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

[grayman]

@Thiefette:

 

 

 

Sadon has a gold religious symbol sitting on his sarcophagus. It's only 12 units back from the front face of the sarcophagus. The only reason it would have moved behind the sarcophagus is if it was knocked back there. Feel free to noclip back there to get it.

 

 

[nbohr1more]

Thanks Grayman, Fenn and Raymeld.

 

I was able to get the mission mostly up to good fidelity by setting image_downsize to 512 and specular downsize to 128.

 

Quite visually stunning even with these compromises!

 

I can only conjecture that my AGP interface isn't able to provide enough head-room during map load given that a card with

half or quarter of my video ram can load the mission. I imagine that the wonky internal PCIE to AGP converter in my card isn't good at using AGP aperture. It would be interesting to see if my old 7300GT works any better but I don't have the time to run those experiments these days. Time to look for an old monster 7950GT AGP on eBay (or get a new PC...)...

[grayman]

@nbohr1more:

 

That's good news.

 

Hope you enjoy the mission.

[Baddcog]

Just had to chime in and say it's great so far.

 

Finding my way into the crypts.. had to take a break, will finish this weekend.

-------

 

TDM really is feeling just polished as hell now. Running smooth, seeing ai line up for a door and the first lets the second close it... on and on. I did find one texture that has bugged me before that I think has a screwy normal map... but I've seen a lot worse in 'professional games'.

Too bad this wasn't 1.0 just so people would have seen it from the start. I just don't see how anyone would have had any legitimate complaints if this had been their first experience.

 

(I also noticed that a lot of inv icons like keys and books were semi-transparent, but a few seemed really opaque.. never noticed that before.. minor material issue? I never messed with icons so I don't know if there is a settings that maybe some are missing)

--------

 

Either way, I kind of had that Bafford's feeling again playing this map. Great layout, really polished all the way around, great maps, great read-me's, great storyline...

 

Really a classic so far and I've got a bit to go.

 

Biggest bug was one sleeping lady floating above bed. Actually I think that was the only bug I've noticed (well, a few books are too big to place back in the containers I pulled them from- bug/tdm thing, i dunno... maybe they needed rotated 90 degrees?)

 

Thanks Grayman!

[scarridale]

Hello everyone,

 

Long time Thief fan, been playing the Dark Mod for a few weeks now. I have to thank all of you who have put the incredible amount of work into such a great project! I have been lurking in the shadows since I began playing TDM, but I felt I must introduce myself and congratulate grayman on his significant accomplishment. "In the North" was simply excellent. I won't take too much time here on this thread, but again I just want to thank all the people who have created FM's for us to play - I have really enjoyed them and I regret that I don't have the knowledge to create a FM myself in return.

 

Keep up the great work, and I look forward to interacting with all of you!

 

--scarridale

 

"In the North" stats, 1st playthrough:

2:03:59 game time on Difficult, all optional objectives completed, 5426 out of 5686 Loot, Stealth Score 39

Edited October 26, 2012 by scarridale

[Thiefette]

@Thiefette:

 

 

 

Sadon has a gold religious symbol sitting on his sarcophagus. It's only 12 units back from the front face of the sarcophagus. The only reason it would have moved behind the sarcophagus is if it was knocked back there. Feel free to noclip back there to get it.

 

 

Thanks, will do!

[raymeld]

scarridale , great to have you on board. Agree with you , superb mission from what I've been able to play so far, well done grayman.

[Thiefette]

Fantastic mission, Grayman! I got the last of the loot (my goal).

 

 

Your layout flowed nicely and your readables were put together very well with good clues for anyone wanting that extra loot. I liked that there was a lot of candles as when I found AI relighting them I just started hiding them all. Live in the dark I say .

I liked your ending and found myself saying "Yeah, he deserved that!"

The only difficulty I had was hearing the voice clearly in the crypt (it wasn't too bad in the chapel) that I almost missed going down the stairs as I thought that was the ending and way out until I reread the objectives.

 

 

I can't wait to see your next mission and what happens next! Congrats again!

[Tirek]

The story is full of intrigue and mystery and the characters really come to life. The visuals and sound design of the mission are in my opinion the best of any TDM mission yet. The place feels organic and lived in, which I believe is especially due to the fantastic attention to detail - even the little, out-of-the-way things are all carefully designed and make sense in the context. My playthrough was almost six hours of game time- NOT including reloads. I've done a lot of backtracking, not because I had to, but because I was so immersed in the setting that it just didn't seem like a chore. Archetypal Thief-style gameplay and a benchmark of TDM missions.

[demagogue]

I'm still going through it pretty slowly.

I have to shake my head with a wry smile every time I read about another poor soul having an "accident", and the pitiable servants that mourn for them. I haven't gotten far enough to know what happened to all of them yet, but I doubt there are any accidents in this household.

[Florian]

I had a strange bug (probably TDM-specific, because it happens in several missions), that should maybe revised for the next TDM-update: when I load the mission with EAX the game always freezes, when a sitting character stands up. I checked that directly and noticed, that with EAX activated, on my system the sitting characters directly disappear before my eyes, after getting up (falling through floor?) and directly after that the game freezes. Therefore, I can play the FM with EAX only, when I knock down all characters that can sit down. Indeed the game than never freezes for me. Can anyone reproduce this bug?

 

I should add, that I also have to load a mission several times until it works with EAX (e.g. I always have to load the map eaxdemo before loading another mission) - maybe the problem is my SB X-Fi Extreme Audio Card here, but maybe anyone else has experienced a similar bug?

Edited October 27, 2012 by Florian

[Melan]

I finally found a nice weekend afternoon to play this mission. I concur with the assessments in the thread: this is among the "classic" TDM missions, along with The Heart of Lone Salvation, A Score to Settle and the NHAT campaign. It is a carefully planned visual feast (hope the wallpaper and the damage decals find their way into TDM), but what is more, it feels completely natural, something "real" instead of planned for a game. By that, I mean that everything had a logical function, whether it was architecture, hidden loot or plot elements. Also for this reason, there were no puzzles which felt frustrating -- just thinking about the environment cleared things up, and I was able to proceed. The organic design also manifests in how the location has its own story and how that impacts architecture and layout... very good. There is one particular challenge I'll try yet,

 

I must bring a bunch of boxes to that belltower and climb it from the outside! <img class="bbc_emoticon" alt="" title="" src="http://forums.thedarkmod.com/public/style_emoticons/default/ph34r.png">

 

 

Thank you, grayman! I hope I will be able to play the further episodes soon.

[Guest john]

Hi

 

The Mission jumps after the loading-screen back to an empty-"Missionstarget"-Screen. If i choose then one of the Difficulty-Levels, the screen shows the Goals again. Then i try to start the mission again... and so on. The console spits a lot of errors (Door is not in an valid aas area etc.)

 

Any suggestions ?

 

I have no problem with other missions, so my doom3-installation seem to be ok.

 

I use Version 1.07, but this can't be the reason i think. This update is new..

Edited October 29, 2012 by john

[AluminumHaste]

You must use 1.08

[Guest john]

Yes. I updated and it works now. I thought, because the update is very new, this would affect only newer missions.

 

The mission looks great !

[grayman]

I thought, because the update is very new, this would affect only newer missions.

 

A reasonable assumption, but ItN was developed hand-in-hand with 1.08, and was always intended to be released around the same time. (It helps to be both the mapper and a 1.08 coder. )

[simplen00b]

You must use 1.08

Yup. I tried running it under 1.07 and had exactly the same problem.

[Tels]

The field "Required TDM version: v1.08" should be set in the mission PK4, then it wouldn't load for people with v1.07 or older, thus avoiding the problem.

[grayman]

The field "Required TDM version: v1.08" should be set in the mission PK4, then it wouldn't load for people with v1.07 or older, thus avoiding the problem.

 

What field is this?

 

Edit:

 

This line appears in darkmod.txt:

 

Required TDM Version: v1.08

 

If that's supposed to abort older TDM versions, it's apparently not working.

[simplen00b]

There is one particular challenge I'll try yet,

 

I must bring a bunch of boxes to that belltower and climb it from the outside! <img class="bbc_emoticon" alt=" " title=" " src="http://forums.thedarkmod.com/public/style_emoticons/default/ph34r.png">

Oooh...hadn't thought of that...after spending about ten minutes trying (and failing) to find a place that could take a rope arrow, I just gave up

[AluminumHaste]

That's usually because there's nothing up there, but if you are that interested, just use noclip

[Melan]

That's usually because there's nothing up there, but if you are that interested, just use noclip

That would be a bit like taking a chopper to the Mount Everest: it is efficient, but misses the point.

 

Here is how it is done.

 

First, we take a stack of crates and try to mantle up on the ledge:

 

 

Unfortunately, an invisible wall is blocking our progress. However, it is possible the author was careless and the wall is not as tall as the entire tower. To determine this, we need crates.

 

Lots of crates.

 

 

Fortunately, the basement is a motherlode of the things, and there are at least four or five rooms which contain an abundant supply. We take the crates and carry them up the staircase, one by one.

 

 

Once the crates are up on the roof, it is time for building. Here, we have a mighty crate tower, and a smaller, much less impressive one we will use as our base camp.

 

 

Unfortunately, the invisible wall reaches higher up than we anticipated. Maybe the entire tower is blocked off? It is possible, since mappers have become a lot less ethical since the Thief days, when there were no invisible walls, and people could just roam with their crates where they liked. Alas. Still, there is a chance the invisible stuff is only as tall as the bastion - and, so far, we have not hit an invisible ceiling...

 

 

We bring up more crates. They are organised into shipments at the bottom of the stairs.

 

 

And we have a larger tower, a base camp, and a second base camp. Let's see how we fare this time!

[Melan]

 

That ledge above us is tantalising, but out of reach. Our way is blocked. Is the tower just barricaded off? Are our hopes in vain? Anyway, we will at least build a crate tower so tall, we will see what is on the top! We return to the basement. For more crates.

 

 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of impostors. This is not a true crate. It cannot be carried.

 

 

Still, we can scavenge enough to build two large towers, and one which reaches yet higher. Does the tower await us? Or are we doomed to failure?

 

The towers are frail and the small ones fall. It is also hard to carry up crates from tower to tower, since you can only carry them up so high. We climb up as we remove the crates from the top of the smaller towers. There is no way back.

 

 

Yet we are now next to a tower which will at least allow us to see --

 

 

--but we grab the ledge and mantle up to the top of the belltower! Aha! Victory at last! Apparently, the invisible wall was only as tall as the tower itself. Turns out, though, the top of the tower is also invisible!

 

 

Looking back down, we see our towers, and some poor obstacle to progress, who had to be... removed. Still, what is that small price when we consider the progress we have made? With 23 crates, we have climbed up to the top of the mansion!

 

Of course, this poses further questions, questions which must weigh uneasily on any mind.

 

 

 

 

Who really killed Lord Harckoff?

 

 

Some suggest they have seen the shadow of Captain Trumble up high on the battlements. He had to be the killer.

 

But was he?

 

 

[Bikerdude]

LOL Melan, what r u like? how long did it take to collect all those crates...

[grayman]

... mappers have become a lot less ethical since the Thief days, when there were no invisible walls, and people could just roam with their crates where they liked.

 

I don't think ethics (morals) are involved. It's a design choice the mapper makes. There are lots of these choices in every map: doors w/o handles, a courtyard filled with a death trigger, fences that look climbable but aren't, fascias that should be wood but are made of stone, etc.