SneaksieDave

There. Both parties have now spoken peaceful and healthy words on the topic and healing can begin. So just knock it off and get the fug back in there! Oh, and by the way, hi! (I have no real clue what's going on beyond this post and have no desire to make light of it; I have myself been off and on gone forever due in no small part to a bunch of life changes and demands. That said, I'd hate to see either of you leave... so just, don't! )

Trying the threaded change. (Note that I do have multiple CPUs it asks for, though.) Re: drivers. I am at the newest (307.83 -- I gave the wrong number above when I said 302.something), so that's covered, at least. As for rolling back... As this is currently my only system, I'm very reluctant to start messing around with that. I do have the disabling of soft particles to fall back on, but it doesn't solve the issue, I know. Guh. Edit: Ouch! The threaded change dropped my FPS from ~60 to ~45. Switching that sucker back (with a note to watch for problems). Edit2: Heh.. just noticed the arms on the clock tower go backwards.

Yep, Doom3 is the only idtech4 offered. My current install is actually fresh (not our working folders from over the years) and Doom3 is uninstalled. I created a new thedarkmod.exe entry. Doesn't allow the same "NVIDIA Recommended" setting for thread optimization, so I set it to auto. Now to try the other suggestions... Nope, neither seemed to change anything I could see. :-/ Do you happen to know any problem caused by the multi setting? That must've been leftover to years ago when I used two monitors. Hm, I wonder if I gain performance from this change.

Here you are, and yup.

The setting in my control panel is "Use global setting (Allow)"

The water shader fix appears to work fine. In fact, enabling r_skipDepthCapture seems to cause a different, worse side effect -- some triangles of the water 'freeze' (pic 1). They simply stop animation the distortion effect. Turn r_skipDepthCapture back off and they begin animating again, and the front geometry stops distorting with the water. (pic 2) Oddly, r_useSoftParticles seems to behave the same with the fog in the st. lucia sewer regardless of whether I turn it on or off. I can upload pics if you wish to see but they're not very exciting (all showing same thing basically). However, when I toggled the value on/off in the training mission, at a spot near the canal where a stairwell to a door is lit with some soft particles, I actually experienced the particle 'edges' with r_useSoftParticles ON, and didn't get it with the fix turned OFF. I triple checked to make sure I wasn't goofing something up, but it happened each time. WTH? This one shows the banding: And here is after turning off soft particles (no banding, or greatly reduced): Just a bonus pic to show how jarring/extreme the whole thing can be. Using skipDepth or not doesn't change the image. Edit: So currently, my best results -- I think -- are to keep r_skipDepthCapture off (to benefit water) and r_useSoftParticles also off (to avoid particles showing through surfaces and creating edges... which, if I understand correctly, it was supposed to fix, not cause...)

Now we're onto it! r_useSoftParticles 0 addressed it. I guess the question now becomes: 1. why? what is it about soft particles that does this? where/how are they defined? Can it be 'fixed' to not cause this side-effect? 2. what does a user lose by disabling them (obviously soft particles, but what all does that include and ultimately mean)? Also just to confirm (though it's already clear; I took this pic as you replied) it's not about the training map specifically: That smoke is from the chimney a few surfaces behind where it's showing through the building.

Doesn't appear to be about the mission. As for the gpu, brace yourself: GF7950GT. Yes it's old, but all drivers are at max (302.something) and it does the job well for almost* everything I need. It is something I can live with, but I'm left wondering if something can't be done to fix it easy. Idtech4 shaders always seem so ridiculously flexible and powerful, able to do things I wouldn't even have wished at. Seems like a simple issue of... stuff I don't know enough about to guess. Z-orders and buffer crap and whatever-other-majicks-and-mysteries. Any idea what SteveL's fix was? I see he hasn't been active for a while. *I'd like to be able to run SpaceEngine, but no dice.

Any idea what that fix was (assuming it wasn't too extensive)? It does appear from the 2.04 video that it was fixed, so either it crept back in, or it wasn't fixed at all (for people in my situation, at least).

Yep. Uninstalled the training mission, deleted it, ran updater (which re-downloaded it), reinstalled, ran it. Still happens, unfortunately.

*waves to Bikerdude* It's the training map, in the archery area. I stand against the chapelesque building, near the wall with the patrolling guard, then walk back/forward aligned with the archery ranges. Through the short stretch of wall shows light globes from the other side of the wall.

I'll definitely be trying the performance tweaks. Surprised the vram is still set to 128. That must stretch back years, across multiple PCs. The r_offset values don't seem to be doing anything, though. I've set it up so I'm facing some offending light globes, changing the values (even beyond suggested above) at the console and I'm seeing literally no change at all. Any ideas?

Here you are, sir.

Thanks muchly for that! I've updated and it seems to be working well running 2.05. I did run into the issue where halos of lights (and I assume other such effects) show through walls when viewed at a distance. Wasn't that corrected a build or two ago? I can live with it, just curious if I've missed a manual fix somewhere along the line or if it was still a problem. Edit: Yes, according to the 2.04 video it was fixed in that release. I can't confirm whether or not it was fixed on my system as I never installed 2.04 (due to problems in this thread) but I can definitely say it's still happening for me in 2.05.

Just re-reading this thread and it's making my head spin. Or maybe it's my kid running around the house. Does the latest 2.05 release bring back 32bit XP goodliness (please)? I didn't see mention of these issues in tech supt or the change notes.

Damn. I came back to update to 2.04 today and ran into this myself. Yup, WinXP 32. *raises hand* Sounds like, from above, that there's a need for versions of the updater prior to 0.65, and thus to disallow it to update itself. And, even with a working 2.04 (from win32-friendly binaries above) there might still be issues (malloc and graphics). So right now I'm debating just sticking with 2.03 (and its graphics bugs, which drove me to update in the first place...) and hoping some day will bring a 2.05 that supports XP 32bit. The wiki mentions the 2.04 dropbox binaries but omits the rest, that I've seen. Double damn, I hope this is an easy fix (compiler switch or such).

Oh, dur. I should've thought to check that. Would that I had more time. And more skill. And remembered how to use the editor. And...

A WIP map by greebo and angua came to mind yesterday -- The Dead Gathers (always loved that name). What ever became of it? Was it just a tech demo or abandoned or...? I remember it being quite cool with an old graveyard area and a descent into a huge tomb like the Bonehoard.

I'm thinking it was Renzatic? Could be wrong.

What a silly debate. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/game?s=t There is at least one game that exists mainly as rules. There's no unified story or hard ending, and it can go on and on, again and again, repeating in sessions for as long as the players choose. It uses a defined environment and actors that can be digital or physical, bought or made. Millions have played it for more than a thousand years. It's called Chess.

Wow, I definitely feel for those laid off (even if their game isn't my cup of tea). Stop propping up giant wealthy publishing/production houses! They use you up and then show you the door.

Last night I was inspired by all this Thiaf talk. I finally got around to installing my GOG version of Thief 2. My original install was cumbersome and corrupted, slower, needs the CD, changes resolution on the menus, etc etc. All the old hassles, because I haven't installed NewDark or other updates. Well, the GOG install, all patched up, went through without a hitch. Built-in FM loader? Well no shit. I've been away from the originals for too long. I started a new play-through of the OM, and it holds up, solid. I've got hundred of FMs with which to play catch-up. I guess that's my new way of looking at Thiaf.

Wow, that's pretty awesome. Grabbing that sample now. Good luck!

If you don't favor a product, you should not endorse it, regardless of the size or reach of the opposition. There is wisdom in picking your battles, of course, but it's a responsibility of consumers and sentient beings to uphold standards.

They decided it would be too silly for the Master Thief to be able to fall (no lie; it was said in an interview). I'm waiting for the day that we can play through a whole game just by pressing forward.