zergrush
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Posts posted by zergrush
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14 hours ago, kingsal said:
The damage model is pretty complicated. It takes the base damage of an arrow ( i think its 30 or something) and then factors in the material it hit (cloth, chain, metal) and then the AI altert level and THEN it adds a chest or head multiplier. I like to tweak the chest and head multipliers which can be done in the spawn args on the AI or their def files or in the DR difficulty settings.
I think headshots on humans regardless of alertness makes sense to be an instant kill. In hazard the zombies can be killed instantly with headshots while unaware but if you disturb them, it takes multiple shots (depending on difficulty)
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.
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11 hours ago, thebigh said:
Me too. This is the Dark mod after all.
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.
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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?
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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?
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50 minutes ago, marbleman said:
A New Job could use a rework too. For one, I'm not sure why the mission that's supposed to be played by TDM newcomers has a difficulty titled "TDM Veteran"...
Because it adds replay value for experienced players who want to revisit the mission. I still play A New Job sometimes on max difficulty.
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2 hours ago, marbleman said:
Regarding the St. Lucia campaign, as a TDM newcomer, I do have a pretty strong opinion about it, that is, The Tears of St. Lucia is a major difficulty spike and is totally not for new players. I never finished it and was close to dropping TDM entirely, but thankfully I tried Melan's Return to the City and Spoonman's Full Moon Fever, which finally got me hooked. I believe it should be reworked to be more accommodating for those who are still learning how the game works.
Another thing: TDM newcomers often look at the highest-rated, most-recommended missions when choosing what to play. A potential problem here is that these missions are rated and recommended by TDM players who already know the game, and most of these missions are huge and demanding. For example, The Painter's Wife is one of my favorite missions, but I wouldn't under any circumstances recommend it to someone new as they would just get overwhelmed. I'm not entirely sure what can be done about it. Maybe a note regarding the mission's size and difficulty in the mission download menu?
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.
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6 minutes ago, madtaffer said:
Maybe add new story notes as well to make the point for the new players?
Personally I would like it to be a small prelude to A New Job, so it's framed in the same narrative.
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26 minutes ago, cabalistic said:
The problem with UI, I'm afraid, is first and foremost a technical issue. The existing UI system is an absolute pain to work with, and any effort to implement any reasonable modern UI concept in that system will drive every developer involved in the effort absolutely insane. I'm only half joking.
Before any such effort could take place, I feel that the system needs to be replaced entirely. But that is also a massive pain because there's no good option to keep backwards-compatibility with existing missions. And the most obvious candidates for UI systems are rather large dependencies. So while I agree with the necessity of a UI overhaul, I'm not very optimistic for it to happen anytime soon.
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.
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20 minutes ago, stgatilov said:
Didn't @Springheel donate 3rd mission of Saint Lucia campaign into Abandoned Works?
Don't hope for an official campaign though: there already was one such effort, and the cost was too high for the community.
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?
QuoteI think this idea was already proposed.
There are some technical issues (prebundled missions and fms are distributed very differently), ownership issues (FM authors will have to grant CC-NC license). All in all, it is possible.
BTW, I don't like the idea of making a large FMs prebundled: in my opinion, prebundled FM should mostly rely on core assets, and not drag along hundreds of megabytes of custom ones. And that would limit the choice substantiallyIt'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.
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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.
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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.
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18 hours ago, grayson said:Hi this is Graymans son
My father was a poet, a painter, a writer, and a giant nerd. He studied nuclear physics, aerospace engineering, and AI. But all he really wanted to do was play video games. He recently lost a very long war with Cancer.
My dad has a little plaque you all sent him hanging on the wall next to handprints from his grandchildren. Whenever my children would call him he'd talk to them about "his boring video game stuff" according to my 8 year old... who never really understood why Grayman didn't like Pokemon as much as he did.
I found a file on his computer stating that the last few levels he was working on 95%, 95%, and 50% finished. He also said working with another dev would take up too much time that he wanted to spend with his family instead. To be fair I worked with my father my entire life on random things (including Doom mods back in the day) and he never thought anything was finished. So I'd personally consider the two 95% missions to basically be done. If whoever he sent them to to Beta test wanted to share them with the development team I don't think he'd really mind and you shouldn't feel guilty if you do. I'll leave that up to you guys, but I will not be uploading them and they should not be posted publicly. The final mission will remain unfinished though. I will mention that it was going to be pretty damn good from what I read in his notes.
He did ask that two levels that weren't related to the Steele missions do get uploaded to the abandoned level archive. I am in the process of doing that now.
Thanks
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
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r_fboColorBits 32
17 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:On Linux try r_fboColorBits 32 and r_useBindlessTextures 0
That works! Thank you! I hope there will be a more permanent fix in the future though!
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test15973-8795 does away with the problem for me!
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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
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3 minutes ago, HMart said:
That is perfectly possible but personally, not sure if I like the idea of having extra buttons popup, needed to experience it first.
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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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7 minutes ago, stgatilov said:
Very strange indeed
For most people, the performance improvements are noticeable, but pretty small.
Maybe your case is different because you have APU, or because CPU/GPU performance ratio is different.As for loading times, I think it has worsened in 2.09, especially on AMD GPUs!
Because now all normal textures are compressed into RGTC format during loading (to be fixed in 2.10), and texture loading takes most of the time.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.
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2 minutes ago, chakkman said:
Hmm... surprises me TBH. The way I understood it, there are performance gains, but, not like 200 % or something.
Good for you though.
For my old pc at least it made quite the difference.
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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-
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@Zerg Rush I wish you had picked a more original name...
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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.
Dark Mod Main Menu Updates (wip)
in The Dark Mod
Posted · Edited by zergrush
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.