Very odd problem with Steam version and modding...

[Blín D'ñero]

I tried differtent edits, and had the impression that changes did something (changed the game's behaviour) but it was all too vague to be sure. I'd rather say they did not do what one would expect. For instance: raising Player's Kick Damage from 1 to 3 did not seem to make any difference.
On the other hand, adding my own text into the credits immediately worked.
Maybe the various values all relate to each other in a too complicated way. Or (i guess) a certain "master" setting blocks any edit to be effective at all. I mean: player selects "Hardcore mode" and that's it. You should find a way to unblock that...
Just a thought, dunno if it's true.

[DJK83]

Hmm... how do I unblock it? Is there any way to repack a GCF file with my edited files, to force the game to use those new settings? Do you know what I mean?

[Blín D'ñero]

Hey i don't know, i'm only guessing, hoping to set you on a new track for your investigation.

[DJK83]

Oh, okay, haha. Do you know of anywhere that Dark Messiah modding is still discussed? Because I really don't know what else to do here. Like I said, I don't have much experience modding Source games. I don't think I can figure this out myself...

[Blín D'ñero]

Funny thing... now i replaced the edited file with the original, and replayed the game (level 1 and 2 completely, in Hardcore mode as always) from start some 4 ~ 5 times already, i strongly have the impression that my previous edits are working. I mean i can kick an enemy to death now in one kick. That's not normal. And it's doing it while i have restored the orginal settings already.
As if the game is reading from a cached configuration rather than directly from that file.

If this is true you should not expect result immediately after your edit. Reboot the PC (so the RAM and paging file get flushed) and then try.

[DJK83]

Woah, that's weird... I'll try rebooting and then start the game for the first time with the edited file...

[DJK83]

Okay, I tried rebooting after putting in my edited mm_game_settings.txt (several times), and it still doesn't seem to be working. What's weird is, occasionally during my testing, I kill an enemy or knock them down with a power attack, and they don't go flying at all, and for a moment I think my changes have taken effect. But then the ragdolls go back to flying all over the place. Plus, the unawareness multiplier never seems to take effect -- I have it set to 9, yet I still can't kill that black guard with his back turned in one hit.

You said your changes didn't take effect until after you put the original file back in... can you describe exactly what you did?

[Blín D'ñero]

Well, nothing special. First i copied the original. Then started editing, saved, closed, and started the game (eveytime a new game). After i was done experimenting, i renamed the edited version, and named the copy back to the original.

[DJK83]

Did you reboot in between, or did you immediately start the game again, only to have the changes you'd made suddenly take effect?

[Blín D'ñero]

No reboot. Later when i restarted the PC and launched the game, i had the impression the game behaved differently.