What's new in TDM 1.03
See also the changelog on our bugtracker page: Changelog.
Release Date
Version 1.03 of The Dark Mod has been released on December 22nd, 2010.
Changes / Features / Issues fixed
- #837: Arrows don't stick into attachments on living AI (Coding)
- #1181: When mantling onto a moving object the mantle process is stationary, often the object is long gone (Coding)
- #1254: Cannot see objectives or why failed after mission end (GUI)
- #1421: Arrows can stick in broken arrows (Physics)
- #1422: Arrows can stick in arrows sticking in AI (Physics)
- #1488: AI mouth locations (for drowning) need checking (AI)
- #1697: AI errors when alerted by melee damage (AI)
- #1851: Bug when "using" AI with "shoulderable" set to "0". (Coding)
- #1960: No error message when failing to install FM package (GUI)
- #2065: Discarding articles when sorting Missions in the "New Mission"-menu (GUI)
- #2169: Strange AI behaviour/death when underwater (Coding)
- #2198: Finish "reaction" soundshaders (Sound)
- #2210: Savegame trying to restore Doom3 objectiveSystem (Saving/Loading)
- #2218: "idle_animations_torso" causes crash (Coding)
- #2225: path_anim won't work without an "angle" property (Coding)
- #2226: Lanternbots turn invisible when slain (Coding)
- #2229: Conversations only playing once (Coding)
- #2234: Weapon scrolling broken (Coding)
- #2236: atdm:ai_townsfolk_commoner_armed def vocal set typo (Def / Setup)
- #2237: Need generic text guis for signs etc (Feature proposal)
- #2241: gameLocal.m_StimTimer is not cleared between maps (Coding)
- #2242: Stim/Response Code Cleanup (Coding)
- #2243: Crash in func_shooter entity when def_projectile is wrong (Coding)
- #2244: Invalid tokens in ASE files (errors in NHAT) (Script/Def)
- #2255: New Mission menu GUI improvements. (GUI)
- #2257: Curtain prefab and fabrics (Textures)
- #2258: Climbing chains sounds like rope (Coding)
- #2260: Easier override option for main menu music (GUI)
- #2261: in 16:9 aspect resolutions, 1280x720 and 1366x768 are reversed (GUI)
- #2262: Restart Game button for settings menu (GUI)
- #2265: Console commands to mark missions as played/completed (Coding)
- #2268: No need to extract startingmap.txt file from mission PK4 (Coding)
- #2269: Response Effect Knockout not working (Script/Def)
- #2270: Ambient music volume levels (Sound system)
- #2280: Mission version check is bound to fail on next major version (GUI)
- #2281: No physics for dropped pickpocketed objects (Physics)
- #2287: no_random_headturning Not Working (Animation)
- #2308: Mission Download Manager (Coding)
- #2309: Support for replace_anim_* spawnargs directly on AI (Coding)
- #2319: Bump tdm_lg_crouch_modifier to -2 (Coding)
- #2324: Water should decrease visibility: add Lightgem modifier (Coding)
- #2326: Location settings broken if player enters undefined area (Coding)
- #2337: Add a falloff to the dynamic ambient light (Coding)
- #2341: "No_dups" not working for vocal barks (Sound engine)
- #2342: idRotator reverses direction each time it is triggered (Coding)
- #2343: Split Action/Inventoy menu and add keybinds for Spyglass/Cycle Readables (GUI)
- #2344: Elevator button double firing (Def / Setup)
- #2352: Arrows stick into player head (Coding)
- #2362: Water texture/wobble is too fast (Coding)
- #2369: Horse - skins (Graphics)
- #2376: Shop not showing all items in player starting inventory (Coding)
- #2377: Add Sotha's skybox decals (Textures/Materials)
- #2379: New golden Ingots as loot items (Models)
- #2380: CObjectiveLocation doesn't recognize absence of deleted entities. (Design/Coding)
- #2385: AI playing cards: some sit_down_angles unusable (AI)
- #2392: Patrolling AI get up immediately after path_sleep (AI)
- #2396: Add the Bloom settings to the menu (GUI)
- #2408: Sleepers "seeing" bodies (AI)
- #2409: 'slick' materials attribute doesn't work correctly (Coding)
- #2414: Problems caused by interleaved thinking (AI)
- #2417: Ambient sounds lost after loading (Coding)
- #2424: Click in menu causes game action (Coding/GUI)
- #2426: TDM Updater improvements (Coding)
- #2430: If shouldered entity is removed from game, stuck shouldering forever (Coding)
- #2438: Norman shield texture error (Textures)
- #2440: Unlit electric lights not switchable (stay dark) (Coding)
- #2443: Sconscript deprecation warnings (Design/Coding)
- #2446: Double check spider death animation (AI)
- #2458: Test female sleeping behaviour (Animation)
- #2461: Black wheelbarrow (Models)
- #2465: Wench eyes not closing when asleep (Animation)
AI
- Spiders have been significantly upgraded: all-new animations (including death animation), new spider types, new behavior (ceiling hang) and quieter footsteps
- Three new female characters: noblewoman, wench, and rogue. [1]
- New animations for female characters
- Lowered volume of zombie foot-drag (again)
- Implemented run animation for characters with weapons (so they don't stab their head while running)
- New "Werebeast" monster added
- several varied pain animations
- Horse AI
GUI
- A "Restart game" button now in the "Settings menu" (Greebo)
- The "New mission" menu has been greatly improved and has new features like tracking which mission(s) you played before, how long it took etc. (Greebo)
- Built-in version check, so TDM can tell you when an update is available. (Greebo)
- The "Actions/Inventory" menu has been split into "Actions" and "Inventory" (Tels). This makes room for:
- It is now possible to bind keys for "Spyglass" and "Cycle Readables" from the menu (Tels)
- The "Video Settings" menu has been split into "General" and "Advanced" (New Horizon). This makes room for:
- Three ambient methods (New Horizon):
- Simple (our original texture based ambient)
- Normal (uses interaction shader to calculate ambient),
- Enhanced (JC's enhanced texture based ambient),
Sounds
Added a new Builder vocal set -- the Strong Builder-- Postponed -- (Mortem Desino)- Added two new vocal sets: "Wench" and "Lady"
- AI no longer play the same vocal bark twice in a row, and play a wider range of vocals (you should notice quite a change!)
- several footstep sounds have been modified
- ambient sound will no longer be lost on reloading
- AI vocals have been adjusted to allow for better ability to determine direction of the sound
Textures/Skins
- A new yellow skin for the lily model has been added (Tels)
- Yellow and brown skins for our grass, as well as a dense and a colored variant of these has been added (Tels)
- Grass skins can now be used on all bush models, turning them into grass or plants with long leaves.
- It is possible to set a list of skins, from which one will be chosen randomly at entity spawn time, see: random_skin
- A few building/tree skybox facade textures (Sotha)
- Copper clad roof texture and old oxidised copper texture, good for statue skins (Serpentine)
- Two higher res loose stone wall textures (Seperntine)
- The red-shingles-with-stripes texture has now twice the resolution and much better details (Arcturus)
- New ladder variants with sounds for chain, foliage (ivy) rope, metal, nosound (silent)
Models
- Aphrodite statue (Arcturus)
- New carrot stub/turnip stub (Baddcog) and moveables/eaten versions based on them
- Gold bar model with various sizes (Fidcal & Greebo)
- a few new LOD models, which are considerable simpler (and thus render faster) than their originals
Physics
Formerly, mantling (jump, grab ledge, then pull yourself up) only worked for stationary or moving (translating) objects. Ishtvan now implemented mantling onto rotating objects, too. This video demonstrates nicely the effect and possibilities. Btw, the map is called Swing and is a contest map that confines the player into a 1280x1280 (unlimited height) cube, and if you watch the video, you will see that the map certainly feels way bigger. A clever trick :)
Code
id Software had the habit to add a small class for almost each feature needed, instead of combining the features into one class. This leads to situation where one entity can do X, the next can do Y, but none can do X and Y at the same time. Before we only added code to the code base, and fixed bugs. With v1.03 we also started an effort on C++ code cleanup. That means:
- combining features into one spawnclass instead of distributing it over or duplicating it at several
- removing unnec. classes (idFuncRadioChatter, idDoor, idElevator, idTarget_EnableStamina, idAFEntity_ClawFourFingers, anything related to the PDA, idTarget_Tip etc.)
- adding small utility functions (like ToString() to the idBounds class)
- improving the performance of idlib classes (the idList class has seen improvements upon adding another list to it, f.i.)
- We also no longer include and use some AI scripts from the base,working towards our goal of a D3-free TDM
This is ongoing work, but it will contribute to making TDM better overall, in small steps.