Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[NeonsStyle]

you play with the light gem on..?

 

The difficulty levels are for controlling how much the light gem lights up in the map. As for my own play, yes I do.

[UberMann]

I'm considering the mission I am working on as done. This raises new questions. It's a small-scale mission and I've done plenty of testing on it myself, but I think it would be best someone else playtested it before I just go ahead and make a release thread. Who can I ask to do this for me?

[Springheel]

It's customary to post in the FM forum asking for beta-testers.

[nbohr1more]

I'm considering the mission I am working on as done. This raises new questions. It's a small-scale mission and I've done plenty of testing on it myself, but I think it would be best someone else playtested it before I just go ahead and make a release thread. Who can I ask to do this for me?

 

 

Follow the process here:

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10349-how-to-release-a-fan-mission/

[UberMann]

So I can simply make an account on Dussander's forum and then make a post there that I am looking for testers?

[peter_spy]

you play with the light gem on..?

 

Yeah, weird. I turn off my monitor too.

[RPGista]

So I can simply make an account on Dussander's forum and then make a post there that I am looking for testers?

 

No need, a post in the Fan Missions forum section will do, something like this http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18327-looking-for-betatesters-down-by-the-riverside-ii/

[NeonsStyle]

I'm considering the mission I am working on as done. This raises new questions. It's a small-scale mission and I've done plenty of testing on it myself, but I think it would be best someone else playtested it before I just go ahead and make a release thread. Who can I ask to do this for me?

 

Way back in November, I thought my mission was done and was ready to release. It had a briefing video, which was delayed. This turned out to be a good thing. Every day for next 6 months I kept tweaking it. If I look back at the version I wanted to release back in November now, it was nowhere near ready. Go over it and ask yourself can you improve the detail

in any way to make it more interesting or aesthetically pleasing. Ask yourself, how would the people living in this house use it? What would they use? Would they clean it? Are they dirty?

All these sorts of questions can make a map really interesting.

 

Rather that posting into the FM mission, you could ask for access to the Beta Testing Forum (which you probably don't have at the moment), that way you can just post the link. Don't post the link in the Fan Mission forum. If you do use that forum, as Spring said, ask for beta testers. However before you do, I'd do the above.

[NeonsStyle]

[unresolved] - I still cannot dmap my latest map. I still get the error "cannot load map file maps/v12" Before you jump to reply, the mission is loaded into TDM under New Mission ie currentfm.txt.

 

Even if I put the map into darkmod/maps along with its .darkradiant file, I still get the same error. So I'm starting to think it's not a can't find the file error and maybe an error

in the map file itself. However I can load the map and edit it without a problem in Dark Radiant. This is so frustrating, as I want to continue working on it, but I can't until

I solve this problem. If there's an issue with the map file, then it's pointless working on it.

 

I have reinstalled TDM, but it didn't help. I can dmap my other map, Briarwood Manor no problems, but this is a new map. Grrrrrr.

 

[edit] for the last 6 hours, I've been trying to find what is causing this. I've gone all through all the obvious things, like checking currentfm.txt

It just can't find the mission. <frustrated>

Edited July 28, 2017 by NeonsStyle

[grayman]

NS:

 

Please describe your exact folder configuration for the new WIP.

 

Also, if you start TDM and type "map" on the console line, does that give you a list of *.map files? If so, what's in the list?

[NeonsStyle]

the folders are layed out this way.

 

The Mission: C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice

 

Subfolders within C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice are:

 

C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice\maps

 

C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice\materials [contains some custom materials)

 

C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice\models [contains some of the models from grassdemo, I wanted the underwater plants.

 

C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice\particles [Arcturus water shader that gives cloudy water when underwater.]

 

C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice\textures [Arcturus textures probably won't use, but put there to look at learning material files]

 

C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms\venice\xdata [empty]

 

The problem started after looking at grassdemo mission (very cool), when I added the models. I have one version that has been compiled but it won't run, just get a black screen. All the other version that are compiled are backed up.

 

If I run TDM and type map in the console, I do not get a list of maps - I'm guessing that's a clue?

[grayman]

What do you get if you type this at the console?

 

> map[Tab]

 

where [Tab] is the Tab key.

 

To me, the contents of the currentfm.txt file are the key. TDM will use that as the default mission to get things from.

 

Given your folder setup, if currentfm.txt has 'venice' in it, and you start TDM and you type 'map[Tab]' on the console line, you should get a listing of all the map files in your fms/venice/maps folder. If you can see those files, you should be able to dmap them.

[NeonsStyle]

When I do that I get an error, can't find map maps / .maps

 

I reinstalled TDM and the problem remains, so I think it's a mission issue. I've installed another mission, picked at random, and that runs fine. I can even dmap Briarwood Manor,

so it all points to a mission issue.

 

I've gone through all the text files, currentfm.txt, startmap, darkmod.txt to check for typos but there are none. I've copied the map to c:\Games\The Dark Mod]\maps

but still I get the error, map not found. If I take the whole mission and remove it from C:\Games\The Dark Mod\fms so the game doesn't see it, and have the map

in C:\Games\The Dark Mod\maps folder, still the game says it can't find the map.

 

I've gone over and over this now for a week trying to find what the problem is, but I just can't find it.

 

It all started after looking at grassdemo. I was interested in making water cloudy when underwater (it has it). So I copied the folders, models, particles and textures (being not sure

exactly what I'd need out of them) into my mission folder. So my mission has fms/particles, fms/models and fms/textures (no material file for the copied textures). After doing

this, it was a few days till I got back to the map, and found I could no longer dmap it. I have tried removing those folders completely from the mission, but that does not

solve the problem. When I do remove them, the only folders in the mission are: maps, materials and xdata (empty), same for the pk4. So I put those grassdemo folders

back in since it didn't seem to make a difference. I'm not saying grassdemo caused it lol That'd be stupid. However something got screwed up somehow.

 

So I'm stumped.

 

Neon

[Destined]

Have you tried copying everything in the "maps" folder, then not loading any mission and try dmap "venice/maps/venice"?

 

I just tried the method Grayman described and noticed that you can look through your folder structure with it:

Type "map[tab]" and you get a list of all maps and folders in the current location (which, if no misison is loaded, should be you root\maps folder). If you want to look into a folder, you can type "map folder/[tab]" (e.g. "map venice/[tab]") and it will show the map files in this folder. This way you can work towards the folder your map should be in or at least see, if all the folders get recognised by TDM.

[NeonsStyle]

I just tried that Destined and it didn't work. Oddly, I tried the maps [Tab] ie Tab key, again, and it says unknown command now instead of can't find map maps .map Wierd

 

I also tried the other part you mentioned and also fails with "unknown map" ie it thinks map venice/[Tab] is a map, so gives the error, map not found.Very strange.

[Destined]

The command is "map" not "maps"

[grayman]

NS:

 

Could you bundle your venice/ folder into a zip file and PM it to me?

 

Perhaps there's some corruption somewhere.

[NeonsStyle]

Sure grayman, thanks.

[NeonsStyle]

The issue I had with TDM not finding my map to dmap is solved.

 

For some wierd reason, TDM doesn't like map names with something like v13.map as a map name, when I renamed the map

file, it worked. It worked as venice.map, it worked as ven14.map, but not at v13.map

 

Wierd. Might be a bug in TDM that's causing that issue. At least I solved it.

 

Thanks for trying grayman.

[grayman]

Well, that's a truly weird situation. I always renumber my map as it progresses, and never had a problem with "13". Maybe it's like hotels not having a 13th floor.

 

Glad you got it sorted out.

 

Edit: Ah, so maybe the problem is a single character followed by a number. Maybe there's a problem with the TDM tools' ability to parse a filename with that syntax.

[R Soul]

I found a way to make a perfect spiral staircase and am quite happy to post instructions, or put them on the wiki. Before I do that I'd like to check that it wouldn't be duplicating an existing effort. I found this page with most of the images no longer working, and a few threads which are also missing images. Am I missing any other existing tutorials?

[UberMann]

 

-snip-

 

Rather that posting into the FM mission, you could ask for access to the Beta Testing Forum (which you probably don't have at the moment), that way you can just post the link. Don't post the link in the Fan Mission forum. If you do use that forum, as Spring said, ask for beta testers. However before you do, I'd do the above.

 

Who do I ask for access to the Beta Testing forum?

[Obsttorte]

 

Who do I ask for access to the Beta Testing forum?

An admin. Springheel might be of help here. Or Taaki.

[teh_saccade]

How do I wipe my ass..? from front to back or back to front..?

Should I use a special kind of paper, or will these three shells work?

 

Maybe the pages from the instruction manual on how to wipe my ass would make good ass-wiping material..?

Please also hold my hand throughout the entire process.

[teh_saccade]

I found a way to make a perfect spiral staircase and am quite happy to post instructions, or put them on the wiki. Before I do that I'd like to check that it wouldn't be duplicating an existing effort. I found this page with most of the images no longer working, and a few threads which are also missing images. Am I missing any other existing tutorials?

 

Hey Rsoul - that page appears to have been knocked up by Greebo, with the first few images added by tels and sneaksydave - nearly 10 years ago.

Considering tels probably hasn't been online much since 2010 - idk something to do with server changes (guy came up with some neat stuff: http://www.swift-mazes.com/)- it's probably a safe bet that this documentation does not have images that are waiting to be updated or lost or anything list this.

 

The wiki page to which you link hasn't been updated since 2010.

 

The images were never working in the first place - they were never uploaded when the thread was copy-pasta'd and the original images from this thread have likely expired since 2006...

 

Documentation for DR, TDM, scripting, variables, spawnargs, tutorials, architecture, all that malarky - it's really piecemeal and only up to the standard of the people who were doing it at the time.

While the wiki page may have been started by people who understood such a thing, they get sidetracked and so it's never completed (likely most of it's ripped from d3world or some other place that no longer exists).

The language is didactic, overly-familiar and not direct. It is less instructional as it is conversational - this detracts from instructive - many "tutorials" or articles on the wiki are this way (signal:noise is low).

Furthermore, the images of DR are outdated.

 

 

Rather than create a whole new wiki page - it might be worthwhile updating the existing one so that it not only contains the original article, but also your new-found greatness - seamlessly integrated (that article could do with a re-write and update, I'd reckon).

 

What might be an idea is to post your tutorial in the editor's forum and then someone will transpose it and copy the images from imgur over to the wiki, do all the formatting, proof-read, copy-edit, make sure it actually works, image placement, etc... and stuff for you, wiki-side.

 

 

Nice one.

 

 

//drop me a PM when you've posted it and I'll update the wiki page for you. Pls use imgur imagehost links in tut.

 

Edited July 30, 2017 by teh_saccade