Search the Community

It is possible to add: Entity spawnarg --- means that this entity should casts shadow even if it's beyond walls according to area/portals. Worldspawn spawnarg --- same meaning as p.1, but applies to all entities in the map. This is OK if the mission is rather up-to-date. The older missions (like before 2.08 maybe) were compiled with older dmap. While I tried to add some compatibility cvar for dmap, it is still likely that fresh dmap will behave differently. You'll have to test the whole map thoroughly, and probably fix dmap-related issues everywhere. On the other hand, adding spawnarg is risk-free, since it does not require fresh dmap. Yes, the major part of the problem is that these caulky walls don't manifest any issues until you carry a light source into specific position. The original game would be buggy only if simple static light is in that position, which is much easier to test. Maybe filter away entities in DarkRadiant and look for visible caulk. I think mappers put caulk on surely-invisible part as an optimization, since otherwise this brush surface would actually be rendered (although only to depth buffer, which is cheap). But some of these surfaces should cast shadow, so it is no clear which can be replaced with caulk and which not. My suggestion is: Create a dedicated thread regarding light/shadow issues. Move the messages from this thread into it too. Analyze cases one by one. It can easily happen that some issues are caused by other things. Decide what to do when we have enough info.

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/

Welcome to the Dark Mod forums MarsManon! Thank you very much for the kind words about SLL, it's always nice to hear We all worked real hard on bringing Grayman's map to life and I'm glad you enjoyed it

I was so enchanted by this FM, I had to sign up to the forums the same day I finished it to come thank the authors Genuinely, truly incredible work! I was so overwhelmed in places that I resorted to just shouting joy at my monitor two, three, maybe four entirely separate times while playing. Exploring, puzzling, finding something new, trying to use it, and finding it does a whole new, separate, wonderful thing! There aren't enough words inside me to describe the feeling. It was breathtaking. I don't have any specific feedback that hasn't come through this thread before Thanks so much for making this, for all the inspiration and ingenuity and effort it took. If I never play another level this good, in any other game, in my life, I'd be fine with that.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and feedback! Version 1.1 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IiHuD293mIb-kQL_t5dJzKnsnkXl4IN_/view This version has better performance, thanks to b1k3rdude (@Bikerdude - it's not tagging for some reason?) who redid the visportaling in the outdoors area (as well as monster clipping the outdoors, and some decoration on the flat rooftop) - can't thank you enough! This has major impact on the outdoors FPS. I also replaced most of the faux-skybox models with their lowest LODs. Other fixes: Unfortunately still unsure about freezes related to the bridge moving...

There's a group of players who have meticulously tested and adjusted ghosting rules for The Dark Mod. Please see: Official Ghosting Rules: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148523 Ghost Rules Discussion: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148487 Why alienate an established group of dedicated players?

Checked this out - good chance to replay the mission which I hadn't in some time (good one!). There is an optional objective involving moving a body (the optional aspect might be difficulty related?). The body has the shoulderable spawnarg set to 0 because yes while the area is large enough to still shoulder body - it's small enough if it were shoulderable it can softlock you because there is not room to drop the body. Dragging the body with the patched version seemed totally doable, but yeah in the patched version players would not be able to complete this optional objective unless the have learned to drag the body. This is definitely a nice addition! If the simplified interactions don't make it to core my only suggestion would be to make the gui text a little more specific to press "Use Inv Item" instead of just "Use" to shoulder the body.

Why not? It's a regression that introduced an annoying stuttering. It seems to be graphics rendering related. The stuttering can be made worse or better by adjusting "com_maxFPS". I don't see how that issue is related to this rendering performance issue.

Not directly related to the particular mission, but the existence of large outdoor areas made me realise that my constant inability to hit moving targets with projectiles (when shooting along specific directions) was not due to bad aim but to a 2.11 bug: https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6292

OK I think I've got to the bottom of this. I've created this forum thread (with bug report): https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22221-bug-drowning-ai-in-shallow-water/ I can apply a workaround, although it won't be perfect and the bug itself needs fixing in the engine. There are a few other things that need fixing so will put an update together soonish.

If any mappers have encountered weirdness with kill objectives not working with drowning AI, I think I've found out why. I don't think it would be a particularly difficult one to fix either. I've raised this bug report: https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6323 Some context here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21837-fan-mission-the-lieutenant-2-high-expectations-by-frost_salamander-20230424/&do=findComment&comment=487316 I think this is a bug, but just raising here in case some people think otherwise.

I dom't use it, i found it here with the filter set to OpenSource. the TOS and PP isn't excluding for an OpenSource app, if they use ads mean that they also need to pay an server for this online service. OpenSource is not synonymous with free either, perhaps after the beta phase it is no longer free, so perhaps you can take advantage of the fact that it is still free to create a series of textures that can be used or search another one in Futuretools. AI generated textures and assets, by definition, don't have any copyright, so you can use them as you want. https://www.futuretools.io/?pricing-model=free|open-source&tags-n5zn=gaming

That's right. The key entity type was used because all other related entity classes do not work when they should interact with world objects as in the above mentioned example in HHTA. For reasons unknown that only works with the key entity class.

I’ve just been playing Hidden Hands: The Anomaly v3 on Expert, using TDM v2.11. I used the three runes to make the meteor fall onto the wooden platform and the character announced "Good, now I can plant the explosives". I have explosives in my inventory with a 2 next to it. According to a comment by the FM author, I should only have one. The meteor highlights but I cannot attach the explosives to it, drop them, or do anything else with them. Another player Mawerick, reported this same problem earlier in the FM forum thread. Both Mawerick and I found that by replaying from before acquiring the explosives, we subsequently only acquired one explosive and it worked on the boulder. But there seems to be an intermittent bug here, affecting only some players, and which even for those players only occurs on some run throughs and not others (with no change between run throughs in the version of TDM or the version of the FM they are using). Another player, thebigh, commented that they once had a similar bug affecting Heart of St Mattis - somehow they ended up with two of the things for opening the sarcophagus and couldn't open it. I noticed that in The Anomaly the explosives seem to be defined as a key, so maybe the issue is key-related.

The explosives seem to be defined as a key in this mission, so maybe the issue is key-related.

I once had a similar bug affecting Heart of St Mattis. Somehow I ended up with two of the things for opening the sarcophagus and I couldn't open it. Maybe this bug is related.

Hello TDM-ers. I am encountering an issue where textures seem to partially disappear. I tried searching the forums, but, I don't know what to search for. The missing textures are a worldspawn brush acting as a roof with {for now} flat iron texture. There are other worldspawn brushes right below to create an attic ceiling with roof framework board texture. These gaps appeared a few edits ago. I can't "undo" to get back before whatever edit did this. The gaps are only visible during play and are not visible during editing. Closing and reopening DR and TDM do not fix anything. Some of the brushes overlap in areas behind the play area but I have never seen an issue doing that. The attached image has the effect I am now seeing. Ideas on where to start debugging this? Very much appreciated. Clint

No problem with crashes, maybe GPU related, but anyway nice to know about the patch. Some parts of the game remember to TDM, related to stealth, rope-arrows, among others, some environments could have been perfectly from some TDM missions. Maybe someone can "steal" some ideas for a future TDM mission

Awesome! Post is up! https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22200-beta-testing-the-house-of-delisle/#comment-487365 Thanks!

Complaint From Players The player must pick up candles before extinguishing them, and then the player must remember to drop the candle. The player must drag a body before shouldering it (picking it up), and the player must remember to frob again to stop dragging the body. The player finds this annoying or easy to make mistakes. For players who ghost, some of them have the goal of returning objects back to their original positions. With the current "pick up, use item, and drop" system, the item might not return easily or at all to its original position. For example, a candlestick might bounce off its holder. (See player quotes at the bottom.) Bug Tracker https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6316 Problems to Solve How can the "pick up" step be eliminated so that the player can directly use or interact with the item where it is in the game world? How can so much key pressing and mouse clicking be eliminated when the player wants to directly use an item? How can candles be extinguished and lanterns toggled off/on without first picking them up? How can bodies be shouldered without first dragging them? Solution Design Goals Make TDM easier for new players while also improving it for longtime players. Reduce tedious steps for common frob interactions. Make it intuitive so that menu settings are unnecessary. Do not introduce bugs or break the game. Terms frob -- the frob button action happens instantly. hold frob -- the frob button is held for 200ms before the action happens. (This can be changed via cvar: 200ms by default.) Proposed Solution Note: Some issues have been struckthrough to show changes since the patch has been updated. Change how frobbing works for bodies, candles, and lanterns. For bodies: Frob to shoulder (pick up) a body. Second frob to drop shouldered body, while allowing frob on doors, switches, etc. Hold frob (key down) to start drag, continue to hold frob (key down) to drag body, and then release frob (key up) to stop dragging body. Also, a body can be dragged immediately by holding frob and moving the mouse. For candles/lanterns: Frob to extinguish candles and toggle off/on lanterns. Hold frob to pick it up, and then frob again to drop. Frob to pick it up, and then frob again to drop. Hold frob to extinguish candles and toggle off/on lanterns. For food: Frob to pick it up, and then frob again to drop. Hold frob to eat food. For other items: No change. New cvar "tdm_frobhold_delay", default:"200" The frob hold delay (in ms) before drag or extinguish. Set to 0 for TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. Solution Benefits Bodies: New players will have less to learn to get started moving knocked out guards. With TDM v2.11 and earlier, some players have played several missions before realizing that they could shoulder a body instead of dragging it long distances. Frob to shoulder body matches Thief, so longtime Thief players will find it familiar. Second frob drops a shouldered body. Players still have the ability to both shoulder and drag bodies. Compatible with the new auto-search bodies feature. Dragging feels more natural -- just grab, hold, and drop with a single button press. There is no longer the need to press the button twice. Also, it's no longer possible to walk away from a body while unintentionally dragging it. Set "tdm_frobhold_delay" cvar to delay of 0 to restore TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. Candles: New players will have less to learn to get started extinguishing candles. With TDM v2.11 and earlier, some players didn't know they could extinguish candles by picking them up and using them. Instead, they resorted to throwing them to extinguish them or hiding them. Hold frob to extinguish a candle feels like "pinching" it out. Once a candle is picked up, players still have the ability to manipulate and use them the same way they are used to in TDM v2.11 and earlier. For players who ghost and have the goal of putting objects back to their original positions, they'll have an easier time and not have to deal with candles popping off their holders when trying to place them back carefully. Set "tdm_frobhold_delay" cvar to delay of 0 to restore TDM v2.11 (and prior) behavior. Solution Issues Bodies: Frob does not drop a shouldered body, so that might be unexpected for new players. This is also different than Thief where a second frob will drop a body. "Use Inv. Item" or "Drop Inv. Item" drops the body. This is the same as TDM v2.11 and earlier. This is the price to pay for being able to frob (open/close) doors while shouldering a body. Patch was updated to drop body on second frob, while allowing frob on doors, switches, etc. Candles: Picking up a candle or lantern requires a slight delay, because the player must hold the frob button. The player might unintentionally extinguish a candle while moving it if they hold down frob. The player will need to learn that holding frob will extinguish the candle. The player can change the delay period via the "tdm_frobhold_delay" cvar. Also, when the cvar is set to a delay of 0, the behavior matches TDM v2.11 and earlier, meaning the player would have to first "Frob/Interact" to pick up the candle and then press "Use Inv. Item" to extinguish it. Some players might unintentionally extinguish a candle when they are trying to move it or pick it up. They need to make sure to hold frob to initiate moving the candle. When a candle is unlit, it will highlight but do nothing on frob. That might confuse players. However, the player will likely learn after extinguishing several candles that an unlit candle still highlights. It makes sense that an already-extinguished candle cannot be extinguished on frob. The official "Training Mission" might need to have its instructions updated to correctly guide the player through candle manipulation training. Updating the training mission to include the hold frob to extinguish would probably be helpful. Similar Solutions In Fallout 4, frob uses an item and long-press frob picks it up. Goldwell's mission, "Accountant 2: New In Town", has candles that extinguish on frob without the need of picking them up first. Snatcher's TDM Modpack includes a "Blow / Ignite" item that allows the player to blow out candles Wesp5's Unofficial Patch provides a way to directly extinguish movable candles by frobbing. Demonstration Videos Note: The last two videos don't quite demonstrate the latest patch anymore. But the gist is the same. This feature proposal is best experienced in game, but some demonstration videos are better than nothing. The following videos show either a clear improvement or that the player is not slowed down with the change in controls. For example, "long-press" sounds long, but it really isn't. Video: Body Shouldering and Dragging The purpose of this video is to show that frob to shoulder a body is fast and long-press frob to drag a body is fast enough and accurate. Video: Long-Press Frob to Pick Up Candle The purpose of this video is to show how the long-press frob to pick up a candle isn't really much slower than regular frob. Video: Frob to Extinguish The purpose of this video -- if a bit contrived -- is to show the efficiency and precision of this proposed feature. The task in the video was for the player to as quickly and accurately as possible extinguish candles and put them back in their original positions. On the left, TDM v2.11 is shown. The player has to highlight each candle, press "Frob/Interact" to pick up, press "Use Inv. Item" to extinguish, make sure the candle is back in place, and finally press "Frob/Interact" to drop the candle. The result shows mistakes and candles getting misplaced. On the right, the proposed feature is shown. The player frobs to extinguish the candles. The result shows no mistakes and candles are kept in their original positions. Special Thanks @Wellingtoncrab was instrumental in improving this feature during its early stages. We had many discussions covering varying scenarios, pros, and cons, and how it would affect the gameplay and player experience. Originally, I had a completely different solution that added a special "use modifier" keybinding. He suggested the frob to use and long-press frob to pick up mechanics. I coded it up, gave it a try, and found it to be too good. Without his feedback and patience, this feature wouldn't be as good as it is. Thank you, @Wellingtoncrab! And, of note, @Wellingtoncrab hasn't been able to try it in game yet, because I'm using Linux and can't compile a Windows build for him. So, if this feature isn't good, that's my fault. Code Patch I'll post the code patch in another post below this one so that folks who compile TDM themselves can give this proposal a try in game. And, if you do, I look forward to your feedback! Player Complaints TTLG (2023-01-10) Player 1: TDM Forums (2021-03-13) Player 2: Player 3: TDM Forums (2023-06-17) Player 4: TDM Discord (2021-05-18) Player 5: TDM Discord (2023-02-14) Player 6: Player 7: Player 8:

Fresh start. Never with saves. High Expectations is my best bet to force a crash, followed by Volta Cauldron. I have experienced occasional crashes with the bow in different missions since I started playing TDM and I sometimes like playing with a self-imposed no-save policy and I learned not to trust the bow, hence my interest in this bug. In High Expectations I start the mission, take a right turn in the tunnel and go to the square where the Hotel is. I then start acting like crazy: run, crouch, mantle blackjack somebody, raise the bow, press buttons a dozen times, do something else... If I don't get the crash I restart the mission and try again. I eventually get the crash.

Are we talking two (bow-related but) unrelated cases?

The *DOOM3* shaders are ARB2 ('cause of old GeForce support) carmack plan + arb2 - OpenGL / OpenGL: Advanced Coding - Khronos Forums

Hi MirceaKitsune, This whole thread mainly is about the TDM Modpack (I acknowledge the title can be misleading). This probably isn't the place for the Keypad but you and your mod are welcome here. The TDM Modpack is limited to mods that can be used right away and with ease by players in existing missions. Your keypad must be thoughtfully and carefully integrated into a map therefore such mod isn't suited for the Modpack. @wesp5's Unofficial Patch includes, among other features, tools for mappers such as a flint, an invisibility potion... and even prefabs although I am not sure if these are new or updated versions. I can support your work and I am happy to try and collaborate where I can but having a mod formally integrated into TDM is out of my reach. Either you have the contacts or you get lucky and your mod is found of interest by someone with the knowledge and/or the power. I would definitely like to see your Keypad featuring in future missions and while I can hardly put two brushes together in DarkRadiant I will have a look at it. My suggestion to increase your chances is to provide a small test map along with the mod to showcase your work. Why you talented people aim so high. Build something small that is complete on its own. Release. Expand your something and make the current whole complete on its own. Release. Expand...