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Hi everyone, a little bit about myself is in order. I am a writer, even a director of sorts. I have these stories in mind and I wan tto tell these stories to people. Which is why TDM interests me. I discovered your game just very recently. It seems so very amazing to me what you have built over here. This is just beautiful! the fact that your community is pretty active itself was a very relieving experience. I want to ask you what it is I can build using DarkRadiant editor. I wanted to know will the following things be possible:-

 

Destructible Environments - Like a building collapsing and the rubble falling down and staying there, with all the collision physics

 

Non-Linear Gameplay - Can the protagonist make choices in the game and have the game move in a different direction?

 

Map size constraint - How large can a map be? I wish to make a rather large map.

 

Forging letter - Can I pick up a letter and replace it and change the contents of it, like forge it? Remove the ink and rewrite new text?

 

Responding to NPC with one option from a set of dialog options.

 

Animated faces - The faces in TDM seem rather static. Can I enter more face animations without trouble? I mean A LOT more face animations.

 

Is there any limit to the number of animations I can add to a rig? And how many rigs can I add?, does it have to be humanoid? Can it be a dog or a cat?

 

Can it be made possible for the player's arms and legs to be seen with multiple animations? Like climbing a wall, breaking someone's face and have it getting deformed (Think it will be possible? Deform animation for face and a blood dripping? Those are called Decals right?)

 

Can I play a cutscene? in between games do you think that will be possible?

 

Can there be weather effects like Snow, cloudy and rain?

 

Can't wait to hear you guys out.

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Simple answer is, because it's an open source game, anything is possible. The main question is how easily. For these purposes, I take it to mean without sourcecode changes.

 

- Destructable Env. Yes, if you make the pieces in advance and put them together to come apart. But not procedurally destructable.

 

- Non-linear. With scripting no problem.

 

- Map size. The main limit isn't size per se but entities, and there are tricks to get around even that. For a city, a few square kilometers I think? Play Behind Closed Doors for an idea of a big map. It doesn't stream in data, it all loads at the start, so it can't be gta or skyrim sized. But as big as any classic level from, eg, Thief or Deus Ex.

 

- Forging letter. That's the gui system and it's pretty capable, so probably yes. If you just replace it, even easier.

 

- Responding to npc's with options. This should be possible, but you need to script it. It's not vanilla.

 

- Animations. You can do whatever animations and rigs for models you want, no limits. It's hard & time consumng work, that's why there isn't more.

 

- As for player anims, you can show the body. But if you add player animations that may change the game too, which may require a sourcecode branch. But I've never played with it so don't know for sure what you can do with the engine as-is. Maybe more than I think?

 

- Cutscenes and weather, yes, easy to do for both.

 

Darkmod is a great platform for storytelling imo, so I think you've come to the right place.

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What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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As demagogue said most of the stuff can be done. Some notes, though:

  • as stated working out and implementing new animations is a very time-consuming work, and some animations have an effect on gameplay
  • most of the stuff mentioned needs scripting or rewriting gui files and similar. It is not that difficult to achieve the effects, but you will have to invest many hours in learning how they work if you don't already know
  • regarding destructable buildings: as demagogue said it is possible, but the idTech4 physics aren't that reliable, so you may have to use an animation or something similar here, too. Everthing that is destructable needs to be an entity, so none of this will seal, which is bad for performance.

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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Welcome! What the gentlemen before me said.

 

And I have the habit of giving new mappers this piece of advice:

 

Start small. Make a small map first. While mapping isn't very difficult technically, and everyone can learn it, there is plenty of stuff to learn. It is easier to start with a small project. After you've done that, you are ready to start a big one, and are unlikely to make beginner mistakes.

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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All worldspawn is counted together as one entity, besides that everthing is an entity, models, npcs (they are actually several ones), particles, player equipment, the player itself, lights etc. etc. I think the current limit is somewhere around 7k.

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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I'm pretty sure 2-3 have butted up against that limit so far, BCD is a prime candidate.

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The limit is actually 8192 entities. My current map is at 6764 entities, and it is a rather large one. The limit has been reached by multiple released and WIP maps.

 

With regards to your ideas, most of those things can be done, just be aware that there is a point in making a mission where there is a huge spike in difficulty - you have to create new assets, become skilled in multiple fields at once (e.g. scripting, not quite the same as building terrain).

 

My advice is to start on a relatively small scale, and build outwards. You don't need to make a small and unambitious map first, because a lot of people have started with complex and very advanced projects (see the recently released missions, Moonbo's Requiem, or Kvornig's map). But before you plan out a huge, multi-mission campaign, learn the basic functions well, and release a single mission of, say, medium size and complexity. Afterwards, you will know your strengths and weaknesses; and you will have learned enough to make building the next mission even better.

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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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  • 2 weeks later...

To get you started, you can't go wrong by following Fidcals amazing tutorials on learning all you need to make a level. Once you know all that, you

can extend it as much as you wish!

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=A_-_Z_Beginner_Full_Guide_Start_Here!

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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