[DC ONLY] DARKNESS WITHIN -a linear campaign mod for the IDH and WH:AS mods

[Lord_Ubrecht]

OMG! Epic beyond all imagination! You mod members are supreme artists and imagineers. You deserve to be worshipped as modding gods.

[Kasrkin84]

The play focuses on a small number of (named) characters moving about more or less covertly rather than full scale battles

..and full scale battles...but not the kind you would play when fighting on-line neither apocalyptic ones

Chiu....shhhhhh....don't frighten the kids here.....

Would I be right in thinking it's something along the lines of the Fall Of Cyrene campaign, with you directly controlling a small number of units while your AI allies make up the bulk of the friendly forces involved?

[Cylarne_04]

Hmm? What? Something epic happened on the last page?

GAH!!! *remains speechless*

[Godlike_Power]

Um...did the Inquisition take over and add a gothic look to Westminster Cathedral?

Because if they did it looks bloody incredible!

I assume that's either the loading/startup screen for the campaign or just a promo.

[Jaguar-Lord]

allright, this the definitive look and feel of our new campaign interface, i really wanted something different from all other DoW mods, even different from the usual Dawn of War series.
the campaign setting and contaxt is dark and desesperate, i don't know if i achived this feeling but i'm satisfied with the result:

enjoy, this is the mission view menu, in which you can pick up difficulties and options or change for another mission :

Spoiler

if you want to take a closer look : here it is :

JL

[zulmetefza]

That's just awesome. You know, if the kind of mod, which only changes vanilla dow's interface into this exists, even it will be downloadable. Thx for your work.

[Asaid Virenus]

post num 505 :this is very beautiful work, i am impressed. the dark feel is very present. but this is only a part of the picture, no? could you post the complete picture? i want to make a gamemaster screen for dark heresy. is it possible ?

[Jaguar-Lord]

ok, Asaid, we can collaborate on the gm screen project. pm-ed you about it.

community call : we are lacking a modeller who can do some animation for us, lot of our project is on hold due to modellers suddenly disapearing with the current wip.
Diddley Squat if you read this we'd like some news, please.just some news, nothing fancy.
mister RT2....that's not ...cool, not cool at all, indeed.

so if ever someone hear me...and know his way into the DoW modelling maze, we have some job to be done.

JL

[Argonaut]

Please.... someone... Is anyone there?

I'm going to consult the Imperial Tarot in an attempt to forsee if anyone can help us out with some animation stuff. There's no cause for an Exterminatus on someone's house, just some news or ..anything.

[jONES1979]

lot of our project is on hold due to modellers suddenly disapearing with the current wip.
JL

I hope you not mean me? Sorry, I can do only a simplest things, not related to "character animation"

[Jaguar-Lord]

no Jones i didn't mean you, each time you offered us help about modelling we were 110% satisfied and you solved any problem we had about models. thanks a lot for this.

[Diddley squat]

I_L rig is done and weighted to the custom specs you require. a few animations in. civs are pretty much done, but only the vanilla ones, not custom ones as planned. i can only apologise if this time consuming work is not done fast enough for you, but it does slowly move forward. like i said, i don't have much time to dedicate to your mod. again, i do not mind if you get some one else to do the work, but please do not make out you are in any way being 'done wrong' to!

anyways, the progress you are making is good, J_L.

[Argonaut]

Whoa, sorry Dids, no offence meant. Anyhow, this mod has been going for bloody years, speed of delivery isn't something we're currently renowned for !

Just some news is all we needed , thanks man

[Godlike_Power]

So hows it all going?

I'm glad that at least some of your troubles have been resolved.

Question: On the subject of models, for the characters in the campaign, do they all have their own custom model or do they use stock models from IDH WH and vanilla DOW?

[Jaguar-Lord]

resolved ? ....nevermind ...
we are reusing IDH/WH/DoW models, with different texture , variety is pretty limited. We got 3 major characters, 5 secondary charaters, and a nearly a dozen third rank charaters. We'd LOVE to have some unique characters but as said before, no modelers=nocharacters. unless someone send us ready-to-put-in-game models, i don't think we'd get one.

JL

[Argonaut]

I'm looking for some advice concerning performance benchmarking and generating a "minimum specs required" guidelines. We are completely blowing apart the basic engine for DC and have serious FX and immense maps with LOTS happening at once on them. Having discussed with JL about the high performance expectations the mod generates, we want to be able to warn people if there is a huge load placed upon their system. I can run the mod with full visuals AND have the ME and several other apps open in the background ALT+TABing between them no problem.

I have an NVidia 9800GTX card + quadcore system and loads of RAM so no problems here. Considering the relatively low requirements of DC nowadays, I want people with a lower end comp to be able to play to the full effect.

So, in short, is there some free software online that could tell me the load generated when the ASID mod is running full blast and what the minimum specs are likely to be. We can of course put in a huge disclaimer with the mod that says "If it melts you GFX card, your fault!" but hey, I'd rather give people so indication of the load expected.

Even if it's a windows experience score, say "anything less that 2.8 cannot successfully run this mod"

[Godlike_Power]

You really are showing no mercy to the DOW engine...

I'm not sure about any software but another suggestion is say, you gather a sample of people with varying comps (low-high end), give them a mission or two from the campaign, take notes and make an esitmate. This is what many game companies do (such as Sony Online Entertainment with Planetside 2). It isn't just to Iron out bugs.

Other than that, how is it going on the Campaign Front?

[ombrephenix]

resolved ? ....nevermind ...
we are reusing IDH/WH/DoW models, with different texture , variety is pretty limited. We got 3 major characters, 5 secondary charaters, and a nearly a dozen third rank charaters. We'd LOVE to have some unique characters but as said before, no modelers=nocharacters. unless someone send us ready-to-put-in-game models, i don't think we'd get one.

@ JL: J'ai mon archiviste Disponible il est suffisamment complet pour se démarquer du modèle original mais il te faudra l'aide d'un éditeur O.E pour fixé les bugs mineurs de l'importation sur ton mod (je parle de la version DC. Pour SS je travail sur le Modèle de P.O.K. Si Melooo est intéressé tu peut le contacté ? Il ma deja laissé un message en se sens mais j'ai eu une grosse absence IRL ce qui ne ma pas permis de lui répondre rapidement. Mon modèle n'est pas une édition 3D mais une très grosse édition O.E: Tout les pouvoirs du psy de la G.I (evil version inclus mais dormant) + psy SM custom (des fx léger qui accentuent la différence avec l'original) + nouveaux pouvoir uniques (avec son) + d'autres pouvoir en travaux pouvant être utilisés pour base départ de création perso (non actif I.G uniquement O.E pour le moment) + nouvelle épée "psyfire" (modèle P.O.K me permettrai de faire mieux grâce au deuxième Force_weapon) . Mon concept de développement était d'avoir une grosse base FX/Event que j'importe rapidement en bloc sur les modèles. (SM,CSM,GK qui semblent avoir la même base de "markers" j'ai pas vérifié pour les autres races). si tu est intéressé contact moi pour que je fasse suivre les fichiers.

édit:


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Notes: -les Luas ne sont que des provisoires pour test I.G il faudra surement les ajustés. Il y a peut de chances pour qu'ils soient compatible avec ton mod.
- certains Fx et pouvoirs prévus comme une progression par level ( c'est une expérience en court mais qui peut être une opportunité pour le SCAR ,les fx sont Full ou dormants si tu veut des détails précise le moi )
- Mes "idles" utilise les sp_idles de la campagne je n'est pas test sous soulstorm mais je pense pas que çà pose un problème. Pour moi ce n'est pas vraiment un problème majeur a fixé si cela doit être le cas.dans le meilleur des cas ça offre des opportunités pour les mises en scènes de votre campagne.

Ps: je suppose que tu parle français et l’écrit mieux que moi. J'en profite pour faire suivre mes idées et les expliqués aux autres notamment a melooo qui ma proposé un coup de pouce.

I'm looking for some advice concerning performance benchmarking and generating a "minimum specs required" guidelines. We are completely blowing apart the basic engine for DC and have serious FX and immense maps with LOTS happening at once on them. Having discussed with JL about the high performance expectations the mod generates, we want to be able to warn people if there is a huge load placed upon their system. I can run the mod with full visuals AND have the ME and several other apps open in the background ALT+TABing between them no problem.

You optimize the compression of your DDS textures? . (I have the memory of textures of POG which ranged up to 10 MB for a single model non-custom) for me a simple model must not exceed the 2.5 mb per card of textures RSH included . If your textures do not justify to be in DXT3 and DXT5 turn the in DXT1. The layer of self-illumination is not always justify a further work on the Specularity can make the results as good.

I had the opportunity of tested several configuration inspired by the specularity create for FOK and I find that the layer of specularity offers a lot of opportunity for the Custom textures.

[Argonaut]

Any different models are very welcome, although we are primarily working on IDH and SOB mod and using the models there, so the different librarian models, although they look fantastic may not be used much in the Darkness Within mod as our main characters are all from the IDH mod. Having said that, if the markers are the same for the GK or any of the other IDH models then the track files would be good to have.

We have no idea how to use the OE however, so we'd likely need the finished models "ready to go"

As for the campaign, it's going well with progress moving quite nicely, and there's some really good animation work coming into play through Diddley_Squat which will really bring the characters to life. The performance concerns I have are with particle FX on screen, as the chaos effects we want involve large swathes of the map getting overrun by chaos - imagine casting corruption ten times, and throw in a smoke launcher or two and some smoke and mist FX and you'll get the idea.

[ombrephenix]

I fixed capacity (only Luas, the Fx are 95% functional) and I can give you a demonstration for the test subject to compatibility with Soulstorm (I still work with the DC version of the Object Editor). This will give you an idea of the potential of my work for your mod. Then see if there Mellooo with opportunities for joint work. Melooo may be providing you with the equipment required for imports. You can also provide me the material (3DMax sources, "SGM and" EBP "models for" OE ") I try to import. But I do not guarantee a short delivery time. I have my own priorities IRL (Objectively 1 to 2 months a model if I should consider to fix SS.)

For this demonstration is planned in Codex Evolution because it allows me to show more easily the entire Wargear (mainly abilities). If you are interested give me an address for. (you can also give a copy Melooo)

Ps: I have other things that could have potential for you. I post the screens?

imagine casting corruption ten times, and throw in a smoke launcher or two and some smoke and mist FX and you'll get the idea.

I do not do the mapping but it seems that the FX are not generated by the SCAR? (SCAR bad for CPU) You know imported entities in the "ME" I believe?

experiment to test: imported entities (Ex: Box model missing) in the "ME" that generate large FX created by you.

[Jaguar-Lord]

we are using either events called via scar coding or entities tied on box entities (like fire) and spawned/despawned when necessary. pure fx coding in scar was good back in the old times (rain and weather fx as in the "Temple of Blood" map by Fire81) by are now outdated, we got Fx editor since then.
What Argonaut said is true, we may have lagging issue when fx kicks in because we make a HEAVY use of them most of our maps are 1024X1024.

@Ombre : the librarian is beautiful, but it wont fit the campaign gameplay for the resonasstated by Argonaut above.. however i'm interested by your experience system especially the part related to the GUI if any. and while we are speaking of GUI i need some advice about something never done in DoW. i'll pm you about that.

[Sataman]

Sorry if I break any rule by asking this...but how is this beautiful mod doing? There has been no update in this thread for a while...

[Argonaut]

*Argo drags himself from the filthy pit of Nurgles ButtCrack.... AKA Real Life*

The delay is all my fault, I have moved house to a brand new development and as they're still building houses all around me the Internet cables for my street haven't been enabled yet. *Gasp* so no internet until Monday. I have been doing sporadic work on the mod, but as moving a bunch of small kids and my wife's volume level reaching a high enough decibel level to puncture an eardrum at sixty paces, I thought it wise not to set up the computer as the first thing I did... I put the kettle on,.. THEN set up the computer.

Seriously, I'm still plugging away, and I think JL is enjoying a holiday somewhere nice. Good for him

[Jaguar-Lord]

i'm enjoying my holidays indeed ! we will be back in business as soon as Argo and the team get back from our various real-life moddings

in the mean time I'm working on maps and environment for the Necromunda mod directed by DiddleySquat.

[Jaguar-Lord]

all right boys and girls (if any out there ) leisure time is over, I'm ready to go on with Darkness Within , Argo ? were the damn are you hiding ?

i wish we will be able to release the first part of Darkness Within for Christmas 2012, this means voices and debugging to be completed, plus some minor errors fixed.

JL

[Cylarne_04]

i wish we will be able to release the first part of Darkness Within for Christmas 2012

:O Now is this a definite, a maybe, or a plan?

On my mind: Codex mod releasing early September (MUST... GET), UA mod GR (MUST... GET FINISHED), Darkness Within campaign releasing around Christmas (DEAR GAWD, DREAM?!).

Hopefully I will have some time around then (Christmas? Yeah I will. ) to play it, but I wish you luck and good luck on getting those voices, they are a pain in the arse to find a dedicated person and his/her tone of voice for.

[Godlike_Power]

Wait what?! A two-part campaign? Or is this a demo you're talking about.

Voices? The campaign is/will be fully voiced?

[Argonaut]

Christmas release for first part of the campaign is a definite achievable goal. I am having problems with getting internet connectivity at my new home... almost all service providers are telling me my house doesn't exist. O.o so I've registered my address with royal mail and my home will officially exist on 16th Sept , 17th Sept internet being installed. Expect a full update of complete mod on or around then jag,. Sent from my android

[Jaguar-Lord]

*relieved beyond word* !!!
that's a good news from you, looks like you are watching this spot, exactly what i hoped.

i do hope we'll will have the voices set over for the first part, Thud be praised for that. And if someone feels like giving a hand on a kitbashing + animation project we will be more than happy.

JL

[Slayer0fKings]

I don't know if this has been addressed or not but I remember the Adeptas Sororitas team being very miserly with their models how did you get them to finally let you use them for your mod?
Unless I am thinking a different team...either way good luck I look forward to playing this mod.

[Jaguar-Lord]

first : we do not use models from the IDH Darkness Within calls for AS mod from launch, if you do not have the AS mod installed the Darkness Within mod won't even launch. this work the same for the IDH mod.

second , when Incarnate and myself started this project the AS mod was far from release, we were so amazed by the quality of the two mod that we decided to make a campaign that would focus on the IDH and the AS mod, a kind of tribute if you prefer. this was 6 years ago. we talked with Compiler and with KMRZ about the project and ... here we are today.

JL

[Slayer0fKings]

Crap..anywhere left where I can dl the AS mod then?

Also will you have more finished assets to the AS sides? Again if memory serves they were very against anyone finishing their project much to the dismay of many.
So I am just curious how will it be implemented when it was never completed.
Better yet since I found my ancient copy of the AS release in beta...how do you get it running smoothly in SS?

[Jaguar-Lord]

this mod is for DarkCrusade, it has been said many times before; not SS.

[Slayer0fKings]

From the first post..."I am proud to announce the mod, Dawn of War: Darkness Within, a linear, story driven campaign mod for DC and Soulstorm. This is a conglomeration campaign, using and relying on both compiler’s Inquisition Daemonhunt and KRMZ’s Witch Hunters mods." So now your mod isn't for SS? You stated you need AS for your mod to run. I asked how to get AS to run in SS now you're saying it only works in DC again plus it's not a well kept secret of the hidden 1.00 SS version of AS that's all over youtube but only a certain privileged few own. I am not trying to antagonize you or anything but I am trying to get a clear concise answer if this mod is for SS, 1 and if 2 you need AS to run..if that is the case then 3 how do you get the DC version of AS to run on SS? Those are my question I mean not to antagonize but I am very confused at the moment thank you.

[SHD87]

JL you should ask mod for renaming this thread: [SS] DOW Darkness Within mod while it´s not mod for SoulStorm just generally confuses people imo.

[Jaguar-Lord]

ok :

first in 2009
in 20100
again in 2010
2011
2011: bottom right corner

it is not only a question of the AS or IDH mod being compatible for SS or not, this is only a minor issue in the lung run.
the main reason it is for SS are :
+.screen file editing for our custom GUI
+external C++ code and lua/C++ compatibility and custom dlls (a bunch of them !! ) not compatible with SS
+linear campign manager only compatible for DC
+mapping for SS leads to some real nasty bug that we don't want to run in.
+SS is crap....

please read the thread , all these answer are available in it, it will take you more than 5min i agree, but hey, we are talking a bout an almost 7 years old project

i won't adress this point anymore.

@any moderator : could youplease change the thread header so it Reads " [DC only] DARKNESS WITHIN : a dark crusade linear campaign mod for the Inquisition DaemonHunt and Adepta Sororitas mods. ]]

thanks a lot.


JL

[Gorb]

Done!

[Purple]

I have a question. I don't know what the board policy on this forum is but would it be possible for you to include links to all the mods required for this to work in the opening post? Because from what I understand this will require two other mods to run and it would be helpful.

Also, god dam it this is awesome.

[Godlike_Power]

So this Inquisitor Uther? Does he have an accolyte or interrogator at his side. What's an Inquisitor without a sidekick? Is he abit like Eisernhorn or Ravenor, with an enitire retinue to achieve vital tasks? Or does he go alone?

[Gorb]

Plenty of Inquisitors work alone; heck, some with established retinues repeatedly fall off of the grid or do things without their erstwhile allies.

[Jaguar-Lord]

Inquisitor Lord Uther has a full retinue to enforce the Emperor Word, in fact Eisenhorn and Ravenor were both inspiring us at the time we built Uther character, on second thought we should have chosen Ravenor, it would have been more simple regarding modelling and 3d animation

so Uther is the main character for this campaign but his personal team of trusted followers are very important, and we are trying to focus each scenario part on one of us, they are powerfully individuals working as a team with unique abilities and skill set. And the characters are able to gain abilities and gears or special skill or equipment piece during the missions. or to loose them....or to get badly wounded...or die...or worse....
you can have a glimpse of uther personal retinue lead by his most loyal follower : Interrogator Arteius at post #151 you got a description and a screenshot.

JL

[Godlike_Power]

@Gorb: I know some go solo. Look at Eisernhorn. He was solo for a time before he accepted Cherubael into his team. Adrastia in DOW 2, Toth. But as I say, there's something about an Inq who's accompanied by an array of bizarre people. Anyway you're surely a little more likely to fall off the grid if you're alone and no one is watching you getting up to some dodgy dark stuff.

JL: So in a few missions, some individuals will be more useful to the objective than others?

[Jaguar-Lord]

JL: So in a few missions, some individuals will be more useful to the objective than others?

yes , precisely. in some mission what was a secondary character is going to be a very important piece of the chessboard. and the relationship between the inquisitor retinues members will need the player attention. team spirit is essential if you want to succeed.

JL

[Argonaut]

*Still alive here*

*Still no internet access at home *

So, progress isn't stopped, and JL is probably beside himself with frustration at not being able to get hold of the finished missions so far, I'm ABSOLUTELY LIVID with my ISP for the delays, but hey - it means I have time to polish things. I have been given a date for the final install of the 'net, but I'm not holding my breath.

The Characters are key to the campaign and the mission - BUT they can be killed. One of the things that infuriated me about the DOW campaign was the whole "drop-pod in a new commander when he gets killed". No.

This is probably one of the hardest things for me to balance - How do you make characters important, intrinsic and necessary for the mission and at the same time make the missions possible to complete without certain characters if they've been killed. It's making for some very interesting and clever gameplay - even if I do say so myself. Of course, there are some missions where "Interrogator Must Survive" is a key objective and the Interrogator dieing will end the mission but bearing in mind these guys are High Class Primary Agents of the Inquisition, they can generally hold their own against most foot soldiers.

A basic example of the characters uses is something as simple as opening a door. The Techpriest may be able to Hack the control terminal, the Interrogator may have high enough security clearance to open the door, while a demolitions expert will simply blow the bloody doors off. Only if all three people are killed will it not be possible to open the door. Of course, blowing the doors off will alert security and cause a shitstorm of trouble.

On a different note, some of the cutscenes have flashing scenes and are also very gory, plus this is an adult theme with some bits will actually make you jump. Is it necessary to put in a disclaimer that the game contains mature themes>? Like the BBFC rate films as 12/15/18 years to view?

Hang in the Jag! I'm trying to get something to you somehow!

[Jaguar-Lord]

the parental advisory rating for DoW-II is 16+ or "Mature"(intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language.) it think we could add such an disclaimer but it is not necessary (off course a higher rating is also an incentive to see what is forbidden to you as a teen.... )

[Jaguar-Lord]

100k view milestone is behind us !! this deserve a reward indeed !
thanks to all who follow our progress with interest.

JL

[Argonaut]

Jag. Don't post anything here yet. I'm ok - hold fire until I can get a sensible PM to you.

[Jaguar-Lord]

good news, after several month of inactivity and growing despair it looks like we are not dead !! no we are alive and Darkness Within is spreading its wing again.
time will come soon we are going to need those voice tracks....

JL

[Sataman]

Thank the Emperor!

[Argonaut]

Aha! Just thought I'd pop by and tell anyone interested we're still kicking. JL has just sent me over some more fantastic artwork and awesome FX - in fact he's probably one of the foremost FX artists for DOW now - he's really coming up with some good stuff. I'll leave it up to him if he wants to post a little teaser of the FX he's made - they do reveal a bit of the story though....

Still looking for a modeller to help us with some things, although this section is slowly getting reduced to fewer and fewer people. At least the ones left are true harcore modders