FenPhoenix on 20/8/2021 at 16:31
Quote Posted by baeuchlein
As an alternative, AngelLoader could simply inform the player if "character_detail 0" crops up in the game's and/or a FM's config files at any time. On the other hand, if AngelLoader then gives the player a window upon every start, stating the problem, and then forcing the player to press "OK" or something else, this could also lead to the player being seriously annoyed.
I could pop up a dialog saying "hey, there's this known problem here" and asking if the user wants to have AngelLoader auto-remove the line to fix the problem and then have a "don't ask again" checkbox and "you can always change this back in the Settings window". Hopefully the user would remember they said "don't ask again" if they ever wanted to actually have the line there and they could go find the option and change it then.
Quote Posted by Marzec
If a FM sets it, it should be there.
After FM is uninstalled, it should roll back to default settings (whatever that means, depending on your implementation). It's as simple as that.
FM-specific values should
not be in the global cam.cfg file. The fact that some end up there is a NewDark bug. The game itself doesn't even need FM-specific values to be there, because it gets the values from the FM's fm.cfg file and so it already knows to enable them and doesn't need to write them out globally, but it does anyway, causing the problem we have here.
Also, we should
not change the user's cam.cfg to "default settings" (which would be arbitrary) as that would stomp all over whatever the user may have done, which is a horrible, horrible thing to do. Also, the leak of the value from fm.cfg to cam.cfg doesn't happen until you
play an FM; installing has nothing to do with it.
We should only modify the exact lines that are causing problems; not touch anything else. AngelLoader already does this with some language-related stuff that ends up being written out to cam.cfg as well; it has to or else playing an FM in a manually-specified language would cause any future FMs to be played in that language regardless of if you told it to or not, because the lines are left over in cam.cfg, so it clears them out of there but leaves everything else.
Marzec on 20/8/2021 at 19:12
Maybe when you change some settings in-game, even unrelated to NewDark (for example you enable fog), or maybe in other circumstances, the game itself saves the FM-specific settings into global file. Or I am just trying to explain Le Corbau here.
Anyway regardless this is a bug or not, I think the player should have something like default settings and then you fall back to them if a FM doesnt have a value specified.
FenPhoenix on 20/8/2021 at 19:39
I've now implemented code that simply looks at cam.cfg and if it has either "character_detail 0" or no "character_detail" line at all, it just puts "character_detail 1" in there. If it already has "character_detail 1" it just leaves it be. It does this for Thief 1/Gold and also Thief 2 just in case since baeuchlein said Thief 2 still reacts on the value in some way up there
Quote Posted by baeuchlein
With the somewhat modified Thief 2 game engine, this option in the menus vanished. Apparently, the engine still contained program code that reacted on "character_detail" lines, but usually, "character_detail 1" would be found in
cam.cfg. As long as everyone keeps his/her dirty hands out of the game's holy config files, nothing bad would happen. People crossed fingers, kept their hands from files not made for everyone, and the (game) world became a better place.
Question: Should this be considered an urgent issue? I'm in the middle of working on a couple other features for AngelLoader and I could bundle this in with those whenever they're done, or I could release a new version with the character_detail fixer right away. Thoughts?
vfig on 20/8/2021 at 20:41
Quote Posted by FenPhoenix
I've now implemented code that simply looks at cam.cfg
TFix Lite has the settting in cam_ext.cfg - so should probably check that one too.
what thief 2 does with the setting (and i have no reason to believe its any different than thief 1) is just add "obj\hipoly" and "mesh\hipoly" to the start of the model and mesh search path lists, respectively. stock thief2 doesnt even have an obj\hipoly directory, and its mesh\hipoly just contains a duplicate copy of bowsite.bin,cal and an unused fire mage. should be harmless whichever way you set the setting for thief 2.
Edit: note that the default value of the setting is off, so if youre being conservative it should stay off in T2.
(also, whaaaaa? guards have
noses?? in looking into this issue, i dont think ive
ever played thief 1 with high poly characters turned on!)
baeuchlein on 22/8/2021 at 03:21
I have experimented with Thief 2 NewDark (v1.27), and it indeed reacts on the "character_detail" setting. Replace the bowsite files with the fmage files in an unpacked mesh.crf file (which then becomes a mesh folder/directory), then switch between "character_detail 1" (T2 standard, AFAIK) and "character_detail 0" (by writing it into cam.cfg yourself). Start a mission (I used "Life of the Party") and start to shoot an arrow. Depending on what the current setting in cam.cfg is, your either get the normal bow sight, or a rather strange sight composed mainly of the Fire Mage's leg.
There also is at least one mission where a mesh\Hipoly folder exists and where the "character_detail" setting switches some AIs' skins. In the "T2 Mage Towers" remake of the T1 original mission, I found a female civilian in green clothes, and you can switch between two slightly different skins (best seen when inspecting the knocked out female's hands) with the "character_detail" setting. Both skins (and, of course, a mesh\Hipoly folder) are packaged with the mission.
So far, I have not found a T2 mission where a wrong "character_detail" setting does create notable problems, but we can't rule out the possibility of that any more.
Marzec on 22/8/2021 at 08:30
Quote Posted by FenPhoenix
I've now implemented code that simply looks at cam.cfg and if it has either "character_detail 0" or no "character_detail" line at all, it just puts "character_detail 1" in there.
Good job on adding it quickly! I think this can wait for a next release.
Zaratul on 27/8/2021 at 08:53
(
https://imgur.com/2XBemCo)
I have dark mode enabled and still i have that bar above in the white color. Im on Windows 10 and i have dark interface enabled in OS too, maybe that is the problem?
FenPhoenix on 27/8/2021 at 16:33
Yeah, the "outside areas" (title bar, border etc.) of the window are not themed. It's a known limitation, sorry. :(
Esse on 27/8/2021 at 17:15
Great work on the new update, FenPhoenix. So far, everything is running smoothly and startup continues to be quick.
TafferCat on 17/9/2021 at 06:21
sorry if i'm doing something stupid, but...
i didn't play any fan missions for about two months, then tonight i decided to start playing again...
but suddenly AngelLoader only loads the original game, not the selected fan mission... gosh i really didn't think i changed anything (or even touched anything) since i last played... this happens for both Thief Gold and Thief 2... so if i pick a Thief 1 mission, it just loads Thief Gold, if i pick a Thief 2 mission, it just loads Thief 2 not the fm...
i quadruple-checked the settings... the executable paths are correct, the paths to the FM archives are correct...
all my fm info is in there... i can read my comments on missions i've played and I can see the readmes for all missions fine, etc... but no matter which FM i select, AngelLoader just loads the original game, not the fan mission... and yes, I'm clicking the correct button :D... (i could totally see myself doing that, though, so i double-checked myself)...
i'm sure i messed up something somewhere, but i have no idea what... so disappointed I didn't get to play a Thief fan mission tonight... :(
anybody have any idea what setting in what file(s) would cause this to happen? i sure hope it's an easy fix...
thanks!