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Creating a new thread for this as it was being discussed in an old beta-testing thread starting here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21822-beta-testing-high-expectations/&do=findComment&comment=490751 I suppose the main questions are: when should this spawnarg be used, if at all? why was it introduced in the first place? Can we get it documented properly on the Wiki so misuse isn't propagated? @stgatilov @Dragofer

I think we should first decide what do we want TOS for: To protect TDM from legal issues? To protect TDM team from angry mappers in case of conflicts? To guide mission authors in their work? In my opinion TOS should only cover legal issues, and wiki articles about making/releasing missions should cover author guidance. The chance of getting malware in a mission only increases after we write this publicly. Better don't even mention it, we are completely unprotected against this case. By the way, isn't it covered by "illegal" clause? I'm not sure this is worth mentioning, but I guess @demagogue knows better. By the way, which jurisdiction defines what is legal and what is not? Isn't it enough to mention that we will remove a mission from the database if legal issues are discovered? I think this is worth mentioning simply because mappers can easily do it without any malicious intent. We already had cases of problematic assets, so better include a point on license compatibility. It is a good idea to remind every mapper that this is a serious issue. I also recall some rule like "a mission of too low quality might be rejected". In my opinion, it is enough. You will never be able to pinpoint all possible cases why you might consider a mission too bad in terms of quality. And even the specifics mentioned here already raise questions. Having such a rule is already politics. I feel it does not save us from political issues but entangles us into them. If there is a mission which contains something really nasty, it will cause outrage among the community (I believe our most of active forum members are good people). If people are angry, they will tell the mission author all they think about it. And if the author won't change his mind, he will eventually leave TDM community. Then the mission can be removed from the database, perhaps with a poll about the removal. But it sounds like an exceptional case, it is hard to predict exceptional cases in advance. This is not even terms of service, but a technical detail about submissions. The mission should be accompanied by 800 x 600 screenshots. Or we can make them ourselves if you are OK with it. This is again purely technical, and I'm not even sure why it is needed. Isn't it how TDM works? If mapper does not override loading gui file, then default one is taken from core? Is it even worth mentioning? I think we should discuss mission updates by other people in general. This is worth mentioning so that mappers don't feel deceived. The generic rule is that we don't change missions without author's consent. But it is unclear how exactly we should try to reach the author if we need his consent. PM on TDM forums? Some email address? However, sometimes I do technical changes to ensure compatibility of missions with new versions of TDM. Especially since the new missions database has made it rather easy to do. Luckily, I'm not a mapper/artist, so I never fell an urge to replace model/texture or remap something. But still, it is gray zone. On the other hand, I think the truth is: we can remove a mission from database without anyone's consent. I hope it has never happened and will not happen, but I think this is the ultimate truth, and mentioning this sad fact might cover a lot of the other points automatically.

Finally I've got the time to give this mission a try, and after trying it, I stayed to complete it at least to 99%. To say it shortly and bluntly; the mission is goddamn bloody fuckin' amazing and a real great testament to Grayman, may his soul reside in this amazing mission. I can see the influence of Bikerdude in the mission itself, the very-well made and yet simplistic architecture, with of course the ever-so-obligatory Bikerdude's vertical challenges, this guy always puts some hard-to-reach loot in vertical places, mostly from bird nests. And then when you get into, how you say it without spoiling it...Well let's say, the other city, I can quite clearly see some Dragofer and Wellingtoncrab (I've played this mission before Wellington's amazing Iris) influence there. Dragofer already was well-established for horror FMs, Wellingtoncrab made Iris which I will review next. There are also quite some references and testaments to Grayman. For example, the painting was nice, but then we get the sculpture itself in the other city, it was beautiful. Overall, this is one of the very best missions I have ever played, and there are only two things I regret when I played it: One, it was not cold in my place. Sadly it's too fucking hot in here - and yes, even during this bloody month. Can you believe it?! Two, I've had severe dry eye, which is still going, for 6 months. I don't think it would affect much, but I'm sure having dry eye for a long time has hit my mood, reducing my quality of life, and when I play TDM I want to be in the best of moods, which TDM always helps, but sadly TDM is no "miracle cure". Overall, this is one of the best missions for TDM, I would even argue that it should be a part of the official campaign. The Other City is such an amazing concept, I love it, I hope it gets visited again, by Dragofer and WellingtonCrab. Overall, I rate this mission 5/5, it's just perfect. I hope to replay it some day, too.

Yeah I'm aware of the use cases - I mainly used it for particles and preventing models from showing up through walls. The point of the thread was to reveal why it was even created, as the thread I linked contains advice from @stgatilov to NOT use it at all: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21822-beta-testing-high-expectations/page/10/#findComment-490707 If that's the advice, an explanation is needed and the Wiki updated.

Here's the latest beta. I feel like this is about ready for a public release at this point. If no one has any bug reports or anything, and if I don't find any issues in the next few days, I'll start preparing the first public release. Beta 14 Matching game behavior on a bunch of subtler points. None of the below scenarios are likely to occur, but it's best to be able to handle them. TDM auto-converts FM file names to a valid form (lowercase, replacing disallowed chars with underscores, etc.). AngelLoader is now able to match non-converted FM names to their converted counterparts, so it knows for example "BaKerY;job.pk4" is the FM "bakery_job". TDM doesn't care what the pk4 inside an fm's folder is called. So "C:\darkmod\fms\bakery_job\bakery_job.pk4" will load just as well as "C:\darkmod\fms\bakery_job\totally_different_name.pk4". AngelLoader is now aware of this during scans and will not require the in-fm-folder pk4's name to match the FM's. TDM supports compressed FMs with the .zip extension as well as .pk4 when the FM is in the base FMs dir (hasn't been moved yet). AngelLoader is now aware of this, and of the priority order of the two extensions, and will choose the correct file when scanning/loading. In Settings -> Paths, the Backup Path area has been polished a bit. In Settings -> Appearance -> Show or hide interface elements, the checkboxes are now "Show" instead of "Hide", to be more straightforward. When scanning, the progress box will now show a message that it's getting TDM FM data from the server if it's doing so, rather than the more generic "preparing scan" message.

Yeah, there's the last played date, but there's no (reliable) way to know if you actually completed the game on that date. What I mean by "no reliable way" is that the following would have to occur for the last completed date to be accurate: AngelLoader is running. You're playing an FM (say, Iris) on a difficulty you have not completed yet (say, Expert). You complete the FM, the game marks it as "completed on Expert" and writes that out to missions.tdminfo. AngelLoader detects the change to missions.tdminfo, reads it, and compares to its internal list. It sees that Iris' finished states differ between the internal database and missions.tdminfo: the latter has Expert marked, whereas the internal database only has Normal marked (or nothing, or whatever). It adds the Expert finished state to the internal database for Iris, and updates the UI. Because it catches every modification of this file and updates its internal database every time, it knows the difference in finished states occured on the most recent write. Thus, it could timestamp this and there's your last completed date. Unreliabilities: If AngelLoader were not running when the game writes the value out, then you have no guarantee of time anymore. Not only were you not there to catch the change event, but the file's last-write-time doesn't save you either: the file could have been modified any number of times (updating any number of FMs' entries) since the time of the updating of the actual FM you completed, and individual entries are not marked with the time of their finished state change. So if multiple FMs were finished between AngelLoader runs? Even if you went with the file timestamp, that's still only one. If you finished two FMs between AL runs, any information whatsoever about the time of completion of the first one is completely lost. Same if the game simply wrote over the file with unchanged data, that would lose your correct file timestamp too. If you finished an FM on a difficulty you have finished before, then the game will simply write out the same value resulting in no change to the FM entry in missions.tdminfo. AngelLoader will still detect the file modification and will still read and compare the file, but now no differences will be found, so it's impossible for it to know whether any FM's finished state has been changed, and thus it can't know whether you finished it that run or not, and can't datestamp it. The last finished dates of any FMs you completed before you set up AngelLoader are unknowable, period. It might be the last played date but it just as well might not be. We'd end up with a mishmash of correct data and guesses that may just as well be wrong as right. If you can't trust the data then I'm not convinced it's that useful.

Here is a modified glprogs folder that you or any interested players \ tinkerers can put into the darkmod/fms/gem_of_souls folder ( folder must be named glprogs ) glprogs_gem.zip It barely has any visual impact since you have very complex ambient behavior in this mission with all the cubic ambients but does improve the underside of a few outdoor models (etc). Main benefit? You can have the normal fresnel mod installed and still play this mission with no artifacts (etc).

Beta 7 TDM FM Scanner now uses a hybrid of local and server data for more accuracy. Titles, authors, and release dates improve. AngelLoader will auto-refresh its FMs list when new pk4 FMs are added manually. Localization packs (*_l10n.pk4) in the fms directory are now ignored: the game moves these to their appropriate folders on next start. I reckon this is now pretty usable. I'm working on an in-app downloader, but until that's done, you can use the game to download FMs and AngelLoader to launch them and manage their metadata.

Flakebridge Monastery In this mission you will visit a Builder outpost to steal some valuable books. It is the first in what I hope will be a series about Selis Woderose. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my beta testers: Aprilsister, Bikerdude, Chiron, lost_soul, and prjames. As well as Fidcal for his starting map, and Melan for his texture pack. Known bugs: A small number may appear at the bottom left corner of your screen when the mission loads. Press sheath weapon to make it disappear. As already mentioned this is the first mission in a series. When you have completed it you may know what you'll be going after in the next mission. You may even know where! Enjoy! And please use spoiler tags where appropriate. A couple of screens: (thanks lowenz) http://2.bp.blogspot...0/shot00001.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot...0/shot00003.jpg

Congratulations to everyone who completed their FMs! Real life blew up on me again the last 2 months, but I'll be getting back to it in December. Here's to another 15 years of TDM

That precursor code snippet by the late great grayman might suggest that one of his FMs uses it. Or once did, but "lingers". Not conclusive though.

Looks like it waits for something (a wheel?) probably wall-mounted to rotate 360 degrees in the x plane before opening the associated door. Since it hard-codes that rotating object as func_static_1858, this script is intended for 1 particular FM. (Lots of FMs have a func_static_1858... of ones I have on my hard drive, I didn't see a likely "wheel" candidate.)

You can start here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/12558-useful-important-editing-links/ Specifically, I recommend Springheel's new mapper's workshop: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/18945-tdm-new-mappers-workshop/

Background Eastbound is a FM created for the Christmas Connections contest. Although it was not ready in time to meet the contest deadline, its original inspiration is still present. This FM will be the first in a series following the Thieves' Guild member and protagonist Samuel Wilson in the events following a heist gone wrong. What will now be the second mission in the series was already nearing beta testing when the contest was announced (and it already featured a few "connections" of its own), so this presented an opportunity to fill in the backstory even more. Credits The TDM core team for all the hard work they do creating all the features, assets, scripts, and tools that we can all use in our FMs YOH and others for the custom sounds Everything else within the FM was created by me or modified from either stock or CC0 assets Special thanks to nbohr1more for organizing the contest Special thanks to thebigh and Wellingtoncrab for their valuable feedback during alpha testing All the beta testers, whose efforts led to many fixes, playability improvements, and general polish: Acolytesix, Cambridge Spy, datiswous, nbohr1more, prjames, thebigh, Shadow, Wellingtoncrab, wesp5 Technical stuff This FM requires TDM 2.10 or newer as it makes use of some of the latest features. The mission will look its best if you have shadow maps enabled instead of stencil shadows (Settings / Video / Advanced, Shadows Implementation = Maps). The mission will sound its best if you have EFX enabled (Settings / Audio, OpenAL EFX = On). Screenshots

Weird! Go to fms/wizt, delete darkmod.txt inside or the whole folder and then redownload the mission.

Yeah, I agree with chakkman. Modpacks can easily break a lot of the scripting that has been done for this particular FM (and it could break other FMs as well). That crystal teleport also uses a lot of custom scripting. I'd try playing the FM without the modpack and see if you get the same issue. I myself just downloaded the FM fresh off the servers and have had no issue with the crystal teleport

I'm thinking about moving all fms/custom folders and delete the whole game and reinstall...

the "undercity" concept is criminally underused- as the city grows taller old streets end up buried under new apartment buildings. I love it! very few FMs do this. one example I can think of is Whispers Below the Cobblestone for Thief Gold

Hi, I need to know what the code is to use Spoiler Tags. I am using my tablet and I don't have the options to use anything, like spoiler tags, quote tags, text changes etc. Thanks

This was an aboslute blast to play! I did not expect anything less after other fms from you So far, my most favourite of missions from this contest, with imperial sword as a close second. Still have 3 more left to play. Again - I loved the setting (I always wonder how do you do this life-like level design, where you use a lot of sharp angles and symmetrical geometric shapes (i.e. the square with the warehouses and a statue in the middle), yet the levels doesn´t seem bland nor boring), whole middle-eastern aesthetic and setup of the story. Also lightning and whole lot of a new textures (?). And making a boat - a limited space of usually rectangular rooms not boring and monotonous and dividing it into sections, which are vastly different to have for a player something to explore - hats off. I also noticed some of the missions have this ability where if you take a loot, it does not just disappear, but it instead fly over screen to you - is that something you as a mission creator have to turn on? I find that effect cool. I absolutely enjoyed the shooting minigame - that was brilliant idea, as I find those targets underutilized in missions and this finally forced me to shoot something else beside rope arrows I was able to find 6 out of 8 secrets, 7th I had to help myself with , but I couldn´t find the 8th secret, although I have all the loot, so maybe some script didn´t execute properly? Can I have a list of secret locations (in a spoiler tag, of course)? PS: Oh, and I forgot to mention that beautiful intro animation - did you do that yourself? That was breathtaking - I love the original Thief (or Black Parade intros, for that matter, as they are homage to the original), but this was very nice upgrade and modernization over the traditional style.

It's TDM Christmas! Gonna be hard to keep up with all these new FMs. Congrats on the release, can't wait to play it!

Moody remote winter setting - Check! Really cool snowy mountain skybox that I'm super jealous of - Double Check!! Fun wizard-based gameplay - Triple Check!!! This was a ton of fun to play, and I'm a total sucker for atmospheric wintery FMs like this. Great work!

A couple more: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21739-resolved-allow-mantling-while-carrying-a-body/ https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22211-feature-proposal-new-lean-for-tdm-212/ https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22198-feature-proposal-frob-to-use-world-item/ https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22249-212-auto-search-bodies/

Not so long ago I found what could make a pretty good profile picture and decided to try it out on these new forums. But I couldn't find a button anywhere that would let me change it. I asked on Discord and it seems Spooks also couldn't find anything anywhere. So I logged into an old alternative account and, lo and behold, that account has a button. This is on the first screen I get when I: 1) click on my account name in the top-right of the browser -> 2) click on 'profile'. Compared to my actual account: Are you also missing this button on your account? It'd be very much appreciated if that functionality could be restored to any of the affected accounts.

https://i.imgur.com/aZtjILo.png I know it says "translation" but why does this only appear on missions I've done? I'd rather missions in my fms folder to not appear at all in the download list.