Dark Mod is incredible!

[6912]

I just wanna tell you guys who made Dark Mod that your work is really impressive. I can't find the words to express how surprised I am to see such a complex product made only from passion. If I wouldn't see it with my own eyes I'd never believe somebody telling me that this is not created by a company that spent huge amount of money to get it done.

 

And I haven't even played any mission, I'm in training...

[Tels]

I just wanna tell you guys who made Dark Mod that your work is really impressive. I can't find the words to express how surprised I am to see such a complex product made only from passion. If I wouldn't see it with my own eyes I'd never believe somebody telling me that this is not created by a company that spent huge amount of money to get it done.

 

And I haven't even played any mission, I'm in training...

 

Glad you enjoy it Makes the hard work we put into it worth it!

[Fidcal]

Thanks - you're gonna need that training 6912. Better get busy practicing your stealth techniques, lockpicking, roping, mantling, blackjacking, etc.etc. you'll need 'em all.

[PranQster]

Thanks - you're gonna need that training 6912. Better get busy practicing your stealth techniques, lockpicking, roping, mantling, blackjacking, etc.etc. you'll need 'em all.

 

And to add to that. Once you get those techniques down in The Dark Mod, the games it is inspired by will seem as easy as child's play.

I have to be careful when playing TDM because I still play Thief and Thief2... too easy to get caught and killed in The Dark Mod when compared to those 2.

[nbohr1more]

@Thread Topic

 

Yes it is

[6912]

When I said TDM is incredible I was only playing the training mission. Now I'm trying a real mission... and I can't believe what I'm seeing! You guys made a better game than most commercial ones! So many characters, so many objects, so much detail, great AI, it's breathtaking. I can harly play the mission, I keep looking around at the complexity and realism of each scene. Some rooms are simply a work of art.

 

If there would be a contest for fan made material for any game or software product you'd win!

[bambini]

If there would be a contest for fan made material for any game or software product you'd win!

 

There is. They didn't. But they should have

[Komag]

Popularity contests don't usually reflect actual quality - there is some correlation, but not a lot

[ungoliant]

quality, popularity, and attention span are definitely directly correlated. If you view attention span as a constant, as you raise the quality level linearly above the attention span constant, the popularity drops off exponentially.

 

this is, of course, assuming certain criteria of the word 'quality'. For instance, most of us here do not view quantity of 3rd person zombie decapitation animations as a quality factor. (Eidos, take notice for DX3).

[6912]

unfortunately, it's true, quality and popularity are not really linked...

 

see windows vs linux, or for older guys who used msdos, norton commander vs any other file manager, commercial or freeware

[Fidcal]

Well if you're talking Dos file managers don't forget Xtree which I lived in for years. I still use Ztree quite often in Vista when I need to pass varied arguments or do special filtering or batch work. Dunno about popularity but they are so versatile and useful while Explorer is still rather limited (only marginally improved over the years.)

[6912]

Well if you're talking Dos file managers don't forget Xtree which I lived in for years. I still use Ztree quite often in Vista when I need to pass varied arguments or do special filtering or batch work. Dunno about popularity but they are so versatile and useful while Explorer is still rather limited (only marginally improved over the years.)

 

I never use explorer, it's like a toy. Currently I prefer FAR. Has anybody here tried this one?

[Melan]

see windows vs linux, or for older guys who used msdos, norton commander vs any other file manager, commercial or freeware

I must take exception with this. After the alternatives became available, Dos Navigator was the superior choice in all respects.

 

Today, it is Total (a.k.a. Windows) Commander.

[Fidcal]

One look at a Far Manager screenshot and I can tell you that it IS Xtree (later Ztree) rebadged. So yes, Ztree is the one I use on occasion. I used it when converting many of the fonts for Dark Mod (just to keep on topic .) My brother still uses it all the time instead of Explorer. I remember using it for a big batch job when I had to extract all the custom stuff from my 4-mission Thief pack from the rest of the Thief and DedeX assets. In your face Explorer!

 

I did try an alternate Windows file manager; not sure now which one. It was better but it wouldn't work with all plug-ins. In particular DirKey which provides folder bookmarks by right clicking the X close button at top right. This no longer works in Vista anyway (though it still works in most open/close dialogs) so maybe I'll look again at what is available. The Total screenshots look good.

 

BTW 6912, I was wondering why your user name seemed so familiar. Now I remember. It's the length of screen memory on my old computer the ZX Spectrum. Will I ever forget 16384,6912? Well I nearly did.

[6912]

I must take exception with this. After the alternatives became available, Dos Navigator was the superior choice in all respects.

 

Today, it is Total (a.k.a. Windows) Commander.

 

oh yeah... i have used dos navigator for years, even in windows 95

 

a nice file manager that was a .com shorter than 64KB, volkov commander, was still better than the huge & stupid norton commander

[6912]

BTW 6912, I was wondering why your user name seemed so familiar. Now I remember. It's the length of screen memory on my old computer the ZX Spectrum. Will I ever forget 16384,6912? Well I nearly did.

 

you got me

 

it's so easy to spot a real programmer, you don't have to give him a full computer test, just ask him something like this, or for younger ones something like "how does a computer express -2 in hexa?"

[bambini]

quality, popularity, and attention span are definitely directly correlated. If you view attention span as a constant, as you raise the quality level linearly above the attention span constant, the popularity drops off exponentially.

That all depends. Take Starbucks for instance. Why are they everywhere? Because, say what you will about the company itself, it's hard to deny that they make damn fine coffee. Why are iPods so popular? Because when it comes to large capacity for low price, they are by far the best quality mp3 players (I'm largely referring to the iPod classic - I'm well aware that there are better alternatives to the smaller iPods such as the nano and the shuffle).

 

this is, of course, assuming certain criteria of the word 'quality'. For instance, most of us here do not view quantity of 3rd person zombie decapitation animations as a quality factor. (Eidos, take notice for DX3).

 

Ah, the philosophical question of the nature of quality. We know when something is of a high quality, and making judgements of quality is a fundamental part of making sense of our environment, but it's hard to define what quality is. For instance, if someone hears two songs, they would be able to say which is the better quality one. But if you asked why, they would more often than not be unable to say. See Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance for more details

[Dunedain]

ungoliant is quite right. The Thief games are of excellent quality, no doubt about that, and have been successful in terms of sales. The problem is that most gamers simply do not have the attention span, and probably in many cases, the intellectual sophistication, required to appreciate the refined and subtle gameplay in a game like Thief. It's a game that requires patience, keen observation skills, clever thinking, precise and methodical infiltration and exfiltration techniques, etc.

 

Many gamers simply don't have the attention span to focus on anything that requires that much thinking (whether it's a game or anything else). They'd rather just play a game on rails like Modern Warfare 2, with little or no thinking required. So those games tend to be more popular with the masses, but certainly not necessarily of higher quality.

[6912]

the discrepancy between quality and popularity is created by money, unfortunately

 

the most popular products are not usually the best, but best advertised

[demagogue]

I had some cool moments in-game today, and rather than start a new thread I thought this was a good place to report them.

 

Playing the city mission of No Honor Among Thieves, I just love hitting a patrol from a distance with an arrow, but especially while he's in or around water... If it's a mortal shot, he'll topple into the water with a splash. In another place (the caves) a lethal arrow-shot threw a bad guy back onto the sloping wall and he gently slid down into the water. It's just so cool to watch.

 

And in another place I hit a guard with a gas arrow, which alerted his friend to run up ... right into the gas cloud to knock himself out.

 

Nothing really new or out of the ordinary, but just reminds me how cool some things in TDM are sometimes.

[aidakeeley]

And still they build for that T2...

[Fidcal]

I can add to that: while playing Glenham I hit an unaware zombie with a holy arrow and he kind of sagged against a side wall and slowly crumbled down to a semi-kneeling position with his head against the wall. There he remained. It could not have been scripted better.

[BrokenArts]

Welcome to the forum 6912, if you give it the time and patience The Dark Mod needs, you'll be in for many hours of fun. The Dark Mod and Thief are thinking games, unlike no other, and very few that are out there today.

Hope you enjoy yourself, if you need help, you know where to find us.

[jaxa]

And still they build for that T2...

 

Heheh. But T2 has better performance on the real complicated stuff, and more established content from the OMs and FMs.

 

TDM needs its killer missions. Missions like

 

No Honor Among Thieves, The Flying Age, CoSaS Mission X, Hammerite Imperium, Lord Alan's Factory, Dracula Reloaded, King's Story, Pirates Ahoy, Broken Triad, bla bla blah

 

They'll go a long way in proving what can be done with TDM.

[Sotha]

I can add to that: while playing Glenham I hit an unaware zombie with a holy arrow and he kind of sagged against a side wall and slowly crumbled down to a semi-kneeling position with his head against the wall. There he remained. It could not have been scripted better.

 

I would have loved to see a screenshot from that..

 

@jaxa:

Heheh. But T2 has better performance on the real complicated stuff, and more established content from the OMs and FMs.

But no ragdoll physics and realistic lightning and other modern goodies. Also, I am not a dromedeer but I've understood that DR is far better.

 

TDM needs its killer missions.

Currently we have a pool of mappers who are honing their skills even as we type. You cannot make a killer mission without proper mapping technique and experience to know what will work and what is fun. I do not think we are very far from getting those serious killer missions out. Maybe the next mapping contest: make a killer mission.