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Okidoki, I finally bit the bullet & went with a Recoil 17 from PC Specialist Specs I went for are Chassis & Display: Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD+ 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600) Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 14900HX (5.8GHz Turbo) Memory (RAM): 32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (1 x 32GB) Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4080 - 12.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1 External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W) Operating System: NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED The case seems to be made of metal not plastic & there's an optional water cooling unit, which I didn't get For the OS I disabled fast boot & secure boot, loaded Zorin 17.2, used the entire disk, without any installation issues Zorin is a Ubuntu fork so Ubuntu & it's other forks shouldn't have an issue if anyone else gets one of these The only minor issue is the keyboard backlight isn't recognized by default, but the forums are full of info on sorting that out, not that I'm too bothered I've installed TDM & it runs beautifully I also copied my thief 1 & 2 installations from my desktop, I had to uncomment "d3d_disp_sw_cc" in cam_ext.cfg to get the gamma processing working but they run happily too The fans switch on when booting & switch off again after a few seconds, the machine isn't stressed enough to turn them on running TDM so far - this is not a challenge btw On the whole, I'm extremely pleased So thanks for all the advice

I should start by saying the suggestion was inspired by this exact feature being successfully implemented in the FPS Red Eclipse (Cube / Tesseract engine) for a long time with very good looking results. I'm a developer or at least mapper for RE as well, if you need more information I'll ask its admin Quin for more technical data on how the system works. I can also find or create a video showing how the wind mechanism functions if anyone can use that. TheDarkMod currently lacks any real system for simulating wind: If you want to make a FM that takes place in a stormy environment that looks good, you're out of luck. All we have is a handful of animated props animated to appear as if swaying in the wind, namely a tree and banner that move slightly: You can't adjust the intensity nor the direction of the wind effect, at best you can maybe tweak the animation speed to match the wind strength you'd like to depict. There is a much better way using vertex shader deforms defined in the global shader. The first step is defining wind direction, this can be done as a property of the location info and / or using an entity for radial wind direction. When touched by a wind value above zero, models (static or animated) will play a sine wave animation on vertices, its direction and distance and frequency defined by the wind entity spawnargs and the entity's distance from its epicenter. Obviously models must specify which vertices should be wavy, the most common way is using vertex colors though an intensity texture also works if that's preferred, in any case models must include per-vertice information to specify which points should sway in the wind and by how much. Particles also need to be blown away by the wind but that should be very simple, further effects like affecting the direction of noise transmission are optional and can be done later at best. Existing assets will need to be modified to make use of this. This includes every tree and grass so branches and leaves are affected by wind the further they are from the trunk and the base of the tree, obviously this should also be done for all banners and even the clothes on AI so you can see the the sleeves of characters flutter in the wind. All particles should be affected including flames and smoke so torches blow to the side. Note that old maps would not be affected even after the assets are modified since they'd need to specify wind information for the effect to activate.

New dev build version up: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/addons/fresnel-mod-213-alpha-unofficial Compatible with the latest dev17251-10920

Announcing the release of the first William Steele mission! Summary In the North is a mansion heist that takes place outside the town of Braedon, north of Bridgeport. William Steele is an adventurer from Bridgeport who has been away several years, working as a soldier/guard for one Lord Bascombe at his castle in Braedon. Lord Harckoff, a nasty fellow who lives in a renovated Builder church nearby, sees Bascombe as a threat to his shady business, and has put a price on Bascombe's head. Steele decides to visit Harckoff one night to see what he can do to prevent Bascombe's death. The William Steele Missions In the North is the first of several Steele missions. Altogether they'll tell a story of corruption, greed, and revenge. At some point, I'll start packaging them as a campaign, in addition to the single missions. Download This Mission can be obtained using the in-game loader. Look for WS1: In the North. Mission Details and Download: http://www.thedarkmo...ndetails/?id=65 Build Time About one year. Thanks Thanks to the TDM team for creating a terrific platform for storytelling and stealth gaming. Thanks to Bikerdude, Springheel, and AluminumHaste for beta testing, especially at a time when we were all busy dealing with the final phase of TDM 1.08. The Translators (Smallman, Overmann, and Sengu) are hard at work on translations for various languages, so thanks go out to them as well. Localized versions will be available after they're completed and tested. And thanks to YOU for playing! Known Issues This is a large non-linear mission. To ease the burden on slower systems, consider shutting doors behind you as you go. If you experience low frame rates, please consult the Performance Tweaks page on the Wiki. Performance Tweaks For very low end PCs I recommend the following settings: V-sync is offAA is offAniso is 4x or lowerAdvanced settings are simple/defaultPost processing is disabledAnyone having performance issues with TDM missions can put the following cvars into their Darkmod.cfg file. This will improve the framerate and stutter/chop when in-game, but may increase loading times a little. image_usePrecompressedTextures "1" image_useNormalCompression "2" image_useAllFormats "1" image_useCompression "1" image_preload "1" Important This mission requires TDM 1.08 or later. Repeat after me: "Read and explore, Read and explore". Most Importantly, Enjoy! Screenshots WS2: Home Again Steele's story continues with Home Again, which you can find here.

Hello all! I'm new here and I VERY WANT to help I am ready to translate and I can put the translations into the missions. (Russian players even made it some sort of a community project, where everyone who wants to help, translates some parts of the missions. I'm currently helping them.) We want to make a complete translation of at least a few missions. (Including briefings, which sometimes coming as a *.dds files. I also can handle it) But... as always there are a few difficulties. - In Russian it is sometimes just impossible to translate things SHORT. (I suspect not only in Russian) - We can not have our own *xd's and *.dds since they are common for all localizations. I think this is the most difficult part for everyone who starts their own localization. And this is not a criticism of developers - they've made a HUGE work already, which we all are thankful for. I saw people writing that they're not playing TDM because of a lack of translation. We - and me personally - really want to help and made things proper. An there's a decision to make. So the main questions are: -is it theoretically possible to handle "num_pages" in a stand-alone file, which can be edited separately for all languages? I suspect this is a Sisyphean task, so if not, then: -can we make a stand-alone version (*.pk4-file), so it can be downloaded separately on FM's page on the TDM website (OR handle it on our own servers (both ways making it impossible to download from TDM updater - and I'm not sure that developers will agree with such a hardcore and radical decision) for localization files (not just *.lang-files)? - any other solution you can come up with. PS. can it be the main topic for Russian localization? Thank you. UPD: In case if someone's interested in our progress, you can track it down here: http://notabenoid.com/book/53218/ (website was closed for non-registered users, sorry) UPD2: The authors (of FMs) are welcomed to give us their permission on translation here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/16572-translating-missions-mission-author-consensus-request/ UPD3: Fixed Russian fonts can be found/downloaded here - and, yes, - we're working on subtitles and on translation of all audio files; UPD4: 62 missions translated and counting; Public change log; Sill missing testers, but the first reviews were quite good. At this point i'm kinda ready to admit that... UPD5: at this moment we have 76 translated missions UPD6: 90 missions translated and counting... UPD7: 99 missions translated, tested and uploaded on darkfate.org

New script for mappers: my flavour of a fog density fading script. To add this to your FM, add the line "thread FogIntensityLoop();" to your map's void main() function (see the example in fogfade.script) and set "fog_fade" "1" on each foglight to enable script control of it. Set "fog_intensity_multiplier" on each info_location entity to change how thick the fog is in that location (practically speaking it's a multiplier for visibility distance). Lastly, "fog_fade_speed" on each foglight determines how quickly it will change its density. The speed scales with the current value of shaderParm3, using shaderParm3 = 1000 as a baseline. So i.e. if shaderParm is currently at 1/10th of 1000, then fade speed will be 1/10th as fast. Differences to Obsttorte's script: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/14394-apples-and-peaches-obsttortes-mapping-and-scripting-thread/&do=findComment&comment=310436 my script uses fog lights you created, rather than creating one for you. Obsttorte's script will delete the foglight if entering a fogfree zone and recreate it later more than one fog light can be controlled (however, no per-fog-light level of control) adding this to the map requires adding a line to your void main() script, rather than adding an info_locations_settings entity with a custom scriptobject spawnarg in my script, mappers set a multiplier of fog visibility distance (shaderParm3), while in Obsttorte's script a "fog_density" spawnarg is used as an alternative to shaderParm3 smaller and less compactly written script fogfade.scriptfogfade.map

I found this is actually an important part. I edited file river_fading_materials.mtr and did /* */ to everything with "speed" in it. Now I could read the book and after, click the potion and teleport.

Creating a new thread for this as it was being discussed in an old beta-testing thread starting here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21822-beta-testing-high-expectations/&do=findComment&comment=490751 I suppose the main questions are: when should this spawnarg be used, if at all? why was it introduced in the first place? Can we get it documented properly on the Wiki so misuse isn't propagated? @stgatilov @Dragofer

I think we should first decide what do we want TOS for: To protect TDM from legal issues? To protect TDM team from angry mappers in case of conflicts? To guide mission authors in their work? In my opinion TOS should only cover legal issues, and wiki articles about making/releasing missions should cover author guidance. The chance of getting malware in a mission only increases after we write this publicly. Better don't even mention it, we are completely unprotected against this case. By the way, isn't it covered by "illegal" clause? I'm not sure this is worth mentioning, but I guess @demagogue knows better. By the way, which jurisdiction defines what is legal and what is not? Isn't it enough to mention that we will remove a mission from the database if legal issues are discovered? I think this is worth mentioning simply because mappers can easily do it without any malicious intent. We already had cases of problematic assets, so better include a point on license compatibility. It is a good idea to remind every mapper that this is a serious issue. I also recall some rule like "a mission of too low quality might be rejected". In my opinion, it is enough. You will never be able to pinpoint all possible cases why you might consider a mission too bad in terms of quality. And even the specifics mentioned here already raise questions. Having such a rule is already politics. I feel it does not save us from political issues but entangles us into them. If there is a mission which contains something really nasty, it will cause outrage among the community (I believe our most of active forum members are good people). If people are angry, they will tell the mission author all they think about it. And if the author won't change his mind, he will eventually leave TDM community. Then the mission can be removed from the database, perhaps with a poll about the removal. But it sounds like an exceptional case, it is hard to predict exceptional cases in advance. This is not even terms of service, but a technical detail about submissions. The mission should be accompanied by 800 x 600 screenshots. Or we can make them ourselves if you are OK with it. This is again purely technical, and I'm not even sure why it is needed. Isn't it how TDM works? If mapper does not override loading gui file, then default one is taken from core? Is it even worth mentioning? I think we should discuss mission updates by other people in general. This is worth mentioning so that mappers don't feel deceived. The generic rule is that we don't change missions without author's consent. But it is unclear how exactly we should try to reach the author if we need his consent. PM on TDM forums? Some email address? However, sometimes I do technical changes to ensure compatibility of missions with new versions of TDM. Especially since the new missions database has made it rather easy to do. Luckily, I'm not a mapper/artist, so I never fell an urge to replace model/texture or remap something. But still, it is gray zone. On the other hand, I think the truth is: we can remove a mission from database without anyone's consent. I hope it has never happened and will not happen, but I think this is the ultimate truth, and mentioning this sad fact might cover a lot of the other points automatically.

Yeah I'm aware of the use cases - I mainly used it for particles and preventing models from showing up through walls. The point of the thread was to reveal why it was even created, as the thread I linked contains advice from @stgatilov to NOT use it at all: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21822-beta-testing-high-expectations/page/10/#findComment-490707 If that's the advice, an explanation is needed and the Wiki updated.

Yeah I thought about that too. I think it can also be used for your own voice, to speed up voicing. I looked for an open source local one, but couldn't find it yet.

Raytracing is special API, it has to be used explicitly. And it does not even exist in OpenGL. It is in the latest dev version, but it is not something that magically works for all existing shaders. You need to find a material with parallax stage, or create a custom one. The latest dev build contains many parallax materials made by @Wellingtoncrab.

Yes, nobody else offers 1 TB for free, normal are 5 orwith much 10 GB. For me it's irrelevant if the server is in Japan, I prefer Japanes servers to US servers anyway. I use it and it works fine and flawless. The drawback in the free version is only that you can't see the files and videos online, only it's tumbnails and that the upload speed is somewhat slow, but not a problem, only the first time uploading a folder with a lot of files may last some minutes, not so good for confidential files, because it's not encrypted in the free version. Well, the Premium account also isn't very expensiv. With the desktop client, the files you add to the folder are automaticly uploaded in the background without any impact in the system. Finished the upload (few seconds) a little pop up in the corner for some seconds, offering to see the uploaded file. I found this host sometimes ago in an forum post and using it since than, no problems. Account is easy with only mail and password (2FA with confirmation in the specificated mail).

SLOWFALL POTION @Dragofer and I have been working on making a slowfall potion that we would like some feedback on. Keep in mind, this will only work if you have the latest dev17234-10914 build installed otherwise TDM will not startup. If you want to put this in an existing FM, simply add the pk4 to the FM folder and type #include "script/slowfall_potion.script" in your tdm_custom_scripts.script file. This slowfall potion has several spawnargs that mappers can customize for their own special use cases: "duration" ---- How long the slowfall effect lasts. Default value is 15s "gravity" ---- Affects the strength of the player's gravity. Default value for slowfall potion is 125 "braking rate" ---- Deceleration rate in units per second squared when the player's falling velocity exceeds the maximum allowed fall velocity. Default value is 150 "max_fall_speed" ---- Maximum velocity a falling player will reach. Default value is 500 "horizontal_velocity_multiplier" ---- How much the player can move forward/backward while falling. Default value is 1.005 "end_sound_lead" --- Lets the end sound start playing this number of seconds before the potion effect ends. Much like the invisibility potion in Kingsal's Volta campaign, this potion has a "potion_end" sound that goes off just a second or before the slowfall effect ends, allowing the player to make any last-second maneuvers before they fall normally. I've included a test map as well, so you can play around with it and fall to your heart's content. Hope you like it! Special thanks to @kingsal for letting us use a custom sound and doing some early testing! slowfall_test.pk4

So because of bugtracker 5600, does that mean that 10 FMs (Written in Stone, Northdale 1 and 2, Volta 2, Hazard Pay, etc.) do not work in this new dev build, and yet, the dev build was released anyway? That's not cool.... The bow is kind of an important gameplay element, especially for Hazard Pay. Why even release this build if it breaks 10 existing FMs?

Given that the same issue reproduces in a local debug build, I don't think the issue is specific to the PPA build. But you're certainly welcome to try the FlatPak version to see if it behaves differently.

This thread is for discussion and feedback on the xray feature, which has been developed further for 2.10 and is now considered feature rich enough to be publicised and wikified with X-Rays and X-Rays in GUIs. See below for the main wiki article's introductory section: As well as some screenshots from the demonstration map found in the main wiki article: (Note that various assets mentioned in the article are currently only available in the demo map and will become part of the second 2.10 beta build).

Flakebridge Monastery In this mission you will visit a Builder outpost to steal some valuable books. It is the first in what I hope will be a series about Selis Woderose. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my beta testers: Aprilsister, Bikerdude, Chiron, lost_soul, and prjames. As well as Fidcal for his starting map, and Melan for his texture pack. Known bugs: A small number may appear at the bottom left corner of your screen when the mission loads. Press sheath weapon to make it disappear. As already mentioned this is the first mission in a series. When you have completed it you may know what you'll be going after in the next mission. You may even know where! Enjoy! And please use spoiler tags where appropriate. A couple of screens: (thanks lowenz) http://2.bp.blogspot...0/shot00001.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot...0/shot00003.jpg

Actually I found when you pick up a second potion, it stays zero. When you use the one potion with the zero count, you have no potions anymore. So basically you get 1, but it shows 0. It stays 1 (shows 0) even when you get more potions. This does mean this build kind of breaks gameplay (no offence, I know the risks of playing on dev builds). What was the reason for changing code in the stack system?

So I know you can definitely do some weird things like turn the game map upside down (I did this when I was first experimenting with an earlier version of this potion, that was pretty wild) but I don't remember HOW I did that. I'm not too sure about reverse gravity but I'm fairly confident you should be able to do it. Sorry that's not a particularly helpful answer Yeah, that's because the slowfall script is dependent on script events related to gravity and air movement (setGravity and setAirAccelerate) that were introduced in this latest dev build

Now using the latest tdm build. This fm crashes to desktop (Linux): Spawning entities *** stack smashing detected ***: terminated signal caught: Aborted si_code -6 Trying to exit gracefully.. --------- Game Map Shutdown ---------- ModelGenerator memory: 1 LOD entries with 0 users using 16 bytes. --------- Game Map Shutdown done ----- Shutting down sound hardware idRenderSystem::Shutdown() ...shutting down QGL I18NLocal: Shutdown. ------------ Game Shutdown ----------- ModelGenerator memory: No LOD entries. Shutdown event system -------------------------------------- shutdown terminal support About to exit with code 0

Indeed, if you try to install this with an earlier build (I forgot), tdm refuses to start, until you either remove this potion mod, or upgrade tdm.

All of the parallax materials shown off in the anniversary demo video (and more) are available in the dev build dev17234-10914. Just search for the suffix "_parallax"