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This was a bit of a joke from me by the way. (Maybe in bad taste). My purpose was to point out incrementalism has value in itself. No one is completely happy with the compromises in the pseudo final version we have arrived at, but it seems to be good enough. So let's all stop whining about the parts that didn't go our way before Daft Mugi keels over. I think an argument could be made that Skyrim's controls might be theoretically more optimal than TDM's adapted Thief scheme. Skyrim does have potions, readables, consumable items, and real time inventory management; if not in the official game then in some of its million mods. It seems to work well and about 10-20 million gamers are deeply familiar with it. But it would be a gargantuan task to completely rework TDM to fit that template, and it would alienate a lot of us who are used to the traditional ways. Better to take a few pointed lessons where they are most applicable and work slowly to optimize what we have inherited. But neither should we rest on our laurels. As I alluded to before, "gimmicks" like TDM's ragdoll bodies and physics object manipulation were still kind of cool in the early 2010s, but now day-they feel positively retro--and not always in a good way. It wouldn't hurt to have a hard think about what features actually contribute to the enduring appeal of TDM, versus which ones might be holding it back from charming an even wider audience.

Greetings everyone! I recently got into TDM and am already having a lot of fun playing through and ghosting missions. However, coming from Thief, I am mostly relying on the rules and my experience with that game, while there are clearly differences in how TDM works. Right now, there is talk in the ghosting discussion thread on TTLG to amend the ruleset and include clarifications pertaining to TDM. So I wanted to drop by and ask: is there an active TDM ghosting community already and have any rules for this playstyle been developed? I would also like to ask someone to take a look at the draft of this addendum to see whether everything looks correct: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148487&page=16&p=2473352&viewfull=1#post2473352 Thanks!

Intro: "East of the Rahen Mountain, there is a swampy area, a backwater of river Rahna. Approximately twenty years ago the Inventors Guild began their effort to secure the rights to the land and presented the construction projects of water dams and locks in endeavour to create a water trails for flat-bottomed vessels. The prospect of increased economic exchange between the plains and the mountain settlements prevailed over the objections of displeased neighbours and just five years later the water level in ponds allowed for flow of barges. Good mood of the local lord diminished though, as more and more crops and farms disappeared under the water, wells began to stink, and dysentery started to collect a heavy toll. Guild excuses that thawing and hardship of communication with lock's staff was to blame didn't resolve the crisis. What did, was a compensation - a one-off shipment of nearly half a ton of rock crystals. This aroused comments among people not normally interested in the Inventors and their dealings. People like me. The trail leads to one of inaccessible facilities of the bulkhead oversight in the network of ponds, where, the crystals are mined, pre-processed and sorted out. Several months later... Crossing the flooded and deserted five furlongs in one-man boat was risky enough, but I took my chances and tried to take the boat through the lock, to be closer to the guardhouse. The bulkhead mechanism was too complicated for one person to operate though. Now I don't have the means to go back and water scattered my equipment all over the pond. And with no boat the only way back is a walk along the causeway towards the mountains, but for that I will need to get a good supply of food and water, so not to loose my strength carrying the loot." Description: Break in into castle infested by undead. Thanks: TDM Team for great tool and their dedication in improving it. Bikerdude for working out all bugs, optimisation, improving graphics and readables details. Caer (from Polish Thief forum) for translating. Testers: AluminumHaste, Baddcog, lowenz, nbohr1more, adriannn (PTF), Nivellen (PTF). Build time: Basic playable version 1,5 months, final release after 1 year. Update info: Unbelievable how long it was under construction, but I hope you will enjoy exploring this mission . Can't name all things added to previous version -just tons of them. Known issues: Low performance in few spots. Game sometimes freeze a bit in area around building.

A Problem Arises I've paused subtitling of the Lady02 vocal set, because of a problem with the voice clips described here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21741-subtitles-possibilities-beyond-211/&do=findComment&comment=490151 While a way forward is being determined, I'll work on a different vocal set. Maybe manbeast, for which Kingsal just provided me the voice script.

It's funny you should ask that because I've been thinking about this a bit and am now wondering if my use cases 2 and 3 (more dynamic in-game readables) are actually possible with the existing system. I'm not sure you would want to actually override the existing scripts but more likely add in new scripts into the existing system. I might have a go at at this weekend.

After a long time and a lot of delays, I'm extremely happy and relieved to announce the release date for my first map; Lords & Legacy, on Friday the 30th of August, 2013! Lords & Legacy v.2.1 Resume: Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/Lj8UJ#0 Notes: Build time: 2013/03/30 - 2013/08/30 To install, simply put the .pk4 file in your fm folder and install from the in-game mission menu. It is a large mission with optional objectives, so make sure to save often. The ropes in the beginning have a 'slick' surface, to simulate being 'slack lines'. They are difficult, but once you get a hang of the slide they can be fun. A couple of the large areas can be a bit rough on performance, and can be improved by adjusting the LOD slider in video options. A few of visportals open only when you get close. This is to keep the frames smooth inside the respective building, due to early inexperienced design. If you find any bugs which affect the gameplay experience, then you're very welcome to post them here, but please use the spoiler tags. Big thanks to 'Obsttorte', 'Springheel', 'Greyman', 'Bikerdude', 'Sotha' and rest of 'The Dark Mod Team'for all the help, guides and tricks. Also thanks to the other TDM users who provided fantastic support and feedback during the build. Thank you for beta-testing: 'Bikerdude', 'TylerVocal', 'Simplen00b', 'nbohr1more', 'Briareos H.' Special thanks to: 'Danus', 'Dsx' & 'Stanleh' for testing, help and support. v.2.0.1 changelog: Bugs: -The "Master Thief" challenge was impossible to do for a while, due to incorrect values. Fixed. -Getting seen by "The Killer" now also fails the "Ghost" challenge. -The 3 cardplaying guards no longer float mid air, as their chairs are now nailed to the floor. -Fixed the sound of the furnace continuing after the flames were extinguished. -Fixed weird glittering on the power cables around the map. -Fixed some moonlight popping in and out. -Fixed openable windows in Commons, clipping into the frame. -Fixed a book dropping through a desk. -Fixed visportals closing too close in Lancel's Tower, slight hit on performance though. -Added more monsterclip to Service Tower and Robert's Tower's entrance. -Improved a few vis_portals with func_portals. -Replaced curbs in Slums and Commons with some more detailed versions and changed textures. And a lot more little unecessary tweaks. Gameplay: -Added new challenge: (Jack White) - Do not knock-out anyone. -Reduced the amount of starting gear, depending on difficulty. -Added cubemaps to most windows on the map. -Redid most func_statics in Commmons Quarter to reduce tris and increase performance. Draw count is still somewhat high. -Removed all transparent windows as they didn't have actual gameplay value, just a performance drain in exchange for glitchy visuals. -Lancel's safe can no longer be picked. Find the key! -Added a couple minor cosmetic details in the sewers. -Moved a coinpurse from a wealthy commoner's sleeping butt to his nightside table. Also adjusted his furniture so thieves can better move around. -Changed sounds for several doors across the map. Once again, a big thanks to 'Bikerdude' for taking the time help out and locate room for improvement! v.2.0 changelog: Bugs: -Fixed various textures and surfaces and a few minor tweaks. -Tweaked some sounds to be in line with TDM 2.0 changes. -Fixed 2 certain AIs being too sensitive rather than drunk. (Thanks to AluminumHaste!) -Tweaked LOD on some objects, to prevent windows "popping" in and out. Gameplay: -Added more monsterclip to the towers, so the AI can now run up and down stairs. Only the stairs in the small tower has issues still. -Added more monsterclip in the city so the guards can follow you up all stairs. -Added a few minor details. -Windows in the city now dims sound, resulting in less aggro from guards and more convincing soundscape. -Reduced 'draw calls' in all the large areas, increasing performance. The map is still heavy at certain areas. Another big thanks to 'Bikerdude' and 'Greyman', for taking time out of their own schedules to help optimize the map's draw count and other significant adjustements! v.1.0.3 changelog: Bugs: -Fixed 4 black chairs in one of the towers -Fixed a floating painting -Fixed several clipping objects v.1.0.2 changelog: Bugs: -Fixed zfighting in the library's bookshelves -Fixed a black window in one of the towers -Fixed several typos in readables Gameplay: v.1.0.1 changelog: Bugs: -Fixed an issue with the main objectives not being in "sync". -Fixed console spam from a script Gameplay: -Adjusted required loot for each difficulty from "3000, 4000 and 5000" to "2500, 3500 and 4500".

These are my initial thoughts for possible use cases (copied from the linked bug tracker entry). 1) In the recent thread @datiswous asked if it was possible to develop a template for an enhanced type of briefing where people could specify a different background for each page of text (possibly by having different xdata items for each page) 2) It would also make it easier to develop a in-game journal type of readable which is added to when the player does certain actions. A current example of this is done in the first mission (Monastery) of a House of Locked Secrets but the implementation is quite cumbersome because a) Each xdata item contains the whole contents of the 'previous' xdata item plus the added text. b) The in-game actions have to be performed in a pre-determined order. 3) Readables could be made more sophisticated e.g. having tabbed pages (e.g. in a paper address book). 4) You could have dynamic entity guis (e.g. destination displays at railway stations which change when the train has left). I'm willing to expand on these if needed

"The job in question was simple enough. All I had to do was break into some guy’s house and steal a ledger and then get out without being spotted. But that’s where my problems started, the house was owned by one Einrich Friedt. And unbeknownst to me at the time, was a usurer under the protection of the local thieves' guild. When word spread that it was me who pulled off the job, the guild leader who goes by the name of Lazarova gave the order to have my head on a spike. Naturally two leg breakers were dispatched, which meant I had to make myself scarce and lay low for a while. After things had died down a bit I got in contact with an old fence of mine. He informed me that Lazarova is a wealthy and successful figure in undermarket circles. But what was unusual is that Lazarova is a woman, which belies her brutal and ruthless reputation. it’s likely she got where she is through wealth, meaning its possible she is of noble blood. My fence did a check of the Bridgeport registers and there is no noble family going by the name of Lazarova. So using an alias means she is someone who at the very least doesn’t want to see her dirty laundry aired in public. The Thief’s guild hideout is rumoured to be located near the Old Mill somewhere in Langmillers Ward, Geoffrey's Wall separates the slums of Langmillers and Mirkway from the more wealthy parts of Becksgate. I will make my way there and see what I can uncover, but I will have to be careful. The City Watch don't venture much into the Tanners, and the Tagwell boy’s aren’t known for being as polite as the watch. Locating some information regarding Lazarova's whearabouts is my first task and with some luck I should find some incriminating evidence to use as leverage. Becksgate is like a rat’s nest, so there's bound to be a hidden stash or two to make tonight's endeavours worth my trouble.." Build Time: - About 2 years Credits: Bikerdude - Allodric/Balakin manors, Canal walk, Builder warehouse, various apartments and brought all of this into a working mission.Melan - The Great Stairs, Geoffrys wall, Rattlesbones way, street signes, readables and main story!Noelker - the voice of Hadley - Saturnine (Rose Cottage) said Noel was the perfect 'Garrett'Grayman - Fingrim & Cull st, Balakin manor, readables.nbohr1more - alpha/beta testing, readables, and main story!Flanders - Canal Walk, textures and objectsObsttorte - Briefing video, Automap and various scriptsSkacky - Shingles Plaza, readables.Serious Toni - loading screen & misc.Tels - The Oldmill (base spec)Fidcal - HordersSpringheel - modelsNecrobob - texturesDragofer - modelsBaddcog - miscMortem Desino - miscIf I missed anyone or have forgotten what you did, please remind me so I can update the above list! Thanks:- - Beta testers: Oldjim, Deadlove (Uber testers), and above, also anyone else who I missed off the list. Download:- - An updated version is now available via the in-game downloader - v1.3 Info: This is the prologue mission to the Crucible of Omens, work on the next mission in the series will start in the new year.This map is challenging by design, but is more forgiving on lower difficulties.The mission is fully l10n ready.TDM 2.03 is required.Known issues: This mission will have less than optimal fps at some locations.For very low end PCs I recommend the following settings: V-sync is off, AA is off, Aniso is 4x or lower, advanced settings are simple/default & Post processing of disabled.A few people with very low end machines have had an issue with loading the mission, so we suggest the following -" try backing up your TheDarkMod.exe, gamex86.dll, and Darkmod.cfg then delete them and run your tdm_updater to replace them. "Try these image downsize changes to reduce the GPU impact - seta image_downSize "1" seta image_downSizeLimit "1024" seta image_downSizeBump "1" seta image_downSizeBumpLimit "256"

Nice, I enjoyed that. The death sequence is impressive, deceptively clever and impressively creepy. EDIT: As for the puzzle which has stumped some people, the readables do tell you exactly why and what you should be doing. Just not where. I didn't have an issue with that apart from lugging the thing from floor to floor to try and find the right spot. For people wondering about the secrets, since I haven't seen a list yet, I've now found 5 on easy difficulty - my default when playing a new mission. I've not tried the higher levels yet. These are: Hope that's useful!

Black Parade is released ! https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152429

I confess that with some missions I have had quite a few problems, with puzzles that were not very clear in the readables (also due to very small letters or handwritings, with my old eyes i sometimes leave traces of my nose in the screen), as happens for sure to others also whose native language is not English. It will be much harder for those to finish it. But I don't think this mission falls into this category, where the main challenges are a good level of stealth and not so much the puzzles.

Well, thanks for this, i could never imagine that those books could catch fire from a pot full of mushrooms. In readables also no content about it. Definitely not yours best one. P.S. Constructive criticism.

So giving it none of those tags, but making the AI invisible, silent, non-solid, and on a team neutral to everyone would not work? Oh well, it was a horrible inelegant idea anyway.

Body awareness please. https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/20013-are-you-gonna-add-this/

Seems i am a little down under, but really don't know what to do with the pot full of mushrooms. Is there a clue in readables about? Where is the fire and how can i get out from the house?

I loved it. Awesome game. I faceplanted at the people who asked for quest markers in the Steam forums there... Herr, lass Hirn regnen. The game is so great, and so true to the original, because it doesn't hold your hand. When is the new breed of gamers gonna learn.

It might be possible, but the thing to realise is that for readables the text that is displayed in the readable's gui is set by the script tdm_readables.script. This, amongst other things. extracts each page from the xdata item and sets the corresponding items in the gui. The briefing text is similar but in this case the xdata item is read by the C++ code which then sets the BriefingText item. In other words, guis know nothing about xdata.

Just finished this. Really enjoyed this mission. Nice details throughout the mission, good gameplay and the story was ok, though it did lack depth in terms of readables. I had a few issues with FPS, probably due to all the extra buildings added that are not needed or seen unless you noclip around. Same with the ship. Better visportalling will probably fix that up too. Overall an very good mission, could do with a little refinement, but I really enjoyed it. Thank you for your hard work. It was worth it.

This, just like click again to drop a body, is already included in the patch. If a switch, button or door are highlighted you will interact with them without dropping the body. There are probably more objects this would need to cover which will come up with more testing (readables maybe?) Seems like elements of the patched executable aren’t working with your install for some reason?

As far as I know in TDM if the object is moveable frobing it will ALWAYS pick it up. Only stationary readables are read. Only stationary switches are flipped. Only stationary doors are opened. Shouldering a moveable body is inconstent behaviour!

I ended up abandoning my code. My code changed the brightness/gamma when a readable was on screen. This didn't quite give me the results I was looking for, because the brightness/gamma of each readable can vary a lot. The main goal was to reduce the brightness of bright readables to reduce blinding light. However, the main negative outcome was that dark readables would become too dark. Instead, I used a graphics editor to edit the DDS files of the following textures, lowering their brightness. (Note: There may be other bright readable backgrounds that I haven't found in the core assets yet.) (Note: Some missions, such as Iris, have their own copy of readable backgrounds, so those missions require overriding the assets in their respective FM folders.) dds └── guis └── assets └── readables ├── books │ ├── book_leftpage_01.dds │ ├── book_leftpage_curled_01.dds │ ├── book_rightpage_01.dds │ └── book_rightpage_curled_01.dds └── sheets ├── newspaper_bridgeport01.dds ├── newspaper_bridgeport02.dds └── newspaper_bridgeport03.dds

Horror themed fan mission - exploration of seemingly deserted keep in the middle of swamps. Spiders, undead, darkness. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the story about the fate of my family. My uncle, Ralph Mac Roberts, is the baron of a keep nestled deep within the Rahenaen marshes. It was once an important outpost tasked with guarding one of the few Builder roads that cross the marsh, but after the Inventor`s Guild built a system of nearby dams that flooded the whole land, the road closed and there was no longer anything to watch over anymore. The keep itself needed reinforcement against the raising water level and the trade routes become almost impassable, not only for the carriages but for lone couriers as well. There hadn`t been any messages coming from the keep for over a year and my father was about to assemble a caravan so he could go on an expedition to the keep himself. However, in the middle of the night before he was set to leave, a carrier pigeon landed on his windowsill. My father received the letter and read the apologies from my uncle and his family, excusing their long absence. As a way to make reparations for their extended silence, my uncle invited me to the keep to stay there for a fortnight or so. My uncle had instructed me to leave my horse three leagues away from the keep by the nearest charcoal burning hut and hike the remainder of the road on foot, as the trek through the marsh is treacherous for horses. The weather will be awful this time of year, but my father insists that I should go anyways to ensure that our relatives are okay. These plains become dreadfully deserted - to the point where you more expect to meet the dead than the living. And by the way - I think I`m lost. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Download link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aj1DVS465udZgVkXteBbr6cUxdPH Thanks: to the TDM team for great tools, and all the contributors for their assets, to betatesters: Amadeus, Bienie, Boiler's_hiss, Dragofer, Filizitas, Judith, nbohr1more, s.urfer, again to Amadeus for proofreading and text tweaks, and to all the players for their time! Few screenshots: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10003-so-what-are-you-working-on-right-now/?p=434716 http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10003-so-what-are-you-working-on-right-now/?p=429558 http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/19886-fm-marsh-of-rahena-beta-testing/?p=434507 Enjoy! Walk-through !major spoilers! Finding a way across the marsh area: Getting inside: Bed objective: Light sources: Maps: Enemies: Room objective: Hut objective: Sealed objective: Gold: Key: Bodies:

Announcing the Release of 'Requiem' for The Dark Mod! Download Download the latest version of the Dark Mod here: http://www.thedarkmo...wnload-the-mod/ Download the mission here: Mediafire: http://www.mediafire...u89/requiem.pk4 Southquarter: http://www.southquar...ons/requiem.pk4 Fidcal.com: http://www.fidcal.co...ons/requiem.pk4 Create a folder in your Dark Mod install with the path "darkmod/fms/requiem" and place the downloaded .pk4 file inside. When you load up The Dark Mod, the mission will appear on the "New Mission" page. Requiem can also be found directly using the in-game loader. Gameplay Notes While this mission is playable in TDM 1.8, for an optimal experience please download and play in TDM 2.0 (or higher). Most inventory items in the game can be dropped, so no need to carry them around after they are no longer of any use. Note that If you use noclip or other console commands while playing, there is a good chance that you will break the intended flow of gameplay. Credits Mapping and Readables: Gelo R. Fleisher Voice Acting: Goldwell Additional scripting: Obsttorte Additional textures and assets: Flanders, Sotha, Grayman, Springheel, Bikerdude, Obsttorte Additional map optimizations: Bikerdude Testers: Bikerdude, Obsttorte, Gnartsch, AluminumHaste, Baal, nbohr1more, PPoe Custom Soundtrack: Leonardo Badinella - http://leonardobadinella.com/ Additional Music: Lee Rosevere - http://freemusicarch...c/Lee_Rosevere/ Marianne Lihannah - http://www.funeralsinger.net/ Vox Vulgaris - http://www.last.fm/music/Vox+Vulgaris/ A note from the author Hi all. While I've been involved in indie game development for a while now, I'm first and foremost a writer. My most recent project has been a novella that tries to capture the visual feel and tone of the Thief series (you can find the link below). As I was writing, I found myself playing a lot of Thief and Dark Mod fan missions, and got to thinking that maybe I wanted to make one myself, as a companion piece to the book. When I finished up writing, I had a bit of down time and decided to take the plunge. Having never done any serious mapping before, my plan was to make a small mission that I could bang out in a month or two and call it a day. Well, as sometimes happens, the project got a little bit bigger than I had planned. Ten months, and lots of elbow grease later, Requiem is finally ready for you to play. I'd like to thank everyone who helped pitch in to help make Requiem come alive, from those who took the time to answer my many questions on the forums to those who actively contributed to the FM. I especially want to thank Bikerdude who served as my mapping mentor, and Obsttorte whose clever scripts really turned what was in my head into the game that you are playing. Above all, I want to thank you for downloading and playing Requiem; I hope you enjoy it. Links of Interest Author's Blog: http://gfleisher.blogspot.com/ Companion Novella (Amazon): http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/B00BYEW02M Companion Novella (Smashwords): http://www.smashword...oks/view/298956

============================================================== Title: Hidden Hands: The Anomaly Filename : hhta.pk4 Author: Jack Farmer Date of release: 01.05.2021 (version: 1) - 08.05.2021 (version 2) 16.03.2022 (version 3) EFX: Yes Version 2 available via the DM mission downloader (see subsequent post below for changes) Mission does not run under 2.08 due to missing new core assets - please update to 2.09 ============================================================== Hidden Hands series: I - Initiation II - Vitalic Fever III - The Lost Citadel IV - The Anomaly ============================================================== Jack Farmer: mapping & drafts Amadeus: revision/editing of all texts for readables, narration and dialogues, design consultation ("The walls are ugly!"...and your were right! ) Joebarnin: consultation for a custom script enabling a crucial in-game event Dragofer: consultation for custom scripts and S/R events, extraction & prefab packaging of Sotha's robots, bug fixes Destined: consultation for custom scripts and...fixing JacK's wrong custom scripts! Very special thanks go out to Geep for updating the Wiki helping me to solve several GUI problems within -literally - seconds! Beta testers: Joebarnin (lead) ate0ate Zerg Rush wesp5 datiswous Voice actors (in order of appearance): Malasdair The Thief AndrosTheOxen Jonus New Horizon Desmond Pilfered items: - portal sky with trees originally developed and arranged by Dragofer for "Down By The Riverside" - fireflies originally developed by Bikerdude for "Alberic's Curse" - floating boat set up (this time used for a different..."object") originally developed by Bikerdude for one of his missions - robots originally developed by Sotha for "Ulysses: Genesis" - new electric door move sound based on one of Sotha's robot sounds - selected cave architecture originally developed by Johannes Burock taken from the abandoned WIP thread - waterdrops sound taken from freesound.org produced by nicstage - custom machine sound taken from freesound.org produced by deleted-user4401185 - forest at night taken from freesound.org produced by felix-blume - machine3 sound taken from freesound.org produced by lupalenzuela - tape-deck-startup taken from freesound.org produced by soundjoao - electric-zap-electricity taken from freesound.org produced by wakerone - static_stylophone_a taken from freesound.org produced by inspectorj - steady-machine-with-hum taken from freesound.org produced by craigsmith - radio_noise taken from freesound.org produced by inspectorj - chain-rustling taken from freesound.org produced by nathanmanaker - wind_turbin taken from freesound.org produced by dommygee - selected guitar_feedback taken from freesound.org originally produced by oymaldonado - stream-water-c taken from freesound.org produced by inspectorj - mic-feedback-fx-short-mid-2 taken from freesound.org produced by chimerical - megaphone-feedback taken from freesound.org produced by deleted-user-2104797 All other new fx sound created by Jack Farmer using a Korg M1 synth, kitchen equipment and his weird voice All new ambient tracks produced and mixed by Jack Farmer sometimes with additional ambient sound samples originally produced by gigagooga Briefing video by SirSmokeALot --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not so long ago I found what could make a pretty good profile picture and decided to try it out on these new forums. But I couldn't find a button anywhere that would let me change it. I asked on Discord and it seems Spooks also couldn't find anything anywhere. So I logged into an old alternative account and, lo and behold, that account has a button. This is on the first screen I get when I: 1) click on my account name in the top-right of the browser -> 2) click on 'profile'. Compared to my actual account: Are you also missing this button on your account? It'd be very much appreciated if that functionality could be restored to any of the affected accounts.