Fan Mission Beta Test: Elite City

[Garreth]

i was talking about the copywrite, do not worry about using the name Garret

[grayman]

i was talking about the copywrite, do not worry about using the name Garret

 

On our Wiki, on the Universe page, it says this:

 

"Disclaimer: Just to be clear, The Dark Mod does NOT take place in the same universe as the Looking Glass 'Thief' games. There are no Keepers, no Hammers, and no Garrett. That said, the settings of both The Dark Mod and Thief are based on a steampunk-influenced version of our own history, so there will be certain similarities."

 

So it's unnecessarily problematic if you insist on:

 

a - referencing "Garrett" in the OP or in the mission

 

b - telling us not to worry about it

 

Why invite trouble? This thread should be a celebration of your having completed and released a mission, and folks' feedback and reactions to having played that mission. It should also be about looking forward to the remaining missions in the series. It should not be about who you might know or what you might have contributed elsewhere or how Eidos might have been influenced by the existence of TDM, and offering those as reasons why we should overlook the basic tenets we try to follow in this project.

[Lux]

After a few spelling/grammatical mistakes in the intro, and the intro text---> "Looks like all that carnage is my taste of cookie." ?_? ...and experiencing the frame lag on a 780gtx (14fps) in the kitchen for starters. It seems to me like you should wELCOMe the enlistment of fellow forum members and FM pros around here to help you beta test and optimize this mission.

 

There are some interesting things you've done here, at least in the very beginning of the mission. I don't know more about the mission because I can't stomach playing through the bugs unfortunately. Maybe others will.

 

Right at the beginning I mantled the fence and as I walked over it I thought I'd dropped down on the other side but I didn't. Instead I'd dropped down between the sides of the fence boards and then unable to move except between 2 sides of a brush that are a couple units apart...

 

I'd like to give your FM a fair shake but when you seemingly haven't put the time in to test it very well, why should anyone else put the time in to play it?

 

Get this mission to beta testing and have a proper release! All that hard work and such a shame. These are obviously just my thoughts.

[Garreth]

When i started off my computer could not pull any map at reasonable frame rate, i never said a thing about it, my card can pull it now, so can other cards, with out lag, the problem is not the map, some bugs exist, never encountered them, i jumped a hundred times over that fence, i can put a nodraw solid over it, but that will still not fix it for you. your card is overloaded.

[Garreth]

So it's unnecessarily problematic if you insist on:

 

a - referencing "Garrett" in the OP or in the mission

 

b - telling us not to worry about it

 

 

i never insisted

did i do something wrong here? i dint start cracking down on ppl, don't worry about it, and i don't know who pulled those rules out his ass- but they can open a case just for having builders the hammer symbol, the thief, steampunk influences, not to talk about the various items straight from the original game like the holywater arrows, the name - broken glass studio's - are you kidding me?

like i said don't worry about it.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Garreth

[grayman]

did i do something wrong here? i dint start cracking down on ppl, don't worry about it, and i don't know who pulled those rules out his ass- but they can open a case just for having builders the hammer symbol, the thief, steampunk influences, not to talk about the various items straight from the original game like the holywater arrows, the name - broken glass studio's - are you kidding me?

like i said don't worry about it.

 

You're not taking this conversation in a good direction.

[ungoliant]

try putting a copyright on the term "holy water" and see how well that works. If i was you's, i'd start taking the advice of vets and team members. but you seem like a pretty care-free guy, i guess you wont worry about it.

 

This is not going to end well. calling it.

[Bikerdude]

You're not taking this conversation in a good direction.

Hmm, seem's this map is gonna go the same way Stumpy's did (until he revised it...)

[brethren]

Right from the start, if you go backward and climb the terrain, you can fall back behind the geometry and you can't escape, forcing a restart. Also, just the the left of the start, where the big door is impended into the mountain, there's an obvious texture missing, and you can see through the mountain into the same area described above.

 

I also had framerate issues, with a Radeon 7970, on a PC just assembled a few months ago.

 

I think this mission needed a little more testing before release. It looks promising though.

[Garreth]

try putting a copyright on the term "holy water" and see how well that works. If i was you's, i'd start taking the advice of vets and team members. but you seem like a pretty care-free guy, i guess you wont worry about it.

 

This is not going to end well. calling it.

 

you see this going wrong?

I dont like to be threatened, and it is the manner in witch things are said, soon as i read that it was not oke to use the name Garret 1T, i deleted it from the description.

But i also said don't worry about it, if they want to get you they will get you, copy writing is on concepts not just names, also the name of accomplices of the main character where used even in the mod itself, like Eric character from the 1st game.

Usage of the word Taffer unlike popular beliefs, the word was invented by looking glass.

My point was that those rules make no sense and cover absolutely nothing in court, the boundry has already been overstepped so far that none of that matters.

This is a Thief mod.

and i never insisted, on breaking any weird rules, therefore that tone is hard to swallow.

 

i will revise the map for the few bugs, when the 2nd is in beta.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Garreth

[Airship Ballet]

Even if there weren't apparently crippling bugs, I wouldn't play it just because of your attitude.

[Goldwell]

Better to be safe than sorry in regards to the name.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Goldwell

[Bikerdude]

@Garreth, didn't you PM me ages ago and I helped you some of your mapping..? Why didn't you PM this time round..? as I would have fixed a lot of the obvious stuff and then strongly recommended you beta test the mission etc.

[ungoliant]

I dont like to be threatened, and it is the manner in witch things are said, soon as i read that it was not oke to use the name Garret 1T, i deleted it from the description.

But i also said don't worry about it, if they want to get you they will get you, copy writing is on concepts not just names, also the name of accomplices of the main character where used even in the mod itself, like Eric character from the 1st game.

Usage of the word Taffer unlike popular beliefs, the word was invented by looking glass.

My point was that those rules make no sense and cover absolutely nothing in court, the boundry has already been overstepped so far that none of that matters.

This is a Thief mod.

threats? nah, that was just good advice. i have no followup plans for "consequences" for anything you choose to do or not do, nor should I, as i'm not a team member, its not my jurisdiction.

the lines TDM has crossed are all very fuzzy. things are very similar, but with no stand-out blatant IP stealing. Like, say, the name Garrett... As long as the mod attracts players by quality and not by IP, it should be safe.

well you are good buddies with the EM ceo and president obama, if it ever comes down to C&D orders and court cases, maybe you can pull some strings for us.

[RJFerret]

*backs away slowly.

 

I'm withdrawing my previous offers of testing.

 

PS: Sadly, I felt there was potential here, as I said in regards to the first alpha version, refer to the resources I linked in that thread if you'd like to improve the mission, but then actually work with people, nothing is achieved in a bubble.

[Garreth]

this topic can be deleted,

[brethren]

@Garreth - you gotta understand, the TDM team has been treading lightly I'm sure, especially with a new Thief game coming out from a major developer/publisher. You don't want to take any chances or put any ideas in their head that they should shut you down. Because they could do it, in an instant. No doubt about it. A couple of cease and desist letters from the Eidos company lawyer, and the The Dark Mod would be no more. It's a battle I don't think anyone here wants any part of, so I wouldn't take things like this so lightly.

 

On your mission - it could be really good. Why not get a team of betatesters to go through it and fine tune it a bit? It would be a waste to just abandon the project, if that's what you're planning. I'll offer my help in testing if you want.

[Sir Taffsalot]

this topic can be deleted,

 

Why so much negativity my fellow Taffer? From what I can gather from this thread, most people are happy to beta-test this FM for you and iron out those bugs that they see. Why not take them up on their offer? Also when it comes to TDM, guys like Grayman and Bikerdude are masters in their craft! You would do well to listen to their advice and accept their help.

 

No man is an island. Trust me. This is something that took me a while to learn.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Sir Taffsalot

[grayman]

I'm happy to help with beta testing.

[Lux]

I'll also help out beta testing.

[AluminumHaste]

I'll also help betatest.

[Garreth]

First of all i want to apologise, new day new start

i will put it back in beta test, though i am completely puzzled on how to visportal the outside, seems impossible, the lights i can fix easy, i will take a look at the mentioned bugs. i will change topic title for beta testing.

 

On another note, i was offered recently to make a videogame - long story short, since this engine is open source i would like to use it, and maybe i could use mappers who can work from concept art all from the comfort of home. and then leave scripting and animations to a professional studio like Eidos. so it would be sort of an indy game on open source engine released by Eidos, it is quite to soon to start off but i am thinking about it, it could make the engine and all it's internals legal.

and it would make the Thief series created by Thief fans.

more about this later on i guess, nothing is sure

this would be separate from the darkmod, since the work done by a studio can not be used for free.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Garreth

[RJFerret]

I don't believe spending time on trying to visportal the outside would be of any benefit (now that there are opaque windows), the amount of tris being rendered and drawcalls is totally reasonable.

 

I imagine simply separating and reducing the lights will take care of things.

[Garreth]

i halfed the number, disabled specular, don't know if that was good, but it is faster, and i try'd to seperate most of em. the framerate went up 50 to 70 percent.

removed all but 2 lanterns

doors autoclose faster

removed trees outside

fixed automaton guards without weapon

fixed wall

fixed fence

[grayman]

Just so everyone knows, with Garreth's consent, we've started a beta test.