Betrayal by Fieldmedic (2010/08/17) Summer FM Vertical Contest Entry

[DeTeEff]

Yeah, I think I'm one of the few that have updated my mission in this relatively quick fashion, and that's because the beforementioned reasons. Since the updates for mission not connected to contests won't be updated in the same rapid fashion, I'll think it's best to stick to the way it is now...

 

But you shouldn't let my not-caring stop you from developing the concept.

 

 

[Thiefette]

Just have one question: Am redoing the mission and am wondering

 

 

is there a blackjack I should be finding? If so, where?

 

 

Okay, two.

[DeTeEff]

Just have one question: Am redoing the mission and am wondering

 

 

is there a blackjack I should be finding? If so, where?

 

 

Okay, two.

 

 

 

No, as I couldn't find a logical reason for a black jack in the builders possession, I chose to not include one at all.

 

[Thiefette]

 

No, as I couldn't find a logical reason for a black jack in the builders possession, I chose to not include one at all.

 

 

Thanks will stop looking - couldn't remember from the first time I did the mission.

[LEGION]

But before you were captured, you surely had one along with lockpicks, hadn´t 'you'? Ah I get it, due to the earthquake the blackjack fell into a rift, right?

 

Or theren´t that 'your' lockpicks you found in that room?

[DeTeEff]

Don't mock the story

 

 

I guess the things in the mint are not really lockpicks. Just merely substitutes. Some old rods that fits the same purpose

 

[LEGION]

Alright, now I understand the objective better, that talk about substitutes...

[Maethius]

The mission started out a bit frustrating but a nice change of pace from 99% of FMs (a little frustration is okay if you come out the other side with a good enough reward!) To prevent spoilage, here's where I am now... and where I'm stuck:

 

 

First attempt at Betrayal-

Really didn't like the mine atmosphere; the bright haze made it difficult to see shadowy places without the light gem, and darkness would have really added to the fear factor with the haunts. Finding a chest key that didn't open anything was irritating... I couldn't open any chests, so all the danger with no sense of accomplishment but making it to the surface was disheartening. I made it into the tower and was a little ticked that I had to kill it using my broadheads and 3 of 4 rope arrows. Not bad, though, since there were some replacements on the table. That was well thought out in my book. I had trouble getting up into the tower itself, but I remembered seeing the shack on the shore, so I headed back to it. After some really incredible rope gymnastics, I was instantly killed by (I assume) slipping off the map to where I wasn't supposed to be. Drat! I really wanted to see inside that shack! Shortly after this point, though, I realized that I either missed a key or something, and started over...

 

Second attempt-

Found the lockpicks on accident by trying to frob the gold nugget in the mint. After finding them, I still feel they were not poorly placed, necessarily. One problem is, and I wonder how many players do this, the room was lit, so the first thing I do is rush in and shut the light off! Perhaps just placing the picks on a piece of lightly colored parchment would make the stand out. Heck, make it a note: "Another key broke, Thomas! I had to use your picks again. If that lock isn't fixed soon I'll need my own set!"

 

Now that I had picks, I got in the chests (wondering what the chest key was for) and decided it was worth a little further exploration. I got all the way back to my cell and tried to pick the lock on the dead inmate's cell. Now, THERE would have been a good place to hide the blackjack!Oh, well. Back to the tower, and this time up into the lower levels. Dodging Zombies, I rather liked the details and lighting. Much better! Found another unopenable chest, which I read that the key is in that room somewhere, so I'll head back to it. IMHO, a chest or a door without it's key should be pickable with some amount of effort unless it is heavily instrumental to the plot... I am a master thief, yes?

 

So, here I am... hanging outside the tower. I've climbed up two stories... and....

 

 

My FPS just hit 0.02. From here, the FM has become unplayable. I've set TDM to minimum resolution, no antialiasing, everything minimized. I can play Quake 4 with full effects at max widescreen, but at this point I can't find a solution.

 

Suggestions?

Edited September 11, 2010 by Maethius

[DeTeEff]

The mission started out a bit frustrating but a nice change of pace from 99% of FMs (a little frustration is okay if you come out the other side with a good enough reward!) To prevent spoilage, here's where I am now... and where I'm stuck:

 

 

First attempt at Betrayal-

Really didn't like the mine atmosphere; the bright haze made it difficult to see shadowy places without the light gem, and darkness would have really added to the fear factor with the haunts. Finding a chest key that didn't open anything was irritating... I couldn't open any chests, so all the danger with no sense of accomplishment but making it to the surface was disheartening. I made it into the tower and was a little ticked that I had to kill it using my broadheads and 3 of 4 rope arrows. Not bad, though, since there were some replacements on the table. That was well thought out in my book. I had trouble getting up into the tower itself, but I remembered seeing the shack on the shore, so I headed back to it. After some really incredible rope gymnastics, I was instantly killed by (I assume) slipping off the map to where I wasn't supposed to be. Drat! I really wanted to see inside that shack! Shortly after this point, though, I realized that I either missed a key or something, and started over...

 

Second attempt-

Found the lockpicks on accident by trying to frob the gold nugget in the mint. After finding them, I still feel they were not poorly placed, necessarily. One problem is, and I wonder how many players do this, the room was lit, so the first thing I do is rush in and shut the light off! Perhaps just placing the picks on a piece of lightly colored parchment would make the stand out. Heck, make it a note: "Another key broke, Thomas! I had to use your picks again. If that lock isn't fixed soon I'll need my own set!"

 

Now that I had picks, I got in the chests (wondering what the chest key was for) and decided it was worth a little further exploration. I got all the way back to my cell and tried to pick the lock on the dead inmate's cell. Now, THERE would have been a good place to hide the blackjack!Oh, well. Back to the tower, and this time up into the lower levels. Dodging Zombies, I rather liked the details and lighting. Much better! Found another unopenable chest, which I read that the key is in that room somewhere, so I'll head back to it. IMHO, a chest or a door without it's key should be pickable with some amount of effort unless it is heavily instrumental to the plot... I am a master thief, yes?

 

So, here I am... hanging outside the tower. I've climbed up two stories... and....

 

 

My FPS just hit 0.02. From here, the FM has become unplayable. I've set TDM to minimum resolution, no antialiasing, everything minimized. I can play Quake 4 with full effects at max widescreen, but at this point I can't find a solution.

 

Suggestions?

 

Good thing you are persistant!

 

 

Hmm, I believe the bug with the chest key should be resolved...All chests in the mines are pickable.

 

I guess the locked chest you are talking about is the one in the room with blood and nonsense notes on the floor? That chest isn't important to the story and just contains some loot. The key is on the floor by the bed...(In my future maps I will be much more restrictive with locked, unpickable locks by the way...)

 

Much of the solution is on floor 2, the one with a archery range and a priest walking about...concentrate on that floor for starters

 

[LEGION]

I have a feeling that you don´t have the latest version? (from 1st September)

Your ReadMe should say: "ver 1.1"

If not, then:

 

http://www.mediafire...nvdtk2dlr22sj9t

 

If you have this version, when where did you find the chest key in the mines? Never found it, though it´s not needed anyway, I´m just curious. (want all loot and all items )

[DeTeEff]

I'm not 100% sure but I believe the chest key may still be present (I'm at work right now so I cannot test the map)...If so, it should be attached to the haunt in the room with the large tilted stoneslab in the ceiling. It goes to the chest in that same room.

 

If it's the most recent mission, there should NOT be a vast area outside the tower. Just a skyportal starting at the rocks at ground level, and raising up, creating a thin canal along the walls up the tower...sounds like poetry...

[LEGION]

Yeah, that´s how artists talk like all the day, I guess.

I´m pretty sure that in the final version the key is not present, so, Maethius, you should try the link I posted, most likely the performance will increase too. *I hope*

[DeTeEff]

Nah, probably not...I think we concluded earlier in the thread that the FPS-crippling that's going on in this FM is because of the amount of AI. nbohr1more has tried some nomonster-command and with all AI gone, it runs smoothly. With all the AI it is totally crippled on his low-end-machinery...

 

I read something about reduce AI-thinking when the player is blah distance away, to improve performance. Haven't tried anything in the mission though...

 

 

Or everyone buys a newer computer! I haven't experienced any lower FPS than about 15-20 in any FM and my computer is 3 years old! But then again, I bought me a Geforce in the 8800-series, which I believe was quite top-of-the-line at that time...

 

[LEGION]

Aren´t you supposed to work, eh? Hey, it´s Saturday anyway!

 

So, would killing AI in the 'normal' way, with blackjack/sword I mean, solve that issue too? Or do the complete models have to be disappeared? For that you could arrange an acid bath or sth like that in the mission, hehe...

 

BTW, can you believe that the Germans renamed the Blackjack into Knüppel? Even for Germans that sounds damn silly... *shaking-head-smiley-not-present*

[DeTeEff]

Nah, the patients are behaving so not much to do now

 

I haven't tried that command so I don't know. I guess the thing that is performance hitting is the AI-thinking and that should be disabled when you kill/KO them...

 

Isn't it common in Germany, that you change the voices in movies and such? In Sweden there is allways text at the bottom of the screen...No swedish translations in games though

[LEGION]

Yeah, and most of the time in a very bad way. In Thief Gold we had two Garrett-voices: One from the first, one for the Gold-missions. That voice was then used for Thief2 too. And Thief3 I guess, but I don´t remember. But the very first voice was much better, but the second voice was one from TV, the German voice for Wesley Snipes f.e., so that was the reason fur using this I guess. Also German voice-actors tend to make everything silly and comical. First Thief benefit from it, but after I played the original I won´t touch the german version anymore.

That is one of the reasons I only buy/play english games, the other is the German habit of censoring everything they think could make us ran amok, instead of realizing it is their fu**ing society that makes people sick...

That leads me to your comment about patients. Yeah, you´re a Fieldmedic, and fieldmedics are on warfields, right? So, what war/country do you serve actually? (I have a nordic feeling about you, oops, you already said SWEDEN) You´re not standing at the borders of Germany, are you?

 

Here it´s evening and I´m waiting for my girlfriend to make sth to eat, so that is the reason I´m lingering around here and typing offtopic...

 

about the movies: Most I watch movies in English too, because in the german versions there are always the same voices. I have a gift that I can remember faces and voices, and because we have not soo much actors in Germany, I always recognize them and it annoyes me. Of course, the voice-thing is most annoying.

Edited September 11, 2010 by LEGION

[Maethius]

Thanks, guys. I was going to scale to the top of the tower and work down... I'll try entering on the second floor. And, yes, the key was on a haunt. A creepy, armed, and relatively indestructible haunt....

 

Okay, made muches progress!

 

 

bypassed the AI uber-lag by catwalking all the way to the back of the tower, climbed up over the battlements (stole the arrows from all the guards), lit up the lighthouse, pilfered and crept about. Now, I haven't found a use for the hatch key, but the only hatch I've seen leads back to zombieland, so assuming it's there or behind one of the two locked doors I can't seem to find keys for:

 

1) in the main tower barracks hall... the door near the center

 

2) in the "house" near the lighthouse/sanctuary, on the second floor.

 

I've made it to the priest's room (the one with the lighthouse key) and could light up the book in his desk but could not take nor read it. I had assumed this would have fulfilled the "find out what the hell happened" objective... am I close?

 

 

 

Anyway, almost done but I'm stuck with what appears to be a bug... any pointers?

Edited September 17, 2010 by Maethius

[pmw57]

Don't mock the story

 

Have you considered splitting this mission up in to three separate and smaller missions?

 

1. Escape the mines

2. Scale the tower

3. Reveal their secrets

[pmw57]

A loot list is now available for this Betrayal map.

[LEGION]

I appreciate your work on the loot-lists very much! Thanks, pmw57.

 

Oh, but it´s not a good idea to split a mission. Some players wish to go back and want to play in 'a row'. And actually level-transitions back and forth are not supported yet.

[Trickster]

I read something about reduce AI-thinking when the player is blah distance away, to improve performance. Haven't tried anything in the mission though...

 

I did not experienced unplayable framerate at anything excluding Return To The City, however, reducing AI thinking at distance seems like a best idea performance-wise. Its basicaly the same as reducing level of graphic detail of distance object, should be included in all missions, IMHO.

Maybe it would be done automatically by TDM itself... if it´s possible, to not being applied manually in every FM.

Wonder if it´s been in consideration of TDM team already...

 

Betrayal is great FM, so would be good to be playable even for "lowenders"

Edited October 29, 2010 by Trickster

[DeTeEff]

I did not experienced unplayable framerate at anything excluding Return To The City, however, reducing AI thinking at distance seems like a best idea performance-wise. Its basicaly the same as reducing level of graphic detail of distance object, should be included in all missions, IMHO.

Maybe it would be done automatically by TDM itself... if it´s possible, to not being applied manually in every FM.

Wonder if it´s been in consideration of TDM team already...

 

Betrayal is great FM, so would be good to be playable even for "lowenders"

 

There will be a Level Of Detail-application in the next update; 1.03. But I don't know if it will be fully implementable yet because it will require massive work with making low-res-versions of all models...and most certainly a lot of other work. And as I get it, it will be up to the mapper to implement it into the levels but it would be nice to have some kind of overall detail-setting-feature, inserted in the mod though.

 

Thanks for the positive feedback on my first FM

[Byrgius]

I really liked this misson! The start was poor, but it just kept getting better and better. I didn't like the start, because of the dull and empty caves and texture, nothing much to do there. The tower is just huge! I thought at first it will end on the first several floors, and thought it will be another zombie/undead mission... After reacing the upper floors with rope the excitement grew. Really nice smooth switch on the bulders. After that I thought ok that's the last floor I suppose (although I still wanted to explore further). But after that a huge stone fortress appears and it was like BOOM - how incredible is that? So I explored every last piece of it. A really enjoyable and very unique mission! Great job "Fieldmedic"!

 

I have a request though. I didn't manage to open the door to Priest's office? Or however that room is called. The second floor by the curch and the left door from stairs (not the one straight in front of stairs). It was locked and I couldn't pick it nor I had the key. The priest didn't have it either, but he could open the door.

Could someone please post the screen of that room? I'd really appreciate it.

[DeTeEff]

A looong time since I did anything with this mission but I believe

 

 

 

The key is in the small room up the stairs in the house you came in; a small bedroom. The door to that room is also locked but you may break a window to get in.

 

 

[Thiefette]

Just replayed this for something to do and discovered (maybe - don't know if anyone else found it) a new weapon.

 

 

Cannonballs - they're not just for cannons anymore

 

Edited November 12, 2012 by Thiefette