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The map files in NHAT v4 were too large to diff in Notepad++ or Meld ( etc) so I decided to test out the old I18N.pl script and it still works fine for me. Caveats? It doesn't understand campaign packs so you have to split the maps and xdata and create a fake darkmod.txt without the "mission 1 , mission 2, etc" part. Then you have to renumber the "#str_xxxx" entries in the other maps so they don't collide. Luckily find and replace can easily fix that. A lot of work to get this working with the latest NHAT version, phew!

I would attribute that to excusable map-building little blunders. Nothing / nobody is perfect.

I hope that is not the new TDM version. https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/20784-render-bug-large-black-box-occluding-screen/

The question is, what do you want the Unofficial Patch to be? Then do just that. Players shall judge. I am fairly sure, yes. What's wrong with some free virtual relighting ? Since you are interested in some skills what we can do to avoid duplicates is to adopt the same basic entities with the same basic properties. That way players using only the Patch will get your version but players using both the Patch and the Modpack will get a single instance (whichever mod that wins). Here is an example for the Whistle. tdm_playertools.def Go from: // Whistling sound to distract enemies, added by wesp from snatcher entityDef atdm:playertools_whistle { "inherit" "atdm:playertool" "editor_usage" "Don't use, gets automatically spawned at the start of the map" "scriptobject" "playertools_whistle" // changed by wesp "inv_category" "#str_02394" // Tools "inv_name" "Whistle" "inv_icon" "guis\assets\hud\inventory_icons\whistle_icon.dds" // changed by wesp "inv_map_start" "1" } To: // Whistling sound to distract enemies, added by wesp from snatcher entityDef mod:playerskills_distraction { "inherit" "atdm:playertool" "editor_usage" "Don't use, gets automatically spawned at the start of the map" "scriptobject" "playertools_whistle" // changed by wesp "inv_category" "Skills" "inv_name" "Whistle" "inv_icon" "guis\assets\hud\inventory_icons\whistle_icon.dds" // changed by wesp "inv_map_start" "1" } tdm_user_addons_wesp.script Go from: void user_addon_init_wesp() //If any of your addon scripts need to be initialised at map start, add their init function here. See the line that has been commented out with // for an example. { entity blow = sys.spawn("atdm:playertools_blow"); // added by wesp entity whistle = sys.spawn("atdm:playertools_whistle"); // added by wesp statistic_message_init(); // added by wesp thread frob_details(); // added by wesp tdm_frob_lock_init(); // added by wesp tdm_chest_sounds(); // added by wesp tdm_unlit_lamps(); // added by wesp sys.waitFrame(); // contingency in case no addons are specified } To: void user_addon_init_wesp() //If any of your addon scripts need to be initialised at map start, add their init function here. See the line that has been commented out with // for an example. { entity blow = sys.spawn("atdm:playertools_blow"); // added by wesp entity whistle = sys.spawn("mod:playerskills_distraction"); // added by wesp statistic_message_init(); // added by wesp thread frob_details(); // added by wesp tdm_frob_lock_init(); // added by wesp tdm_chest_sounds(); // added by wesp tdm_unlit_lamps(); // added by wesp sys.waitFrame(); // contingency in case no addons are specified } See if that does the trick, and if you like it.

The project to round up viable orphaned translations is mostly complete now. https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=4726 Since Darkfate has their own translations it took awhile to merge the older translations with the darkfate formatting since they generated new string numbers from scratch. A few missions are so radically changed that the old translations are practically worthless now ( and some Darkfate translations are also incompatible with the latest mission versions ) but most of the work was salvageable. I added a "Translation Pack" column to the Missions wiki: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Missions_for_The_Dark_Mod all entries marked with "Yes" are working translations that use Darkfate's translation design ( includes xdata, GUI and Map files if the author didn't perform localization changes in their own mission pack ). Sadly, these changes do not show in the mission downloader list. You will need to delete mission_l10n.pk4 files from the darkmod/fms/mission_name folders to acquire the new translation packs that "actually work". Not all mission packs contain all languages. Mostly you can count on Russian being in there, but a good percentage have German and Italian strings too. French, Polish, and a few other languages are represented but not very broadly. Hopefully now that the packs work other contributors will add more language strings. Mission administration details: Going forward, it would be courteous if the mission admins ( like myself ) would diff the map files when new mission updates are supplied and replace all the objectives, inv_name, pop-up messages, and shouldered names in a copy of the new map file with the previous string codes then copy that file to the map folder in the translation pack folder. Ideally, authors will be encouraged to run their missions through the converter so only new strings need be added to the packs but not everyone likes that workflow and how cumbersome it makes future edits to the mission.

Maybe it's possible to make a script that extracts all the info_locations from the map file and creates an efx file from that in the correct format (run again to update). Then you can simply fill it in. Possibly you could also edit in DR the efx-data as a fake spawnarg for that info_location entity and make the script write that to the efx file. This might also be possible via a script/plugin inside DR.

So path_follow_actor actually DOES work if you want it to follow the player. You just need to target the player entity dynamically in game. It doesn't work if you target the player_start entity. I can't remember if that's what people were doing (or even if that's what I was doing), but that won't work because the player_start entity and the player entity aren't the same thing. You can use a atdm:target_changetarget entity to do this, or a script: $path_follow_actor_1.addTarget($player1); Both can just be triggered by another path node, a atdm:target_callscriptfunction, whatever. Also you need to add the player target to the path_follow_actor node BEFORE the AI gets to it. If the target gets added after the AI reaches that node, it won't work. Video where the AI hits a node that triggers a atdm:target_changetarget entity: https://drive.proton.me/urls/A3DJW5EYFM#0WgYnCVOU6nv test map attached as well. EDIT: I have no idea why just manually setting 'target' 'player1' on the path_follow_actor node in DR doesn't work. I'll try to look into this. UPDATE: It appears the the player1 entity simply isn't there during initialization when the path_follow_actor's targets are evaluated. As a result, the 'actor' is null and the node does nothing. I didn't mention it before, but when I used the script method I just stuck in the map script's main function like so, and this works too: void main() { sys.waitFrame(); $path_follow_actor_1.addTarget($player1); } UPDATE 2: Wiki updated: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Path_Nodes#path_follow_actor path.map

For free ambience tracks it's as Freky said: you look around on the internet for tracks with the appropriate license to be included in your FM. Fortunately, you likely don't even need to bother doing this as a beginner as there's an entire "Music & SFX" section of the forums full of good ambient tracks for you to use if the stock tracks do not meet your fancy. You might also be interested in Orbweaver's "Dark Ambients", which come with a sndshd file already written for you.

I'm working in DarkRadiant on a new map, and I'm having something odd I've never experienced before. There's a fire in a stove model on the second floor of a building... walls, floor, ceiling, etc are all worldspawn brushes with appropriate textures, neither player nor AI have any trouble traversing the entire place, so I think it's assembled as it should be. However, if I douse the stove on the second floor with a water arrow, the water splash somehow drips through the floor brush and douses a torch in the same rough area down on the first floor. I tested it on various positions in the building, and it seems to happen everywhere, not just on that one light. Water arrows that impact on the second floor fall through the floor, and if a light is presence in the fall area it's extinguished. Is this expected behaviour? I would have through a solid brush would stop water from traveling any further once released.

@HMartI am not sure that is correct - you can even see in your screenshot that the green or "y" areas of the normal map are not shadowed correctly in game relative your point light. They are in shadow where they should be lit and the appear illuminated from the bottom when the light source is above. Here is another example: OpenGL: DirectX: Notice in DX how light source hits the tops of the tiles and shadows the bottom - where as this is inverted in openGL which does not look physically correct to me given the light position. It is very confusing given the legacy of the game being OpenGL, but I have learned from (painful) experience that directx formatted normals are what look physically correct in the game, at least in my opinion.

For the FM? For beta 1 it's here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/H1QBB04GA0#oBZTb1CmVFQb I've already done around 100 fixes though, so you might want to wait for beta 2 which should be ready in a couple of days hopefully. All links are in the first post of the beta thread here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22439-the-lieutenant-3-foreign-affairs-beta-testing/

Texture normal map type: does TDM use opengl or Direct X?

I think this is a slippery slope fallacy. Just because the ability to customize exists does not mean most mappers will use it. On the contrary, if one considers the customization that are already available, we see that the overwhelming majority of mappers stick to the defaults. The exceptions are interesting also. Kingsal's the only mapper that readily comes to mind who habitually deviates from presets seemingly just for the sake of being different. However everything they make is clearly in service of cohesive visions. Hazard Pay, no matter how you feel about it, unarguably loses a great deal of its survival horror character if you take away the napalm arrows or the punishing save system. The Voltas don't need to use Thief style elemental crystals in place of TDMs arrow model, but the fact that they are there makes a definite statement about the author's awareness of their inspiration for their work in TDM from the original games, which in turn draws attention to other, subtler creative choices. I think it's also telling that some of kingsal's modifications have been adopted by other authors. As OrbWeaver said, "If the defaults are widely disliked, they should be changed." However, how can the community come to a consensus unless there are maps to showcase the advantages of new innovations? Requesting, or worse requiring, players to go in and manually change settings in order to experience a new mechanic is never going to gain any traction. Certainly it is not worth the effort of creating an entire map built around a new paradigm.

The idea is that mapper can set spawnargs on map entity to override defaults from entityDef. If some entityDef is used only to dynamically spawn entity without any map entity, then it does not fit. I guess this is the case with arrow weapons, sadly. UPDATE: At some moment we discussed an option to specify "patches" to core entityDefs, but the idea never got far.

Funnily enough, I was going to ping you and see if you wanted to draw the map. There is something included which could technically be called a 'map', but it sucks. The issue is the FM doesn't cover a huge area, but there is a LOT of vertical overlap so the options are a single map which provides vague guidance (the option I've gone with), or loads of tiny maps for each area (which would suit an automap probably).

As a matter of fact, I implemented passing info from briefing to game and from game to debriefing: https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6509#c16671 At some moment I think I should put this info to wiki... This will be available in the future dev build. P.S. By the way, you can also override which .map file to start, although I'm very skeptical that this feature is worth the trouble you'll get in maintainability. Small variations of the same map should be better implemented by writing the "main" game script.

I like the Transition from dusk to night in the Prologue and the fact that it didn't last long. Hiding and stealing during the day feels weird to me. I couldn't digest Mankind Divided as much as I liked the Artistic touches for this reason. The Prague map felt so Arbitrary.

Megatextures were a horrible idea for obvious reasons, not sure why ID chose to learn that the hard way. The concept from what I remember is the whole map uses a single gigantic texture... instead of how we independently pick a couple of 1024 px brick materials for a few brushes and surfaces, the whole map acts as one model with one material and a single texture which probably needs to be 1 million x 1 million pixels even for a small level. This is ridiculous from a perspective of system resources with 100's of GB's of storage and huge (v)RAM requirements and hours of loading time, as well as raising the skills required for level editing since you now need mappers to also be texture artists and sculpt / paint their levels instead of just placing stuff. The only thinkable benefit is there's no repetition since every pixel on every part of the world is unique, but who notices any similarity with independent texturing if it's done right anyway? Detail textures have yet another advantage there: Since you scale the pattern independently on top of the original texture, you can make every surface appear as if it has unique pixels like megatextures. Hence why I'd advice having the details be very high-res, 4k or 8k even 16k if we can take it: Yes that's enormous, but remember we'd only have a few patterns probably no more than 15 in total, and can store them as grayscale then use a single image to modify both albedo / specular / normal (heightmap to normalmap): Map the detail in world space rather than the brush or model UV map, and the resulting pattern on every surface in the world will always be unique since the original and detail textures will be out of sync.

I think that this discussion is probably similar to discussions that idSoftware themselves had about the challenges of texture storage in engines that heavily rely on Normal Maps for real-time lighting. The conclusion was Megatextures ( later known as partially resident textures ) but the suggestion was a little too ahead of its time. Heck, early Megatexture games would probably benefit from detail textures more than idTech4 because they capped the pixel density to allow larger map-sized textures. Many modern games have caught up and use partially resident textures but do so in a more conservative way thus making them part of a hierarchy of texture usage methods that includes texture atlases and traditional tiled textures.

I tried the German translations for fm The Thiefs Den. Doesn't work. When I include the russion translation pack from Darkfate, the original German translations work as well. The translation package from Darkfate adds a lot more files, including the xd and map files.

The translation pack has the german string in the base pack rather than in the fm subfolder. I will fix it in the mission database. Edit: Fixed in the mission db Edit 2: Nope. Not exactly fixed. It seems that lang files in the mission string folder need to be "complete" because they fully override the core strings. If I am correct, this was broken in 2.11 when we permitted in-file overrides of core files in missions. Edit 3: Still broken in 2.10, rolling back to 2.07 Edit 4: Still broken in 2.07. Something has gotta be wrong with the translation specific to this mission. Edit 5: The core mission XD files don't use the strings so nothing happens if the lang files are in the strings/fm subfolder. Probably means that the translation packs "never worked" for many missions unless impacted players sought out special editions of the missions on Tels' server. What a mess. Fuzzy recollection time: I think Tels was trying to push the team to mass convert all missions to move XD data into strings/fm/english.lang but nobody wanted to broach it and even mission authors weren't happy about this way of handling things. If the translation pack takes precedence, the best way forward is to include the converted XD file into it. Testing... Edit 6: Couldn't get the XD update to work, so I decided to checkout Darkfate's version. It works flawlessly. I copied their pack into the standard translation pack and the added string files for the other languages worked as well. Darkfate's packs include map files so I'll need to study whether we can avoid that. Otherwise we are basically doubling our mission db or "damaging" our hosted versions to make them translatable. Since this mission is so small and probably will never be edited again we can probably use darkfate's version as-is.

This might be frowned onto by tdm mappers/veterans, but I find it strange that it's considered ok to use text inside entities, which can then be found inside map files. That in general seems badly organised. Like for example with text decals: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Text_Decals_for_Signs_etc.#The_Decal Personally I think xdata could/should be used for all instances of text (except maybe darkmod.txt and subtitles), including readme files and GUI files. Or at least some kind of external text file. Could be something else, but the xdata format seems good and supported. So the sign text prefab could have a default xdata_contents spawnarg instead of gui_parm1 . Edit: Objective description text is also inside an entity inside the map file, but it could just as well be a reference to an xdata file. I posted about this before, here:

Then your experience is different than mine. I just recently downloaded a very old mission, The Outpost, that is listed as having German, French, Italian translations, to test out language capabilities. It was not converted (no "#str" found in .map file). Nor was there a language pack included (at least not from thedarkmod downloader).

If all written strings were kept in XD files, the process would be easier. We shouldn't need map edits for this. The current system makes mission updates a real problem to the point that only long dormant missions are viable for translation.

Interesting idea. Not sure about my upcoming time availability to help. A couple of concerns here - - I assume the popup words uses the "Informative Texts" slot, e.g., where you might see "Acquired 80 in Jewels", so it likely wouldn't interfere with that or with already-higher subtitles. - There are indications that #str is becoming unviable in FMs; see my just-posted: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22434-western-language-support-in-2024/