Downloading the dark mod.

[SCO]

New version. First for me. It's probably good enough now, and mappers are starting to crank out missions. I suppose most missions will continue to come out for thief 2 especially now the source code has been "found".

But i think the dark mod has a future ahead, considering the hardcore alienation that thief 4 will bring (probably no mapper for one).

Anyway, i don't expect miracles mission wise, but have you played any yet? What do you think?

 

[commie]

Finally a good version of Dark Mod? I'd better get to it then!

 

[lisac2k]

I did try it about a year ago, it was pretty much in beta stage, although very enjoyable and polished. It could have been the very first version of The Dark Mod as well (v1.00), can't remember the details right now.

There was one map (mission) coming with the mod installation, a sort of a castle where the thief was supposed to aquire some relic. The architecture of the castle was varying from very good to mediocre, and the shadows/darkness were/was somehow unconvincing in certain places, yet rather well done in others. Maybe I should have my monitor adjusted a bit in order to get a better experience. My overall impression was positive, though. I agree The Dark Mod has a bright future ahead, especially after the latest events around the Thief franchise.

2-3 months ago I have found a lot of fan-made missions somewhere, but didn't manage to test any of them. I suppose some of them are real gems, would be grateful if you try out and recommend some of those.

 

[JarlFrank]

Haven't tried it yet (still gotta torrent Doom3), but it seems that this is going to be the real Thief 4, instead of that popamolified third-person THIAF thing.

 

[SCO]

Its needed a few manual tweaks.

If you want a toggle key to run, you need to look in their forum.
The menu backgrounds are fucked. See the known bugs faq to fix it. Disable catalyst AI if you have it.

 

[RatFink]

only played the tutorial and it definitely feels like the real thing!
plus it looks reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally pretty!

but then it crashed.

haven't touched it since, because i just finished thief gold and am now playing through the metal age! fuckin awesome!!

 

[SCO]

Downloaded "The Hearth's Lone Salvation". Bit of a keyhunt, and you can see rough edges in some places (sword fighting animations), some ai pathfinding, man's voices in women ahah.

Apart from that, the only "real" aesthetic problem is that engine ragdoll system is horrendous in conjunction with the physics, leading some dead bodies on strange locations to flop endlessly. I expect it will get better once doom 3 is open sourced. Also saw a irritating sound bug i'm not sure isn't a map problem. And, oh, learn how to shoulder bodies (hold them and press enter), you will need it.

Very fine regardless.

 

[SCO]

This one looks ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnslvL6SVzk

I guess you have to go to the top!

 

[MetalCraze]

This one looks ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnslvL6SVzk

I guess you have to go to the top!

Lawl the retard plays a Thief game with an XBawks controller

 

[SCO]

Ok, as for gameplay: guards are more alert. Especially those torch/lamp wielding guards. They are essentially un-pickpocketable, unless you use a retarded exploit (bunny hopping to make no sound, probably a bug) or are very strategically positioned (not possible normally).

Movement and mantling is smooth as butter. You know the hardest part of thief (the frustrating part of lining up your jumps perfectly only to get pushed out of a window because you didn't crouch mid air? Crouch is automatic now if you don't fit. You don't need to hold space to not fall off when mantling like in thief now. Yeah.

Maps that i've seen are nice, lighting is good (there is a buggy lamp in the training mission).

Found a crash bug that i reported and is fixed (don't save immediatly after lockpicking while the sound is still in effect). I had some other crashes, but set the processor affinity to one, and they went away (probably a threading bug visible on core 2 duo).

Aesthetic wise, there are still some low poly models that could probably use either more detail, or a more stylized approach. Bushes and trees are examples, but it's not bad at all. They probably should get more voices (you can help if you've got the equipment i guess).

Didn't see the zombies up close, but i didn't much like what i saw... They need to be decomposing/without muscle and full of holes. Right now i think they look like buff athletes starvation victims with a skin problem.

Very very nice platform for missions.

 

[bhlaab]

I tried to play Thief 3 recently but couldn't get into it since they took out the ability to knock out semi-alert guards (investigating a noise or whatever but not in attack mode) which was pretty much the crutch of my whole T/T2 strategy

How do the guards in this act?

 

[Melcar]

Last time I played it it had shitty/clunky combat mechanics (not that I cared, but still). Other than that I was really impressed with the whole thing. The few missions they had back then where in the okay range. Definitely a must play for any Thief fan.

 

[RatFink]

I tried to play Thief 3 recently but couldn't get into it since they took out the ability to knock out semi-alert guards (investigating a noise or whatever but not in attack mode) which was pretty much the crutch of my whole T/T2 strategy

How do the guards in this act?

is this even possible in gold/dark project?

...i mean..i think i must have tried it once but never again...
first of all im always playing in expert mode, never tried anything else, so i dont know if this does make any difference...
but in dark project i never knocked down anyone in semi alert state because i just thought it wouldnt work or i wasnt exactly in the right spot to do it.
in the metal age on expert mode it is possible! this i know because ive done it a lot, but in gold/dark project..not so much :/

i know i dont have any answer for you just another question for the thief pros

but anyway...the point is to not even let the guards to go into semi altert mode (except a noise arrow/thrown crate or something like this hehe)
...which is what i do try but not always succeed in...let alone ghosting.. hehe
usually i knock out everything i can to roam freely! but i guess that is not how it was intended...its just my way of doing things..kinda like bethesda roleplaying

i would also like to say, that i am posting half drunk on the codex and that this franchise is in the absolute top 3 games i have ever played!!
including thief 3 which i played first a couple of years ago and i cant wait how i will see this game now when i replay it after i finished thief gold and the metal age on expert
but i am turning into a right fuckin thief fan now!
which might not be a good thing seeing what they are doing with THI4F............lets see how that turns out...

 

[poocolator]

This one looks ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnslvL6SVzk

I guess you have to go to the top!

I can't believe that this is using the same engine as Doom 3!?
I definitely have got to give it a try, but only after I sample the delicious Thief 2 FM's available out there.
Sluurrrrp.

 

[SCO]

I tried to play Thief 3 recently but couldn't get into it since they took out the ability to knock out semi-alert guards (investigating a noise or whatever but not in attack mode) which was pretty much the crutch of my whole T/T2 strategy

How do the guards in this act?

I think it's possible if you're very fast (in plain sight), but maybe it depends on the type of guard (some are unblackjackable, so maybe there is a intermediate guard). I haven't tried yet the old standby of jumping up in shadow + lean forward. I've been ghosting. Pickpocketing is motherfucking harder, and the guards seem more alert (you can't touch them now, and "Garret" hasn't his marvelous elastic arms anymore.

Funny thing is... this runs better than the modded thief 2 i use with a large fan mission.

Much better.

 

[SCO]

This one looks ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnslvL6SVzk

I guess you have to go to the top!

I can't believe that this is using the same engine as Doom 3!?
I definitely have got to give it a try, but only after I sample the delicious Thief 2 FM's available out there.
Sluurrrrp.

Spoiler

There's a trick. It's the world that is moving, not the pendulum.

Last time I played it it had shitty/clunky combat mechanics (not that I cared, but still). Other than that I was really impressed with the whole thing. The few missions they had back then where in the okay range. Definitely a must play for any Thief fan.

Definitely need a talented combat animator. I only realized it when i saw two guards fighting from above, because when you're being pummeled down, you don't notice. Also, if you have a bow out and someone hits you, you unequip it (i agree).

 

[poocolator]

Spoiler

There's a trick. It's the world that is moving, not the pendulum.

 

[JarlFrank]

Installed it, too. It's p. good. Got any mission recommendations?

 

[SCO]

First, if you have a ATI card, you have to do two things to avoid crashes:
Go to the catalyst control center and disable both catalyst AI and Powerplay.
Also don't save just after lockpicking - while the sound is still playing - and reload (it will crash, fixed in svn)

Second you can enable "toggle run" that unfortunately is not by default (i tend to run crouched).
add this:
bind "CAPSLOCK" "toggle in_alwaysRun 0 1;"
to the DoomConfig.cfg file in the "darkmod" folder inside the doom3 folder.

There is a pretty obvious exploit that i won't say to you.

Good missions:
The Knighton Manor
beleaguered fence
heart of the lone salvation
glenham tower (Play this one. It is good. Optional objective is crazy. I raged hard too that the "smart" way around that is impossible. Author is a dick (i disagree with him how thief missions should be designed in this case. Give me non-linearity or give me death!)
alchemist
(these are part of a series... Alchemist is not as good because it is incomplete, and the guy that tried to complete it is kinda amateur hour. Beginning is solid and unusual though)

chalice of kings
(building mission. Kinda hard).

flakebridge monastery
betrayal
(undead missions )

lockdown
(it's a very compact rooftop mission - if you get stuck at what you think is path to the end, you need to go elsewhere first)

Unfortunately Doom3 doesn't seem like a ideal engine for very open, very geometry dense levels (no visportal possible and no LOD, but they are working on that - and i guess, as soon as it is opensourced many would be engine devs will try to bolt a LOD algorithm on it).

Warning: the game is very much harder than normal thief in all respects.

Trying to pickpocket AI is MUCH harder (stay quiet on shadow and let them come to you. If your target has a torch the only way is if he stops for a while, with a niche or with the exploit i alluded).
The AI WILL notice if you bump into them or move behind them for too long or on hard surfaces. Moss IS NOT SILENT. Connecting with the blackjack is also harder. Look at the heads of AI's that guard passegeways. Sometimes they will look the otherway, so a "ghost" that seems impossible, sometimes isn't.
Do play the training mission (one candle there has a obvious lighting bug i reported), at least the movement and stealth parts. The lockpicking is kind of intuitive. The training mission also has a room to adjust your gama in-game for good results.
To pick up a body you have to frob it and then press enter.

Good luck.

 

[Luzur]

well, the darkness isnt dark enough, the guards should be able to spot you easily in that kind of "bright gloom".

 

[SCO]

well, the darkness isnt dark enough, the guards should be able to spot you easily in that kind of "bright gloom".

It's the sound that kills you. You know how in thief you can crouch-run-stop-jerk to move almost silently, including following a guard from about a "meter" away? Impossible here, especially since, if you're crouched, even if "running", you're always slower than the walking guard (well, not impossible, with the exploit).

 

[Luzur]

sure i do, i did it for lulz on the first level in Thief.

but still, it should be darker.

 

[SCO]

adjust the gamma in the training level room for that.

 

[Luzur]

i cant, i uninstalled it some months ago, but i tried the outpost and it was bright as day in the shadows.

 

[Calem Ravenna]

Unfortunately Doom3 doesn't seem like a ideal engine for very open, very geometry dense levels (no visportal possible and no LOD, but they are working on that - and i guess, as soon as it is opensourced many would be engine devs will try to bolt a LOD algorithm on it).

How is it FPS-wise in open spaces? I remember Doom3 and its mods stuttering quite badly even on more 'modern' machines whenever entering something larger than a medium sized room.

The AI WILL notice if you bump into them or move behind them for too long or on hard surfaces. Moss IS NOT SILENT.

Interesting. One of the things that always disappointed me with original Thief games was the fact you could run at full speed on any surface that was not metal/marble/sand and never be heard except by exceptionally alert guards.