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Fan Mission: Penny Dreadful by Melan (2013/07/28)


Melan

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By the way: did you notice that after downloading PennyDreadful all your mission-stats have gone missing (checkmark for 'previous completion' of a mission)?

And out of a sudden updates for other missions seem to be availlable?

That's a side-effect of that issue. While TDM is trying to handle that inconsistent mission-entry, it will corrupt the fms\missions.tdminfo file and loose all version info.

 

I updated all the missions. Are there any known problems for doing so?

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Eeeep. Didn't know that could happen. :blink: My sincere apologies, but I don't even know the cause.

It's not your fault. ;) It's a problem on the server.

It might be worth discussing with Bikerdude - or whoever is responsible for maintaining the server-database for the build-in TDM-mission-downloader - when the mission-entry for this mission will be fixed. :unsure:

 

I updated all the missions. Are there any known problems for doing so?

Not really.... other then that some missions might now be actually downlevel, in case you had some of them downloaded manually before.

This would be true at least for those two:

- WinterHarvest (by Shadowhide) is availlable as v2.4, but only via manually download from the corresponding thread, but not via the internal downloader

- the same for DeceptiveShadows v1.1 (by ShadowHide)

- the same for Lords & Legacy v1.0.3 (by Kvorning)

Other then that, you should be fine.

However, I hope that as soon as 2.0 is coming out, that most missions get updated anyway... and hopefully all those 'inconsistencies' get fixed with a massive update on all mirrors. :rolleyes:

Edited by gnartsch
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  • 4 weeks later...

Bravo Melan!

 

Every piece in this mission landed a solid hit in me. It was like playing AAAAAAAA-commerical game (without the modern dumbing down, of course...)

 

 

 

The graphics were impeccable. Sometimes I wonder if you and I even share the same TDM texture set. Your TDM world is so grimy and realistic, desolate and beautiful. Look at any angle and there was always interesting lighting, geometry and perfect texturing: desktop wallpaper material.

 

The gameplay was also excellent. Patrols were well placed and the lighting was interesting and yielded good gameplay. I am finally persuaded. It was this mission. I've avoided using moveable candles but now I got it. There were plenty of them, there was an interesting challenge and it was fun to use the physics to topple the candles, I suddenly liked the mechanism of throwing moveables at lit candles.

 

I had a really, really tense moment in the crypt in a room with a unopenable hatch on the floor. I went it, noticed skeletons coming and quickly picked up a candle and threw it to the floor. It fell the side and did.. DID not douse. It was casting light at me and the skeletons were just near me and I was staring at the candle and the skeleton repeating in my mind "don't turn this way don't turn this way..." He didn't. Went away. Phew!

 

When I noticed there was no lockpicks I started worrying this would turn into an awful keyhunt, but nope, the mission flowed pretty well. The power station key was left in a dark place so I suppose someone might miss that in the darkness, but luckily I didn't. Keyhunts destroy good missions in minutes, so I'm glad you have the ability to keep it logical where the keys are.

 

The story was nice, although the undead wasn't exactly a big surpise. But I liked how the mission flowed and there was info seeping in. The characters were nice too.

 

 

 

I had only one gripe, not your mission's fault. I'll write it to the tech support pages.

The spiders should definately be shoulderable. There was a room with spiders and I dispatched them with broadheads as there was a generous amount... But the BIG spider died in front of the door. His leg went through the door and prevented it from opening. I decided not to noclip, so fought with the corpse (which cannot be shouldered and which moves very awkwardly in the grapper), and finally I could get the door open so that I could barely slip through.

 

 

Finally, my most fun moment was this:

 

Thanks for the explosive mine. I decided to blow the Master Skeleton in the throne room sky high. When the skeleton was elsewhere, I put the mine in front of the throne as I noticed he visited it occasionally. I peered from the corner and giggled as he approached the mine and BAM! To maximize my satisfaction, the mine went off, blew the skeleton and in addition the Grail of Regrets descended down -jingling in ethereal tones- from the heavens as the ultimate prize for my trap. That Was Excellent!

 

 

Thank you so much for giving this mission to the community. Such a treat, such a treat! :wub: This saved my day, my week and my month!

  • Like 2

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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Thanks for your comment, Sotha!

 

I do try to use new textures, but fortunately, they are slowly making their way into the core mod. Besides, the others are also okay to use.

 

I will have to accept your solution to get the Grail as an additional official solution. Bravo! B)

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Just played it again in v2 and I don't remember it being quite so dark in tunnels where the ghouls are.

I needed to change the gamma quite a lot to be able to see the ghouls - this is the only mission where I have needed to do that

Does this mean that I have been playing with the gamma too low for ever or is it just that this mission has a very low contrast between the ghouls and the surroundings

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Hm. I have replayed the mission once under 2.0 (to see if anything was broken), and did not notice any substantial changes in visuals or gameplay. It is an intentionally dark mission, though.

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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To finish off - after discussing it in another thread I fiddled with my monitor settings and the in game settings which has given me a reasonable compromise for this game and all the others.

I still think I may need to get a better monitor though :wacko:

Edited by Oldjim
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Don't we all? I am still on one of those small flatscreens...

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Hey Melan, since you don't believe in ratings, I give 'em to you anyway. :-P Visuals 5/5 (excellent lighting and particle effects), gameplay 4.5/5 (being stripped of most of your capabilities is not my thing), story 3.5/5 (it was just too little plot for my taste). But still: Funfactor 5/5!! Great job, as always!! Thanks! :)

 

he is no master thief when it comes to stealth - be careful!

What did you mean by that? I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary other than most of the tools weren't at my disposal.

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No lockpicks, and your light gem is lit a little bit even in complete darkness (a minor bug I thought would work well with this specific character).

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Don't we all? I am still on one of those small flatscreens...

I regret my choice of a widescreen E-IPS monitor when I play games like these (though it's excellent for everything else). At least with a small one you shouldn't get the background lightbleed as bad, because of the lesser angle. I need to push back the monitor as far as the desk allows, and sit as far away as my arms will let me, to minimize that annoying effect.

 

Oh, and the mission - let me get back when I finish,

I'm still trying to find my way back. ;)

 

Edited by Disturbation
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  • 1 month later...

Sorry for being thick but I am utterly stuck:

 

 

Went into the tomb, got the grail, failed to find the bits with levers that people are mentioning?

 

Rope arrowed back the way I came - went to the office and picked up the rusty key. Walked through the flooded rooms to open the sewer grate. In the series of small rooms with spiders. Faced with locked door. Where is the key for this door? :-X

 

 

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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  • 5 weeks later...

Sorry for being thick but I am utterly stuck:

 

 

Went into the tomb, got the grail, failed to find the bits with levers that people are mentioning?

 

Rope arrowed back the way I came - went to the office and picked up the rusty key. Walked through the flooded rooms to open the sewer grate. In the series of small rooms with spiders. Faced with locked door. Where is the key for this door? :-X

 

 

 

Glyph:

I think the key is very close, in the same area with the spiders if I remember correctly.

 

Edited by arjuna
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Apparently I shorted myself on a large bit of the mission...by going back the way I came in...will have to replay...the amount of choices is what makes this a grand slam, it caters to many playing styles...great work Melan.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a great short mission. The dirty squalid look reminds me a lot of DrK's Rocksbourg series for Thief 2, and the low loot value objective along with really having to look for loot as well as the scrounging for equipment really helps convey that kind of setting.

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Thank you for your comment, GUFF. That's the feel I intended for this series (although my primary inspiration was Sperry's Shadows of Doubt series) - and I hope to continue in this vein. :)

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Ah! Finally figured it out, thanks for the tip!

 

I felt this was very similar to Gatehouse in style - minimal weapon use, really and just trying to get around enemies and work through exploration.

 

This mission is absolutely gorgeous - stunning lighting all around - amazing textures and lots of nice niches and secrets.

 

 

Also there are SO FEW Precursor/Ancient city type missions even ones like this that only feature a tomb or something are a thrill to me.

 

"No proposition Euclid wrote,

No formulae the text-books know,

Will turn the bullet from your coat,

Or ward the tulwar's downward blow

Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—

The odds are on the cheaper man."

 

From 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by Rudyard Kipling

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  • 6 months later...

In the dark I've somehow stumbled into

a room with two statues , the one on the right facing them holding a candle , tomb with skeleton sticking out. Is there a way out of it through the facing doors. To get in I jumped down on the statues.

 

 

Dont Blink!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 10 months later...

If you have already played this mission, I suggest you should check out FenPhoenix's video playthrough. It is hilarious, and demonstrates how much of a dick the author was.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGTKG__4EGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MmkW-atR_o

 

Mean!

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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