Hidden Hands: Blood & Metal (Campaign) - 01.09.2024

[JackFarmer]

Hidden Hands: Blood & Metal

Available via TDM Mission Downloader

==============================================================

Title: Hidden Hands: Blood & Metal
Filename : hhbam.pk4
Author: Jack Farmer
Date of release: 01.09.2024 (Version 1) - 14.09.2024 (Version 2) - 28.09.2024 (Version 3) - 28.11.2025 (Version 4)
EFX: Yes
Subtitles: Yes

==============================================================

Hidden Hands series:

I - Initiation
II - Vitalic Fever
III - The Lost Citadel
IV - The Anomaly
V - Blood & Metal

==============================================================

 

Jack Farmer:     mapping & drafts, briefing videos
Amadeus:        revision/editing of all texts for readables, narration and dialogues
Joebarnin:       custom scripts & prefabs and trouble shooting
Datiswous:      subtitles for all conversations, broadcasts, recordings and thief comments
Dragofer:        consultation for scripts, models and trouble shooting

===============================================================

Beta testers:

Cambridge Spy
Mat99
Bergante
Joebarnin
wesp5
grodenglaive
TheUnbeholden
Acolytesix
CrisiusXIII

Release testers:

Mat99
AluminumHaste

===============================================================

Voice actors:

AndrosTheOxen (all missions)
Bikerdude (mission 1 and 2)
Boylag (mission 1)
Goldchocobo (mission 2, 3 and 5)
Malasdair (all missions)
Mary-Anne Stanke (mission 4)
Narrator (mission 1 and 4)
Purgator (mission 1 and 3)
scodysk (mission 4)
the double dutch king (mission 3 and 5)
Xander Grant (mission 4)
Yandros (mission 2 and 4)

================================================================

Pilfered items:

- roulette wheel and alien model with thanks to Goldwell (taken from "AC II: New in Town")
- pagan woman character and a select building facade with thanks to Fidcal (taken from "Heart of Lone Salvation")
- skybox in mission 4 taken from Sotha's "TP: The Transaction"
- mission 3 ("Down we go.") previously known as "The Cloister" - taken from the abandoned "Crucible of Omens" campaign, mainly created by the Dudes (JDude and BikerDude) and some other legacy missions makers
   

================================================================

New assets:

- radio model and skin by Epifire, prefab produced by Bikerdude
- several technical drawings provided by wellingtoncrab
- keypad designed & coded by MirceaKitsune
- flying bats designed & coded by STRUNK

================================================================

New sound fx / music:

- factory and machine noises by inspectorj
- machine sounds by lupalenzuela
- rocks_falling_in_cave by unidentified contributor from freesound.org
- vinyl_record_pop by joedeshon
- ambient_battle_noise by pfranzen
- distorted-wolf-howl by hail_pinson
- roaring_sea by allthingssound
- slideshow_projector by andreaskg
- whistling-in-cave by retroguy23
- scary-ghost-wolf-howling by brainclaim
- "Rivercare" by Adrian Wilaert
- "Leave Her Johnny" by Roger McGuinn used under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

All other new ambient tracks & sound fx created by Jack Farmer, occ. with gigagooga sound samples

 

================================================================

Special thanks go to:

• @joebarnin, who completely altruistically analyzed many game bugs, provided several clever scripts and even played through the initially very buggy game twice. It was an ordeal not even described in the first Builders book! Jeff, thank you very much!
• @datiswous, who, despite the enormous scope of the game, did not let himself be deterred from creating suitable subtitles for all dialog, comments, briefings and recordings. A truly monumental task!
• @Mat99 & @Bergante, who tried out things I would never have thought of and showed me once again that I absolutely have to take part in the next brain function enhancement surgery!
• ...and finally our friend, the incredible @AluminumHaste, who dared to do another detailed run-through at the end of the beta testing, which allowed for several more improvements and polishings.

================================================================

Thank you everyone at Fractured Glass for consultation and help in general!

================================================================

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30 by JackFarmer

[nbohr1more]

Congrats!

[Heuli]

Congratulations on the release

[joebarnin]

Congratulations on this epic release! Taffers, this is a brilliant campaign. For those who want to play this 'blind', I'll put some comments in spoilers (they don't spoil much, but just in case)

Spoiler

Each mission stands alone, but there's a progression to them that works in the context of a larger story (obviously) but also with how they are paced.

The maps are well-designed and varied. As are the goals and obstacles.

Creative use of existing assets (I was surprised to see that there were only four new assets)

Great voice work.

As usual for a @JackFarmer creation, brilliant ambient tracks and sound effects.

Bottom line - take a deep breath, allocate some time and PLAY THIS!

[Amadeus]

Way to go!!!! Congrats on getting this behemoth out the door!!! 

[datiswous]

Congratulations!

[nbohr1more]

This "5 mission campaign" is now available in the mission database!

[thebigh]

holy moly

[Marbrien]

I'm enjoying this, but I have a problem in mission 2.  There's a readable by the shrine entrance which can be picked up and dropped but does not seem to go into the inventory. It can be read on the ground using the spyglass, and it's a reminder about the sacred crops.  In my inventory is a readable named Sacred Crops that cannot be read, and if I try to drop it the game crashes to desktop. 

Meanwhile I have

Spoiler

an arcane rod and four fruit/vegetable items: an apple, pear, carrot and turnip. 

These items do not seem to interact in any way with what appear to be the four receptacles

Spoiler

(the plates held by the four skeletons) at the shrine entrance

, so I'm stuck.  Do I need to make the veggies sacred in some way?

NB: I'm using TDM v2.12.

Edited September 3 by Marbrien

[STiFU]

Congrats! Have to give this a shot soon!

[joebarnin]

5 hours ago, Marbrien said:

Meanwhile I have

  Hide contents

an arcane rod and four fruit/vegetable items: an apple, pear, carrot and turnip. 

These items do not seem to interact in any way with what appear to be the four receptacles

  Hide contents

(the plates held by the four skeletons) at the shrine entrance

, so I'm stuck.  Do I need to make the veggies sacred in some way?

Spoiler

I think you just need to drop (R) each veggie on the appropriate plate

 

[Marbrien]

I tried dropping those items on the plates.  I can't tell if there is an appropriate plate for each item (is there?), so I tried different plates.  Nothing happens. 

Edited September 3 by Marbrien

[JackFarmer]

Just now, Marbrien said:

I tried dropping those items on the plates.  I didn't know if there is a particular plate for each item, so I tried different plates.  Nothing happens. 

Vague hint

Spoiler

You have to read something

Precise hint

Spoiler

Look out for a poem.

As for your problem with the "Sacred Crops" readable

 

Spoiler

I am afraid nobody had problems during beta and I too cannot reproduce the problem.  If I pick up the readable from the guard, it can be read and the one at the shrine vanishes. If I pick up the readable at the shrine, I can rad it and the one from the guard vanishes.

 

[huntaffer]

I am playing on Linux, Intel core5, GTX 1650, which is not a weak GPU, but low midrange at least.

FPS is dropping from 60 to ~30 in some areas and its annoying.

Any optimization possible ?

As TDM versions evolve, the more this game becomes slower.

[JackFarmer]

25 minutes ago, huntaffer said:

I am playing on Linux, Intel core5, GTX 1650, which is not a weak GPU, but low midrange at least.

FPS is dropping from 60 to ~30 in some areas and its annoying.

Any optimization possible ?

As TDM versions evolve, the more this game becomes slower.

I am afraid I am not an expert when it comes to this. Which mission are we talking about, hopefully not the first one? Because this should be the mission with the lowest demands. I don't know about your graphic settings, so, have you tried decreasing options like soft shadows etc. ?

@nbohr1more

[STRUNK]

29 minutes ago, huntaffer said:

I am playing on Linux, Intel core5, GTX 1650, which is not a weak GPU, but low midrange at least.

FPS is dropping from 60 to ~30 in some areas and its annoying.

Any optimization possible ?

As TDM versions evolve, the more this game becomes slower.

The game is looking a lot better through the years and yes, it needs more processing power to look that way. But, for me it doesn't get too slow in any way, and I'm still playing on a 2011 HP Z800 with a gtx 1660, almost on the highest settings.
BUT, I didn't play through the whole game yet and some missions in the past had massive FPS drops for me in some areas. Those have been solved however by by reporting them as detailed as possible : )
TDM is just awsome I think, even if it's not always perfect .. and it's free!!!

This mission by Jack, that has cost him (and others) countless months of work, if not years in total (regarding the learning process), is the newest example of that. It looks so good that I'm playing it as slow as possible, just because I want to "be there" : P
 

 

 

[nbohr1more]

2 hours ago, huntaffer said:

I am playing on Linux, Intel core5, GTX 1650, which is not a weak GPU, but low midrange at least.

FPS is dropping from 60 to ~30 in some areas and its annoying.

Any optimization possible ?

As TDM versions evolve, the more this game becomes slower.

What TDM version are you using?

Did you follow our performance guide:

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Performance_Tweaks

?

Please post your Darkmod.cfg

[Tarhiel]

Congratulation on the release!
This seems gargantuan by size!

[Ansome]

Congratulations on the release, it looks astounding!

[TheUnbeholden]

Looks amazing, I've been eagerly awaiting this.

[huntaffer]

12 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

What TDM version are you using?

Did you follow our performance guide:

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Performance_Tweaks

?

Please post your Darkmod.cfg

Hi, I realized , I was playing on the  maximum highest settings :))  

When I lower some , it is better. 

Most missions (mostly the older ones) do not have significant FPS drops.

I am planning to purchase an AMD RX GPU with which is better supported on Linux, what I prefer .

I know my PC (Intel® Core™ i5-4440, Nvidia GTX 1650 ) is not a powerhouse.

Edited September 4 by huntaffer

[huntaffer]

11 hours ago, STRUNK said:

The game is looking a lot better through the years and yes, it needs more processing power to look that way. But, for me it doesn't get too slow in any way, and I'm still playing on a 2011 HP Z800 with a gtx 1660, almost on the highest settings.
BUT, I didn't play through the whole game yet and some missions in the past had massive FPS drops for me in some areas. Those have been solved however by by reporting them as detailed as possible : )
TDM is just awsome I think, even if it's not always perfect .. and it's free!!!

This mission by Jack, that has cost him (and others) countless months of work, if not years in total (regarding the learning process), is the newest example of that. It looks so good that I'm playing it as slow as possible, just because I want to "be there" : P
 

 

 

Yes, I am talking about the same thing. FPS drops in certain areas, not generally, right from the start on highest settings. (From 60 to 30)  

I love TDM too,  been playing it since 2017. I think Jack Farmer's Hidden Hands series is one of the most entertaining ones , giving a special atmosphere.

The first one of the series was nothing extra, but all the rest afterwards were masterpieces and I had a lot of fun with them. I know how much time is needed to write one mission like this and I appreciate the developers work. I am looking forward to finish this mission .

[huntaffer]

12 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

I am afraid I am not an expert when it comes to this. Which mission are we talking about, hopefully not the first one? Because this should be the mission with the lowest demands. I don't know about your graphic settings, so, have you tried decreasing options like soft shadows etc. ?

@nbohr1more

This mission, not else  If I lower the settings it's better. I was on max highest graphic settings.

I got FPS drops from the start, in the staircase etc.

[DavyJones]

HI! I think I found a bug, In 1st mission there is no key under vase (but it should be according to clue in some letter)
when I frob the vase, it slide but no any key under...

[datiswous]

3 hours ago, huntaffer said:

This mission, not else

This mission is a campaign, so it consists of 5 missions bundled into one with a progressing storyline. So I think he means which of the 5, but I assume the first one.

I think you have fps still capped at 60fps in tdm settings?