The Dark Mod - TTLG Forums

demagogue on 13/3/2011 at 06:29

O shi ... I'm getting my games mixed up! :o
Ignore what I said before completely.
Try the mousewheel, or whatever key you have for inventory cycling.

More specifically:

Quote Posted by "Dark Mod wiki"

With multi-page readables (distinguishable by folded corners on the page), use the next/prev inventory or next/prev weapon keys to scroll through page

(I guess it's become so reflexive for me by now that I didn't even remember what I do all the time.)

For future reference, go to the (http://modetwo.net/darkmod/wiki/index.php?title=The_Dark_Mod_Gameplay) wiki page for Gameplay for any questions like this. There's a number of stuff that's a little unique to Dark Mod.

Azaran on 13/3/2011 at 06:57

Ok it worked. Thanks

nbohr1more on 4/5/2011 at 15:52

Melan's mission, "Fiasco at Fauchard Street", was created as a Speed-building exercise. He documented the creation process, diary style, over at The Dark Mod forums.

I have conducted a brief interview to discuss Melan's Thief and TDM design and building processes.

Enjoy:

(http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/speed-building-in-the-dark-mod)

:)

Albert on 4/5/2011 at 17:38

Just reading back a little, and I just wanted to put my 2 cents in. I don't think TDM looks all that bad. It certainly looks visually better than Deadly Shadows, and the gameplay is miles beyond that of the latter. Still, it has it's flaws, but I'm hopeful that custom modifications to the completed project, that may make it better in the long run, will be good.

Especially this upcoming fall, which I believe ID software will finally release ID tech 4. :cheeky: :D

nbohr1more on 4/5/2011 at 19:39

It's getting better all the time. Especially since Grayman has come along to help.

All I can say is that there are already a number of terrific missions so there is no reason to wait unless you don't have the hardware to play it.

(I have a nearly 9yr old system which has a newer low\mid-range video card (4650 AGP) and it plays every mission well except Betrayal and NHAT 3/3 so if you don't have the needed specs you're using a laptop or waiting for your system to die.)

New Horizon on 6/5/2011 at 01:03

Quote Posted by Albert

Still, it has it's flaws, but I'm hopeful that custom modifications to the completed project

It's complete now...in terms of being able to play it...I certainly hope people aren't still waiting until it's "finished" to play it, because it's an open source project and we don't ever have to stop improving it as long as there is someone interested in working on it. We'll keep updating TDM with new features and improvements over time...so get playing people...there are some great missions to be played.

jtr7 on 6/5/2011 at 03:19

I do see that this needs to be addressed. People really are perpetually waiting for the bettered versions, and then they wait again, and wait again. I don't know how many are doing this, but I've seen several posts expressing this wish for the best version to come before they even try it. :erg:

The rationale also includes waiting for some official canon to be written for the TDM world, instead of allowing anything and everything to be written according to the individual authors applied with the toolset to match their own vision. People are expecting a complete virtual reality only, and do not consider the whole box of Legos and Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets and Tinker Toys of the tools left to the individual authors to build their own thing with.

That is semi-related to people I know who are waiting for textures and sounds that jive with their vision, as they are not in a position to create their own, and thus, are in limbo for who knows how long, and it's unfortunate, especially if they can't or won't make their wishes known to those who are capable of filling their order.

New Horizon on 6/5/2011 at 11:16

Quote Posted by jtr7

Glad I didn't do that with Firefox...I've been using it since back in the day when it was called Phoenix, and then Firebird. lol

Quote:

The rationale also includes waiting for some official canon to be written for the TDM world, instead of allowing anything and everything to be written according to the individual authors applied with the toolset to match their own vision. People are expecting a complete virtual reality only, and do not consider the whole box of Legos and Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets and Tinker Toys of the tools left to the individual authors to build their own thing with.

There already is a TDM canon. It's on the wiki and FM authors use that as their guide in creating the world where TDM missions take place. Do they all use the same lead character? No. They all take place in the TDM world however, and in many cases are using the names of TDM created locations.

negativeliberty on 8/5/2011 at 09:59

Quote Posted by jtr7

I do see that this needs to be addressed. People really are perpetually waiting for the bettered versions, and then they wait again, and wait again.

If that's true then it's a crying shame because TDM atm is a lot more polished than any game I've played in the last few years. I've played half the FMs and only had a single crash to desktop, which is more than I can say for Fallout 3/NV, Mass Effect, etc. I'd almost call it near perfect, rivalling the responsive and smooth movement of the first two Thief games. Perhaps people are waiting for a Thief-length campaign? (like the Thief's Den/Thomas Porter/etc. series only more like T2X in terms of overarching narrative). In the meantime they don't know what they're missing though :p

ZylonBane on 8/5/2011 at 17:20

Quote Posted by New Horizon

There already is a TDM canon. It's on the wiki and FM authors use that as their guide in creating the world where TDM missions take place.

Unfortunately, that's not good enough. When I play Thief FMs, it's in large part to immerse myself once again in the world that Looking Glass did such an outstanding job of establishing in the OMs. I believe I'm not alone in this. TDM missions, on the other hand, rely on building up the game world in the player's head in a disjointed, piecemeal manner that's probably not even internally consistent. Saying "Go read the wiki" is absolutely the wrong answer. So that's one problem.

The second problem is getting people to go through all the steps required to install TDM in the first place. In this era of click-to-play digital distribution, you really need to entice new players to get them to exert any more effort than that. Once again, an amorphous mass of FMs of varying degrees of quality doesn't make a very good dangling carrot.

The third problem is, as you mention, the perception that it's not "done" yet. People like stability in their games, so the continual evolution of TDM is paradoxically working against player adoption here.

A fourth problem is that the continual development of the tools draws attention to itself, and away from the content. Contrast with the marketing for commercial games, where the creation tools are practically never mentioned beyond how many megashaders the engine can push. The overwhelming majority of gamers don't give a shit about the tools. They just care about playing. So there may very well be the perception that TDM is more akin to the likes of Ogre3D or Unity.

A fifth problem is the "paradox of choice". A platform for FMs throws the player in at the deep end of having too many choices to -- from their perspective -- reasonably decide where to start.

Fortunately there's a single solution to all these problems, albeit a labor-intensive one-- A campaign. A well-done campaign would serve to ease players into the game fiction. It would tempt newcomers with an easily quantifiable reward for installing TDM. It would establish that TDM has matured and stabilized enough to create such a thing. It would give new players a clear starting point for their taffing. And finally, it would serve as a public relations/marketing tentpole. It would be something that gaming sites could review (a la T2X and Nameless Mod), and that you could point at and say, this is TDM.