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

[Sir Taffsalot]

I was going to point this out after playing In The North but I completely forgot. You have quite a few open readables (scrolls, open books etc) with no text on them. When you frob them the text appears fine and can be read like an ordinary readable. However unless they are frobbed they appear to have no text. I've had this problem quite a few times and its very annoying. I think it happens sometimes when you edit the xdata file. While its hardly game breaking I worry that players might see a blank scroll or book and assume that its just decoration and end up not reading some important text. Just thought I'd let you know incase you were unaware.

[grayman]

When you can't read a readable before you frob it, it's a function of TDM's ambient light code. It isn't anything authors can control in the mission, and has nothing to do with editing the xdata file.

[Sir Taffsalot]

OK. Any idea what I can do to fix this?

[grayman]

As of 1.08, there are only two ambient settings. Whichever one you're using, try the other. I forget now which one has the problem.

[grayman]

Actually, mission authors can control pre-frob readability by placing a bright light near every readable. But that isn't always going to be desirable.

[Sir Taffsalot]

As of 1.08, there are only two ambient settings. Whichever one you're using, try the other. I forget now which one has the problem.

 

Thanks Gman!

[Oldjim]

All finished on the hardest setting and with all the loot - nothing too hard to find

A really good mission I wish there were scores higher than excellent as this deserves it

[grayman]

Comments have slowed, so now's a good time to thank everyone who's played.

 

THANKS!!

[raymeld]

Have just finished ( well sort of , could never find the optional 'evidence from God' to put on Trumble's bed.Could someone put me out of my misery with a clear hint! ) All I can say is wow , and another wow for good measure. Thank you so much grayman for a superb mission , I must say it's the most enjoyable I've played to date. From the owl hoot which made me jump and the scrunchy snow to

the steps below the crypt leading to the' thank you' treasure for retrieving the skull

, a complete delight. On a par , dare I say , with the old original Thief 2 missions for objective fun and detail.Top marks from me.

[raymeld]

Now on to

Old Habits!

 

Thank goodness with my move complete my main computer is out of store. whoopee!!

[grayman]

Could someone put me out of my misery with a clear hint!

 

Glad you liked it.

 

 

 

Once past the chapel statue, on your way down to the catacombs, there's a door on your left. Behind it you'll find Harckoff's secret observation hallway and a desk with a book in it. If Trumble were to read this book, he'd know Harckoff was a threat to Mary.

 

Drop that book on Trumble's bed and you'll see an ending cutscene once you get back to your starting point to finish the mission.

 

 

[raymeld]

Oh , I see. I already have it but didn't realize it was delayed action. Will replay that bit !

Done it ! Great cutscene !

Edited November 20, 2012 by raymeld

[fllood]

True, this is just an awesome release! After joining five hours of adventuring with Mr. Steele there is little to add that wasn't already said.

 

I had been busted several times for just didn't care to hide as looking at textures and marvelling at the map design. So much labor of love to be found here! I even did not notice one misaligned texture to the geometry - I would love to see many of these custom textures into the core mod, specially the wallpapers and decals.

 

GFX, Story and Production are just top. And the only reason I did spare the last star is that the whole mission was set and designed on horizontal gameplay (not counting elevators) . And for the design choice player tools being obsolete (but for the lockpicks for very few times). That is no bad thing. And subjective that I think more vertical gamplay being added would have been the "Smarties" on thís sweet cake - probably a motivation to add some need of rope arrows into the follow-up.

 

Thanks grayman having created that terrific map!

Much looking forward for being "Home Again" with Mr. Steele. ...

Edited November 22, 2012 by fllood

[skacky]

Ghosted through this wonderful FM with a stealth score of 0 (though with 1 suspicion, but I think that may be related to you know what) but missing approx. 1000 loot, so I'll have to carefully search the manor again. It took me two good hours, but I could have sworn I only played one hour.

I really enjoyed it, it's a very solid mansion mission with a nice atmosphere and a good story. This and Heart of Lone Salvation are my favorite TDM mansion missions so far. Keep the sequels coming!

Edited November 25, 2012 by skacky

[grayman]

Thanks again for playing.

 

Hard at work on "Home Again".

[mathi_r]

Hello together!

 

At first, this mission is fantastic! But I have one question, maybe someone can answer, it is about a part of the mission.

 

 

When I trop the skull in the Sarkophag, there is no signal, that I finished the objective. Is this normal and I should just play on, or is it a bug? Because leaving something on the bed of the one guy, you know, I forgot the name, tells me, that I finished this objective, why not at skull objective?

 

 

Thank you!

[Oldjim]

probably the wrong skull - not the one in the display case

[grayman]

@mathi_r:

 

 

 

If you have Harckoff's ledger from his safe, re-read it for references to the skull you took from the church display. If that doesn't help, open the next spoiler tag.

 

 

 

 

 

The display skull is a fake. Other clues reference the real skull, which is in the catacombs. If you can't find it, open the next spoiler tag.

 

 

 

 

 

The real skull is sitting in the sarcophagus belonging to "Grim".

 

 

[raymeld]

mathi_r forgive me if I've got this wrong as I've forgotten names and such but ( hint)

the brother's ( Grimmore?) skull you're looking for is not the false one in the case. It can be found somewhere in the crypt itself.

another hint

when you drop the skull in with the rest of the brother's parts you will receive his thanks and a bonus. His apparition will appear and show you some steps leading down to a pile of treasure.

[mathi_r]

Okay thank you!

 

 

The wrong skull! I didn't know that. I guess it is because I play some minutes per 5 days and english is not my mothertongue. So I guess I missed the hint in the ledger!

 

 

Great, great, great, so I can play on. Is there any language pack for German in progress by someone?

 

Greetings!

[raymeld]

Greetings to you too mathi_r . I wish I could speak German as well as your English comes across on here ! Enjoy the rest of the mission and

the fun cut scene ending.

[grayman]

I have to admit that demonfrog's LP of this mission leaves me wondering whether RITs are worth it. When the player KOs everyone the first time he encounters them, even the sick and despondent, I feel like the weeks of thought, design and testing I put into the RITs and the shift change was wasted. I might as well have just placed static AI around the map and left it at that. He even comments about the mission not having enough guards at one point. My thought was, "Yeah, well what do you expect when you KO them all?"

 

Well, you can't pick your parents and you can't pick your players. Grumble, grumble. Should have added a no-KO objective, but I know how players feel about that.

[Sotha]

I have to admit that demonfrog's LP of this mission leaves me wondering whether RITs are worth it. When the player KOs everyone the first time he encounters them, even the sick and despondent, I feel like the weeks of thought, design and testing I put into the RITs and the shift change was wasted. I might as well have just placed static AI around the map and left it at that. He even comments about the mission not having enough guards at one point. My thought was, "Yeah, well what do you expect when you KO them all?"

 

Well, you can't pick your parents and you can't pick your players. Grumble, grumble. Should have added a no-KO objective, but I know how players feel about that.

 

The RITs were definately worth it at least for me as I didn't KO people. A no-KO objective would be perfectly fine for higher difficulties: they are supposed to increase the difficulty and if you remove the possibility of taking out every single AI, you are definately increasing the difficulty and making things more interesting. You can't please everybody, sadly.

 

Also, instead of increasing the work load, the RITs can actually save the mapper precious time if you use a single network for multiple AI.

[Obsttorte]

+1

 

RIT's add much atmosphere to a mission. I also think that a no KO objective or just leaving away the blackjack on higher difficulties is a suitable way of increasing the difficulty. Players who don't like it can play on lower difficulties. It's a stealth game, and everybody who plays TDM shopuld know (and probably like) that.

[Melan]

I ghosted the mission and the RITs added tremendously to the experience. Please keep them around, they are worth it to many of us.