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"Dame Fortune is a fickle mistress. Every time she opens a door, she throws a brick through your window..." I'm happy to announce that my second FM, "The Last Night on Crookshank Lane", is now available on the Mission Database: https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=crookshank Backup download is also available here: https://share.anon-kenkai.com/crookshank.pk4 Big thanks to @Airship-Ballet, @wesp5, @JackFarmer, @taffernicus, @Bergante for beta testing and feedback. Special thanks to @datiswous for generously providing in-mission subtitles. This is a much bigger and more ambitious FM than my first attempt, and it ended up taking a year and a half to complete. It was also a very educational lesson in the importance of proper map optimization. It's a sort of soft-sequel to "The Threepenny Revue", but not part of a series per se, and can be played as a standalone mission. I took inspiration from FMs like "The Painter's Wife" in TDM, and "The Sound of a Burrick in a Room" from Thief Gold, and although I'd never put myself in the same league as either, I was always impressed by their size, scope, and detail. City exploration FMs have always been my favorite, and those maps and others like them inspired me to take a crack at something similar. Enoy!

Mod that polishes several sound aspects that affect the gameplay. TDM 2.12 introduced a subtle rebalance to player footstep sound volumes. This was meant to be the first step towards an overhaul for all footstep sounds, both in volume levels and variety, since quite a few materials share sound files. 2.13 added "improved footstep sounds for broken glass and ice material surfaces" Almost one year later since 2.13, this project has completely stagnated; as a regular user that tried to chip in, I've seen the motivation fade out from the devs and mappers involved. So instead of letting it rot, I've made the early attempts to achieve this overhaul into a mod. The scope has widened a bit, since I decided to tackle annoying things such as alert 3 & 4 duration or sound propagation for blackjack/sword impact stims. Repository to report issues: https://codeberg.org/SilverKeeper/tdm-sound-polish Installation Latest release: https://codeberg.org/SilverKeeper/tdm-sound-polish/releases/download/v1.0/Sound Polish Mod v1.0.7z The mod comes in three versions: x_sound_polish_mod.pk4 is the main version, using TDM Core sounds but with handpicked improved files from other soundpacks. Read the changelog for a detailed listing. x_sound_polish_mod_VoltaFootstepMod.pk4 has the handpicked files from the main version + footstep sounds from Kingsal's "Volta" series, both for the player and humanoid AI. x_sound_polish_mod_ThiefierSoundsByGin.pk4 has the handpicked files from the main version + the footstep sounds from Gin's "Thiefier Sounds" soundpack, both for the player and humanoid AI. Copy one of those to TDM root folder. Additionally, you can copy autocommands.cfg or my personal autocommands_full.cfg and rename it as autocommands.cfg. Look at Gameplay and TDM settings for a brief explanation. The `_Docs` folder has detailed documentation on my definition changes, final footstep propagation values (based on TDM Core `tdm_propagated_sounds.def` propagation values) and a list of FMs with custom footstep sounds to keep track of potential incompatibilities. Overview Footsteps .sndshd files for humanoid and player footsteps were a complete mess. They were mixed between 3 files when they should've been properly categorized in 2, materials shared one shader for the AI and the player, and in rare cases they outright played the wrong sound files (player carpet footsteps were "placeholders" currently used as AI barefoot footsteps). This has been the hardest part of the mod and hopefully it serves as template for TDM Core files. Both the player and AI (but particularly the player) are too quiet when they walk. The player barely hears their own footsteps, but the AI reacts strongly to them. Material sound shader values have been balanced according to the sound propagation transmitted to the AI. Jumping shaders are the loudest and speed shaders decrease the volume from there the slower you move. AI shaders start being audible too late for them to serve as a warning; their `maxDistance` has been increased. Monsters were also too stealthy, specially spiders (and particularly the small spiders). Sound files themselves had room for improvement, too. Some files needed amplifying (without clipping, of course) to have more leeway with sound shader volumes. Others were disabled/pitch-modified/replaced. In particular, AI had some weak-sounding footstep sounds. Pitch-modified variants of the player footsteps have replaced the worst AI footstep sounds. Alternative versions with "Volta footsteps mod" by Kingsal and "Thiefier Sounds" by Gin have also been created. Sound propagation and AI While TDM AI reacts to sound reasonably well, the base volume of the player's walk and creep sound propagation shaders is a bit too high, triggering alert 2 too easily. Those have been decreased for a more enjoyable gameplay. Thief featured a bait mechanic in the form of stims triggered by slamming your blackjack or sword against objects. This was nerfed in Deadly Shadows; now even walls played impact sounds, but AI was deaf to them. Currently, TDM has the potential to bring the mechanic back, but it's undercooked. All materials play the same sound propagation shader, so AI only hears you bashing wood, regardless of the material... And even that does absolutely nothing to the alert level. I've improvised material-specific shaders for both the blackjack and the sword. There seems to be a problem with value modifiers for the weapon entities... I can't take advantage of the feature. Alert 3 & 4 have insane duration and fuzzyness values. AI takes forever to go back to alert 2; duration gets... multiplied? randomly by, at most, the fuzzyness value or any number below that. Those values have been decreased for a reasonable fail state, so players don't normalize quicksaving when they get caught. Stationary AIs should play their barks frequently so you can point them out by ear before stumbling upon them. TDM Core intervals are too wide... Now barks and snores will occur more frequently. Gameplay and TDM settings Frob distance for pickpocketting has a shorter distance than other actions in TDM. While in principiple this should make pickpocketting more "tense", the bump mechanic gets in the way here. Being caught because you miscalculated the timeframe before the AI would turn around is one thing; being caught because you bumped your head into their back from forward-leaning in another. Now frob distance of objects carried by AI is more consistent with the rest of TDM and closer to Thief. Several aspects of the movement are rather uncomfortable. Headbobbing is nauseating, footstep rate is very exaggerated and running speed feels slow. An autocommand.cfg file has been provided for this, as well as a complete autocommand_full.cfg with my personal settings for TDM. While the increased running speed shouldn't break anything, it is an opionated value from two FM authors and might not be balanced for the rest of TDM FMs. Credits & thanks Daft Mugi and WellingtonCrab for carrying the brief but powerful efforts to start cleaning this up, and for creating the Player Footstep Sounds Test Map. Daft Mugi in particular for sharing the tuned player sound propagation values and the pickpocketting frob distance overrides. WellingtonCrab in particular for helping with AI alert 3 & 4 values and mentioning their overrides for AI barks used in their FMs. Ujtudor for their "Collection of adjusted sounds". Kingsal for their "Volta footsteps mod". SeriousToni for their "Alternative Footstep Sound Package" mod. Gin for their "Thiefier Sounds" mod. If any dev is interested in starting and merging a stable implementation, I would suggest some considerations: Fix jumping stepvol modifiers, if they even exist. Right now the player perceives different ranges of noise when jumping, but AI always hears the loudest value possible... Make wiki documentation for every TDM material on how noisy their footsteps are for AIs. I've included all material final propagation values (as shown by the "tdm_spr_debug 1; con_noPrint 0" command) in a "_Docs" folder. Inspect all entity .def files to detect missing sound material definitions Besides that, sound files are all over the place. I would propose this for both sfx .pk4s: tdm_sound_sfx01.pk4 Move all player climbing files from sound/sfx/movement/footsteps in tdm_sound_sfx02.pk4 to a sound/sfx/movement/climbing folder here. Move all humanoid rustle files from sound/sfx/movement/footsteps in tdm_sound_sfx02.pk4 to sound/sfx/movement/rustles here. (and any other rustle files that wander around the .pk4s) tdm_sound_sfx02.pk4 Move all used player footsteps in sound/sfx/movement/footsteps or sound/sfx/movement/footsteps/human to sound/sfx/movement/footsteps/player. (You would need file duplication for some files, since core player declarations currently shares many files with NPCs...) Move all used NPC footsteps in sound/sfx/movement/footsteps to sound/sfx/movement/footsteps/human. Check and delete unused variation files of materials (there are a lot).

I had an idea... but I don't have a plan. New Volumes of Virtual Rooms must be the result of a collaborative community effort. We have to figure out everything: rules, content, plot, presentation... and we have to figure it out together. I am not the director or supervisor of this project. I can act as a coordinator during the initial stages but consider me as simply another member. Anyone is free to volunteer for any role. VIRTUAL ROOMS VOL.2 (ALPHA) Whenever there is new content new alpha versions will be made available and the good news is that the first alpha is already here! Member @thebigh quickly figured it all out on his own and he already created the very first room for Vol.2: Thaumaturgy! Please note Vol.2 is not available in the in-game downloader. It will be uploaded to the official repository only when the project is complete. Manual install instructions: Download the alpha from here Create the folder "fms/vr_vol2" and place the pk4 there Launch the game and look for Virtual Rooms Vol.2 (alpha) Room names: DISCUSSION What do we want Virtual Rooms to be? I propose we start with a basic set of Questions & Answers and let it grow from there. Can you help improving these Q&A? What is a Virtual Room? [Provisional] A Virtual Room is the container of an idea or an experiment. Anything that doesn't fit in a more serious project can have its home in the form of a Virtual Room. A Virtual Room can be large or small, simple or elaborated, short or long. Are there any rules? [Provisional] Yes, we want to have a cohering experience and for that we need a consistent set of main objectives. To keep things simple yet interesting the current main rules are: While having AI is not required being seen by AI is an instant failure There must be at least one optional piece of loot in the map The player must reach an exit point to complete the room Each room (map) can have its own set of scripts, textures, materials, sounds... As long as the main rules are respected, you are free to do what you please. Can I have extra objectives in my room? [Provisional] Yes but think how you will let players know about them. Do I have to adhere to a particular aesthetics? [Provisional] No, you do what you want. You can opt for a blocky design or you can go with your own style. How do I submit a room? [Provisional] Upload it somewhere and announce it publicly. Somebody will eventually include it in the next Alpha. Can I revisit the room I submitted? [Provisional] Yes, of course. As many times as you want or need. It is your room after all. In what order are rooms arranged? [Provisional] "First come, first served". When we have a good number of rooms we can see if authors agree to different arrangements for a linear or cohesive experience, if such thing is even possible considering the different sources. Will I be credited for my room? [Provisional] Yes by default but you can opt out. Authors will be listed in the release page, in a readme, and we can probably add something in the briefing or debriefing. Is there a tutorial on "how to create a room"? Yes, one is in the works but it is not yet ready / available. Discuss!

The Adventures of Thomas: Lucy's Quest Author: gg 2022-06-20 Version: 1.1 Required TDM Version: 2.10 or higher EFX: Yes ============================================================== Cautionary note: This FM needs a strong CPU/GPU combination sufficient to play the more demanding TDM FMs. Just as for many or most of the new FMs being released with the new gfx possibilities opened up it does a world of good to tweak the advanced video settings for the best combination of settings for your PC. For example, on my weaker laptop I set shadows as stencil and soft shadows off. On my desktop I set shadows as maps and soft shadows medium. Bloom off. Ambient occlusion off. Since the FM was built and extensively tested at these settings I believe either should produce a satisfactory experience. ============================================================== Sound Credits: freemusicarchive.org music Aislinn04_-_Aislinn_-_Lovely_Maria freesound.org klankbeeld_horror_1 freesound.org/people/CarlosCarty/sounds/522687/ om_aum_mantra_male_chant_bb freesound.org/people/Still%20Frames/sounds/37720/ still_frames freemusicarchive.org music The_Mind_Orchestra_Bruwynn tecknic.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-mod-ambience-and-atmospheres Zack Bower Ancient_2, _3, _5. Solemn_1 freesound.org/people/Jagadamba/sounds/256006/ group_chanting_om_aum ============================================================== Thanks to: The TDM/DR developers for producing such a beautiful machine. The keepers of the wiki pages which are looking very good these days. Sotha for his invaluable tutorial "The Bakery Job". This tutorial is a jewel. Springheel for creating an atmosphere. Bikerdude for... ideas how to do things and scale things. Playtesters and advisors Dragofer, wesp5, datiswous, shadow. datiswous pointed out some immersion breaking lighting faults, so I got the idea. wesp5 gave me some good advice on how to tell the story - so it's more understandable. Dragofer gave me some early advice on optimizing the mission, which gave me a couple of months work with results that are well worth it. Dragofer wrote a script which optimizes CPU calculations of AI interactions. Shadow helped by testing the script, as well as testing other attempts at optimization. With the script in action only the minimal of AI interactions in the player's vicinity are called to be calculated. The script provides a general benefit but the results vary from computer to computer. The script targets a CPU task. ============================================================== Gameplay: Notes attached to objectives contain essential information on gameplay, on who the good/bad guys are, on what the player must do, and why. Mandatory objectives are linear, directing the player along a route to the goal. Optional objectives can be completed anytime. ============================================================== CAUTION: spiders, rats, undead, necrophiles, cannibals, psychotic thugs, and some generally unsavory characters. No snakes, though. The spiders ate them. ==============================================================

Virtual Rooms Vol.1 You are trapped in a virtual simulation of interconnected rooms, each holding its own challenge. Do you dare attempt the escape? Volume 1 marks the beginning of a journey. Future volumes of Virtual Rooms will be driven by the community: rooms will be created by different authors. We will set common rules as we go. Stay tuned for the upcoming kickoff of Volume 2! In the meantime, let know your thoughts about Volume 1 and "Virtual Rooms" as a concept. Feel free to criticize and/or suggest areas of improvement. Share your ideas. This initiative now belongs to all of you, members of this community and fans of The Dark Mod out there. EDIT - You can now discuss it here: [Alpha] Virtual Rooms Vol.2 Have fun Install instructions: Virtual Rooms Vol.1 is available in the in-game mission downloader. Alternatively, go to the "fms" folder, create the folder "vr_vol1" and place inside the pk4 file that you can download here. Room names, as reference: Known bugs: Cheers!

For the people eager to play with the latest state of development, two things are provided: regular dev builds source code SVN repository Development builds are created once per a few weeks from the current trunk. They can be obtained via tdm_installer. Just run the installer, check "Get Custom Version" on the first page, then select proper version in "dev" folder on the second page. Name of any dev version looks like devXXXXX-YYYY, where XXXXX and YYYY are SVN revision numbers from which the build was created. The topmost version in the list is usually the most recent one. Note: unless otherwise specified, savegames are incompatible between any two versions of TDM! Programmers can obtain source code from SVN repository. Trunk can be checked out from here: https://svn.thedarkmod.com/publicsvn/darkmod_src/trunk/ SVN root is: https://svn.thedarkmod.com/publicsvn/darkmod_src Build instructions are provided inside repository. Note that while you can build executable from the SVN repository, TDM installation of compatible version is required to run it. Official TDM releases are compatible with source code archives provided on the website, and also with corresponding release tags in SVN. A dev build is compatible with SVN trunk of revision YYYY, where YYYY is the second number in its version (as described above). If you only want to experiment with the latest trunk, using the latest dev build gives you the maximum chance of success. P.S. Needless to say, all of this comes with no support. Although we would be glad if you catch and report bugs before the next beta phase starts

This is an experimental GUI app for managing and packing Dark Mod missions. It's a successor to FM Packer but with a GUI, that I've been working on for some time. It's now at a stage where I feel somewhat comfortable sharing. Having a GUI unlocks potential for more in depth management of fms, which I intend to explore in the future. You can download the binaries here: https://github.com/Skaruts/tdm_packer_2/releases Currently: it can pack your selected mission into the pk4 at a click of a button it provides an editor for a .pkignore file where you specify which files to exclude from the pk4 it gives you a handy tree view of both the included and excluded files (Shift+LMB to fully expand/contract branches) it can launch TDM or DarkRadiant for the selected mission, or run a second installation of TDM to test your pk4 in isolation (see the menu Settings->Paths) it automatically writes your map sequence into the appropriate file all maps, except the ones in the map sequence, are auto excluded from the pk4 Important: This is still an experimental alpha version, so backup your missions before using it. Note: For now I provided binaries for Windows and Linux. I don't have a Linux system to test the binaries yet, though, so they may or may not work properly. As a last resort, one can still run this app from the source code by running the Godot Engine itself from the terminal with the "--path path/to/project" argument. (Godot itself is just a simple executable and requires no installation.)

The mod's name is gonna see a change, since the scope has shifted a bit more since the last post. Besides including the overrides I attached before, AI alert 3 & 4 is gonna get a dramatic duration and fuzzyness decrease from core values and barks are going to be more frequent: meaning, guards are going to chill out before you get the temptation of quickloading, and they're going to mutter and snore way more frequently to prove they are alive. DaftMugi also shared with me another override for pickpocketting frob distance values, to make them closed to Thief's. Ironically, it also brings consistency to the general frob distance; TDM has longer distances for any other object, except items carried by AI. I can already see the argument that the shorter distance makes pickpocketting more "tense". The way I see it is that bump detection isn't a fun mechanic during this action, and the distance is annoying even when the AI has been knocked-out. If you are already in a hurry to get away with the loot because you are illuminated and the guard could turn around, you don't want to also worry about bumping your head against their back because you forward-leaned. Alerting them while crouched in a poorly chosen hiding spot actually makes the bump mechanic interesting; gives you a chance of getting away if the area is dark enough, or punishes you for being overconfident if not. I'll be checking all AI footstep declarations to be throughout and the monster walking volumes, then then release version 1.0 in Codeberg for easy versioning and issue tracking. I'm a bit unsure about the license; TDM LICENSE.txt says everything is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 "unless explicitly stated otherwise". TDM Modpack is Public Domain, on the other hand.

============== -= IRIS =- ============== WELLINGTONCRAB TDM v 2.11 REQ Ver. 1.3 *For Maureen* -=- "Carry the light of the Builder, Brother. Unto its end." -Valediction of the Devoted "What year is this? Am I dreaming?" -Plea of the Thief Dear Iris, I am old and broken. When we were young it felt like the words came easily. Now I find the ink has long dried on the pen and I'm as wanting for words as coin in my purse. I can tell we are nearing the end of the tale; time enough for one more job before the curtain call... ============== -Installation- Requires minimum version of TDM 2.11 **Dev build dev17056-10800 (2.13) fixes several visual effects which have been broken in the mission since the release of 2.11. For that reason playing with that version or later is currently recommended** -Iris does not support mods or the Unofficial Patch- Download and place the following .pk4 into you FMs directory: Iris Download ============== *Thank you for playing. Iris is a large mission which can either take as quickly or as long as you are compelled to play. I hope someone out there enjoys it and this initial release is not completely busted - I tried the best I could!* *Iris both is and isn't what it seems. If commenting please use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you are not certain if it would be appropriate a good assumption would be to use a spoiler tag* *Support TDM by rating missions on Thief Guild: https://www.thiefguild.com/* ============== WITH LASTING GRATITUDE: OBSTORTTE - Whose gameplay scripts from his thread laid the foundation which made the mission seem like something I could even pull off at all. Also fantastic tutorial videos! DRAGOFER - Who built upon that foundation and made it shine even brighter! And whom also provided immeasurable quantities of help and encouragement the past couple years on the TDM discord. ORBWEAVER & GIGAGOOGA - For generously offering their ambient music up for use. EPIFIRE - Who lent me his fine trash and trash receptacle models. AMADEUS - Who was the first person who wasn't me to play the damn thing and provided his excellent editorial services to improving the readers experience playing TESTERS AND TROUBLESHOOTERS: AMADEUS * DATISWOUS * SPOOKS * ALUMINUMHASTE * JAXA * JACKFARMER * WESP5 * ATE0ATE * MADTAFFER * STGATILOV * DRAGOFER * KINGSAL * KLATREMUS - What can I possibly say? Playing this thing over and over again could not have been easy. Deepest thanks and all apologies. -=THANKS TO ALL ON THE TDM DISCORD AND FORUM=- ==SEE README.TXT FOR ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTIONS & INFORMATION== HONORABLE MENTION: GOLDWELL - If I hadn't by chance stumbled into Northdale back in 2018/2019 I would probably still be trying to get this thing to work in TDS, which means it probably would not exist - though more details on that in readme. ============== Boring Technical Information: *Iris is a performance intensive mission and I recommend a GTX 1060 or equivalent. I find the performance similar to other demanding TDM missions on my machine, but mileage may vary and my apologies if this prevents anyone from enjoying the mission.* *Iris heavily modifies the behavior of AI in the game, how they relate/respond to each other and the player. So they may act even stranger than they do typically in TDM. Feedback on this is useful - as it can potentially be improved and expanded upon in future patches.* -=- This is my first release and it has been a long time coming! If I forgot anything please let me know! God Speed. 2.10 Features Used:

The level of current missions for Thief Gold and Thief II is absolutely amazing, if you take the best missions avaialable. And, yes, they're another level than the older missions. There are some seriously talented people in thie Thief FM community, and, they've gotten better and better over the years. A great example for that is The Black Parade campaign. What I rather wonder is why so few of them ever made FMs for The Dark Mod (apart from people like Melan). I can only speculate, but, I guess that 1. they're used to the Dark engine and the level editor, and 2. they consider the Thief lore and gameplay superior. Which I sort of can understand. For example, what I always notice is that the lore and readables are much more elaborate and detailled in Thief FMs, AND FM authors actually stick to that lore, while in TDM, everyone seems to go his own way. The TDM lore is incomplete at best, and leaves much space for interpretation. I won't comment on the gameplay again, especially the blackjacking, I've done that enough in the past.

https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134733

Hmm yeah newdark also works for both thief 1 and 2 and also the gold version it seems. https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141148 latest version seems to be from 2019.

Version 2 has been released. Nothing fancy: one bug-fix and minor adjustments. The original download link and the original name remain the same. Just download and overwrite. The download link can be found in the opening post. 1) Sword carries over missions There is a bug in the source code in file "def\tdm_campaign.def". At the end of the file "weapon_limit_sword" should be "weapon_limit_shortsword". I manually fixed this in all maps/rooms in version 2. 2) The zombie in room 5 (Purgatory) is easier to kill now Some people find the rope swing mechanic too challenging and this should alleviate frustration to some extent. 3) Fixed misalignment of the lamps in room 8 (Gallery) An oversight on my part. Really minor stuff. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In-game downloader The current internal name of the mission is "fms/vr_rooms" and I here request this to be changed to "fms/virtual_rooms_vol1" (or "fms/vr_vol1" if it needs to be shorter). This change means you all will have duplicates if version 2 gets updated in the repository. My advise if/when this happens is: Close the game Go to "fms/" and delete the "vr_rooms" folder A proper naming convention is important for collaborative initiatives (instructions, tutorials, organization, support...). Thanks all for your understanding.

I can only speak for myself, the one and only reason I have not made any FMs for The Dark Mod is the steep learning curve. I have used and still use the Dark engine and the Unreal engine but the idea of learning the ins and outs of Dark Radiant is simply too daunting.

On the upside this might make some people actually happy: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/profile/34053-xolvix/&status=4090&type=status

Contributions downloads are at http://fidcal.com/DarkMod/index.htm Note that there is no dedicated beautiful sortable webpage list. I don't have time and also this means less delays. Just browse the folders and click on readmes and images and grab any zips. If anyone submits anything I can just upload it in a few minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to offer coding, modelling, or any other kind of help got to the I want to help forum for discussion. If you have any extensive assets you wish to discuss also you can go to the I want to help forum. If you simply want to share an FM, prefab(s), textures, whatever then post details in this thread (there are other websites for FMs too.) Generally these need to be zipped up with a description.txt plain text file and optionally an image, and uploaded somewhere I can get them such as a fileshare website like rapidshare. Any problem with that and if you have ftp I can arrange a direct upload to a private temporary folder on my website. All submissions to this thread should be accompanied by a short description summary to go on the download page and optionally a picture(s). Such submissions will be placed on my website download page (wip) at fidcal.com. Anything suspect for any reason I reserve the right to delete. I accept no liability for downtime or even no-continuance of the download section or even the entire website for any reason. Downloaders: I accept no liability if you download anything you'd rather not: download at your own risk. Oh yes, and I am not responsible for global warming, economic depression, you name it; I'm not responsible. From there, any mappers can download what they want. The Dark Mod Team may or may not assess some items for inclusion in future Dark Mod updates. FMs may be assessed for inclusion on the Dark Mod website. Anyone feel free to mirror the download folder. Any suggestions post in this thread too.

Back in the day, Tels managed a squad of volunteer translators for TDM. I am not Tels, and could never do that. Nowadays, language translation using AI, either traditional machine learning (ML) models or large language models (LLMs), is common and increasingly fluent. It is often used as an adjunct to speed the work of professional human translators. By itself, AI translation can be imperfect but usually sufficient. Can this "sufficient" approach be used for TDM, to expedite translations? Let's see. I gave some initial thought to a bulk-translation daemon that might range across FMs and fill in all missing translations, without necessarily involving mappers. In the future, possibly AI could tackle that whole enchilada. I was at first visualizing something more modest: a backbone in a standard programming language (I sketched out C++ and C# projects, but lots of other possibilities) that would make calls to an API (I looked at those of Google Translate and ChatGPT). However, I changed focus due to certain concerns... Different FMs, and subsets with each FM, would likely have far better translations if they were properly grouped, ordered, and translated separately, with an appropriate context (e.g., phrase engineering) added. The FM's mapper is best placed to provide this grouping and context. I'll detail what I mean in the next few posts. The mapper would not be expected to know any TDM-supported languages besides English. Instead, each translated phrase could be back-translated to English and examined. Is the "round-trip" meaning OK, even if the English words have changed? Problematic translations could have their context tweaked and rerun. Many AI systems, particularly for API access, require a billing commitment (e.g., credit card). For a professional translator, this is no problem, and subscriptions allow access to more (and putatively better) models and higher quotas. This seems less appealing for TDM. A few paid AI systems have a no-subscription, pay-as-you-go account tier. The cost per translate is typically pennies. But it does introduce quota- and expense-management, and may exclude API usage. Access via API requires an API key (or at the higher end more elaborate security regime), with attendant key-security headaches. Which AI model is thought "best" for translation? Doesn't matter too much, because we can't afford the best. Furthermore, there's endless churn among AI models, with antidotal reports that a given model fluctuates in quality over time, and successor models can be worse than their predecessors. So, with these concerns in mind, I looked for public web-based AI sites that require no billing and provide low-quota but adequate AI. The mapper would enter and retrieve data manually. I will focus on ChatGPT in this exploration, after a quick preliminary test confirmed some promise. Also, as this exploration proceeds, I hope to propose changes to TDM to make it more viable for "sufficient" quality machine translation. Problem areas are incomplete fonts, space-constraints, and layout issues for translated strings. My proposals will likely surface as separate forum threads. That's enough for now. I'll be trying for 1 or 2 substantive posts per week, as I tackle a particular FM.

*** WORK IN PROGRESS *** VIRTUAL ROOMS - A TUTORIAL SETUP BRICKS LAYERS TESTING I will try to explain here how to create a Virtual Room but be informed this is not a DarkRadiant or mapping tutorial. If you are new mapping and need help go check the boards, the wiki and other online resources. Please don't ask here general mapping questions, this is not the place. 1. SETUP The first thing you need to do is to extract all contents of the pk4. Pack files are zip files with a pk4 extension. Go to "fms/vr_vol1" and extract its contents. Delete "virtual_rooms_vol1.pk4". You must have this structure: 2. BRICKS Open in DarkRadiant fms/vr_vol1/maps/vr1_00_template.map A Virtual Room is created by stacking bricks together. Think of a 1x1 Lego brick. Our base brick is a cube of 64x64x64 Doom-units. Basic operations: Set the grid to 64 in the grid menu Select a brick (Shift + Left Click) Clone the brick (Space) Move the brick (Left Click inside + Drag) Or resize the brick (Left Click outside + Drag) Unselect the brick (Shift + Left Click or Esc) Or delete the brick (Backspace) Textures & Materials Select a brick (Shift + Left Click) or select a surface (Shift + Ctrl + Left Click) Go to "window > Surface Inspector" (S) In "Texture Properties > Shader" choose a "virtual_rooms/vr_" shader. 3. LAYERS Go to "window > Layers" (Ctrl + L) There are two layers that contain critical elements for a Virtual Room to work: World_Player World_Theater You can do what you want with the rest of the layers. I personally use "Stage" for the bricks. 3A. World_Player This layer contains the player start location and the exit zone. Move the entities around but don't change their properties. World_Player > info_player_start Name: virtual_room_entry_point Description: location where the player starts. World_Player > info_tdm_objective_location Name: virtual_room_exit_point Description: location where the mission ends. The "Virtual Compass" points to it. It is grouped with the next entity. World_Player > func_emitter Name: virtual_room_exit_emitter Description: An emitter that signals the exit. It is grouped with the previous entity. 3B. World_Theater This layer contains essential brushes and entities. The default size of the room is a cube of 3200x3200x3200 Doom-units. There is a "false floor" at the bottom where you can hide entities. You should not change anything here, except for info_location to set the name of the room and perhaps "virtual_room_ambient_music". The mandatory atdm:ambient_world named "ambient_world" entity The default worldspawn that acts as the skybox, surrounding the arena A nonsolid entity named "virtual_room_false_floor" that hides anything that falls through. The default inventory items: the Spyglass, the Lantern and the "Virtual Compass" (always pointing to the exit) classname atdm:campaign_info named "virtual_room_campaign_info" that prevents weapons and ammo to be available in the next room. classname info_location contains the name of the current room (change it). atdm:speaker_ambient_music "virtual_room_ambient_music" has the default ambient music. You can change the music and add revert here if you want. Check the companion script functions "virtual_music_stop" and "virtual_music_start" to stop / resume the music on the fly. atdm:target_addobjectives "virtual_room_objectives" contains the objectives. You shouldn't change anything here unless you know very well what you are doing. 4. TESTING Save your map and give it a number and a name: "vr2_01_name.map". A single word for the name is recommended. Launch TDM, bring down the console and dmap it: "dmap vr2_01_name.map" Test the map: "map vr2_01_name.map" Does it work? Congratulations, your Virtual Room is good to go.

Installed this mission and now my game will not start at all, I get a blue screen page with all this in it... TDM 2.12/64 #10651 (1435:10651) win-x86_64 Feb 24 2024 17:13:42 3311 MHz Intel CPU with SSE & SSE2 & SSE3 & SSSE3 & SSE41 & AVX Winsock Initialized Found interface: {7E4AFCE4-2858-4AA4-9EC9-B91694C33FCD} Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection #2 - 0.0.0.0 NULL netmask - skipped Found interface: {2340C0DC-39A7-4482-8282-B77A8FDCFC8A} Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20) - 192.168.1.168/255.255.255.0 Found interface: {DEAB3071-3FD2-4C63-B353-E5E60D5C3C17} Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) #5 - 0.0.0.0 NULL netmask - skipped Sys_InitNetworking: adding loopback interface Found Intel CPU, features: SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 AVX TDM using AVX for SIMD processing. Found 0 new missions and 0 packages. ------ Initializing File System ------ Current search path: [M] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10/fms/vr_vol1 [M] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\fms\vr_vol1\vr_vol1.pk4 (167 files - 0xda24df0e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10/ [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_wood01.pk4 (382 files - 0x54c704d0) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_window01.pk4 (399 files - 0x50a48869) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_stone_sculpted01.pk4 (466 files - 0x90cfd856) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_stone_natural01.pk4 (141 files - 0x4d0836ff) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_stone_flat01.pk4 (302 files - 0x671a22d2) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_stone_cobblestones01.pk4 (271 files - 0xc46ab14f) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_stone_brick01.pk4 (527 files - 0x8ac69a5e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_sfx01.pk4 (69 files - 0x6589664a) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_roof01.pk4 (69 files - 0x24547b7) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_plaster01.pk4 (142 files - 0x9747529e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_paint_paper01.pk4 (67 files - 0xa4a95a09) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_other01.pk4 (127 files - 0x36932451) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_nature01.pk4 (292 files - 0x8baa85ff) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_metal01.pk4 (509 files - 0x441d098f) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_glass01.pk4 (51 files - 0x3f3721e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_fabric01.pk4 (43 files - 0x649daf73) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_door01.pk4 (177 files - 0xb0130166) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_decals01.pk4 (474 files - 0xe2ff12c6) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_carpet01.pk4 (131 files - 0xb4446f55) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_textures_base01.pk4 (436 files - 0xbe13aef2) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_standalone.pk4 (4 files - 0xb3f36d20) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals_decls01.pk4 (341 files - 0x7ceaaf6d) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals07.pk4 (1111 files - 0x67d07bcc) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals06.pk4 (696 files - 0x44c85e78) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals05.pk4 (119 files - 0x6cf23214) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals04.pk4 (2869 files - 0xd7ec1256) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals03.pk4 (743 files - 0xb3f2e0f1) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals02.pk4 (1299 files - 0x5092940e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_vocals01.pk4 (82 files - 0xf4d326b2) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_sfx02.pk4 (605 files - 0x31673482) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_sfx01.pk4 (987 files - 0x1be1f1f2) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_ambient_decls01.pk4 (8 files - 0x9404877c) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_ambient03.pk4 (24 files - 0xd28ca9ec) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_ambient02.pk4 (163 files - 0x84efad22) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_sound_ambient01.pk4 (220 files - 0xee228c81) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_prefabs01.pk4 (1018 files - 0xaf4d4650) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_player01.pk4 (127 files - 0xd983fc45) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_models_decls01.pk4 (101 files - 0x7acb73c6) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_models02.pk4 (2262 files - 0x357310a0) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_models01.pk4 (3357 files - 0xea32fa8c) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_gui_credits01.pk4 (49 files - 0xbff51863) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_gui01.pk4 (760 files - 0xbb24734e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_fonts01.pk4 (696 files - 0x7c5027bf) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_env01.pk4 (176 files - 0x8bd4045b) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_defs01.pk4 (194 files - 0xde333662) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_base01.pk4 (208 files - 0xaf435101) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_steambots01.pk4 (52 files - 0xc6279c12) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_monsters_spiders01.pk4 (80 files - 0xc50c13ac) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_undead01.pk4 (55 files - 0x25e463ad) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_townsfolk01.pk4 (104 files - 0xa6f7c573) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_pagans01.pk4 (10 files - 0x566fb35a) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_nobles01.pk4 (51 files - 0x5ca54cab) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_mages01.pk4 (8 files - 0x5e7a666b) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_heads01.pk4 (100 files - 0x45ec787e) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_guards01.pk4 (379 files - 0xbc2cde8d) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_females01.pk4 (172 files - 0xc7de4598) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_builders01.pk4 (91 files - 0x6dea9b57) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_beasts02.pk4 (229 files - 0x886c9a98) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_humanoid_beasts01.pk4 (23 files - 0xba9da54c) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_base01.pk4 (9 files - 0x1de319e8) [C] C:\All Games\TDM 2.10\tdm_ai_animals01.pk4 (82 files - 0x91388f45) File System Initialized. -------------------------------------- Couldn't open journal files ----- Initializing Decls ----- ------------------------------ I18N: SetLanguage: 'english'. I18N: Found no character remapping for english. I18N: 1334 strings read from strings/english.lang I18N: 'strings/fm/english.lang' not found. execing default.cfg Gamepad modifier button assigned to 6 execing Darkmod.cfg execing DarkmodKeybinds.cfg execing DarkmodPadbinds.cfg Gamepad modifier button assigned to 6 Couldn't exec mission.cfg - file does not exist. Couldn't exec autoexec.cfg - file does not exist. I18N: SetLanguage: 'english'. I18N: Found no character remapping for english. I18N: 1334 strings read from strings/english.lang I18N: 'strings/fm/english.lang' not found. ----- Initializing OpenAL ----- Setup OpenAL device and context OpenAL: found device 'OpenAL Soft on TOSHIBA-TV (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)' [ACTIVE] OpenAL: found device 'OpenAL Soft on Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)' OpenAL: found device 'OpenAL Soft on Realtek Digital Output(Optical) (Realtek High Definition Audio)' OpenAL: found device 'OpenAL Soft on Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)' OpenAL: device 'OpenAL Soft on TOSHIBA-TV (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)' opened successfully OpenAL: HRTF is available OpenAL vendor: OpenAL Community OpenAL renderer: OpenAL Soft OpenAL version: 1.1 ALSOFT 1.21.1 OpenAL: found EFX extension OpenAL: HRTF is disabled (reason: 0 = ALC_HRTF_DISABLED_SOFT) OpenAL: found 256 hardware voices ----- Initializing OpenGL ----- Initializing OpenGL subsystem ...getting default gamma ramp: success ...registered window class ...registered fake window class ...calling CDS: ok ...created window @ 0,0 (1600x900) Initializing OpenGL driver ...getting DC: succeeded ...PIXELFORMAT 12 selected ...creating GL context: core-fc ...making context current: succeeded ...initializing QGL ------- Input Initialization ------- Initializing DirectInput... mouse: DirectInput initialized. keyboard: DirectInput initialized. ------------------------------------ OpenGL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation OpenGL renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2 OpenGL version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 560.94 core Checking required OpenGL features... v - using GL_VERSION_3_3 v - using GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc v - using WGL_VERSION_1_0 v - using WGL_ARB_pixel_format Checking optional OpenGL extensions... v - using GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic maxTextureAnisotropy: 16.000000 v - using GL_ARB_stencil_texturing v - using GL_EXT_depth_bounds_test v - using GL_ARB_buffer_storage v - using GL_ARB_texture_storage v - using GL_ARB_multi_draw_indirect v - using GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_binding X - GL_ARB_compatibility not found v - using GL_KHR_debug v - using WGL_EXT_swap_control Max active texture units in fragment shader: 32 Max combined texture units: 192 Max anti-aliasing samples: 32 Max geometry output vertices: 1024 Max geometry output components: 1024 Max vertex attribs: 16 ---------- R_ReloadGLSLPrograms_f ----------- Linking GLSL program cubeMap ... Linking GLSL program bumpyEnvironment ... Linking GLSL program environment ... Linking GLSL program fog ... Linking GLSL program oldStage ... Linking GLSL program blend ... Linking GLSL program soft_particle ... Linking GLSL program gaussian_blur ... Linking GLSL program testImageCube ... --------------------------------- Font fonts/english/stone in size 12 not found, using size 24 instead. --------- Initializing Game ---------- The Dark Mod 2.12/64, win-x86_64, code revision 10651 Build date: Feb 24 2024 Initializing event system ...890 event definitions Initializing class hierarchy ...173 classes, 897120 bytes for event callbacks Initializing scripts --------- Game Map Shutdown ---------- --------- Game Map Shutdown done ----- ERROR:Error: file script/virtual_rooms.script, line 42: Unknown value "getPersistentFloat" -------------------------------------- Error during initialization. Error: file script/virtual_rooms.script, line 42: Unknown value "getPersistentFloat" Shutting down OpenGL subsystem ...wglMakeCurrent( NULL, NULL success ...deleting GL context: success ...releasing DC: success ...destroying window ...resetting display ...restoring hardware gamma: success ...shutting down QGL Which to me is all rather meaningless.

There is a post over on TTLG: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153145 Just re-checked, it was also just "an idea" and the scripts he posted mainly resolve around the enemy movement speed. I was so hooked up on that idea that I didn't remember this in the first place, sorry!

Thanks everyone for your passionate feedback so far. The topic of save restrictions really brings out the “travelling circus” haha! Even with maybe a clown act or two! I appreciate all the perspectives! @kingsal Just to clarify, the idea was always meant as an optional feature. It was never something forced onto any player. The intent is not to punish or restrict, but to offer map authors and players another tool to curb quicksave and quickload habits if they choose to. So customization would be key part of this, whether you set the loot threshold, turn it off, or adjust it per mission. I completely hear those who feel any kind of restriction undermines player freedom in immersive games. That is why I believe this should be extra and opt-in only, not tied to standard difficulty or forced on anyone who does not want it. On the other hand, I think the proposal from @snatcher about rewarding restraint, such as stealth score bonuses for minimal saving and loading, is an alternative brilliant way to turn the concept into something encouraging rather than restrictive. That could motivate players to play differently without feeling confined. Anyways.. Let us keep the discussion creative and constructive. For next year’s circus, maybe we can add a small demo to show the crowd PS: Thanks a lot @datiswous for taking the time to search the forums again. I somehow wasn't aware that this topic came up already a few times, and the forum search itself often is not working so well. So thank you!

When will they finally update their forums to a mobile friendly version..

Sadly yes 2025 seems like a bit of a low year for TDM. I personally know of a handful of missions in active development. But as for their release, I would expect them all to be 2026 releases. For me, I’m still plugging away at Shadows of Northdale Act 3. It seems to have hit a bit of development hell, combined with my busy personal life. I was determined to get it out this year. But it’s looking like another 2026 release too. On the surface it might look grim, but behind the scenes there are some really cool FMs in the works. So I guess we just have to wait until that labour bears its fruit.

https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153139