Ladron De La Noche on 22/10/2009 at 03:43
(
http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/19/download-the-dark-mod-for-doom-3/) Dark Mod - BigDownload.com - Mirror
Another mirror for the Dark Mod release. No sign up, just visit and download. Servers are fast.
Watching the videos reminded me of why I hold Thief above all other games, nice work boys. ;)
I laughed when seeing the inclusion of those pesky coins again, so damn small.
Komag on 22/10/2009 at 04:43
Someone needs to put it up on FilePlanet :thumb:
MrMunkeepants on 22/10/2009 at 06:02
I finally got it to work last night (needed to reinstall and repatch), played Training and enjoyed it - though I need a lot more combat practice, and I couldn't figure out how to turn things in my hands - and was looking forward to more tonight.
now I can load and start FMs (view the briefing and buy equipment), but before I can play a window pops up asking for my CD key. I've entered it exactly the way I did during install, but it doesn't like it. D3 demands the same thing as soon as the "id" intro has played. could this be because I bought the game used? how do I resolve this and start playing again?
Melan on 22/10/2009 at 06:26
I think d'Spair actually has a point about this particular screenshot - the columns don't look very good, the central carpet and the tiles are also blah, and the strong uniform lighting flattens the scene. Nonetheless, it seems unfair to generalise from that particular shot; the training map alone has a decent number of areas looking significantly better. If this shot is from Dram's Blackheart Manor, which it seems to be, I have seen much more ambitious screenshots from it - architecture which was the exact opposite of boxy.
I can't pass judgement on DarkRadiant, since I am only experimenting with the editor right now, but I could construct some fairly decent-looking architectural features with a handful of brushes and curving patches; moreover, there is a lot of support in there to make building efficient, as I am discovering. There are some things which would be much easier in Dromed, though - the lack of proper air brushes is a bit of a hurdle, although it doesn't seem insurmountable.
Melan on 22/10/2009 at 06:29
Quote Posted by MrMunkeepants
now I can load and start FMs (view the briefing and buy equipment), but before I can play a window pops up asking for my CD key. I've entered it exactly the way I did during install, but it doesn't like it. D3 demands the same thing as soon as the "id" intro has played. could this be because I bought the game used? how do I resolve this and start playing again?
Disconnect your Internet and enter your CD key.
Judith on 22/10/2009 at 07:40
I can understand d'Spair's complaints about the editor, as a long time 3dsmax, Unreal Ed 1/2/3.0 user I find it quite awkward to use. SplitPane view made it a bit easier but the creating/selecting method is a pain for me, I'd have to give up all my working habits here.
I also understand his remarks about graphics. Of course, it's a giant leap from Dromed, but some people already mentioned the environments look sterile, and after playing some new FMs that argument still stands, imo. That's always the problem with high-res environments, the better texture you have, the more things you have to add to break obvious patterns, to make your location look more natural, 'organic'.
Of course, lightning may help you hide any flaws, but right now it looks like it doesn't help your maps at all. The screen mentioned by d'Spair ((
http://www.mindplaces.com/darkmod/screen48.jpg)) is a good example of that. Walls, columns, doorframe, they have no proper shadows and light distribution on their surface, no dirt, etc. I guess they were done in the editor, and after that mapper just applied some textures. That's why it looks so sterile. And that's why so much attention is given to static meshes and mesh tile sets these days.
Modern engines aren't that much more complicated, in terms of lightning, I think. A few dynamic lights in the UE 3.0 can seriously choke that one to death. What makes it shine is the brilliant shader use (great editing tool here), and static mesh base, where every one of them has it's own texture and UVW unwrapping, the effects like light distribution on a surface (subtle shadows, light bouncing) can be painted on a texture itself. In other words, baking ambient occlusion for meshes (e.g. in 3dsmax, using mental ray) makes a day and night difference. That's the main difference between older and modern game design, the latter being more complicated and time-consuming, but also much more rewarding in terms of final, much more natural, 'organic' result.
Examples:
(
http://www.nextgn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/batman-arkham-asylum-e3-2009-16.jpg)
(
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/abf808c68d668ce949b873edc11bc57bdcfdc847.png)
Meshes have some subtle lightning pre-baked into their textures, they're a bit lighter on the upper and darker on the lower part. This, dirt maps (not decals) on surfaces and detail normalmaps plus proper lightning makes it all look quite natural. You can check other screens for B:AA, it's a really nice example of modern design using UE 3.0
Edit: to make it even more obvious, using the wiki example:
(
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Aocclude_insectdiffuse.jpg) This is how environments in TDM look like.
(
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Aocclude_insectcombined.jpg) And this is how an environment should look like.
Fidcal on 22/10/2009 at 08:15
Discussion of individual FMs as any kind of indicator of Dark Mod or Dark Radiant is a meaningless non-issue as far as I'm concerned. As irrelevant as a medieval fisherman discussing the limitations of oil paint on canvas as he daubs his sail. I originally built Chalice in 27 days as part of a drive to get a few small FMs ready for people to enjoy not to write a thesis about. In that it has succeeded. Let's leave the grander view to those with greater artistry who are to follow and reserve our judgement for a few years.
Fidcal on 22/10/2009 at 08:15
French version of Chalice (just texts like readables and briefing etc) now available at
(
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W1UDVURC)
This uses the same filenames so I recommend anyone wanting this that they UNinstall Chalice if it is installed, exit Dark Mod, delete or rename your old doom3/chalice and delete darkmod/fms/chalice and put this pk4 in the fms folder.
