Search the Community

Welcome to the forums Ansome! And congrats on making it to beta phase!

Excellent. This will take up my whole upcoming week, I'll take all my time off to good use testing the latest release candidate and suggest if there's really any problems. The devs are right that the beta sounds like its no longer regressed between introduced features. This is going to make my week!

Here is the release of testSubtitlesANSI , one of my tools to test and improve the Stone 24 pt font that is used in all the English subtitles. testSubtitlesANSI.pk4 of Feb 25, 2024 As the screenshot below reveals, this testing tool is an FM that's a variant of that used to develop subtitles for individual AIs. Here, the subtitles are just alphabetic lists. There are 7 subtitles that cover all the TDM 8-bit codepoints (e.g., 0-255), including those representing European languages. The first two subtitles (i.e., codepoint sub-ranges) are shown in this screen shot. The tool allows inspection for stray marks and inter-character spacing; black walls & floor facilitate that. This release includes the most recent improvement to these attributes, provided in yesterday's update of the fontimage_24.dat file. (The changing of those attributes was done with a different tool, used iteratively with this one.)

The beta testing thread is up a bit early, lest I forget to make one:

Wait a minute - wasn't Down By The Riverside based on this Lovecraft work? Anyway, I'll be glad to do some testing for you.

Awesome. We may actually see this released this month due to the fast testing for this version. I'm glad the major issues are resolved. Good work everyone.

I have been building my map using some models I've created. I noticed that moving the models around in the folders caused the models in-game to break. Are there any precautions I must take for when I want to upload the map for beta-testing/finalizing the upload?

TDM 2.10 is ready for beta test This is how to get beta versions: Upgrade from any version (fast): 1 - Start tdm_installer in darkmod folder. 2 - On the first screen, check "Get custom version" and click "Next". Choose the first name in beta/2.10 list, should look like "beta210-NN". 3 - Click on "Refresh" button to ensure that it is not going to download too much stuff. 4 - Continue installing with "Next". Fresh install (slow): 1 - Create darkmod folder anywhere you like. 2 - Download the TDM Installer from downloads section of the website. Extract tdm_installer executable from the downloaded ZIP and place it into your darkmod folder. 3 - Start tdm_installer (in case of Linux, first edit file permissions to allow executing it). 4 - On the first screen, check "Get custom version" and click "Next". Choose the first name in beta/2.10 list, should look like "beta210-NN". 5 - Continue installing with "Next". In general, upgrade is recommended over fresh install. If you don't want to lose your current TDM installation, then you can copy the whole TDM directory and upgrade the copy. This way you can have both 2.10 beta and 2.09 at the same time. At the end of installation, tdm_installer resets your config by renaming darkmod.cfg to darkmod_{datatime}.cfg. This is a recommended procedure on upgrade, otherwise you are likely to have issues due to old config. If you need your old config for some reason, you can always find it in darkmod folder. 32-bit builds of TDM are deprecated, so they are not present in beta versions. They will be added at the very end of beta phase. Notes 1 - This effort is to find out if we broke anything in TDM with our 2.10 changes, if a new 2.10 feature isn't working correctly. We won't be trying to fix bugs that have been around for a long time. Instead, we will create an issue in bugtracker (if not yet present), to fix it after beta. 2 - If you find something wrong, it would be helpful if you report whether the issue happens in 2.09 too. By the way, you can easily get 2.09 version: just copy your darkmod folder and run tdm_installer on the copy, selecting "release209b" on the custom version screen. 3 - Please try to be specific when reporting a problem. What you were doing, where you were when the problem occurred, can you reproduce it, etc. This wiki article provides many suggestions for good bug reports. Thank you for testing !

At first I thought it was some wild precision bug but it looks like the skin might be nonsolid somehow and SteveL's change made the nonsolid attribute work? Either that or skin detection is somehow borked in this map. Feel free to edit the map, I'm no expert mapper but I might be able to perform some workaround by manipulating the entity. Edit: I fixed it with the following change: // entity 4 { "classname" "atdm:mover_door" "name" "atdm_mover_door_8" "lock_picktype" "-" "lock_pins" "0" "locked" "1" "solid" "1" "model" "atdm_mover_door_8" "origin" "710 -248 2050" "rotate" "0 90 0" "snd_close" "door_shut_06" "snd_open" "door_open_08" "used_by" "Balcony_door_keey" // "skin" "door_007_1" // primitive 0 Will upload the fix to the mission database. I don't see anything wrong with the door_007_1 skin but I would advise testing it in-game before using it going forward until this is fully sorted. Edit 2: The updated mission is now available in the mission database. Feel free to offer other fixes to this mission as long as they do not: Change visuals Change gameplay design ( Any purely bugged things that the mission author acknowledges "needs fixing" such as keys that are inaccessible or critical items that fall through surfaces when touched, etc can be fixed by any mapper and submitted for validation by the team. )

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

The devs didn't title this thread, and @datiswous said they're attempting to mislead people by using Russell's name and a retro style to make it resemble Thief, which is cynical. I grew up on forums like I'm sure anyone who likes a game from '98 did. I actually left the Discord immediately after joining it because it was more off-topic doom-posting than anything relevant to the mod. I thought the forums might be better, but it's mostly just grown men yelling at clouds and telling strangers how mature they are, and a few brave souls actually developing anything. Depressing place, I'll just stick to enjoying new missions every 6 months without an account.

True, but, 1. this thread is called "Western stealth FPS with Stephen Russell", and, 2. nothing you said changes anything for me. The gameplay still doesn't look like something I'd enjoy. And, if you really think this forum is cynical, then you don't visit forums much. Actually, the majority of the users are are pretty mature, unlike in other forums.

@grodenglaive I think random head turning might be plausible for specific characters, if they're supposed to be paranoid for some reason. But you should let the player know in advance that they're always looking over their shoulders. I don't know if Elsevier has any reasons to be paranoid, but it could be plausible in his case. It could even be one of the reasons why Astrid had a hard time seeing him insert the safe code. The doors thing, at least some interior doors were auto-closing too. I was specifically thinking of the dinning room doors when I wrote that. I think there were more auto-closing interior doors, though. Personally, my potato doesn't have any real issues with performance in this mission. Only on the outside the frame rates drop below 60 sometimes, but never enough to make any noticeable difference to the gameplay. That said, I wonder if you could use double visportals on the outside doors. That might help, as the inner portal should close more often, without needing to close the doors. I use double portals sometimes because of that. But it needs testing to know for sure whether it helps or not. (It also requires adjusting info_locationSeparators, as they can only touch one portal). Also, the big visportal in the water that separates the front yard from the spider area seems to be always open. I wonder if having two visportals in a V shape (from the top view) instead of that one, would help closing it. Or some similar configuration that doesn't interfere with the view from the watchtower.

No, you are right, that was my mistake. Thank you for asking that, cause this would have caused me problems during beta testing as every AI must be on the same team in this mission. Anyway, this happens when both are on the same time (tested three times, each time the same result): https://streamable.com/0n3yqg This is much better...but far from perfect. During the second try the other guy returned, but did not assist his friend.

"The Threepenny Revue" https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=threepenny "I've been in the business of other peoples' valuables for as long as I can remember, so I'm no stranger to breaking and entering. But until today, I've never done a robbery on commission. I guess there's a first time for everything..." Randal Cartier, a local theater owner, thinks himself above paying protection money to the local gangs. You've been hired to prove him wrong. "The Threepenny Revue" is a first attempt at a Dark Mod Fan Mission. After playing TDM for ages and loving it, I wanted to try my hand at creating one of my own. As such, this is a short, simple, and relatively straightforward mission made to learn the ropes. The experience was very enjoyable, and I'm planning to work on another one in the future. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one. It's available now in the mission list, but in the event anybody wants or needs a backup source I'm hosting the files on my own site here. Special thanks to @Cambridge Spy, @thebigh, @Shadow, @wesp5, and @boissiere for Beta Testing and giving feedback, which helped enormously in ironing out problems in DarkRadiant

When you move/clone brushes that you have converted into func_static, you have to dmap before testing the position in game. When you convert these brushes into a model they behave like any other model and dmap is not required when testing the visuals in game.

Beta 11 Fix finished-on state auto-update was unreliable Slighty improve scanner title/author detect Tags are now named some whatever regular-version-looking thing to force GitHub to put the newest at the top

This is an intereting discussion. So, could one of the mods please move this to a separate thread as to not derail the beta testing thread. As a developer, you spend about 80% of your time just reading code. So, optimizing for readability is very important. The more information you can gather just by reading without cluttering up the code (by needless comments) the better. Hungarian notation helps immensely to quickly prase the displayed code in your brain. Yes, your IDE will show the desired information as well, but a mechanical interaction with the code is required to show it (mouse over or similar). Also, often you are tasked to do code review on webpages that don't offer these nice crossreferencing features of your IDE. Some things are objectively bad, 'though, so the respective rules preventing those things should universally be followed. For instance, much legacy code is nested extremely because at some point in time, it must have been a rule that you only have one return-point in your function (probably a c-residual). Such code is exhausting to read ("what was the else-if-condition some 1000 lines ago leading to this else-case again?") and very likely contains tons of code duplication. Today, we have the rule to only use little nesting and short if-else-clauses, to make the code easy to read and debug. If I come accross such a nested legacy function, I refactor the shit out of that function while trying to understand it, just so the next person after me doesn't have to deal with that horrible mess again.

Yeah, I don't know what to say. Rev 10383 works fine and 10384 does not. It is always reproducible for me, meaning that every time I try to reproduce it, I can reproduce it. After some more testing, I found that r_multiSamples set at 2 or 4 has the glitch most often at that viewpos. When set to 8 or 16, it is still possible but less likely. Setting r_fboResolution 2 made no difference. If com_maxFPS is set to something lower, such as 30, the glitched frames display for a longer period of time. Yeah, I also wonder if it driver dependent or GPU dependent. I discovered the glitch while using graphics drivers Mesa 22.0.5, so I updated my OS and graphics drivers to Mesa 23.3.2 today as a test, and the problem is still there. It's strange that rev 10384 exposed this problem. My machine specs and settings: Linux, Ubuntu 22.04 AMD Ryzen 9 5900X AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (Mesa 22.0.5 & Mesa 23.3.2 both exhibit the glitch) com_fixedTic 1 com_maxFPS 60 Anti-Aliasing 2x (r_multiSamples 2) The video I shared shows the viewpos. Even at the same viewpos, the glitched frame will pop in and out. I've only seen this glitch happen in this single room in Accountant 1. If I move around the room at that viewpos, I can find other view positions that also expose the glitch. Here's another viewpos for Anti-Aliasing 4x, 8x, and 16x. It requires moving the mouse slightly to get into the exact viewpos to expose the glitch. (1.7 -166.4 0.0) is not precise enough. -1460.29 1425.48 172.25 1.7 -166.4 0.0 Glitched frame (Shows the curtain texture, covering most of the frame. Also, a hint of the red carpet texture?): Good frame (Same viewpos and Anti-Aliasing settings, when the glitched frame disappeared for a moment.): (Before and after rev 10384) I wonder if this might also be related to: (Before and after rev 10384) Also, sometimes on the loading screen with Anti-Aliasing enabled, I get a glitched background, which does not show with Anti-Aliasing disabled. See left side of screenshot: I don't know if the last two examples (distorted first frame on launch & loading screen distorted background) are related, but I thought I'd mention them just in case it helps track down the issue.

With TDM 2.12, after the credits finished, the "Mission Complete" screen did not display. I found that the screen was black and I could hear my footsteps when I tried to move around. I think the reason for the mission not completing successfully was that the "Do not kill or harm allies" objective was never marked as "1 = STATE_COMPLETE" instead it was left as "0 = STATE_INCOMPLETE". Note, I didn't use noclip throughout the mission. Same as: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/18054-fan-mission-the-accountant-2-new-in-town-by-goldwell-20160509/&do=findComment&comment=458491

How about using TDM automation framework (and maybe pcem/qemu)? More info see: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/19828-automation-features-and-discussion/

Some folks have been asking about the new tdm_show_viewpos cvar and screenshot_viewpos command, so I thought I'd make an thread about it as a reference. The purpose of the cvar is to show the viewpos on the player HUD, and the purpose of the command is to add the viewpos to screenshots in order to help with troubleshooting and beta testing. Bug tracker: https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6331 tdm_show_viewpos tdm_show_viewpos is a cvar to show/hide the viewpos on the player HUD, which can be set to the following: 0 --- hide 1 --- gray font color 2 --- cyan font color screenshot_viewpos screenshot_viewpos is a command that takes a screenshot with the viewpos added to it. screenshot_viewpos screenshot_viewpos <gamma> screenshot_viewpos can be typed at the console or bound to a key. The "gamma" is an optional argument, which as of 2.12 Beta is the r_ambientGamma value. Some mission authors prefer to have screenshots (from players) that are brighter, so they can see what is in the screenshot more easily. Setting the "gamma" argument is a convenient way to temporarily adjust the gamma just for the duration of the screenshot. For example, I have the following bound: bind "F12" "screenshot" bind "F11" "screenshot_viewpos" bind "F10" "screenshot_viewpos 1.3"