kingsal

That sounds rad! Taking a normal thing like a lighthouse and just scaling it up could give it a cool sort of fantasy/ otherworldly feel. Peppered with a couple fun patrols and that sounds like a great small FM.

Great! Ill try this out. Thanks guys.

Hey Everyone, I can't figure out whats going on but sometimes when I reloadEngine the game crashes. Its often enough to be annoying. I think it has to do with anytime I reload after I changing values to the renderer or reload textures/ models, but I can't be sure. Anyone else have this? Suggestions? 2.06 x64. Multicore / uncapped/ soft shadows on. Windows 10.

Haha same here. I had such a hard time running thief on my 133 Gateway. I love this look. I get the same warm and fuzzy nostalgia feelings. Back then, you really had to use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

Ah yes, all of those things. Lets get this logged and tracked once we know more. Filizitas - Since this is a mod bug and not related to Cauldron. Go ahead and start a thread over in TDM Tech Support so these guys can track it and get it fixed. Provide some screenshots or even videos if you can. In regards to post #158. When I went to look at the env_ropes in my mission, they weren't showing up in the editor. (Using DR 2.6 x64 and TDM 2.6 x64). It looks like when I saved out my ragdoll positions in the engine it also saved out the bone locations of ropes? Not sure if this was part of the reason why they weren't showing up.(map was built in 2.05) I'll test this out and start a new thread in Tech support.

Ah sorry I thought you were talking about the environmental ropes. I actually found a bug with those. Not sure about whats happening with rope arrows in 2.06 though.

I looked into this and it seems there was some error made when saving out ragdoll locations when I built the map. It appears the engine also saved out these properties to the ropes. Not sure why this is only showing up in 2.06. Regardless, It's been fixed

Making progress on a fix for these clipping issues. Stay tuned. I should be able to get a new version of the map out by the end of the month (fingers crossed).

I totally agree - Contest missions are a great idea. We should try to get more of those going here on TDM!

Obs- Regardless, the OP isn't asking if setting and tone are necessarily for a good mission. It's asking for some suggestions for places to explore that would be appropriate for a small mission. If I read your comments in a certain way, you seem to be saying we shouldn't even try to offer up suggestion because there's limitless possibilities and none of us can say for certain what makes a good map. Although this is true to some extent, it's not really addressing the question.

Doesn't tone/ setting and storytelling play into how the player should feel and the kinds of thoughts that should arise when playing? It agree that the quality of the mission doesn't exclusively rely on those things, but for any author it's certainly going to dictate a whole chunk of what you're trying to achieve. I think if you rip the tone/ setting/ storytelling out of even the best Thief missions, you're left with a half as memorable experience.

This is an interesting question and I agree with a lot that's been said. I'm a pretty big fan of the Dark Souls/ Bloodborne games. It's cool how they rely mostly on tone and setting to weave in this greater narrative (with the help of a sparse NPCs and stuff like item names, ect) It's by and large esoteric and obscure, but it does a great job at communicating simple emotions and themes. I think its a good goal for small FMs to weave in tone and simple themes into their settings. There are a ton of great FMs that do this well and I think a big part of their success is picking locations and themes that are fairly explicit and sort of work on their own without a ton of explanation. That being said, I'd love to see more missions outside the city - Investigating a murder in a hamlet or even a farm house just outside town, a highway robbery gone wrong, stealing from a sorcerer's hide out in the swamps, or even a mission about finding a pirate's treasure on some remote island. Something that play's heavy into the setting and creates a compelling reason for our thief to go there without a ton of set-up or readables to do it. Anyhow- just my two cents.

FYI- I have asked the team for some help with the clipping issues over in the beta thread. Please let me know if you have clipping problems. It also might be helpful to know what kind of hardware you are using (low/mid/high) and what version of TDM you are in. Thanks!

You might be on to something there Apologies on the clipping. This is super strange because I am getting wildly different reports from people. There wasn't much clipping reported in the beta and some people like Aluminum didn't have any problems whereas others report lots of clipping issues. There seems to be something fishy going on here. Maybe something has changed in 2.06?

Great! Ill try to get those fixed when I get around to updating this mission. Might be a ways out, but I'll put these on my to-do list.

I'm not sure what area you are referring to. Are you talking about the pump house in cauldron?

I don't know specifically how this happens, but yes it has to do with sloped angles. In general, the doom engine prefers rectilinear geometry and 90 degree angles. Especially when it comes to player movement. I tried to keep the ground as flat as possible in most of the mission, but I know there are problem areas. If you can think of areas where you got stuck and grab some screenshots that would be extremely helpful! Thanks!

Ah bummer about the clipping stuff. We tried to catch as many as possible in beta testing, but there are still a lot of clipping issues in this mission. The glowing mushrooms are a constant problem as well. Hopefully I can fix these things in an updated version. Thanks for playing as much as you did!

Hey thanks! Unfortunately, I will not be releasing the "redux" version as planned. It became a pretty big project with new areas and lots of re-work. After a bunch of consideration, it just makes more sense to put that effort into Volta III . It wasn't all lost work though, as some parts will be folded into the new mission(s). However, I am working on a 2.06 update to Volta: The Stone (the new campaign name of this mission) with minor bug fixes, new vocals, and a new high res version of the intro. Thanks for playing and for your patience! -Kingsal

Congratulations on the release. Gonna make some time this weekend to play it!

If you are def attaching the stim you can offset it this way. "def_attach1" "gas" "pos_attach1" "gas" "attach_pos_name_1" "gas" "attach_pos_origin_1" "0 0 0" //offset origin Otherwise, thats a good question. Would be curious to know as well.

Oh yes! After playing this mission a couple times in beta, I love it. Incredible work Goldwell and I can't wait to play more.

I haven't heard of anyone falling out of the level yet! That's definitely possible given its size and complexity though. Let me know if you can get a screenshot of where you fell. I might be able to fix that.

Ah man, congrats! Can't wait to check this out.