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Im experiencing a crash on loading quick saves in my work in progress FM. What are steps for diagnosing this and figuring out what is causing that crash? Thanks very much Kingsal

Quick FAQ: What is this thread for ? It is for discussing the narrative elements of a fan mission you're working on, and how they tie into the gameplay and technical aspects of the mission. If you're stuck with developing the plot for your FM, or are unsure of how to continue, or have the feeling your writing is not up to snuff, you can always seek advice in this thread. Why did you start this in the Editor's Guild ? Truth be told, I was seriously considering starting this thread in the I Want to Help subforum, but then I noticed (and realised) that most of the FM development threads are in the Editor's Guild anyway. So, I decided to rather start this discussion over here, in order to avoid making it "orphaned". But I have a really minor storytelling question... Is it still okay to ask about it here ? Of course it is ! This is practically the only "official" thread on narrative design we have now, so feel free to ask about anything that's primarily related to the storytelling or characters of your FM, and so on... Do we already have any useful resources on narrative and storytelling design ? Oh, certainly. The Story and Plot Design article on our wiki, contributed by demagogue. You should definitely give it a read. Any other threads or articles you might recommend ? Sotha's Mission Design Tips article is also just as helpful as demagogue's (and quite entertaining in places). There's also the Inspiration Thread, providing mostly visual inspiration for FM building, and the Historical resources article, providing links and bibliography for topics related to period living and social history that could influence an FM's design and events. If you find any more in that vein, feel free to recommend them here, and I'll add them to an impromptu list. ---- Ladies and gentlemen, the thread is your's. ---- (Last updated: 18 April 2018)

I have been attempting to create a skin for a model. No matter how closely I follow the wiki tutorial, I can't seem to get it to work. Here is a pic of the model directory, the skin directory, and the skin file I wrote. I even tried to make a standalone copy in the skins folder, in case DR doesn't like digging through folders when pulling up skins. Am I missing something? Am I running into problems because skins cannot be made for .ase files?

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

Would someone be willing to help adjusting some of the following mapping and model issues and suggestions? Mapping: * 0006364: Ladder cuts into the arch and the northern door when door is opened (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6364) * 0006365: Ladder in the wood shed cuts into a barrel (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6365) * 0006366: Clouds in the sky do not move in Tears of St. Lucia (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6366) * 0006374: Chandeliers in church hall (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6374) * 0006396: Return check is too sensitive (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6396) * 0006376: Wrong trigger for the hint about the hammer (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6376) * 0006395: Wall of church grounds unfinished (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6395) * 0006423: Graft map A New Job and map Tears of St. Lucia (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6423) * Training Mission, room Archery: Walking on the stone path outside the shooting range sounds like walking on grass. Floor in tower sounds OK. (-225.92 -807.79 240.29 32.6 -146.3 0.0) Models: * 0006373: Failure to pick lock of chest (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6373) * 0006375: Locked doors have no keyholes (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6375) * 0006381: Issues with model fence around the pulpit (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6381) * 0006382: The depth of the seats of the benches are too narrow (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6382) * 0006397: Some banners with builder symbol look sqashed narrow (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6397) The following are listed as authors of the mission: * Original map: Jdude * Story: Springheel * Additional mapping: Springheel, Fidcal, Bikerdude, Greebo, datiswous (not listed), JackFarmer (not listed)

We (Greebo and myself) have been working on this ancient mission of ours for quite a few years. It is mostly finished (haha well at least mostly playable) but what we still don't have is a great story. We have had a few ideas but were not quite happy with them. It is a type of mission with Who would like to help us to come up with a badass story and objectives? We could also use some help with readables (I'm not that good with ye olde english) and maybe some input/feedback on the map. Here are a few screenshots:

How can I format text in the bugtracker (Mantis)? Specifically: * strikethrough text * bold text * italic text I have tried both angle brackets ("<") and brackets ("[").

I'm having this issue with a trapdoor I made, where I can't hear the closing sound when I close it from the top side. I presume this could have something to do with the visportals, but I couldn't figure it out. My test map is in the attachment below, if anyone wants to take a look. Thanks in advance. ___ EDIT: I just noticed that not being able to hear the sound at all from the top side is actually because I'm using `loss_closed 60`. But still, even if I use the default value for that spawnarg, the sound still gets a bit muffled. So the actual issue is how to prevent this? ladder_tests.zip

A switch triggers water to rise. How can I go about making this happen? Searched through the forum & the wiki, possibly overlooked the solution. Figured posting would help expedite the process. Thanks for any help.

Might not be the right forum but, As a recovering TDM addict, I thought it'd be useful to call attention to some games that have helped me get past my withdrawal symptoms, at least until the next release! 1.) STALKER Anomaly, Wind of Time, Spatial Anomaly...etc 2.) Enderal 3.) Aliens Colonial Marines TemplarGFX - still too short! 4.) Prey 5.) Ruiner - arcadey, but works 6.) Thief 2 - Shadows of the metal age 7.) Deus Ex - GMDX, Nihilum, etc

I modified the standard mainmenu_briefing.gui file to add an extra button in the center that directs to another page: Then If you click on button StartLocation, you get to another page, where I still have to add the starter locations and you have a Briefing button, to get back to the briefingtext: Code for only this part (might still have some unneeded code) : Question: How do I remove the up and down navigation-buttons that are still present on this page? I already tried: set "scrollDown::visible" "0"; set "scrollUp::visible" "0";

Good day, I am the kind of guy who will say that he is incredibly busy and the like, but my actual excuse is that I don't have much motivation to learn how to make maps. However, I still have so many ideas that I think they might be good for "The Dark Mod", I'm sure some of you mappers might have the motivation to make maps, but no idea as to what to make or how, well this topic, hopefully, will help you greatly in making an amazing fan mission where we all have the fun we ALL deserve. I would like to organize this by one thread, many posts, because I think it would be best to have all my ideas in one thread instead of various, else people might get sick and tired of it, part of human nature to dislike the same ol' however good or bad it may be. So you may see some little bit of "disorganization", but rest assured I put keywords to easily find stuff. Also, there's probably gonna be "double post"...So I hope I'm exempt, at least in this here thread. You may ask whatever you want; suggestions, questions, a revision of my own idea, how should this be done...Etc etc, right in here, no problem. By the way, I have a feeling some of you may ask regarding trademark, ownership or credits, well... I do not care about them at all, as long as you don't do any commercial thing about it. If you get paid for making the mission, that's okay, you are the one making it, my idea is just an idea. For credits, I don't mind them, if you want to credit me you may go ahead, "Idea by The Black Arrow". If not, I am fine with that as well. I only care that you make a very good mission, I'm rather strict with that myself. PLEASE NOTE: This should be for mission-makers only, as there are a lot of spoilers

How you can help depends a lot on what skills you have. I can Record Video Recording "Let's Play" videos or simple walkthroughs of existing missions and posting them to Youtube is great exposure for the mod (see example .) Be sure to let us know so we can link to them. If you have some editing ability, Video tutorials, where you explain how the mod works, or how to use specific tools, would also be great. Video trailers, showcasing interesting places and features, are also great for publicity. An example is . I can Write Writing reviews for missions are always nice, especially if they include good screenshots. Not only does it give us something to post on other forums, but it makes mappers feel good when their mission gets attention (especially if it's positive). We have a collective thread to post reviews in: http://forums.thedar...s-walkthroughs/ Writing reviews of the mod as a whole, targetted an an audience that doesn't know much about TDM, is also very useful. You could also try offering your services to mappers to create interesting readables, or to proofread for their mission. I can Act and Record Audio We are always on the lookout for good quality audio recordings for vocal sets. If interested, you can pick a few different lines from this script: http://wiki.thedarkm...t:_Average_Jack and send the recordings to Springheel, who then writes a script based on the type of voice you have. I can Translate We could always use translations of our menu/hud into more languages. Also, only a few FMs are aavailable in more than one language, so there is a lot of work there, see the I18N Translator's Guide in the Wiki. I can Model Great! Take a look at the model request thread:http://forums.thedar...-requests-here/ and pick something that interests you. Or just post a, "Hey, anybody want a model?" thread in this forum and I'm sure mappers will get back to you. I can Animate Fantastic. We can always use more good animations. Our current character rigs use a Maya skeleton. PM Springheel for more info. I know C++ Have a look at our coding section in the wiki, pick an issue or feature from the bugtracker of the mod or the leveleditor, download the recent sourcecode release (or better ask for an SVN checkout) and get cracking. Make sure nobody is already working on that specific issue and feel free to ask questions. I can Edit Images We can always use completely new textures and/or improved versions of older textures. How to get started and how to import them into the mod. I can Take Photos Good quality photos of useful textures (medieval-ish building facades, dirt, rocks, wood, etc) are always welcome. The fewer directional shadows and higher resolution, the better. I don't have any skills Even if you can't do any of the above, you can still help out. Talk about TDM in other forums; share your (preferably positive) experiences with other gamers you know. Last, but not least, compliment people when you like their work. Saying "thanks", to a developer or, "I really enjoyed your mission" to a mapper will make their day. -------------------- I'll update this further as more things occur to me.

Contributions downloads are at http://fidcal.com/DarkMod/index.htm Note that there is no dedicated beautiful sortable webpage list. I don't have time and also this means less delays. Just browse the folders and click on readmes and images and grab any zips. If anyone submits anything I can just upload it in a few minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to offer coding, modelling, or any other kind of help got to the I want to help forum for discussion. If you have any extensive assets you wish to discuss also you can go to the I want to help forum. If you simply want to share an FM, prefab(s), textures, whatever then post details in this thread (there are other websites for FMs too.) Generally these need to be zipped up with a description.txt plain text file and optionally an image, and uploaded somewhere I can get them such as a fileshare website like rapidshare. Any problem with that and if you have ftp I can arrange a direct upload to a private temporary folder on my website. All submissions to this thread should be accompanied by a short description summary to go on the download page and optionally a picture(s). Such submissions will be placed on my website download page (wip) at fidcal.com. Anything suspect for any reason I reserve the right to delete. I accept no liability for downtime or even no-continuance of the download section or even the entire website for any reason. Downloaders: I accept no liability if you download anything you'd rather not: download at your own risk. Oh yes, and I am not responsible for global warming, economic depression, you name it; I'm not responsible. From there, any mappers can download what they want. The Dark Mod Team may or may not assess some items for inclusion in future Dark Mod updates. FMs may be assessed for inclusion on the Dark Mod website. Anyone feel free to mirror the download folder. Any suggestions post in this thread too.

It takes a long time to make a mission, at least if you want quality, and I am known for abandoning projects all the time. However, if I did ever finish a mission, it wouldn't be a typical one. First of all, I wouldn't give you any weapons, or even a blackjack. ...and if you so much as got spotted, you would fail the mission. ...and you wouldn't even be able to steal loot. ...so you wouldn't be a killer, you wouldn't be a thief - you would just be a burglar, I guess. I actually don't like crime sims - I just like to sneak. The mission would pretty much just be a walking sim, but if I could come up with some complex mechanical puzzles, I wouldn't mind a sneaky form of Myst. Would there be a story? Maybe. Maybe not. I feel that stories just take away from the player experience. They wouldn't even know where they were, and would have to figure it out as they explored. ...and it would probably partly be a horror map, so I'd probably have you sneak around in the tunnels of some spider hive, evading roaming spider patrols. Maybe there wouldn't even be an objective. Maybe I'd just start the player next to the door leading out of it, and you were welcome to stay and hang out in my huge map, for as long as you'd like. I like atmospheric environments more than I like objectives. I'd of course warn the player that my mission wouldn't be typical. The key to avoiding disappointment, is simply to set the right expectations beforehand.

Please help to build the game from source in linux distribution (Nixos).