The team at Broken Glass Studios is very pleased to announce the latest update to TDM!

The update to 2.03 adds nearly nine months of new assets, features, and bugfixes . Some changes will be noticeable right away, while others will take a while to appear in new maps.

To apply the update, simply run the tdm_update.exe file in your darkmod folder. (Note that saved games from earlier versions will not be compatible with 2.03, so finish any missions you are playing first).

Some of the improvements are listed below. To see the full changelog, go here.

AI changes: AI have a few new animations, including a new pickpocket reaction. Many AI, including the citywatch and builder models, should look more detailed, as most AI are now using LOD (Level of Detail) stages, allowing greater detail up close and less detail (and less of a performance hit) when further away. In terms of behaviour, AI will now coordinate their searches more intelligently when in groups, sending some AI to guard doors and choke-points rather than stepping all over each other. AI will now react when getting hit by an opening door. An issue that allowed AI to see behind them if their head was turned a certain way has been fixed.

Graphics: Particle effects have been greatly improved, so that they no longer create hard lines when intersecting geometry. Water no longer distorts things that are in front of it, and the skybox will no longer flash grey when the player is mantling. The spyglass will now appear round regardless of the screen dimensions used. A number of entities are now using LOD (Level of Detail) stages. You may wish to adjust this option in the Graphics Menu if you see noticeable ‘popping’ of models.

Assets: More than a hundred new high-quality textures and models have been added to the game, and should start appearing in new maps. A number of existing models have been improved by adding more polys and better textures. A new female townsfolk model and vocal set has also been added to the game and should start appearing in new maps soon.

A video preview of some of the new features can be watched here.

Overall, you should notice a distinct improvement to the graphics and AI behaviour in maps. And we have some exciting renderer developments in the pipeline, though that will have to wait for the next update.

Hope you enjoy it! We’d love to hear feedback in our forums, or on our Facebook page.

TDM 2.02 is now available!

This version includes a number of new features and bugfixes for The Dark Mod. Several exploits have been dealt with, such as a fix for the bunny-hop exploit by SteveL, and new behaviour that allows AI to notice if you blatantly grab onto a door they’re in the process of closing, by grayman.

A fix of a sound bug that was causing sound to drop off too quickly in large spaces (resulting in AI frequently ignoring noise arrows and calls for help) has also been fixed by grayman, and a new AI Hearing slider has been added to the main menu.

New Horizon has adjusted our blackjacking detection so that players are less likely to fail by being too close to an AI.

AI may notice that they’ve been pickpocketed, and will add that to their evidence of an intruder if you cause a mild alert while snatching something from their belt.

In addition, Springheel has added a new AI and vocal set (acted by Goldwell) for mappers to play with: The Moors.

For a more detailed look at the changes and improvements, see here: Changelog

To get the new update, simply run tdm_update.exe.

Note: Saved games from previous versions will not work under 2.02!

Square Enix and Amazon.com have announced the results of the THIEF mod contest!

In the first category, “Look, I Created a Mod”, the winner is our very own Gelo (Moonbo) Fleisher with his TDM Fan Mission “Requiem”.

As for the second category, “If I Could Mod, I Would Create…”, the winning team is Joachim Eko Sjoberg and Kevin Stuart Elliott for “The Lighthouse”.

Congratulations to the winners!

We’re getting close to a development freeze for our next update, which will include some important bug-fixes and a lot of goodies. We discovered a bug that affected more than half of all missions that caused loud noises to drop off quickly, meaning AI weren’t hearing noise arrows or yells for help like they should. Grayman is also adding new behaviour for AI who have been pick-pocketed. Additional menu customizations are on the way, as well as a new AI character.

There have been a load of new missions released lately–4 new ones in March alone! And at least two new missions, one by Springheel and one by Moonbo, author of the hit “Requiem”, are due to be released soon.

Good times for The Dark Mod!

A small update, TDM 2.01 fixes several issues surrounding combat and makes some graphical improvements to character models.

Some technical fixes have also been added:  Taaaki has fixed the issue with TDM failing to reload missions if your folder was not named “darkmod”, and grayman has solved some save/reload crashes.

The player was taking double damage from weapons in 2.0; grayman has fixed that, and Springheel has made several other modifications to combat, including making it harder to avoid weapons by running backwards. The end result is that combat has been made slightly more forgiving at lower difficulty and harder at the higher difficulties.

This update improves the appearance of several female character models, as Springheel has worked on improving the meshes, as well as adding a few new heads.

Lastly, a physics bug that made the map “The Swing” unplayable, has now been fixed.

To get the update, simply run your tdm_update.exe file.  Bear in mind that saved games may no longer work after updating, so be sure to finish any missions you’re playing first.

(also, we’re in the process of moving our server, so bear with us if you encounter any connection issues)