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Not hardware related, but I upgraded to Debian 12 and I swear the system feels faster and more responsive now. Quite a bit, actually. I know for sure that the AMD drivers were improved between Linux 5.10 and 6.1. But it really feels like other optimizations and improvements were made as well. And it's not a fresh install, it's an upgrade, so there's none of that "you started with a clean slate so of course it's faster" that you get when you first install Windows and the registry hasn't gotten filled with crap yet. It's just too bad that Linux 6.2 did not make it into Debian 12 as standard, because I think that's what you need for good Intel Arc support. I was this close to buying an A770 last week, but then the price went up overnight from $329 to $400. I guess Intel saw the announcements just like we did. But I think I'm gonna just sit on current graphics hardware for as long as possible to teach the industry a lesson. EDIT to be clear the desktop is faster and more snappy not just with AMD graphics, but also NVidia as well. Also the web browser too. They must have done something to improve scheduling in the kernel. Now that more consumer devices, e.g. Steamdeck are running Linux, and not just servers, one should probably expect more improvements of this nature.

Public release v1.7.6 (with Dark Mod support) is out. Improvements since the final beta 14 are: Fixed a few remaining bugs with zip/pk4 support. Game Versions window now properly displays TDM version. Import window no longer has a vestigial off-screen TDM field (because TDM doesn't need or support importing). Web search option is now disabled if an unknown/unsupported FM is selected. If an FM with an unknown or unsupported game type is selected, the messages in the tab area now no longer refer to Thief 3 ("Mod management is not supported for Thief: Deadly Shadows"). The full changelog can be viewed at the release link. The de facto official AngelLoader thread is here: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149706 Bug reports, feature requests etc. are usually posted there. I'll continue following this thread though. Thanks everyone and enjoy!

Ulysses 2: Protecting the Flock By Sotha The mission starts some time after the events of Ulysses: Genesis, and continues the story of Ulysses. It is a medium sized mission with a focus on stealthy assassinations and hostage liberation. BUILD TIME: 12/2014 - 05/2015 CREDITS The TDM Community is thanked for steady supply of excellent mapping advice. Thanks goes also to everyone contributing to TDM! Voice Actors: Goldwell (as Goubert and Ulysses), Goldwell's Girlfriend (as Alis) Betatesters: Airship Ballet, Ryan101. Special Thanks to: Springheel and Melan (for proofreading). Story: Read & listen it in game. Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwR0ORZU5sraRGduUWlVRmtsX3c/view?usp=sharing Other: Spoilers: When discussing, please use spoiler tags, like this: [spoiler] Hidden text. [/spoiler] Mirrors: Could someone put this on TDM ingame downloader? Thanks!

@datiswous, made that correction fm_test.subs --> fm_conversations.subs @stgatilov, about srt naming and file location, would you be OK with the following edit? New/changed stuff in italics: srt command is followed by paths to a sound sample and its .srt file, typically with matching filenames. An .srt file is usually placed either with its sound file or in a "subtitles" folder. The .srt file format is described e.g. [1]. The file must be in engine-native encoding (internationalization is not supported yet anyway) and have no BOM mark. It contains a sequence of text messages to show during the sound sample, each with start and end timestamps within the sample's timeline. It is recommended to use common software to create .srt files for sound samples, instead of writing them manually. This way is more flexible but more complicated, and it is only necessary for long sounds, for instance sound sample of a briefing video. It's a simple enough standard that it can be shown as an short example, demonstrating that subtitle segments can have time gaps between them. And the example can show correct TDM usage, without requiring a trip off-site and picking through features that TDM doesn't support. Specifically, the example shows how to define two lines by direct entry, rather than using unsupported message location tags (X1, Y1, etc.). And skips other unavailable SRT font markups like italics, mentioned in the wikipedia description. The example would also show the TDM-specific path treatment. The example could be inserted before the sentence "It is recommended to use common software...."

What makes it mod unfriendly? Edit I see there's also an editor patch: Sneaky Upgrade Editor Edition

Good work! I enjoy short missions because things are nice and focused - you get in, you get out. Also I tend to do better with the loot amounts and I was able to get all the loot without too much trouble, which is rare for me. If I were to make a suggestion though - I found the intro briefing sequence a bit distracting because it was so obvious the narration was pitch-shifted to make a deeper voice. If you felt the original voice wasn't deep enough for your needs, I would either get someone on the forums to record it for you or just leave as is. That's my only real complaint and it's not even about the mission itself, so pretty good first start!

I've upgraded IPB to the latest stable version, and since this was a major upgrade (from 2.3.6) I also had to re-do the forum style. Most of the new stuff is in place, but I bet that the logo will be changed. One of the many new features in version 3 is rating of posts and also a "report spammer" ability which will make it easier to single out spam bots and ban then at sight. Hopefully this will stop some of the spam threads we've seen recently. Make sure to empty your browser cache if you're experiencing any problems. And please report any errors etc in this thread. Cheers, ~m2

Me neither... I recently (few months ago) played through TDS again (I think for the fourth time in total). Still great. Especially with the Sneaky Upgrade.

Since it already has been mentioned in the forums, I'd like to announce a small project of mine. A few weeks ago I was playing Legend of Grimrock and it struck me that their level design is extremely simple and modular, and yet, the player can spend quite a lot of time in the game. And it looks pretty, too! So I wondered if it wouldn't be possible to create a modern "Dungeon Crawler" (solve puzzles, fight monsters, collect loot, progress your character, upgrade your equipment) type of game inside the TDM engine. The engine already supports a lot of things one needs for this, and the overal structure and assets work, too. And with prefabs, one might get the level layout done quickly. However, building a few test prefabs in DR is easy, but creating a full mission out of them is quite painful. Not only needs it a lot of planning, but you can also spend a lot of time "upgrading" things later on. For instance if you later want to add a grime decal to the walls, you have to revisit the entire map. Even worse is if you find out later that your block size must be bigger or smaller. So the idea was born to create a sort of framework that can assemble missions from prefabs. Preferable while getting the description of the mission from a text file. So far, this has been a lot easier than I thought. Here is what I got working so far: Overview: You can describe your mission in a (Unicode) text file. This contains overall options, different locations (each location can have its own ambient light, music,name, fog), and the connections between the locations. Each location can have multiple "floor levels", these are stacked on top of each other. The config file also specifies which symbol means "use this prefab". It is also possible to specify links (per location), which means you can say "this lever with the symbol A opens the door with the symbol D". The framework reads the prefabs, and then positiones them in the map. It also glues all the locations together, adds location_info entities, a player start, an exit, and an objective to reach the exit. The resulting map is then enhanced with script objects (all nec. assets are bundled together), and automatically dmapped via TDM. Everything then is packaged together into a working .PK4 file. My demo map takes about 20 seconds, where 15 are dmap. In addition to the "basic" stuff I also managed to get a few things working, like a pressure plate, portcullies, and also made some puzzles. Oh, and per location fog (fading from location to location). Different difficulty levels are also supported, one can specify "this prefab appears only on easy" etc. You can find more info and screenshots and demo here: http://bloodgate.com/swift/ There is also a developer diary where I will be posting interesting entries from time to time. Here is an DR shot of a sample level, consisting of small modular prefabs and one large (the large hall on the lower left): The next steps will be to add more randomness (either static at map generation, or at runtime, so the map is slightly different each time you replay it). Also, while it is already possible to "overlay" prefabs (e.g. "for this location, look first here before falling back to the default"), it is not yet possible to "reskin" prefabs. This would be something which is impossible in DR (you cannot really reskin worldspawn brushes, unless you live with the fact that it is all manual For now I'm quite excited!

Oh man. I have a lot to say about Invisible War but I think this dude summarizes most of what I think much better than I could explain: Also if you do intend to play Invisible War at some point, please for the love of God, install this unofficial patch after installing the game: https://www.moddb.com/mods/deus-ex-2-visible-upgrade/downloads/visible-upgrade-full-edition The quality of life improvements are so significant it's basically mandatory on modern systems. It adds widescreen resolutions, removes the pop back to desktop between level loads/quickloads, adds some really good community texture packs, and so on. If you go and look up screenshots of Invisible War, it's actually quite fascinating just how much variation there is between pre-release screenshots made during development and what was actually released. There is a particular screenshot that shows what is clearly a PC-centric HUD kinda similar to that in the original Deus Ex, which makes me think the decision to make the game cross-platform with the Xbox was not in the original design and perhaps came from Eidos management. Unfortunately the exact screenshot I remember well but seems to be partially lost to the Internet as it's REALLY hard to find. I'll keep looking. EDIT: This isn't the image I'm looking for but it does show the HUD I'm thinking about. If only they didn't experiment with the eyeball HUD they ended up with...

Yes, you are still viewing The Dark Mod Forums I've just finished the upgrade of our IPB Board Forums to the latest release. Packed with new features, rewritten code and all that. Have a look around. The skin is currently the default one, but will sooner or later be converted to a darker skin, to fit the Dark Mod universe. Also note that the forums have been moved from http://modetwo.net/darkmod to it's own sub-domain: http://forums.thedarkmod.com - all forum links will still work tho, thanks to Apache's rewrite-plugin. Please report any bugs, requests and comments in this thread. PS: The forums will run a bit slow the first hours as the cache is being rebuilt.

Bit worried about Firmament because I'm a big Myst fan, but the Steam reviews are currently "mixed" due to bugs and jank and Cyan don't seem to have worked out how to get into a groove for a while. Even their last game Obduction showed promise but didn't hit the mark compare to older Myst games. I dunno - then again there aren't many devs making these types of games anymore so maybe I should be more forgiving. On the other hand, the state of the modern gaming industry makes it really, really easy to hold onto older hardware and not worry about upgrading until it's absolutely necessary. I play a ton of older games anyway so whatever, if I upgrade at some point the game will hopefully be patched and improved by then anyway.

Better downgrade your Netfux subscription to the 1080p one. Better yet, upgrade to p*racy.

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

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

Feedback wanted, please share your thoughts and suggestions: I'm still thinking on how I'm going to implement skill / augmentation upgrading. I've already started implementing the boosts themselves and they're proving fairly easy to do, however the system for the player to choose what to upgrade is going to be tricky. So far I had several ideas coming to mind but none seems to really fit. I initially thought about using loot as skill points, making it so that pressing the use key with the loot inventory icon selected would open a menu or upgrade a slot based on the direction the player's moving in. I could override the grid inventory GUI entity, but do I really want to do that especially in the initial stage? There must be a better way. I decided I'd like to go for an inventory item per augmentation, like the lantern or the health potion and such: Something the player picks up from the world, selects in the items menu, then uses to upgrade. There should be no functionality issue with this approach... except for one big problem: How on Earth am I going to decide where those items spawn?! This mod isn't intended to ever become default and there's no way the creator of every FM is going to update maps and place my items throughout the world. Thus I need an automated way to make them appear in random locations... one that's logical and makes sense, doesn't ruin the gameplay, and is compatible with all FM's. The first approach I thought about is looping through common entities and giving each type of upgrade a random chance of appearing on various objects. For example some upgrade orbs could be found in the flames of a fireplace, other booster chips stuck in paintings or large loot items. This method is unpredictable and feels very questionable. So I thought of yet another way: What if I make them possible to loot off AI? They could be found as implants in the backs of AI's heads, different augmentations specific to different person types (some for guards, others for builders, some for nobles, etc). It shouldn't be an issue to loop through all AI on the map then probabilistically spawn an item and bind it to the right joint! But I'm not sure if this might ruin characters in some FM's, it too is a questionable method. The simplest way would appear to be making them randomly spawn in some chests or drawers. It could be done: Every compartment contains an atdm:target_set_frobable so I could easily loop through all those entities on the map and choose to spawn an item in the middle of one. In this case it would look logical, however I'd have no control over where they appear. For example why would an upgrade chip be in a poor taffer's chest, considering such a thing would be considered very expensive? I'm at a loss and could really use other people's ideas. What pattern and script functions would you recommend I use for automatically spawning small inventory items, making them appear in logical places on maps where they haven't been placed manually? There must be a good pattern and I feel I'm getting close, but I still can't find a way that truly feels right.

https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-boot-guard-private-keys-have-reportedly-leaked-compromising-the-security-of-many-computers/ All I want for Christmas is the ability to lock down the firmware on my motherboard with a write-protect jumper or switch so that it cannot be changed or hacked by random software without me knowing. Firmware is a very special thing; it should be as small and simple as possible, not easy to change unless absolutely necessary, and the user should have assurance that nobody can mess with or reprogram it but them. But instead, we are moving to a world where you have to upgrade firmware every time Netflix or Disney say so, and if the power goes out half way through the process and your equipment gets wrecked as a result, "here's a quarter, phone someone who cares".

Did anyone test the Deus Ex: Invisible War ESRGAN Pack? Appart from enhanced textures: Same guy also created a similar upgrade for Thief 3.

Hi guys, through the "cheats" topic I got the idea, that it would be quite useful, if there were tags for missions (the post was about removing the killing restriction in some missions to suit the prefered play style). I don't know how easy or difficult this is, but with them, it would be quite convenient to pick missions with playstyles, environment, etc one does want to use. This could also be expanded to other mission properties. I remember a discussion about climbable drains, handles on doors, that cannot be picked and other things the map author chooses for himself. That way these things would be clearer and as I said before, it is easier to choose missions with playstyles that suit oneself. What do think?

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

Terrific! The beta test thread is up: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22238-beta-testing-the-spider-and-the-finch/