Fan Mission: Home Again (by grayman) (2014/2/12)

[raymeld]

Really enjoyed your first WS mission , thanks for this one and the obviously hard work put into it.

[Bikerdude]

Created FM page and uploaded to the official mirrors.

[Deadlove]

Congrats Grayman!!

 

As usual, Grayman delivers the goods! This is one of the best missions TDM has to offer!

 

It dawned on me recently that the character's name can be heard as "Will Steal" (action/future tense + verb), which is quite charming given the nature of the game he's in.

 

Will have to report back with detailed feedback, but this is again one of the best missions for the mod!

[grayman]

Created FM page and uploaded to the official mirrors.

 

Thanks! Checked it and it works. Will update OP now.

[grayman]

It dawned on me recently that the character's name can be heard as "Will Steal" (action/future tense + verb), which is quite charming given the nature of the game he's in.

 

Heh. Not intentional. Perhaps evidence of a strong subconscious at work, though.

[chakkman]

Are the poll options maybe a bit too general? I actually like the division into gameplay, graphical and storytelling departments. Only if it's wanted of course.

[grayman]

Are the poll options maybe a bit too general?

 

Perhaps.

[Thiefette]

Just went to download this through the in game downloader and after queuing and hitting download my screen froze. My question is: Could this be because I had the Gatehouse as my main menu screen (see pic) and not the regular Dark Mod main menu screen? Don't know if it would make a difference to uninstall Gatehouse. Advise please. Thanks.

[Grubber]

Masterpiece for sure!

 

I was happy to go back again 'the long route' once i finished the objective. Most of the time i don't care about getting all the loot. But this was great fun exploring so i only missed 304 loot. The only disappointment was that i couldn't go to Cleighmoor yet

[grayman]

Just went to download this through the in game downloader and after queuing and hitting download my screen froze. My question is: Could this be because I had the Gatehouse as my main menu screen (see pic) and not the regular Dark Mod main menu screen? Don't know if it would make a difference to uninstall Gatehouse. Advise please. Thanks.

 

The menu image shouldn't matter.

 

Can you uninstall Gatehouse and try again?

 

I downloaded WS2 okay when Biker posted that he'd set it up, so it worked from here.

[grayman]

Masterpiece for sure!

 

I was happy to go back again 'the long route' once i finished the objective. Most of the time i don't care about getting all the loot. But this was great fun exploring so i only missed 304 loot. The only disappointment was that i couldn't go to Cleighmoor yet

 

Feb 26

[Oldjim]

I don't think I was supposed to get here

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2014 by Oldjim

[Bikerdude]

My question is: Could this be because I had the Gatehouse as my main menu screen (see pic) and not the regular Dark Mod main menu screen?

You need to uninstall Gatehouse and I would also suggest deleted the gatehouse folder just to be sure.

I downloaded WS2 okay when Biker posted that he'd set it up, so it worked from here.

Confirmed.

[Thiefette]

The menu image shouldn't matter.

 

Can you uninstall Gatehouse and try again?

 

I downloaded WS2 okay when Biker posted that he'd set it up, so it worked from here.

Thanks Grayman, gave it another try (since it only happened the once) without uninstalling Gatehouse and it worked. So congrats on the new mission, its installed now so will write more when I finish.

[grayman]

Thanks Grayman, gave it another try (since it only happened the once) without uninstalling Gatehouse and it worked.

 

Ok, good.

[Obsttorte]

Just played this one. Congratulations, it was worth the time invested. Detailed feedback in the spoiler.

 

 

 

This was a very good mission, that's what I want to say first. Here are my pros and cons

 

PROS

• The architecture and overall look was pretty good. Besides one little glitch at the starting point I did not notice anything wrong, which is surprising for such a large mission, congrats to your betatesters
  
• The overall gameplay in the city section, especially all the "hidden" loot
  
• the readables, especially the one in the inventors lab made me laugh (the one warning not to use fire)
  
• performance, considering the level of detail it ran like a charme, no lags anywhere
  
• the story was interesting
  

CONS

• the map could have been a bit more detailed
  
• rooftop missions are always a bit easy, due to the limited movement possibilities of the ai, however, I would have expected that the guard station would push my skills to the limit, but it was actually no challenge at all
  
• the guard stations look was a bit monotonuos, but only a bit
  
• some readables could have been a bit shorter imho, but this is really a matter of taste and therefore not a real con
  
• the amount of equipment was way too high
  

In regardence to the comments about the difficulty, I have played under the highest level. Taking this mission as the second one of a campaign, it may be considered fine, but I really hope that you use the highest difficulty level in future parts to push the limits a bit. There are some veteran players around here who like to be challenged. It's a shame if a mission, that is awesome in almost any aspect, leaves a sour taste due to not beeing a challenge.

 

However, very well done anyways. Can't wait to play Cleighmoor.

 

 

[AluminumHaste]

What the hell happened to the builder area? There were 3 torch carrying builders who patrolled up there. Now there's 1 guy in weird armour, not carrying a torch with his back to the player. And one builder just standing there on the other side.

Why was this area turned into a short bus special?

[grayman]

Why was this area turned into a short bus special?

 

I changed it.

[Bikerdude]

What the hell happened to the builder area? There were 3 torch carrying builders

I changed it.

This was likely as a result of my perf culling in the area which removed some of Gman's original artistic intent. Im there for guessing that to keep the perf reasonable one of the Ai and the moving torch had to go.

[Oldjim]

Just completed - hardest setting 6,250 loot so not too bad for a first run through

I was looking forward to

the sewers after reading Mackies note

so I will need to wait for the next episode

A really interesting and generally very well made FM but I will play it through again before voting.

The only real problem I had was that I kept getting disorientated in the city. The map and compass were an absolute necessity for me

Edited February 13, 2014 by Oldjim

[grayman]

After reading a number of posts elsewhere about patrolling torches sucking the life out of framerate, and already engaged in a battle with draw counts, I decided to ditch the torches. Other than that, the design changes to the Builders' compound were all made to improve performance.

 

It's always a battle when you're at the upper limits of draw counts. Do you screw the folks with older systems (I was once there myself, so I know how frustrating it is to deal with low framerates), or do you screw the bling by throwing away detail? The mission was pushing 4000+ draw counts in a few places, and 3000+ in many more. Through numerous redesigns, moving buildings and whole neighborhoods, and with Biker's final performance pass, we got it down to 3000 in only a couple places, and mostly under 2000. The design goal of staying under 1500 was way out of reach for many places in this mission. Obs suggested it needs more detail, but y'all will never know how much detail I had to throw away.

[Obsttorte]

Obs suggested it needs more detail, but y'all will never know how much detail I had to throw away.

I did not. I wrote that I was surprised about the good performance although it is very detailed.

[skacky]

I do agree with Obsttorte concerning difficulty.

 

 

I think the whole thing was too easy on Expert, especially when you are given like 4 Gas Arrows at one point (I didn't use the one I had from the start). I also agree that the Watch Station was a bit too easy overall.

Another point is the use of guards in unreachable areas. Not too keen on that. I wanted to stay hidden as much as possible but got spotted by a bowman where the woman killed herself; the guy patrols on a rampart and I kept hearing him, but couldn't see him. I only saw him by chance much later on.

 

Edited February 13, 2014 by skacky

[Bikerdude]

but y'all will never know how much detail I had to throw away.

So you lot stop yer yappin and get playin.

[Oldjim]

Regarding difficulty

Other than the difficulty in navigation as mentioned in my earlier post I didn't have any particular difficulty at any stage (except for missing jumps and falling to the ground )

 

The archer on the unreachable catwalk was interesting because using a rope arrow and a couple of water arrows I got almost up to him and found that he was walking on a passage which wasn't there. Presumably the simplifying referred to earlier

However with respect to difficulty

I enjoyed the FM on the basis of finding my way across the city and not needing to think too much about guards etc.and from that perspective I don't think making that part more difficult is necessary or desirable. Certainly a few more guards in the guard station and having them relight more of the lights via the switches would have significantly increased the difficulty. As an aside I did notice that leaving doors open could completely change the guards patrol route - that caught me out a couple of times

 

Finally before playing it through again I am going to try the alternative ending and see how difficult it is to retrace my steps

 

Retracing my steps was surprisingly easy

Edited February 13, 2014 by Oldjim