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Congrats on the release! Remember to check ThiefGuild as well as the DarkFate forums (via Google Translate) for additional feedback.

Just curious, based on this discussion: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/19239-soft-r-gamma/?p=427350

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:

I did play Thief and FMs, but I don't play it any more, except for major things like Black Parade. The clunky movement and antiquated Dromed editor is what discouraged me from interacting with it over the years. I regularly play and sometimes make content for TDM, because it has much better movement model than Thief. I know that most missions don't use it well, but if you construct your geometry (gaps, ledges, distances) using power of two measurements, movement and mantling feels fast and snappy. There's no need for regression in that regard, in my opinion, there's a need for assets and missions made with the movement model in mind, to showcase its strengths properly. Even if TDM originally intended to "simulate the stealth gameplay of Thief, many things will be familiar to veteran Thief players" the actual mod history was a bit different. The team came up with a mission platform that has its own identity when it comes to mechanics. The way assets were made might have been a huge mistake, but that didn't prevent the platform from growing. Since you like anecdotal evidence, noone other Skacky once said that TDM movement model was super clunky, after playing The Painter's Wife. It was really hard to convince him that if a mapper places geometry this poorly, and isn't aware what spatial measurements play to the strengths of a movement model, no movement model will save his mission. And there is no fixing of this problem on the engine side, although it's not the first time when TDM team tries to address the asset problem with engine changes, which I suspect will ultimately lead to even more problems down the line. In game development, things like core mechanics and player tools are locked-down first, in one of the pre-production phases, because all the levels will be constructed around them. Making changes in core mechanics in a project this mature is very risky, I assume you don't plan on going through all playable spaces in all released TDM FMs to check for errors. Instead of making incremental changes in fundamental mechanics, I'd encourage you to create a fork, or some kind of major version bump candidate, like 3.0, where all things could be revamped: movement, player tools, UI, new frob mechanics, perhaps with UI contextual icons, new training map to incorporate all that, etc. Once all new elements fall into place and create something new, with a map or maps to back it up as relevant changes, it will be easier to convince existing player/author base that it was worth it. I assume the existing fanbase is already fragmented, as a result of all those heated discussions around the topic. But with multiple versions available for download, the transition to hypothetical "TDM 3.0" should be easier. It could be similar to UE2 and UE3, and you could also use this as an occasion to draw the line for backwards compatibility. I know there are old systems and variables kept in place just in order not to break existing missions. This way you could e.g. redo the LOD system, implement lights using math functions instead of textures, etc.

This is the same scheme the most radical voices in this debate have been asking for from the start. (Myself among them.) I thought it was settled that having extinguish on short click created a back-compatibility risk for a small subset of old FMs. I think the concern was putting out candles that are needed as a light source to progress, and then not having flint to relight them. That's why the current (mechanically and cognitively sub-optimal) compromise was selected. Am I remembering right? If so, let's just all reread the thread history rather than rehash this argument over again.

"...to a robber whose soul is in his profession, there is a lure about a very old and feeble man who pays for his few necessities with Spanish gold." Good day, TDM community! I'm Ansome, a long-time forums lurker, and I'm here to recruit beta testers for my first FM: "The Terrible Old Man", based on H.P. Lovecraft's short story of the same name. This is a short (30-45 minute), story-driven FM with plenty of readables and a gloomy atmosphere. Do keep in mind that this is a more linear FM than you may be used to as it was deemed necessary for the purposes of the story's pacing. Regardless, the player does still have a degree of freedom in tackling challenges in the latter half of the FM. If this sounds interesting to you, please head over to the beta testing thread I will be posting shortly. Thank you!

Author Note: This is a brand new mission and a new entry into the accountant series. There are some different than usual puzzles in this FM, so if you find yourself stuck try to think about your pathway forward in a logical manner. And if you're still having troubles then pop by this thread and ask (preferably with spoiler tags). This FM is brand new and serves as the first installment in The Accountant series, a few years back there was a small prologue style mission released however I felt that it did not represent The Accountant series so I decided to go back to the drawing board and do a whole new mission that's larger, has a better level design and has a story that lines up closer to what I plan to do with the accountant series. The mission is medium sized and you can expect between 30-90 minutes to complete it depending on your playstyle. Beta Testers Captain Cleveland Crowind Kingsal PukeyBee Skacky SquadaFroinx Voice Actors AndrosTheOxen Epifire Goldwell Stevenpfortune Yandros Custom assets Airship Ballet Bentraxx Bob Necro Dragofer DrKubiac Epifire Kingsal MalachiAD Sotha Springheel SquadaFroinx Available via in-game downloader File Size: 233 MB - Updated to v 1.1 (01.06.2018)

https://github.com/Acly/krita-ai-diffusion Generate images from within Krita with minimal fuss: Select an area, push a button, and new content that matches your image will be generated. Or expand your canvas and fill new areas with generated content that blends right in. Text prompts are optional. No tweaking required! This plugin seeks to provide what "Generative Fill/Expand" do in Photoshop - and go beyond. Adjust strength to refine existing content (img2img) or generate images from scratch. Powerful customization is available for advanced users. Features Features are designed to fit an interactive workflow where AI generation is used as just another tool while painting. They are meant to synergize with traditional tools and the layer stack. Inpaint: Use Krita's selection tools to mark an area and remove or replace existing content in the image. Simple text prompts can be used to steer generation. Outpaint: Extend your canvas, select a blank area and automatically fill it with content that seamlessly blends into the existing image. Generate: Create new images from scratch by decribing them with words or existing images. Supports SD1.5 and SDXL. Refine: Use the strength slider to refine existing image content instead of replacing it entirely. This also works great for adding new things to an image by painting a (crude) approximation and refining at high strength! Control: Guide image creation directly with sketches or line art. Use depth or normal maps from existing images or 3D scenes. Transfer character pose from snapshots. Control composition with segmentation maps. Resolutions: Work efficiently at any resolution. The plugin will automatically use resolutions appropriate for the AI model, and scale them to fit your image region. Upscaling: Upscale and enrich images to 4k, 8k and beyond without running out of memory. Job Queue: Depending on hardware, image generation can take some time. The plugin allows you to queue and cancel jobs while working on your image. History: Not every image will turn out a masterpiece. Preview results and browse previous generations and prompts at any time. Strong Defaults: Versatile default style presets allow for a simple UI which covers many scenarios. Customization: Create your own presets - select a Stable Diffusion checkpoint, add LoRA, tweak samplers and more.

The real St. Alban was a pagan who became a celebrated religious personality, this All Saints Day 2010 The Dark Mod places its own spin on this mythical figure. Screenshots: Intro: "'Business' has been slow lately, even more so after most of my gear got snatched during a Watch raid... I've since been forced to hit the streets and pick pockets for a living. But my luck was about to change, last night I was approached by a red hooded figure with a proposition... As we sat down in a dark corner of a nearby inn, he told to me that the Builders of St. Alban's Cathedral in the Old Quarter had recently unearthed a discovery that might lead to the final resting place of some saint." " But before I do anything, I need to get my tools and stash from the evidence room at the local watch station." "with the hawks, doves will congregate they will drop honey from the cliffs wine will surge over the earth the sheep will wander harmlessly with the wolf then the wicked will rise, but to retribution" - 'scripture of St Alban' There is a new version out now, see the following thread St Albans Cathedral version 1.6 Build Time: about 2-3 months. Thanks:- Huge respect to the Dark Mod team for such a great mod and for all the hard work they put into it and continue to put into it. Special thanks to Fidcal, Serpentine and others for their help on the forums and to Testing:Ugoliant, Baddcog, Grayman, Lost soul, Bjorn and Baal (for doing all the Vp work in the town. Readables: Ungoliant and Mortemdesino for all awesome work on the readables. Resource: Fids, Grayman, Ungoliant - guis, models & images. Misc: Loren Schmidt - the author of the map I based the cathedral on. Info: # Like Thief2, some things are climable, pipes, wall vines etc.. You can also drop some of the keys, some door that are frobbabe mean there is another way inside - explore u taffer! # Due to TDM being a lot more of a resource hog than T2 I have been forced to limit the number of Ai in the mission, but they have better placement than my last mission. # On all difficulty levels the player starts with vertualy no tools/weapons, there are weapons to be found - read, read, read! # For the love of all that is holy, read the briefing otherwise you will problems completing the mission. Known issues:- # This mission will have less than optimal fps at a few points on the map, mid range DX9 card(X1900/GF7800) or higher required. # On low end PCs I recommend, V-sync is off, AA is off, Aniso is 4x or lower and that any and all background apps are closed.

Summary Greetings dear friends! To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the release of my FM, I have published a (hopefully) worthy update to it. Version 2 of my FM called "Sneak & Destroy" uses many new features that have been added to TDM over the years, fixes numerous bugs that were overlooked at the time, but the FM still remains true to the original one. So if you had problems playing this FM lately, if you never played this FM or if you wish to revisit a tiny but lovely part of the TDM history, this update is for you! Download the latest version via the in-game downloader and celebrate the past 10 years with me together! Improvements Visual improvements to city area and interior rooms Enriched the scenes with additional audio Fixed critical bugs that were introduced as TDM was updated Added triggered Conversations for NPCs Added EFX support to all areas Changed multiple aspects of the map in terms of better gameplay and progression Corrected and inserted new writings in books and notes Reduced amount of loot necessary to end mission Added lantern and looking glass to inventory Made use of new particle effects to enhance visual quality Screenshots Credits Thanks go to: bikerdude for being on call to bugfix and improve the map with me Dragofer for pushing ideas for scripting things jysk, Baal & datiswous for finding even the tiniest bugs Springheel for reintroducing me to DR after almost 10 years with his tutorials Greebo for working on the newest tools to update my rusty FM Grayman – I hope I made you a little bit proud Have fun! SeriousToni - 12.04.2012 - 17.11.2022

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/

Padding on the right is necessary because text rendering engine allows one-character overflow. And trying to fix it breaks many readables in many missions. So unless background is disabled, padding will stay. As for how large it is, I think it was minimum plausible at some moment. But then the font was changed and maybe it can be reduced now --- history digging is required here. I believe background will stay by default. There is no other simple way to make sure text is visible in all circumstances. As for size and spacing, I doubt you'll be able to reduce anything without making font even smaller and potentially less readable (especially in Windowed mode).

Welcome to the forums Ansome! And congrats on making it to beta phase!

Personally I can see some ancillary benefits from trying to move TDM from non-commercial-libre to true-libre, beyond getting off the FOSS community's naughty list. There are a fair few indie devs who have tried to make modernized Thief-likes. None of them have done half as good a job as this community. I think that is generally down to the engine. All the detection and movement systems take a lot of time to implement, which you guys have already paid down. Imagine if those indie devs had the option to use TDM as the base for their games. More of these games would be published, and more would be successful. And this in turn would grow the public knowledge base about working in Dark Radiant and TDM. Some of those devs might make their own public FMs. Some might contribute to the wiki and documentation. Some might contribute to project maintenance or even donate new features that they develop. Personally I would call this one of the bigger things that you could do to keep the project alive. It would definitely be a big project to bring the project assets into compliance or to fork off a compliant TDM-lite. A year ago I would have said it is impossible, but AI is changing things. It can make art and it can write code, and especially when it has a working example of the thing it is recreating to learn from. It still would not be easy, but at least possible. Let this be a lesson for creators to select your licensing carefully. It is not always easy to change after the fact.

Yeah it would be cool to see some more detailed statistics and it’s a shame they aren’t really captured. Since we are talking about fan mission platforms, where players also make the content for the game, I feel like the best thing we’ve got is you can look at the number of content releases for the games. Keep in mind the graph counts campaigns as single missions - so for example NHAT and TBP both count as 1 mission. A good year for TDM has has approaching maybe 50% - mostly we’re 25-30%. https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152494 You could also look at the number of ratings thief missions get on https://www.thiefguild.com/ vs TDM ones, but that is pretty iffy in that you could chalk that up to more awareness of the site in the thief community than TDM Out of curiosity is there a reason a thief player can’t be a new player? I kind of think a player is a player and new players would be ones who are playing the dark mod who weren't? Is there disagreement the base of players most likely to pick up the game are fans of the thief games? They are certainly the most fruitful place to find feedback on the game beyond the sphere of this forum that I have seen. When we were trying to finish up SLL there was a lot of discussion on the forums about how long it had been since there was a release for the game. I am thankful that the stats show at least some stability over the years in terms of releases for TDM, but the trend for all of the games is decline. Not doing anything is a valid response if that’s what the devs want to do - it is not possible to provide evidence that any effort will slow that inertia. As a player and content maker I would just prefer trying to find feedback where it is offered from players who were willing to try the game but ultimately could not engage with it and see if there is anything that can be done within reason to ease them into the game. The game has a lot to offer imo. All those players are potential contributors - contributions in turn attract players - it’d be nice to see the cycle go on as long as it can.

I recall (from a year ago) I did try to go back as far as I easily could using TDM public resources. Also general searches on Google and Wayback Machine, for the specific filenames like "fontimage_12.dat" (in conjunction with "stone_0_12.dds") or possible alt naming like "stone_0_12.dat" Maybe someone with TDM SVN/Art Archive privs could get further into the past. Or who has a machine with Doom 3 loaded? It is also possible that file is present in one of the other Thief variants, possibly with a different filename. Someone else would be better placed to explore these possibilities.

Hello, there were rumors, that the current antique shop owner and sometime-maybe-to-be-lord Geoffrey Rowanson had lost a shipment of fine paintings due to a thieving event. Luckily I was able to buy them from a fence so that they eventually can find their place in new locations in the city. ---- A large picture of the paintings is at the bottom of this post. I had quite some fun constructing this together. There are normal paintings, weird paintings, erotic paintings and irritating ones. On some of them a second look is needed to even identify that something is not as it "should be" (weirdness factor). It would be really nice if it would be possibly to integrate them into TDM. Documentation first: here is the source and licensing information for each painting. Each of the paintings also has its own sometimes very surprising story, so it's worth following the links to metmuseum.org. https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/sources_licenses.txt License information: Open Access/Public Domain Savitri painting_savitri.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/838323 Vanitas Still Life painting_still_life_vanitas.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435918 The Garden of Love painting_garden_of_love.jpg painting_garden_of_love.png https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/468064 Rubens painting_family.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437532 Merry Company on a Terrace painting_merry_company.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437749 The Declaration of Love painting_declaration_of_love.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438127 Woman_man_casement painting_woman_man_casement.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436896 Vanderlyn painting_portrait_man.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/13053 Basket of Flowers painting_basket_of_flowers.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436175 Judgement painting_judgement.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436037 Daughters of Catulle painting_daughters.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438014 Love Letter painting_love_letter.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437227 The Smokers painting_smokers.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435807 Following the stags trail painting_trail.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/468096 Feast of Acheloues painting_feast.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437525 Vase of Flowers painting_vase_of_flowers.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436634 Wolf and Fox hunt painting_hunt.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437536 Oedipus and the Sphinx painting_sphinx.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437153 The Horse Fair painting_horse_fair.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435702 Aegina visited by Jupiter painting_visit.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436580 The silver tureen painting_silver_tureen.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435887 The dissolute household painting_dissolute_household.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437747 A hunting scene painting_hunting_scene.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437283 Springtime painting_springtime.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438158 Temptation painting_temptation.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/828241 Woman playing a guitar painting_guitar.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/747607 The letter painting_letter.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436904 Marriage painting_marriage.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437083 Woman reading painting_woman_reading.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437882 Moreau Galatee painting_galatee.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Moreau_-_Galat%C3%A9e.jpg Moreau devore painting_devour.jpg https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Gustave_Moreau_-_Diom%C3%A8de_d%C3%A9vor%C3%A9_par_ses_chevaux.jpg Moreau Diosa painting_diosa.jpg https://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-moreau/goddess-on-the-rocks Flowers in a Grotesque Vase painting_grotesque_vase.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/816522 Marriage of Wealth.png painting_marriage_of_wealth.png no direct link - Jan Saenredam, 1565-1607, public domain by date Stolen kiss painting_stolen_kiss.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436325 Afternoon meal painting_afternoon_meal.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437053 Courtiers in a rose garden painting_rose_garden.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/463189 Musical party painting_musical_party.jpg https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436267 I made a Photoshop-file to easily apply borders (and created a new border color variation), containing the full size images and the adjusted outputs: https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/paintings_1024.psd (1 GB Download) The resolution of the new paintings is 1024px opposed to the 512px of the existing paintings. The detail difference was just too big to use 512px for a texture you look at so long and so often from a very close distance to analyse every detail, here is a comparison 512<>1024px ingame. I want to state that the 1024px texture doesn't make the existing painting look less good if placed side by side to the new ones, as quality and equality of existing textures already in the game according to the wiki have to be considered. Each painting was oriented, scaled and eventually clipped to appear as good as possible in the variety of possible frames. As specular maps the existing ones have been used. Because of the resolution and because of detail issues with the existing normal maps, the creation of adjusted normal maps was necessary. As I don't want to mess with the existing paintings in the game, I created new normal maps for the new images with finer detail and more subtle linen bumps. https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/_local.psd After intense testing, I made a 512px normal map layout, which consists of the existing 256px normal map area copied to the new map 4 times and flipped horizontally/vertically for seamless area filling. The intensity was reduced by 50% by overlaying the average color of the image area with a 50% transparency. The painting canvas part has been left untouched. The normal maps have been named after the border type in the paintings_1024.psd and the original normal map name (e.g. painting01, you'll see what I mean if you look at the files in the demomap). ----------------- Currently the paintings are only integrated in my demomap: ogda_demomap: Download (currently no pk4, set TDM\currentfm.txt to "ogda_demomap" and run over console with "map ogda_demomap"): https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/ogda_demomap.zip (23 MB) Skin definitions (ogda_demomap): https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/ogda_demomap.skin Material definitions (ogda_demomap): https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/ogda_demomap.mtr Diffuse and normal maps, Editor images (dds and texture folder): https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/paintings_dds_and_textures.zip Source images: https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/source_images.zip (101 MB) ----------------- Possible integration of the paintings into TDM. I'm not a team member, so this is speculation by me if this are the correct definitions and locations and of course they would have to be merged with a current development version): I tried my best, but this has to be reviewed (that is if you even want to include them in TDM). Here are my guesses: Diffuse maps should go here (source is the dds folder in https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/paintings_dds_and_textures.zip ) dds\models\darkmod\props\textures\ (tdm_models_decorative_wall.mtr references the dds-diffuse map to be in models\darkmod\props\textures\ though, not in dds\...?) _ed-Files and normal maps should go here (source is the texture folder in https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/paintings_dds_and_textures.zip ) models\darkmod\props\textures\ Adjusted material definition (my source should be from 2.09 live): materials\tdm_models_decorative_wall.mtr https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/tdm_models_decorative_wall.mtr Adjusted skin definition (my source should be from 2.09 live): skins\tdm_decorative_wall.skin https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/tdm_decorative_wall.skin ----------------- Finally, here's the overview of the paintings already ingame in my map "ogda_demomap". (additional info: there is a very slight thin dark shadow visible on the right side of each painting in the demomap and the pictures here. That's not a texture error but a shadow caused by a light sitting right of the painting in the demomap, I only noticed this after I was already done taking the pictures.) Direct image link: https://das-kartell.org/files/thedarkmod/paintings/paintings_overview.jpg Click 3 times to enlarge: Hope you enjoy these! OGDA

Recently, about a month ago, @demagogue mentioned the following in another discussion: While we're at it, someone really needs to write an official history of the Empire and a lot of associated fanfic to give our world backstory. And someone ought to make an art book with screenshots across all our FMs and some story, as if it were like one of those travel photo books. Something people put on their coffee table for discussion and just to flip through for fun, or in your case actually make the things. I see the idea you're talking about as something along those lines. I even promised demagogue I might look into it in the future. All of this got me thinking... We know The Dark Mod does not have a strict canon, per se. There's Bridgeport and The Empire, a few other cities, there's notes on what technology, society and the fantastical elements of this setting are, what the various typical "factions" are and how they vary greatly, what the atmosphere and tone is like, and so on and so forth. However, the rest of the things are far more nebulous and are generally down to what an individual player or fan of TDM is willing to accept as potential canon. We had the references to cities (Braeden) or minor setting elements (the mandrasola drug, etc.) throghout multiple missions by unrelated authors, and those are just the simplest of examples. In short, what constitutes as TDM canon, beyond those fairly official basics, is quite maleable. With all of the above in mind, and taking demagogue's ideas into account, I think we could compile a rough, loose history of the overall setting. It doesn't need to be obsessively filled with details, but we could give people some vague idea of what happened in the last two thousand or so years before what we generally portray as the "present day" of the TDM setting. I think we already have plenty of interesting source material to work with, if our goal is to create a rough timeline/outline of The Empire's history, the Builder church's history, and hints at what the history of the world outside of The Empire has been like (also counting with possibly biased accounts, in-universe). Now, speaking about that source material, what do I actually consider as source material ? Technically, every mission or nearly every mission made for TDM could be potentially considered source material. However, I am a little bit more picky about this. I think the closest we have to an established, "hard canon" for the game's universe, is a lot of the above-mentioned source material, and that occurs primarily in two places: In the two or three official missions that come with the basic TDM install (Training Mission, A New Job, The Tears of St Lucia), and in the main Universe articles on the TDM wiki. These are going to be my primary source for compiling the history, chronologically and otherwise. In addition to the official-as-official-gets missions and official universe notes, I am also willing to include stuff from all fan missions, if it expands the history of the setting in interesting, but reasonable ways. If the premise of a mission clearly doesn't fit the rest of the setting directly or is quite jokey, then I won't consider it a reasonable enough source for a potential addition to "canon". Why would demagogue suggest we should compile such a more detailed background history ? Personally, while I don't mind the idea, I am also fine with keeping things as they currently are. At the same time, I have noticed the number of people who come to the forums, clamouring things like "Where's the sprawling story campaign ? Where's the sprawling background story of the setting ?". Less of the latter thankfully, more of the former, for understandable reasons. Still, it seems that a lot of newcomers to TDM, especially those with pre-conceived notions from their time playing Thief (or other fantasy games), seem to want more from the overall setting than just the missions and mission series we have. Honestly, I'm torn on this. I've always been an elliptical storytelling style guy. Less is more. A hint here, a hint there, a throw-away comment there... Some games try to overdo it with super-detailed lore and the results can be... questionable and grating. Part of why I'd prefer that, if we do compile more of a broadly accepted "canon" for TDM's setting, then it should still be accepted in that "broad" way. I.e. it is soft and maleable enough that it does not tie mission-maker's hands, with regards to missions and stories set in the past, present and potential future of the TDM setting. A lot of players think they know what they want if they want a detailed setting, but more often that not, it just ends up with things being overexplained and losing their "charm" and a reasonable degree of mystique. After all, even die-hard Thief fans should acknowledge one thing: Thief didn't try to explain everything. Far from it ! The entire trilogy was very fond of elliptical storytelling, with hinted-at stuff and loads of unexplained stuff and references. I think TDM should keep with that, even if we potentially expand the "hard canon" parts of TDM's canon. Not stuff like "in this or that year, William Steele was born", but certainly stuff like "from the 4th to 7th century of its existence, the Empire was ruled by this or that dynasty, in a unique tetrarchic set-up", and similar.

I miss the tye-dye patterns on clothing, the Blockbuster, I miss when content on TV wasn't by a majority crap. I miss the sense of "things are good and can only go uphill" and the retro aesthetics of gaming back then. I miss when the political aisles weren't constantly at each other's throats. I remember when Burger King and KFC actually tasted good, before they started to cut costs and went downhill in a vicious cycle. I remember a quality B-Movie coming out every few months on Sy-Fy, and the air seemed cleaner, somehow, less polluted. Weather wasn't as fucked from climate change either. I know, it sounds like I'm bitching, but despite the arguably "better" graphics, games and movies seem to be getting dumber down.

I don't know him personally, but he has a quite long history in Quake mapping, too. I played various Quake custom maps by him, and they were excellent. I didn't know he is a level designer at Arkane now. Wow.

New script for mappers: my flavour of a fog density fading script. To add this to your FM, add the line "thread FogIntensityLoop();" to your map's void main() function (see the example in fogfade.script) and set "fog_fade" "1" on each foglight to enable script control of it. Set "fog_intensity_multiplier" on each info_location entity to change how thick the fog is in that location (practically speaking it's a multiplier for visibility distance). Lastly, "fog_fade_speed" on each foglight determines how quickly it will change its density. The speed scales with the current value of shaderParm3, using shaderParm3 = 1000 as a baseline. So i.e. if shaderParm is currently at 1/10th of 1000, then fade speed will be 1/10th as fast. Differences to Obsttorte's script: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/14394-apples-and-peaches-obsttortes-mapping-and-scripting-thread/&do=findComment&comment=310436 my script uses fog lights you created, rather than creating one for you. Obsttorte's script will delete the foglight if entering a fogfree zone and recreate it later more than one fog light can be controlled (however, no per-fog-light level of control) adding this to the map requires adding a line to your void main() script, rather than adding an info_locations_settings entity with a custom scriptobject spawnarg in my script, mappers set a multiplier of fog visibility distance (shaderParm3), while in Obsttorte's script a "fog_density" spawnarg is used as an alternative to shaderParm3 smaller and less compactly written script fogfade.scriptfogfade.map

We didn't make the holidays (such a busy time of year) so here's a New Year's gift, an unusual little mission. Window of Opportunity Recover an item for a regretful trader out in a wilderness setting, and discover more! Available within the in-game mission downloader or: Download: http://www.thedarkmo...ndetails/?id=79 Alternative: https://drive.google...WTMzQXZtMVFBSG8 Some unorthodox gameplay on regular/ghost difficulties. (Arachnophobes might prefer short mode...) Please expect to need your lantern in regular and ghost modes! Short ("easy") mode is a smaller map, so if you are looking for areas others reference below, or 100% of the loot, you'll need to play on another mode. I wanted to create my first mission before I became influenced by too many others' ideas, and limited myself to what has been done before. As such, this mission is not set in a city/town, and has some features that are likely to be provocative. There's a section some really like, which others don't, either way I kept it short to not last too long. That being said, I hope you do find it fun! :-) Special thanks to those who provided valuable testing and feedback: Goldwell, Kyyrma, plotzzz, 161803398874989, PPoe & Bikerdude (who also contributed a sound). (Please remember spoiler tags to not expose things meant to be discovered by playing.) Like so: [spoiler]secrets[/spoiler] If you are having trouble finding the main objective, here's what to pay attention to in the mission for hints: There is a spot it's possible to get stuck on the ground in the corner by the cliff/rockfall where there's a rope laying on the ground, please take care if you poke around there!

https://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-3-mod-uses-ai-to-create-new-voice-lines-without-geralts-original-voice-actor/ https://www.ibtimes.com/witcher-3-story-mod-stirs-controversy-over-ai-generated-voice-acting-3237250 https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/video-game-voice-ai-human-actors-witcher-3-mod-controversy My position: get over it, voice actors. The writing has been on the wall since Vocaloid was released. I think we've seen games shipping with 10 to 30 gigabytes of voice data at this point. You could imagine some game using procedurally generated text (like GPT-3 used to fuel NPC chatbots), team written scripts, or crowdsourced scripts to get to the equivalent of 1 terabyte or more of lines. Powerful 8-core CPUs are becoming the minimum standard for gaming, and between the CPU and GPU there will be more than enough computational resources available to synthesize voice lines and other sounds, like object collisions, in real time. Assuming 500,000 pages per gigabyte, 1.5 minutes to voice a page, you can get 1.4 years of text-to-speech from 1 gigabyte of scripts. The legal issues are legitimate. I have no doubt that a court would side with voice actors who are having their voices "stolen", citing personality rights. At the same time, companies could figure out how to mix the voice samples of hundreds of real people together in training data, and adjust parameters to come up with an infinite number of indistinct voices that can be used without paying anyone. Meanwhile, fan efforts can rip off real voices from Hollywood and voice actors, or specific voice performances like Stephen Russell as Garrett. It's not worth it to sue them, and they can come together pseudo-anonymously and distribute code using torrent sites if needed. In some cases, an amateur will do the voice acting and then a different voice style will be pasted over the original recording. We could also see pure text-to-speech with a markup language to add emphasis, vocal cadence, etc. In either case, an algorithm can definitely transfer or fake the "breathing" and pauses. It's also likely to be considered art. Ignoring the fact that an "invisible sculpture" can be considered art, there will likely be a lot of creativity or at least fine tuning when writing a script, working with an AI that generates scripts, and perfecting the voices.