Thor

I played this thing a few years ago when it game out as a HL2 (source engine) mod for free. It was the way for me to play through HL1 as I never played it back in the day. So this version is that with multiplayer? Or am I misunderstanding something?

Here: It's in Shingle Plaza a random room that is only accessible through a window high up (top left in the screen below):

Why not improve something, get it ever closer to perfection? Updating bugs and imperfections upon final release seems like the obvious thing to do for these kinds of campaigns anyway. Of course, if there is no wish and the product is already considered to be good enough, that's a valid choice also. That said, I only noticed one bug myself so far: That funny thing aside, it's quite a blast so far. I am taking one route and Fen took a completely different route. I can already feel a high replay value. I'm at a point in my gaming life where I only play big releases and maybe don't even play those fully through, but I am enjoying the heck out of this so far and now that it's Christmas time, I'm going to even finish this. One question: is this a planned to be the thing to introduce newcommers with? Like the "OMs" that define this game? Or do you reckon it's past that point and are simply making one hell of a campaign? I ask this because partially cause it seems like a fairly difficult first mission to throw a new player into. Also this seems quite big for something with the name "prologue" attached to it. Is it smaller than I think it is or is it just tiny compared to what is to come? Edit: LOL, I love this mission. I just had the goofiest moment I've ever had in TDM. I alerted some guys, jumped into the canal, sneaked back out, waited in the dark for the most alert guy to deal with the fact that he lost me and when he finally did and walked by me I blackjacked him (I was standing in the dark almost perpendicular to direction he was facing) - he stopped and contemplated what had just happened. I stood there as well for like 3-5 seconds, contemplating if he's really not going to kill me. Then I blackjacked again and he fell down. I had no idea someone would fall at 2 knocks, lol, especially since both were identical. I'm guessing it's cause he had been alerted, but that really took me by surprise.

That did it. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions. Tried them all but none worked. My Darkmod.cfg file is below, but I'm not sure what it'll help. Other missions load alright.

Yes. I even ran on a clean reboot. I got 8 GB of RAM, if that is not enough to run this FM then the phrase "less than optimal" is an understatement. I only got a couple of gigs free space on my drive though, but that isn't usually a problem with games either... Edit: Tried to load in window mode, monitoring my drive and RAM - both basically stood where they were without even running the game. RAM only increased by ~8%. Edit2: Downloaded from in-game downloader still crashes. I just don't have much bigger imagination than this. Tried to run A House of Locked Secrets - loaded quickly and beautifully.

Congratulations on the release! This FM looks like something special. I can't seem to run it, though. Am I the only one? It crashes on the loading screen while it still says "Generating World" (after loading a few bits after about 15 seconds or so). I have a middle-end laptop but it can run The Dark Mod. I'm using the latest version (ran the update again). I tried downloading the mission again from another mirror, no luck.

Alright, finally played this mission. It was immersive and fun. Loved all the pipes and vines and chains (especially the short chains) outside the... building (as well as many other details like the secret-ish areas (and secret area where I found my 9th bonus crystal)). Immersion only broke when I got around the map 5 times and couldn't, like many here, find that one exclusive piece of cheese (and it was insult to injury when I couldn't just take any fish or apples or bread or whatnot from the well-stocked kitchen). Though, even before that, I went to some places multiple times while still finding new areas of the map cause the layout is so maze-like (but 3-dimensional). And that is why I am overall glad that the AI weren't difficult, otherwise that would end up being very annoying, as I am absolutely horrible at melee combat so I wouldn't just be able to get rid of everyone (I did manage to kill one of those guys though, but he took most of my health and I never managed to kill another person with my remaining health again). Could have used a hint or two for some items within the map to make the story a little less distant from the player and more interactive, if you will, though it was a rather believable place on its own. I liked the setting from the start, I don't think I've seen anything quite like it before. Now I think I should have rated the story a little higher. But hey, looking forward to seeing something unique from you again sometime. Thanks for the mission!

Hehe, yes, the same one. Glad you liked 'em. Haven't reviewed anything there in ages.

Oh, I forgot to post a thank you to the author. Thank you, moonbo. I played this mission a few days ago and it is the best time I have had with The Dark Mod to date! It is such a masterpiece on every level. The visuals, the music, the environments and even the story. At first I thought it's pretty good, but when I got to the church area and the church-y music started playing in the background, I realised this is something special... and it only got better and better. And some more better. Surpassed my expectations roughly tenfold. Thank you, man.

Hey, does anybody know the status of grayman's "William Steele" next installment?

Thanks man! Now it totally works!

Hello, Cool mission, but I can't get very far into it because I can't quickload. Each time I try to it throws me back to menu and says "couldn't load [..]\The Dark Mod\maps\requiem.script. I checked the The Dark Mod folder and noticed that I don't have a "maps" folder to begin with. Is this related to the fact that my install is quite fresh? Could it also be because I downloaded the mod bit-by-bit as my tdmupdater/internet crapped out multiple times? Thanks, Thor.

Hm I wonder if I should participate. I haven't released a single thing yet due to lack of time and motivation. I guess I'll try and build my small mission over the holidays and see if it goes along this contest's lines.

Hey, guys, Decided to do build some caves and it can be a lot of fun but a while back I came across some obstacles I know not how to fix. Mainly my problem is with the corners marked by the red arrows. Just why are they being so cranky? Admittedly, they are essentially just tightly squeezed patch planes, but I did not anticipate this kind of problem. Also wouldn't hate to get rid of the obvious texture cuts marked in green, if possible. Oh, and in DarkRadiant Lighting Preview rendering mode it looks like this (if that says anything).

Thank you! I was under the impression that manual Vertex blending through exporting to .ASE, then vertex painting in Blender was the only way to do this kind of stuff. I'll definitely try it out.

Ah yes I have a laptop with a fancy processor but a GT540M card. It's the only reason I won't be playing Dishonored in the following few years, but it does run Dark Mod decently with its 96 cores (maybe not on all highest settings (though I honestly haven't checked it that carefully) but it does run smoothly on "toned down" settings which make no actual difference in looks, unless you look really hard (maybe). So yeah I think DarkMod runs fine on those cards.

Excuse me if I'm poking at a technicality here, but doesn't the OP state there will be 5 people (yourself included) in the meeting? Also I read Saturnine in that list. Is he up to anything awesome?

Hey, the mod is what it is. And I like it that way. Personally, I never really felt like playing Thief and I didn't really miss it. That said it's a bit tiring to read so many discuss the "thiefy feel" or the lack of it over and over again. What's wrong with the mod feeling different? I mean I know it's been discussed to death but some people will like it and some never will. Who cares? We don't need 'em. Do you think this community is too small? I suppose some more advertising would be welcome, especially when this becomes standalone. I really wonder if and if so, then how much will this community grow.

I'm on the same boat with Mr. Cheese here! Except I don't like learning DR, I like to build with it. It's fun. Don't expect me to release anything, though (not anytime soon, anyways. Nor anything spectacular). My attention span for things is about as short as the wavelength of gamma rays... which is, like, pretty damn short. Also I wanted to say that going through all those "stock" resources you guys have made - all the models, textures and sounds... the vast amount of that puts me in awe. That is crazy. Probably more than an old game like Thief, eh? Makes my distant thought of making my own model or texture just as a principle "that I bring something new to the commnunity" seem unnecessary. P.S. Sorry for my grammar.

Thanks for the tips! I treid out the large ocean-esque space and it seems to work perfectly with the little detail I have in it so far. Yeah I'll definitely use visportals, had researched that a tad myself a while ago. What do you mean by thinking ahead with the visportals in open spaces I don't know, though. I'll just stuff a few in the area itslef and to each gap towards the other areas. If I pull this off it should be pretty cool. Lots of work on terrain now + experimentation follows, though. Also I made it so that I might even consider the possibility of importing the brilliant idea of a controllable boat. But that's just... thinking ahead and over my head. One thing though. I have a lot of water and if viewed from far above or below the pattern is really obvious. Not much can be done there, I imagine? Except maybe if I enlarge the texture and reduce the water's movement speed... hhmmmm.

Absolutely moroning about today. I'm remaking my spaces and making everything wider and stuff without even knowing much about fundamental laws of phyiscs doom engine. If I create big rooms with open spaces... Like I want a big space with, lets say, water in it. How do I assemble the brushes? Do I just pick out 2-3 really big rooms that make an H, for example or just 1 or lots of smaller ones? Or does it really not matter at all? Another little question. I wonder: can I add some LOD to water? If there' a whole lot of it (in my opinion anyway) in plain sight. Could be a good way of optimising (if the water really runs a lot of resources though it's mostly the texture right?) I guess. Haven't actually tested myself yet. Maybe I'll do that in a special test map.. hmm. Edit: Right well I made a test map for a quite large space (just a cube though) with water and had absolutely no problems with that simplicity. So it's good to know that the engine can handle these kinds of things. But my first question still stands: what strategy would you pros recommend?

hehe, yes. That not knowing of subdividing was another great example of my fundamental gaps in DR & related knowledge. Good hint on the textures, should've thought of that. I actually thought of that exact texture as a placeholder cause I figured maybe I'd find something better but we'll see. I do consider changing the tone of sea water a bit though so it matches up better with the background. I checked out those sea waves in NHAT2 and I gotta say that the part of it was was working (some loocked static) really did look like textures and not actual water motion. I probably won't be getting that part done for a loong time, if ever. That area is a bit small for steering even a boat, but I may think of something (when I get more of an inspiration). Now that you talk about it I'm thinking of steering a boat in a cistern or something like that. Would that be cool or what. But do show what you're working on sometime. I adore fancy architecture myself. (momentarely picturing grand arches in your mission & some stained glass artwork but that's not architecture anymore now is it). You use modelling for most of your architecture btw right? Do you make them with blender perhaps?

WAaaaaaah! I gave it a really long chance of loading. It took about 30-40 minutes. WAY TOO LONG. Then I remembered... This thing.. that I smugly ignored first time I read about it. Patch Tesselation! (Btw all respect but that description there is just a tad outdated (the said setting is located at patch inspector). Man I can go to sleep happy now. This should totally make the situation more reasonable. Also I checkd out maps by the pros (that moving grass demo (2nd most amazing thing I've seen in TDM), NHAT etc.) and I seem to be the only one who builds like crap. (patches sticking out the map if you go outside, no fancy use of monster clip (and i was most mystereriousified (that's a word now) by the abscence of patches yet presence of all the textures and details)) Thanks! Now I feel even better. Naivety does bring a hellish determination sometimes. As for that link: I remember seeing it just some weeks ago and then I decided that I'll be building a daylight mission and that that is the 1st most amazing thing I've see in TDM. And I will never even comprehend how he built something so awesome. And thanks but that cool thing isn't in my league at all Well now. Now that I seem to be conquering all the fundamental problems I have (I made an actual list) one by one... I tihnk I'll create another one by seeing if I can make anything like that automated opening scene from Knighton Manor's mission. It would make the mission more cinematic. Alright I've been babbling a lot, but I'm very pleased of not having lost to Darkradiant today. Edit: decreased the polygonal count or whatever it is to 5x5 and it loaded in a totally reasonable time. Woop woop. See? Looking better by the step, eh? I know it's rough and the change of color in the right side is mysterious, but I'll fix all that up. I think the rough bits of it is done.

oh well that I haven't tried. There's quite a bit of them by now.. Do you have any suspicions on what kind of patch placement would cause problems?