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If you already know this ignore it but if you don't, then know that if's in materials stages turn on and off those stages, so you need to make sure you are setting parm11 to a valid value above zero in a script somewhere. But if removing those, didn't solved the problem, then the problem could be the vertex colors itself, are you sure the model has the correct vertex color info on it? Afaik the engine only supports grayscale vertex colors in the RGB format no alpha. Also instead of blend diffusemap keyword try the blend add (gl_src_one gl_dst_one) not sure if this matters but the basic example for vertex colors in this link uses it. I haven't used vertex blending for a very long time so all of this is rusty on my mind unfortunately. Also not sure what you mean with ""lawn_vertex_blend" is the vertex-blended DDS image file exported from Blender and is also referenced in the .ase file." but a material name like yours "textures/darkmod/map_specific/lawn_vertex_blend" shouldn't be a link to a real texture, in reality that is just a virtual path to a fake folder that DarkRadient uses to display in the media section of the editor. You can have a material with just a single word on its name and it will show in the media tab, just not inside a folder but in the global space. it is like this: virtual path/material name { material code } or material name { material code }

Putting the dds folder in the root tdm folder does it, so you have the same folder structure as in the pk4, you don't need the other extracted files and folders though. You don't have to repack it. Be aware that if tdm updates the file in a future update, you won't notice it because you're overruling it. Therefore it's important to remove all the files and folders that you don't want to override from the dds folder. To sum it up: extract the dds folder from tdm_gui01.pk4 and put that folder in the tdm-root remove everything that you don't want to override from that folder. So in this case keep /guis/assets/objectives/parchment_ingame.dds (including that folder structure) I'm not an expert and there might be a better way, but this seems to work. Might be something for a plugin, to darken all readable assets in all missions.

Where, please? I can't find anything neither in the root nor in the fm folder.

Thanks for the replies, gonna try those spoiler Tags again now for my short review (oh well it inserted one above my text now and I can't seem to delete it on mobile - this text editor is strange)

Just finished this mission and wow I gotta say in great honor to Grayman and of course the rest of the team picking it up, this was something I've never seen before in any other TDM mission, especially visually wise. I am so happy that grayson gave green light for other experienced mappers to finish his last mission. And what came out of this is really something special. I'll put my review in spoiler tags since I'm now referring to critical mission details. Edit - How do I put spoiler text here on mobile?? [spoiler] test [/spoiler][SPOILER] test [/SPOILER] [spoiler[spoiler [sfah

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.

I am pleased to announce the release of our new fan mission, The Hare in the Snare: Part 1 Mission type: City Missions + Inn/Tavern Description: People are being abducted off the streets and a Watch Captain requires the services of a thief to help him find out why. Download link (v1.0.2-release): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HYvM_u56wDB16uIlb7qgS_q3P24V69MO/view?usp=sharing Credits: Mapping and original characters: @Frost_Salamander Story, readables, custom models, voices and cinematics: @Kerry000 Menu title track produced and mixed by @JackFarmer with selected gigagooga sound samples Beta testers: @Cambridge Spy @Zerg Rush @Amadeus @Acolytesix @Lzocast @wesp5 @nbohr1more @Kerry000 @ate0ate @Wellingtoncrab @prjames Additional thanks: @Dragofer, @nbohr1moreand @peter_spyfor technical help @Springheel for the modules and tutorials @kingsalfor allowing @Kerry000to abuse his manbeast everyone else on Discord and the TDM forums who offered assistance Requirements and notes: This mission requires TDM 2.09. Earlier versions will probably work but you might see one or two missing models. You may experience some FPS drops in some areas with lower-end hardware. Mid-range and above should be fine. If you have issues, I highly recommend you use shadow maps instead of stencil (settings -> advanced -> shadows implementation). It makes a big difference. For 'Hard' and 'Expert' the light gem sensitivity has been increased by '1' (meaning easier for AI to detect you). Screenshots:

Beta 13 More robust TDM file reading attempts: we now try until we can access them or until a 5 second timeout If a TDM file is not found at all, we now continue immediately and don't wait the 5 seconds Rework auto-refresh system to be simpler and more robust: Refreshes run completely on the UI thread now Refreshes happen immediately or not at all; no more deferred refreshes Refreshes are not allowed when the main window is blocked or disabled (mostly if a progress box is up) If a dialog window is open (Settings, About, etc.) then a "lightweight" refresh (UI update only) is allowed, but a "heavyweight" refresh (FM list reload, possible scan and/or readme cache update) is not. Remove installed status from unavailable TDM FMs (those not found on disk) Gracefully handle scenarios where some or all watched TDM files or directories may not exist (clean install, partially broken install etc.) Ignore empty or invalid FM dirs (dirs with no pk4 files in them; TDM clean installs may add an empty "saintlucia" folder for example)

It's hard to imagine a more newb question than this, but I don't believe I can't make any progress mapping anything beyond a few rooms if I don't understand this (and reading the wiki doesn't make it clear to me): what's the correct folder structure for a darkmod mission I'm making, and for possible custom assets? I mean, looking at Youtube tutorials, I see almost everyone has the .map inside the main darkmod/maps/whatever.map, and that's what I use, because it works when dmapping, although I think NeonsStyle has the one he shows in his tutorial inside the fms folder, eg.: darkmod/fms/mymission/mymap.map. But if I do that, I can't even dmap. Now, reading the A-Z guide, if I understand it correctly, you use the fms folder to store your custom assets not present in the main darkmod root folder? Is that what the Game/Project Setup is for? That doesn't seem to work for me, though (see below.) In practice, I don't care much about that because I can test the mission just fine and I'm probably going to use default assets anyway, but I model from time to time so I tried using custom models (just a simple cube with a custom texture as a test) and I can't make it work. The cube appears in DR, even in the same scale and dimensions (which susprised me), but it's just nodraw (not "black" as I read in some tutorials.) This is what I did: I found a Blender plug-in to convert models into .ase and I can get that to work, but then the cube shows with no material or texture (inside the game, it simply isn't rendered.) I know I need to change the bitmap line, but I have no idea what to write in there because, quite honestly, I don't understand the folder system or where I need to put things in the first place. I thought I could put my custom .ase file inside the fms/mymission/models folder but then the .ase doesn't load in the Models Viewer in the DR, so I had to save it, like my .map, inside the main TDM folder (e.g., darkmod/models/custom.ase). Then it does show but, well, no texture... (see attachment) By the way, that's in a new, clean TDM and DR install. So, where do I need to put the .dds, .tga, and .ase files then? And how should I change the *bitmap line? I have tried looking inside various pk4 files for TDM models and their .ase files but that didn't help much. (Being a custom model and material, I assume I would also need to write a .def for the cubes properties? But for now, I'd like to at least be able to see the textured cube in the editor.) Here's how the .ase bitmap part looks like when exported and stored inside darkmod/models: Obviously, that won't work at all (in fact, I don't know why that's so long or why it points to the Desktop, that's where I saved the .blend file, not the .dds.) But, anyway, what should I write in there? The tutorials in the wiki seem a bit old and makes references to D3 and a folder structure and textures from that game, so I'm confused. Thank you. I know there are many questions here, but I have read and watched almost every tutorial, and I still don't get it.

I'd like to better understand what you want. The design of dragging bodies is to hold frob (key down) to drag and release frob (key up) to let go. That way it's impossible to walk away while unintentionally dragging a body. Plus, it's quick to grab and move several body limbs in rapid succession. This is thought to provide a better experience, especially for new players. Towards the beginning of this thread, I created a "tdm_frobhold_drag_body_behavior" cvar. https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22198-feature-proposal-frob-to-use-world-item/&do=findComment&comment=487580 "tdm_frobhold_drag_body_behavior", default:"1" Which drag body behavior? 1 --- on frob key up, drop body (limb). 0 --- on second frob, drop body (limb), TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. That cvar was removed shortly afterwards, because it was said that it wasn't needed. With that cvar set to 0, a second frob would be required to let go of the body. Is that the behavior that you want? If so, I can add that cvar back. Also, I saw elsewhere that you want the ability to revert back to the old way. If you mean that all of the controls match TDM 2.11, that can be done with "tdm_frobhold_delay 0" and there will be a menu setting to disable it as well.

After several months of hard (although very enjoyable) work, I’m proud to announce the release of my first FM - “Cole Hurst 1: Eaton”. Mission description In the northern town of Eaton, Lord Mayor Zelmer is hosting a lavish party at his luxurious estate to celebrate Eaton's establishment... The city's elite, a famous musician and even the Queen will be partaking in tonight's festivities. Screenshots Download “Cole Hurst 1: Eaton” should already be available for download in the game, but you can also grab a copy of version 1.0 from here. To install this copy, simply place the downloaded file named “ch1_eaton.pk4” in your “[the dark mod]/fms/” folder. Notes I would say this FM could primarily be considered a “traditional mansion heist” mission. These were by far my favorite type of Thief 1/2 levels which I have very fond memories of playing through as a child. I suppose this is my humble attempt to create something vaguely similar... I have tried my best to make the story, the readables and the conversations as interesting as I could and so I really do hope that some of you will find it enjoyable. The mission features: I already have some relatively concrete ideas for a follow-on mission in mind, so hopefully I will have time to continue my mapping efforts soon(ish) :) Contributions I have been overwhelmed by the amount of people interested in helping me with this mission. A huge thanks to each and every one of you! Story Kelly Hrupa Voice actors: twhalen2600 (AKA @Benny_the_guard) Kelly Hrupa Testers: @Acolytesix- brisk puzzle solver @duzenko - the man with the admin tools @JackFarmer - objective wrangler @Shadow - a certified spider-monkey who refuse to stay caged @Cambridge Spy - an eagle-eyed book-worm @wesp5 - eager candle-snuffer @madtaffer – readability advisor @prjames - spider assassin @suzy8track – book magician @datiswous – destroyer of crates I would also like to say a special thanks to @Dragofer who has been very helpful with debugging and general advice in cases where I had absolutely no idea what to do. @duzenko has also been very responsive to any game-related bugs that I’ve encountered during the beta phase and also thanks to @nbohr1more for handling this release for me. As I am completely new to mapping in general, I also found @Springheel‘s wonderful TDM New Mappers Workshop extremely helpful when I was first getting started, so thank you very much for creating it. Known bugs/issues While this mission has spent quite some time in beta testing, I’m sure that some of you will discover shortcomings that my wonderful beta testers and I have overlooked. In that case, please do get in touch and I will make sure to address it (to the best of my abilities) in a future update. There are unfortunately also a few (primarily cosmetic) things that I have been unable to solve – at least for this release: The small church model used in Gatwick square has low-resolution textures applied Some picture frames do not match the original frame after being stolen Strange looking shadows on the greenhouses in the garden Visible vertical lines on some interior walls Various gaps/holes in some of the models that I have chosen to use The female mansion lobby guard occasionally sound like a dude

Okay, I had no idea, I have googled it up now and you are right, to my own surprise. Done, I´ve put some paragraphs which were previously not in spoiler tags into spoilers.

Are you sure that's the materials' names? Usually materials that use textures from the props folder dont have paths in their names. You can look them up in the DR media browser or in the model chooser for that model.

Thebigh is right. The pronunciation tripped me up too, but that is apparently how Leicester is pronounced. Also @TarhielI'm glad you are loving the FM but do you mind putting spoiler tags on your post please

Download the executable that works for you. I assume the Windows one. You unzip it to your darkmod folder (best to make a backup of the original file). Then you have to set the cvar in-game: tdm_frobhold_drag_body_behavior 0

We will look at some of this stuff, but SPOILER tags, please!!!

There's a good middle ground as well. You can have consistent patrol routes with minor variations. Say a watchman walks into a large courtyard. Maybe on the way through he stops to warm his hands by the fire cage; on the next pass he detours to have a brief word with another watchman; on the next he just carries on without dawdling. It just adds some interest and variety to a patrol route without making it too unpredictable. And part of planning involves deducing how guards will behave even when you can't observe their whole patrol route, or watch him go through it enough times to discover all the variations in it. You've got to be able to say things like: That's a watchman, he's likely to have a long, fixed patrol route with few if any deviations. She's a servant, she'll be bustling around randomly in a handful of rooms. That's a zombie, it'll be wandering around the whole crypt slowly along a few familiar well-trodden paths that it selects randomly. It's up to the mapper to respect common sense this way but I don't think it's correct to say that only fixed and unvarying patrol routes are fair.

Finally, someone who says it. Especially in stealth games, the A.I. has to be predictable to a certain degree, otherwise you really can scratch your planning and approach. Plus, it's more realistic for guards to have fixed paths anyway. No point in letting them guard places where 3 or 4 of them stack up, and leave the other areas unguarded. That said, the A.I. in most missions works predictably (fortunately).

I dislike this as well, especially if the path to the main objective is very linear. On the flip side, my FM's do have random AI paths depending on the area difficulty, ie: Armory with a ton of loot will have some guards that are unpredictable (high risk, high reward). Medium difficulty will have at least one, easy will have guards that are all predictable. All my objectives are optional, the FM can be completed without taking the risk. I find this method helps the FM's replayability.

This may make sense in that the performance impact of the volumetric effect can scale with how much of the effect is filling the screen. We shipped with a “performance mode” but had to setup the entities by hand to do it (so it’s not perfect). If you change the LOD detail settings to “Low” or “Lowest” this will disable certain lights, particles and such that can be very heavy to render. You can try these settings and see if you notice an improvement. If not sending us some pictures of heavy areas (with spoiler tags please) will be helpful with tuning these “performance modes” in subsequent patches. Thanks for playing!

I thought I would try out the new subtitles feature in the 2.10 beta by developing the subtitle files for "A New Job". I already had the text of the conversations from my own abortive local attempt to add subtitles to TDM a couple of years ago so it wasn't too onerous. The subtitles system seems fairly solid with just a couple of wrinkles (detailed below). If anyone wants to try this out then you will need to add the three attached files as follows. Firstly, create two folders, "subtitles" and "guis", both directly under the "newjob" directory (under the "fms" folder). Copy the mainmenu_briefing.gui file into the "guis" directory and the other two files (briefing.srt and fm_root.subs) into the "subtitles" folder. The mainmenu_briefing.gui file is identical with the one that is included with the FM but includes two extra lines that #include the subtitles gui - without these lines you won't see subtitles in the initial briefing. Adding these lines to an overridden briefing gui probably needs adding to the wiki page. Other wrinkles/comments In the initial conversation between the two guards, the second guard's first (and only) utterance is too long to fit into the space allocated. One could use a .srt file for the relevant sound but this would seem to be overkill if an FM only had one or two sounds that were too long. A way to split up the 'inline' sounds would be a good improvement. If you do a save when a subtitle is being displayed, when you load that save, the subtitle is still displayed but it never goes away. Further subtitles just get written on the top in a mishmash of letters. What's the plan for localisation of subtitles? I tried using the same system as for other texts but it doesn't work, I suspect because the code isn't calling common->Translate when reading in the lines of the files. mainmenu_briefing.gui briefing.srt fm_root.subs

Not to be a nag, but I was thinking about the columns problem. If you go to the view source tab in the wiki article: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Missions_for_The_Dark_Mod&action=edit The raw table data is accessible directly: |- !align=left|{{TDM-FM|written|Written in Stone}} |Bikerdude, Amadeus, Dragofer |{{Forumlink|https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21265-written-in-stone-beta-210-only-20220128/}} |2022-01-28 |338 |Yes |Yes |CCC 22, Elixir |City Missions |Undead, Horror Themes |- Each pipe character represents one of the columns.

Vertigo is a fun project, multiple paths will result with different outcomes, increasing replayability. I'm building the FM in shapes, ie: The standard city block: 512x512, alleyways: 256x512, market 1024x1024 (with minor deviations) etc. After building the presets, I stack them like legos; I found this method speeds up my build time by a huge margin, it also makes it easier to optimize with visportals. Also, I found building in this fashion (with twisting alleyways), increases performance by a lot, making it easier to add an incredible amount of visual fidelity. My original intention with Vertigo was to keep it small, but it's definitely grown in scale since I've started. I can't apply this method to Life of the Party considering I'm trying to keep key areas recognizable, while adding my own spin on how creative I want to be.

Ok, so I remembered that TDM textures are declared in mtr files in the materials folder, so I copied over `tdm_internal_engine.mtr` and it works. DR sees textures, but... only .tga files. The console has quite a few lines like: "[shaders] Unable to load texture: textures/tool/clip.png", referring to my own textures. Can DR not work with png files? EDIT: I presume it can, and maybe it has to be set in the game config file, but I have a very feeble understanding of those files, and I can't find any information anywhere on how to set them up. I've used NRC a bit, which uses the same kind of game config files, and I also had trouble detecting textures. But the only way I could get it to work was... the NRC developer gave me a working config that could see my textures. So... I'm not very confident that I'm gonna get this working on my own. I tested the NRC game config in DR, but nothing seemed to change.

@CountMorillonite You are using a version of the mission which uses "Rhand" instead of "Righthand". This version seems to be quite old and no longer supported. I tracked down a copy of your version to taffersparadise.co.uk. Perhaps there are other copies of this obsolete version out there in other sites. Close TDM, delete the fms/flakebridge folder and re-download the mission from the built-in downloader, which is the most reliable source. Cheers!