TDM 1.04

[STiFU]

I might not even play Rttc2 as I usually can't bear replaying anything even if it's enhanced or reworked or whatever... and the other mission I'm thinking of that might get released soon is one I've also already played...

Hehe, you'd hate our pre-release testing phase then, as we try to check every FM for problems.

[Springheel]

There's not been many missions for about a year now...

 

That's a bit of an exaggeration; there have been 21 missions released in the last year.

 

Things have been a bit slow since the last contest, however, with only 4 missions released in the past 5 months. Unfortunately that's unlikely to change any time soon.

[New Horizon]

That's a bit of an exaggeration; there have been 21 missions released in the last year.

 

Yeah, I was scratching my head a bit about that comment. Almost 2 missions released per month, that's nothing to shake a stick at.

[Moon Hoplite]

I think this mod would be more popular when all the full features to make it feel like the original thief games with better graphics/physics/improvements are released (like better blackjacking), and there are less D3 engine bugs. I have an ATI card, and I hear that there are sometimes bugs/trouble running TDM with it.

 

This mod still has a better engine than TD:S (which felt extremely poorly made, and unsuited for 1st person view)

 

I like the future list of changes in the 1.05 patch so far. I also cant wait for TDM updates after the D3 source code is released.

 

Just my opinion by a bystander.

 

 

[Melan]

Did I miss that?

The whole "It is not Thief! I refuse to play it!" thing, the attempt to have discussion on the mod moved off to a subforum etc. I may be overreacting to a few people, though. And of course, I have seen much worse stuff online, but it was pretty foul by Thief fan standards.

[New Horizon]

I think this mod would be more popular when all the full features to make it feel like the original thief games with better graphics/physics/improvements are released (like better blackjacking), and there are less D3 engine bugs.

 

What additional features to make it feel more like the original Thief games? TDM was never intended to be a 1:1 recreation of Thief.

 

I would like to hear what else you feel, as a player, requires improvement for better gameplay.

 

I plan to look into blackjacking. There may be some room to relax things a bit. Although the latest 1.04 release does fix a bug where the AI were becoming harder to blackjack one alert level earlier than they were supposed to. For non-helmeted AI, when they draw a weapon(alert level 4)...the area that is blackjackable becomes smaller. If a 'helmeted' AI has a weapon drawn(alert level 4), they are immune to blackjacking. If the AI was brought to alert by an audio alert, this will be temporary and they will go back to idle, but if this was a visual alert...meaning they've clearly spotted you, then these guards will keep their weapons drawn.

 

With the bug, the AI were becoming harder or immune at level 3, which was before they drew a weapon. That means there was no visual cue to the player.

 

We'll see if there is room to make it less of a pinpoint accuracy issue, but you should not expect TDM black jacking to ever be as simplistic as the original Thief.

 

I have an ATI card, and I hear that there are sometimes bugs/trouble running TDM with it.

 

This is a problem with the Catalyst AI and Bloom post processing. If Catalyst AI is 'disabled' for TDM, then there are no issues. It's a problem that ATI has been made aware of and are apparently trying to fix, since it affects Doom 3 graphics mods as well.

[Baddcog]

They need more game content on the PC because as a gaming platform, it is dieing.

 

I don't see it like that at all, but distribution is definitely changing. Steam is huge, it's online, convienant and it's great for indie studios. I don't see PC gaming dieing at all. Some companies like Eidos unfortunately feel that everything has to be portable to console for good sales, and that can have negative effects on a games sales for PC. I waited for a long time to get Assasins Creed, I finally got it and the cosole bs load/unload menu killed it for me, I've had it for over a year and can barely even handle thinking about loading it. It's horrible. If they had just made it PC friendly I think I would've enjoyed the whole game, not just the first hour until I had to unload/reload.

[Serpentine]

PC gaming is dying... and the games sales stats are increasing year on year :/

 

Watch out for that cloud over there, you don't want to be under it when it falls.

[Aprilsister]

That's a bit of an exaggeration; there have been 21 missions released in the last year

 

Yes, an exaggeration.

 

How about this... there have only been 4 missions released (according to the official site) in the last 6 months.

 

An exaggeration indeed -- but certainly more representative of the present trend than to say there have been "Almost 2 missions released per month".

Edited March 1, 2011 by Aprilsister

[New Horizon]

 

...but certainly more representative of the present trend than to say there have been "Almost 2 missions released per month".

 

It 'averages' out to almost two missions a month....just not literally. All the same, 21 missions is darn good.

[demagogue]

The number of FMs/month is just a simple factor of the pool of authors & the dev cycle, and there's just not a big pool of them now. But there's reason to think the pool will grow in the near future and the pool that is there has some lasting power. We're not going to compete with a major popular commercial title, but we've got a good little committed community going too.

[Moon Hoplite]

What additional features to make it feel more like the original Thief games? TDM was never intended to be a 1:1 recreation of Thief.

 

I would like to hear what else you feel, as a player, requires improvement for better gameplay.

 

I love the gameplay direction this mod has. I would personally just like the game to be more smooth and refined foundations, of which the original thief games had. Like AI, animations, sound, good blackjacking, acceptable sword combat etc. Nothing felt wierld or missing in the original thief games (to me).

 

It's good to hear that you guys are working on the blackjacking though.

 

For example, no missing animations/features, which would make player-guard/NPC interaction seem 'smooth'. For example, guards properly reacting to the player. If the guard only stood stiff and yelled alert and ran to you, it wouldnt seem 'right'. When civillians spot the player, they should use 'cowering' animations, yell something and run to a guard, etc. When guards patrol they should be slightly hunched, and not walk with perfect posture (how tiring would that be).

 

Some things I'd like to see be added are guards with big hammers using 2 handed combat. and some more magical potions.

 

 

 

It's kinda hard to explain for me, so sorry if it isn't clear what Im writing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PC gaming isnt dying. It would be the last platform to die if gaming in general was to die.

[New Horizon]

It's good to hear that you guys are working on the blackjacking though.

 

Well, we're seeking feedback at this point. Have you shared your thoughts and voted in the poll yet?

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12388-how-hard-is-blackjacking-in-104/

[Aprilsister]

I might just figure this out as I go along but I might not go along right now so I'll ask in case I don't and others want to know...

 

Are grayman's "Withdraw Weapons Fixes" (that's what I call them, grayman you know what I'm talking about if no one else does) a part of TDM officially with 1.03 or 1.04?

 

Will Tel's "Black Light Enhancement's" work with 1.04?

 

...

 

Okay answering myself:

 

Yes, they both seem to work fine in 1.04 (I'm still not sure if the "Weapons Withdraw Fix" is official or just getting in because I have it installed myself).

Edited March 2, 2011 by Aprilsister