Jump to content
The Dark Mod Forums

zergrush

Member
  • Posts

    296
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by zergrush

  1. I'm sorry if my previous post sounded a bit too direct. It just so happens I think it would be better to discuss structural improvements before doing a full facelift. As I've mentioned in another thread, I'm not quite sure were to begin addressing this as I am not a UI/UX designer and I'm not entirely aware of the current limitations of TDM's UI programming (which apparently are many, or so I was told). At best I can only point out individual suggestions; I think the Download Missions menu should be available from the main screen, not as a submenu in the New Mission section. When toggling the in-game menu, I also think the Restart Mission button should be right below the Resume Mission option, instead of in the corner.
  2. I agree. It's a bit silly alertness level affects damage. Can't we ditch that while boosting arrow damage a bit? This can also be compensated by making broadheads more expensive.
  3. I think I prefer the old one because it's easier to read. I'm not sure if a facelift is something the main menu needs right now without addressing the structural and UX problems first.
  4. I like Goldwell's prototype better than the old one. Alternatively, can't we simply render the logo as a texture and apply a lighting effect over it to create a similar effect to the old FMV using the game itself?
  5. It looks alrighty. What will happen to the in-game items window and old mission objectives menus? Will they remain in parchment style, or will they follow the new look?
  6. Because it adds replay value for experienced players who want to revisit the mission. I still play A New Job sometimes on max difficulty.
  7. I personally wasn't bothered by the difficulty of Tears of St Lucia when I first played TDM (this was before A New Job was released), but I did ironically felt frustrated at the safe puzzle in A New Job. The book points you towards the workbench, but it doesn't specify it's located in the basement, so I kept trying to find something at the innkeeper's two desks at his room instead! Anyway this is also the reason why I asked to include a couple of quality FMs in the main package, just in case the campaign doesn't immediately rub with them and so they could have a taste at how single missions work.
  8. Personally I would like it to be a small prelude to A New Job, so it's framed in the same narrative.
  9. At this point I'm fine with having to reload the game in order to start a different mission, that's a limitation I already got used to. My main gripe with the menu has to do with the placement and organization of the mission downloader. If a full redesign isn't possible I think shifting some things around to make the downloader a bit more organized would still be a fine improvement.
  10. Do you mean the Crucible of Omens? I totally understand in that case, but I merely meant concluding the last unfinished mission of St Lucia. A three mission campaign (A New Job + St Lucia + Unnamed Unfinished mission) would be more than suitable. Why not appealing to FM creators to wrap up the conclusion? It's a matter of nominating a number missions which meet the requirements, a small file size being one of them. I'm thinking, for example, of Sotha's Coercion for the small one; it's only 10mb, and probably one of the best short missions available at the moment.
  11. TDM has come a long way since its standalone release, and I've been enjoying 2.10 quite a bit on my legacy machine, which finally is no longer prey to slow loading times! Because of all technical achievements in the past 3 or so releases I wonder if perhaps it could be a good time for the team to show some love to some more outwardly aspects of TDM. This is because I still think the TDM default package is a bit too bare-bones to incentivize new players to invest time into it, and there are some simple yet significant changes that I believe that could change that. I will try to make a short list of suggestions in no particular order for your consideration and for community discussion. Finish St. Lucia campaign - I think that one of the most disappointing aspects of the core TDM package is the lack of a full official campaign. I remember Springheel mentioning many aspects for the 3rd final mission were underway but left incomplete, and that these resources could be ceded to any interested FM creator who was interested in finishing the mission. Why not taking the initiative and do a public announcement? A better training mission - The current TDM training mission is a strange sandbox that doesn't blend too well with the rest of the package. I think something similar to Goldwell's Thief training mission remake would be a more suitable and shorter solution to teach the basics of the game while keeping it within the narrative. It could even be included in the St. Lucia campaign as Mission 0. Better, clearer main menu - even with the most recent changes, I still feel the TDM menu needs a redesign. I'm not quite sure what would be the best approach, so the only suggestion I have at the moment is to have the Mission Downloader available straight from the main menu, instead of being somewhat hidden on the corner of the New Mission section. This is mainly because the game focuses heavily on downloadable, content and thus should immediately point new players towards it. Two-mission community FM sample - one easy way to make the TDM package more complete is by adding a sample of two FMs to the main package - one short, and one long - so that new players can enjoy a small curated selection of what the game offers without having to browse the forums for mission descriptions. These missions could be selected by community vote and then tweaked before inclusion in the package, with the consent of their authors of course. A better intro sequence - The old glowing TDM logo video is really starting to show its age. I wonder if it could be replaced with a better hi-res version, or even with a simple logo texture with an after effect applied, discarding the need for an FMV sequence. Let me know what are your thoughts. I would like also ask the TDM team members if anything similar to these suggestions is already in development.
  12. I see a lot of talk with regards to Grayman's unfinished missions. Perhaps it would be best to let the dust settle before taking any decisions. I feel that in these circumstances proper respects must be given, and that a certain time period must be honored before any attempts of assessing his legacy. So for now my suggestion is: let's give it a month and reserve this thread for those who wish to pay respects to a beloved member of the TDM community. There's plenty of time to figure what to do with any content left behind.
  13. Hello, and thank you for coming over. First I want to express my sincere condolences for your loss to you and your family. Your father was a respected and beloved member of this community who always addressed any issues in a patient and rational manner. He was also a highly creative person who created content that brought others immense joy. These might sound like vague words coming from a stranger, sitting behind a screen in some obscure part of the world, that cannot in any way or shape represent what your father meant to you or your family. I only knew your father through his works and there is little else I can say. However, I can hardly think of any nobler goal in life than wanting to share such beauty with others for the sake of art itself and doing so consistently, with little interest in any form of compensation. This is a standard I want to guide my own life by, for it is one that makes the world a happier place to live in. And whether I make it or not, I would like you to know that your father was a source of inspiration not just to me but to everyone else around here. There is no greater power in life than being able to move others, and I hope it brings you joy knowing that your father achieved this. *EDIT* I've written a small article on Grayman for Gaming on Linux. You may find it here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/05/notable-developer-from-the-dark-mod-team-passes-away
  14. r_fboColorBits 32 That works! Thank you! I hope there will be a more permanent fix in the future though!
  15. I have the same problem too, and I also have a Radeon card. On Linux, however, instead of a black screen, it produces a bunch of colored artifacts obstructing view on the menu. I'll try both test versions and see the results1000
  16. The item icons are large enough, so I think it would be comfortable to use, and would greatly boost the utility of the Inventory grid by allowing function triggering from within.
  17. Drag and drop isn't absolutely necessary. An alternative way to make it work would be showing two sub-buttons when hovering the mouse above an item, of which one could be for using/selecting another one for frobbing (unless this isn't possible either).
  18. I mean this thing I'm not entirely sure what's in the future plans for the inventory grid, but I really like how it makes selecting objects much much easier compared to using keys. My idea is that it can be made even more useful by adding some extra mouse functions, so it can potentially become the main way of managing items over keyboard commands. Currently the only function is: Left mouse click - selects an item and close inventory window I suggest the following: Right mouse click - uses an item and closes inventory window (i.e, a readable or a potion, eliminating the need for the U key afterwards) Left mouse click and drag - closes inventory window and automatically puts item in frob mode, if possible (makes dropping items easy, replaces R key) Note that I think we should still keep R, U and all other inventory associated keys, but this would provide a full GUI-based alternative to them.
  19. Another test, using Sotha's Coercion, a small mission: 2.08 - 45 secs 2.09 - 33 secs A 12 secs decrease! *EDIT* Two more tests St Alban's Cathedral, an older, less optimised large mission 2.08 - 1 min and 28 secs 2.09 - 1 min and 22 secs No substantial gains here WS5: Commerce Bank 2.08 - 1 min and 13 secs 2.09 - 1 min and 2 secs A decent 11 sec gain, although not that notorious. I guess it varies from mission to mission.
  20. Because I still have both 2.08 and 2.09 installed, I just did a loading time test using Down by the Riverside, a fairly large mission. 2.08 - 1 minute and 38 secs loading time 2.09 - 1 minute and 6 secs loading time That's a remarkable 32 sec decrease! The graphics settings are very much the same and multicore is enabled on 2.08.
  21. For my old pc at least it made quite the difference.
  22. Beyond all threads about feedback and criticism, I think it's also nice to congratulate people for a job well done. I have an old legacy laptop which I sometimes enjoy using for running older games. I had TDM installed on it, however the CPU-heavy demands of the game would make it impossible to run on long stretches, causing it to overheat even when multicore mode was enabled. I am happy to report that since release 2.09 I've had no overheating problems in my old machine, and that loading times are also greatly improved! Finally I can play TDM on the go! For the record my specs are: CPU: AMD A10-5750M APU with Radeon HD Graphics @ 4x 2.5GHz [56.0°C] GPU: AMD ARUBA (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.15.0-135-generic, LLVM 10.0.0) RAM: 8MB
  23. As long as their modified version of the software remains restricted to their own internal use, they are technically not obliged to share the code unless they make a build of the software public or made available for sale.
×
×
  • Create New...