Incline True Thief 4 Dark Mod is released

[MetalCraze]

It's obviously a barebones standalone atm. Like they got rid of Doom3 dependencies but haven't moved much after that.

They need to replace stencil shadows with soft ones and replace EAX with EFX and then it will be how it should be. Nobody should suffer the need to have Creative hardware today, especially since Creative released a fully software based EAX.

Also I like AI improvements. They are Chaos Theory grade assholes now. Still need work to smooth out the edges and perhaps new voice overs recorded with grumpier voices but I guess not many of those among nerdy Thief community

 

[Morgoth]

Stencil shadows for these kind of games (TDM, FEAR, etc.) look awesome, they contribute to that coarse and gritty look of a scene overall.

Soft shadows are more "realistic" but also look more gay.

 

[Black]

Do you get bonus xp for headshots in this one?

 

[Gord]

Someone here using the Linux version?

I've terrible sound lag (about 10s) on two different machines, making it pretty much unplayable.
Windows version runs fine, though.

Edit:
Found something in the wiki, PulseAudio/Alsa might be to blame, will test later today.

Spoiler

The sound lags behind the picture
This seems to happen on some Linux Distributions with PulseAudio. Doom's sound engine defaults to ALSA, you can try to use OSS instead:

Add the following to your dmargs.txt (it is in ~/.doom/darkmod/):

+set s_driver oss
If your system does not provide OSS or a working OSS-emulation (try padsp ./tmdlauncher-linux), reset this to best which means ALSA.

While OSS or ALSA deal directly with the sound hardware, PulseAudio is a soundserver that puts itself between the application (doom3) and ALSA. Your goal is to bypass the PA-part while playing TDM.

You can either disable the PulseAudio daemon temporarily or connect Doom directly to ALSA.

To disable PA, create a file named client.conf in ~/.pulse which contains:

autospawn=no
Then open a terminal and type:

pulseaudio -k
When sound playback fails, make sure you have s_driver set to best, and s_alsa_pcm to default. When it works, you propably want to adjust volume settings outside TDM. Try alsamixer (in a terminal).

When you're finished playing, turn PA back on:

pulseaudio -D
starts the daemon. Changing autospawn to yes should prevent you from doing this manually after every reboot.

The other way, just bypassing PA, requires some knowledge about your sound hardware. Type

aplay -L
This gives you a long list of your ALSA playback devices, three lines for each, first line is <name>. Choose the one with PCM Playback that your speakers are connected to and add

+set s_alsa_pcm <name>
to dmargs.txt. If <name> is not convenient for you just try something like hw:1,0 if you know what you are doing, but be aware abstract designations like default will get "hijacked" by PA.

 

[7/10]

I was interested for about 30 seconds and then the voice acting happened, reminding me why I never play fanmade crap.

 

[Jedi Exile]

Voice acting in Dark Mod is actually quite good for 'fanmade crap'; they did a good job imitating hilarious Thief voices.

 

[Hornawkawk]

I still can't download this with the official downloader, are their servers still down? Seems so to me.

 

[JarlFrank]

I was interested for about 30 seconds and then the voice acting happened, reminding me why I never play fanmade crap.

Get the fuck out of the Codex you gigantic faggot

 

[J_C]

I was interested for about 30 seconds and then the voice acting happened, reminding me why I never play fanmade crap.

I was interested for about 30 seconds and then the voice acting happened, reminding me why I never play fanmade crap.

Get the fuck out of the Codex you gigantic faggot

 

[Gord]

I still can't download this with the official downloader, are their servers still down? Seems so to me.

I downloaded the linked torrent with the "Linux" version from page one -turned out, it contains both Linux and Windows binaries, so can be used quite freely.
Torrent is 2.4GB, went quite smoothly. I suppose if you choose the "Windows" torrent in the same link, it will likely have more seeders (it's content is identical to the Linux one).

 

[MetalCraze]

Stencil shadows for these kind of games (TDM, FEAR, etc.) look awesome, they contribute to that coarse and gritty look of a scene overall.

Soft shadows are more "realistic" but also look more gay.

No stencil shadows is an outdated tech that looks like shit and makes TDM lighting look much worse than even Thief 1/2 lightmaps. That's why they are loved by hipsters like you.

 

[Melan]

I was interested for about 30 seconds and then the voice acting happened, reminding me why I never play fanmade crap.

Hi Romano!

No stencil shadows is an outdated tech that looks like shit and makes TDM lighting look much worse than even Thief 1/2 lightmaps. That's why they are loved by hipsters like you.

Soft shadows have been experimented with in the Doom 3 community, and the release of the source code makes renderer tweaking a future possibility (among other things). At the moment, though, it comes with a huge 30-50% performance hit, and people are already playing TDM with sufficiantly low-grade PCs to make this a problem. Also, there are other priorities. I'd expect this feature in a few years, but you'll probably see it for D3 first, and adapted to TDM later. If someone comes up with a low-impact solution, it's almost guaranteed to be adopted, but that's a big 'if'.

 

[MetalCraze]

Why not just add it as a graphics option? I doubt people who get 300 fps with D3 engine will mind a 50% fps drop.

 

[tuluse]

Anyone got a fix for using EAX that doesn't involve the infamous mission load crash?

I can't even get it to detect my surround sound setup with a Xonar.

 

[J_C]

So, I've downloaded the game and fired up the training area (didn't have time for more). Oh men, the graphics, the atmosphere is amazing, the tutorial part alone had more Thief feeling in it, than everything we have seen from Thiaf. The gameplay is also just like in the original, just more improved (except a few bugs). The only complaint I have is that the sounds and VOs are a little hit and misses. I guess I'm a little too used to the perfect sound design of the originals.

BUT can anyone tell me why can't I load games at all? It always says that there is a script error. What to do guys? The other thing is the mission downloader. I guess the site is under full load, that's why the game doesn't reach the servers, right?

 

[JarlFrank]

Is your DarkMod folder called "darkmod"? Cause it has to be.

 

[Gord]

So I gave up on Linux for now, I might have fixed the sound issues, but the performance in Windows is much better.

Can anyone point me to some good missions? Melan, skacky, JarlFrank ?

 

[skacky]

Sure. Here's a short list:

Penny Dreadful 1: The Grail of Regrets
Stylistically close to Thief 1; dark and creepy. It has a rather gritty atmosphere and it's probably my favorite TDM mission so far.

In The North
Mansion heist during the winter. It's big and it's awesome.

A Score to Settle
Humiliate a crime boss in a rather big city district. It probably has the most believable streets in TDM so far.

Lords and Legacy
This is a big city mission divided into three districts. It's huge and features lots of climbing opportunities. It requires a rather powerful rig though.

Requiem
This one was released with 2.0 and it's one of those missions where you think you're done and there's something else to keep you going for another hour. It's just totally great.

Return to the City
If you like vertical exploration then you MUST play this.


There's more of course but these are probably my favorites.

 

[AstroZombie]

Thanks skacky.

 

[Average Manatee]

vs


which is better and why?

I don't know. I'd have to see gameplay in the second to make a comparison

 

[mikaelis]

So Melan and others, which TDM missions would you recommend? Especially the series with the same protagonists?

 

[Humanity has risen!]

How come I stand before a guard and hit on the nearby walls and objects like crazy with a sword and yet the noise doesn't distract him, but as soon as I move forward a tiny little bit toward him he has a radar and instantly runs after me?

Also I wonder how to get past the very first guard without a fire arrow, he just stays there all the time and you have no choice but to pass through that corridor.

 

[DeepOcean]

Sure. Here's a short list:

Penny Dreadful 1: The Grail of Regrets
Stylistically close to Thief 1; dark and creepy. It has a rather gritty atmosphere and it's probably my favorite TDM mission so far.

In The North
Mansion heist during the winter. It's big and it's awesome.

A Score to Settle
Humiliate a crime boss in a rather big city district. It probably has the most believable streets in TDM so far.

Lords and Legacy
This is a big city mission divided into three districts. It's huge and features lots of climbing opportunities. It requires a rather powerful rig though.

Requiem
This one was released with 2.0 and it's one of those missions where you think you're done and there's something else to keep you going for another hour. It's just totally great.

Return to the City
If you like vertical exploration then you MUST play this.


There's more of course but these are probably my favorites.

Second Return to the City, one of the older mission but I'm still impressed with the level of detail that gone on a relatively small space. It is a challenging mission too to people who like to ghost. A score to settle is good too, not as good as return to city but still very good. In the North, I'm not a big fan, the mansion is big but it's layout is really strange, it wasn't a good idea to make the player start on a tunnel that lead to a servant area (It took a time for you to even notice that you were invading a mansion.), it is Thief tradition to allow the player to see the mansion from outside before entering. The writing is really weak as well.The knighton manor is a much better mansion invasion mission, the layout of the mansion is much more believable . I'm going to try this Requiem and Lords and Legacy. The big weakness of Dark Mod is the lack of campaigns, Thief 2 had awesome mini campaigns of 3 or 4 missions, some even bigger. I just hope with the Thiaf 4 fail and the standalone version with the campaign they are planning to release, Dark mod gets more love from map makers.

 

[J_C]

Is your DarkMod folder called "darkmod"? Cause it has to be.

Oh, that must be it. Thanks.

 

[Melan]

Can anyone point me to some good missions? Melan, skacky, JarlFrank ?

So Melan and others, which TDM missions would you recommend? Especially the series with the same protagonists?

Here are some I have liked:
Not an Ordinary Guest: Perhaps my favourite "basic mission", a hotel break-in where the difficulty levels are changed into completely different missions - allowing you to play as an assassin, burglar or a saboteur. There are a lot of different ways to approach your objectives, making for a high replay value. It also has a large city segment which really "anchors" the action - you have to case your target, do your business and actually escape - "costly" in levels design terms, which is why so few people do it, but very rewarding once you pull it off.
Alberic's Curse: Beautifully designed undead-haunted monastery. Also fun for the inevitable Thief - Dark Mod comparison, since it is based on a T2 mission (The Cathedral of the Damned).
The Caduceus of St. Alban: Break into a Builder stronghold. Much potential for non-linear exploration, good verticality.
A Score to Settle: Revenge on a petty slum lord. High production values, good-looking city streets, seamless story and varied gameplay.
Old Habits (Rebuild): The original version of this mission was kinda bare-bones and frustrating, but the rebuild turns it into a very well executed, pretty mansion mission that just keeps on giving.
William Steele 1: In the North: A "mansion with dark secrets" mission, with a good sense of exploration, and an excellent ghosting challenge if you like that kind of thing. Lots of crates to build towers with. Looks pretty, too.
Lords and Legacy: Pretty noble estate robbery with a long city segment and a lot of treachery. It reminds me of the first Thief 3 mission, but in a good way.
Requiem: Epic story-based mission; slightly linear, but it is very innovative, and keeps going waaaay longer than you'd expect. Shades of Three Crowns and The Seven Sisters, if you are familiar with those Thief FMs. Probably less thiefish than the others.
A Special Delivery: Simple, short, fun.

And two which aren't currently available, but will be:
(The Heart of Lone Salvation): A hard and complex mansion mission which shows off the kind of puzzles you can hack together with TDM's physics system.
(No Honor Among Thieves): Three-mission campaign with treachery, exploration and one of my favourite TDM city segments.

If you are looking for a campaign, your options are limited. ATM, the only one is the episodic Thomas Porter series, finished recently, but while they have a lot of continuity, they are not yet integrated into a single package.

[edit]Where did my avatar go?[/edit]