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I just noted that the lightgem model is on the FTP server. This is good to know. Unfortunately it is in a non-ASCII format and thus we can not edit it. I don't want to install lightwave just to be able to to open the file and I wouldn't even know how to do this in ligthwave. Ignoring that fact that I don't want to install a pirated copy of Lightwave as Blender perfectly serves my purpose. As the lightgem is only a static mesh, I expect that I can easily import it into Blender. Of course to avoid such problems in the future you should always assign the material name right from the start. I think we should create a HUD directory in the models section where we can store the respective HUD models. So the lightgem would have a path like this in the material: //darkmod/models/hud/lightgem Also always provide a textfile with the authors name/email, what the file contains and which version this is. oofnish did that in this case, but we should make this as a rule. Since we will store other HUD elements as well the description file should be name <modelname>.txt --------------------------- Author: Name <email> Version: 0.1 Description: this is the most woot model for our mod. ---------------------------

In the worst case, only the faces are symmetrical, right? The rest of the body isn't, and that's not so bad. I think I know why they did it. If you've ever zoomed into a Doom 3 monster body, the face is the MOST detailed part. Try the handgun guy with the glowing eyes. He has the most minute (normal mapped) wrinkles all over his face, and his teeth practically look real. His skin really looks dead. And you can really see the difference in detail with the rest of his body - the textures on his body look blurry in comparison. I think they wanted the faces to be detailed, for the cutsceans. And they probably decided it was worth cutting them in half for the extra detail.

Whew. Hey everybody. Here's what's up. Over the past few weeks, I've been trying to set up a new computer - dual processor workstation, basically, since this guy is coming to its knees over the thief model. A 1.5 GHz box with onl 512 megs of RAM won't cut it anymore. So last night, I finally got all the parts to the new computer. Put it together. Aaaaand... nothing. Wouldn't post. No warning beeps. I've ordered a new power supply, as the one I have may not be enough, but now I'm suspicious that it may be my motherboard, in which case I'll have to get that replaced by Buy.com. This, combined with school work, has kept me drowning for a while now. Now, if the power supply works, I'll be all set on monday - but this is looking less and less likely. Expect a week or two to get the new mobo if that's necessary. I'm really sorry about all of this - but believe me, I'm no happier about it than all of you. I'm going to try to compile everything I've done to date into a handy dandy package (normal maps and so forth plus models for the lamp and the coins, as well as the models of the arrows) and upload them soon. For those interested, however, this is why this whole ordeal is worth it: ASUS NCCH-DL motherboard - dual Xeon capable, 800 MHz FSB, 4 USB 2.0, AGPx8, 2 PCI-X, 2 PCI, board-native optical audio out and game controller. One Xeon 2.8 GHz 800 MHz FSB to start, with another later on when I can afford it. 1 GB Kingston PC2700 RAM 512 MB Kingston PC2100 RAM GeForce 5950 Ultra FX 256MB ...So as I said. This is WORTH IT. Doubling my processor speed with an option to redouble it later, tripling my RAM, getting a waaay fatter FSB... yeah. So wish me luck, friends!

I had an idea that had the city in the background and a clocktower in the foreground, with the clock thing and a thief's silhouette in front of it. I'll try and get that done this weekend. (It won't be the exact same as the T2 dvd case)

I've been very pleased with the early tests so far. I just want to assure everyone that the acting quality is not reflected in these tests. They're just quick snipits for vocal quality so I can judge what their voices will be best suited for. I think we'll get a few charactes out of both Ernest and Jen. They're both very fun to work with so it will be a very enjoyable experience. I had one guy email me when he saw the poster I put up, but the part about "acting experience" didn't seem to register. I gave him an appointment anyway, just in case he was a natural born talent. Sadly, he was not. Nothing against him personally, but it would taken a lot of work to coach him through each role to get a quality performance. No energy for that. The great thing about the people on board so far is that all I have to do is work out the character with them...and they'll improvise all day for me. It's a pure delight. On the subject of the northern lights. I agree, they are phenominmal.

Just in case you are bored with your mod or want to work on a larger team. We can always use coders.

Good job, Pakmannen. Wow, I really like the louder sound you made of the HumAmb file!! It really brings out just the right things to make it sound great! I could see that working for some parts in a campaign. The 'wet finger around a crystal glass' part of the sound, though, may be just slightly a little to pronounced. I've had your revised HumAmb playing for a couple minutes here and it does get kind've piercing to the ear, unfortunately. For the most part, though, I love it. Or, if it were ever to get used in game as is, then it would just need to be for a short time. I kinda knew BellAmb was lacking -- I think it maybe needs more solid foundations. I just kept it in it's raw format for now, but I'll try to layer other sounds with it to bring out more fullness and richness to it. Yeah, I need to do something different to record sounds here, but I'm not sure what. Any advice? I have to record at a very low level, otherwise the sound wavelenghts that show in Goldwave go all the way to the top and bottom and get cut off, hence distorting my sounds and losing a lot of the cool sutbtleties of the sounds. I don't know if the issue is Goldwave software 'cheapness,' my sound card or what. Would a more professional audio program solve this dilemma? Right now, I have two cords coming out of the stereo phono plugs of my keyboard into a Y-splitter that take it down to a single stereo 1/8" jack, which then gets plugged into my nForce 2 (SoundStorm) sound portion of my motherboard. Using the nVidia Mixer software (from nVidia), I have to turn the 'Mic Booster' on to get decent recording levels and hear the sounds better thru my PC. But it's all so touchy. I can then only turn the volume up on my keyboard about 1/3 of the way, otherwise I'm at a great risk to have the recording go 'in the red' on Goldwave's VU Meter. I'm hoping you know what I mean. Here's a pic showing the VU Meter maxed out. A very common occurrence for me: Yet, when I record at lower levels and try to use Goldwave's effects to 'increase volume,' I can rarely increase it by 150% or 200% without it clipping the wavelenghts at the top and bottom again. All's I know is if I plug my keyboard into my home stereo system and crank it, it sounds awesome. My PC is a lot more touchy. PS... YES!!! I'd love to give FM authors the ability to have instruments lying around in their maps (pianos, harpsichords, harps, guitars, cellos, etc.) and have sounds tied to them in case the thief chooses to touch them. Is it possible to tie two sounds to a given object, so the 1st time the object is touched it's a quiet sound, and the 2nd time a louder sound?

I think there is a problem with putting something back. It is the physics engine. My guess why this doesn't really work in any game (none that I remember at least) is that it requires special coding to provide for it. If some object is standing in a i.e board, the character can not reach it really. So this means he he blocked by the bounding box of the board. To take the object the code simply looks if the player is near enough and then removes it from the world into the inventory (or players hands). If you would have to put it back, this would mean that the player would have to be near enough. But the bounding box prevents this. It would require a high precision to place the object back. But I think we can do this by either providing a seperate button OR by assuming that the player wants to put it back if the view vector and the distance is in a position near enough of the original position. We cimply must store the original location of the object and replace it in the case that one of the above is true. The nice thing is, that, if we allow this, we could even programm the AI to recognize moved objects. It could work like this. The player takes an object (i.e. a book). When he wants to put it back the object is placed randomly within the original region. If the player holds the button down for a longer time, the object will be adjusted and shift to it's original place. After a certain time it will reach the original place but that takes time. If the object is carelessly placed then the AI could recognize it. If the player takes the time the AI won't recognize it afterwards. What do you say?

We'd need a LochRenz Monster in that case. Hehe

Well i did this a while ago for one side of the thief trilogy boxed set- I don't think it works too well as is, but something along the lines of a thief's silhoutte would work. I'll try and sketch up a few concepts. EDIT: which reminds me, i still need to finish the T1 dvd case...

The city hb was like this. But we could extract the shop idea and make it into a mini-game which loads before real missions loads. Just like the shop screen would. Or do you mean a shop that will be included into an FM? In this case how should this work? It oculd only work like this that we create a mini mpa for it, and the FM author extends his level around it. Like it was done in The Seventh Crystal (I think).

Yeah, that's fine..it'll help make sure we don't accidently overwrite another one of our textures in case of a (much dreaded) naming conflict. The finished and packaged products are gonna use the default naming scheme, though...and one of us is gonna have to decide on the final order everything goes into to keep things running smoothly. Guess I'll volunteer for that job. Oh, and work on the newly restructured tree has commenced. I've done about 4 folders so far and let me be the first to say......blahhhhh. I tells ya, if you need any proof that planning ahead is a good thing to do, this is it.

Hi there Im Dieblein, Leader of the Rpg project "Return to Mana" for Hl2. (http://returntomana.mods.de. I just rushed in here to congratz you to the work done so far. Thief is one of my all time best games I ever thought of making a nice sequel or mod based on it in the future. So I hope you can proove the will to not break up until the mod has been done. I saw your modling threads @cgtalk, its good to post there because that really imroves the quality of the 3d work. As you may know its so important to keep looking and comparing yourself with the worlds top notch artists because you can always learn more. Stop learning is the worst thing that can ever happen to you. So I hope you can go along with the project, In any case I wish you best of luck with it and perhaps we can chat a little and maybe I could help you out with some of the model work later. Is there an Irc you usually hang out? Dont give up, keep up the good work! Greetings Dieblein

Let's find out. Accidently hit the edit button instead of quote in case you're wondering...

Hm, good point. I don't even know if we're doing food. In that case we'll add it later on.

It always looke dto me like a comic style. More fitting for Spiderman or such. Wow! That really sounds great, but I think in that case the sepia tone will not work so good. for glowing glyphs a dark background would probably be better. Or maybe the glyps could look like fire burning the letters in the parchment. this would work with the book theme, I think.

Do you need some webspace to host a few tracks? If so I can help you out so you can demo your work to everyone else on the mod. We can't consider you unless you have an example shown upfront, so if that's the case just send me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

Here are some concept art references from Thief-TheCircle -- and some 'beast' descriptions -- for T1 and T2. Even though most/all of you have probably already seen this, I thought I'd bring it up to make sure, in case it helps anyone: The Thief Bestiary: All the animals and monsters seen or mentioned in Thief TDP, Thief Gold, or Thief 2. http://www.thief-thecircle.com/guides/bestiary/ T1/T2 Concept Art: http://www.thief-thecircle.com/media/concepts/

Round one of texturing for the face. Will probably leave it like this for now, while I start on the armor and such. Comments welcome, but keep in mind that this is a loooong process. Things to change: is too ruddy, eyebrows are way wrong, nose has a bit of a shading issue, eyelids and eyes need detail, may add a hairline just in case, lips need to have their detail brought out more.

I have no idea. I don't think we've talked about it. But I put the link there anyway, just in case. (And if we are doing robots, I'd like something like that more than the T2 panzer tanks)

one thing to the door texture up a few posts: try to avoid the "natural" highlight, i mean that the door is brighter on the top end than it is on the lower end. it will look strange in the game especially to people like me who have an eye for it. persective and slightly not down straight 90 degree angles do also look strange, for this case use the arbitary tool in photoshop

http://www.old-furniture.com/vl/Beeld020.jpg so my first one will be this one or one looking quite like it. as i do not yet have doom 3 i have no idea what polycounts there stuff have. i just work it out, makin it low-poly afterwards is not that big deal. textures often take more time (in my case, im not that experienced in texturing, yet) so i will work with 512 x 512. maybe tonight i can give you a first shot.

just wanted to say that im still on the case but got little time in the last past days.

i remember the making of blade 2, where the custumes designer spoke about clothing and the problem of dark clothing the clue is, that you have to do very much with different materials. the breaking of light, the "smoothness", how contrasts you recognize, reflections, colorchanges (violet to black and the other way round) in the case of the hood you should try this, maybe different colors for inside / outside, a material wich allows to see structure, maybe a artifical bright up in the face as it has been made in thief deadly shadows

I think it'll take whatever. Is this MAX? In which case ASE, or LWO would be fine I guess.