Popular Post NeonsStyle Posted July 11, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 (edited) I've been involved in the TDM community now since before we had a game, since way back when we were arguing over lock picking methods lol Finally, I'm finished with Briarwood Manor - my first Fan Mission for The Dark Mod. I've been hatching this for a year so I'm wrapped it's finally done. Briarwood Manor Crowind - made the Briefing for the mission: This is the HD version. Briarwood Manor is a old manor house built and added on to over the years which gives it it's design. The family part is the original home, and two other parts were added on later. Inspiration came from an image in the TDM Editors Inspiration thread. Available through in-game downloader. - available also in the link below. Update Version 1.93 - Fixed a few issues that surfaced, and added a sign to the Armory because people were missing it and thinking the mission was very thin on resources. Remaining Issue: - DO NOT BE SEEN BY THE STEWARD AT ALL! Update Version 1.91 - Removed an erroneous LARGE file that had accidently been in the mission blow the mission size up dramatically other assorted bugs fixed that were pointed out by the Community. Thank you Also replaced the missing script file that controlled the Drop Key which I accidently deleted. LOL Update Version 1.9 - Fixed a bug caused by roof projecting into the sleeping maids room upstairs. Update Version 1.81 - Fixed a bug caused by a faulty newspaper readable that I couldn't fix, so I converted it to a static model that is no longer frobbable. Update Version 1.8 - Fixed a problem with a patch that somehow got misaligned in the previous version of the level creating a ceiling shadow. Update Version 1.7 - Fixed some brush splitting, and a problem with the stairs. Also fixed a readable problem, and a few other minor problems. Added little more detail around the woodshed. Update Version 1.6 - Fixed problem with Crowleys Diary, and a screwed up shadow in the old well. Update: Version 1.5 - Resolved the problems with the Steward and the Dropkey. They should never be a problem again. Unless you decide to hit him, then you are going to break him from his route lol. Fix an sound issue, and fixed a problem where the player could get into places he shouldn't until the right time. lol Improved the performance for the garden area. It should be playable for low end PC's now. If you get stutter issues, drop your video settings, especially the LOD setting. With LOD set to Very Low, Fog will be gone, and detail will be dropped a lot at a distance. The higher you raise your LOD the more you get. ie at LOW LOD Fog comes back. Experiment so you get a setting your PC is happy with. You can use the console command com_showfps 1 to see what FPS you are getting. 30 and above are acceptable. Enjoy. Update: Version 1.4 - Resolved (partially the drop key issue - save before you go into Stewards room, fixed many other minor problems picked up by Abusimplea. Added a new room, made the map a bit more open, solved some of the difficulty issues people had. The map should now be ghostable. I hope. Should be added to the in game downloader within a day or so depending. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I_-ZJDGUtK7P4-b5zsGsEcYAH0vYdgnw/view?usp=sharing If you download from this link, top right arrow pointing down, is how you download it. Click it. A few things to note: 1+ Hour of gameplay - Easy Difficulty is intended for new players. Hard/Expert for most of the TDM Community. This is a challenging map for new players. Use your tools Features a custom intro (above) and a few custom sounds, and some voice acting. Warning: This mission is not for low end PC's. The house is fine, but the garden will make lower end PC's grind. The map has been made sensitive to LOD settings. So if it's grinding you're PC drop you're LOD settings for it, then you can return them to normal once you've finished. On my Medium PC gtx 760 with Normal LOD I get 30 to 60 fps in the garden. I upgraded to GTX 1070 and get pretty good 60 fps in the garden. Briefing Video made by Crowind and I can't thank him enough. He did an amazing job of this. I was so lucky to have him do this. Cast: Voice Actors (Intro) : 1St Merchant: Crowind, 2nd Merchant: Mykel19XX Corbin: Goldwell Voice Actors (Mission): Corbin played by Goldwell, Morgan Crowley played by V-Man, Giles MacCadie (Steward) played by myself Thank you to my Beta Testers: Cambridge Spy, OldJim, V-Man, Jaxa, duzenko and Bikerdude. Cambridge Spy and OldJim did most of the hard grind in finding problems, so thank you both so much. If you are stuck or need help, fastest way to reach me is message me on my youtube channel (link bottom of this post). Use the resources you were given and you should have no problems. Otherwise post spoiler free in this thread. TIP: Don't be seen by the Steward, or he might glitch out. Credits: Crowind put my briefing text into a more thiefy style for Goldwell to voice. He also helped with refining the trailer for the mission. Bikerdude (did the coal door for me and let me use his moonbeam method) and sorted the performance side of things out and thereby taught me how to do performance., grayman for providing a script to handle the drop key (Abuseinplea for fixing it from bouncing) and grayman for solving some conversation problems. EHR+ or showing me how to do the double secret door and Fidcal for his Fidcal's A-Z tutorial for Dark Radiant. Without this starting point I would not have started. Changes 1.2 to 1.93 - Added a second way to get into the building - Dining Room and Parlour doors now pickable, to make it bit less linear - Electric Light in Lobby dropped it's luminosity from 240 to 220 Little bit darker. - Door on the landing (catwalk) is now unlocked - Spider no longer walks down to the ladder, or clips into the floor. - Opened up the level more so you can choose more how you want to tackle it; except for family rooms (top of stairs) - Fixed a graphical bug with the back stairs caused by TDM upgrading to 2.06 - Added some plants around bottom of garden wall alongside cart. I don't like seeing planes meeting. lol - Made some changes to the fog in the garden. - Fixed a problem with the newspaper that was allowing the no frobbing bug to occur. Enjoy Neon PS: Why does TAB key no longer tab? It drops to the bottom of the page. I have to say I hate this editor. Edited December 14, 2022 by NeonsStyle Update due to bug being found. 14 Quote 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 gamehttp://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayman Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 Congratulations, Neon! I know this was a long (and sometimes trying) project, but there's a lot of satisfaction putting something out for players to enjoy. Folks will enjoy this one a lot. Thanks! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_spy Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 You perfectly nailed T2 style with that briefing convo, even if it feels like a parody here and there Quote Misc. assets for TDM | Artstation stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonsStyle Posted July 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 Thanks guys, the Briefing conversation is ALL Crowind. I think its perfect as is. Quote 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 gamehttp://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderson Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 (edited) I always preferred the style of TDS and T1 but the briefing and screenshots are promising. The graphical approach of using silhouettes is a great idea. Goldwell did the acting fantastic as always. Edited July 11, 2017 by Anderson Quote "I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."... - 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxa Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 I don't think I did a proper beta test of this. I think I just downloaded it, tried to load with my SVN TDM, and got a crash to desktop. LOL. What's the deal with EAX? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsttorte Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 Congrats on the release. Will give this a try within the next days Btw: If you are rating your own mission you might be a bit more modest 1 Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_spy Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 This mission is not for low end PC's. The house is fine, but the garden will make lower end PC's grind. It isn't for the higher-end PCs either. You have over 6500 drawcalls at starting point, that's like twice too much. My GTX 1060 PC slows down to 20 FPS. The interior seems to be fine though. Quote Misc. assets for TDM | Artstation stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerdude Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 You have over 6500 drawcalls at starting point, that's like twice too much.Something has changed since I worked on it then, as I had that down to under 4k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldwell Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 This FM is now available in the in-game downloader. 2 Quote Shadows of Northdale Campaign ACT I: A Curious Mind | ACT II: Down The Rabbit Hole Stand Alone Missions Accountant 1: Thieves and Heirs | Accountant 2: New In town | Spring Cleaning | Lord Edgar's Bathhouse | Snowed Inn | Noble Affairs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbohr1more Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 Thanks Goldwell! Quote Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod: http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod (Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPGista Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 That briefing video is insanely good. The visual style is so nice, I loved the robed figures and the silhouete aproach. Goldwell's acting and voice is amazing. Stellar job, guys. Digging that trailer too, I appreciate all the work involved in setting up those camera shots. Liked the ending, when its goes crazy... Very cool, man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonsStyle Posted July 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) I don't think I did a proper beta test of this. I think I just downloaded it, tried to load with my SVN TDM, and got a crash to desktop. LOL. What's the deal with EAX? @jaxa: As for the crash, just check there's no savegame folder in the pk4 there shouldn't be, I was pretty careful with that. The mission loads fine. I just downloaded installed and it ran fine. If the game supports EAX then it should work, I've done nothing to support it. To be honest, I'mnot sure what it does for sound Jaxa lol @Judith: I have a medium PC quad core 3.4ghz PC , with a GTX 760 under Windows 7 Pro 64 bit and I get between 30 and 60 fps in the garden. I would behighly surprised if you are getting 20fps with a 1060. @Bikerdude, the changes you made to the LOD around the front yard made it look very ugly, so I removed the LOD changes you made. Thanks anyway BD. @RPGista, thank you so much. The briefing is one of Crowinds best he feels, and I agree. @Goldwell, Thank you If the game supports EAX then the map will. However I've done nothing to support it if the game doesn't. Edited July 12, 2017 by NeonsStyle Quote 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 gamehttp://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_spy Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) Neon, here's a screenshot along with the stats: From my experience, if DCs go above 3000, the framerate starts to go down, at least in most cases. And it applies both to my (decent) desktop PC and old laptop, so I guess it's not a problem with GPU hardware, but rather with high number of instructions clogging the CPU>GPU pipeline. My desktop PC has Core i7 3.05 GHz CPU and my laptop runs on Core i5 2.5 GHz, and they both have similar "DC threshold". Both are capable of running much more demanding titles as well. Edit: I guess high number of DCs is mostly due to multiple fog emitters? (or massive transparency impacts general performance) Maybe changing those to static planes (or regular fog) would help? This area is probably too small, but if you wanted to have something like Silent Hill 2 fog, it would be better to have one emitter attached to the player (with proper offset, particle sources, etc, etc). I did something like that for TDS years ago, but with snow blizzard effect; it looked cool and used much less resources than multiple emitters set in the scene. You'd have to switch it on and off with scripts when player enters and exits the building though, that might be hard to set up to look convincing. Edited July 12, 2017 by Judith 2 Quote Misc. assets for TDM | Artstation stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
id3839315 Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 Btw: If you are rating your own mission you might be a bit more modest Well, NeonsStyle rated the mission not as perfect. BTW: for this ... erm ... excellent mission. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldjim Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) When beta testing I was getting just over 50fps with a 1060 GPU and an i5 4690K CPU 8GB ram with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 Edited July 12, 2017 by Oldjim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonsStyle Posted July 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) @Judith, just turn your LOD down to Normal and you should get a decent FPS. Otherwise drop it lower. I understand not everyone canafford to get good machines, but I'm an artist IRL, and I will never cut quality in favour of performance. I will make it work well on a mediumDesktop PC, after that sadly you just have to drop your LOD or other settings. I did say it's going to make low end PCs grind. Edited July 12, 2017 by NeonsStyle Quote 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 gamehttp://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonsStyle Posted July 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 Well, NeonsStyle rated the mission not as perfect. BTW: for this ... erm ... excellent mission. LOL Humility forbade me haha Quote 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 gamehttp://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerdude Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) @Bikerdude, the changes you made to the LOD around the front yard made it look very ugly, so I removed the LOD changes you made. Thanks anyway BD. All you needed to do was as mentioned when we last worked on it, was increase the LOD distance values. I also see some of the VPs that seal against the barn are broken, this will be adding to the DC count.I guess high number of DCs is mostly due to multiple fog emitters?Nope, I remove them and it made a 100-200 DC difference. The perf issue is its a single wide open space with lots of models, I tried to mitigate this by setting lots of them no shadow and changeing lots of the trees to LOD entites. If NeonsStyle ever does a bug fix run I am happy to do another perf run. Edited July 12, 2017 by Bikerdude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsttorte Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 So I've just taken a quick look to see how the performance is. CPU: i5-6500 @ 3.2GHzRAM: 16GB DDR5 (forgot the clocks, but more then 1GHz)GPU: AMD R9 390+ a proper mainboard I get 20-22 FPS on the outside First of all, my first mission also suffered performanc issues, so don't take this personal. However, I must admit that I am with Judith. I can understand that you don't want to have any cuts in regards to your artistical vision, but the performance stands in no proper relation to the visual appearence. And there is lot of possibilities left untouched that would have increased performance. First of all reducing the LOD setting doesn't help much. It reduces the draw calls by 200-300, which is less then 5% in areas with 6000+ such calls. Therefore the performance impact is neglectable The portals in the back on that screenshot that leads to the shed with the horses could be closed at such a distance. You can't see inside on that distance anyways The light count on some surfaces in the back is pretty high (bright colors like white or purple stand for 4+ lights, which is bad. The tris count on the road is pretty high. The same counts for the fences and all those bushes. You should have used LOD here. So in summary: Nobody says your mission is bad (haven't played it yet, so I don't know ). But as said performance is an issue, and performance is part of the artistical process of creating a mission. So this is some criticism you have accept, because it is valid. And refering to LOD as a solution if this doesn't has an effect is no real help here either I would suggest that you try to understand were the issues are coming from and learn from it so you can do it better next time. That's what I have done after ruining the garden in Old Habits 1 I'll report back once I have played the mission. 4 Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_spy Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 Neon, the problem is we're not talking about low-end PCs. My PC runs Dishonored 2 in 1440p with all settings on very high, with TXAA. It's not a low-end PC. As FM makers, we need to have some perspective. Players will be frustrated with things like that. It's not about artistry either, more like honest down-to-earth craftsmanship. it's not like visual quality TDM offers right now is something of a 2017 or even 2012 title. It's somewhat above Deadly Shadows, while system requirements for scenes like that are many, many times higher. Ultimately it's indeed your decision, but IMO we should do our best to avoid that kind of gaps, or at least to bring them to more reasonable level. Quote Misc. assets for TDM | Artstation stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonsStyle Posted July 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) @Judith, forgive me. Your PC is a medium PC. It's worse than mine, though your video card is better. Iget 30 to 60 fps in the garden. In the house it's a solid 60 fps. I know you're very particular about performance, but I amnot. I am happy with the performance level. It works great on medium PC's, but those around 3ghz and lower tendto struggle a bit. I'm sorry, but I like to build for the better machines rather than the lower ones. @Obsttorte, I disagree about the quality drop off with performance. Bikerdude added LOD to all the bushes around the garden, and when I saw it, it looked horrible. The hedges all looked like they were brushes at a distance until the LOD kicked in. Oh and I will never take offence Obsttorte at the truth. I'm not a sensitive soul. I agree, it's a bit hard on performance, however as I said, I made it for medium PC's and up. I'm not going to change the performance of it, I think it's great as it is. This was all talked about during the build, and over several performance tweak sessions by the more experienced mappers. This shows what I get on this PC Intel i7-3770 CPU @ 3.4GHz 4 Cores, 8 logical Processors with 32 Gb Ram with GTX 760 Video card https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzXUERbu2M8 Edited July 12, 2017 by NeonsStyle Quote 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 gamehttp://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_spy Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 So we have similar level of performance: you're playing at 1080 and my native resolution is 1440p, that requires more power. Yes, I am worried about performance more often than not, mostly because I assume that if someone asks for more computing power, he/she has a solid grounds for it, like eye-candy models, or hi-res 2K-4K textures. But you've made your decision, that's fine. What is more important, the interior has solid 60 fps all around, and that's where the majority of gameplay takes place. Quote Misc. assets for TDM | Artstation stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melan Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 Congratulations on the mission! It is very good to see new mission designers release something! My impressions: The architecture is often simple but it is done right. A lot of the mission looks very good due to the careful use of lighting, texture choice, and a generally inventive aesthetic. Some of it is looking mighty fine, like the dining room, the underground passage, or the library. I admit the story's emotional weight missed me, and I found the dark secret distasteful. However, this is a personal concern about modern media and its ways of dealing with sordid subject matters, and I understand if it clicks for other folks. Discovering some of the other secrets was definitely cool, with good (if simple) clues. Gameplaywise, it is a rather straightforward mission. You can't really go off the rails, which has its downsides, and it could do with more interconnectedness - multiple ways of going through the game spaces, and a more looped layout could have allowed you to tell basically the same story while letting the manor house "breathe" a little. As it is, it is a bit "corridor-room-room-room-corridor-room-room-room" if it makes sense, and it has too many keys blocking your progress. Letting the player live a little and piece clues together still allows you to control the plot at critical junctures. All in all, I hope to see more from you, and looking forward to what you will come up with next! 4 Quote 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prjames Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 (edited) I'm playing at hard difficulty, and I'm stuck. I have five keys, front door, parlor, master bedroom, dining room, and lobby. There's a stairway that leads to a room that leads to a catwalk above the room with the really difficult guard. Opposite that catwalk is a door, clearly to several bedrooms and the latter part of the mission. Where is the key to that door? Also, where is the key that unlocks the Crown in the art gallery? Thanks in advance! - prjames Edited July 12, 2017 by prjames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.