Beta testing 2.10

[stgatilov]

TDM 2.10 is ready for beta test

This is how to get beta versions:

Upgrade from any version (fast):
1 - Start tdm_installer in darkmod folder.
2 - On the first screen, check "Get custom version" and click "Next". Choose the first name in beta/2.10 list, should look like "beta210-NN".
3 - Click on "Refresh" button to ensure that it is not going to download too much stuff.
4 - Continue installing with "Next".

Fresh install (slow):
1 - Create darkmod folder anywhere you like.
2 - Download the TDM Installer from downloads section of the website. Extract tdm_installer executable from the downloaded ZIP and place it into your darkmod folder.
3 - Start tdm_installer (in case of Linux, first edit file permissions to allow executing it).
4 - On the first screen, check "Get custom version" and click "Next". Choose the first name in beta/2.10 list, should look like "beta210-NN".
5 - Continue installing with "Next".
 

In general, upgrade is recommended over fresh install. If you don't want to lose your current TDM installation, then you can copy the whole TDM directory and upgrade the copy. This way you can have both 2.10 beta and 2.09 at the same time.

At the end of installation, tdm_installer resets your config by renaming darkmod.cfg to darkmod_{datatime}.cfg. This is a recommended procedure on upgrade, otherwise you are likely to have issues due to old config. If you need your old config for some reason, you can always find it in darkmod folder.

32-bit builds of TDM are deprecated, so they are not present in beta versions. They will be added at the very end of beta phase.
 

Notes

1 - This effort is to find out if we broke anything in TDM with our 2.10 changes, if a new 2.10 feature isn't working correctly.
We won't be trying to fix bugs that have been around for a long time. Instead, we will create an issue in bugtracker (if not yet present), to fix it after beta.

2 - If you find something wrong, it would be helpful if you report whether the issue happens in 2.09 too.
By the way, you can easily get 2.09 version: just copy your darkmod folder and run tdm_installer on the copy, selecting "release209b" on the custom version screen.

3 - Please try to be specific when reporting a problem. What you were doing, where you were when the problem occurred, can you reproduce it, etc.
This wiki article provides many suggestions for good bug reports.

Thank you for testing !

[stgatilov]

PLAYERS

1) A lot of effort was put into optimizing loading times.
  It includes: better integration of decompression, multithreading, immutable texture storage, handwritten normal map compression and mipmap generation, removing artificial delays.
  As the result, we even had to modify loading screens of some missions, because allocated 10% of loading time was no longer enough for a player to read the hint

2) Generic performance improvements were done too.
  Most importantly, we fixed performance regressions since 2.07: rendering static geometry (5598) and soft stencil shadows with antialiasing.
  This hardly makes a difference, but it is nice to know that TDM can now use AVX instructions on Linux builds too.

3) We made some changes to window / input systems.
  Most importantly, Linux build now relies on GLFW library to create window and handle keyboard / mouse (thread), so a lot of the issues with OS integration on Linux should go away.
  On the Windows side, some minor changes were made to fullscreen/borderless modes.

4) New implementation of object dragging / manipulation (thread)
  Afraid to grab a candle near a sleeping guard? Hopefully, you will make less noise while moving objects in 2.10. And if you hold the creep button, the moved item will not make any noise at all.
  Also, dragging unconscious bodies should feel better now. Rats slighty spoiled the joy of this improvement (rats often do), but hopefully it is fixed now
  Finally, now you can control how far a rock flies by holding throw button for a different amount of time.

5) New visual style for frob-highlighting objects.
  This point is still surrounded by debates though (thread, poll), so the fate of the frob outline is yet uncertain.

6) Tooltips are now shown in the main menu.
  Perhaps the text is not perfect yet, but this is a birth of the long-awaited feature!

7) Tweaked starting new mission in the main menu.
  The old way of "installing" and starting missions was quite confusing for newcomers.
  So we reorganized the main menu a bit, and now it is hopefully more intuitive.

MAPPING

1) Entity limit is no more (thread).
  Well, number of entities is technically capped by 65536, but I don't think it can be reached by ordinary mapping. You should no longer use the insane tricks of the past striving to reduce the number of entities (unless the tricks have other benefits, of course).

2) Behavior of spotlights (projected lights) reverted back to how they worked in 2.07.
  It means that the missions released before 2.08 should now look as intended. The sad thing is that the missions with projected lights tweaked for 2.08 or 2.09 are probably a bit off now.
  Also, fixed a bug that spotlights illuminated surfaces outside their light volumes.

3) Security camera improved.
  Security cameras have been reworked from the ground up with the aim of bringing them to the same level of polish as TDM's AIs, both when it comes to stealth gameplay and how mappers can work with them and customize them.
  Most importantly, security cameras in new FMs will track the player once they catch sight of him rather than freezing in place, making them considerably harder to shake off. All the details can be seen on the wiki page.

4) Volumetric lights can now be used on projected lights (thread).
  Unlike adding fake translucent geometry, the real volumetric lights automatically match their source light, including light volume geometry, projection & falloff texture, and even shadows.
  Full description of available settings is available on the wiki page.

5) X-ray screens feature added.
  This feature that was originally in Doom 3, has been reintroduced to TDM and developed further. The screens are able to change the appearance of entities seen through them, even making them appear or disappear if desired. Look out for them in future Inventors Guild and magical themed FMs.
  You can find the thread here with links to the relevant wiki articles. l

6) Added a system for tracking secrets.
  Now it is easy to set up, with no custom scripts required. They'll also be shown on the mission statistics screen at the end of the mission, if the FM uses the new system.
  More can be read on the wiki page.

7) Main menu GUI has been reworked to allow more customization.
  Mappers can change music, background, disable screens in the uniform way. Debriefing videos work exactly as briefing videos do. The same customizations can be applied to ordinary missions and separately to every mission in campaign. You can find more details in guis/mainmenu_custom_defs.gui inside tdm_gui01.pk4.
  A lot of the released missions were updated to use the new customization system (thread). Which unfortunately means that their customizations won't work in 2.09 and earlier versions anymore.

8| Dmap times have been reduced (thread).
  Optimizations were made all over the dmap code, adding some new algorithms and data structures. Of course, the time difference varies between maps.
  As a side product, precision has been improved in a few places.

9) Added location diagnostics to dmap (thread).
  Setting up location entities and separators is an error-prone process, and previously there was no good way to find the error. Now dmap will post warnings and even produce pointfiles in case something is wrong with locations, similar to already existing visportal diagnostics.

10) Added native support for PNG image format.
  Now PNG images can be used in materials. In some cases PNG is a good alternative to TGA for uncompressed images. Note however, that loading PNG is slower than loading TGA, and we have yet to discover if this is a problem or not.
  As a side note, DDS images can now be used in image programs, although doing so is discouraged because of additional loss of quality due to compression.

11) Subtitles can now be assigned to sound files (thread).
  While implementation is a bit raw yet and needs to pass test of time, subtitles have already been added to Saint Lucia prebundled mission. Note that we did not consider localization of subtitles yet (localization as a whole is in weird state in TDM).
  Full description is available on the wiki page.

12) New script events have been added to the repertoire for use by mappers:

• a) sys.VecRotate( vector vec, vector angles ) rotates a vector by a set of angles, allowing to match vectors such as offsets to an entity's current orientation.
• b) entity.getEntityFlag( string flag ) allows to find out properties about entities such as "notarget" (for the player entity) or "invisible".
• c) $player1.getCalibratedLightgemValue() retrieves the current value of the lightgem, using the same weighting as AIs do.
• d) entity.setSolid( boolean state ) allows to change the solidity of an entity at runtime. Note that it's still experimental.
• e) sys.getLocationPoint( vector point ) returns the location of a point in space.
• f) sys.pointIsInBounds( vector point, vector mins, vector maxs ) evaluates whether a point lies within a volume specified by 2 corner points.
• g) sys.getTraceSurfType() returns the type of surface the most recent trace has hit, such as "snow", if any.

*) Some other improvements:
  a) Supported "set XXX on head" spawnarg on AIs.
  b) Some LOD improvements, e.g. for lights.
  c) Hot reload supports more of the popular spawnargs (i.e. without respawn).
  d) In-game downloader can update the currently installed mission.

ASSETS

1) Automaton AI from Ulysses mission by @Sotha have been added to core, together with new prefabs for (cosmetic) recharging stations to include in patrol routes and a camera screen showing what the automaton sees.

2) @Wellingtoncrab contributed a whole new suite of fancy wooden furniture pieces including prefabs. They can be viewed in their release thread.

PROGRAMMING

Some interesting things happened on programming side too.
First of all, the limited GL profiling has been replaced with Tracy profiler, which has its own cool viewer. It has greatly helped us in our optimization efforts.
More technical stuff: generic hash table has been added, Clear in idlib method now works as most programmers expect, unit tests integration has been improved.

Another major event that happened this year is migration to the new mission database, based on SVN repository. Hopefully, there will be less confusion about mission updates, and old versions of FMs will not be lost anymore.

[stgatilov]

Here is the list of new cvars and commands:

GENERIC

r_volumetricSamples, r_volumetricDither --- quality settings of the new volumetric lights.

tdm_show_menu_tooltips --- can disable tooptips in the main menu.

r_frobOutlinePreset --- a command to switch between different preset styles of frob-highlight outlines. It modifies various outline-related cvars, setting them to predefined values. You can later adjust them individually.

r_newFrob, r_frob* --- a bunch of cvars for tweaking the new frob-highlight outline. Here are the main ones:
*) r_newFrob controls surfaces highlighting
*) r_frobOutlinePreset controls outline around highlighted objects

con_fontSize, con_fontColor --- allows to adjust font of game console, e.g. make it smaller so see more text on one page.

DEBUGGING ONLY

image_levelLoadParallel, image_useTexStorage, image_mipmapMode --- various switches to optimize loading times. We have already seen several issues caused by image_useTexStorage, and there may be more...

tdm_drag_new, tdm_drag2_* --- cvar to enable new dragging behavior, plus a bunch of cvars for tweaking how it works. If dragging, carrying, pulling or throwing does not work well, you can try switching tdm_drag_new back to 0 to see if the problem is caused by the new grabber code.

r_spotlightBehavior --- changes the way how spotlights (projected lights) compute their light volume, and how projection and falloff textures are applied. If projected lights look wrong on a map, you may try a few options to see if this was broken by 2.10 or was wrong from the very beginning. Note: map restart is required for the change to take effect.

dmap_compatibility --- switch some parts of dmap code to older algorithms which were used in previous version of TDM. Note that it does not perfectly reproduce behavior of old dmap, because it is too hard to put every improvement under "if".
This cvar can be used to dmap an old map if you don't intend to rework it in major way (although you should still test it thoroughly if you want to release the newly dmapped version).

[stgatilov]

Changelog of 2.10 development:

dev16202-9175
* Major changes in security camera (5528, 4731, Wiki).
* Entity limit removed raised to 64K (5439, announcement).
* Added secrets tracking system for mappers to use (5549, Wiki).
* Integrated Sotha's "automaton" AI from Ulysses into core assets.
* Menu: improved the main page and the "new game" page to make it easier for new players.
* Menu: ask for confirmation on game restart, fixed menu music setting.
* Menu: show checkboxes near objectives after mission is failed (5049).
* Fixed rare crash in script-generated frobs (5542).
* Added idPlayer::GetObjectiveVisible script event (5543).
* Fixed rare collision bug causing lags (5439, r9157).
* Debug visualization no longer blocks SMP performance improvements (5468).
* Fixed script-generated game saves by disabling screenshot due to SMP.
* Added missing frob highlight to plaster materials (4487).
* Removed missing material reference in skin "wench/purple_bodice".
* Minor fixes to mirroring: puddle, bc_teatray.
Known problems: Volta 1, Volta 2, and Snowed Inn don't start due to broken menu.

dev16215-9224
* More work on security camera (5528, Wiki) --- not finished yet.
* Massive changes in dmap to make it faster (5562, 5488, announcement).
* Fixed vertices merging in dmap which could cause sparklies (5486).
* OpenAL (sound) upgraded to 1.21.1, fixing bsinc resampler (5564).
* Added first implementation of tooltips in settings menu (2626).

dev16225-9284
* Map loading optimizations: texture storage, parallel image loading, models loading (5591).
* Fixed map not starting after prior error + removed 5 seconds delay at the end of loading (5118).
* Removed mandatory snapping from dmap, fixing thin objects like ropes (5486).
* Improved precision of windings in dmap compilation (5580).
* SIMD code cleanup: enabled AVX on Linux, disabled denormals (4550).
* Dropped visportals are now further classified as "leaky" and generic ones (5353, wiki).
* Fixed creation of script threads with object method call (4713).
* Added cvar s_alReverbGain to tone down EFX reverb (5587).
* r_materialOverride fixed with Frontend Acceleration.
* Fixed when player is in the void with "r_useLightAreaCulling 0".
* Minor fixes in menu tooltips.
* Fixed GL debug groups on AMD (5280).
* Changes in FPS counter, which make displayed value more stable when com_showFpsAvg is large.

dev16238-9330
* Frob highlight replaced with frob outline (5427) --- not finished yet.
* Linux platform-specific code now uses GLFW for window, GL-init and input handling (5510, 5293, testing).
* Windows build can change desktop resolution once again; also made "borderless" mode default (5510).
* New dmap diagnostics for location separators and location entities (5354).
* Dmap leak pointfiles are much shorter now (5592).
* FFmpeg video formats further restricted to mp4+h264+aac and roq (4845, announcement).
* Fixed occasional crash at the end of RunScript AI task, happening e.g. in WS3 mission (5538).
* Debug cvars r_lockSurfaces and r_maxTri improved.
* Upgraded GLFW to 3.3.4.
* Added generic hash map in the code; fixed race condition in shader loading during map start (5597).
* Refactoring of Clear methods in code (5593).
* Added slider in menu for reverb cvar s_alReverbGain (5587).
* Menu tooltip improvements.
* Experimental: localization system now accepts string placeholders (5261).

dev16256-9358
* Implemented new object manipulation and body dragging physics (5599 announcement).
* Extracted static geometry into its own VBO in VertexCache, fixing performance regression since 2.07 (5598).
* Added weapons to inventory grid (5601).
* Fixed in-game mission downloader warning when downloading localization pack (5551).
* Fixed in-game mission downloader warning when FM is not available on the chosen mirror (5551).
* Disabled bindless textures by default because it does not work on modern AMD GPUs.
* Reduced lower limit on texture units to 32, probably fixing the "Too few!" startup error on bad GL drivers.
* Allow choosing adaptive VSync in setting menu.
* Fullscreen options in menu: borderless goes first + block resolution when borderless is selected.
* Interaction table performance optimization when loading from savefile.
* Changed number of contacts in physics to 32 everywhere + minor filling optimization (3871).
* Save missions.tdminfo immediately after FM download finishes.
* Better logging of FM downloads under LC_MAINMENU & LT_INFO (5551).
* Saint Lucia FM: adjusted mission loading GUI to display tip for about 20% of loading time (5118).

dev16269-9407
* Reimplemented frob-highlighting of surfaces (5427).
* Removed TDM version display in the main menu.
* Replaced r_glProfiling and r_logSmpTimings with Tracy profiler library.
* Better handling of position-independent executable setting on Linux.
* Improved third-party libs usage: fixed OpenAL build on GCC10, fixed rebuilding libs with GCC different from 5.

dev16325-9462
* PNG image format is now supported in materials, PCX support removed (5665).
* Major refactoring of image formats in: SEED, screenshots of all kind. DevIL library removed (5665).
* Rough prototype of .srt subtitles in briefing video (2454).
* Fixed stack overflow crash if CPU-resident image is defaulted e.g. when not found (5665).
* Mission statistics now show number of game loads.
* Silenced "missing vertex or index cache" console warning.
* Calling "set" in GUI script with not enough arguments now results in Error instead of crash (5323).
* Debug cvar r_skipFog expanded to filter out boundaries.
* r_immediateRenderingEmulate = 1 by default, probably fixing debug visualization for people using deprecated GL profile.
* Fixed GPL header in source code files.

dev16330-9508
* Extended support of subtitles to both briefing video and in-game sounds (2454: BEWARE interface will change!)
* Support updating the currently installed mission in in-game downloader (5661).
* Supported hide_distance for particle emitters and geometry of light entities (5668).
* JPG and PNG images are no longer compressed by pk4/zip (they are already compressed by themselves).
* Fixed entity arguments broken in event system after entity limit removal (5439). The bug crashed Snowed Inn on startup.
* Refactored entity think code, optimized away thinking of frobable entities.
* Added con_nowrap cvar: it caps lengthy lines in game console instead of wrapping them to the next line.
* Added a ton of trace scopes in game, dmap, and loading (enabled by com_enableTracing 1 and Tracy connection).
* Minor fixes: parallelSky, r_showViewEntities, image_preload 0, r_singleModelName.
Known problems: GUI is not drawn in-game until paper is frob-highlighted.

dev16335-9550
* Added hot-reload support: LOD settings, _color and shaderParms, noshadows, angle, targets, frobmovers + rotate/translate, bound entities (5683).
* Fixed error on respawning an AI (5683).
* Added con_fontSize cvar, which allows making console font smaller, also enabled mipmapping.
* Refactored shaders loading, which fixes SMP-specific crash on AMD drivers (5012).
* Non-bound lights are turned off when they are hidden e.g. using LOD (post).
* Fixed noshadows_lod_N not working sometimes (5691).
* Fixed GUI rendering on parchments --- known problem from previous build.
* Fixed color banding in lockpick success/failure highlights.
* Changing tdm_lod_bias has immediate effect without restart.
* Small fix towards loading RGTC normal maps from DDS.
* Removed old broken code for entities binding/unbinding (5414).
* Some showPrimitives fixes.
* Automation: fixed bug with astronomical timer for game controls (not used anywhere yet).

dev16342-9552
* Merged branch with major changes in main menu GUI (5323, thread).
Known problems: All the missions from the list do not work as expected in main menu: custom background is missing, empty briefing page is shown, in rare cases even briefing/debriefing video can disappear. This will be properly fixed only when 2.10 is released. Right now you can download fixed pk4 file by direct link from the same page --- fixed version should work as expected.

dev16350-9577
* Support "set X on head" spawnarg for attached heads (post).
* Fixed lockpicking getting stuck if you go away (5715).
* Hopefully fixed random flickering when frob-highlighting objects with stencil shadows enabled.
* Fast and deterministic normal maps compression on CPU (5716).
* Optimized OGG files loading.
* Optimized TGA files loading.
* Continued work on X-ray support.
* Continued work on subtitles support (2454).
* Added new models and prefabs by @Wellingtoncrab.
* Added material textures/darkmod/window/wooden_frame01/wooden_frame01_dark.
* Probably fixed reloadModels for .lwo files.

dev16358-9588
* Fixed crashes in image loading on AMD driver (5591).
* Fixed occasional crashes in TGA loading optimization (5716).
* Generate mipmaps for non-DDS textures in software, see cvar image_mipmapMode.
* Frob outline disabled by default, see r_frobOutline (thread).
* Tweaked render order ("sort last") for particle materials.
* Continued work on subtitles (2454).
* Removed [cleanup] button in mod selection menu (thread).

dev16368-9627 (*)
* Major changes in frob highlight/outline: translucency, alpha test, shine-through (5427).
* Restored geometric frob outline under r_frobOutline 2 (5427, post).
* Fixed bug breaking GL core profile, which usually caused black menu on AMD (post).
* (WIP) Volumetric light effect.
* Renderer's "safe mode" changed to windowed 800 x 600 (post).
* Cap volume parameter in sound shader by 1.5 (4627).
* Lockpicking sound no longer affected by EFX reverb.
* Some changes in time handling, fixed timescale on uncapped FPS (5324, 4698).
* Reduced pause on game start from 1.0 to 0.1 seconds (5314).
* Minor dmap (aas) acceleration (5562).
* Minor optimizations in models / sounds loading.
* Don't drop held item after bumping dead/unconscious AIs (3516).
* Tweaked render order ("sort last") for particle materials, reverting some.
* Some changes in randomization (5763).
* Minor fix in game console.
* Adjusted stlucia.pk4 to avoid tdm_installer analysis... unsuccessfully.
* Changed integration of doctest unit tests.
Known problems: some maps broken with "clip model outside world bounds" warning spam.

dev16390-9648
* Fixed "clip model outside world bounds" warning spam on some maps (post).
* Fixed sparklies on hard geometric frob outline with bloom (5427).
* DDS textures can be used in image programs, although they should not (5781).
* Fixed spotlights/projected lights illuminating objects outside their frustum (5529).
* Continued work on volumetric light shader: LOD, stencil, etc. (5816).
* Allow xray shader in GUI overlays, fixed rare crash.
* Do not spam warnings when index cache is not ready yet, e.g. during noclip on large map.
* Minor fix of game console behavior.
* (WIP) Changed frustum of spotlights when near != 0 (5815).
* Fixed AlertDuration of security camera (5528).
* Fixed normalmaps: flagstones_mossy_01 (5777), flagstones_gravel (5760), ash_001 and ash01_crumb_edge (5784), blocks_large_mildew (5786), ornament_shield_white_eagleandpallets (5803).
* Added material for rough_grey_blocks (5789).
* Added missing "torn" skins for all paintings.
* Commented out additional camera screen materials (5676).

beta210-01 (rev 16399-9702)
* Projected lights: restored TDM 2.07 behavior, fix lighting outside frustum (5815).
* Fixed light frustum precision (4888).
* Major changes in volumetric lights (5816).
* Continued work on security camera (5528).
* X-ray improvements.
* Fixed severe slowdown with soft stencil shadows and antialiasing.
* Allow lifting ragdolls above ground, unless they have "ground_when_dragged" (5599).
* Fixed mirrors getting black under "image_useTexStorage 1" (topic).
* Added script events: vecRotate, getCalibratedLightgemValue, setSolid, getEntityFlag.
* Take entity orientation account in flinderization offsets.
* Removed "emitter_size" spawnarg.
* Fixed r_showLights.
* Refactor shaders: extracted common code to includes.

beta210-02 (rev 16411-9731)
* Fixed dbghelp.dll issue which blocked running TDM on fresh Windows 7 (issue).
* Fixed rare depth fighting when SSAO is on.
* Fixed OpenGL error with shadow maps when no light fallbacks to stencil implementation.
* Fixed envshot command (5796).
* Restored materials and prefabs for multiple camera GUIs.
* X-ray: supported "suppressInSubview" spawnarg on lights (also affects other subviews like mirrors)
* Added X-ray related assets: materials, visible/invisible skins.
* Added script events: getLocationPoint, pointIsInBounds, getTraceSurfType.
* Preserve opacity towards AIs and restore frobability in script event setSolid.
* Func_emitters can now be bound without the particle flickering rapidly.
* Fixed "condump unwrap".
* Added display case models without glass to allow them to have breakable glass.
* Added forcescreenaspect + hcenter GUI keywords for aspect-ratio-independent images.
* Removed a few subtitles lines which were for testing only.
* Internal typeinfo changes.

beta210-03 (rev 16421-9771)
* Reverted to 2.09 frob-highlight: no outline, use material frob stages.
* Added three new frob outline presets by @kingsal and @nbohr1more.
* Changed the way volumetric lights are set up (see wiki page).
* Volumetric lights respect noshadows and don't affect lightgem.
* Added script events: getHealth, setHealth, setSolid,projectDecal; fixed getLocationPoint.
* Added script event getEnemy and canSee to security camera.
* Add Epifire's flinder models to the security cameras.
* Fixed subtitles going sticky on save/load.
* Slightly reduced subtitles font size, added semi-transparent black background.
* Added subtitles to Saint Lucia mission.
* Fixed dmap issue in generating unoptimized collision maps for patch-only entities (5859).
* Elemental no longer has 8 legs, wasting time in inverse kinematics.
* Some optimizations in frontend: fix disabled optimization, avoid vertex data copy.
* Added r_useInteractionTriCulling -1 mode to move some CPU load to GPU.
* Fixed lamp cubemap light textures.
* Fixed language switches broken by new main menu GUI.
* Fixed occasional spam about slow jobs (threshold is now 100 ms instead of 10 ms).
* Corrected OpenGL usage of clipping planes in shadow map generation.
* Console printing is now threadsafe, which could crash Frontend Acceleration.
* Improvements in system console on Windows.
* Allow all SIMD code supported by compiler on Elbrus CPU.

beta210-04 (rev 16441-9798)
* Security camera now supports AI detection, also fixed volumetric lights.
* Fixed save/load for volumetric lights, supported scrolling light materials.
* Fixed scrolling light textures (5860).
* Fixed uncompressed normal maps and backface lighting (5862).
* stain01bwet material now works as it always did, no depth fighting (5325).
* Skip X-ray rendering when it is already within subview.
* Removed parchment from message about secrets (5549).
* Fixed and upscaled droppuddle texture (5870).
* Extended tooltips in video settings menu.
* Fixed randomization of gui::random_value on game load.
* A bit more subtitles in Saint Lucia mission.
* Fixed 1280 x 960 resolution in 4:3.
* Fixed rare graphic bug in some debug tools.
* Small optimization in frontend: reuse index array for interaction.

beta210-05 (rev 16457-9815)
* Fixed bright lines on the boundary of light volume on AMD drivers (5876).
* Fixed secret counter increased multiple times on single-count entities (5549).
* Security camera: "sweepWaitSoundOffset" spawnarg controls snd_end timing.
* Security camera: snd_sparks and snd_death can be used simultaneously.
* Security camera: split "seeAI" spawnarg into "seeAI", "seeAnimals", "seeBodies".
* Fixed the xray model stuck in place when shouldered.
* Improved player GUI for taking damage.
* Added spawnarg "animal_patrol_wait" to allow animals that move continuously (post).
* Portal sky scissor optimization.
* A bit of cleaning in source code conan dependencies (5839).
* Fixed hover highlight on Restart Game button in settings menu.
* Volumetric lights refactoring.

beta210-06 (rev 16472-9845)
* Fixed saving/loading of suppressInSubview for X-ray.
* Fixed language setting being ignored on restart (post).
* Reimplemented rotation in new grabber code, rotating heavy objects is easy now (post).
* Fixed weird spots sticking on screen sometimes when bloom is on (post).
* Fixed seeAI setting for security camera towards AIs on hostile teams; updated editor descriptions.
* Fixed one more bug causing tdm_installer to analyze installation.
* image_downsize no longer affects loading screens and other GUIs.
* Fixed lighting with "image_useNormalCompression 0".
* Added editor description for nodrop spawnarg.
* Reorganized mapper tool prefabs, fixed Epifire's wall-mounted security camera prefab.
* Removed non-working 16-bit color option from the menu settings.
* Improved EFX in New Job mission (5594).
* Fixed issue in Saint Lucia mission: all voiceovers being played on mission restart (4828).
* Some more corrections to subtitles in Saint Lucia mission.

beta210-07 (rev 16474-9850)
* Set r_useMultiDrawIndirect to 0, fixing NaN flickering on AMD drivers.
* Fixed X-ray combined with Render Scale.

beta210-08 (rev16475-9853)
* Fixed crash on index cache resize with now default "r_useMultiDrawIndirect 0".

Changelog of earlier versions can be found here.

[datiswous]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:07 AM, stgatilov said:

6) Tooltips are not shown in the main menu.

I think you mean now , right?

[nbohr1more]

Hah!

You forgot to mention one of the key new features...

Installing and starting missions is now much more sane with a "Start this Mission" selection right on the main page.

[stgatilov]

1 hour ago, nbohr1more said:

You forgot to mention one of the key new features...
Installing and starting missions is now much more sane with a "Start this Mission" selection right on the main page.

I did not consider it important enough

In fact, the announcement is for experienced players, and they will immediately notice this change, but they are probably OK with either approach. It is the new players who will benefit most (much less confusion), but I suppose they won't read the beta announcement anyway.

[Goldwell]

Damn I have to say this is all amazing work, I'm thoroughly impressed with that feature list!

 

I just downloaded the new build and played around with it for a bit and these new features kick ass!

[lowenz]

Ah, in the installer screen please move "beta" before "dev" list!

release

BETA

dev

 

etc....

Edited December 16, 2021 by lowenz

[stgatilov]

1 hour ago, lowenz said:

Ah, in the installer screen please move "beta" before "dev" list!

Beta releases will be relevant for 2 months, and dev releases for 10 months after that.

Are you sure you won't ask to return back the old order in February/March?

[lowenz]

Mmmm, in that case it's better this way.

[datiswous]

6 hours ago, stgatilov said:

but they are probably OK with either approach.

It was for me a big motivation for using the 2.10 dev version instead of 2.09 . When I go back to 2.09 to test something I always notice how clunky that interface is compared to the new. Thanks for that.

[peter_spy]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:07 AM, stgatilov said:

r_frobOutlinePreset --- a command to switch between different preset styles of frob-highlight outlines. It modifies various outline-related cvars, setting them to predefined values. You can later adjust them individually.

r_newFrob, r_frob* --- a bunch of cvars for tweaking the new frob-highlight outline.

When you set r_newFrob to 0, the frob outline preset is still there, so you can have your custom frob set in material file, but it will always be with an outline Perhaps there should be something like r_frobOutlinePreset 0 (no outline) as well?

[datiswous]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:07 AM, stgatilov said:

r_frobOutlinePreset --- a command to switch between different preset styles of frob-highlight outlines. It modifies various outline-related cvars, setting them to predefined values. You can later adjust them individually.

r_newFrob, r_frob* --- a bunch of cvars for tweaking the new frob-highlight outline.

Is there a list of all the cvars, or is this the full list? Because there used to be also r_frobOutline (without the Preset after it), or is that removed?

[stgatilov]

2 hours ago, peter_spy said:

When you set r_newFrob to 0, the frob outline preset is still there, so you can have your custom frob set in material file, but it will always be with an outline Perhaps there should be something like r_frobOutlinePreset 0 (no outline) as well?

I think you need to set "r_newFrob 0" and "r_frobOutline 0" to restore old behavior.

2 hours ago, datiswous said:

Is there a list of all the cvars, or is this the full list? Because there used to be also r_frobOutline (without the Preset after it), or is that removed?

I put asterisk in "r_frob*" to denote that there are many cvars with this prefix.
Game console supports autocomplete, i.e. you can write "r_frob", then press Tab, and see all cvars/cmds with this prefix. Then you can execute each one individually and read description. I recall autocomplete did not work on Linux build though, but maybe recent GLFW changes fixed that?...

Also, you can type "listCvars" to see all cvars, and maybe "listCvars r_frob*" or "listCVars r_frob" will show you the list of frob-related cvars.

[lowenz]

@1280x720 and Medium-High settings performance is really good on an Intel UHD 750 too

[New Horizon]

Hmm, updated to the latest beta build and missions just crash for me.  Perhaps I need to do a fresh install instead.  I tried WS5 and The painters wife.  Once they reached 100% loaded, the game crashed to desktop.  I'll try doing a fresh install but just wanted to mention it here.  I was updating from 2.09.

[JackFarmer]

When I start the mod after updating to beta 2.10,  I receive the message that "SymGetLineFromInlineContext" in DLL "dbghelp.dll" has not been found.

As NH I updated from 2.09.

When I revert to 2.09 it works again.

[Epifire]

I just downloaded it now and I gotta say, there's a lot more here than I was initially hearing about. Fantastic work fellas!

[stgatilov]

8 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

When I start the mod after updating to beta 2.10,  I receive the message that "SymGetLineFromInlineContext" in DLL "dbghelp.dll" has not been found.

Do you have Windows 7?
Does it have any kind of service pack installed?

Can you go to C:\Windows\System32, find dbghelp.dll there, Right-click it in Explorer and look properties.
You can see its version there in "detailed" tab or something like that.

[JackFarmer]

5 hours ago, stgatilov said:

Do you have Windows 7?
Does it have any kind of service pack installed?

Can you go to C:\Windows\System32, find dbghelp.dll there, Right-click it in Explorer and look properties.
You can see its version there in "detailed" tab or something like that.

Version is: 6.1.7601.17514

[kingsal]

This is a fantastic release, the overall stability and faster dmap times are huge! So far everything looks and runs great. 

[datiswous]

In the Camera test map camerawiki2.pk4 mentioned on https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Security_Camera_(2.10%2B) the camera's still don't work, although the issue with the not working (multiple) camera's should be fixed in 2.10 beta, or is the fix not yet implemented in beta 2.10 9702?

[duzenko]

2 hours ago, datiswous said:

In the Camera test map camerawiki2.pk4 mentioned on https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Security_Camera_(2.10%2B) the camera's still don't work, although the issue with the not working (multiple) camera's should be fixed in 2.10 beta, or is the fix not yet implemented in beta 2.10 9702?

Should work in the next beta

In this version I think you can uncomment the materials in tdm_camera.mtr and that should do it

[Dragofer]

8 hours ago, datiswous said:

In the Camera test map camerawiki2.pk4 mentioned on https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Security_Camera_(2.10%2B) the camera's still don't work, although the issue with the not working (multiple) camera's should be fixed in 2.10 beta, or is the fix not yet implemented in beta 2.10 9702?

Ah yes, we had problems with the numbered camera materials used by this test FM some time ago, so I commented them out in order to not impede the initial beta release. Problem is, the test FM doesn't have its own copy of the materials, so it's now missing them.

I very much believe duzenko managed to fix the numbered camera materials before the initial beta release, so you should be able to just drop this .mtr file into your install. Also, they'll be included with the next beta version again.

tdm_camera.mtr