How can I help?

[Springheel]

How you can help depends a lot on what skills you have.


I can Record Video

Recording "Let's Play" videos or simple walkthroughs of existing missions and posting them to Youtube is great exposure for the mod (see example

.) Be sure to let us know so we can link to them.

If you have some editing ability, Video tutorials, where you explain how the mod works, or how to use specific tools, would also be great.

Video trailers, showcasing interesting places and features, are also great for publicity. An example is

.

I can Write

Writing reviews for missions are always nice, especially if they include good screenshots. Not only does it give us something to post on other forums, but it makes mappers feel good when their mission gets attention (especially if it's positive).

We have a collective thread to post reviews in: http://forums.thedar...s-walkthroughs/

Writing reviews of the mod as a whole, targetted an an audience that doesn't know much about TDM, is also very useful.

You could also try offering your services to mappers to create interesting readables, or to proofread for their mission.


I can Act and Record Audio

We are always on the lookout for good quality audio recordings for vocal sets. If interested, you can pick a few different lines from this script: http://wiki.thedarkm...t:_Average_Jack and send the recordings to Springheel, who then writes a script based on the type of voice you have.


I can Translate

We could always use translations of our menu/hud into more languages. Also, only a few FMs are aavailable in more than one language, so there is a lot of work there, see the I18N Translator's Guide in the Wiki.


I can Model

Great! Take a look at the model request thread:http://forums.thedar...-requests-here/ and pick something that interests you. Or just post a, "Hey, anybody want a model?" thread in this forum and I'm sure mappers will get back to you.

I can Animate

Fantastic. We can always use more good animations. Our current character rigs use a Maya skeleton. PM Springheel for more info.

I know C++

Have a look at our coding section in the wiki, pick an issue or feature from the bugtracker of the mod or the leveleditor, download the recent sourcecode release (or better ask for an SVN checkout) and get cracking. Make sure nobody is already working on that specific issue and feel free to ask questions.

I can Edit Images

We can always use completely new textures and/or improved versions of older textures. How to get started and how to import them into the mod.

I can Take Photos

Good quality photos of useful textures (medieval-ish building facades, dirt, rocks, wood, etc) are always welcome. The fewer directional shadows and higher resolution, the better.


I don't have any skills


Even if you can't do any of the above, you can still help out. Talk about TDM in other forums; share your (preferably positive) experiences with other gamers you know.

Last, but not least, compliment people when you like their work. Saying "thanks", to a developer or, "I really enjoyed your mission" to a mapper will make their day.


--------------------

I'll update this further as more things occur to me.

[Springheel]

Request from Sotha for Campaign help:

 

(full thread here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/11198-sothas-mapping-thread/page__view__findpost__p__282439)

 

I would also need to research to find a way to make my button controlled briefing (SoBuCoB) to work with the campaign. The button controlled briefing works nicely with individual missions, but getting it into working with multiple missions... I've absolutely no idea how to do it.

 

If someone else would figure out how to do it and provide me a file with examples, well... Then the story might have a different outcome! Anyone willing to spend time testing how to get it done? Let me know. I will hereby commit myself in giving guidance and info how the button controlled briefing works under the hood to help the person trying to get the campaign version working.

 

Please use the briefing in Mandrasola as a starting point as that is the best version of the button controlled briefing. Try to get three test missions running with the briefings. That is, make a test campaign with it.

 

1) briefing 1

2) test mission 1: a single room with a button that ends the mission.

3) briefing 2

4) test mission 2: a single room with a button that ends the mission.

5) briefing 3

6) test mission 3: a single room with a button that ends the mission.

 

It is time to step forth and contribute! Thanks!

[Peanut]

Bugtracker link in first post is broken?

[freyk]

http://bugs.thedarkmod.com/my_view_page.php

[geekboy1701]

Hey. New here so please excuse any silliness. I'd like to offer my assistance as an artist. I worked on the Thief mod 'T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age' doing artwork for the briefings as well as some conceptual work. My typical media are charcoal, pastel, acrylic, water color, pen and ink and pencil. I don't do much digital art. I've included a couple of samples of my artwork. If you'd like some help, just e-mail me and I'll get back to you. Thanks.

 

media: Charcoal

 

media: Acrylic and Colored Pencil

[Bikerdude]

Welcome GeekBoy

 

Melan and Myself could possibly use your talents for the next Crucible mission.

 

:-)

[SeriousToni]

Why do people always put giant watermarks over their paintings? As long as you don't post them in 8192 x 8192 px, nobody will misuse them as their personal wallpaper and we could have a decent look on your actual piece of art... Put a small name into the corner and that would also be enough to protect your work from the inevitable piracy

[Epifire]

Hey. New here so please excuse any silliness. I'd like to offer my assistance as an artist. I worked on the Thief mod 'T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age' doing artwork for the briefings as well as some conceptual work. My typical media are charcoal, pastel, acrylic, water color, pen and ink and pencil. I don't do much digital art. I've included a couple of samples of my artwork. If you'd like some help, just e-mail me and I'll get back to you. Thanks.

 

USMC PFC Saipan 44 sample.jpg

media: Charcoal

 

Predator sample.jpg

media: Acrylic and Colored Pencil

 

Some great looking art there. The first one really gives off some original Thief intro movie vibes.

 

 

Too bad I've got my own FM work on hold right now else I'd jump right on board with any kind of collaboration to offer. Definitely will be keeping you in mind for recommendation as I continue work on other projects here. Also I'd be thrilled to see a personal page with more of your illustrations if you had one available.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Epifire

[geekboy1701]

Thanks for your kind words.

 

Serious Toni: I'm paranoid when posting on an unfamiliar sight. I've had artwork stolen and used without permission in the past. Next time I post art, it'll be sans watermark.

 

Bikerdude: Sounds great. Just let me know what you need and we can go from there. I don't play the game but do love the 'world' and the lore. It's kinda cool to contribute to the fantasy. Kinda like being a conceptual designer for The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars...

[Anderson]

Does anyone know where to find information for the other Human and Monster NPC's detailed in regards to their field of vision and other useful data in dealing with them? Is the data provided here in the accompanying tables arranged in columns/rows the same for other NPC's?

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=AI_stats

Edited January 12, 2019 by Anderson

[Destined]

Oh, right. This page was a project of mine, that I completely forgot... I am not sure if/when I will be able to finish it; which info do you need? I can give you the excel files with all data of AI (I currently have no access, but can give it to you tomorrow evening or Monday) or I can give you the python script (that was provided to me by SteveL) that was used to gather the information.

[Anderson]

Oh, right. This page was a project of mine, that I completely forgot... I am not sure if/when I will be able to finish it; which info do you need? I can give you the excel files with all data of AI (I currently have no access, but can give it to you tomorrow evening or Monday) or I can give you the python script (that was provided to me by SteveL) that was used to gather the information.

 

Thanks, but it is nothing urgent. I was just curious so I did not have any intention to disturb you from your current activities. I mean, there were great contributions with new models, especially moors as the most recent example and I was wondering if their stats are different from default guards (and if they should be different).

 

But it is always welcome to have even some placeholder information whenever you have time to upload/copy/paste it into the wiki page to get a general idea what are the differences. Again, at your discretion, did not mean to rush anything because nobody has a lack of free time.

[Petike the Taffer]

Given that you and Destined are talking about work in progress pages, here's some stuff I've worked on in the last few months:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Vocal_scripts_overview - Largelly done, but I'm still improving the formatting. I'll also be comparing the scripts with the current sound files later, to see if some need an update or not.

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Concept_Art_and_Fan_Art_Archive - Finished back in autumn. Just so we have one central concept art archive somewhere on the wiki. I've also included fan art (e.g. wallpapers), just so we don't have too many articles on the same topics.

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Fan_Mission_Design_Discussions_Archive - FM design discussions archive. Just to not let all those discussions on FM design and FM content ideas we've had over the years go to waste...

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Entity_Database - Entity database I'm slowly working on, particularly the most important entity assets. The database will need gradual updating once we hit 2.07. Now updated with collapsible folders in order to hide or show content you're not currently looking for within the article. Makes the article visually shorter and much easier to browse, but with the same amount of information.

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Model_Database - Model database I'll be working on (after entities), particularly the most important model assets. The database will need gradual updating once we hit 2.07. Now updated with collapsible folders in order to hide or show content you're not currently looking for within the article. Makes the article visually shorter and much easier to browse, but with the same amount of information.

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Texture_Database - Texture database I'll be working on (after entities and models, maybe), particularly the most important texture assets. The database will need gradual updating once we hit 2.07. Now updated with collapsible folders in order to hide or show content you're not currently looking for within the article. Makes the article visually shorter and much easier to browse, but with the same amount of information.

 

You might argue that the latter three are pointless, because we can all take a look at these in Dark Radiant. You'd be right, but I want to have a reference resource even for those who don't have Dark Radiant currently installed. It can also double as something of a hook for those interested in mapping and making addons who aren't sure where to start or what things are on offer in DR. I think we can gain a fair amount of new talent even among those who haven't previously built any levels/missions, for any game. And those databases could indirectly help with encouragement.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Petike the Taffer

[MadMachine]

Quote

I can Translate

We could always use translations of our menu/hud into more languages. Also, only a few FMs are aavailable in more than one language, so there is a lot of work there, see the I18N Translator's Guide in the Wiki.

I can try to do Latvian language translation. The link you included feels somewhat disorienting, with what would you suggest I should start the translation ?

Edited April 4, 2021 by MadMachine

[Always Good]

I am a Python programmer and currently a data analytics student. I wonder if there is any way I can help. (Also I upload gameplay videos on YouTube)

[Frost_Salamander]

4 hours ago, Always Good said:

I am a Python programmer and currently a data analytics student. I wonder if there is any way I can help. (Also I upload gameplay videos on YouTube)

I've been wondering if it would be worth having a Python version of the Perl scripts used to support internationalisation: https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=I18N.pl#Requirements.  I'm assuming Python is more popular than Perl these days?

I tried to localise my first FM and gave up due to issues with that Perl file (or maybe it was a different one - can't remember now).  Also, looking at recent FMs it looks like people aren't bothering with I18N anymore (myself included), which is a shame.  I was poking around the darkfate.org site recently and people were struggling with FMs because they are all in English.

Having said all this, I imagine there have been discussion about I18N and improving it, but I don't really know the current state of the whole thing.  Does anyone know if anything is happening around this?

Also the previous post from @MadMachine prompted me to think about this.

[Obsttorte]

The DarkRadiant scripts are written with python iirc. So if you have some good ideas of what could be useful to mappers, this might be worth a start. (I am not sure whether there is any thread with script wishes, though).

Also, programmers are always welcome. If you are experienced in python you will probably be able to dig yourself into C++. The bugtracker is full of stuff that needs fixing.

[OrbWeaver]

I think the i18n system was written single-handled by Tels, who was a rather — shall we say — opinionated developer, with some strange ideas about how things should be done. He was a big fan of Perl for some reason, and even asked if we would add a parallel Perl-based scripting system into DarkRadiant, even though we already had Python and nobody except him actually wanted to write scripts in Perl.

I'm sure there must be better ways of doing i18n, although how easy those other systems are for integrating into a game engine I wouldn't know.

[Always Good]

Wow thanks for the suggestions, I am just getting into the gaming arena while managing school as well. So let me see what I can do  

[Frost_Salamander]

12 hours ago, OrbWeaver said:

I think the i18n system was written single-handled by Tels, who was a rather — shall we say — opinionated developer, with some strange ideas about how things should be done. He was a big fan of Perl for some reason, and even asked if we would add a parallel Perl-based scripting system into DarkRadiant, even though we already had Python and nobody except him actually wanted to write scripts in Perl.

I'm sure there must be better ways of doing i18n, although how easy those other systems are for integrating into a game engine I wouldn't know.

Also, that Perl stuff is hosted God-knows where. The Wiki articles are confusing as hell too. The whole thing is just a mess.  I don't necessarily mean the implementation, but there are usability issues.

For my next FM I might revisit this and try to get it working properly and perhaps rewrite the Wiki bits for FM authors.

@Always Goodand if you do feel like rewriting that Perl stuff, I'd be more than happy to help test it.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Frost_Salamander

[datiswous]

On 9/8/2022 at 11:43 AM, Frost_Salamander said:

I tried to localise my first FM and gave up due to issues with that Perl file

What is it that doesn't work?

[Frost_Salamander]

37 minutes ago, datiswous said:

What is it that doesn't work?

I found the forum post I did about it here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/9082-newbie-darkradiant-questions/&do=findComment&comment=459121

 

I don't think I got a reply, and we were near release time so I just gave up on it.  It worked at some point, so was probably something on my end.  Regardless, having to use a Perl script hosted on some obscure server that nobody maintains anymore doesn't seem like a robust process.

I think you can build the FM from the start to support i18N and not have to use that script.  That's the approach that I think I will take for my next FM.  Looking at the Wiki page, it's not that clear how to do it so that's what I'll aim to sort out.

But then again, unless there are plenty of people waiting in the wings to perform translation work, not sure how motivated FM authors will be to support this.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Frost_Salamander

[Always Good]

17 hours ago, Frost_Salamander said:

For my next FM I might revisit this and try to get it working properly and perhaps rewrite the Wiki bits for FM authors.

@Always Goodand if you do feel like rewriting that Perl stuff, I'd be more than happy to help test it.

I know absolutely nothing about Perl but I am willing to try. Where are the scripts?

[Frost_Salamander]

6 hours ago, Always Good said:

I know absolutely nothing about Perl but I am willing to try. Where are the scripts?

That's the spirit . If you follow the instructions here, it says where the scripts are and what to do with them. If you need a .pk4 to work with you can use my latest FM, which you can find here.

If you run into any problems or have questions, maybe we can start a new thread so we don't clog this one up.  I'm not overly familiar with the whole thing either, except having tried to use it once before.

[Always Good]

Hey thanks for this, but please don't have any high hopes from me  I have to manage school as well as work so I was just looking for something to do in my spare time.