Fan Mission: In the North (by grayman) (2012/10/20)

[Elentarien]

Oh yeah. . .thank you! I'd completely forgotten about that entry. I had in my head that it referred to opening the catacombs - not a single tomb. Then I guess I forgot about it once I actually got in there. Doh. The irony was, I'd actually stopped at that point and was attempting to stab haunts in the back (didn't work, btw. heh) or KO them or something and apparently completely missed the

buttons

.

 

On the good side, I finished the remaining objectives without a problem. I enjoyed the mission thoroughly!

 

I solved the rat problem by figuring out how to kill it. (Then felt exceedingly guilty and cruel when it squealed, got a bloody muzzle and went all limp and quivery. WAHHHHHH Even knowing its a game doesn't make me feel any better. Poor rat! I *LIKE* rats. . .and mice and small furry beasties. And these ones are rather cute. I should have taken the long way around!)

 

Nice reward

for helping the ghost!

Its so nice to actually have a reward that FELT like you were being rewarded, rather than making you wonder why they thought that was actually a reward. ("Reward? You tell me one measly pair of candlesticks is the best you can do?!")

 

Loved being able to help Trimble and his daughter. Made a good story better when you don't just take and can't DO much about the stories you see. Nice follow up on that too. It was sort of a 'reward' for helping, by being able to see what happens.

 

Looking forward to playing the next mission now. Awesome job.

[grayman]

Thanks!

 

The rat problem is known and should be fixed in TDM 2.02.

[Caesarline]

Dear Forum members,

 

I -literally- got stuck behind some crates in this mission. Unfortunately, I'e got only this one safestate. I can't move a bit. Is there any ingame-menu or "cheat" I could use to get out? Otherwise, I would have to restart the mission from the beginning.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Goldwell]

Create a shortcut for "thedarkmod.exe" which is found in the base directory and edit the shortcut to read the following in the target field

 

"#darkmoddirectory#\TheDarkMod.exe +set com_allowConsole 1"

 

Obviously replace #darkmoddirectory# with whereever you have the game in.

 

Then once in the game press the ` key which is above the tab key and to the left of the 1 button. This will pop down a console, type in 'noclip' fly away then enter 'noclip' again to turn it off.

[Oldjim]

Is that necessary as I haven't and using Ctrl Alt Tilde gives me the console

[Springheel]

I've never had to do anything special to bring down the console.

[Goldwell]

Oh well if you can bring it down using that shortcut sure.

 

I guess the lazyness in me just set that up for mapping purposes

 

But yeah bring down the console and use the command noclip to get out of places you're stuck in

[Oldjim]

Just played through again on my usual hardest difficulty - hardcore/hardcore - and really enjoyed it with a final stealth score of zero (first time I have ever achieved this) ghosted with no knockouts

Played it through in my normal manner starting at the bottom and working up to the attic getting just about everything on the way I realised that I should have done it in reverse as I just found the maps for the catacombs which I had missed before and the various clues to find things work better that way

One thing which nearly caught me out - and this is the second mission where it has happened - I extinguished a candle and dropped it on the floor under the holder but still upright and the maid went and lit it again. So after that I rotated them to lie sideways.

[NeonsStyle]

I just played this again, wow it's an amazing mission. During the play I was thinking, it'd be

really nice if we could see these bad guys get their come uppance and sure enough you did it.

 

Loved it, definitely the best mission so far played, and it's just as good the second time.

 

Thanks

[grayman]

Glad to hear folks are enjoying this mission.

[SDFprowler]

I first played this mission back in March of 2014 and found myself stuck after hours of picking the mansion clean and felt I had explored every nook and cranny, apparently missing something that I couldn't figure out for the life of me. I had this experience before in Thief Gold, the Thieve's Guild mission. It left me very unsettled and I decided to move on to some other games, intending to go back and try again one day. Well, nearly a year later and I decided to dive back into The Dark Mod after hearing about the 2.03 update. I still had the quick save from this mission, but I decided to scrap it and replay it completely. Only this time, I allowed myself to become fully immersed into the story. I love how you layered in everything through readables. Finding clues, following them and finding exactly what they elluded to.. very satisfying gameplay. I absolutely loved the "new objectives" that emerged as I progressed. The mansion truly felt alive and reading about the backstory of its inhabitants was like reading a good book. The shift-change at 7pm was very cool. Being able to see the time on the clocks throughout the place was a nice touch. I realized that the time on the clocks seemed to progress at a realistic rate! At some point I noticed it was 9:35pm according to one of the clocks, and I had indeed been playing for a few hours. Seeing the rats follow the revenants around was great. I think I lost my focus while down in the crypt, admiring the atmosphere and detail, because I stumbled a bit too close to a revenant and he totally saw me. I raced back towards an area near the entrance of the crypt but he managed to keep chase and sliced into me with his sword after backing me into a corner. Luckily I had that 1 trusty fire arrow and dispatched him without alerting the other revenant.

 

Anyway, I loved the mission. Thank you for taking the time to create such art. Probably the best I've played so far. I plan an playing WS2 within a few days. I read somewhere that it's a rooftop mission. Quite a constrast to WS1, and I'm looking forward to playing it.

[grayman]

Glad you (finally) enjoyed it. Thanks!

 

If you haven't played WS2 yet, I suggest waiting a week or so, because I have updates coming to all three Steele missions, to fix small bugs and take advantage of some of 2.03's assets and features.

[Cambridge Spy]

Glad you (finally) enjoyed it. Thanks!

 

If you haven't played WS2 yet, I suggest waiting a week or so, because I have updates coming to all three Steele missions, to fix small bugs and take advantage of some of 2.03's assets and features.

Any news on WS4?

[grayman]

Any news on WS4?

 

Long ways away, sadly. I was wrapped up in 2.03, so didn't do anything with WS4.

 

I don't plan to do much coding for 2.04, and will get back to WS4 in the days ahead.

[SDFprowler]

Glad you (finally) enjoyed it. Thanks!

 

If you haven't played WS2 yet, I suggest waiting a week or so, because I have updates coming to all three Steele missions, to fix small bugs and take advantage of some of 2.03's assets and features.

Ah, thanks for the heads up! I'll be sure to wait for the updates before continuing the William Steele missions then.

[llanita]

I am having a problem trying to nick a key from a guard's belt.

It's in the Barracks. He comes in one door and exits out the other. I have tried everything I can think of to get that key, including using my only gas arrow, because he can't be bj'd for some reason, he's bareheaded.

So once he was knocked out with the gas arrow, I had to make him a contortionist because he fell on his back so the key wasn't showing. Finally got the key to show and I cannot grab it.

Is it supposed to be taken? I'm thinking it might be for a locked chest beside one of the bunks.

[Springheel]

If you pick up and drop a body, it will alternate between falling on its stomach and back, so you can grab things easier.

 

Bare-headed guards can always be KO'd, though it has to be from behind if they have their weapon out.

 

I know of no keys that can't be grabbed in that mission.

[llanita]

Well that key remains on the body. Ive been unable to nick it. I've managed with all the other keys, just not this one.

 

One other question...Are there any zombies in this fm?

 

 

NEVER MIND. hehe...I finished it. I absolutely loved this mission. Can't wait to start the 2nd one.

Edited October 7, 2015 by llanita

[Baal]

I can't remember if I wrote my opinion here before.

 

This is still one of the best Dark Mod missions. The manor is beautiful and the open nonlinear architecture is outstanding. My only complaint is that I found it a bit to easy. But it was still great fun, even the third or fourth time.

[NeonsStyle]

I have an issue with this map on a second playing. I found the catacomb map and I can't close it. Pressing enter on it won't close it,

M won't close it.. nothing will.

 

PS On a side note, I'd love to be able to change the enter key to something else, but it's not in the control list.

[nightchild]

ok, I have played all 4 Thief OMs games, about 85-90% of Thief FMs of TMA, TDP+ GOLD, DS and T2X and I think that this one should be placed among the Pantheon of the Thief-world games (if there is one that is.. ). Mostly due to that amazing building..!!! not that gameplay or story or ambience was less good, but I was really dazzled by this construction! Thank you for this real gem of a mission!!

two things only... all these keys I had collected while at the same time everything -or at least the 98% of them- was pickable where a bit of no use and confused me as I was trying to find out what doors should they open, since I had opened everything -or almost everything (?)- with the picks.. Second, I really wished for mor secret places.. this building was crying out for more hidden things (not just 2 sets of peepingTom hallways and the crypt )... And something minor..the woman guard who escorts the lady Something in the room with the dumbwaiter has a realy unpickable key on her belt but you can take it from the other she-guard anyway.

This is not a mission, is a bright star.. thank you again!

[Fidcal]

Great Mission so far but one thing worse than not being able to complete an objective is to wade through pages of this thread (I gave up on Page 5) and nobody mentions it (so I'm the only one who failed?) Humiliating!

 

Put me out of my misery someone...

 

 

Found the clue that only two chambers lie between Grimmore's remains and his skull but I've been round and round over and over every logical 'chamber' in the catacombs and can't find the damned skull. I did see one in a broken sarcophogas and yes, it was three chambers away, but it won't frob and seemed unlikely such an important relic would be dumped in someone else's broken tomb. Sadly, one reaches a point where frustration is greater even than the high story and gameplay immersion and I resorted to cheating to skip past the dead guys and lit a lantern now and again but still nothing. I mean, logically, if two chambers lie between the tomb and where the skull is then that means the hidden tomb room is the start, then the chamber above (where the sarcophagus and buttons are) is one intervening chamber, then there are two routes out of there. So skip the next chamber, but the next one up either side can be a bit vague since one side is all passages. In the end I just went round and round everywhere in the catacombs looking for anything to frob, a secret lever, anything, but no luck. I'm fairly certain I've found all the readables and been over and over them, but maybe I overlooked another clue? Like, is the fake not really a fake? Or do I have to kill one of the dead guys and pull his head off? (I'm clutching at straws here!)

 

 

[Oldjim]

From memory - and it was a long time ago

it was the dirty skull in one of the broken tombs

 

[Fidcal]

Mmm... sounds like the one I found that wouldn't frob.

[grayman]

@Fidcal:

 

 

 

The skull in the broken sarcophagus is indeed the one you want. I don't know why you can't frob it. Have you tried noclipping and getting close enough to it to frob it? I don't have any other reports of problems with the skull, and the map's been out for a couple years now.