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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?

I was wondering whether there would be interest in making the dark mod (which is now a standalone game, based on the id Tech 4 game engine) into a modular game, and have the dark mod made into a mod/plugin that can be added to the game/game engine. The idea is to make a platform for making games -so that people can simply make a game by making a mod and then implement it to the modular game (lets call it the OS FPS for ease of reference). While this is all ready possible (id Tech 4 and some other game engines like id Tech 3 / Enemy Territory engine, Cube, Cube 2, Tesseract, ...), vehicle capability is not yet standardly introduced* to these game engines, not are the ability to use large maps; in some cases, system requirements are also high. The project outline can be found at http://sourceforge.n...heosfpsproject/ Note that, while I envision the system requirements to be lower than what they are with the Dark Mod presently, some mods/plugin content like the Dark Mod can be kept as is (so requiring higher system requirements). The vehicle capability won't be actively used in the Dark Mod plugin content neither, but this extra code won't significantly reduce efficiency neither. The other games/plug-ins I'm focusing can take full advantage of this then, and focus more on the type of games I wish to pursue with this project. I nonetheless think however that the id Tech 4 engine can nonetheless be a good game engine to use as for the OS FPS. This as the system requirements are not all that high (much higher than Battlefield Heroes or AssaultCube but still within a margin as long as a good GPU is used -see http://www.game-deba...9&game=Doom%203 -), and the engine is open-source. Large maps perhaps won't be too much of a problem neither (Enemy Territory uses rather large maps too -smaller than battlefield but still- and despite that, still runs fluid even on relatively slow(er) PC's). I'm also guessing (please confirm this) that for id Tech 4 games, there are also sufficient game development software. I got that impression from the ET Legacy site -see http://www.etlegacy.com/ -

I just picked up on what nbohr1more posted here about building from prefabs. I was just wondering how easy could we make it for novices to plug together modules to make new simple FMs. OK, likely they would lack originality and have lots of weaknesses but they might draw in more mappers who would not normally map and not all maps need to be highly advanced 'super maps.' I can't work on this currently but we could spend a few months kicking ideas around so maybe one day... Many of my first thoughts likely won't work. Let's see what if any will. Performance: Keep it simple so performance is less of an issue. Do not optimise. You only normally gain tiny fractions anyway except in complex situations and the prefabs rooms can be kept small and simple anyway. Just cover up ragged edges and junk waste. Keep focus entirely on speed building. Start Map: Needs a new simple one just for this probably just extended objectives, tools, ammo etc. Needs some thought. Prefabs: So I'm thinking first of customisable 'rooms'. A 'room' is defined as one closed volume with 'doorways' whether it be an alley, a mineshaft, whatever. Each room built to a standard wall thickness and grid. Each prefab labelled, eg, 'plug in compatible'. Standard texture types of same scale and alignment so can easily change. Each prefab has distinctily named layers for ease of re-selection and re-texturing. Each room has doorways at set points, eg, always say at positions 0.25, 0.5 075 along any wall. So to connect any two rooms you can align them easily. Doorways designed so they can be blocked off easily. For instance, if all doorways have a frame that protrudes 0.5 units then a 'blocker' prefab can be dropped over it.. This might for instance just be a a big vertical brush. Possibly leave the doorway inside for quickness but disable any working door. Stair room connectors and stair units. AI and pathing: A set of prefabs each with one AI type and say 8 paths + waits linked in a loop. Waits set at say min 10, max 30. Easy to change. Mapper changes AI skin & head for variety. Paths dragged to where needed. You can't really have too many; a one corridor guard can have 4 at each end. Paths are just discarded if not wanted by removing the AI's first target. Don't waste time deleting - you might change your mind later. Sitter prefabs with seat Sleeper prefabs with bed Problems: Dark Radiant's multiple item rotation bug is a big problem. Rotating a complete room prefab is hopeless. 4 sets of every prefab is not practical. So anyway, the mapper just Starts with the start map Inserts prefab rooms so each connects with another at doorways. Forms a basic structure of rooms. Retextures if needed. Adds or moves or changes any furniture or other models (or maybe does this later Inserts AI and adjusts Inserts loot Inserts custom objects Inserts and modifies just a few ultra simple pre-made generic readables. Modifies simple objectives.

If you've been working on a mission for 2.05, and you've been using SVN for your assets, please switch to the beta package of 2.05. Some assets that appear in SVN won't be included in 2.05. For example, I was using this material for a curtain: textures/darkmod/fabric/ship_sails When I switched to 2.05, it disappeared. The material is part of the airship, which is being excluded from 2.05 because it isn't finished. (No, I'm not going to provide a list of what's not included in 2.05. Just make the switch and find out what's missing. )

I don't wanna sound lazy or spoiled by asking this question: I enjoy mapping, and DarkRadiant helps in not making the process all that hard! At the same time though, it is a lengthy and straining process, so I figure knowing this wouldn't hurt either. After all, scripts and prefabs and other contributions are shared throughout the community, so why not map chunks? But yeah: My question was whether any TDM contributors also publish any complete large structures for other mappers to use. By this I mean full buildings (with interiors), playable base landscapes, maybe even whole towns! I'm thinking of generic area templates that mappers can easily add characters to for their story, in case someone doesn't want to create their map from scratch. For instance, a whole town map with all roads and buildings laid out, entities for paths and doors and all other things, just no objectives or stories or characters as you add those yourself. Another problem is that if people abuse such templates, too many missions will end up looking the sane, which would of course get easily boring. This might be helped if perhaps just important pieces could be offered as prefabs... for instance various types of complete buildings, but it's still the player who makes the roads and places each one in each spot. Has anyone ever made and posted such a thing, and what do you think of the idea? This isn't a request thread mind you, unless merely bringing this up inspires anyone to do it... I'm only asking if anyone else's thought of this before. The reason I think it's a fun thought is that some missions have a few really nice areas, which are definitely created by talented mappers... therefore I wonder if bits of maps could be shared in a way that makes them easy to combine with one another, so that other missions can reuse good parts if of course their authors want that.

Hey, Every time I've try to use the Full Editor when PM'ing someone, and every single time I get an error. Whoever is in charge of the forum, is it possible that this could be fixed? Thanks Neon