Fan mission: Iris (Christmas Connections Contest) won't start. Gets stuck on black screen, only hearing music and ambient sounds in background

[mcmike1489]

I just downloaded the latest beta version of the Dark Mod right now and by starting this specific FM: Iris, I get this black screen with the music and ambient sounds in the background, but no picture showing. I was only able to get to the mission briefing page showing the objectives of the mission and then by clicking on "Objectives" It takes me to a black screen. What is causing this issue? My other fan missions work just fine, I tested out other ones, so it's not my game. Could be this is a broken fan mission?

[datiswous]

Try renaming your darkmod.cfg to darkmod.cf and restart

[mcmike1489]

10 hours ago, datiswous said:

Try renaming your darkmod.cfg to darkmod.cf and restart

Nope, sorry it didn't work. I think the developer needs to patch the mission file. It's not my game. It's the FM itself, it must be broken.

[datiswous]

2 minutes ago, mcmike1489 said:

it must be broken.

Well a lot of people have already played it and they had no problem making it load correctly.

[mcmike1489]

2 minutes ago, datiswous said:

Well a lot of people have already played it and they had no problem making it load correctly.

Ok, so any other solutions if you know anything else? I mean, this should be easy to fix without completely modifying my system. It must be the video card or something in the graphics settings since I'm not seeing any picture.

[Wellingtoncrab]

I am admittedly unsure what would cause the .pk4 to not load for you or if it is specific to the iris.pk4, but I do know it has been loaded a number of times. Hopefully we can figure it out! You mentioned no issues loading other missions, this extended also to other missions which require 2.10?

You installed 2.10 beta version 6 specifically also not the latest “dev” build? 

[nbohr1more]

Please post your darkmod.cfg

In addition, open the console via CTRL+ALT+ ~  ( tilde ) and invoke "condump iris_is_black.txt".

The "iris_is_black.txt" file should appear under your darkmod directory, attach it to this thread.

[mcmike1489]

2 hours ago, Wellingtoncrab said:

I am admittedly unsure what would cause the .pk4 to not load for you or if it is specific to the iris.pk4, but I do know it has been loaded a number of times. Hopefully we can figure it out! You mentioned no issues loading other missions, this extended also to other missions which require 2.10?

You installed 2.10 beta version 6 specifically also not the latest “dev” build? 

Yes, I did install version 2.10 beta version 6 and still got the problem with hearing music and ambience only, but stuck in a black screen. Should I install the latest "dev" build instead of using version 2.10 beta version 6?

[mcmike1489]

1 hour ago, nbohr1more said:

Please post your darkmod.cfg

In addition, open the console via CTRL+ALT+ ~  ( tilde ) and invoke "condump iris_is_black.txt".

The "iris_is_black.txt" file should appear under your darkmod directory, attach it to this thread.

Ok, here is my "darkmod.cfg" As for the "iris_is_black.txt" file, it's not there in my Dark Mod directory unfortunately. Weird, after opening the mission, I had to forcefully close the game because it would get stuck in the black screen and couldn't go back to the main menu. So, without it, hope this is enough to figure out part of the puzzle.

Darkmod.cfg

[Wellingtoncrab]

11 minutes ago, mcmike1489 said:

Yes, I did install version 2.10 beta version 6 and still got the problem with hearing music and ambience only, but stuck in a black screen. Should I install the latest "dev" build instead of using version 2.10 beta version 6?

No you definitely have the right version then - just figured I would check since the dev builds appear above the beta builds in the downloader. 

Just confirming so I understand completely: you are able to select the mission and get through the briefing but at the point the objectives should display it cuts to a black screen?

Do the custom assets up to that point seem to load correctly? Custom menu/briefing music, menu background/briefing, etc? 

[nbohr1more]

Please edit these values in your darkmod.cfg to match the values shown below:

seta r_useNewBackend "0"

seta r_multiSamples "4"

seta r_fboColorBits "32"

seta r_ssao "0"

In addition, please try installing a different mission such as Closemouthed Shadows and perform the same condump invoke.

[Wellingtoncrab]

And just to clarify further you have also been able to load other 2.10 requiring missions like down and out, written, and hazard pay without issue?

[mcmike1489]

1 hour ago, Wellingtoncrab said:

No you definitely have the right version then - just figured I would check since the dev builds appear above the beta builds in the downloader. 

Just confirming so I understand completely: you are able to select the mission and get through the briefing but at the point the objectives should display it cuts to a black screen?

Do the custom assets up to that point seem to load correctly? Custom menu/briefing music, menu background/briefing, etc? 

Ok, thanks for letting me know, so not necessary to use any of the dev build versions, just stuck to version 2.10 beta version 6. Yes, that's correct. I'm only able to get to the objective screen before starting the mission, but even the objective screen is also missing the script to describe the mission itself. It's just showing a blank sheet of paper without mission info. And then I click on "Objectives" and takes me to a black screen showing nothing, just hearing music/ambience sound in the background. I'm able to play the other FMs just fine without issues, "Down and out", "Written" and Hazard Pay. They all work fine except for "Iris" (Christmas Connections Contest)

[nbohr1more]

Please try downloading it from Moddb or Google drive, eg whichever you did not use before. It sounds like the download corrupted.

[mcmike1489]

13 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:

Please try downloading it from Moddb or Google drive, eg whichever you did not use before. It sounds like the download corrupted.

I download all of the Dark Mod's newly released FM's from "darkfate.org" That Russian Thief fan mission site for all things Thief. Perhaps, the download there isn't working correctly. Also I could not find the "Iris" fan mission on Moddb, it only shows me the latest version of The Dark Mod to install.

[mcmike1489]

Quick update: Mission is now working, yeah I should had known, the problem was caused by a corrupted download. Looks like the mission files were not properly downloaded which caused the black screen glitch. I re-downloaded it and it fixed the problem right away. Thanks for the help, next time if this happens again for future FMs, I'll remember to re-download the mission again, sometimes a bad connection can cause missing files within the download itself.