So, what are you working on right now?

[thebigh]

The warning sign and two skulls on a spike are surely a polite suggestion not to go in there.

[Geep]

But yet, you must

[geegee]

It seems like I'm at the finishing stages of my first WIP.  I have to add an overriding caveat that in the end I might not think the mission should be released at all. 

It's a large mission - probably too large to be a first mission, regardless of how "done" it might appear on the surface.  The reason:  I discovered how, as missions grow in size, so also they grow in not only technical complexity, which at least can be handled by perseverance and a bit of luck haywiring parts together, but also in the need for developing depth, as in characterization, cohesion, etc., so that it becomes more interesting rather than less as the mission is played through. And that's where I'm hitting a wall.

All the architecture, objectives, pathing, lighting etc. is done.  I'm still working on ambient sound.  There are no conversations.  I'm unable to supply them.   In lieu of conversations I've been using different light/sound effects etc. to enhance the moments of ai/player interaction where conversations are usually found.  This works to a significant degree.  The problem is that the AI, on whatever path it's at, is indifferent.

I would like at least as much control of AI as required to get it to -->STFU<-- while the events are happening, then to resume its idle banter.  I've tried using S/R to change spawnarg def_vocal_set from e.g. atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_civilian_01 to atdm:ai_vocal_set_mute, then back again, but I can't get it to work. I don't know how to write a script that'll do such a thing - and can find no info on that particular.  Changing def_vocal_set works on an AI if I set the spawnarg permanently at game start.  But I can't figure out how to swap the spawnarg in game.

I've tried calling a fake conversation with a atdm:conversation_info and the actors all told to WaitSeconds NN, hoping that would shut them up.  That didn't work.

So OK, enough complaining- I need help.  Just pointers to any detailed info on how to do this.  How to even begin to do this.  Hopefully with none of the critical steps left out because "everyone should already know...".  Because I confess:  I'm too fucking stupid to know any such thing.

Edited October 5, 2021 by geegee

[Dragofer]

15 hours ago, geegee said:

There are no conversations.  I'm unable to supply them.

I actually posted on Discord recently about where numerous voice actors for Thief & TDM missions can be found. Since you didn't name a reason I assume it's because you didn't know where/how to find them:

As for what you're trying to achieve without conversations - I'd suppose you could carry out the whole scene via the conversation system, i.e. tell actors to walk to x, then wait/look at something for x seconds etc. Maybe Goldwell/Kingsal/JackFarmer have more hands on experience with the vagaries of the conversation system... but yeah, the best way to get AIs not to say random stuff is to give them something to say.

 

[geegee]

6 hours ago, Dragofer said:

the best way to get AIs not to say random stuff is to give them something to say.

Thanks Dragofer.  So I'll dedicate my next editing sessions to mastering the conversation system - using dummy files when necessary.

There're many reasons why I'm reluctant to call for voice volunteers.  Voice acting is intense work, a lot to ask for.  It's my first FM and I wouldn't be comfortable doing that until some experienced mapper has actually looked at it, delivered a critique and maybe pointed out any fixes that might be needed first (I don't mean like z-fighting fixes etc., but game-flow fixes that I might be blind to.) There're other reasons but that's the major one.  I haven't earned the right to make such a request, yet.

ps. and damn but some ... succeeded in hacking my laptop and PC, grabbing all my passwords including to my bank.  Luckily I was online posting the above note to the TDM forum etc. when it happened so quickly caught on and started shutting things down.  They did come close to breaking into my bank acc't tho'.   Kinda hair raising..

Edited October 5, 2021 by geegee

[jaxa]

21 minutes ago, geegee said:

ps. and damn but some ... succeeded in hacking my laptop and PC, grabbing all my passwords including to my bank.  Luckily I was online posting the above note to the TDM forum etc. when it happened so quickly caught on and started shutting things down.  They did come close to breaking into my bank acc't tho'.   Kinda hair raising..

Start using two-factor authentication for the bank and email if you can. Change passwords, keep some of them on paper if necessary.

I wonder how you got hacked.

[geegee]

58 minutes ago, jaxa said:

I wonder how you got hacked

I think it was a remoteAdmin trojan thing that wrote a loginscript to the registry.  

I've been on the net since before Mosaic browser blew everyone away and have never been hacked.  At first taking internet security quite seriously I then got very lax, sleepy, not accounting for how the net was rapidly taking over the world, shopping, banking, stuff like docusign, everything.  I left myself wide open.  

[Bienie]

Thought I'd post some teaser shots for CoS 0: To Catch a Thief. Still WIP of course, but I'm thinking release before the end of the year. It's going to take place just east of where CoS 2 was set, and a few months earlier.

[Geep]

I just added a new "Framed Art" page to the wiki, giving an intro to the TDM framed painting system.

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Framed_Art

I thought the basics need to be on the wiki first, before maybe talking about how to customize with new art a la Away0.

[Geep]

One thing I wasn't able to figure out for the wiki post was the use case for the painting models with the "_tearable" suffix. By default, these are empty frames with little scraps of stuff at edges and corners. But if you change the skin to real art, you just see the art unmodified (as if this was a painting model without the _tearable suffix). Maybe at one time it would look torn, but doesn't now in 2.09?

Or maybe this model is something to use with the "replace" spawnarg for lootables? If so, I'd like to know of an example of anyone doing that.

EDIT: Figured it out, will update the wiki soon

EDIT2: Done, now with considerable more content.

Edited October 13, 2021 by Geep

[thebigh]

I spent the evening wrestling with two different problems. First, I made a hideous oversight when I was planning the layout of my level. There's an area in the skyline that really needs a visportal and I'd planned it with a visp in the arch beneath it, while forgetting the area above needs sealing too to avoid frame rates plummeting and sound propagating all over the damn place. So now I have an enormously gigantic visportal, ugly, twisted, and slanted in all three dimenions but razor thin cutting through a bunch of worldspawn roofs that are now also slightly taller than I'd envisioned. And for the longest time it would seal when I was looking directly at it but finally I got it to function right. Oh well. At least I got away with it.

Second, there's a little detail I'd like to draw the player's eye to, but I don't want to make it too obvious. I tried subtle little light entity highlights, slight rearrangement of the surrounding torches, but nothing really worked. The little detail was either still too unnoticeable or it stuck out like a very obvious sore thumb. So sleep-deprived me finally hit on the idea of giving the guard patrolling there a purse to steal. The longer the player spends studying his patrol route for an opportunity to rob him, the better chance they have of spotting this little feature.

[Geep]

In time for Halloween... Away 0: Stolen Heart now gets a pocket mausoleum. (Just a little doo-dad to complete the new flying buttresses installed to boost performance.)

[Geep]

Away 0: Stolen Heart is now released!

[Geep]

Updates to the "Doors" wiki entry:

• Under "Auto-Closing/Opening Doors" : Collapsed long text block of older method no longer recommended.
• Broke out & expanded: "Allowing the Player to Interrupt Door Motion"
• Corrected default rotation speed, and revised text, in "Speed of Door Opening and Closing"
• Added new section near end: "Alternative Method: Door with a Separate Lock Plate"
• Added new section: "Controlling Door by Scripting"

Edited November 17, 2021 by Geep
Added 5th bullet

[Geep]

Added a new wiki page "Video Cutscene Creation", as well as a section "Patches and Terrain" to the end of the "Patches" page. The latter is short, mainly organized pointers to useful content.

[datiswous]

On 10/29/2021 at 9:40 PM, Geep said:

Away 0: Stolen Heart now gets a pocket mausoleum.

Was this added? I have not seen it..

[Geep]

5 hours ago, datiswous said:

Was this added? I have not seen it..

In the rear, between the kennel and Four Flags buildings, there's now a door...

[Geep]

Yet another wiki page added: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Force_Fields

[Dragofer]

8 minutes ago, Geep said:

Yet another wiki page added: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Force_Fields

Thanks! Some others and I were just reading that article some days ago, so we can definitely appreciate the overhaul that went into this article.

[Geep]

@Dragofer, I'm wondering what template tags to give to this page, besides the usual "Editing". I'm tempted to add "Physics", but are force fields really considered part of the physics engine?

[Dragofer]

1 hour ago, Geep said:

@Dragofer, I'm wondering what template tags to give to this page, besides the usual "Editing". I'm tempted to add "Physics", but are force fields really considered part of the physics engine?

I'd say they most definitely are dealing with the physics engine.

[Geep]

16 minutes ago, Dragofer said:

I'd say they most definitely are dealing with the physics engine.

Now tagged with "Physics"

[Geep]

Here's another new wiki page: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=A_Full-Screen_Slide_in_Mid-Game

As you can see, I'm cleaning out my "attic" of a number of draft wiki articles from the last year or 2. At least the ones that just need to be finalized. This one shows some GUI examples and related scripting.

Can just barely write this post... still in a food coma from Thanksgiving dinner.

[jonri]

I'm really digging the cabinet1 extension pack, the new pieces really tie the room together! With one month left in the challenge, I'm not sure I'll get everything the way I want it, but I'm aiming for at least beta quality with the primary objectives.

 

 

[demagogue]

21 hours ago, Geep said:

Here's another new wiki page: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=A_Full-Screen_Slide_in_Mid-Game

 

Re: "...by Doom creator John Cormac."

Eh, would he be any relation to Doom creator John Carmack?

You made me have to dig out my old wiki username and password for that one.