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The gamepad implementation allows for a great degree of flexibility to personalize settings, aside from a few minor issues that I mentioned here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22337-gamepad-bindings/ I would say that playing TDM with a gamepad works very well, especially considering that it was implemented as experimental and hasn't been changed since then. If I could, I'd go back to 2021-you and congratulate you on buying that gamepad. I notice that your DarkmodPadbinds.cfg looks very different from mine...

It seems like more and more "thief" and "thief players" is becoming a short hand to dismiss community members earnest desire to improve the game - which happens to be a barely legally distinct "thief style" game which was made by thief fans for thief fans and is "designed to simulate the stealth gameplay of Thief". Who is the predominant player base of the game supposed to be beyond fans of the thief games? Is there some better avenue to find feedback for the game beyond this forum? FOSS and linux forums? I have seen maybe half a dozen posts from that segment. I am a thief fan, I play thief fms, my association with those games is what drives me to play and make things for this game. Are we supposed to pretend the original games are not a huge reason why most of us are here at all? TL;DR version:

Thanks! 1) Doing LONG_PRESS PAD_A (what I, for lack of knowledge, call "jump-mantle" or "_jumpmantle") differs from doing PRESS PAD_A ("_jump"). "_jumpmantle" differs from "_mantle", so they must be mapped to different button-calls. "_jumpmantle" differs from "_jump", so they must also be mapped to different button-calls. This appears to be the case, but it is not evident (or changeable) in DarkmodPadbinds.cfg. "_jumpmantle" seems to be hard coded to always connect to the same button as "_jump" but with a long press. It is as if bindPadButton PRESS PAD_A "_jump" is not actually just binding PRESS PAD_A to "_jump", but rather interpreted as "link PAD_A (regardless of button press time) to behave exactly like keyboard SPACE for short and long presses". I would have expected the default DarkmodPadbinds.cfg to explicitly read: bindPadButton PRESS PAD_A "_jump" bindPadButton LONG_PRESS PAD_A "_jumpmantle" bindPadButton PRESS PAD_B "_crouch" bindPadButton LONG_PRESS PAD_B "_mantle" ... but neither LONG_PRESS PAD_A or "_jumpmantle" is listed in the file. If there are actions "_jump" and "_mantle", I suppose there must also be an action "_jumpmantle" since it is possible for the player to do all those movements: * "_mantle" does the movements "crouch on the high surface, then stand up" * "_jumpmantle" idoes the movements "jump slightly forward, then land standing on the high surface" * "_jump" idoes the movements "jump up, then land exactly where you started" If the actions "_jump" and "_moveup" are not synonymous, then perhaps the action "_moveup" is what i call "_jumpmantle"? 2) Thanks for the link! It was useful in more than one way. I'll link to that page from https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Bindings_and_User_Settings#Gamepad_Default_Bindings if I can get an account on the wiki, which proved more difficult than i thought (https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22327-how-can-i-create-an-account-on-the-tdm-wiki/). However, it does not answer my question how to find out the name ("<button>") used for a button on my gamepad. Basically, I would need to press the button on my gamepad and some program could tell me "That button is called 'PAD_A'". In my case, I have a gamepad "Logitech F310" (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logitech_F310_Gamepad.jpg) which has a "Logitech button" (see image) that I want to use. I was hoping to find out the "button name" for that button and then edit DarkmodPadbinds.cfg to map it to a function. 3) ... but if that button has an "unusual name" that TDM does not recognize, then it may perhaps not work. E.g. if that button is called "PAD_LOGITECH" and TDM cannot recognize that name, then I cannot map anything to it via DarkmodPadbinds.cfg. Using QJoyPad I can map any keyboard key to it instead, as a workaround, but I cannot map MODIFIER to it (since MODIFIER cannot be set to a keyboard key). If current implementation is still called "experimental", then I must say it works very well; @cabalistic: kudos for that! I may not have continued playing TDM had it not worked with a gamepad.

It is possible that this is a setting that needs to be activated to work: https://mantisbt.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23221

Hi, this mission is crashing on my system and I cannot go on. Playing "Hidden Hands - The lost citadel" Version 6 on Fedora Linux Version 38. I paste the whole output of the console below. Perhaps someone can find the cause for the crash, that would be very nice [stefan@fedora darkmod]$ ./thedarkmod.x64 TDM 2.11/64 #10264 (1435:10264) linux-x86_64 Jan 30 2023 02:02:43 /proc/cpuinfo CPU frequency: 899.998 MHz 900 MHz Intel CPU with SSE & SSE2 & SSE3 & SSSE3 & SSE41 & AVX found interface lo - loopback Found Intel CPU, features: SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 AVX TDM using AVX for SIMD processing. Found 0 new missions and 0 packages. ------ Initializing File System ------ Current search path: [M] /home/stefan/darkmod/fms/hhtlc [M] /home/stefan/darkmod/fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4 (665 files - 0xf04d8d7e) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/ [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_wood01.pk4 (382 files - 0x54c704d0) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_window01.pk4 (399 files - 0x50a48869) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_stone_sculpted01.pk4 (464 files - 0x3bd63c7c) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_stone_natural01.pk4 (141 files - 0x4d0836ff) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_stone_flat01.pk4 (302 files - 0x671a22d2) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_stone_cobblestones01.pk4 (271 files - 0xc46ab14f) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_stone_brick01.pk4 (527 files - 0x1d087cf8) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_sfx01.pk4 (69 files - 0x2c673886) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_roof01.pk4 (69 files - 0x24547b7) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_plaster01.pk4 (142 files - 0x9747529e) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_paint_paper01.pk4 (67 files - 0xa4a95a09) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_other01.pk4 (127 files - 0x36932451) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_nature01.pk4 (286 files - 0x19240606) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_metal01.pk4 (509 files - 0x441d098f) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_glass01.pk4 (51 files - 0x3f3721e) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_fabric01.pk4 (43 files - 0x649daf73) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_door01.pk4 (177 files - 0xb0130166) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_decals01.pk4 (474 files - 0xe2ff12c6) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_carpet01.pk4 (130 files - 0x79bc3d7c) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_textures_base01.pk4 (435 files - 0xc07a324) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_standalone.pk4 (4 files - 0xb3f36d20) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals_decls01.pk4 (32 files - 0x53cda0aa) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals07.pk4 (1111 files - 0xa13ec4c2) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals06.pk4 (696 files - 0x44c85e78) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals05.pk4 (119 files - 0x6cf23214) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals04.pk4 (2869 files - 0xd7ec1256) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals03.pk4 (743 files - 0xb3f2e0f1) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals02.pk4 (1299 files - 0x5092940e) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_vocals01.pk4 (82 files - 0xf4d326b2) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_sfx02.pk4 (605 files - 0x31673482) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_sfx01.pk4 (987 files - 0x97451b7a) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_ambient_decls01.pk4 (8 files - 0x9404877c) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_ambient03.pk4 (24 files - 0xd28ca9ec) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_ambient02.pk4 (163 files - 0x84efad22) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_sound_ambient01.pk4 (220 files - 0xee228c81) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_prefabs01.pk4 (1017 files - 0x506baa0b) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_player01.pk4 (127 files - 0xd983fc45) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_models_decls01.pk4 (101 files - 0x146c787) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_models02.pk4 (2241 files - 0x42cdbf62) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_models01.pk4 (3326 files - 0x829270f2) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_gui_credits01.pk4 (49 files - 0xbff51863) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_gui01.pk4 (758 files - 0xcbf4fd2d) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_fonts01.pk4 (696 files - 0x7c5027bf) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_env01.pk4 (176 files - 0x8bd4045b) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_defs01.pk4 (194 files - 0xe5f440dc) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_base01.pk4 (223 files - 0x9704b43c) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_steambots01.pk4 (31 files - 0x26416485) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_monsters_spiders01.pk4 (80 files - 0x15c3ef89) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_undead01.pk4 (55 files - 0x25e463ad) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_townsfolk01.pk4 (104 files - 0xa6f7c573) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_pagans01.pk4 (10 files - 0x566fb35a) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_nobles01.pk4 (51 files - 0x5ca54cab) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_mages01.pk4 (8 files - 0x5e7a666b) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_heads01.pk4 (100 files - 0x45ec787e) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_guards01.pk4 (379 files - 0x9801be8d) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_females01.pk4 (172 files - 0xc7de4598) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_builders01.pk4 (91 files - 0x6dea9b57) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_beasts02.pk4 (229 files - 0x886c9a98) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_humanoid_beasts01.pk4 (23 files - 0xba9da54c) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_base01.pk4 (9 files - 0x1de319e8) [C] /home/stefan/darkmod/tdm_ai_animals01.pk4 (82 files - 0x6c0fda50) File System Initialized. -------------------------------------- Couldn't open journal files /proc/cpuinfo CPU processors: 2 /proc/cpuinfo CPU logical cores: 4 ----- Initializing Decls ----- WARNING:file materials/puzzle_paintings.mtr, line 228: material 'textures/puzzle/flower' previously defined at materials/puzzle_paintings.mtr:14 WARNING:file sound/ambient.sndshd, line 79: sound 'firstfloor' previously defined at sound/ambient.sndshd:51 WARNING:file sound/soul.sndshd, line 129: sound 'builder_tim_1' previously defined at sound/soul.sndshd:102 WARNING:file sound/video.sndshd, line 12: sound 'main' previously defined at sound/ambient.sndshd:1 ------------------------------ I18N: SetLanguage: 'english'. I18N: Found no character remapping for english. I18N: 1321 strings read from strings/english.lang I18N: 'strings/fm/english.lang' not found. Couldn't exec editor.cfg - file does not exist. execing default.cfg Gamepad modifier button assigned to 6 execing Darkmod.cfg execing DarkmodKeybinds.cfg execing DarkmodPadbinds.cfg Gamepad modifier button assigned to 6 Couldn't exec autoexec.cfg - file does not exist. I18N: SetLanguage: 'german'. I18N: Found no character remapping for german. I18N: 1321 strings read from strings/german.lang I18N: 'strings/fm/german.lang' not found. I18NLocal: 'strings/fm/english.lang' not found, skipping it. ----- Initializing OpenAL ----- Setup OpenAL device and context OpenAL: found device 'ALSA Default' [ACTIVE] OpenAL: found device 'HDA Intel PCH, CS4208 Analog (CARD=PCH,DEV=0)' OpenAL: found device 'HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0 (CARD=PCH,DEV=3)' OpenAL: found device 'HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 1 (CARD=PCH,DEV=7)' OpenAL: found device 'HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 2 (CARD=PCH,DEV=8)' OpenAL: device 'ALSA Default' opened successfully OpenAL: HRTF is available [ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to set real-time priority for thread: Operation not permitted (1) OpenAL vendor: OpenAL Community OpenAL renderer: OpenAL Soft OpenAL version: 1.1 ALSOFT 1.21.1 OpenAL: found EFX extension OpenAL: HRTF is disabled (reason: 0 = ALC_HRTF_DISABLED_SOFT) OpenAL: found 256 hardware voices ----- Initializing OpenGL ----- Initializing OpenGL display ...initializing QGL ------- Input Initialization ------- ------------------------------------ OpenGL vendor: Intel OpenGL renderer: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 615 (KBL GT2) OpenGL version: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 23.1.9 core Checking required OpenGL features... v - using GL_VERSION_3_3 v - using GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc Checking optional OpenGL extensions... v - using GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic maxTextureAnisotropy: 16.000000 v - using GL_ARB_stencil_texturing X - GL_EXT_depth_bounds_test not found v - using GL_ARB_buffer_storage v - using GL_ARB_texture_storage v - using GL_ARB_multi_draw_indirect v - using GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_binding X - GL_ARB_compatibility not found v - using GL_KHR_debug Max active texture units in fragment shader: 32 Max combined texture units: 192 Max anti-aliasing samples: 16 Max geometry output vertices: 256 Max geometry output components: 1024 Max vertex attribs: 16 ---------- R_ReloadGLSLPrograms_f ----------- Linking GLSL program cubeMap ... Linking GLSL program bumpyEnvironment ... Linking GLSL program depthAlpha ... Linking GLSL program fog ... Linking GLSL program oldStage ... Linking GLSL program blend ... Linking GLSL program stencilshadow ... Linking GLSL program shadowMapA ... Linking GLSL program ambientInteraction ... Linking GLSL program interactionStencil ... Linking GLSL program interactionShadowMaps ... Linking GLSL program interactionMultiLight ... Linking GLSL program frob ... Linking GLSL program soft_particle ... Linking GLSL program tonemap ... Linking GLSL program gaussian_blur ... Linking GLSL program testImageCube ... --------------------------------- Font fonts/english/stone in size 12 not found, using size 24 instead. --------- Initializing Game ---------- The Dark Mod 2.11/64, linux-x86_64, code revision 10264 Build date: Jan 30 2023 Initializing event system ...873 event definitions Initializing class hierarchy ...172 classes, 1732032 bytes for event callbacks Initializing scripts ---------- Compile stats ---------- Memory usage: Strings: 56, 9048 bytes Statements: 23155, 926200 bytes Functions: 1358, 177432 bytes Variables: 107720 bytes Mem used: 2149432 bytes Static data: 408 bytes Allocated: 1152120 bytes Thread size: 7928 bytes Maximum object size: 816 Largest object type name: speaker_zone_ambient ...6 aas types game initialized. -------------------------------------- Parsing material files Found 0 new missions and 0 packages. Found 42 mods in the FM folder. Parsed 46 mission declarations. No 'tdm_mapsequence.txt' file found for the current mod: hhtlc -------- Initializing Session -------- session initialized -------------------------------------- Font fonts/english/mason_glow in size 12 not found, using size 48 instead. Font fonts/english/mason_glow in size 24 not found, using size 48 instead. Font fonts/english/mason in size 12 not found, using size 48 instead. Font fonts/english/mason in size 24 not found, using size 48 instead. WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'QuitGameDialogAskEverytimeOption' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'ColorPrecision' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'OpenDoorsOnUnlock' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'InvPickupMessages' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'HideLightgem' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'BowAimer' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'FrobHelper' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'showTooltips' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'MeleeInvertAttack' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'MeleeInvertParry' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'SCGeneralBind5' has value count unequal to choices count --- Common Initialization Complete --- ------------- Warnings --------------- during The Dark Mod initialization... WARNING:file materials/puzzle_paintings.mtr, line 228: material 'textures/puzzle/flower' previously defined at materials/puzzle_paintings.mtr:14 WARNING:file sound/ambient.sndshd, line 79: sound 'firstfloor' previously defined at sound/ambient.sndshd:51 WARNING:file sound/soul.sndshd, line 129: sound 'builder_tim_1' previously defined at sound/soul.sndshd:102 WARNING:file sound/video.sndshd, line 12: sound 'main' previously defined at sound/ambient.sndshd:1 WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'BowAimer' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'ColorPrecision' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'FrobHelper' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'HideLightgem' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'InvPickupMessages' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'MeleeInvertAttack' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'MeleeInvertParry' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'OpenDoorsOnUnlock' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'QuitGameDialogAskEverytimeOption' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'SCGeneralBind5' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'showTooltips' has value count unequal to choices count 15 warnings WARNING: terminal type 'xterm-256color' is unknown. terminal support may not work correctly terminal support enabled ( use +set in_tty 0 to disabled ) pid: 4247 Async thread started Couldn't exec autocommands.cfg - file does not exist. Found 0 new missions and 0 packages. Found 42 mods in the FM folder. reloading guis/msg.gui. WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'QuitGameDialogAskEverytimeOption' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'ColorPrecision' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'OpenDoorsOnUnlock' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'InvPickupMessages' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'HideLightgem' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'BowAimer' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'FrobHelper' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'showTooltips' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'MeleeInvertAttack' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'MeleeInvertParry' has value count unequal to choices count WARNING:idChoiceWindow:: gui 'guis/mainmenu.gui' window 'SCGeneralBind5' has value count unequal to choices count reloading guis/mainmenu.gui. WARNING:unknown destination 'FlareBox::rect' of set command at /fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4/guis/map/hhtlc.gui:48 WARNING:unknown destination 'FlareBox::rect' of set command at /fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4/guis/map/hhtlc.gui:53 WARNING:unknown destination 'FlareBox::rect' of set command at /fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4/guis/map/hhtlc.gui:58 WARNING:unknown destination 'FlareBox::rect' of set command at /fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4/guis/map/hhtlc.gui:63 WARNING:unknown destination 'FlareBox::rect' of set command at /fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4/guis/map/hhtlc.gui:68 WARNING:unknown destination 'FlareBox::rect' of set command at /fms/hhtlc/hhtlc_1b4187d3b30d65cf.pk4/guis/map/hhtlc.gui:73 --------- Map Initialization --------- Map: hhtlc ------- Game Map Init SaveGame ------- ---------- Compile stats ---------- Memory usage: Strings: 57, 9144 bytes Statements: 23506, 940240 bytes Functions: 1379, 179716 bytes Variables: 108332 bytes Mem used: 2188540 bytes Static data: 408 bytes Allocated: 1176676 bytes Thread size: 7928 bytes collision data: 1373 models 163204 vertices (5100 KB) 273893 edges (12838 KB) 110189 polygons (8170 KB) 15680 brushes (2322 KB) 138243 nodes (6480 KB) 243924 polygon refs (3811 KB) 58507 brush refs (914 KB) 85771 internal edges 9795 sharp edges 0 contained polygons removed 0 polygons merged 39637 KB total memory used 2123 msec to load collision data. map bounds are (22831.0, 23151.4, 9093.0) 79 KB passage memory used to build PVS 52 msec to calculate PVS 252 areas 598 portals 14 areas visible on average 7 KB PVS data [Load AAS] missing maps/hhtlc.aas48 [Load AAS] loading maps/hhtlc.aas96 done. [Load AAS] loading maps/hhtlc.aas32 done. [Load AAS] missing maps/hhtlc.aas100 [Load AAS] loading maps/hhtlc.aas_rat done. [Load AAS] loading maps/hhtlc.aas_elemental done. WARNING:Couldn't load gui: 'guis/map_of.gui' WARNING:idCollisionModelManagerLocal::LoadModel: collision file for 'models/ritual_hammer2.lwo' contains different model WARNING:idCollisionModelManagerLocal::LoadModel: collision file for 'models/ritual_hammer3.lwo' contains different model WARNING:idCollisionModelManagerLocal::LoadModel: collision file for 'models/ritual_hammer4.lwo' contains different model WARNING:Couldn't load sound 'explosion_all_clear.wav' using default [map entity: atdm_trigger_voice_12] [decl: explosion_all_clear in <implicit file>] [sound: explosion_all_clear.wav] No running thread for RestoreScriptObject(), creating new one. -------------------------------------- ----- idRenderModelManagerLocal::EndLevelLoad ----- 0 models purged from previous level, 2786 models kept. --------------------------------------------------- ----- idImageManager::EndLevelLoad ----- WARNING:Couldn't load image: lights/qc_comj [map entity: light_159] [decl: lights/qc_comj in <implicit file>] [image: lights/qc_comj] WARNING:Couldn't load image: guis/assets/game_maps/map_of_icon [map entity: MapMansion1] [decl: atdm:map_of in def/tdm_shopitems.def] [decl: guis/assets/game_maps/map_of_icon in <implicit file>] [image: guis/assets/game_maps/map_of_icon] 0 purged from previous 219 kept from previous 2070 new loaded all images loaded in 41.8 seconds ---------------------------------------- Linking GLSL program cubeMap ... Linking GLSL program bumpyEnvironment ... Linking GLSL program depthAlpha ... Linking GLSL program fog ... Linking GLSL program oldStage ... Linking GLSL program blend ... Linking GLSL program stencilshadow ... Linking GLSL program shadowMapA ... Linking GLSL program ambientInteraction ... Linking GLSL program interactionStencil ... Linking GLSL program interactionShadowMaps ... Linking GLSL program interactionMultiLight ... Linking GLSL program frob ... Linking GLSL program soft_particle ... Linking GLSL program tonemap ... Linking GLSL program gaussian_blur ... Linking GLSL program testImageCube ... Linking GLSL program depth ... Linking GLSL program interaction_ambient ... Linking GLSL program interaction_stencil ... Linking GLSL program interaction_shadowmap ... Linking GLSL program stencil_shadow ... Linking GLSL program shadow_map ... Linking GLSL program frob_silhouette ... Linking GLSL program frob_highlight ... Linking GLSL program frob_extrude ... Linking GLSL program frob_apply ... Linking GLSL program heatHazeWithDepth ... Linking GLSL program HeatHazeWithMaskAndDepth ... Linking GLSL program heatHaze ... Linking GLSL program heatHazeWithMaskAndBlur ... Linking GLSL program fresnel ... Linking GLSL program ambientEnvironment ... Linking GLSL program heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth ... ---------------------------------------- ----- idSoundCache::EndLevelLoad ----- 394497k referenced 125k purged ---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- 77079 msec to load hhtlc Interaction table generated: size = 0/512 Initial counts: 6903 entities 665 lightDefs 5265 entityDefs ------------- Warnings --------------- during hhtlc... WARNING:Couldn't load gui: 'guis/map_of.gui' WARNING:Couldn't load image: guis/assets/game_maps/map_of_icon WARNING:Couldn't load image: lights/qc_comj WARNING:Couldn't load sound 'explosion_all_clear.wav' using default WARNING:idCollisionModelManagerLocal::LoadModel: collision file for 'models/ritual_hammer2.lwo' contains different model WARNING:idCollisionModelManagerLocal::LoadModel: collision file for 'models/ritual_hammer3.lwo' contains different model WARNING:idCollisionModelManagerLocal::LoadModel: collision file for 'models/ritual_hammer4.lwo' contains different model 7 warnings Interaction table generated: size = 0/512 Initial counts: 6903 entities 665 lightDefs 5265 entityDefs WARNING:Restarted sound to avoid offset overflow: sound/ambient/environmental/water_pool02.ogg WARNING:Restarted sound to avoid offset overflow: sound/ambient/ambience/silence.ogg WARNING:Restarted sound to avoid offset overflow: sound/ambient/ambience/alien05.ogg Linking GLSL program environment ... The ambient volume is now -1.885291 decibels (range: -60..0), i.e., 87.749992% of full volume. Restarting ambient sound snd_ct_babtistery'(derelict03) with volume -1.885291 signal caught: Segmentation fault si_code 128 Trying to exit gracefully.. ----- idRenderModelManagerLocal::EndLevelLoad ----- 0 models purged from previous level, 2786 models kept. --------------------------------------------------- Regenerated world, staticAllocCount = 0. Getting threadname failed, reason: No such file or directory (2) --------- Game Map Shutdown ---------- ModelGenerator memory: 67 LOD entries with 0 users using 1072 bytes. --------- Game Map Shutdown done ----- Shutting down sound hardware idRenderSystem::Shutdown() ...shutting down QGL I18NLocal: Shutdown. ------------ Game Shutdown ----------- ModelGenerator memory: No LOD entries. Shutdown event system -------------------------------------- Sys_Error: ERROR: pthread_join Frontend failed shutdown terminal support About to exit with code 1

Hello, everyone! In this multi-part, comprehensive tutorial I will introduce you to a new light type that has been available in The Dark Mod since version 2.06, what it does, why you would want to use it and how to implement it in your Fan Missions. This tutorial is aimed at the intermediate mapper. Explanations of how to use DarkRadiant, write material files, etc. are outside of its scope. I will, however, aim to be thorough and explain the relevant concepts comprehensively. Let us begin by delineating the sections of the tutorial: Part 1 will walk you through four, distinct ways to add ambient light to a scene, the last way using irradiance environment maps (or IEMs). Lighting a scene with an IEM is considered image-based lighting. Explaining this concept is not in the scope of this tutorial; rather, we will compare and contrast our currently available methods with this new one. If you already understand the benefits IBL confers, you may consider this introductory section superfluous. Part 2 will review the current state of cubemap lights in TDM, brief you on capturing an environment cubemap inside TDM and note limitations you may run into. Three cubemap filtering applications will be introduced and reviewed. Part 3 will go into further detail of the types of inputs and outputs required by each program and give a walkthrough of the simplest way to get an irradiance map working in-game. Part 4 will guide you through two additional, different workflows of how to convert your cubemap to an irradiance map and unstitch it back to the six separate image files that the engine needs. Part 5 will conclude the tutorial with some considerations as to the scalability of the methods hitherto explained and will enumerate some good practices in creating IEMs. Typical scenes will be considered. Essential links and resources will be posted here and a succinct list of the steps and tools needed for each workflow will be summarized, for quick reference. Without further ado, let us begin. Part 1 Imagine the scene. You’ve just made a great environment for your map, you’ve got your geometry exactly how you want it… but there’s a problem. Nobody can appreciate your efforts if they can’t see anything! [Fig. 1] This will be the test scene for the rest of our tutorial — I would tell you to “get acquainted with it” but it’s rather hard to, at the moment. The Dark Mod is a game where the interplay between light and shadow is of great importance. Placing lights is designing gameplay. In this example scene, a corridor with two windows, I have decided to place 3 lights for the player to stealth his way around. Two lights from the windows streak down across the floor and a third, placeholder light for a fixture later to be added, is shining behind me, at one end of the corridor. Strictly speaking, this is sufficient for gameplay in my case. It is plainly obvious, however, that the scene looks bad, incomplete. “Gameplay” lights aside, the rest of the environment is pitch black. This is undesirable for two reasons. It looks wrong. In real life, lights bounce off surfaces and diffuse in all directions. This diffused, omni-directional lighting is called ambient lighting and its emitment can be termed irradiance. You may contrast this with directional lighting radiating from a point, which is called point lighting and its emitment — radiance. One can argue that ambient lighting sells the realism of a scene. Be that as it may, suppose we disregard scary, real-life optics and set concerns of “realism” aside… It’s bad gameplay. Being in darkness is a positive for the player avatar, but looking at darkness is a negative for the player, themselves. They need to differentiate obstacles and objects in the environment to move their avatar. Our current light level makes the scene illegible. The eye strain involved in reading the environment in these light conditions may well give your player a headache, figurative and literal, and greatly distract them from enjoying your level. This tutorial assumes you use DarkRadiant or are at least aware of idtech4’s light types. From my earlier explanation, you can see the parallels between the real life point/ambient light dichotomy and the aptly named “point” and “ambient” light types that you can use in the editor. For further review, you can consult our wiki. Seeing as how there is a danger in confusing the terms here, I will hereafter refer to real life ambient light as “irradiant light”, to differentiate it from the TDM ambient lights, which are our engine’s practical implementation of the optical phenomenon. A similar distinction between “radiant light” and point lights will be made for the same reason. Back to our problem. Knowing, now, that most all your scenes should have irradiant light in addition to radiant light, let’s try (and fail, instructionally) to fix up our gloomy corridor. [Fig. 2] The easiest and ugliest solution: ambient lights. Atdm:ambient_world is a game entity that is basically an ambient light with no falloff, modifiable by the location system. One of the first things we all do when starting a new map is putting an ambient_world in it. In the above image, the darkness problem is solved by raising the ambient light level using ambient_world (or via an info_location entity). Practically every Dark Mod mission solves its darkness problem1 like this. Entirely relying on the global ambient light, however, is far from ideal and I argue that it solves neither of our two, aforementioned problems. Ambient_world provides irradiant light and you may further modulate its color and brightness per location. However, said color and brightness are constant across the entire scene. This is neither realistic, nor does it reduce eye strain. It only makes the scene marginally more legible. Let’s abandon this uniform lighting approach and try a different solution that’s more scene-specific. [Fig. 3] Non-uniform, but has unintended consequences. Our global ambient now down to a negligible level, the next logical approach would be hand-placed ambient lights with falloff, like ambient_biground. Two are placed here, supplementing our window point lights. Combining ambient and point lights may not be standard TDM practice, but multiple idtech4 tutorials extol the virtues of this method. I, myself, have used it in King of Diamonds. For instance, in the Parkins residence, the red room with the fireplace has ambient lights coupled to both the electric light and the fire flame. They color the shadows and enrich the scene, and they get toggled alongside their parent (point) lights, whenever they change state (extinguished/relit). This is markedly better than before, but to be honest anything is, and you may notice some unintended side-effects. The AI I’ve placed in the middle of the ambient light’s volume gets omnidirectionally illuminated far more than any of the walls, by virtue of how light projection in the engine works. Moving the ambient lights’ centers closer to the windows would alleviate this, but would introduce another issue — the wall would get lit on the other side as well. Ambient lights don’t cast shadows, meaning they go through walls. You could solve this by creating custom ambient light projection textures, but at this point we are three ad hocs in and this is getting needlessly complicated. I concede that this method has limited use cases but illuminating big spaces that AI can move through, like our corridor, isn’t one of them. Let’s move on. [Fig. 4] More directional, but looks off. I have personally been using this method in my WIP maps a lot. For development (vs. release), I even recommend it. A point light instead of an ambient light is used here. The texture is either “biground1” or “defaultpointlight” (the latter here). The light does not cast shadows, and its light origin is set at one side of the corridor, illuminating it at an angle. This solves the problem of omnidirectional illumination for props or AI in the middle of the light volume, you can now see that the AI is lit from the back rather than from all sides. In addition, the point light provides that which the ambient one cannot, namely specular and normal interaction, two very important features that help our players read the environment better. This is about as good as you can get but there are still some niggling problems. The scene still looks too monochromatic and dark. From experience, I can tell you that this method looks good in certain scenes, but this is clearly not one of them. Sure, we can use two, non-shadowcasting point lights instead of one, aligned to our windows like in the previous example, we can even artfully combine local and global ambient lights to furnish the scene further, but by this point we will have multiple light entities placed, which is unwieldy to work with and possibly detrimental to performance. Another problem is that a point light’s movable light origin helps combat ambient omnidirectionality, but its projection texture still illuminates things the strongest in the middle of its volume. I have made multiple experiments with editing the Z-projection falloff texture of these lights and the results have all left me unsatisfied. It just does not look right. A final, more intellectual criticism against this method is that this does not, in a technical sense, supply irradiant light. Nothing here is diffuse, this is just radiant light pretending the best it can. [Fig. 5] The irradiance map method provides the best looking solution to imbuing your scene with an ambient glow. This is the corridor lit with irradiance map lights, a new lighting method introduced in The Dark Mod 2.06. Note the subtle gradients on the left wall and the bounced, orange light on the right column. Note the agreeable light on the AI. Comparing the previous methods and this, it is plainly obvious that an irradiance environment map looks the most realistic and defines the environment far better than any of the other solutions. Why exactly does this image look better than the others? You can inform yourself on image-based lighting and the nature of diffuse irradiance, but images speak louder than words. As you can see, the fact of the matter is that the effect, subtle as it may be, substantially improves the realism of the scene, at least compared to the methods previously available to us. Procuring irradiance environment maps for use in lighting your level will hereafter be the chief subject of this tutorial. The next part will review environment cubemap capture in TDM, the makeIrradiance keyword and three external applications that you can use to convert a TDM cubemap into an irradiance map. 1 “ Note that the color buffer is cleared to black: Doom3 world is naturally pitch black since there is no "ambient" light: In order to be visible a surface/polygon must interact. with a light. This explains why Doom3 was so dark ! “ [source] Part 2 Cubemaps are not new to The Dark Mod. The skybox materials in some of our prefabs are cubemaps, some glass and polished tile materials use cubemaps to fake reflections for cheap. Cubemap lights, however, are comparatively new. The wiki page linked earlier describes these two, new light types that were added in TDM 2.05. cubicLight is a shadow-casting light with true spherical falloff. An example of such a light can be found in the core files, “lights/cubic/tdm_lampshade_cubic”. ambientCubicLight is the light type we will be focusing on. Prior to TDM 2.06, it acted as a movable, on-demand reflection dispenser, making surfaces in its radius reflect a pre-set cubemap, much like glass. After 2.06, the old behavior was discarded and ambientCubicLight was converted to accept industry standard irradiance environment maps. Irradiance environment maps (IEMs) are what we want to make, so perhaps the first thing to make clear is that they aren’t really “handmade”. An IEM is the output of a filtering process (convolution) which requires an input in the form of a regular environment cubemap. In other words, if we want to make an IEM, we need a regular cubemap, ideally one depicting our environment — in this case, the corridor. I say a snapshot of the environment is ideal for lighting it because this emulates how irradiant light in the real world works. All radiating surfaces are recorded in our cubemap, our ambient optic array as it were, then blurred, or convoluted, to approximate light scatter and diffusion, then the in-game light “shines” this approximation of irradiant light back to the surfaces. There is a bit of a “chicken and the egg” situation here, if your scene is dark to begin with, wouldn’t you just get a dark irradiance map and accomplish nothing? In the captured cubemap faces in Fig. 6, you may notice that the environment looks different than what I’ve shown so far. I used two ambient lights to brighten up the windows for a better final irradiance result. I’ve “primed the pump”, so to speak. You can ignore this conundrum for the moment, ways to set up your scenes for better results, or priming the pump correctly, will be discussed at the end of the tutorial. Capturing the Environment The wiki has a tutorial on capturing cubemaps by angua, but it is woefully out of date. Let me run you through the process for 2.07 really briefly. To start with, I fly to approx. the center of the corridor with noclip. I then type “envshot t 256” in the console. This outputs six .tga images in the <root>/env folder, simply named “t”, sized 256x256 px and constituting the six sides of a cube and depicting the entire environment. This is how they look in the folder: [Fig. 6] The six cube faces in the folder. Of note here is that I do not need to switch to a 640x480 resolution, neither do I need to rename these files, they can already be used in an ambientCubicLight. Setting Up the Lights For brevity’s sake, I’ll skip explaining material definitions, if you’ve ever added a custom texture to your map, you know how to do this. Suffice it to say, it is much the same with custom lights. In your <root>/materials/my_cool_cubemaps.mtr file, you should have something like this: lights/ambientcube/my_test_IEM_light { ambientCubicLight { forceHighQuality //cameraCubeMap makeIrradiance(env/t) cameraCubeMap env/t colored zeroClamp } } We’ll play with the commented out line in just a bit. Firstly, let’s place the actual light in DarkRadiant. It’s as simple as creating a new light or two and setting them up in much the same way you would a regular ambient light. I select the appropriate light texture from the list, “my_test_IEM_light” in the “ambientcube” subfolder and I leave the light colored pure white. [Fig. 7] The corridor in DR, top view, with the ambient cubic lights highlighted. I can place one that fills the volume or two that stagger the effect somewhat. Remember that these lights still have a spherical falloff. Preference and experimentation will prove what looks best to you. Please note that what the material we defined does is load a cubemap while we established that ambientCubicLights only work with irradiance maps. Let’s see if this causes any problems in-game. I save the map and run it in game to see the results. If I already have TDM running, I type “reloadDecls” in the console to reload my material files and “reloadImages” to reload the .tga images in the /env folder. [Fig. 8] Well this looks completely wrong, big surprise. Wouldn’t you know it, putting a cubemap in the place of an irradiance map doesn’t quite work. Everything in the scene, especially the AI, looks to be bathed in slick oil. Even if a material doesn’t have a specular map, it won’t matter, the ambientCubicLight will produce specular reflections like this. Let’s compare how our cubemap .tga files compares with the IEM .tgas we’ll have by the end of the tutorial: [Fig. 9] t_back.tga is the back face of the environment cubemap, tIEM_back.tga is the back face of the irradiance map derived from it. As you can see, the IEM image looks very different. If I were to use “env/tIEM” instead of “env/t” in the material definition above, I would get the proper result, as seen in the last screenshot of part 1. So it is that we need a properly filtered IEM for our lights to work correctly. Speaking of that mtr def though, let’s not invoke an irradiance map we haven’t learned to convert yet. Let’s try an automatic, in-engine way to convert cubemaps to IEMs, namely the makeIrradiance material keyword. makeIrradiance and Its Limitations Let’s uncomment the sixth line in that definition and comment out the seventh. cameraCubeMap makeIrradiance(env/t) //cameraCubeMap env/t Here is a picture of how a cubemap ran through the makeIrradiance keyword looks like: [Fig. 10] Say ‘Hi’ to our friend in the back, the normalmap test cylinder. It’s a custom texture I’ve made to demonstrate cubemap interactions in a clean way. Hey now, this looks pretty nice! The scene is a bit greener than before, but you may even argue it looks more pleasing to the eyes. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details. Let’s compare the makeIrradiance keyword’s output with the custom made irradiance map setup seen at the end of part 1. [Fig. 11, 12] A closer look at the brick texture reveals that the undesired specular highlighting is still present. The normal map test cylinder confirms that the reason for this is the noisy output of the makeIrradiance keyword. The in-engine conversion is algorithmic, more specifically, it doesn't allow us to directly compare .tga files like we did above. Were we able to, however, I'm sure the makeIrradiance IEM would look grainy and rough compared to the smooth gradient of the IEM you’ll have by the end of this tutorial. The makeIrradiance keyword is good for quick testing but it won’t allow you fine control over your irradiance map. If we want the light to look proper, we need a dedicated cubemap filtering software. A Review of Cubemap Filtering Software Here I’ll introduce three programs you can produce an irradiance map with. In the coming parts, I will present you with a guide for working with each one of them. I should also note that installing all of these is trivial, so I’ll skip that instructional step when describing their workflows. I will not relay you any ad copy, as you can already read it on these programs’ websites. I’ll just list the advantages and disadvantages that concern us. Lys https://www.knaldtech.com/lys/ Advantages: Good UI, rich image manipulation options, working radiance/specular map filtering with multiple convolution algorithms. Disadvantages: $50 price tag, limited import/export options, only available on Windows 64-bit systems. cmftStudio https://github.com/dariomanesku/cmftStudio Advantages: Available on Windows, OSX and Linux, free, open source software, command line interface available. Disadvantages: Somewhat confusing UI, limited import options, missing features (radiance/specular map filtering is broken, fullscreen doesn’t work), 32-bit binaries need to be built from source (I will provide a 32-bit Windows executable at the end of the tutorial). Modified CubeMapGen https://seblagarde.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/amd-cubemapgen-for-physically-based-rendering/ Advantages: Free software, quickest to work with (clarified later). Disadvantages: Bad UI, only Windows binaries available, subpar IEM export due to bad image adjustment options. Let’s take a break at this point and come back to these programs in part 3. A lot of caveats need to be expounded on as to which of these three is the “best” software for making an irradiance map for our purposes. Neither of these programs has a discreet workflow; rather, the workflow will include or exclude certain additional programs and steps depending on which app you choose to work with. It will dovetail and be similar in all cases. Part 3 The aim of this tutorial is twofold. First, it aims to provide the most hands-free and time-efficient method of converting an envshot, environment cubemap to an IEM and getting it working in-game. The second is using as few applications as possible and keeping them all free software that is available for download, much like TDM itself. The tutorial was originally going to only cover IEM production through Lys, as that was the app I used to test the whole process with. I soon realized that it would be inconsiderate of me to suggest you buy a fifty dollar product for a single step in a process that adds comparatively little to the value of a FM, if we’re being honest (if you asked me, the community would benefit far more from a level design tutorial than a technical one like this, but hey, maybe later, I’m filling a niche right now that nobody else has filled). This led me to seek out open-source alternatives to Lys, such as Cubemapgen, which I knew of and cmftStudio, which I did not. I will preempt my own explanations and tell you right away that, in my opinion, cmftStudio is the program you should use for IEM creation. This comes with one big caveat, however, which I’m about to get into. Six Faces on a Cross and The Photoshop Problem Let’s review. Taking an envshot in-game gives you six separate images that are game-ready. Meaning, you get six, split cubemap faces as an output, you need six, split irradiance map faces as an input. This is a problem, because neither Lys nor cmftStudio accept a sequence of images as such. They need to be stitched together in a cube cross, a single image of the unwrapped cube, like this: [Fig. 13] From Lys. Our cubemap has been stitched into a cross and the “Debug Cube Map Face Position” option has been checked, showing the orientations of each face. In Lys only panoramas, sphere maps and cube maps can be loaded into the program. The first two do not concern us, the third specifically refers to a single image file. Therefore, to import a TDM envshot into Lys you need to stitch your cubemap into a cross. Furthermore, Lys’ export also outputs a cubemap cross, therefore you also need to unstitch the cubemap into its faces afterwards if you want to use it in TDM. In cmftStudio you can import single map faces! Well… no, you can’t. The readme on GitHub boasts “Input and output types: cubemap, cube cross, latlong, face list, horizontal and vertical strip.” but this is false. The UI will not allow you to select multiple files on import, rendering the “face list” input type impossible.2 Therefore, to import a TDM envshot into cmftStudio you need to stitch your cubemap into a cross. Fortunately, the “face list” export type does work! Therefore, you don’t need to unstitch the cubemap manually, cmftStudio will export individual faces for you. In both of these cases, then, you need a cubemap cross. For this tutorial I will use Adobe Photoshop, a commercial piece of software, to stitch our faces into a cubemap in an automated fashion (using Photoshop’s Actions). This is the big caveat to using cmftStudio, even if you do not want to buy Lys, PS is still a prerequisite for working with both programs. There are, of course, open source alternatives to Photoshop, such as GIMP, but it is specifically Photoshop’s Action functionality that will power these workflows. GIMP has its own Actions in the form of Macros, but they are written with python. GIMP is not a software suite that I use, neither is python a language I am proficient with. Out of deference for those who don’t have, or like working with, Photoshop, I will later go through the steps I take inside the image editor in some detail, in order for the studious reader to reconstruct them, if they so desire, in their image editing software of choice. At any rate, and at the risk of sounding a little presumptuous, I take it that, as creative types, most of you already have Photoshop on your computers. 2 An asterisk regarding the “impossibility” of this. cmftStudio is a GUI for cmft, a command line interface that does the same stuff but inside a command prompt. I need to stress that I am certain multiple faces can be inputted in the command line, but messing with unwieldy prompts or writing batch files is neither time-saving nor user-friendly. This tutorial is aimed at the average mapper, but a coder might find the versatility offered in cmft interesting. The Cubemapgen Workflow You will have noticed that I purposefully omitted Cubemapgen from the previous discussion. This is because working with Cubemapgen, wonderfully, does not need Photoshop to be involved! Cubemapgen both accepts individual cubemap faces as input and exports individual irradiance map faces as output. Why, then, did I even waste your time with all the talk of Lys, cmftStudio and Photoshop? Well, woefully, Cubemapgen’s irradiance maps look poor at worst and inconsistent at best. Comparing IEMs exported from Lys and cmftStudio, you will see that both look practically the same, which is good! An IEM exported from Cubemapgen, by default, is far too desaturated and the confusing UI does not help in bringing it to parity with the other two programs. If you work solely with Cubemapgen, you won’t even know what ‘parity’ is, since you won’t have a standard to compare to. [Fig. 14] A comparison between the same irradiance map face, exported with the different apps at their respective, default settings. Brightened and enlarged for legibility. This may not bother you and I concede that it is a small price to pay for those not interested in working with Photoshop. The Cubemapgen workflow is so easy to describe that I will in fact do just that, now. After I do so, however, I will argue that it flies in the face of one of the aims of this tutorial, namely: efficiency. Step 1: Load the cubemap faces into Cubemapgen. Returning to specifics, you will remember that we have, at the moment, six .tga cubemap faces in a folder that we want to convert to six irradiance map faces. With Cubemapgen open, direct your attention to these buttons: [Fig. 15] You can load a cubemap face by pressing the corresponding button or using the hotkey ‘F’. To ensure the image faces the correct way, you must load it in the corresponding “slot”, from the Select Cubemap Face dropdown menu above, or by pressing the 1-6 number keys on your keyboard. Here is a helpful list: X+ Face <1> corresponds to *_right X- Face <2> corresponds to *_left Y+ Face <3> corresponds to *_up Y- Face <4> corresponds to *_down Z+ Face <5> corresponds to *_forward Z- Face <6> corresponds to *_back ...with the asterisk representing the name of your cubemap. With enough practice, you can get quite proficient in loading cubemap faces using keyboard shortcuts. Note that the ‘Skybox’ option in the blue panel is checked, I recommend you use it. Step 2: Generate the Irradiance Map [Fig. 16] The corridor environment cubemap loaded in and filtered to an irradiance map. The options on the right are my attempt to get the IEM to look right, though they are by no means prescriptive. Generating an IEM with Modified CubeMapGen 1.66 is as easy as checking the ‘Irradiance cubemap’ checkbox and hitting ‘Filter Cubemap’ in the red panel. There are numerous other options there, but most will have no effect with the checkbox on. For more information, consult the Sébastien Lagarde blog post that you got the app from. I leave it to you to experiment with the input and output gamma sliders, you really have no set standard on how your irradiance map is supposed to look, so unfortunately you’ll have to eyeball it and rely on trial and error. Two things are important to note. The ‘Output Cube Size’ box in the red panel is the resolution that you want your IEM to export to. In the yellow panel, make sure you set the output as RGB rather than RGBA! We don’t need alpha channels in our images. Step 3: Export Irradiance Map Faces Back in the green panel, click the ‘Save CubeMap to Images’ button. Save the images as .tga with a descriptive name. [Fig. 17] The exported irradiance map faces in the folder. These files still need to be renamed with appropriate suffixes in order to constitute a readable cubemap for the engine. The nomenclature is the same as the table above: “c00” is the X+ Face, to be renamed “right”, “c01” is the X- Face and so on. Right left, up down, forward and back. That’s the order! This is all there is to this workflow. A “cameraCubeMap env/testshot” in the light material will give us a result that will look, at the very least, better than the inbuilt makeIrradiance material keyword. [Fig. 17] The map ended up being a little bright. Feel free to open Fig. 4 and this in seperate tabs and compare the Lys/cmft export with the cubemapgen one. A Review of the Workflow Time for the promised criticism to this workflow. I already stated my distaste for the lack of a standardised set of filtering values with this method. The lack of any kind of preset system for saving the values you like makes working with Cubemapgen even more slipshod. Additionally, in part 2, I said that Cubemapgen is the fastest to work with, but this needs to be qualified. What we just did was convert one cubemap to an irradiance map, but a typical game level ought to use more than a single IEM. Premeditation and capturing fake, “generic” environment cubemaps (e.g. setting up a “blue light on the right, orange on the left” room or a “bright skylight above, brown floor” room, then capturing them with envshot) might allow for some judicious reuse and keep your distinct IEM light definition count down to single digits, but you can only go so far with that. I am not arguing here for an ambient cubic light in every scene either, certainly only those that you deem need the extra attention, or those for which the regular lighting methods enumerated in Part 1 do not quite work. I do tentatively assume, though, that for an average level you would use between one and two dozen distinct IEMs. Keep in mind that commercial games, with their automated probe systems for capturing environment shots, use many, many more than that. With about 20 cubemaps to be converted and 6 faces each to load into Cubemapgen, you’ll be going through the same motions 120 whole times (saving and renaming not included). If you decide to do this in one sitting (and you should, as Cubemapgen, to reiterate, does not keep settings between sessions), you are in for a very tedious process that, while effective, is not very efficient. The simple fact is that loading six things one by one is just slower than loading a single thing once! The “single thing” I’m referring to is, of course, the single, stitched cubemap cross texture. In the next part, I will go into detail regarding how to make a cubemap cross in Photoshop in preparation for cmftStudio and Lys. It will initially seem a far more time-consuming process to you than the Cubemapgen workflow, but through the magic of automation and the Actions feature, you will be able to accomplish the cubemap stitch process in as little as a drag-and-drop into PS and a single click. The best thing is that after we go through the steps, you won’t have to recreate them yourself, as I will provide you with a custom Actions .atn file and save you the effort. I advise you not to skip the explanations, however. The keen-eyed among you may have noticed that you can also load a cube cross in Cubemapgen. If you want to use both Cubemapgen and Photoshop together to automate your Cubemapgen workflow, be aware that Cubemap gen takes crosses that have a different orientation than the ones Lys and cmftStudio use. My macros (actions) are designed for the latter, so if you want to adjust them for Cubemapgen you would do well to study my steps and modify them appropriately. For the moment, you’ve been given the barebones essentials needed to capture an envshot, convert it to an irradiance map and put it in your level at an appropriate location, all without needing a single piece of proprietary software. You can stop here and start cranking out irradiance maps to your heart’s content, but if you’re in the mood for some more serious automation, consider the next section.

I am going to sort-of reveal that this is loosely like the nature of my upcoming mission. I noted it here when JackFarmer asked about things that are coming along in this post: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/profile/37993-jackfarmer/&status=3943&type=status It too is a builder church. The player is requested by a hopefully famous character in another mission to handle some business that is affecting the congregation. I am looking to invoke some info and history laid down in other missions as a hook story.

I created the page: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Lightgem In the source I placed the following text: <!-- Page text made by forum user Fiver: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22327-how-can-i-create-an-account-on-the-tdm-wiki/&do=findComment&comment=491145 --> Personally I think the page isn't really necessary because the info is already present under HUD.

Some time ago I was looking for a good app to share files, since I wanted to become independent from the famous Imgur, which I find with so many trackers and privacy problems not at all reliable. In Windows I use ShareX, which is perhaps one of the best screen recorders with a huge amount of functions and tools, but it also uses Imgur as an image sharer by default, but allows you to change it. At first I replaced it with vgy.me., an excellent imagehost and sharer, with good privacy, although only limited to images. But a few months ago I found File Coffee, which can be called the definitive solution, because it allows you to host and share any type of file, be it images, documents presentations, texts, multimedia, videos of any extension, it is 100% free, encrypted and private (Made in EU, GDPR norm) safe, blazing fast and stable. It admits without registration 15 Mb per file, with free registration, 30 Mb, being able to control the uploaded files. With this you can forget DropBox, GDrive, Imgur and a lot of other solutions, well, except for PK4 bigger than 30Mb. The best, it also had a own config app for ShareX, which with one click make all the needed settings in ShareX to be used in this tool. Screenshots linked with filecoffee, given image, multimedia and video links can be inserted or, in case of document's or other, they open in a new tab and can be downloaded from there.

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

In the first post of the other topic Geep proposed: Then Stgatilov's answer: But I think applying subtitles in different languages shouldn't be too hard I would think, but I don't know how the current translation system works. The engine should apply the correct subtitles based on the applied language setting, this doesn't need a whole new language system I think. Not sure who's going to write those subtitles though. I can only do Dutch and English and nobody needs Dutch I think. I suggest further discussion of this to take place in topic https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21741-subtitles-possibilities-beyond-211/

Mandrasola is a small sized map in which aspiring thief Thomas Porter steals some herbal products from a smuggler. The mission was created by me, Sotha and I wish to thank Bikerdude, BrokenArts and Ocn for playtesting and voice acting. Thanks goes naturally to everyone contributing and making TDM possible. This mission occurs chronologically before the Knighton's Manor, making it the first mission in the Thomas Porter series. Events in chronological order are: Mandrasola, The Knighton's Manor, The Beleaguered Fence, The Glenham Tower and The Transaction. The winter came early and suddenly this year. Weeks of strong blizzards and extremely harsh cold weather hit Bridgeport hard. With the seas completely frozen, a rare occurence indeed, most of the City harbor commerce has stopped completely. Vessels are stuck in the ice and no ship can leave or enter the City, resulting in the availability imported goods declining and their prices skyrocketing. One of these imported items is Mandrasola, a rare herbal product, which is imported overseas from the far southern continents. Mandrasola has its uses in alchemical cures and poisons, but mostly this substance is used for its narcotic qualities by commoners and even the nobility. The problem with Mandrasola is that excessive use is extremely addicting and the withdrawal effects are most grievious. Many are utterly incapable of stopping using Mandrasola and are transformed into quivering human ruins if they do no get their daily dose. And now this expensive and rare substance is running out from the whole City. Me and my fence, Lark Butternose, would love to grab this monopoly to ourselves: selling the last few doses in the City would probably be worth a fortune. According to Lark's sources, there remains only one smuggling lord who still has Mandrasola in stock. The problem is that this individual maintains an exclusive clandestine operation and only supplies a few nobles. Despite our best information gathering efforts we couldn't learn who the smuggler is and where he or she operates. Luckily we have an alternate plan. While searching for Mandrasola related information, we learned that a noblewoman called Lady Ludmilla is addicted to the substance and has paid high prices for small amounts of it. We also know that she has visited frequently someone in the Tanner's Ward waterfront, and since she goes to the area personally we believe she is visiting the smuggler. The plan is simple: I must monitor Ludmilla's most likely entryway to the Waterfront and then follow her to the smugglers hideout. I'd better be very careful around Ludmilla. She must not realise I'm following her or she probably won't lead me to her dealer. Hurting her is also out of the question. After she leads me to the smuggler's hideout, I can take my time to break in carefully and steal all the Mandrasola I can find. While I'm there it wouldn't be a bad idea to grab some loose valuables as well. I've now waited in the blistering cold for a few hours already. Looks like there are a few city watch patrols in the area to complicate matters... I think I heard a womans voice beyond the north gate. That must be lady Ludmilla, I haven't seen many ladies in these parts. I'd better get ready.. Links: Use the ingame downloader to get it. WARNING! Someone always fails to use spoiler tags. I do not recommend reading any further until you've played the mission.

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

Hello! Tracking down information on software and plug-ins that work with D3 / TDM can be a tough. So I have created a thread here where people can post what software/ plug-ins/ tutorials or other references they've had success or failure with in TDM. 3DS MAX 2013 64bit .ase - Default .ASE model exporter works. However you have to open the .ase file in text edit and manual change the *BITMAP line on each material to read something like: "//base/textures/common/collision" which allows the engine to read the correct material path. md5.mesh / animation - Beserker's md5 exporter/importers for 3dsmax. http://www.katsbits.com/tools, Importing and exporting works. The model must be textured, UV'd, with a skin modifier attached to the bones to export. PM me (Kingsal) for help with this. Imported models using the script will not be weighted appropriately, so this is not recommended if you are simply trying to edit existing tdm content. (Use blender instead) MAYA 2011 32bit md5.mesh - So far I've not had any luck with Maya 2011. I am using Greebo's MayaImportx86 for Maya 2011. I've got the importer working however I get a "Unexpected Internal Failure(kFailure)" and the import fails. This could be due to something finicky in Maya that I am not doing correctly. Will keep trying.. Blender 2.7 about - Blender is commonly used and pretty well supported on the forums/ wiki. Various versions may work as well - https://www.blender.org/download/ md5.mesh / animation Blender MD5 importer/exporter (io_scene_md5.zip): https://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderbitsbobs/files/ Sotha's guide Blender Male/ Female rigs by Arcturus - Here Edit by Dragofer: more links found in this post.

Looking at the code, the originals were "pm_mantle_pull 750" and "pm_mantle_pullFast 450". The new "pm_mantle_pull" value is "400". A "pm_mantle_pullFast" value of "450" would be slower than regular pull, not faster. With both being set to "400", they are at least similar. Other than that, it's subjective and the feedback from playtesters was positive. Also, referenced internally here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22256-movementcontrols-settings-in-main-menu/&do=findComment&comment=489158

That sort of tone doesn't fly in our forums.

I would use this massive list for any fan missions, it includes campaigns too: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148090 There are a lot of Fan Missions for the picking, I myself go for the lesser known ones and the short variety, because sometimes they hide a gem or two. Just like jaxa, I'm a bit outdated after the temporal retirement, but I do remember some amazing campaigns like "The Black Frog". If you intend to play The Black Frog, you should play the first two of the L'Arsene series missions, it's how I did it myself. Also, yes, L'Arsene are a fantastic series. The first mission of L'Arsene is a "rough draft", author was a bit new to Thief level making, but still great either way, after the 3rd you will see how his skill increased by a massive amount.

Unfortunately, TDM forum deletes the separator between the numbers. So I have to guess where one number ends and the next starts Also, user can rename screenshot manually, or push it through something that would rename it automatically. Thenwe won't see coordinates on screenshot address on forums.

tdm_show_viewpos cvar and screenshot_viewpos command: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22310-212-viewpos-on-player-hud-and-screenshots/

Wasn't sure if I should still post this since the mystery was somewhat solved, but just to confirm this case can be found in the wild with FM's other than mine: Yesterday I played Chronicles of Skulduggery 0: To Catch a Thief. There's a door up on a terrace (I can reinstall it and go there to get a viewpos if anyone's interested) which upon picking and opening will cause the light on the back of the wall indoor to slightly shine on the floor outside through the entire wall. Exact same camera position / angle in both images so you can just overlap the two screenshots to see the difference, though if you look at the bottom left ground it's pretty clear what happens once the door is opened. It's still a bit weird: The wall module model should still be casting a shadow, even if the wall brush uses caulk and not shadow caulk. Whatever the case a few FM's out there seem to have this problem, even if it's not an issue the engine or building modules can resolve I wonder if mappers can be better put on notice about it since like me most are likely not aware this is a thing or what causes it. Looked at the first post again and the video attached to it: Definitely seems like the same thing. Most importantly it wasn't doing this in earlier versions which I didn't realize... I'm seeing the clarification by Stgatilov as well which I initially missed, I definitely prefer the performance optimization but now I do wonder if something can also be done about this eventually.

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?

Relax @Näkki, it's great to hear you enjoyed the game. My personal expectations were just a bit different when I read the Steam page, although the various trailers should have been a warning that stealth maybe wasn't the biggest priority of the devs. From the Steam page: "Weird west legends meet eldritch horror in BLOOD WEST, an immersive stealth FPS." Also "Blood West is a stealth FPS inspired by the genre classics such as the Thief series (whose fans will be happy to hear the voice of Stephen Russell, the actor voicing the master-thief Garrett, returning here as the protagonist), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, or - from the contemporary catalog - Hunt: Showdown. The gameplay rewards the careful approach: scouting the area, stalking your enemies, and striking from the shadows. Can you figure out a way to clear a fort full of ghouls and monsters without raising an alarm?" From my personal experience I think the game is predominantly Hunt: Showdown, a bit of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and a very small portion Thief. Stealth is very unforgiving and makes it almost impossible early game when there are various enemies around, but hey maybe I just suck at it. I don't see Deus Ex in it, unless the skill leveling is the Deus Ex part for you and then I have to disagree with you, as that seems like the trait system in Hunt: Showdown. Edit: What I also understood from the Steam forums is that the original VA was dropped close before the release of the full version and replaced by Russell with no real explanation from the devs why this was done.

DarkRadiant 3.8.0 is ready for download. What's new: Feature: Support new frob-related material keywords Improvement: Mission selection list in Game setup is not alphabetically sorted Improvement: Better distinction between inherited and regular spawnargs Improvement: Silence sound shader button Improvement: Add Reload Definitions button to Model Chooser Fixed: Model Selector widgets are cut off and flicker constantly on Linux Fixed: DarkRadiant will not start without Dark Mod plugins Fixed: GenericEntityNode not calculating the direction correctly with "editor_rotatable" Fixed: RenderableArrow not drawing the tip correctly for arbitrary rotations Fixed: Light Inspector crashes on Linux Fixed: Models glitch out when filtering then showing them Fixed: Skin Editor: models not centered well in preview Fixed: "Copy Resource Path" includes top level folders Fixed: Skin Editor: internal test skins are shown if Material Editor was open previously Fixed: Changing Game/Project doesn't update loaded assets correctly Fixed: Model Chooser: initially hidden materials aren't revealed when enabling them Fixed: Choosing AI entity class 'atdm:townsfolk_commoner_update' causes crash Fixed: Sporadic assertion failure on shutdown due to LocalBitmapArtProvider destruction Fixed: Prefab Selector spams infinite error dialogs on Linux Windows and Mac Downloads are available on Github: https://github.com/codereader/DarkRadiant/releases/tag/3.8.0 and of course linked from the website https://www.darkradiant.net Thanks to all the awesome people who keep using DarkRadiant to create Fan Missions - they are the main reason for me to keep going. Please report any bugs or feature requests here in these forums, following these guidelines: Bugs (including steps for reproduction) can go directly on the tracker. When unsure about a bug/issue, feel free to ask. If you run into a crash, please record a crashdump: Crashdump Instructions Feature requests should be suggested (and possibly discussed) here in these forums before they may be added to the tracker. The list of changes can be found on the our bugtracker changelog. Keep on mapping!