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Fan Mission: Lords & Legacy by Kvorning (2013/08/30)


Kvorning

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  • 3 weeks later...

Really nice mission, very polished and enjoyable. Performance was a bit of an issue for me compared to some older missions, but I'm running it on a really crappy GeForce GT520 card so that was totally expected!

 

 

 

I liked all the little nooks and crannies around the city, especially with the house on the first right after leaving the slums, going up through all the rooms from the basement to the rooftop was cool.

 

The idea of a retro-apartment complex was good and perhaps added some more realism and drew you into the story a bit more. It also reminded me of the mysteriousness about structures that seem (on the surface) like very modern ideas existing in an entirely relevant way, but in a much older setting. I think that this is one of the most interesting aspects of the Thief-y universe & congrats on doing that.

 

The towers area itself was visually spectacular, both outside and some of the indoor grand rotundas. There was a nice mixture of guards, and going across the connecting hallway rafters was fun and very atmospheric.

 

However, I was convinced that there was some sort of pressure sensitive trap in the raised floor around the heirloom display, and went to some effort to rappel down from some rope arrows on the ceiling. Was a bit surprised to find that it was just a normal lockable case!

 

I did feel perhaps that this whole area was slightly too straightforward, and some sort of unexpected trap or security system could have been cool. It was also slightly confusing about the loot here - initially I thought picking up some of loot in Lancel's room might have failed one of the objectives, since it might have made it look too much like an outside job. Maybe this was addressed in the letter in the safe though, in any case, it's a minor point.

 

 

Edited by Peanut
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Hey Peanut, glad to hear you enjoyed the mission. I still use a 470GTX so I can relate a bit to the hit on performance, though I think most of the load issues are on the CPU. The design should simply put have been different from the start to have it run smoothly on all machines.

 

 

I'd like to do a more detailed cityscape in the same style for a later mission, as I had fun making all the little details. The "blitz-modernization" is definitely something I'd put more emphasis on.

 

Halfway through I redid the whole keep and towers with a clearer sense of what to put there, though a lot of the flawed early design stuck (staircases). Most of the challenges are definitely getting in and up the tower, once you're there there's only a couple of lazy guards patrolling. A couple more puzzles would be good, as it's mostly just a treasure hunt and completing the main objective there.

 

Something else than guards at least, as no peasant flatfoot-thug-for-hire should needlessly set foot in Lancel's private abode!

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

This was very good! Performance took a slight hit in some areas but nothing really bad. I liked that many areas had multiple entrances if you explored and found them. This is what good stealth gameplay is all about. Great design there.

 

Couple issues though--

 

Getting all loot became impossible because...

if you've already met the goal and done the other objectives required to finish the mission before you enter the apartment where you end the mission, you cannot pick up the loot there before the mission ends automatically. I didn't explore that apartment building until after I had gone through the slums and keep, so I ran into this issue.

 

 

The killer...

Seems strange he'd be alerted just because you open his chest in his kitchen. The effect when you open it I assume is just sort of ambient shock/horror of seeing the skulls and has no actual noise he'd hear and be suspicious about? Also strange that you can't kill him without failing the objectives or there's no way to "bust" him by leaving some sort of evidence with city watch or something-- bit of a loose end there as do-gooder hidden objectives are usually based around doing things like that.

 

 

Edit: The loot objective doesn't work, either. Found all loot as confirmed by post-mission stats screen and it didn't tick off during the mission.

Edited by GUFF
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Hey GUFF, glad to hear that you had a good time and that performance wasn't too big of an issue for you. I'd love to do a bigger city some day on a more optimized and detailed level.

 

 

Good spot regarding the loot, I never actually considered that conflict. Though nothing catastrophic it's definitely something I'll remember for next time, thanks!

 

"The Killer" was mostly a fun little side thing and more seriousness from my behalf could have improved that bit some more. He is mostly intended to be like a stealth challenge, where if caught he'll mess the player up. He'll turn lights back on, constantly patrol and will hear if anyone opens his chest. He can't be knocked out either, but he can be gassed.

 

It's however a very good point, that there should be some conclusion to finding him and his trophy box.

 

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Just finished , thank you very much , excellent mission.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The mission is magnificent. The classic recipe. Graphics - exemplary. The plot can invoke a sense of jealousy in Thomas Harris. The briefing so detailed that can replace the plan of operation. The sound fits the mood in every point of the route.
But... One of the objectives (the most provocative) is unreachable. You cannot collect 6165 of loot, if the mission has only 6161. (The threshold trigger for this purpose is 6165, here's the string from "lordsnlegacy.map": "obj11_1_args" "6165"). Such errors should be detected in the alpha testing. I decided that I got an old version of FM. However I have not found more recent version of it (my - from 2013-08-30).
Obviously, this error was the reason for dissatisfaction with some of the reviewers in this thread. Yet mission unusually beautiful and I couldn't resist and recorded a video (reducing its duration, where possible).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7HVtrTCqVY
Video in full quality (not damaged during compression on youtube) you can download from here:
https://cloud.mail.ru/public/188f2b40baec/Lords%26Legacy_rapid.avi

Edited by gamer_x64
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Hey Gamer_x64 let me just say right away that that issue with the loot bothers me incredibly much at this very moment. I got no idea where I messed up when updating the mission, but I obviously messed up. I like to tease players a bit, but not like this. =P

 

With that in mind, I'm gonna finally do another update for the end of this week and see if I can sort out a couple of other snags that has been reported since last.

 

Thank you very much for the feedback, the kind words and most importantly for playing the mission. It's good that you enjoyed the mission aside from the issue above. I'm downloading your recording so I get a chance to look over your shoulder.

 

I'm a bit ashamed to say I didn't know the name of the writer behind the novel Silence of the Lambs was based on, but I appreciate the reference ;)

 

 

Edit: On second thought I'm gonna take a few days and go through what I wanna add, adjust and fix. And yes, the 3 cardplaying guards doing the "butt-shuffle" are now fixed.

 

Anyone reading this who's got a bug to report is more than welcome to write here or send me a PM. Thanks in advance :)

 

 

Edit: I saw that video and I had some good laughs!

I love how you absolutely broke the Lecter puzzle by blocking him in :D! He all of a sudden didn't seem so scary and definitely not brilliant.

 

 

I appreciate the fact that you had to translate most of the text and still took the time to elaborate your play. Very funny witty comments, and I managed to optimize a couple of little things accordingly. Hope you do more play-throughs of other FMs.

Edited by Kvorning
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This has been collecting dust on my hard drive for a while now:

And watching it now I just realized that it isn't actually raining, yet that water flow suggests there's a flood going on. I assume there's no rain for performance reasons though. Still, you might want to make it more consistent one way or another.

(also, moving that chair a bit from the window would probably be nice)

 

As for suggestions for a facelift, I feel the commons quarter could use some more lights on the streets. Currently most walls are in complete darkness, making the scene somewhat flat. But other than that, I think it's a great mission with a nice flow to it, I don't think there's that much to improve really.

Edited by chedap
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... Hope you do more play-throughs of other FMs.

 

Of course, all as always. As soon as I put a dot after the word "End", appeared strict mapper and delicately hinted to me that many other missions await my intervention. I went to do a walkthrough for E1M1 in Wolfenstein 3D.

 

Indeed, if to speak seriously, the TDM gives a lot of opportunities to dispel the boredom. Missions multiply faster than I can count them. Therefore, many authors will not suffer from my activity.

 

PS. Sorry, that I did not describe the error privately. But I wanted to help stubborn players, which will catch all red birds to put them in all brown squares.

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@Chedap

I've got a gross revelation for you. It's not rain water, it's sewage runoff. Something has been clogging the pipes recently. You should go check it out. Although now that I'm doing stuff, I think I'll put more emphasis on that down there. That hour glass thing is funny but I don't think there's much I can do about it, as it's in the water volume of the pipe and as a result "floating" .

 

As for lights, I don't think I can add more light sources, though I'm playing around with dynamic ambient light controlled via zones. If it has good results, I'll add it. Thanks a lot for the input! :)

 

Edit: I had a look at light placements and messed around with dynamic ambient light. In my opinion, I can't make it better. The streets are supposed to be dark at night, and street light is enough for people to see where they are headed. The details in The Commons area shouldn't need any more lightning. If I had built the 'Nobles Quarter' or 'Poor Quarter' as originally intended, the lightning would have been different those places (brighter and darker).

 

@Gamer_x64

Strict maybe isn't the word but as this is my only map to maintain I think I can allow a patch after a few months. Especially when you find that there's an objective that doesn't work. Kind of a deal breaker for me. :P

 

Don't feel bad about reporting bugs in public, that's what the thread is partly here for. Anyone's welcome to send a PM if they are more comfortable that way though.

 

I think there's about 70 TDM missions or so, I haven't played through many myself, but I know there's a lot of fantastic missions.

Edited by Kvorning
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  • 2 weeks later...

Loved this mission. One of my faves for sure, just finished it last night on Expert with all but the "collect all the loot on the map" objective completed. Huge, complex, detailed, and consistent. There are just so many layers to this map it's ridiculous.

 

I really love being able to see through windows in and out of people's homes; this makes a surprising difference in the sense of actually traversing a living space. The only problem is that the outdoors or interiors would disappear through windows at a certain distance. Is that intentional to maintain performance? It was a sudden cut when I got too far away from a window.

 

The sense of discovery and treachery is fantastic, and the lighting schemes for the different quarters and towers are distinct and full of character. I honestly think the writing could use a little cleaning up, but overall everything was communicated well. The layout of the fort seems impractical but very imposing and atmospheric.

 

Nearly 2 hours of play on this one, and time well spent. Stellar work Kvorning!

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Hey Southquarter22,

 

Awesome to hear you enjoyed yourself and took your time while playing. When people are able to spend 2 hours on the map, it makes me quite happy to hear the time was also well spent making it :)

 

I love the concept of having the transparent windows, but I'm actually in the process of removing most of them, so you can only see through some down in the Slums, as performance and the glitchy "popping effect" of the windows in Commons. With proper area design I could have kept it, but there's simply a too big load to keep it. Some of the changes are already listed as v 2.0.1, but the ingame version isn't updated yet.

 

The layout of the Keep does look a bit funny. It's very pretty but it is "pop-gothic design", which is a result of eager building without using real references. I promise that the "final room" in my next mission will not have that issue, though performance will definitely be one.(*tease*)

 

 

Edit: Mirrors are updated for the new version and the notes are in top of the topic.

Edited by Kvorning
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  • 1 month later...

Hi there, just playing through this beautiful mission (Lords and Legacy v.2.0.1) and loving it.

 

Found a cosmetic issue you might might want to look at for the next update

 

There's a missing door, with what I would call the skybox if I were using dromed, visible through the hole.

 

It's in the commons, up on the platform with the generator, past the watchtower with the patrolling guard.

I took a couple of pictures if that helps to locate it

 

lordsnlegacy_door1.jpg

 

lordsnlegacy_door2.jpg

 

It's a really minor thing, just looks a bit strange.

 

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Hey Esme, glad that you're enjoying it and I hope that's the only bug you manage to find ;)

 

Though that one slipped through my fingers, I wont be doing more updates unless future changes to the game force me to.

 

Still, thanks for letting me know!

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@Esme

Thanks man, glad you had enough fun for a revisit :)

 

@Nbohr

I could get it to work, but there was a re-route of some sort :S Updated the direct link in topic though.

 

Yeah Bikerdude updated the ingame mirrors back at the update. Just tested and got the latest version.

Edited by Kvorning
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Hey Kvorning I was wondering are you working on a new FM at the moment?

 

I really loved playing through Lords and Legacy so another FM by you would be a blessing!

Edited by Goldwell
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Yeah, I'm making one with "Deathblade2014"(I really hate that name), but it's not likely to be done anytime soon as work and other projects are keeping this one at a very slow and inconsistent pace.

 

I can however assure you that it went through hell of a grind back in December/January and the overlay of the map is done though, so the hardest part is over. I could share a bunch of screenshots of the process, but I don't want to do spoilers and teasers until I know I can deliver something.

  • Like 1
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The mediafire link is dead.

 

Just checked.

On the official download page (http://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?id=74) and on `mediafire` - updated version. Although one of the "official" links (http://www.southquar...ordsnlegacy.pk4) is very sick for a long time. At least for me. Firefox so long waiting for a connection that I never download FM from 'southquarter'.

Edited by gamer_x64
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Playing this mission atm, and really liking it, great mission. However,

 

i have a little question about the "murderer" objective. I just finished looting the Leary's towers, and finished all objectives there, and i've already been in the slums and common quarters, and haven't found any clues on the murderer thing at all, apart from the notes on the trash bins. From what i can say, i've also been in all the appartments, of course difficult to say, as there are so many windows and places to go, so i could have easily missed something. Any clues?

 

Edited by chk772
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