Thief fan missions and campaigns

[Darth Slaughter]

Yeah, I liked the brothel but the keeper halls were a little too empty for my tastes. I don't remember the exact missions, but there have been some where the last part goes into some cool unexplored ruins... and the only thing there is is awesome architecture with little to find in there. Often feels like a bit of a waste of nice architecture, because the architecture in that place is definitely something.

Well, at least keeper halls in many fan missions at least follow the same style consistent style. It's not different here, and I think skacky et al could revisit it later without time constraints.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Often feels like a bit of a waste of nice architecture, because the architecture in that place is definitely something.

The biggest waste of wonderful architecture I've ever seen is the COSAS 3 map. The areas are just so well constructed and have such a strong air of mystique that you begin to imagine what the people living here used them for. The third level in particular is nothing short of captivating with its surreal circular spaces that hang over a precarious huge pit. A shame the team disbanded before the level could be made.

 

[JarlFrank]

The biggest waste of wonderful architecture I've ever seen is the COSAS 3 map. The areas are just so well constructed and have such a strong air of mystique that you begin to imagine what the people living here used them for. The third level in particular is nothing short of captivating with its surreal circular spaces that hang over a precarious huge pit. A shame the team disbanded before the level could be made.

The thing still exists? Would be nice if someone picked it up and did something with it. It's always sad to see really good mission design end up as vaporware because the author/team gives up on it. Same with Hammerite Imperium. Damn shame.

Speaking of abandoned stuff, I should get back to my own fan mission. But my architecture is shitty and basic

 

[Dev_Anj]

The thing still exists? Would be nice if someone picked it up and did something with it

It does, you can even use its content and architecture for your own missions if you wish. Download is here: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143539

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm still a noob, so I'm gonna make my own stuff for now and practice the proper use of DromEd. But it's nice to have, thanks.

 

[Yandros]

DrK = The latest version of the map was commissioned by Doc Brown, yes.

 

[Melan]

Yeah, I liked the brothel but the keeper halls were a little too empty for my tastes. I don't remember the exact missions, but there have been some where the last part goes into some cool unexplored ruins... and the only thing there is is awesome architecture with little to find in there. Often feels like a bit of a waste of nice architecture, because the architecture in that place is definitely something.

Could be the second mission in StinkyKitty's Gems of Provenance. It is a bit underpopulated, but the whole thing is so otherworldly and strange that it is easily forgiven.

The biggest waste of wonderful architecture I've ever seen is the COSAS 3 map. The areas are just so well constructed and have such a strong air of mystique that you begin to imagine what the people living here used them for. The third level in particular is nothing short of captivating with its surreal circular spaces that hang over a precarious huge pit. A shame the team disbanded before the level could be made.

It has been revealed that the CoSaS campaign even had a map partly designed by Purah (whose work is well liked around here! ), and now it is just languishing out there, somewhere.

skacky did some work on the Hammerite Imperium maps, but ran into unspecified trouble.

And as far as giant unfinished campaigns are concerned, mission zero of the Crucible of Omens campaign is getting closer to completion again, and apparently they are running into TDM's entity limits, again, after the bugfixes that raised that limit significantly. The mission bears no introduction, as almost everyone has worked it one time, including skacky, Bikerdude, myself, Fidcal, Tels, Baal, nbohr1more, and I'm sure I am leaving a few people out. This was the part we originally cut from Mission 1 due to size limitations, but somehow, it has turned into one of those enormous things again.

Spoiler

(with experimental soft shadows)

 

[JarlFrank]

That moment when you're an absolute beginner at DromEding, and haven't used the editor for two months. You start it up, know what you have to do, but forgot how to do it. Reading the tutorial all over again. Hah!

 

[Dev_Anj]

And as far as giant unfinished campaigns are concerned, mission zero of the Crucible of Omens campaign is getting closer to completion again, and apparently they are running into TDM's entity limits, again, after the bugfixes that raised that limit significantly. The mission bears no introduction, as almost everyone has worked it one time, including skacky, Bikerdude, myself, Fidcal, Tels, Baal, nbohr1more, and I'm sure I am leaving a few people out. This was the part we originally cut from Mission 1 due to size limitations, but somehow, it has turned into one of those enormous things again.

That's interesting to know, but why is the first mission so large? Is it to have a good first impression? How many missions are planned in the campaign?

 

[Melan]

All of the seven missions are large, since the campaign was essentially a collection and expansion of the large mapping projects people had going at the time. Another reason may be that TDM was originally a reaction to Thief 3's failure, and being able to push Thief-sized missions was one of the dev team's core objectives. The Doom 3 engine is fairly good at this; as long as you don't want to make every single plate and wooden mug moveable and interactive, it is possible to build some genuinely large-scale missions. We eventually encountered some memory limits while loading, but modern hardware is making that problem go away.

Size is why the campaign is still unreleased; too much ambition, not enough manpower. We severely underestimated how much work integrating all that stuff and giving it a full polish would mean. Might have been better to just let the contributing authors release their missions, but hindsight is 20/20. Maybe things will get on track again.

Also, I have realised just now that it has been more than seven years since the last Rocksbourg mission! Time flies.

 

[DrKubiac]

Also, I have realised just now that it has been more than seven years since the last Rocksbourg mission! Time flies.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Hey skacky , I made a version of The Chalice of Souls which works with the texture packs. Can I publish it? I think I would need to ask FireMage and Squadafroin for permission too, so see if they agree to it.

 

[skacky]

I need to tweak/modify other things first in addition to that, so I will do it myself later.

 

[Max_b5]

A new T2 fm came out yesterday: 'A Job Well Done' by R Soul. Although it looks like a small city mission at first, the amount of places you can get into and the neat level design make it a really enjoyable experience. There is some forced ghosting in a certain area (at least in expert difficulty) but it can be avoided.

10/10 would replay.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Baron Dupek]

the amount of places you can get into

sold

BTW. I see Melan released his mission too. The Rats Triumphant for TDM. Will see since it's the only Thief game on my HDD.

 

[Riskbreaker]

by R Soul

Finally!

I love his FMs, especially "Stones and Glass Houses". Really underappreciated mini-campaign, that one.

 

[Dev_Anj]

While we're at it, I must mention Yandros' King Abdenzen's Tomb. It's a small, tightly packed mission with excellent presentation and passable puzzles. There are some issues, like

Spoiler

the place you need to use a crowbar, and the pixel hunting for tokens

, but the atmosphere and a somewhat clever puzzle later on make it worth playing.

There's lots of Dark Mod fan missions released too for the Halloween contest, I'll see if I get around to playing those.

To top it off, here's an early shot of my Dromed attempt:

Spoiler

Although it looks like a small city mission at first,

I don't think this map looks small:

Spoiler

Though I have yet to play much of it.

 

[Yandros]

I'm an hour into A Job Well Done and am thoroughly enjoying it, taking my time to scour areas well as I move through. Excellent city mission with a strong vertical element, although the time it took me to get into the Jeweler's was inordinate, but that may be my own incompetence.

And the guy who voiced the fence was awesome. ;-)

 

[Max_b5]

I don't think this map looks small:

Yeah I thought it was going to be a small city mission until I had to check the map.

Btw that sky looks sweeeeeeet.

 

[Melan]

I wanted to play a job well done now that my Halloween mission is out, but it turns out my Thief 2 install is borked, and what's worse, my CDs are at my parents, at a completely different city. Sheer torment.

 

[JarlFrank]

I wanted to play a job well done now that my Halloween mission is out, but it turns out my Thief 2 install is borked, and what's worse, my CDs are at my parents, at a completely different city. Sheer torment.

Download on GoG or torrent, it's not a big download. :D

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm an hour into A Job Well Done and am thoroughly enjoying it, taking my time to scour areas well as I move through. Excellent city mission with a strong vertical element, although the time it took me to get into the Jeweler's was inordinate, but that may be my own incompetence.

And the guy who voiced the fence was awesome. ;-)

I got into the jeweller's pretty quickly. I just quicksaved and attempted to jump to that window... and it worked. Sometimes, the obvious way is the one to go :D

 

[JarlFrank]

I found an easter egg!

 

[Yandros]

Cool egg, I believe that is R Soul's dog, I've seen pictures of it elsewhere. As for the jeweler's, I guess I was unlucky the first 8 or 10 times I tried jumping to the window.