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TDM Pre-Release Testers Wanted

greebo

By greebo
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greebo

greebo

Posted
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I'm looking for a hand full of people who like to test the upcoming TDM version 1.03.

 

Basically, you'll get your hands on the most recent release candidate package and your job is to playtest some of the existing FMs to spot anything that might be breaking the mission in the new version, like objectives problems, missing models, broken textures, black boxes. Nobody needs to play all released missions, that's why we want several people to share the "workload".

 

This is nothing for newcomers or players who just want to enjoy the game. Ideally, testers are familiar with TDM's mechanics already and can tell when they run into something which hasn't been in the previous releases. Testers should also be familiar with their TDM setup - people who have problems to get TDM to run on their systems in the first place won't have fun setting up the new version in a side-by-side installation (something you might want to do). Testers should also have the nerves to play through a mission multiple times to test whether an issue is there on more than one difficulty setting or whether a problem has been fixed in a new release candidate package.

 

So in short, if you're...

 

- ...interested in doing some playtesting and bugreporting for us.

- ...familiar with setting up TDM (or even multiple TDM installations)

- ...have the necessary bandwidth (a few hundred MBs at least)

 

please let me know.

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Mr Mike

Mr Mike

Posted
Posted

Hi greebo. I was going to go back through a couple of missions tonight and can do this with 1.03 if you'd like. I know TDM's mechanics fairly well. I've got a modern system judging by most accounts here though a slow conn (<1MB).

 

Let me know if I can help.

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greebo

greebo

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Thanks, these are the instructions. If anyone wants to join he or she can do so by following the instructions here.

 

Disclaimer: This release candidate is for testing only, not for "regular" players. The actual TDM 1.03 is not yet released. I cannot really support anyone with setting up their release test environment. Also, I'm not going to help if anybody chooses to mess up their regular TDM installation. Just saying.

 

Now for the instructions:

 

To test this package, you'll need a special tdm_mirrors.txt file plus the command line parameter --keep-mirrors to run the tdm_update.exe.

 

  • I recommend creating an independent D3 installation for testing. Don't use your regular TDM player installation for testing the release candidate.
  • Uninstall your FM in your regular TDM setup (you're going to copy it).
  • Copy your 1.02 "darkmod" folder to that new Doom 3 directory, such that you end up with a standard D3 + TDM 1.02 setup.
  • (Optional) Create a backup copy of that darkmod folder, copy it somewhere safe in case you want to test the tdm_updater again after rolling back the changes.
  • Download the tdm_mirrors.txt from this post's attachments.
  • Save the tdm_mirrors.txt into that test darkmod folder, overwriting any file with the same name.
  • Open a DOS box (Start > Run > cmd)
  • Head to that test darkmod folder and type: tdm_update --keep-mirrors
  • This should initiate the update sequence and (ideally) download about 200 MB of files.

  • (Optional) Create a handy shortcut to the tdmlauncher in your test darkmod folder and name it so that you can't confuse it with the "regular" one.
  • Launch and make sure you see the "TDM 1.03" version string in the main menu.

Please report about your updater experience - the application was overhauled for TDM 1.03 to support differential (and therefore smaller) updates, so I'm curious how this works out.

 

Next, copy/install the FM you want to test and play it. Post the FM and difficulty you're testing before rushing off to play, to prevent that everybody is testing the same mission on the same difficulty. Try to balance the workload across testers. Play-test the FM and watch out and keep track of the difficulty levels you're playing on.

 

Post the results here - did the updater work correctly? Is it possible to complete the objectives and the missions? Any broken models that were ok in 1.02 and are missing in 1.03? Any textures missing?

 

Additional note: you can't load 1.02 savegames in the 1.03 release candidate, they're not compatible.

 

I hope the instructions are sufficient. Let me know if I missed a crucial step, I'll try to adjust these instructions then.

 

Known Issues with TDM 1.03

  • The water materials might look odd/fast/wrong. This will be looked into in TDM 1.04.
  • Some clothes models have problematic shaders, causing them to show up as black.

tdm_mirrors.txt

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lost_soul

lost_soul

Posted
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I'm currently downloading to test on Debian Linux, but I had to execute the perl command manually because the updater refused to run, even though I've installed the perl packages. It wants to download 1.7 GB! Is that okay?

--- War does not decide who is right, war decides who is left.

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STiFU

STiFU

Posted
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Lost_soul, that is not ok. The updater is supposed to update itself first and then download a much smaller differential update-package that will be incorporated into the existing pk4 archives afterwards. What you are downloading now is the complete list of altered pk4 archives between 1.02 and 1.03. Do you receive any output from the updater?

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Tels

Tels

Posted
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Yes, it said a lot of files differ and that it will fetch them. Now it has failed, saying some files are corrupt. I wonder if there's somewhere I can get the new updater, or just do this on my Windows XP box.

 

If you did run the perl updater, then:

 

* you did run the old updater. The new one is a binary, and the old updater will not work (it will update itself to the new binary one, then run this)

* you also might have forgotten to add "--keep-mirros" when running it?

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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STiFU

STiFU

Posted
Posted

@lost_soul: That's what you received from running the perl-updater manually, isn't it? My question was related to the updater that refused to run. The problem is, if the updater doesn't run, it can't update itself, hence it cannot deal with the differential package.

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Melan

Melan

Posted
Posted

I will try my hand at this. Downloading 207 MB. Also, nice to see a new interface for the updater.

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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lost_soul

lost_soul

Posted
Posted (edited)

Is there an official listing of packages that need to be installed for the updater to work? I didn't see one on the wiki, and ia32-libs doesn't apply because this is a 32-bit system. The updater complains about:

 

IO object version 1.25 does not match bootstrap parameter 1.23_01 at /usr/lib/perl/5.10/DynaLoader.pm line 219.

Edited by lost_soul

--- War does not decide who is right, war decides who is left.

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Melan

Melan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Installation proceeded fine. Testing Thief's Den with HDR lite at 1280x1024 enabled produced a weird distortion (shot brightened for visibility):

post-2023-129270808437_thumb.jpg

Turning HDR lite back off returns the mission to proper visuals. Gameplay seems normal.

 

This is not my home PC; the specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual 5600+

2 GB RAM

Radeon X1600/1650 Series

Edited by Melan

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Melan

Melan

Posted
Posted

Indeed, Catalyst AI was enabled. Turning it off, the majority of the environment renders well, but there is still the underside to this guard's tabard:

post-2023-129271043866_thumb.jpg

Turning ambient rendering from Enhanced back to Simple (pre-1.03), the rendering error disappears. I wonder if it's still on my end.

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Tels

Tels

Posted
Posted

Is there an official listing of packages that need to be installed for the updater to work? I didn't see one on the wiki, and ia32-libs doesn't apply because this is a 32-bit system. The updater complains about:

 

IO object version 1.25 does not match bootstrap parameter 1.23_01 at /usr/lib/perl/5.10/DynaLoader.pm line 219.

 

This is the old updater. Technically, you need to run the old updater, so it updates itself to the new updater, then it will run the new updatre. (did this make sense? :)

 

You can instead also try just to download and run the new updater, but greebo needs to post you a direct URL to it, I can't seem to access it.

 

(The old updater problem is due to the updater being 64bit and you have a32bit system or the reverse, I forgot).

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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lowenz

lowenz

Posted
Posted (edited)

First problem, in mission "Thieves" (directly on Doom 3 reboot):

 

 

ERROR: Error: file script/tdm_location_settings.script, line 234: too few parameters for function 'getLightInPVS'

********************

Error during initialization

Shutting down OpenGL subsystem

...wglMakeCurrent( NULL, NULL ): success

...deleting GL context: success

...releasing DC: success

...destroying window

...resetting display

...shutting down QGL

...unloading OpenGL DLL

Edited by lowenz

Task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen but to think what nobody has yet thought about that which everybody see. - E.S.

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New Horizon

New Horizon

Posted
Posted

Indeed, Catalyst AI was enabled. Turning it off, the majority of the environment renders well, but there is still the underside to this guard's tabard:

post-2023-129271043866_thumb.jpg

Turning ambient rendering from Enhanced back to Simple (pre-1.03), the rendering error disappears. I wonder if it's still on my end.

 

WOW. That's bright. lol

 

I'll look into that to see if it's happening on my end too.

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