Fan Mission: Rightful Property - by jysk (2012/04/13)

[jysk]

This is my mission from the contest. The map is probably a bit larger than SeriousToni's one.

 

Short version introduction: An arranged deal involving a mysterious orb you stole beforehand was busted by the Builders. Your former "friend" took a flight with it. You tracked him down in the Seaside Inn near the docks, so its time to retrieve your rightful property!

 

 

Download Link:

 

https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=rightful

 

 

Very much thanks to (no specific order):

 

nbohr1more - for reading and correcting my readables

 

bikderdude - for general improvement + fixes

 

SiyahParsomen - for beta testing and many suggestions/hints for fixes

 

Sir Taffsalot - for beta testing and many suggestions/hints for fixes

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to adress all issues from the beta tests, but a few (very minor) may be remaining, like blackjacked bodies sinking into beds (monsterclip didnt fixed it, dunno) and ofc the lamp-model for switchable light in the bank and the warehouse etc. Some i also couldnt reproduce.

 

When i started mapping i used a few brushes/models from other maps. That are:

 

- the crate model from Too Late (Nielsen74)

- the iron-gate/gatter from The Outpost (was just far beyond my abilities when i started mapping and then i just keeped it later)

- one house facade (+ Tower) from the training mission (the left one in the backyard of the inn) - i would have probably died if had to make one more house facade by myself, thats just very hard for me.

 

I hope thats not a big deal.

 

I btw also had to remove som Ai's from the tavern room, because sometimes when i opened the door a crash occured, probablby because it was just too much in there. Normaly it would be a bit fuller in there.

 

 

 

 

I hope you will enjoy it. As said, its a bit larger, but there is a map in the inventory for the city part.

 

One scene in the city is quite performance demanding. The market place has because of its geometry basically no Visportals. Therefore on some views performance may or will drop. It was playable without problems on my mid range Pc but low-end systems may experience slowdowns here. I strongly recommend to close _all_ applications in the background to free up memory and ressources, it semed to me that this causes major differences in performance there.

 

Have fun!

 

Screenshots in the spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important:

 

If the mission crashes/freezes during loading screen try disable "OpenAL/EAX" of your sound card.

Edited May 26, 2021 by jysk
add download link

[SeriousToni]

Finally - but you're over time, Mister!

[nbohr1more]

Congrats jysk!!!!

 

[Baddcog]

Looks great. It's really good to see screenshots from both missions so far that don't look like 'beginner efforts'.

[PranQster]

Congrats! I can't wait to play it tonight.

[PranQster]

 

 

I tried to adress all issues from the beta tests, but a few (very minor) may be remaining, like blackjacked bodies sinking into beds (monsterclip didnt fixed it, dunno)

 

 

 

I have an unconscious/dead ragdoll body in my map in progress. I found one way to keep it from sinking into the model below it is to use a platform of nodraw_solid underneath the body. You should be able to place such a brush within the bed model and test it with a ragdoll on the bed. Adjust it's top surface height until the body lays just on top of the bed (then delete the ragdoll)... then a blackjacked AI should be able to stay on top of the bed like the ragdoll did.

 

Edited April 12, 2012 by PranQster

[simplen00b]

Been playing it for about an hour now - don't think I've got very far, just been loving the atmosphere (I'm a sucker for sea/waves ambience). Man, jysk, this is your first mission??? It looks fantastic, AND it's already let me do one of my fave thief activities of (after a fluffed k.o. attempt) running away and hiding. (And then coming out of hiding and doing the k.o. properly.)

 

Serious Toni's FM was really well done for a first mission, but I'm already thinking this one's outdoing it. Serious kudos to both of you.

 

Got a bit freaked out in the warehouse -

it looks like something rather nasty has escaped

- but don't tell me yet if I'm right, I'm looking forward to finding out for myself....

[jysk]

Well yes, the docks area is indeed just the beginning. o;

 

@ Pranqster i may try that. Funny thing is some bodies dont sink at all, even without Montserclip, some dont sink with monsterclip and some sink always even with monterclip. ~

Edited April 13, 2012 by jysk

[nbohr1more]

The mission is beautiful jysk.

 

It's not a mission for low-end systems though. (most areas below 5 FPS)

 

The sheer scale of town will make it worth it for folks with better hardware

 

(Edit: I toured the map a little with killmonsters to disable AI. Looks like it's either too many AI or pathfinding performance that's killing me. Slower GPU's probably wont do too bad but slower CPU's will have a tough time.)

Edited April 13, 2012 by nbohr1more

[ClaviculaNox]

vunderbar, a cool guy finishes a cool mission. i will judge accordingly after a playthrough.

[ungoliant]

congrats on release!

[nbohr1more]

I created the Mission profile on The Dark Mod page but I'm not sure if the mission DB will pickup the mission package from my dropbox link (so I'm a newb too, for mission posting):

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17706561/rightful.pk4

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17706561/rightful.pk4

 

Also wikified

[ungoliant]

shipping and receiving much? love the reference.

 

made it to marketplace, taking a break because the framerate is really starting to irritate me.

[PranQster]

I like it a lot, so far. Though I'm having performance issues too...

 

All was fine in the docks area. I KO'd all AI on patrol there, but did not enter any buildings there yet. Instead I went toward the marketplace, I believe. I explored the house of the couple with the missing child. But outside that house, in that whole area, the frame rate was as low as 5fps and my hardware is not new, but not shabby either.

 

So I also decided to take a break and see other players comments.

[Tels]

Wow, the screenshots look very good to me. Not "beginner" at all!

 

(Sidenote: It looks like the window frame in the first shot is "floating" in front of the wall. Is this a model? If so, it might miss a "backside" and thus some shadowcasting faces, which is a problem we should correct in the mod.)

[SiyahParsomen]

congrats!

 

Too bad you couldn't fix low fps on marketplace, but you got experienced how to build streets I believe.

 

I'll download it and play one more time to see improvemets then vote it at weekend.

[Bikerdude]

It's not a mission for low-end systems though. (most areas below 5 FPS)

Too bad you couldn't fix low fps on marketplace,

 

I helped a few of the contestants with their maps, in the time we had I wasn't able to get VPs to work correctly in the main town square, but the rest of the town should be ok even on modest hardware.

[Sir Taffsalot]

Congrats onthe release jysk! Although the turnout for this contest could be better the quality of the missions so far are outstanding. I'll take quality over quantity any day of the week. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this.

[lowenz]

WOW, it's raining FMs

 

Downloading!

[Chiron]

Congratulations! This is quite some "beginners" FM. It looks and plays great.

 

Question:

 

 

I have fullfilled all objectives except the loot.

Is there anything you can do concerning the missing girl?

 

 

 

The marketplace has some fps drops & sudden ambient changes, i also found one texture glitch (alley behind the inn):

[SiyahParsomen]

 

I have an unconscious/dead ragdoll body in my map in progress. I found one way to keep it from sinking into the model below it is to use a platform of nodraw_solid underneath the body. You should be able to place such a brush within the bed model and test it with a ragdoll on the bed. Adjust it's top surface height until the body lays just on top of the bed (then delete the ragdoll)... then a blackjacked AI should be able to stay on top of the bed like the ragdoll did.

 

 

if you don't mind I'll post your message in editing tip of the day, because no need to use spoiler if you don't want to share this useful info with community.

[Diego]

Great mission! A bit slow on a few parts but overall playable.

 

I did everything right, but near the end I had to run with everyone behind me! lol Not very stealthy..

[Sir Taffsalot]

Great mission! A bit slow on a few parts but overall playable.

 

I did everything right, but near the end I had to run with everyone behind me! lol Not very stealthy..

 

Cue Benny Hill music

[jysk]

Great mission! A bit slow on a few parts but overall playable.

 

I did everything right, but near the end I had to run with everyone behind me! lol Not very stealthy..

 

 

 

Hope u used the bank main entrance key i have placed i the office just if someone wants go the fast way. ;P

 

 

 

@ Chiron:

 

 

 

No, she is already dead from the start on in the sewers :/

 

I will look into this tower. ^^

 

 

 

 

(Sidenote: It looks like the window frame in the first shot is "floating" in front of the wall. Is this a model? If so, it might miss a "backside" and thus some shadowcasting faces, which is a problem we should correct in the mod.)

 

This is actually an old screenshot. There was an 0.5 units gap between the window and the wall, therefore it looks a bit strange mb. This is already fixed since a longer time.

 

@ Performance: Yes as i feared low end systems would have a problem in the midtown/market. If it is the AI i dont know, due size of the map there a number of AI's, but they are doing nothing special except patrolling, waiting , sitting and sleeping (+2 card playing prefabs and the backyard guard ~). Usually the rest of the mission (apart from the market place) should be playable on every system, as all other areas, especially the indoor ones, are properly visportaled. Thats really bad that performance problems are so hard here, i hoped would still somehow be playable. :/

 

My system is btw a Q9400 + a Geforce 260 GTX, 4GB RAM + Windows 7 64 just for information/comparison. :/

 

EDIT: Ok i havnt really tried it with FPS on - i just judged whether its still somehow smooth. My 5 years old laptop with a Dual Core 2 Ghz a Geforce 9600 + 3 GB RAM (+ heavy loaded Vista) also gets only as low as 6 fps on some views on the Market (rest is fine), but its still playable for me without problems, a just a bit slower. o.O Thats why i thought/hoped it will work on low end systems too, because it felt still playable there (didnt checked fps until now with my Laptop). :/

Edited April 13, 2012 by jysk

[Melan]

With these Beginner's Contest missions, we are gaining some very skilled builders. Sure, this mission has some performance problems in one location, and some of the architecture is on the simple side, but... but it somehow has that special mysterious feeling of discovery and challenge I felt in Thief 1 fan missions (I got flashbacks of Autumn in Lampfire Hills and The Events in Highrock even though they are totally different... wonder why). It felt right. The story elements were delivered in a way that kept the action interesting, and exploration was very satisfying as you broke into all those different houses, each with a different interior style and things to do.

 

Getting into a rich apartment, then the tavern, the victim's room, then the sewers and the bank was just theis superb sequence.

 

Where the difficulty was absolutely perfect was AI patrols - I really had to think about cracking some sneaking and lockpicking challenges without being caught. Particularly,

 

Skirting the overlapping patrol paths of the three bank guards and using the super-limited shadows was excellent, and hiding from discovery in the safes was a nice possibility.

 

Also,

 

holy fuck that spider lair! Noooo! After that, I did not have the heart to rob the girl's parents, so I finished with lower loot than I could have gathered (3000-something out of 3500).

 

 

If I didn't make it abundantly clear, I love this mission, and holy hell, if that's your first, what more will follow?