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

Addressed towards every idtech4 aficionado @ the TDM forums and in particular towards the TDM Engine Development team... Both engines use Stencil Shadows but the devs at Ion Storm IMO came up with the significantly more elegant solution to the "Shadow Polygon Popping" issue that comes with the Stencil Shadow rendering technique... I remember back in the days around Doom3's release (August 2004) how John Carmack mentioned having added "noselfShadow" material flags specifically to combat the problem of "Stencil Shadow Polygon Popping" which would appear on Characters and Monsters when selfshadowing would kick in which resulted in my first mini-mod "UEQ" basically just commenting out all "noselfShadow" flags for all Doom3 Character/Monster material shaders... I have recorded some footage to illustrate why I think Thief3's solution is indeed more elegant in the hope that some of the senior GFX engine programmers like duzenko and the rest of the TDM Engine Development team might point me to a direction of implementing a similar solution within idtech4... The Problem (within idtech4): When a character in idtech4 is rendered without disabled selfshadowing in the material shader, quite some noticeable "Shadow Polygon Popping" can be observed (In this sample scene you can see it happening around Garrett's Hood and Shoulder area). The more elegant Solution (within Thief3): Notice how the character still casts and receives selfshadows without any "Stencil Shadow Polygon Popping" occurring. The shadows rather "slide" across the model surface instead of harshly popping in and out of existance... Now of course idtech4 is highly configurable by default so I started tinkering with the stencil shadow parameters. In particular I would change the value of the CVAR "r_shadowPolygonOffset" from the default value "-1" to "-2000". Now that still doesn't look as "clean" as in the Thief3 sample footage but at least the self shadows stopped harshly popping in and out of existence and instead (similar to the Thief3 footage) now slide smoothly across the model surface. Mission achieved you might think and wonder why I am still flagging this an issue... Well the problem becomes apparent when we start to move around the environment with these new settings ("r_shadowPolygonOffset -2000"): Watch the shadow on the right side of the Windowframe increasing in size/volume as I approach it and decreasing in size/volume as I move away again from it: This now happens with every selfshadow in the world around me (within idtech4 with "r_shadowPolygonOffset -2000"). On the other hand, within the Thief3 engine a similar behavior but much much more subtle in scale/resize of SelfShadows can be seen: When you observe the shadow at the left side of the door... (it actually might be difficult to notice) but you can see that that shadow also changes size/volume depending on my distance to it but like I mentioned the change is way more subtle in scale compared to the idtech4 showcase.

Changelog of 2.11 development: beta211-08 (rev 16770-10264) * Fixed crash when minimizing TDM on Windows (post). * Added HD carpets (thread). * Fixed player getting delayed and lower damage on high fall ending with mantle (6231). * Removed wrong LOD stage in atdm:env_ragdoll_commoner_female. * Reverted addition of default "map of" inventory item. * Made it easier for modders to substitute invgrid parchment background (6241). beta211-07 (rev 16758-10258) * Fixed extinguished candles stim-lighting each other on game start (6223). * Added menu settings for sheathe toggle, and changed default (6232 thread). * Saint Lucia mission improvements (thread). * Fixed GUI warnings in New Job. * Renamed "New Missions" to "Missions List" in main menu (6230). * Fixed initial difficulty highlight on Objectives screen (6229). * Fixed Objectives title slightly cut off on low text scale (6234). * Added mansion01 window assets (6235). * Fixed normal map of turquoise_uneven (6222). * Allow user to tweak pm_noclipspeed (6237). beta211-06 (rev 16739-10248) * Saint Lucia mission improvements (thread). * Fixed rare crash during melee combat (6225). * Fixed func_peek crash on Linux (5553). * Fixed bottle crash in "Pearls and Swine" (6227). * Fixed textures of cheapbeermug (post). * Fixed warnings in book_ornate_gothic readables (post). * Fixed minor issue in broad phase of collision detection. beta211-05 (rev 16727-10239) * Fixed rare NaN blocks from volumetric lights on AMD driver (post). * Fixed rare thin holes in geometry on low "render scale". * Fixed major performance regression in "r_shadowMapSinglePass 1" mode. * Added subtitles to New Job mission (5914). * Fixed subtitles hidden during CameraView type of cutscene (6197). * Fixed last character of subtitles occasionally clipped away (5914). * Fixed missed alert count if player hides into darkness during guard's combat startup (6211). * Added blueprint assets by Dram. * Fixed UV map in bwindow01_frame model (6217). * Allow female guards to sleep on floor (6208). * Dmap messages about PlanarGraph and EarCut now include 3D world position. * Some minor rounding changes in text placement in GUI. * Restored value of pm_bobup from 2.10. beta211-04 (rev 16714-10226) * Fixed wrong lightgem values briefly after game load/start (6088). * Fixed alert counter for civilians immediate alert (5286). * Some main menu text made translatable (2960). * New assets: Precursor "ancient" loot by Kingsal, galleon wreck, gothic cabinet, grandfather clock with new clock scriptobject, pagan menir (standing stone statue), pair of large marble lion statues, feather duster prop * Make sure all newly created door entities have the right rotate value set (5051) * Fix missing normalmap for audiograph, fixed shadowmesh for armchair_victorian_02.ase * Various small asset fixes (missing faces in LOD stage of boiler02_med.lwo, mangled stairs in galleon.lwo, gaps in spade models, normals on desk2 and desk3 models, UV issues on various other models) (3771). * Improved resolution for shield_goldarms texture (4894). * Added "looping" keyword to looping clock ticking sounds. * Exclude female pagan materials from release builds. beta211-03 (rev 16689-10219) * Avoid copying of large array on AMD, fixing a terrible performance regression (thread). * Enabled Frontend Acceleration = r_useParallelAddModels by default. * Fixed error when same decl file exists packed and unpacked with different case (post). * Don't crash TDM if automation port is occupied: warn, retry, and disable instead (thread). * New Job: the mission is no longer unfinishable if you guess the safe combination without visiting the Lord's room + visportal fixes. * Ambient world prefab: expanded light radius from 1K to 10K. * Added currency pack, cobblestone pack, furniture pack and tiling treasure hoard texture * Added wall mounted locks, improved sofa and leather ottoman * Added star wallpaper * Block CMake build without setting build type (post), fixed CMake + MSVC build. beta211-02 (rev 16670-10208) * Fixed bugs with counting number of alerts (5286, 6186). * Fixed bugs in in-game and savegame screenshots (link). * Disable GL debug groups to fix performance on some AMD drivers. * Added a lot of new assets from Epifire's missions (6188). * Added and refactored locks/safes by Obsttorte, Epifire, Dragofer. * Added book skins by Wellingtoncrab. * Fixed missing wastebasket material in Hazard Pay (link). * Support r_skipAmbient and r_skipInteractions in new backend. * Added spawnarg call_used_action_script on frobable movers. * Fixed definitions of ambient lights with normal-dependent color (6090). * Fixed KOBoxSize not being restored for the sake of blackjack. beta211-01 (rev 16656-10189) * Many improvements in new volumetric lights implementation + added cvars (5850, thread). * r_softShadowsMipmaps: fixed render scale, fixed screenshots. * Faster shadow volume generation with BVH, more cvars and tweaking (5886). * Optimized stencil shadows: turbo shadow vertices are static on GPU. * Improved solidness / visibility logic on models (6175). * Added spawnargs allow_idle_anims and allow_random_headturning. * Avoid sound amplification due to negative sound loss spawnarg (5913). * Fixed weird glitch on game load (6149). * Removed one frame of latency from "com_smp 0" mode (5875). dev16650-10157 * Volumetric lights reimplemented: dither pattern removed, performance improved (5850). * Added audiograph entity and assets. * Fixed shader compilation with r_softShadowsMipmaps on some Linux AMD GPUs (post). * Fixed bug in new frobstage_xxx material macros (5427). * Massive frobstages refactoring in materials: new macros are used now (5427). * Trace model: limits increased and refactoring (5887). * Massive cleaning of prefabs, automaton station script fix (6013). * Fixed rotten_paper_nancy_hand GUI in world view. * Perfume bottle model uses smooth shading, lampion skin fixes. * Some cleanup: idRenderMatrix memory alignment, face planes in SEED model clone, Elbrus FFmpeg compile fix, old shaders disabled. dev16629-10139 * Added implicit generation of frobstages and simple customization macros (5427, thread). * Added support for OBJ models (thread). * Fixed chandelier_gas4 model (6125), improved wooden chest prefab sounds (4206). * Optimized silhouette preprocessing during model loading. dev16625-10132 * "Light from above" behavior applies only to lights of ambient_world type (6090). * Major changes in normal-dependent ambient shading (6090). * Optimized FixGlobalTJunctions in dmap, restored vertex grid snapping (6085). * Updated "Tears of Saint Lucia" mission with EFX and other fixes (thread). * Replaced algorithm for assigning shadow maps resolution. * Fixed a brief wrong frame with X-ray (6109). * Added getCurInvItemCount script function (6096). * Fixed old rendering backend. * Slightly better culling due to fixed depth bounds computation. * Added textures/darkmod/window/metal_irregularpanes_moonlit_bright (6119). dev16617-10107 * Major changes in ambient/interaction shaders for more consistency (5828, thread). * Major changes in blackjack knockout behavior (4289 thread). * Optimized stencil shadows with antialiasing by using scissors (5851). * Stencil shadow shadows tile-based culling optimization (6076 thread). * Added wiki article (link) about Tracy timeline profiler; thread names fix, print version. * More asset changes to fix warnings, added "load all assets" test maps (6019). * Added teleportArea command, which allows to find area by number (6083). * Refactored ambient interaction shader, deleted unused ambientRimColor (5828). * Fixed overflow crash in idAASBuild::GetFaceForPortal. * Enabled GL debug groups by default, fixed borderless FBO mismatch warnings. * Added transparent grate textures (6089). * Fixed textures/common/mirror. Known issues: * ambientCubicMap broken yet, will be restored in future (6090). * Visual look has changed, mostly with stronger specular. dev16599-10071 * Fixed startup error on: Night to Remember, Cole Hurst 1 Eaton (5845). * Shadow maps refactoring: now volumetrics work if stencil shadows are selected (5880, post). * Fixed SSAO on new AMD driver (post). * Ensured that mission decls silently override same-named core decls (5766). * Fixed order of operations in expressions in materials and GUI scripts (6026). * GUI scripts: do not block autoupdate for window registers referenced in scripts; fixed vector component indexing, allow expressions on the right side of Set command (6028, thread). * Major refactor of objectives GUI: checkboxes no longer empty on failure screen (5852). * Added pm_mantle_tilt_mod cvar to tone down mantle movements. * Fixed noclip while shouldering a body (5244). * Fixed textures/skies/cubeSky material (5218). * Fixed items frobability in cabinet prefabs (6025). * Hundreds of fixes for core asset issues that were detected by a new systematic procedure. There should be far fewer broken assets and console warnings. Ongoing process (6019). * testmap command no longer sets developer mode, saving us from some warnings. * Started refactoring of interaction shaders (5828). dev16574-10036 * Add Dragofer's fully mapped ship prefabs, vintage lamps set, barouche carriage and camgoyle sentry turret with power source (4687) * Added BVH-based interaction culling for large meshes (5886, thread). * Added warnings for wrong GUI code, fixed them in core GUI (5869, thread). * Fixed leaning against non-axis-aligned door (5899). * Fixed skin of non-rotating security camera (6004). * Tweaked inlining and optimization, new debug builds Fast/Editable. * Disabled multiple rendercopies for warping materials (post). * Created materials for previously unreferenced textures, now available for use (5563, 5178) * Fixed 50 skin-related, auto-detected bugs that were generating console warnings (6019) * Female mage legs are now textured (5994) * Adjusted LOD offsets for atdm:nature_pine to avoid popping (3987) * Wooden torches now have burning/burnt tops (1293) * tdm_grass_clump and tdm_wildgrass particles no longer render fullbright (5689) * Added inclusion guards to all core script files (4427) * small_round_furnace_openable.pfb fixed with regards to model gaps and door origin (6018) * Fixed underwater_bubblesbubbles particle (5198) * Fixed burnt log end cap texture alignment (4896) * Added unlit and moonlit versions of textures/darkmod/window/ornate/round_spokes01 (5857) * Added specularmap to rivet_strip01 textures (5999) * Restored plain_robes skin for mages, pagan_orb_effect particle, fix windows in tudor building4 etc. (5690) * Fixed models that made use of missing materials (4390) * Diffusemap for wallpaper_ornamental_01_red now matches its normalmap (4798) * Hardwood materials now use wooden footstep sounds (4988) * Fixed skins for 6-candle chandeliers and nails (5900, 5217) * All fence_spike_01_tall models are now solid (6010) * Fixed typo in shouldered manbeast name (5877) dev16519-9985 * Now AIs think once per frame on low FPS when several game tics are modelled (5992). * More responsive crouch toggle (5973, thread). * Added "absence_alert_increase" as correct implementation of "absence_alert" (5987). * Allow drawing up to 4 postprocessing surfaces, as long as draw order is right (thread). * Missions can be sorted by date in in-game mission downloader. * Added getAnimRate/setAnimRate script events (540). * Fixed lean-peeking sound not always stopping when player goes away from door (5899). * Fixed wrong sounds of func_fracture after save/load (5363). * Fixed scorch and smear01 decals (5970). * Fixed fx/sparks effect, set "triggered 1" for newly added effects (5034). * Fixed startup image/sound warnings on some AIs (5993). * Fixed joints warnings on zombies (5466). * Fixed "screw" skin not showing in DR on appropriate models (5217). * Fixed for frobability in kitchen_cupboard_openable.pfb (5989). * Added editor images for panel_halfcircle_walnut and panel_vase_polished_walnut. * Bumped maximum number of edges to 1 million for stencil shadows, added overflow warning. * Fixed debug cvars tdm_ai_opt_forceopt and tdm_ai_opt_forcedormant 5992). * Tiny optimization: memcpy is now using streaming stores only at vertex cache. * Removed support of bindless textures (5891). * Extracted tdm_package and removed tdm_update source code (5076). dev16498-9944 * Updated Tracy library, hopefully fixed running on Windows 7 (post). * Fixed crash on loading save done while elemental is dying (5845). * Implemented multiloot on holding frob button (5984). * Crouched state does not affect player speed on ladder/rope (5961). * Crouch-toggle takes effect on keydown rather than release (5973). * Added setviewpos to screenshot filename (5819). * Show estimate for total number of pickpockets on end-mission screen (5678). * In-game downloader: show asterisk/sharp at the beginning (5842). * Trigger entities now work on AI which stands still (5319). * Added setObjectiveNotification, which allows to change objective silently (5967). * Added script functions to add/remove frob peers (5976). * AIs notice destroyed fracture entities (5978). * Enabled frobhelper by default (post). * Fixed some architecture skins by Nort. * Fix graffiti materials (5930). * Now default quicksave/quickload are F5/F9 (post). * Minor optimizations: SSE in idRenderMatrix, cache "drunk" spawnarg. * Looped bind does not cause crash, although behavior is undefined (post). Known problems: * Night to Remember, Cole Hurst 1 Eaton: cannot start missions due to hard error. * Painter's Wife: killing elemental should cause hard error (mission fixed). dev16487-9919 * Fixed saving/loading JPEG crash on Linux (5881). * Fixed wrong sound on strafe right (5554). * Major refactoring and optimization on LOD system, LOD entities no longer "think" (5944). * Improved time distribution of stims and LOD checks for more solid performance. * Optimized creation/destruction of script threads. * Optimized idClip = broad phase collision detection (5954). * Reduced size of Linux executable back from 24 MB to 18 MB by removing globals. * Now in-game downloader prints URL of download to game console. Known problems: * Won't boot on Windows 7 dev16485-9903 * Optimized iteration over active entities by switching from linked list to array. * Fixed bow sometimes not working on savegame load (5928). * Allow headbob cvar changes to persist between sessions (post). * Player speed modifiers (like pm_runmod) are no longer archived (post). * Applied Clang build fixes by @Partmedia (post). * Fixed "testVideo withAudio" command. * Fixed unbounded brush AAS warning by trying to process each edge of brush once (5648). * Use double precision for winding splits in dmap and collision. * Reworked FFmpeg player to not use deprecated functions, fixed protocol warning (5881). * Fixed 2GB overflow in printMemInfo. Known problems: * Won't boot on Windows 7 * JPEG saving and loading crashes on Linux. Setting r_screenshot_format to "png" may help... dev16481-9881 * Updated Visual C++ from 2017 to 2022, build game and idlib as on VC project (5820). * Updated all third-party libraries (5881). * Render scale does not affect main menu GUI. * Optimized compass rendering: don't copy depth buffer. * Fixed debug polygons not showing up. * Don't draw debug lines in subviews. * Don't open game console by tilde if com_allowConsole is 0 on Linux (post). * Moving GUI slider with mouse now results in discrete increments. * Restored code for 16-bit colors (via r_fboColorBits cvar only). * Game console bottom line gets thinner on smaller console font. * Added tuneDown command to quickly ender very low graphics mode. * Added r_fboScaling cvar which allows to change Render scale filtering to nearest. * Avoid purging/reloading all images on Alt+Tabbing in Windows. Known problems: * Won't boot on Windows 7 Changelog of earlier versions can be found here.

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.

Changelog of 2.11 development: beta211-08 (rev 16770-10264) * Fixed crash when minimizing TDM on Windows (post). * Added HD carpets (thread). * Fixed player getting delayed and lower damage on high fall ending with mantle (6231). * Removed wrong LOD stage in atdm:env_ragdoll_commoner_female. * Reverted addition of default "map of" inventory item. * Made it easier for modders to substitute invgrid parchment background (6241). beta211-07 (rev 16758-10258) * Fixed extinguished candles stim-lighting each other on game start (6223). * Added menu settings for sheathe toggle, and changed default (6232 thread). * Saint Lucia mission improvements (thread). * Fixed GUI warnings in New Job. * Renamed "New Missions" to "Missions List" in main menu (6230). * Fixed initial difficulty highlight on Objectives screen (6229). * Fixed Objectives title slightly cut off on low text scale (6234). * Added mansion01 window assets (6235). * Fixed normal map of turquoise_uneven (6222). * Allow user to tweak pm_noclipspeed (6237). beta211-06 (rev 16739-10248) * Saint Lucia mission improvements (thread). * Fixed rare crash during melee combat (6225). * Fixed func_peek crash on Linux (5553). * Fixed bottle crash in "Pearls and Swine" (6227). * Fixed textures of cheapbeermug (post). * Fixed warnings in book_ornate_gothic readables (post). * Fixed minor issue in broad phase of collision detection. beta211-05 (rev 16727-10239) * Fixed rare NaN blocks from volumetric lights on AMD driver (post). * Fixed rare thin holes in geometry on low "render scale". * Fixed major performance regression in "r_shadowMapSinglePass 1" mode. * Added subtitles to New Job mission (5914). * Fixed subtitles hidden during CameraView type of cutscene (6197). * Fixed last character of subtitles occasionally clipped away (5914). * Fixed missed alert count if player hides into darkness during guard's combat startup (6211). * Added blueprint assets by Dram. * Fixed UV map in bwindow01_frame model (6217). * Allow female guards to sleep on floor (6208). * Dmap messages about PlanarGraph and EarCut now include 3D world position. * Some minor rounding changes in text placement in GUI. * Restored value of pm_bobup from 2.10. beta211-04 (rev 16714-10226) * Fixed wrong lightgem values briefly after game load/start (6088). * Fixed alert counter for civilians immediate alert (5286). * Some main menu text made translatable (2960). * New assets: Precursor "ancient" loot by Kingsal, galleon wreck, gothic cabinet, grandfather clock with new clock scriptobject, pagan menir (standing stone statue), pair of large marble lion statues, feather duster prop * Make sure all newly created door entities have the right rotate value set (5051) * Fix missing normalmap for audiograph, fixed shadowmesh for armchair_victorian_02.ase * Various small asset fixes (missing faces in LOD stage of boiler02_med.lwo, mangled stairs in galleon.lwo, gaps in spade models, normals on desk2 and desk3 models, UV issues on various other models) (3771). * Improved resolution for shield_goldarms texture (4894). * Added "looping" keyword to looping clock ticking sounds. * Exclude female pagan materials from release builds. beta211-03 (rev 16689-10219) * Avoid copying of large array on AMD, fixing a terrible performance regression (thread). * Enabled Frontend Acceleration = r_useParallelAddModels by default. * Fixed error when same decl file exists packed and unpacked with different case (post). * Don't crash TDM if automation port is occupied: warn, retry, and disable instead (thread). * New Job: the mission is no longer unfinishable if you guess the safe combination without visiting the Lord's room + visportal fixes. * Ambient world prefab: expanded light radius from 1K to 10K. * Added currency pack, cobblestone pack, furniture pack and tiling treasure hoard texture * Added wall mounted locks, improved sofa and leather ottoman * Added star wallpaper * Block CMake build without setting build type (post), fixed CMake + MSVC build. beta211-02 (rev 16670-10208) * Fixed bugs with counting number of alerts (5286, 6186). * Fixed bugs in in-game and savegame screenshots (link). * Disable GL debug groups to fix performance on some AMD drivers. * Added a lot of new assets from Epifire's missions (6188). * Added and refactored locks/safes by Obsttorte, Epifire, Dragofer. * Added book skins by Wellingtoncrab. * Fixed missing wastebasket material in Hazard Pay (link). * Support r_skipAmbient and r_skipInteractions in new backend. * Added spawnarg call_used_action_script on frobable movers. * Fixed definitions of ambient lights with normal-dependent color (6090). * Fixed KOBoxSize not being restored for the sake of blackjack. beta211-01 (rev 16656-10189) * Many improvements in new volumetric lights implementation + added cvars (5850, thread). * r_softShadowsMipmaps: fixed render scale, fixed screenshots. * Faster shadow volume generation with BVH, more cvars and tweaking (5886). * Optimized stencil shadows: turbo shadow vertices are static on GPU. * Improved solidness / visibility logic on models (6175). * Added spawnargs allow_idle_anims and allow_random_headturning. * Avoid sound amplification due to negative sound loss spawnarg (5913). * Fixed weird glitch on game load (6149). * Removed one frame of latency from "com_smp 0" mode (5875). dev16650-10157 * Volumetric lights reimplemented: dither pattern removed, performance improved (5850). * Added audiograph entity and assets. * Fixed shader compilation with r_softShadowsMipmaps on some Linux AMD GPUs (post). * Fixed bug in new frobstage_xxx material macros (5427). * Massive frobstages refactoring in materials: new macros are used now (5427). * Trace model: limits increased and refactoring (5887). * Massive cleaning of prefabs, automaton station script fix (6013). * Fixed rotten_paper_nancy_hand GUI in world view. * Perfume bottle model uses smooth shading, lampion skin fixes. * Some cleanup: idRenderMatrix memory alignment, face planes in SEED model clone, Elbrus FFmpeg compile fix, old shaders disabled. dev16629-10139 * Added implicit generation of frobstages and simple customization macros (5427, thread). * Added support for OBJ models (thread). * Fixed chandelier_gas4 model (6125), improved wooden chest prefab sounds (4206). * Optimized silhouette preprocessing during model loading. dev16625-10132 * "Light from above" behavior applies only to lights of ambient_world type (6090). * Major changes in normal-dependent ambient shading (6090). * Optimized FixGlobalTJunctions in dmap, restored vertex grid snapping (6085). * Updated "Tears of Saint Lucia" mission with EFX and other fixes (thread). * Replaced algorithm for assigning shadow maps resolution. * Fixed a brief wrong frame with X-ray (6109). * Added getCurInvItemCount script function (6096). * Fixed old rendering backend. * Slightly better culling due to fixed depth bounds computation. * Added textures/darkmod/window/metal_irregularpanes_moonlit_bright (6119). dev16617-10107 * Major changes in ambient/interaction shaders for more consistency (5828, thread). * Major changes in blackjack knockout behavior (4289 thread). * Optimized stencil shadows with antialiasing by using scissors (5851). * Stencil shadow shadows tile-based culling optimization (6076 thread). * Added wiki article (link) about Tracy timeline profiler; thread names fix, print version. * More asset changes to fix warnings, added "load all assets" test maps (6019). * Added teleportArea command, which allows to find area by number (6083). * Refactored ambient interaction shader, deleted unused ambientRimColor (5828). * Fixed overflow crash in idAASBuild::GetFaceForPortal. * Enabled GL debug groups by default, fixed borderless FBO mismatch warnings. * Added transparent grate textures (6089). * Fixed textures/common/mirror. Known issues: * ambientCubicMap broken yet, will be restored in future (6090). * Visual look has changed, mostly with stronger specular. dev16599-10071 * Fixed startup error on: Night to Remember, Cole Hurst 1 Eaton (5845). * Shadow maps refactoring: now volumetrics work if stencil shadows are selected (5880, post). * Fixed SSAO on new AMD driver (post). * Ensured that mission decls silently override same-named core decls (5766). * Fixed order of operations in expressions in materials and GUI scripts (6026). * GUI scripts: do not block autoupdate for window registers referenced in scripts; fixed vector component indexing, allow expressions on the right side of Set command (6028, thread). * Major refactor of objectives GUI: checkboxes no longer empty on failure screen (5852). * Added pm_mantle_tilt_mod cvar to tone down mantle movements. * Fixed noclip while shouldering a body (5244). * Fixed textures/skies/cubeSky material (5218). * Fixed items frobability in cabinet prefabs (6025). * Hundreds of fixes for core asset issues that were detected by a new systematic procedure. There should be far fewer broken assets and console warnings. Ongoing process (6019). * testmap command no longer sets developer mode, saving us from some warnings. * Started refactoring of interaction shaders (5828). dev16574-10036 * Add Dragofer's fully mapped ship prefabs, vintage lamps set, barouche carriage and camgoyle sentry turret with power source (4687) * Added BVH-based interaction culling for large meshes (5886, thread). * Added warnings for wrong GUI code, fixed them in core GUI (5869, thread). * Fixed leaning against non-axis-aligned door (5899). * Fixed skin of non-rotating security camera (6004). * Tweaked inlining and optimization, new debug builds Fast/Editable. * Disabled multiple rendercopies for warping materials (post). * Created materials for previously unreferenced textures, now available for use (5563, 5178) * Fixed 50 skin-related, auto-detected bugs that were generating console warnings (6019) * Female mage legs are now textured (5994) * Adjusted LOD offsets for atdm:nature_pine to avoid popping (3987) * Wooden torches now have burning/burnt tops (1293) * tdm_grass_clump and tdm_wildgrass particles no longer render fullbright (5689) * Added inclusion guards to all core script files (4427) * small_round_furnace_openable.pfb fixed with regards to model gaps and door origin (6018) * Fixed underwater_bubblesbubbles particle (5198) * Fixed burnt log end cap texture alignment (4896) * Added unlit and moonlit versions of textures/darkmod/window/ornate/round_spokes01 (5857) * Added specularmap to rivet_strip01 textures (5999) * Restored plain_robes skin for mages, pagan_orb_effect particle, fix windows in tudor building4 etc. (5690) * Fixed models that made use of missing materials (4390) * Diffusemap for wallpaper_ornamental_01_red now matches its normalmap (4798) * Hardwood materials now use wooden footstep sounds (4988) * Fixed skins for 6-candle chandeliers and nails (5900, 5217) * All fence_spike_01_tall models are now solid (6010) * Fixed typo in shouldered manbeast name (5877) dev16519-9985 * Now AIs think once per frame on low FPS when several game tics are modelled (5992). * More responsive crouch toggle (5973, thread). * Added "absence_alert_increase" as correct implementation of "absence_alert" (5987). * Allow drawing up to 4 postprocessing surfaces, as long as draw order is right (thread). * Missions can be sorted by date in in-game mission downloader. * Added getAnimRate/setAnimRate script events (540). * Fixed lean-peeking sound not always stopping when player goes away from door (5899). * Fixed wrong sounds of func_fracture after save/load (5363). * Fixed scorch and smear01 decals (5970). * Fixed fx/sparks effect, set "triggered 1" for newly added effects (5034). * Fixed startup image/sound warnings on some AIs (5993). * Fixed joints warnings on zombies (5466). * Fixed "screw" skin not showing in DR on appropriate models (5217). * Fixed for frobability in kitchen_cupboard_openable.pfb (5989). * Added editor images for panel_halfcircle_walnut and panel_vase_polished_walnut. * Bumped maximum number of edges to 1 million for stencil shadows, added overflow warning. * Fixed debug cvars tdm_ai_opt_forceopt and tdm_ai_opt_forcedormant 5992). * Tiny optimization: memcpy is now using streaming stores only at vertex cache. * Removed support of bindless textures (5891). * Extracted tdm_package and removed tdm_update source code (5076). dev16498-9944 * Updated Tracy library, hopefully fixed running on Windows 7 (post). * Fixed crash on loading save done while elemental is dying (5845). * Implemented multiloot on holding frob button (5984). * Crouched state does not affect player speed on ladder/rope (5961). * Crouch-toggle takes effect on keydown rather than release (5973). * Added setviewpos to screenshot filename (5819). * Show estimate for total number of pickpockets on end-mission screen (5678). * In-game downloader: show asterisk/sharp at the beginning (5842). * Trigger entities now work on AI which stands still (5319). * Added setObjectiveNotification, which allows to change objective silently (5967). * Added script functions to add/remove frob peers (5976). * AIs notice destroyed fracture entities (5978). * Enabled frobhelper by default (post). * Fixed some architecture skins by Nort. * Fix graffiti materials (5930). * Now default quicksave/quickload are F5/F9 (post). * Minor optimizations: SSE in idRenderMatrix, cache "drunk" spawnarg. * Looped bind does not cause crash, although behavior is undefined (post). Known problems: * Night to Remember, Cole Hurst 1 Eaton: cannot start missions due to hard error. * Painter's Wife: killing elemental should cause hard error (mission fixed). dev16487-9919 * Fixed saving/loading JPEG crash on Linux (5881). * Fixed wrong sound on strafe right (5554). * Major refactoring and optimization on LOD system, LOD entities no longer "think" (5944). * Improved time distribution of stims and LOD checks for more solid performance. * Optimized creation/destruction of script threads. * Optimized idClip = broad phase collision detection (5954). * Reduced size of Linux executable back from 24 MB to 18 MB by removing globals. * Now in-game downloader prints URL of download to game console. Known problems: * Won't boot on Windows 7 dev16485-9903 * Optimized iteration over active entities by switching from linked list to array. * Fixed bow sometimes not working on savegame load (5928). * Allow headbob cvar changes to persist between sessions (post). * Player speed modifiers (like pm_runmod) are no longer archived (post). * Applied Clang build fixes by @Partmedia (post). * Fixed "testVideo withAudio" command. * Fixed unbounded brush AAS warning by trying to process each edge of brush once (5648). * Use double precision for winding splits in dmap and collision. * Reworked FFmpeg player to not use deprecated functions, fixed protocol warning (5881). * Fixed 2GB overflow in printMemInfo. Known problems: * Won't boot on Windows 7 * JPEG saving and loading crashes on Linux. Setting r_screenshot_format to "png" may help... dev16481-9881 * Updated Visual C++ from 2017 to 2022, build game and idlib as on VC project (5820). * Updated all third-party libraries (5881). * Render scale does not affect main menu GUI. * Optimized compass rendering: don't copy depth buffer. * Fixed debug polygons not showing up. * Don't draw debug lines in subviews. * Don't open game console by tilde if com_allowConsole is 0 on Linux (post). * Moving GUI slider with mouse now results in discrete increments. * Restored code for 16-bit colors (via r_fboColorBits cvar only). * Game console bottom line gets thinner on smaller console font. * Added tuneDown command to quickly ender very low graphics mode. * Added r_fboScaling cvar which allows to change Render scale filtering to nearest. * Avoid purging/reloading all images on Alt+Tabbing in Windows. Known problems: * Won't boot on Windows 7 Changelog of earlier versions can be found here.

PLAYERS * Volumetric lights appeared late before the previous beta, so the quality of volumetrics in 2.10 was rather poor, and the dithering pattern was very annoying to look at. The feature received a lot more development, and now adheres to the standards of modern rendering. The dithering pattern is gone, performance should be much better, and now you won't miss volumetrics even if you prefer to play with stencil shadows all the time! (thread) * Thanks to a certain "AI-heavy" mission, the game code has received major optimizations. It is most noticeable in low performance conditions, when game modelling takes a lot of CPU time. Previously the game could easily descend into the "spiral of death" with FPS falling below 5, now it is way harder due to better scheduling of AI thinking. There is a variety of other game code optimizations which make our lives slightly better. * New version includes several optimizations for shadows, mostly stencil shadows. A long-standing inefficiency of stencil shadows with antialiasing is fixed, new tile-based optimization is added for soft stencil shadows (thread), small lights with large meshes work faster due to BVH efforts (thread). On the side of shadow maps, the rules for distributing the resolution budget are changed: small distant lights no longer steal precious bandwidth for themselves. * There are several improvements on gameplay side as well. The core mechanics of blackjacking enemies has received subtle, yet helpful improvements (thread). Now you can grab many close pieces of loot by holding down the frob button, instead of picking up each item individually. There are several improvements to crouching, making it more responsive (thanks to @Daft Mugi). The in-game downloader now supports "sort by release date" ordering. * There were a ton of small bugfixes for issues like: bow stuck after load, wrong strafe-walk sound, crash when saving shortly after the death of an elemental, melee combat crash, issues with leaning onto doors, missing fracture sounds after loading a save, X-ray glitch in the first frame, toggling solidity/visibility, lightgem on game load, etc. MAPPERS * The engine now supports OBJ model format. This format is much more popular than ASE and LWO. The engine loading code is very lightweight: it will use your model exactly is as, and load it very quickly. The OBJ format is preferred for large meshes due for faster loading times. The only possible downside is somewhat larger download size compared to LWO, although not much and not always (thread). * Renderer should deal with large meshes much faster, thanks to BVH optimizations. Recall that idTech4 was made for very low-poly models. When renderer frontend sees a "surface" in a model, it always treats this surface as an atomic piece, doing all computations for all of its vertices and triangles. This is very good for low-poly models, can heavily drag performance down with large meshes, as several recent missions noticed during beta. The BVH data structure breaks every surface into smaller chunks, allowing renderer to quickly cull away whole chunks. This makes a big difference in case of large meshes (e.g. terrain) lit by many small lights (thread). * You no longer have to write frob-highlight stages in materials, since they are added implicitly. The problem with these stages was that were very easy to forget, which resulted in no highlight on frobable items. Also it increased cognitive load and scared mappers away. While writing frobstages is no longer necessary, the old stages work just fine. So mappers can still customize frob-highlighting if they really want to (thread). * It is now legal to override a single decl of core game in your mission. Recall that "decl" means a material, a skin, an entityDef, a particle, etc. Note that overriding a whole file from core game always worked as expected, but overriding a single decl from a file did not work reliably before (despite the common belief that it should). * The major cleaning of shaders resulted in some changes in lighting model. The aim was to make TDM lighting closer to the standard Phong model, and make it more logical in general. The changes should rarely make a big difference, aside from probably stronger specular (thread). * Added error-reporting to the GUI scripting engine. Implementing GUI scripts is very hard, error-prone, and confusing. Aside from surprising differences in Doom 3 GUI behavior compared to e.g. Javascript in DOM, a lot of confusion was caused by total lack of any error handling whatsoever! In the new version, all possible errors should result in easy-to-understand console warnings, so writing correct GUI is much easier. Also, we fixed a few features, and added a few new ones to the GUI engine (thread). * dmap command received minor improvements. Yet another big rewrite happened for T-junctions fixing code, since it took tremendous amount of time on one mission. Also a few precision improvements were made. * Other small fixes and additions: added script functions getAnimRate / setAnimRate for tweaking animations added script function setObjectiveNotification for silent objective change added script function getCurInvItemCount for interaction with inventory added script variable "AI_ENEMY_TACTILE" to the base AI scriptobject, which is true whenever the AI is in tactile range of an enemy added spawnarg absence_alert_increase for loot items as a proper substitute for absence_alert, giving control over how much an AI gets alerted if that piece goes missing added spawnargs allow_idle_anims / allow_random_headturning for customization during a running mission, useful i.e. for cutscenes AIs notice broken fracture entities trigger_multiple now works on stationary AIs almost doubled tracemodel limits, raising the restrictive limits for making collision meshes for moveable items door movers can now call "used_action_script" whenever something like a key, lockpick or other item is used on them, if they have the spawnarg "call_used_action_script" "1". ASSETS * Many new assets from capable creators in our community have been incorporated into the core assets. These include: Loot assets: Detailed coins and ingots with accompanying lore. Link Ancient loot items suitable for museums, collectors and ancient sites, first seen in the Volta series. A tiling treasure hoard texture for those with unimagineable wealth. 6 detailed book skins including 3 that are lootable, a first for TDM. Link Security assets Highly detailed standing and wall safes - with or without an accompanying combination lock. Link The combination "safe lock" is now part of core assets and can be operated by either scrolling or frobbing. Mappers no longer need to track down this asset and include it with their FM files as a custom asset. Wall-mounted locks in the style of those commonly found in the original Thief games. Camgoyle sentry, a magical stone guardian based on the security camera shooting magical projectiles at the player, first seen in Written in Stone. The prefab also includes a power source pedestal. Link Fully useable audiograph for playing recorded sounds, first seen in the Accountant and Shadow of Northdale missions. A new full-featured scriptobject makes them easy to implement and control via spawnargs. Wiki Furniture assets Posh upholstered armchairs and sofas for the wealthiest nobles. Link A new high-detail grandfather clock with a working scriptobject and a mantle clock. Link A gothic-style cabinet. Link Office assets Including bundled stacks of paper, blueprints, a letter, crumpled paper, waste bins, an end table and an ornate table. Nautical assets Full-scale modular ship prefabs with interiors, allowing anyone to assemble a ship for a nautical mission in a matter of seconds. 1 merchant galleon and 2 smaller sailing ships are available. Link Link Link A large galleon ship wreck in 2 pieces for those sailors who have met an unfortunate end. Decorative assets An impressive multi-tiered wall fountain, first seen in the mansion in Noble Affairs. A new pair of marble lion statues. Link A standing stone menir with carved symbols on it, ideal for pagan missions. Link Stone pedestal with purple cloth for presenting valuable items. Textures High-resolution cobblestone textures for detailing the streets of TDM. Link Starry wallpaper. Lamps A set of 6 bronze vintage lamps has been added for particulary posh establishments. Link Thief-style charge post streetlamp. A new open-top carriage, the barouche. Link Miscellaneous other models, including: wall planter, 7 small "foliage" herbs, 2 mine carts, 6 shop signs, equippable feather duster and 5 decor plates * We fixed all loading warnings on all existing assets. This became possible after creating an automatic map generator which forces the engine to load all assets from every group. All the references to missing files are fixed too, which means a variety of assets have become available: Old noblewoman skin, plain mage robes skin, moor helmet, electrical arcs, stone window decals (5178), yellow banner skin (5563), wine barrel (Link), grass particles (5689), lampion lights and more graffiti decals. PROGRAMMING Under the hood, we updated third-party libraries, and moved to Visual Studio 2022. The "Debug With Inlines" configuration was split into "Debug Editable" (with hot-reload support) and "Debug Fast" (fastest debuggable). Marking the final step in transition to tdm_installer, the old tdm_update program is finally removed, with TDM packaging code extracted to standalone program.

Maybe TDM's .ini and .cfg files need to duplicated too? I could imagine if there was some settings mismatch, say, how shadows were handled, that could cause problems.

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

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.

Time for some Dark Mod.

The comparision with TDM is not at all favourable Loot is far too easy to find Frobbing loot or extinguishing candles takes place way out of reach Frobbing doors doesn't work if you are a bit out of position (too close or at the wrong angle) Blackjacking - you need to get far too close Lock picking is an absolute doddle Always run is really stupid Light gem versus being seen is a bit problematical unless it is completely black Lean doesn't work at all - the guards etc. spotted me every time I tried it Mantling is very iffy Picking up an object - it changes to a small icon - sheesh!! and you can't put it down quietly on a normal surface This is a back handed way of saying thank you to the TDM developers and FM designers

In r9853, volumetric lighting (god rays) was presented as shadows maps have them and stencil shadows don't. I was using the terms/features as they were presented. The Written in Stone screenshot for r9853 was taken using stencil shadows, so I assumed volumetric lighting was not used. Hazard Pay and Iris don't have god rays when using stencil shadows. How is it that Written in Stone has them when using stencil shadows?

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:

Aha, thank you for this clarification! I see what's happening now: I was expecting that the building modules still cast shadows by default, which I was in fact hoping got disabled since their performance impact can be felt... in addition I thought texturing the walls with normal caulk would still work as they create closed rooms, but indeed caulk isn't a shadow caster so I shall replace them with shadowcaulk as suggested. There's another bug in latest dev I was waiting to report: I noticed I can place electrical lights in DarkRadiant where they show up just fine, but when opening the map in TDM they do not spawn any longer. The console provides a warning which suggests an invalid newline causing the engine not to load the def though DR doesn't mind it. I don't override the file in my FM nor had any errors while running the installer and updating so I'm presuming something got broken. WARNING:file def/tdm_lights_static_electric.def, line 612: newline inside string

@MirceaKitsune try something other than caulk on that brush and see if it goes away. Make sure it's not a no shadows or transparent material.

Make sure the gas lamp light is not set to no shadows. Same with the wall texture, make sure you didn't accidentally use _ns version of a texture

Noble Affairs (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Snowed Inn (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Shadows of Northdale ACT I (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Shadows of Northdale ACT II (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) These are all fixed now. Thank you!

Here is the list of missions that include their own implementation of the blackjack (pre-2.11): A House of Locked Secrets (tdm_weapon_blackjack.script) By Any Other Name (tdm_weapon_blackjack.script) EDIT: Some missions were updated after this post: Iris (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Hazard Pay (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Noble Affairs (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Shadows of Northdale ACT I (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Shadows of Northdale ACT II (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Snowed Inn (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Volta 1: The Stone (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def) Volta 2: Cauldron (tdm_weapon_blackjack.def)

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.

Since they both improve performance and fix other edge cases, seems enabling them might be better than not. I already did so on my end... don't mind a few inaccurate edges even if I wish those didn't happen either, happy for the extra FPS plus fixing self-shadowing issues I have also noticed now that I think about it. Actually I'm curious about something: What if we gave that option 3 modes, so only front faces or backfaces or both cast shadows? I remember once reading that in some circumstances, you can get better results by only computing shadows out of backfacing given they're closer to what's casting them and you don't need shadowing inside an enclosed model.

A reminder: Was playing with graphics settings again and r_shadowMapCullFront seems to give me an extra 10 FPS! Is there still a reason why it wouldn't be on by default for everyone? r_shadowMapAlphaTested doesn't seem to have any performance impact for me. Was it needed to get shadows from surfaces with alpha channels, like having trees with leafs cast shadows? Then again those don't work since I think they're still "noshadows" by default... wonder if alpha materials could be given a special mode to support shadow with it.

After several months of hard (although very enjoyable) work, I’m proud to announce the release of my first FM - “Cole Hurst 1: Eaton”. Mission description In the northern town of Eaton, Lord Mayor Zelmer is hosting a lavish party at his luxurious estate to celebrate Eaton's establishment... The city's elite, a famous musician and even the Queen will be partaking in tonight's festivities. Screenshots Download “Cole Hurst 1: Eaton” should already be available for download in the game, but you can also grab a copy of version 1.0 from here. To install this copy, simply place the downloaded file named “ch1_eaton.pk4” in your “[the dark mod]/fms/” folder. Notes I would say this FM could primarily be considered a “traditional mansion heist” mission. These were by far my favorite type of Thief 1/2 levels which I have very fond memories of playing through as a child. I suppose this is my humble attempt to create something vaguely similar... I have tried my best to make the story, the readables and the conversations as interesting as I could and so I really do hope that some of you will find it enjoyable. The mission features: I already have some relatively concrete ideas for a follow-on mission in mind, so hopefully I will have time to continue my mapping efforts soon(ish) :) Contributions I have been overwhelmed by the amount of people interested in helping me with this mission. A huge thanks to each and every one of you! Story Kelly Hrupa Voice actors: twhalen2600 (AKA @Benny_the_guard) Kelly Hrupa Testers: @Acolytesix- brisk puzzle solver @duzenko - the man with the admin tools @JackFarmer - objective wrangler @Shadow - a certified spider-monkey who refuse to stay caged @Cambridge Spy - an eagle-eyed book-worm @wesp5 - eager candle-snuffer @madtaffer – readability advisor @prjames - spider assassin @suzy8track – book magician @datiswous – destroyer of crates I would also like to say a special thanks to @Dragofer who has been very helpful with debugging and general advice in cases where I had absolutely no idea what to do. @duzenko has also been very responsive to any game-related bugs that I’ve encountered during the beta phase and also thanks to @nbohr1more for handling this release for me. As I am completely new to mapping in general, I also found @Springheel‘s wonderful TDM New Mappers Workshop extremely helpful when I was first getting started, so thank you very much for creating it. Known bugs/issues While this mission has spent quite some time in beta testing, I’m sure that some of you will discover shortcomings that my wonderful beta testers and I have overlooked. In that case, please do get in touch and I will make sure to address it (to the best of my abilities) in a future update. There are unfortunately also a few (primarily cosmetic) things that I have been unable to solve – at least for this release: The small church model used in Gatwick square has low-resolution textures applied Some picture frames do not match the original frame after being stolen Strange looking shadows on the greenhouses in the garden Visible vertical lines on some interior walls Various gaps/holes in some of the models that I have chosen to use The female mansion lobby guard occasionally sound like a dude

Thanks for the replies, gonna try those spoiler Tags again now for my short review (oh well it inserted one above my text now and I can't seem to delete it on mobile - this text editor is strange)

Just finished this mission and wow I gotta say in great honor to Grayman and of course the rest of the team picking it up, this was something I've never seen before in any other TDM mission, especially visually wise. I am so happy that grayson gave green light for other experienced mappers to finish his last mission. And what came out of this is really something special. I'll put my review in spoiler tags since I'm now referring to critical mission details. Edit - How do I put spoiler text here on mobile?? [spoiler] test [/spoiler][SPOILER] test [/SPOILER] [spoiler[spoiler [sfah

I agree and I remember saying something similar before and the answer if I recall correctly was, stencil stays in, that was a few years ago, and they add (and still have) very valid reasons, one was because maps in TDM, was still in its infancy and not well optimized, but it has improved much since (stencil also with the soft shadow option). Thou I know this is not a easy decision for the team, you can't just delete the stencil shadow code and everything will be fine, TDM age and success, is also a big problem for the way it handles shadows, because of how old and popular it is, it has hundreds of assets and missions made, with stencil shadows alone in mind, changing those assets today (materials mostly), in particular those with alpha enabled, will require free work, from someone, and will also with no doubt, break shadows in all missions made until now and not forget, decrease performance, by the simple fact that, more stuff that didn't cast shadows, trees, grass, banners, decals, etc, now will and some of them shouldn't, so the missions will have to be updated, and it may never happen if the mission maker is gone. Is not a easy problem to solve.