Hello! I'm new to the forums. I'm from the UK and I'm in my 20s - in case anyone is doing demographics. =-P I've not got any really helpful computer skills at all and no level design knowledge beyond fiddling with Duke Nukem 3Ds Build Engine for a bit when I was 11, so I'm not sure I can promise any Fan Missions any time soon! But at the very least, I wanted to throw my lot in with regards to sheer, bloody-minded encouragement. It's a miracle that a mod so ambitious got off the ground at all, and even though it took so many hundreds of man hours to produce, and seems to have strong disagreements among the fan base - I think it's really succeeded in providing the most things for the most people. I'd looked at the development of the mod from time to time - but by the time that the first Alpha level / build was released, I was on a falling apart laptop and so couldn't really enjoy it. I finally got a new PC around Christmas 2010, and I've been putting off playing the Dark Mod - though aware of it, I felt it might be too "hardcore" for me or that it would be made for a "different kind of Thief fan", strange though that may sound. The sheer professionalism of what I encountered blew me away. A mod download manager? An FM download system built into the Main Menu system? The only hiccup I could see was having to restart the game to play a new mission - but the fact that all the saves are isolated from each is nice and tidy and means I can explore missions easily without cluttering up a single save directory - genius! *** I was a bit overwhelmed at first - the different lock picking system - some initial trouble in getting used to the blackjacking - and the horrid ATI "spinning sky" bug were barriers at first (I fixed that with the static sky fix I found on these helpful forums!). The training mission actually made me more nervous about playing a proper mission - lots of skills to take in at once! I'm so glad that combat is avoidable. I find the sword fighting suitably difficult (Haunts are utterly nightmarish now, just as they should be). I would interested to hear what you think are the best "starter" missions for new people getting to grips with things... I started on The Outpost - and it is nice, small and simple, without any puzzles involving frobbing or anything like that which I initially had trouble with. I found myself leaping into a tough one straight away - Sotha's Vertical Contest mission - which was pleasingly terrifying and difficult, but wouldn't suggest that to a friend I'm going to get into it due to the need to ration your ammunition against the enemies / his unfamiliarity with earlier Thief games. Some levels I've found myself stuck on almost immediately - or too difficult - Betrayal and The Rift seem pretty crazy at the moment! But the theme of both of them is utterly perfect, so I'm frustrated because I desperately want to be better at them. And Swing makes me feel utterly nauseated, so that's one I have to leave to one side. x-D But I've downloaded every single "official map" that appears within the game and tried most of them - I enjoy every flavour of Thief mission, from city exploring ones to mansion capers to desperate fights against heretical abominations. In fact, my favourites are often scary ones - I am kind of "saving" the Flakebridge Monastery one as it seems to be the only mission to purposefully imitate the Haunted Cathedral style from earlier Thief games. I think my only disappointment is that there are very few of the horrific creatures / Maw Beasts. Nothing quite terrified me like the Pagan beasts from the first 3 thief games - you literally didn't know what things were lurking in Down In The Bonehoard and The Lost City and the Abandoned Quarter. But the zombies and revenants I've seen so far are a grim pleasure as they are. =3 === In summary - thank you mod maker staff - and thank you, equally, FM makers, who have really done some amazing things with what is available. Please, don't get discouraged, I sincerely hope that the Dark Mod continues to grow, even though the "meat" of it is done and working beautifully. =3