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Excellent FM Ansome! It's a really tense one that's for sure. High quality alround. Worked brilliantly with the recent new Darkmod and my framerate was hitting max fps @ 144 with my gfx card and processor barely getting warm. I could not wait to get the hell out of there Thanks for all your hard work and to all those who helped you. I hope you make another one - bigger, creepier

In the interest of preventing the loss of investigations and mapping work, does anyone have a prefab of the dynamic moonlight map that SteveL made a while back? All the download links are dead, but here is a link to the thread:

I can't wait to try this, Lovecraft's works are one of my top favourites all time, so glad to know there's more than one author who is inspired by it. I never got the chance to read "The Terrible Old Man", but I did read "The Picture in the House". I have this good memory of playing Neverwinter Nights, somebody made a fantastic module about the work I just mentioned, "The Picture in the House", it's actually what inspired me to read it. Let's see how influential this mission will be!

Let's run a test. Peeking through keyholes is a core functionality. For it to work mappers must manually setup target doors accordingly. A few maps make use of this functionality. The mod expands the functionality (in a different way) to any door. Download the mission Seeking Lady Leicester and load it. Approach the one door, crouch and lean forward on the keyhole. You should see the street outside. Does it work?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me/us, @uyvie ! I am not familiar with the Steam Deck but it is good to know TDM works on portable devices. The TDM's autocommands.cfg file allows you to set hotkeys automatically (among other things) and you probably want to check how it works and see if you can set your preferred key bindings there. The Modpack includes an autocommands.cfg file with some examples. You definitely should see something and if you don't it is safe to say the peek does not work on the Steam Deck. The non-modded peek apparently does not work on Linux either so something is amiss somewhere

@snatcher I understand that when you feel your work doesn't live up to your goals that you don't want it out in the wild advertising your own perceived shortcomings but that leads to a troubling dilemma of authors who are never satisfied with their work offering fleeting access to their in-progress designs then rescinding them or allowing them to be lost. When I was a member of Doom3world forums, I would often see members do interesting experiments and sometimes that work would languish until someone new would examine it and pickup the torch. This seemed like a perfectly viable system until Doom3world was killed by spambots and countless projects and conceptual works were lost. I guess what I am trying to say is that mods don't need to be perfect to be valuable. If they contain some grain of a useable feature they might be adapted by mission authors in custom scenarios. They might offer instructive details that others trying to achieve the same results can examine. It would be great if known compelling works were kept somewhere safe other than via forum attachments and temporary file sharing sites. I suppose we used to collect such things in our internal SVN for safe keeping but even that isn't always viable. If folks would rather not post beta or incomplete mods to TDM's Moddb page, perhaps they would consider creating their own Moddb page or allow them to be added to my page for safe keeping. Please don't look at this as some sort of pressure campaign or anything. I fully understand anyone not willing to put their name next to something they aren't fully happy with. As a general proviso, ( if possible \ permitted ) I just want to prevent the loss of some valuable investigations and formative works. The end of Doom3world was a digital apocalypse similar to the death of photobucket. It is one of my greatest fears that TDM will become a digital memory with only the skeletons of old forum threads at the wayback archive site.

I'd love some criticism, thank you! I'm very glad that you got super absorbed into this FM's atmosphere, I loved reading your theories about the story! Your criticism about the readables/story is entirely valid and highlights an element that is most often criticized about Lovecraft's work: you rarely get straight answers or a clear picture of the greater threat. I encourage you to read the original "The Terrible Old Man" (all of H.P. Lovecraft's works are in the public domain and readable online), as you'll get an idea of how short and vague the source material was as well as the careful moves I had to make to not show my hand too much when constructing the narrative. Whether or not I kept in line with Lovecraft's principles is for others to judge, but I'm glad your imagination went wild with this FM! Your curiosity regarding what the bottles are, what the purpose of the little statuettes is, and immersion into the story from what little breadcrumbs I planted gave me a smile from ear to ear. Thanks, Bergante!

I haven't played the mission yet, so, I can't comment on it. Regarding the criticism: I think it should also be allowed to note some things you saw as points of criticism. Actually, IMO, negative criticism is better than positive, because it points out what you maybe didn't think through thoroughly, or you simply didn't see when you created the mission on your own. I'm aware that there is a lot of work involved, and people do it in their spare time for their own or other people's pleasure. But, that really shouldn't be a reason to praise everything to the skies. Actually, I've seen my fair share of average missions which have been totally overrated. Again, that shouldn't knock anynone's work, and, I have no idea how this mission is. Just wanted to point out that noting negative things shouldn't be taken as discouraging, but rather the opposite. I've seen some mission authors for Dark Mod going from average to absolutely fantastic missions, because they learned what it takes to make good missions. It's an art, and obviously takes time to perfect.

It occurred to me that, by now, this package goes well beyond mere bugfixes by including a range of gameplay changes (i.e. adding the ability to frob-extinguish oil candles, which isn't a bug that was patched). Maybe players would have a better idea of what this package does if it had a more fitting name, similar to how Snatcher calls his work a modpack? In other communities the term "unofficial patch" is typically associated with collections of community fixes to bugs that exist in the core game and were never addressed by the devs. Most players would therefore expect an "unofficial patch" to provide them the same experience as originally intended by the devs, but without technical problems.

Hi Ansome What a nice surprise kopfrkingl had just now told what could have been my statement . (but mine has some Criticism) I´m not a modder myself and it seems your first mission , and I can feel with how much work / intention / ambition and love you´ve finished this one !!! Atmosphere and design are wonderful, only the house is a bit tubular and I am happy you offered “The terrible old man” to us Please : keep on going ! Like somebody once said : yes you can ! Sometimes - with a little help from your friends (here are plenty around) I hope you´re ready and fine with/for some Criticism i´ll put it in spoilers - so you don´t need to read it every time you come up

Congrats on the release! Remember to check ThiefGuild as well as the DarkFate forums (via Google Translate) for additional feedback.

Nice mission! I really enjoyed all the lighting, and had fun solving the mystery. Good work!

So when you build a mission and want an automap integrated (at some point) it's best to name your info locations in a way that they are easilly integrated into the automap gui file. Also grouping them together and/or applying them to different layers. This is if not every info location is one specific location on the map and also not every location is visible on the automap (like secret area's for example). Having to figure out what info_locations match which area's on the map afterwards is a lot more work. Btw. I found that this guide shows an entity defenition, but doesn't say you have to add the entity as well. This confused me at first.

So yeah it's indeed a lot of work, but it's cool to get it working at least (mission The Hare in the Snare):

Congratulations on the release! You've put a lot of work into this, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

If by this you mean a series of missions in one pack, like the recent Thief Gold Black Parade campaign I'm a billion percent for this!! No offence to DM FM creators, I know one mission takes a lot of hard work, but I'm fed up of the 'one mission and out' type of missions to be honest. I crave a proper story for once with a series of missions and stuff, not just random associate says steal thing because reasons, oh and you have to steal all this loot but you can't spend it.

I think only in your last mission it could be useful though. In Plain Sight doesn't have a map I think. It's interesting, I might give it a try. It's not actually so hard it seems. You just have to create a layer for every location that you paint over the map, making it semi-transparant in a specific color (in fm A House Of Locked Secrets it's light-blue), or maybe that isn't need, because it could be specified in the gui file I think. Then you have to export all layers as seperate files. Krita has an export command for this and Paintdotnet a plugin. Then you have to specify all the files with the correct (info-)locations in a gui file. I wonder if this could be scripted.. Edit: So it's not very difficult, but just a lot of work.

And btw I'm not against using both shadow systems, I just think that supporting two systems, is more work, but if the TDM engine team is okay with that, then go for it they have my full support, for what is worth. I just personally don't like that shadow maps are being pushed back is all. But you guys do what you want, this should be a mission makers decision, I'm just a "customer" I will have no choice but accept what you guys decide.

I think this will always be a divide. Engine coders will want a universal behavior that acts the same way across all missions. So if we want to offer the additional benefits of Shadow Maps, we will need to break lots of missions and then work to fix them. Mappers will probably want material or entity flags that force these behaviors so that they can force usage where they prefer. I think defaulting to consistent with Stencil rules is a good idea. Maybe this is a good case for using mission.cfg and have it force the cvars to enable the features?

I figured this was only done to avoid missions breaking if they add their own stuff. Checking out the link above it doesn't seem to work with init scripts where most of the changes of the patch are. If I rename the tdm_user_addons file I get an redeclaring user_addon_init error and if I rename that, all the patch scripts are gone. So what am I doing wrong here?

Switching systems is a longer term time and effort investment than a way to compile a program. Especially because I am willing to invest some time learning linux. Mint, probably. I don't have any strong preferences, I just want something reliable and low maintenance, where I can focus on work.

Changelog of 2.13 development: dev17042-10732 * Restored ability to create cvars dynamically, fixing bow in missions (5600). * Fixed issue where .cfg files were saved every frame (5600). * Added sys.getcvarf script event for getting float value of cvar (6530). * Extracted most of constants from weapon scripts into cvars (6530). dev17035-10724 * Support passing information between game and briefing/debriefing GUI via persistent info. Also changed start map & location selection, added on_mission_complete script callback (6509 thread). * New bumpmapped environment mapping is now default (6354). * New behavior of zero sound spawnarg is not default (6346). * Added sound for "charge post" model (6527). * Major refactoring of cvars system to simplify future changes (5600). Known issues: * Bow does not shoot in some missions (only in this dev build): thread dev17026-10712 * Nested subviews (mirrors, remotes, sky, etc.) now work properly (6434). * Added GUI debriefing state on mission success (6509 thread). * Sound argument override with zero now works properly under cvar (6346 thread). * Environment mapping is same on bumpy and non-bumpy surfaces under cvar (6354 thread). * Default console font size reduced to 5, added lower bound depending on resolution. * Added high-quality versions of panel_carved_rectangles (6515). * Added proper normal map for stainglass_saint_03 (6521). * Fixed DestroyDelay warning when closing objectives. * Fixed the only remaining non-threadsafe cvar (5600). * Minor optimization of depth shader. * Added cm_allocator debug cvar (6505). * Fixed r_lockView when compass is enabled. dev17008-10685 * Enabled shadow features specific to maps implementation (poll). * Auto-detect number of parallel threads to use in jobs system (6503). * Improved parallel images loading, parallelized sounds loading, optimized EAS (6503). * Major improvements in mission loading progress bar (6503). * Core missions are now stored uncompressed in assets SVN (6498). * Deleted a lot of old rendering code under useNewRenderPasses + some cleanup (6271). dev16996-10665 * Environment mapping supports texcoord transforms on bumpmap (6500). * Fully disabled shadows on translucent objects (6490). * Fixed dmap making almost axis-aligned visportals buggy (6480). * com_maxFps no longer quantizes by milliseconds on Windows 8+. * Now Uncapped FPS and Vsync are ON by default. * Supported Vsync control on Linux. * Added set of prototype materials (thread). * Fixes to Stone font to remove stray pixels (post). * Loot candlestick no longer toggle the candle when taken. * Optimized volumetric lights and shadows in the new Training Mission (4352). * Fixed frob_light_holder_toggle_light on entities with both skin_lit and skin_unlit. * Now combination lock supports non-door entities by activating them. * Added low-poly version of hedge model (6481). * Added tiling version of distant_cityscape_01 texture (6487). * Added missing editor image for geometric02_red_end_HD (6492). * Added building_facades/city_district decal material. * Fixed rendering with "r_useScissor 0" (6349). * Added r_lockView debug rendering cvar (thread). * Fixed regression in polygon trace model (5887). * Added a set of lampion light entityDefs.

Not so much that they chose not to use it, but that's it's extra work on top of what's likely to be a monumental amount of work already.

I took a quick look at the training mission and I didn't notice many changes in the first place. Some new windows on walls that didn't have them, but was something gameplay related changed? I found there are still a lot of unique items missing in the object handling section which I added in my patch for example. The main issue I have with the TDM training mission hasn't been tackled, namely that it isn't a mission at all, just a loose collection of tutorial areas. Which is fine when you want come back and re-train something, but bad if you want new players to have fun discovering TDM! Yes, the two campaign missions try to do the latter, but in other games the training/tutorial is done much better in a linear fashion (e.g. Half-Life and Opposing Force) or is even integrated in a story (Bloodlines and many others). It would probably be a lot of work, but maybe it would be possible to modify the training mission, so it represents a linear sequence in which you learn one basic principle after another while actually playing a mission that is has a story and is fun! If you really think people are going to replay it, maybe shortcuts could be added to the single areas. Right now all areas start from a central room, maybe they could be connected so that there is one way where you enter a door and go around the whole room to exit at the end? (If people agree, that the training mission should be changed, maybe we should open a new thread for this discussion.)

TDM Modpack v4.0 This new version of the Modpack is intended to be a long-term release. The Modpack is mature and stable enough to stay for some time how it is today, right where I want it to be: the foundation on which you build your favorite set of Mods for The Dark Mod. Good care was put to make sure the mods included in the Modpack stay true to TDM and neither the missions nor the gameplay are altered in any relevant way. Yes, we have more tools and skills at our disposal but it is up to you, the player, to make use of them or not. Play The Dark Mod your way. Compatible with 2.12 ONLY If you have previous versions of the Modpack I suggest you start fresh: disable and delete old mods. Use the mods included in version 4.0 from now on. TDM 2.12 introduces a great new feature and we can now have different mods from different sources running in parallel. Thanks @MirceaKitsune for pushing! Thanks @Dragofer for opening this door! What's more for 2.12 internal resources for mods have doubled and we can now load more mods than ever before and we are grateful for this! Thank you, @stgatilov! What's new in version 4.0? Starting with this release I am getting rid of the individual versioning and all mods are now at the same version (4.0 in this case). "TDM Modpack" is now the name of the project and the previous main "pack" has been split into two standalone mods: "Core Essentials" and the "Skill Upgrade". (The Skills are further split into their own packages and if you don't want a particular skill just look for the relevant pk4 and remove it). SHOULDERING BOOST - Decommissioned In TDM 2.12 we can now mantle while carrying bodies and the "Shouldering Boost" mod is no longer relevant and it has been decommissioned. In this new release of TDM we can also mantle while carrying objects therefore double thanks to @Daft Mugi for these quality of life improvements. Truly appreciated, thanks! SIMPLE SUBTITLES - New! Work on the subtitles is in progress and for the next version of TDM it is expected that players will be able to customize how subs are displayed on screen but until then, this new standalone mod offers an alternative for players looking for a rather simplistic presentation. Enable "Simple Subtitles", go to the audio settings and set the scope you prefer: Story [default]: Story only On: Story and general speech (Give it a try!) Off: Disable subtitles You can find more details of the mod in the opening post or in the readme included in the download. We must thank @Geep, @datiswous and @stgatilov (among other contributors) for the good work on the subtitles so far! Well done, guys! SMART OBJECTS - Present and Future Sometimes it is difficult to tell if an object is being held or not and the "Smart Objects" mod (now part of "Core Essentials") gets a little update and whenever you manipulate an object three dots [...] are displayed on screen: These three dots are a placeholder for real names, something I plan on addressing as a separate mod in the coming weeks... Here is the relevant topic: Nameless objects... a missed opportunity Stay tuned. INVENTORY MENU - Reworked The TDM user interface suffers from gigantism in some areas and the inventory menu has been re-worked and it is now delivered in a more compact format: The menu is 15% smaller and while the text has the same size as before item names are sometimes cut and I added a tip at the bottom to make sure the full name is always available. The updated menu is part of the "Core Essentials" mod. MINOR TWEAKS In each release of the Modpack I always tweak something and in for 4.0 I changed many things internally. You shouldn't notice any of the changes but it is worth giving the improved Whistle Skill a try... Here is the full changelog: • v4.0 New release - Major reorganization and global revision: Compatible with TDM 2.12. - All mods now share the same version (4.0 in this case). - Previous "Modpack" split into "Core Essentials" and the "Skill Upgrade". - Skill mods presented in their own, standalone pk4. - CORE ESSENTIALS: New, re-worked inventory menu. - CORE ESSENTIALS: New high mantle sound for our protagonist. - CORE ESSENTIALS - LOOT ANIMATIONS: Added scroll animation for paintings. - CORE ESSENTIALS - SMART OBJECTS: Display onscreen a subtle signal (...) when holding an item. - CORE ESSENTIALS - SHOULDERING BOOST: Mod decommissioned (alternative included in TDM 2.12) - SKILL UPGRADE - MANIPULATION: Improved script, smaller footprint. - SKILL UPGRADE - DISTRACTION: New approach (again). - HUNTER BOW: Increased radius of gas arrow effect. - BASIC SUBTITLES: Initial release. That's pretty much it for now. Thanks site admins, developers, mappers, modders and members of the community but more importantly, thank you taffer, for playing and supporting The Dark Mod. The download can be found in the opening post. Cheers!