..] if it could be made slightly more subtle.

    The gif I created is a straight animation from non-frobable to frobable and back, using game defaults. I didn't add/remove any extra brightness or changed anything. Up to the developers to tweak it, if required.

    Take also into account the lantern is on and the effect should be more prominent in low light conditions.

  15. Interaction with objects

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    23 minutes ago, chakkman said:

    [...] Frankly, it sounds more like a visual gimmick to me. I played Noble Affairs, but, don't remember that.

    It indeed is a (very subtle but effective) visual gimmick. Nothing else and nothing more. Little details add up.

    Ā 

  16. Interaction with objects

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, datiswous said:

    What are loot animations?

    Loot is thrown at you when you grab it. Quite gratifying, imho. Check the mission out. It may get old though, as Nort points out. Don't know. Make it optional?

    Ā 

    14 minutes ago, OrbWeaver said:

    It turns out that it isn't actually all that simple, when you consider that the highlight needs to be visible in both bright and dim light, must handle depth correctly (i.e. not make hidden switches behind desks suddenly jump out at the player), and mustn't produce ugly Z fighting or other weird effects when highlighting doors which have alpha materials and decals applied (e.g. hinges). There have been several proposed replacements which have worked very well in some situations but turned out to be inadequate in others due to one or more of these issues.

    Please excuse my uneducated guess. I can see there is more to it than meets the eye.

    The current default frob highlighting is a pretty good compromise: it fits the atmosphere and blends well in most scenarios. I have been playing around with the r_frobOutlineXXX options and I don't quite like any configuration I came up with. It is either too much or just pointless, no middle ground. I don't want the game to blatantly tell me hey, here is something. I want to "kind of find it".

    The idea is about keeping what works - current defaults - but toy with brightness up and down to make frobable objects "alive" when starring at them.

  17. Interaction with objects

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted · Edited by snatcher

    Hi,

    Three suggestions.

    First, my advise for the developers is to enable the "Show Frob Helper" setting by default in new installs. Attempting to highlight those little coins with pinpoint accuracy without any reference is no fun, at least, in my experience: it took me a few (frustrating) weeks to find out this feature even existed. The helper is an unintrusive but efficient aid that players can disable anytime and I would let newcomers know the feature exists right out of the box.

    Second, and here is the meat of the topic: to make frobable items stand out in a slightly different way. See, because of lightning in TDM many times it is difficult to tell if an object is frobable or not, and frobable objects become even more elusive if you are close to a light source or using the lantern. Is that highlighted or not? (you know the drill: step back or move the mouse around).

    In order to keep things simple I suggest a subtle but effective blinking effect or fade in/out animation when objects are within reach. This shouldn't be too difficult to implement considering we would "only" have to increase/decrease the brightness levels in a sequence with the help of a timer. Never miss a painting again!

    EDIT -Ā  you can see it in action here:

    (It's a +5MB gif that can take some time load)

    TDM_frob.gif

    Ā 

    Third, speaking of interaction with objects, I suggest the inclusion into the core mod of Goldwell's loot animations found in his fantastic Noble Affairs mission. Looting is an essential part of TDM and I find Goldwell's animations quite fulfilling and rewarding.

    Cheers!

    • Like 1

  18. Adjust player speed with mouse wheel

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    13 hours ago, freyk said:

    We use the mousewheel to move objects. I dont want to use it for the players speed. (Maybe for sam, but not for the tdm player, imho)

    How about pressing down the mousswheel and scroll (middleclick). Or use something else.

    It shouldn't be a problem if implemented well. The mouse wheel would perform the same action when holding objects but only if the Parry/Manipulate key is pressed.

    Of course the whole thing should remain optional: use the mouse wheel to control speed or switch weapons / other.

  21. Adjust player speed with mouse wheel

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, Obsttorte said:

    [...] but you could use Autohotkey for your purpose.

    I can try, that's for sure!

    Consider my request as a long term project to eventually allow for a greater degree of movement, especially while creeping around. The first step is to allow the mouse wheel to perform different actions, I guess.

    Thanks, Obsttorte.

    Ā 

  22. Adjust player speed with mouse wheel

    in The Dark Mod

    Posted · Edited by snatcher

    EDIT - You can find a working external script with instructions in this post

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Hi!

    First post in this forum. Greetings to all.

    I am a long time fan of T1 & T2 and I recently stumbled upon The Dark Mod while looking for some T2 Fan Missions and I immediately fell in love with it. Here goes a heartfelt thanks to the developers for having created this masterpiece and my recognition and appreciation to the TDM content creators and artists. Thanks.

    Back on topic. A couple of weeks ago I started playing Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. The game makes use of the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the speed of the character and while it took a couple of missions to get used to it, it felt natural from that point on. So much so that after beating the game and launching TDM again my first thought was: this game mechanic should be a must in the stealth genre.

    You can see it in action in the first minute of this video:

    Ā 

    I understand chances are this new mechanic cannot be implemented in TDM right away: we are currently limited by the 3 existing speeds / levels of sound (correct me if I am wrong) but regardless, if the development Team would allow us to use the mouse wheel to switch between creep, walk & run it would be a step forward in the right direction, in my humble opinion.

    Cheers!

    • Like 2
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