Search the Community

Looks great, sounds great & creepy atmosphere...plus, all these cool effects, the lighting and the details! ...this image gives a good impression of the overall mood: Question:

You have made a great leap forward, using interactive introducing in the begining, using medailon like in The H.O.L.S., nice timed effects etc. The puzzle is also very good chalenge just if it is logical. Still miss the logic of putting a pot of mushrooms to papers making fire. If you can describe me this process closely, maybe i change my opinion that this is a huge mistake in this nice adventure. I really thought that i need to put that pot somewhere where the lightning can reach it... So, take in consideriation to the next version patch this: 1. at least give player a slow match or some true source of fire... 2. make a sound effect when the sealed door is magicaly unsealed (also it will be great to use a random pattern e.g. bricks, if mention this). Good wishes.

Welcome to the Dark Mod forums MarsManon! Thank you very much for the kind words about SLL, it's always nice to hear We all worked real hard on bringing Grayman's map to life and I'm glad you enjoyed it

I was so enchanted by this FM, I had to sign up to the forums the same day I finished it to come thank the authors Genuinely, truly incredible work! I was so overwhelmed in places that I resorted to just shouting joy at my monitor two, three, maybe four entirely separate times while playing. Exploring, puzzling, finding something new, trying to use it, and finding it does a whole new, separate, wonderful thing! There aren't enough words inside me to describe the feeling. It was breathtaking. I don't have any specific feedback that hasn't come through this thread before Thanks so much for making this, for all the inspiration and ingenuity and effort it took. If I never play another level this good, in any other game, in my life, I'd be fine with that.

Nice mission! Lighting, sound, effects all fit perfectly. As other have said, spooky without the typical jump scares. I especially liked the I really struggled with Great stuff, thanks!

Atmosphere and lighting were stellar! Loved the extra mile you went with the effects!

Greetings taffers, Here's an early Halloween offering for you, a spooky little haunted house mission. Content warnings include zombies, spiders, and body horror. I set myself a challenge to fit the whole thing in a 1024x1280x1024 box-- mappertools, skybox, everything-- so opening this beast up in DarkRadiant might be the most horrifying thing about it. I'm grateful to my beta testers, as well as various people who put music and sound effects on the net for free, so be sure to check the Notes in the Dark Mod mission selection menu. It may be small, but it should take ~45 minutes for a first playthrough. Enjoy! Third mission in my series.

Mostly yes. For those subtitle sets I've released so far, the remaining steps for someone (not me) are - - optionally do a second QA pass. (I've tried to be careful and thorough, of course.) - fold them into the 2.12dev distribution. This mainly involves deciding where the subtitles for each voice should live when distributed and copying the .subs and .srt files there. It may also involve editing the .subs file to change paths accordingly. That edit is just a find/replace-all, so easy. There are additional gui presentation issues, which are (I hope) unlikely to affect the foregoing. About those issues: experimentation and discussion are on-going, and ideally may be resolved before the final 2.12 release. Also, regarding barks emitted by the player and by non-human AI... unclear to me how they should be categorized ("verbosity speech" vs "verbosity effects" vs ignore). In any event, I don't expect to get to them in a 2.12 timeframe. BTW, I'll be traveling this coming week as well as later in the month, so will be periodically unresponsive.

There's a group of players who have meticulously tested and adjusted ghosting rules for The Dark Mod. Please see: Official Ghosting Rules: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148523 Ghost Rules Discussion: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148487 Why alienate an established group of dedicated players?

The black mess under newspaper is the peter-panning of shadow maps. The non-aliased adge on top-right is probably due to some screen-space effect. Most of these effects work on non-multisampled framebuffer.

I have been following this thread and I tried Wellingtoncrab's build. I thought about all this time ago and I made up my mind back then. I understand the desire for these changes but at the same time I understand why things are the way they are. The current TDM design is consistent and there isn't much room for improvement if we stick to what's available. Shortcuts won't cut it, a modern solution requires something else: less keys and more visuals, sorry to say. With my comments I am trying to warn that we probably are focusing too much on the goal and too little on the side effects 99% of players we will never hear from might face: A candle unintentionally extinguished is frustrating. Dropping bodies while operating doors is frustrating. Trying to hide a leg in the shadows only to end up shouldering the body is frustrating.

OK I think I've got to the bottom of this. I've created this forum thread (with bug report): https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22221-bug-drowning-ai-in-shallow-water/ I can apply a workaround, although it won't be perfect and the bug itself needs fixing in the engine. There are a few other things that need fixing so will put an update together soonish.

If any mappers have encountered weirdness with kill objectives not working with drowning AI, I think I've found out why. I don't think it would be a particularly difficult one to fix either. I've raised this bug report: https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6323 Some context here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21837-fan-mission-the-lieutenant-2-high-expectations-by-frost_salamander-20230424/&do=findComment&comment=487316 I think this is a bug, but just raising here in case some people think otherwise.

I dom't use it, i found it here with the filter set to OpenSource. the TOS and PP isn't excluding for an OpenSource app, if they use ads mean that they also need to pay an server for this online service. OpenSource is not synonymous with free either, perhaps after the beta phase it is no longer free, so perhaps you can take advantage of the fact that it is still free to create a series of textures that can be used or search another one in Futuretools. AI generated textures and assets, by definition, don't have any copyright, so you can use them as you want. https://www.futuretools.io/?pricing-model=free|open-source&tags-n5zn=gaming

starfield running on a R9 290X at first it crashed a lot so i decied to have a look out there to see if it was at all possible and heh a small mod called potato mash (basically just optimized ini files and a dx wrapper) and now it runs. turns out that this game has some rather buggy interactions with dx12 (found out by the guy who develops vkd3d-proton) and turning off the shadows and a few other things lets it run on even this old card. not getting earth shattering fps mind you but its playable i could even push it into medium and still play at 30 somethingsish fps but high was to much. looks quite good still even with a good deal of these effects off.

Is bloom causing it? Didn't think to try that: Just started the FM so next time I pass by the area I'll try that as well. Also the sharpness filter even if it's at a low setting, I'll feel silly if that was literally undoing the effects of AA I was thinking the newspaper being so bright compared to the background might have something to do with it. Though IIRC AntiAliasing scans geometry edges only and shouldn't care about brightness per say.

When you press Escape to see the main menu, the sound effects from nearby electrical lights, like buzzing and crackling, will keep on playing. Doesn't seem to happen with gas lamps and torches. I don't know if this has been reported, but it has been around for a long time. (I'm on version 2.12)

I don't know if this is any use to TDM but if I don't post it we'll never know https://sonniss.com/gameaudiogdc Apologies if this is in the wrong folder, please feel free to move the thread or remove the thread if it's no use

Hello TDM-ers. I am encountering an issue where textures seem to partially disappear. I tried searching the forums, but, I don't know what to search for. The missing textures are a worldspawn brush acting as a roof with {for now} flat iron texture. There are other worldspawn brushes right below to create an attic ceiling with roof framework board texture. These gaps appeared a few edits ago. I can't "undo" to get back before whatever edit did this. The gaps are only visible during play and are not visible during editing. Closing and reopening DR and TDM do not fix anything. Some of the brushes overlap in areas behind the play area but I have never seen an issue doing that. The attached image has the effect I am now seeing. Ideas on where to start debugging this? Very much appreciated. Clint

I started with OpenShot but kinda abandoned it due to issues like @thebigh mentioned. Seems like every new version has some weird bug that causes problems or is just annoying and you wonder why it's there. Sometimes I tried using nightly builds in the hopes it would fix things but it wasn't sustainable. Nowadays I'm a big fan of Shotcut. It's a more mature project and also has more regular releases. You do need to learn how to use it of course but even a dummy like me was able to edit videos with transitions and other effects.

Awesome! Post is up! https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22200-beta-testing-the-house-of-delisle/#comment-487365 Thanks!

Complaint From Players The player must pick up candles before extinguishing them, and then the player must remember to drop the candle. The player must drag a body before shouldering it (picking it up), and the player must remember to frob again to stop dragging the body. The player finds this annoying or easy to make mistakes. For players who ghost, some of them have the goal of returning objects back to their original positions. With the current "pick up, use item, and drop" system, the item might not return easily or at all to its original position. For example, a candlestick might bounce off its holder. (See player quotes at the bottom.) Bug Tracker https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6316 Problems to Solve How can the "pick up" step be eliminated so that the player can directly use or interact with the item where it is in the game world? How can so much key pressing and mouse clicking be eliminated when the player wants to directly use an item? How can candles be extinguished and lanterns toggled off/on without first picking them up? How can bodies be shouldered without first dragging them? Solution Design Goals Make TDM easier for new players while also improving it for longtime players. Reduce tedious steps for common frob interactions. Make it intuitive so that menu settings are unnecessary. Do not introduce bugs or break the game. Terms frob -- the frob button action happens instantly. hold frob -- the frob button is held for 200ms before the action happens. (This can be changed via cvar: 200ms by default.) Proposed Solution Note: Some issues have been struckthrough to show changes since the patch has been updated. Change how frobbing works for bodies, candles, and lanterns. For bodies: Frob to shoulder (pick up) a body. Second frob to drop shouldered body, while allowing frob on doors, switches, etc. Hold frob (key down) to start drag, continue to hold frob (key down) to drag body, and then release frob (key up) to stop dragging body. Also, a body can be dragged immediately by holding frob and moving the mouse. For candles/lanterns: Frob to extinguish candles and toggle off/on lanterns. Hold frob to pick it up, and then frob again to drop. Frob to pick it up, and then frob again to drop. Hold frob to extinguish candles and toggle off/on lanterns. For food: Frob to pick it up, and then frob again to drop. Hold frob to eat food. For other items: No change. New cvar "tdm_frobhold_delay", default:"200" The frob hold delay (in ms) before drag or extinguish. Set to 0 for TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. Solution Benefits Bodies: New players will have less to learn to get started moving knocked out guards. With TDM v2.11 and earlier, some players have played several missions before realizing that they could shoulder a body instead of dragging it long distances. Frob to shoulder body matches Thief, so longtime Thief players will find it familiar. Second frob drops a shouldered body. Players still have the ability to both shoulder and drag bodies. Compatible with the new auto-search bodies feature. Dragging feels more natural -- just grab, hold, and drop with a single button press. There is no longer the need to press the button twice. Also, it's no longer possible to walk away from a body while unintentionally dragging it. Set "tdm_frobhold_delay" cvar to delay of 0 to restore TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. Candles: New players will have less to learn to get started extinguishing candles. With TDM v2.11 and earlier, some players didn't know they could extinguish candles by picking them up and using them. Instead, they resorted to throwing them to extinguish them or hiding them. Hold frob to extinguish a candle feels like "pinching" it out. Once a candle is picked up, players still have the ability to manipulate and use them the same way they are used to in TDM v2.11 and earlier. For players who ghost and have the goal of putting objects back to their original positions, they'll have an easier time and not have to deal with candles popping off their holders when trying to place them back carefully. Set "tdm_frobhold_delay" cvar to delay of 0 to restore TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. Solution Issues Bodies: Frob does not drop a shouldered body, so that might be unexpected for new players. This is also different than Thief where a second frob will drop a body. "Use Inv. Item" or "Drop Inv. Item" drops the body. This is the same as TDM v2.11 and earlier. This is the price to pay for being able to frob (open/close) doors while shouldering a body. Patch was updated to drop body on second frob, while allowing frob on doors, switches, etc. Candles: Picking up a candle or lantern requires a slight delay, because the player must hold the frob button. The player might unintentionally extinguish a candle while moving it if they hold down frob. The player will need to learn that holding frob will extinguish the candle. The player can change the delay period via the "tdm_frobhold_delay" cvar. Also, when the cvar is set to a delay of 0, the behavior matches TDM v2.11 and earlier, meaning the player would have to first "Frob/Interact" to pick up the candle and then press "Use Inv. Item" to extinguish it. Some players might unintentionally extinguish a candle when they are trying to move it or pick it up. They need to make sure to hold frob to initiate moving the candle. When a candle is unlit, it will highlight but do nothing on frob. That might confuse players. However, the player will likely learn after extinguishing several candles that an unlit candle still highlights. It makes sense that an already-extinguished candle cannot be extinguished on frob. The official "Training Mission" might need to have its instructions updated to correctly guide the player through candle manipulation training. Updating the training mission to include the hold frob to extinguish would probably be helpful. Similar Solutions In Fallout 4, frob uses an item and long-press frob picks it up. Goldwell's mission, "Accountant 2: New In Town", has candles that extinguish on frob without the need of picking them up first. Snatcher's TDM Modpack includes a "Blow / Ignite" item that allows the player to blow out candles Wesp5's Unofficial Patch provides a way to directly extinguish movable candles by frobbing. Demonstration Videos Note: The last two videos don't quite demonstrate the latest patch anymore. But the gist is the same. This feature proposal is best experienced in game, but some demonstration videos are better than nothing. The following videos show either a clear improvement or that the player is not slowed down with the change in controls. For example, "long-press" sounds long, but it really isn't. Video: Body Shouldering and Dragging The purpose of this video is to show that frob to shoulder a body is fast and long-press frob to drag a body is fast enough and accurate. Video: Long-Press Frob to Pick Up Candle The purpose of this video is to show how the long-press frob to pick up a candle isn't really much slower than regular frob. Video: Frob to Extinguish The purpose of this video -- if a bit contrived -- is to show the efficiency and precision of this proposed feature. The task in the video was for the player to as quickly and accurately as possible extinguish candles and put them back in their original positions. On the left, TDM v2.11 is shown. The player has to highlight each candle, press "Frob/Interact" to pick up, press "Use Inv. Item" to extinguish, make sure the candle is back in place, and finally press "Frob/Interact" to drop the candle. The result shows mistakes and candles getting misplaced. On the right, the proposed feature is shown. The player frobs to extinguish the candles. The result shows no mistakes and candles are kept in their original positions. Special Thanks @Wellingtoncrab was instrumental in improving this feature during its early stages. We had many discussions covering varying scenarios, pros, and cons, and how it would affect the gameplay and player experience. Originally, I had a completely different solution that added a special "use modifier" keybinding. He suggested the frob to use and long-press frob to pick up mechanics. I coded it up, gave it a try, and found it to be too good. Without his feedback and patience, this feature wouldn't be as good as it is. Thank you, @Wellingtoncrab! And, of note, @Wellingtoncrab hasn't been able to try it in game yet, because I'm using Linux and can't compile a Windows build for him. So, if this feature isn't good, that's my fault. Code Patch I'll post the code patch in another post below this one so that folks who compile TDM themselves can give this proposal a try in game. And, if you do, I look forward to your feedback! Player Complaints TTLG (2023-01-10) Player 1: TDM Forums (2021-03-13) Player 2: Player 3: TDM Forums (2023-06-17) Player 4: TDM Discord (2021-05-18) Player 5: TDM Discord (2023-02-14) Player 6: Player 7: Player 8:

TDM Modpack v3.5 released in the opening post Starting with this update you no longer need to "shoulder" a body to get to see the tag (name/status) at the bottom, just grab (frob) the body and there you have it: This feature has been included in the "Quiet Objects" mod, which is now called "Smart Objects", and it also works with droppable inventory items: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- v3.5 also introduces the initial release of the "Hunter Bow" mod. Some missions alter the properties of the bow to make it draw arrows faster and I thought there must be some demand out there for such mod. Enable the Hunter Bow mod and you will draw the bow faster in all missions. The Hunter Bow mod is entirely optional: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On a side note I made progress with "Alchemy" and arrow effects now fade out nicely (finally!). The approach employed allows me to script any effect and/or event and I should be able now to produce more arrow types. We already have Night & Day and I am thinking we could probably have and Order & Chaos combo... we shall see. Oh, the "Moonlight" arrow or recipe has been renamed to "Starlight", which seems like a tighter name. I hope you have fun with this new version. Here is the full changelog: ============================== v3.5 - New release ------------------------------ • SMART OBJECTS MOD v1.1: AI status/names and some item names are displayed onscreen when grabbed. • PLAYER SKILLS MOD - MANIPULATION v1.8: Proper support for sconce_2candles_rigid (around 40 flames). • PLAYER SKILLS MOD - COMBINATION v1.2: Arrow effects fade out nicely now. Improved FX. • HUNTER BOW MOD v1.0: Initial release • (Internal) Code adjustments. Cheers!

That jittering still works as far as I know, though I think with some effects, you can get weird artifacts. Typing "screenshot 2560 1440 32" still works.

I did at some point wonder if the same shader could be used to achieve both effects. My idea was we could have a single blur post-process: Its minimum range would be something like 0.5 pixels to anti-alias sharp edges (both geometry and alpha textures) on top of which the depth map may increase it to also achieve distance blur. Would be a neat trick to solve two problems at once, but it surely won't work the way I imagine it and either not be effective or blur too much. Thus DOF should probably be its own thing, with antialiasing done as a separate shader if and when that happens... at best they may share and inherit from a single component if that's optimal.