Fan Mission: The King of Diamonds by Spooks (2016/05/13)

[Spooks]

The King of Diamonds

Info

Summary: Your accomplice is in over their heads and needs your help. It's the end of winter and the streets are quiet. Taverns, city watch, graveyards and pipes... you might even encounter a diamond!
Build time: about 6 months
Type: City FM/Exploration
Size: Medium
Completion time: 30 mins - 3 hrs, depending on how much you're willing to explore!

Download

http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/Z1fZy41Q/file.html - Zippyshare
https://www.dropbox.com/s/428jkpoi14544pd/kingofdiamonds.pk4?dl=1 - Dropbox

Available via the In-Game Mission Downloader!

Screenshots

Notes

This is my first TDM FM, it came about from me learning how to use the editor and all of its different features. No doubt, you may see the variance in quality between the FM's different sections. Have fun figuring out what I built first and last, hah. For the most part, I focused on exploration and interesting readables. You'll find that you can complete the main objective in about half an hour, if you know what you're doing and that's perfectly fine, but if you're not getting lost and exploring, you're missing out!

Big thanks to Bikerdude for his help throughout the beta-testing phase of this FM - fixing a lot of performance hitches, putting some bells and whistles and introducing new spaces that allowed me to expand greatly on the FM's readables and objectives. Without those, and my beta testers' further suggestions, this FM would be decidedly more boring!

Acknowledgements

Mapping credits: Bikerdude - Re-visportalling half the map, SE Maketplace, Graveyard, Bell Tower, SW street, misc. Spooks - the rest.
Readables: Spooks
Voice work: Goldwell, Bikerdude, Spooks.
Beta testing: Aosys, AluminumHaste, Goldwell, Oldjim, nbohr1more
Lute songs from No Honor Among Thieves. Breath script from Business as Usual.


Technical Info

Version 1

Last Updated: 13/05/2016

• This mission has a very open layout. Even though a lot of care was taken to ensure performance would be good, it's bound to fluctuate at long view-distances. If you have an average computer expect some dips to the 30s. You have my apologies for that.
• If you're having FPS troubles, try setting your LOD Detail menu setting to Low. Numerous objects will have their shadows disabled, which may improve performance somewhat. I also recommend typing tdm_lod_bias_changed in the console when you're in-game, just to make sure all LOD entities have been activated.
• This mission does not support localization out of the gate.
• This mission requires TDM version 2.0.3.

FAQ
Stuck somewhere? I've some hints for you in the FAQ section.

Q: I feel lost! Help?

A: The mission is a neighbourhood of connected streets. Consult your maps and your compass and don't worry too much - there are no points of no return, you'll find your way eventually.

Q: I can't find the informant! How will I know if I found him?

A: Go near every NPC in the tavern. When the informant sees you, he'll chat you up.

Q: I keep hearing about another optional objective but I can't seem to activate it. Help?

A: You must listen to the conversation between the two guards in the marketplace all the way through, otherwise nothing will happen.

Q: I don't know how to advance that optional objective once I get it!

A: You should look for a book somewhere in a locked up place...

Q: OK, I got it, but now I can't find the ingredients. Can you give me a cheat sheet of all their locations?

A: A fresh duck's being bled at Skipper's house. A severed head can be found in the graveyard. Leopold carries a broach on his person.

Q: Where's the third of King's items?

A: Check the warehouse on the ground floor. It's somewhere on a shelf. Do note that you only have to collect 3 of King's items when playing on Expert.

Q: I can't get a perfect Loot score! Did you just put a piece of loot somewhere inaccessible then forget about it?

A: Nope. There's loot and it's all accessible, but it requires you to go out of bounds. You'll have to earn it.

 

Enjoy playing and remember to be kind to Birdie!

Edited May 14, 2016 by Spooks

[demagogue]

Congratulations on the release! Nice that you released it going into the weekend too.

[nbohr1more]

Don't dare miss this release! This is a big beautiful beast!

[grayman]

Congratulations!

[Bikerdude]

Now available via the mission downloader,

[Goldwell]

Congrats on the release!

Edited May 14, 2016 by Goldwell

[Taquito]

I just been playing for around two hours and right off the bat I can say this is one of the best ones in terms or Architecture, Art Direction and Lighting. Specially lighting. Perhaps the best one in terms of lighting. You really know how highlight areas and create points of interest with light. My only complaint is the auto closing doors. To keep the game running smoothly? IKD. I'll add a small review when I'm done. Kudos!

Edited May 14, 2016 by Taquito

[Bikerdude]

• Specially lighting. Perhaps the best one in terms of lighting. You really know how highlight areas and create points of interest with light.

My only complaint is the auto closing doors. To keep the game running smoothly? IKD. I'll add a small review when I'm done. Kudos!

• That was mostly Spooks with some extra lighting from me, and in some instances I just took what he had placed and tweaked it.

Necessary evil I'm afraid due to perf issue of the open map design.

[Spooks]

Yeah, just to be sure when it comes to performance most doors will auto-close after a minute. Jarring, I know, but at least there were a couple of occasions when I was testing and I got scared shitless by the sound of a closing door just to realize it auto-closed. Guess they're good as meta-jumpscares at least!

[lowenz]

WOW, a taffin' Thief 2 atmosphere in this FM

[lowenz]

Don't dare miss this release! This is a big beautiful beast!

Yes, it's a mammoth mission

Huge and complex area!

Edited May 14, 2016 by lowenz

[Taquito]

It seems I'm having a few technical issues with the mission. One of the big fences on the arch is missing as well as the stairs in the bar. Both completely invisible.

[Spooks]

That's definitely an issue with LOD stages. I downloaded the mission from the in-game downloader and tested with all LOD stages, but I couldn't replicate your issue. Do you have some custom settings in your darkmod.cfg perhaps? Put it in a spoiler tag and I'll compare it to mine to see if I can pinpoint the problem.

[Ryan101]

An almost incongruously good map for a first effort. The narrative flowed really well, making great use of voice acting and readables both. Map got wonderfully confusing in the way that Bridgeport FMs tend to, only occasionally verging towards being irritating, which I'd consider a win.

 

I nearly missed the optional objective, especially given that it's delivered on a side of the map that I can see players never visiting. Still, it was a delight to see a

pagan ritual

in action, and all the more so for the protagonist's sarcastic delivery.

 

One minor critique:

 

I got stuck in a dining room for, I kid you not, ten minutes as I patiently waited for the room to -not- have someone loitering around inside of it. You probably know which one I'm referring to. Maybe stagger the AI patrols in there a little more?

 

Other than that, great job.

[Taquito]

An autoexec.cfg to be exact:

seta image_lodbias "-1"
seta tdm_lod_bias "-1"
seta r_brightness "1.238095"
seta r_gamma "1"

[Loa4ever]

Grtaz on release .

[Spooks]

An autoexec.cfg to be exact:

 

 

seta image_lodbias "-1"

seta tdm_lod_bias "-1"

seta r_brightness "1.238095"

seta r_gamma "1"

 

 

 

 

 

Ah yes, I'm guessing when the lod bias is a negative number the LOD entities won't work. Just temporarily change tdm_lod_bias to a positive value, like 3 which is the highest menu setting, and you should be good.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Spooks

[hanmin]

I enjoyed this mission very much. Especially, the various objectives, the mazelike city and the

romance

.

 

I tried to get all loot, however:

 

 

Is there a way to reach the room with the horse without noclipping? I did reach the "out of bounds" area by balancing over the fence (even without being seen), but I cannot jump into the window or the rim under it from the neighbouring roof.

 

 

 

[Oldjim]

@horse

During the last beta test I had no problems jumping from the roof but it did need a running jump

 

[Marbrien]

Playing this on Expert, and enjoying it very much. I have completed all the objectives I know about, but there are still a few places I can't get to. (Sorry, I can't see how I'm supposed to put things in spoiler tags.) For instance:

 

How do I get into the Pipe Station? There's a notice ona board suggesting someone at the Factory has a key, but I can't find that person. [Edit: got up there on my own but still never found any key for the locked doors of the Pipe Station.]

 

Also, are we supposed to be able to open the chest in the nocturnal fiddler's room?

Edited May 17, 2016 by Marbrien

[Spooks]

Thank you for the kind words and welcome to the forum! Yes, a person with a mechanic's helmet/upturned welding mask is patrolling around the Factory near where you start, look for him in the little back street or near the factory front entrance. For spoilers, put the thing you want to say like this: [tag]text[/tag] and replace "tag" with "spoiler". As for the chest in the fiddler's room:

 

 

Another letter at the top floor of the wine warehouse hints that he's usually playing the lute for Skipper's hosts. If you come back to the tavern he may have the key on him...

 

[Oldjim]

Deleted as Spooks answered it while I was typing

Edited May 17, 2016 by Oldjim

[Marbrien]

Thanks. That seems to have resolved all remaining locked doors.

 

 

Stokes was my first knock out, and I hadn't noticed he was carrying a key!

 

Edited May 17, 2016 by Marbrien

[Taquito]

WTF is wrong with people voting this mission "Good" in Appearance?. This Mission is Excellent in Art Direction, Architecture and lighting! And the more you discover, the better it gets. Even with no lights on you can still see the blue/greenish light produced outside through windows.

 

As I mentioned before the lighting serves it's purpose well at highlighting and creating points of interest without any exaggerations or making the map to look like a Christmas tree. All well balanced.

 

The best way to approach the city is to take things slowly. The city left me wishing for more and I wish we could discover more places inside other buildings in future episodes since I think the city has the potential of continuity. Great job!

Edited May 17, 2016 by Taquito

[Oktokolo]

I really used some truckload of noclip but did not find...

 

 

- The stash for wich the pipe is the key

- That mentioned Pagan ritual

- How to get rid of that captain without killing him

- The bone's place where i may meet King

- The room above the kitchen that marissa must not enter