We are proud to announce the release of The Dark Mod 2.09!

TDM 2.09 marks a new phase of performance improvements aimed lowering CPU overhead in the graphics engine.

A whole new graphic backend has been created by Cabalistic which uses modern OpenGL features to eliminate the need for the CPU to constantly issue commands to allow the Graphic Processor to render scenes.

This gives TDM some of the performance advantages of rendering using a low level API like Vulkan.

Stgatilov has been very busy this release cycle. He has put heroic efforts into improving the way that TDM upgrades and hosting operate in addition to the vast improvements to TDM itself. (He also refactored the entire particle engine and created a link system to connect TDM to Dark Radiant.)

A full changelog can be viewed here, but some highlights include:

Better performance:

A brand new Backend that uses UBO, Persistent Mapping, Bindless textures, and Multi-Draw has been added.

“Frontend Acceleration” (Multi-Core job based rendering based on Doom 3 BFG) now works as expected.

Normal Map compression now uses RGTC resulting in lower storage, VRAM requirements, and less artifacts ( load times should improve in future TDM versions when pre-compressed RGTC textures are added )

Background texture loading has improved. This should shorten load times and reload.

Better visuals:

A new Sharpening Filter has been added. It can make 70% Render Scale look almost like native resolution (more performance).

( It also cleans up some blurry textures for all Render Scales. )

Bumpmap lighting is smoother, so that lighting does not instantly flip to off when getting close to edges of occluded objects.

Particle physics have been substantially improved for both accuracy and performance.

Borderless Fullscreen works properly on Windows.

Water and other GUI effects that did not respond to Gamma now brighten properly.

AMD and Intel fixes have been added for SSAO rendering

Better gameplay:

Experimental Gamepad support has been added.

Creep works in alway-run mode

Better mapping:

A new linking system allows The Dark Mod to act as a real-time preview of Dark Radiant

The redesigned particles now have improved setup and configuration.

Automated fixes have been created for “rotation hacked” models

Prefabs have been seen numerous fixes and reorganization to make them easier to use

Better Sound:

Conversation and other sounds are no longer stopped by saving or going to main menu.

EFX reverb has been added to “Mission 1: A New Job”

Extinguished gas lamps are no longer noisy when doused

New Assets:

Dragofer, Epifire, Bikerdude, LDAsh, Kingsal, Dram have all added substantial asset updates ranging from updated Werebeast animations, Steam Engines, fireflies

More stable:

A huge number of fragile code areas have been overhauled to either fix crashes or prevent likely crashes due to risk of divide by zero, uninitialized values, or dangling pointers (leftover settings) on entities and functions.

We recommend that you upgrade using the new “tdm_installer” available here. Please be aware that old saved games will not be compatible with 2.09, so finish any missions you might be in the middle of first!

We are proud to announce the release of The Dark Mod 2.08! 

Long in development, many fixes related to Multi-Core, Uncapped FPS, and the 64-bit migration are now available. TDM 2.08 goes further with the process to modernize coding standards in TDM, replacing legacy OpenGL functions and ARB Assembly shaders with modern techniques. 

Mappers will be pleased to see many new quality assets as well as enhancements to rain, fog, skylight, AIs and visportal diagnostics.

For the eye-candy crowd, new Bloom, 64-bit color mode, and SSAO options have been added!

For Linux users, the project can now be compiled via CMake.

A full changelog can be viewed here, but some highlights include:

Better Visuals: Cabalistic has finally added the much requested SSAO feature to TDM. Using a method called Scalable Ambient Obscurance, now areas with flat ambient lighting come alive with new detail! He’s also implemented a new Bloom method, and brightness and gamma will no longer interfere with desktop brightness.

Better AI: Grayman has refined the AI yet again, for instance ensuring that sitting and lying aren’t thwarted by obstacles.

Better Gameplay: The player’s ability to move and interact with the environment has been improved thanks to fixes to mantling as well as climbing ropes and ladders. Ragdolls are easier to handle and shouldering them is accompanied by an animation.

Better Mapping: The mapper’s toolkit has seen several enhancements. A new X-ray surface and new spectrum spawnargs modify how objects are perceived. Rain is much less taxing and uses static collision detection to limit its fall. New visportal diagnostics make it easier than ever to track down notorious internal leaks.

Better Performance: The dev team has as always been hard at work making improvements to performance and laying the groundwork for even more improvements in the future. Multi-Core’s stability has been enhanced and is no longer listed as an “Experimental” setting.

New Assets: Many quality textures and models were added by both Team members and community contributors. Especially of note is the inclusion of Kingsal’s manbeasts and Springheel’s new zombies, and expect to catch glimpses of the werebeast. If you are a mission author, please take a look here.

New Sounds: The player’s movement is now accompanied by new sounds when mantling, swimming and sliding down ropes and ladders.

To update, simply run the tdm_update.exe file in your darkmod folder. Please be aware that old saved games will not be compatible with 2.08, so finish any missions you might be in the middle of first!

This hotfix release is intended mainly to fix serious problems with OpenGL that some players have.
The set of differences with the original 2.07 is minimal.
The hotfix release is expected to fully replace the original 2.07, and be called simply “TDM 2.07” in the future.

Unlike the usual case, this release does not break savegame compatibility.
You can load savegames produced by the original TDM 2.07 in the 2.07-hotfix version perfectly fine: no need to do anything.

The changes in 2.07-hotfix:

1) Fixed GLSL shaders not working on the latest AMD graphics drivers.
With original 2.07, players with AMD gpus had to either set r_useGLSL 0 or to download custom shader files.
Everyone who had this problem: please update to 2.07-hotfix, set r_useGLSL 1 back and remove glprogs directory if you have it.

2) Fixed GLSL shaders not working on some Linux drivers.
The same workaround was used to avoid the problem, which should be reverted after update.
It is also possible that shadow maps will start working for some players (due to this fix).

3) Fixed r_showportals 1 to work properly with Multi Core Enhancement and with subviews.
With original 2.07, it had problems like postprocessing being disabled or wrong rendering of portals.

4) Fixed missing tdm_coals_hot_ns material on some maps.

TDM 2.07 is primarily a stability release, aimed at improving several experimental features that were added in 2.06. Soft shadows now work better, for example, with fewer graphical glitches and a new Shadow Map mode that allows for contact hardening (and generally better performance).

In addition to greater stability, there are a few new gameplay features, including a new frob helper that can be turned on in the Gameplay menu.

Mantling low and medium-sized obstacles is now faster and smoother, and further mantling improvements are already in the works for the next update.

There are a few new assets included in the update, including some new architectural module pieces, new chain models, and several trap prefabs (along with videos on how to set them up).

For a longer list of changes and additions, see the 2.07 wiki page, or the full changelog.

To update to this version, simply run tdm_update.exe in your darkmod folder.

After a lengthy public beta phase, we are proud to announce the release of The Dark Mod 2.06!

The Dark Mod has undergone a lot of reorganization under the hood. A substantial amount of work was done to improve rendering performance and overall framework tech. Legacy OpenGL methods have been replaced with their equivalents in modern OpenGL. This is also the first TDM release to offer a native 64-bit build.

A full changelog can be viewed here, but some highlights include:

Better Visuals: Duzenko and Stgatilov have implemented a Soft Shadows option that finally removes the sharp edges of TDM shadows. This has a huge impact on the visuals of TDM missions. This option is currently labelled “Experimental” in the menu as we have had reports of issues on certain hardware. See here if you are experiencing flickering or other problems.

Better Sound: EFX audio now allows users without Creative hardware to enable EAX in the menu—a feature that processes reverb data and changes sounds based on the surrounding environment. Currently, only a few maps, like Volta 2: Cauldron of the Gods, by Kingsal, are set up to use EAX effects, but since all users can now benefit from it, mappers are encouraged to use this feature going forward. Interested mappers should see here.

Better Menus: The TDM menus have also been given a visual update, boosting the resolution and adjusting the graphics for widescreen monitors. Durandall has added scrollbar functionality to the mission menus, and Obsttorte has implemented a new menu option that allows users to customize the size and opacity of HUD elements, complete with a visual preview.

New Assets: A new set of Springheel’s architectural modules is included in this release–a set of 50 models for creating church interiors. A number of new models have been added to other sets. Also included is a huge number of new prefabs, allowing mappers to quickly and easily create detailed map sections, as demonstrated in Springheel’s Speedbuild series.

Better Mission Intros: This is the first TDM release to offer video codec support other than ROQ. TDM 2.06 allows for FFMPEG video support, which means that mappers will now have an easier time adding video briefings to their missions.

Better Gameplay: An error that kept food from restoring health has been fixed, and all food will now restore a certain amount of health when eaten. Guards can now sleep and wake up while seated.

Better Performance: Finally, experimental multi-core support is included for the first time, via patches from Cabalistic’s VR branch. While this can cause performance enhancements, it is currently in “Experimental” form as some users may experience random crashes with this option enabled. Uncapped FPS is also now an option for users after this update.

To update, simply run the tdm_update.exe file in your darkmod folder. Please be aware that old saved games will not be compatible with 2.06, so finish any missions you might be in the middle of first!