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Finally playing Dark Mod for real...


RavenShore

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...due to the standalone release and my kids laptop. lol So much has happened since Dark Mod was first released on my birthday 5 years ago. I did the mandatory download at the time and even though my computer was way too underpowered, I managed to get it up and running and took a few steps into the world.So, after all this time has passed, there have been so many improvements and FMs, I was wondering if someone could point me to two or three FMs that have the best overall balance of all the features, including good level design and AI placements. If I wanted to see everything that Dark Mod can do within 2 or 3 Missions, that would be great. As usual, time is a constraint, as the kid *needs* the laptop 24/7.

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This is really a matter of opinion so others may weigh in with different suggestions.

 

Personally, if I had to only pick three missions that provide some variety and are "feature rich" I'd pick the following:

-William Steele: In The North

-Old Habits 2

-The Lich Queen's Demise

 

That would get you a very large mission with a little bit of everything, a good "standard heist" type mission, and an undead mission with a couple nice puzzles thrown in for good measure.

 

That said, there might be a bit of a caveat in that all three of these may be quite difficult. It's a bit tricky to pick missions that use a lot of the mod's features while staying beginner-friendly, as a lot of "easier" missions omit some AI behaviors so they don't become too difficult.

Edited by Professor Paul1290
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Thank you. Yeah, I have been playing Dark Project and Metal Age since they came out. I have played the tutorial in Dark Mod and feel that everything is comfortable and tight, faithful to the originals. I have also played bits of the St. Lucias. I am ready for something challenging and difficult, that allows me to really brek free and do creative things. Unfortunately, I have limited internet time to research and download the right FMs, and 5 years of catching up to do at the same time.

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I'd recommend In Remembrance of Him, very nice mission that isn't too long and has some nice design ideas.

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If it's three missions, No Honour Among Thieves is a great three-mission pack. You get a full story with high production values, good gameplay and rich world-building.

 

Or the three William Steele missions - same idea, although not finished yet.

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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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Okay, Ive been playng the first Mission of NHAT. So far, Im digging it pretty good. Getting a good feel for the controls, which are pretty damn good. A couple things are nice for me right away. Crouch jumping. Whatever awesome person came up with this, my hats off to you. Also, crouch blackjacking, just superb. Talk about an actual improvement over Dark Engine. Also, believe it or not, jumping up and down while leaning forward no longer breaks the lean. Pretty sad, I know, but each player finds different enjoyment out of a game. Again, hats off. It is still more intuitive for me to play with keyboard only and have been able to do so, up until I wanted to use the Look Up key. I pointed this out a while ago that you can customize everything you could in Dark Project, except for that funky Look Up, Look Down, and Center View that most people scratched their heads at. Well, for keyboard only players, those keys are super important. They are not in the Dark Mod options. However, now that I am spending much more time playing the game, I accidentaly discovered that the PgUp key does the Look Up command! Whats more, PgDn does the Center View. The only key I cant find now is the Look Down key. lol Im guessing that these keyboard commands I discovered, that arent in your options panel, must be defaults of the engine? Any way to find out what the default for Look Down is, for an old crpg fanatic, such as myself? Seriously guys, excellent job on the depth of this effort. And yes, I have a question about the Mission I am playing. I am stuck, I think. I got through the waterway, got through the undead with awesome jumping across the ledges, got up to the top of the shaft with awesome rope arrow climbing. Now I cant open the door at the top. My lockpick just keeps unlocking, but the lock never finishes picking. Is it supposed to take a real long time to pick this lock? Its the first Mission in the NHAT set. Sorry for rambling. I cant seem to make new paragraphs at this forum. :P

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Now I cant open the door at the top. My lockpick just keeps unlocking, but the lock never finishes picking. Is it supposed to take a real long time to pick this lock? Its the first Mission in the NHAT set. Sorry for rambling. I cant seem to make new paragraphs at this forum. :P

 

It's been a very long time since I've played that mission and my memory of it is pretty poor, but I don't remember there ever being any "never-ending" locks in any missions I've played. That seems like things unusual enough that I would remember if I ran into it.

 

Are you sure you are picking the lock properly?

 

If you're having trouble you can try practicing in the lockpicking tutorial in the Training Mission. Either that or you can reduce lockpicking difficulty in the options.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

Ok, I thought about this a bit and I might know what's happening. I noticed you mentioned that "the lock never finishes picking" as if you were expecting the lockpick to finish on its own, which doesn't quite make sense how The Dark Mod's lockpicking system works.

I have a hunch you might be trying to use the lockpicks the same way you would in Thief 1 & 2, which won't work here by default.

 

The Dark Mod's lockpicking system works a bit differently from Thief's. You use the same two picks, but the use of the picks involves some timing and listening.

When you use the correct lockpick a series of clicks will play, pause, and repeat and part of the lock and/or the doorknob might also move with the sound. Listen for a brief pause in the clicks right before they start over. Release the lockpick button/key right at that pause. If you are successful you'll hear the tumbler unlock then you can start on the next one (which may or may not require switching to the other pick), if you failed then it will make a "clunk" sound and you'll have to try that tumbler again. The lock will open once you get through all the tumblers.

 

There's a section of the Training Mission that has a few different locks you can practice on.

 

Alternatively, if it ends up being too difficult, then you can lower the Lockpicking Difficulty all the way in the options menu, which will make the Lockpicks automatic so they work more or less the same way as Thief 1 & 2.

 

On the other hand, if you already knew this and the pickable lock doesn't seem to open as it should, you might want to check the relevant thread for this mission to see if the mission author did something wierd with that lock.

Edited by Professor Paul1290
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Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I should have reloaded the tutorial and had another go. I am absorbing this as fast as I can, because I am ravenously inspired at the moment. At the same time, I have both limited time and limited computer time to check this all out! So far, I am digging this. Being able to stay crouched while jumping is something that... I.... actually love more than what they had in Dark Project. :-o The Rope Arrow action is just as good as ever, and the updated graphics for the bow is what I would have imagined that LGS itself would come up with for a Thief III. Yes, thank you for the advice on the lockpicking, I feel a bit silly in hindsight. EDIT - Nice. I get the new lockpicking now lol. Yeah, I was certainly playing like it was Dark Project. I gotta say, I loved the original lockpicking just the way it was. Im glad that they didnt change the general aesthetic of the original lockpicking (regardless of being realistic, its what we know and love why change it) and yet, they were somehow able to take a mundane element of Dark Project and actually improve upon it by giving it extra depth. Its actually more fun this way! Nice indeed...

Edited by RavenShore
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