Fan Mission: St Alban's Cathedral (01/11/2010)

[Melan]

I have finally been able to finish this level - the puzzle in the cathedral had me stumped twice, but I eventually stumbled on the correct solution. Still missing 1500 loot, but there is always another time. Of course, the graphics are excellent and there are a lot of great little details like the small latch securing the trapdoor in the tallest building's top floor - that's just neat.

 

The city plays great with its rooftops, and there has been a great improvement in the sewers over the test version (which was slightly bland there). The cathedral is a visual masterpiece from crypts to the main structure. It is probably not that varied gameplay-wise, but cathedrals, which usually consist of a singular central space with bits on the side, generally make for better visuals than gameplay (not even great designers like frobber could fully get around that - although Alexius did in Hammerite Imperium). The readables are very good; I don't know how you shared the work with Ungoliant, but they are interesting and handle clues well.

 

All in all, a very good mission -- and in looks, it is the one to show the doubters before showing them the Builder's way with a sturdy iron hammer.

[Bikerdude]

before showing them the Builder's way with a sturdy iron hammer.

ROTFL, damn straight!

 

On the loot front apparently I'm a demon etc, as some of the places while accessible have been walked by by many players on several occasions - that said I know of 3 very hidy hole places that 99% of players wont find, and those places are reserved for the experts who have anal retentiveness about finding every last bit of loot.

[LEGION]

*Screenshot*

Windows will notify you if a solution is available? Wow, now that´s a friendly windows. But it didn´t notify you, did it, eh?

 

And if the Trickster himself says that, it must surely be so!

LOL, that´s one I´ll mention for sure in my Memoir...

 

Yes, sound like a good idea.

Cool, I´ll pm you when I´m through to make sure I don´t miss any coming update. I´ll try to improve the briefing, if you allow me. Like increasing text, making pictures bigger, if you like that... (also the last page should be taken out)

 

Last night again I didn´t dared to go to the cathedral, but I raided the complete town (and I felt more Ambiance, though, especially in the sewers, the drops should be hearable everywhere in the sewers, or waterflow and such...) EXCEPT that whateverIsBehind that upper door right to the Tavern-entrance, in South-East. First I thought I can

go in via the sewers, but the sewer-gate in that location (by the sewer-entrance to tavern) can´t be highlighted, also no roof-access I could see. I was everywhere else I saw locked doors. That bright windows look frobable, but are not. So, where to go???? I hate locked doors. BTW, I didn´t tried, but it´s a wood-door, and if I use the sword, could it be opened that way??? Well, I´m sure mappers could arrange that... There is no spawnarg for this, eh? Hell, I´m drifting again...

 

 

Ok, finally I´ll go in to cathedral this evening, enough night-time left, this time I lay myself to sleep in the smugglers hole, btw, from the sewers it feels the cathedral is in the middle of the town, but from the highest roof (no FPS-drop there, but everytime I let a door open, hmm) I couldn´t spot the cathedral, is there an outside-view for the cathedral??

Edited November 3, 2010 by LEGION

[AluminumHaste]

wow I just have to say; amazing.

I'm not even finished, not even close but I can for sure say this has been an authentic Thief experience! Also I have to say thank you, you are the first person to use my stained glass I made all those years ago. And about the loot, you are EVIL!!!!!

 

[Chiron]

ROTFL, its all u, your going quite mad... ok maybe not, it was the revenant spirit you were hearing.. or the ambient I used in that area..

 

Thought so

 

But wouldn't it be a nice & creepy effect if a statue would whisper mysterious phrases at random

as soon as you stand close to it?

[Bikerdude]

I couldn´t spot the cathedral, is there an outside-view for the cathedral??

there wasnt time to build a façade of the cathedral, maybe it will get done if and when the mission gets updated.

 

wow I just have to say; amazing.I'm not even finished, not even close but I can for sure say this has been an authentic Thief experience! Also I have to say thank you, you are the first person to use my stained glass I made all those years ago. And about the loot, you are EVIL!!!!!

Thanks AH, thats what i was aiming for and you might recognise the town section its based on a T2 mission " the crypt of st lucian ". Yeah the glass reminded me of my local pub and about the evil loot placement - I gotta keep you lot on yer toes..

 

Waahaay, this is my 1500th post..!!!

Edited November 3, 2010 by Bikerdude

[AluminumHaste]

 

you'll have to be 'above the bar' to solve the problem

 

 

 

Okay so I climbed up there, and found the Latin plaque with the crank that you can turn, but what does it turn? \

 

[ungoliant]

lol you solved his problem already. the problem you reference is an entirely NEW problem.

 

edit: you lot are lucky. i wanted to be 10x more evil with the objectives and clues in this mission, but biker would not allow it.

Edited November 3, 2010 by ungoliant

[Bikerdude]

Okay so I climbed up there, and found the Latin plaque with the crank that you can turn, but what does it turn? \

Explore below and ye shall be rewarded..

[ungoliant]

The readables are very good; I don't know how you shared the work with Ungoliant, but they are interesting and handle clues well.

 

THANK YOU!!!! after reading about how a person dedicated solely to story and readables would be soooo great because the quality was so poor, it is nice to hear that. as for the workflow, i designed the plot/story/objectives/readables and then biker would dissect and edit my final drafts for the release.

 

More time would of been nice, i've still got a few pages of backdrop story that never made it into the release, and the quality and quantity of readables still leaves something to be desired (to myself), but it can always be used by the third(?!) mission in the st. alban series.

[LEGION]

I´m at the

cathedral-mausoleum (by the first haunt-ghost) and found that lever behind a stone and a text about, äh, sth with 'dead guard dead', anyway, from the text I got the impression to either look closer under the coffins or even to go back to the sewers to search for sth opened. I can hear sth does get opened, but I CAN´T FIND IT!!!!

Also the ex-citywatch-and-now-builder -guard in that area has too low footstep-radius and he´s not saying a little bark at all! He also had a 'cells'-key that not worked on any cell and in his room you can find a 'cells key'-key but I didn´t tried that key on the cells yet.

 

 

I already found more than

5000 loot,

I wonder how much is hidden in there?

 

Also I´m still waiting for directions for that upper room right next to the Tavern!

 

The architecture so far is stunning, but could it be that you used no or a very LOW ambient light? This is the first FM so far where I had to increase gamma...

[ungoliant]

 

I got the impression to either look closer under the coffins

 

 

I already found more than

5000 loot,

I wonder how much is hidden in there?

 

Also I´m still waiting for directions for that upper room right next to the Tavern!

 

The architecture so far is stunning, but could it be that you used no or a very LOW ambient light? This is the first FM so far where I had to increase gamma...

 

 

what about the insides?

as far as i recall, i think theres 6077

if you mean the room off the northeast wall up a covered stone staircase, you'll need to find... an alternative entrance, the front door is not gonna work. city watch building might be a good vantage point

almost positive that ambient_world is set to .04 .04 .04

 

[Bikerdude]

yeah sorry, used low ambient worl light..

 

the little flat neat the pub and the adjoining house - think roof access

[ungoliant]

no apologies should be necessary for the ambient, it is the exact same level as the Training Mission. If you've calibrated your settings to it, then this mission should run perfectly (unless your monitor is totally shit like mine and cannot increase brightness/gamma to a level that can even identify the letters in the middle column of "the dark mod")

[AluminumHaste]

WOW just finished, OMG over 2.5 hours to complete! That's longer than any of the campaigns in the Thief series. What a ride! I HATE you for the loot though!

 

 

For the last piece right before the boat I had to get a board from the prison and put it over the waterfall so I could get the last gem! GRRRRR

 

 

 

[ungoliant]

AH.... holy @#$!. you found all the loot.... I can't even find all the loot. i helped place some of the loot and write readables to get to them...... son of a bitch, i hate my life

[grayman]

Just for the record, St. Albans doesn't use the table that crashed SATC on Shaz's computer.

[Serpentine]

Just for the record, St. Albans doesn't use the table that crashed SATC on Shaz's computer.

 

I haven't looked at the map (because I cant) but the lion window in the screenshot linked above has a non-power of two compressed normal map. From the internal forum thread : problematic stuff, that I have to get around to fixing (that list has quite a few checks disabled re: dds stuff). But in this case, I'd guess it's the window, tho there are a few other options like peppers

Edited November 4, 2010 by Serpentine

[pmw57]

I already found more than

5000 loot,

I wonder how much is hidden in there?

 

 

There's a total of

7022

loot. I'm working on a loot list for it as we speak.

[Chiron]

Need a hint concerning the hint in the cathedral.

 

 

 

I've climbed around in the rafters, staring to the ceeling, looking for a plaque, something

to climb up on or a piece of wood to use a rope arrow with !

Where is the next hint?

 

 

Edited November 4, 2010 by Chiron

[Melan]

Chiron:

Look for some scaffolding, then a chandelier. It is climbable.

[Shaz]

I have been really busy and have not been able to check for driver updates for my motherboard etc., but I did try the atioglxx.dll files you kindly provided... neither did me any good for accessing the FM, sadly. I'm still getting the exact same errors, but whereas before it was always a 'faulting module atioglxx.dll' and rarely a 'faulting module gamex86.dll' visible in Event Viewer, with either of the provided atioglxx files in my base Doom folder (I tried each of them), the game crashes with both of those errors listed.

 

I'll hopefully get to check and see if there's an update for my motherboard drivers soon. And while not exactly for this FM, I have tried a few of the AMD gfx drivers for the other missions I am unable to load with this same problem.

 

I dunno what it is about these few missions that makes my computer choke. I just hope I'll be able to play them, eventually.

[AluminumHaste]

AH.... holy @#$!. you found all the loot.... I can't even find all the loot. i helped place some of the loot and write readables to get to them...... son of a bitch, i hate my life

 

Don't be sad, I actually had to cheat to find about 800 of the loot. I NEVER thought to look behind bricks for stuff, that was just mean.

 

A couple of things about the map though; window ledges should not stick out more than a few units so as to prevent the player from getting stuck on them when trying to mantle.

Ladder brushes should never be buried in brushes/other entities so that the player can use the entire ladder and not have to try multiple times to mantle off the ladder.

The frob distance for some objects is so small that I had to noclip into a cabinet in order to pick up the water arrows, same for the bones of st. Albans, couldn't grab the legs.

[AluminumHaste]

Chiron:

Look for some scaffolding, then a chandelier. It is climbable.

 

 

Which isn't exactly intuitive

because none of the other chandeliers are climbable.

 

[pmw57]

That house that's across the road from the garden, the house that has the drunk chap

and a vault, how are we supposed to get the vault key? I've found it but the window sill stops me from getting close enough to the key to pick it up.