Fan Mission: Penny Dreadful 2 by Melan and Bikerdude (2014/07/8)

[Melan]

Penny Dreadful is a fan mission series dealing with the exploits and misfortunes of Gerald Foxley, lowlife and common opportunist. To stick with the theme of lurid and disreputable pulp literature, these missions are planned to be nasty, brutish and short (more or less). They also allow me to experiment with gameplay ideas which do not fit TDM standards.

In the first episode, The Grail of Regrets, what started out as a routine case of extortion ended with Gerald in the possession of the eponymous Grail. In the second, we will quickly learn that his newfound fortunes would be even shorter than anticipated...

All the Way Up

"Some say sudden wealth is a blessing, but those people are suckers. Me, I am the more careful kind. So when it turned out The Grail of Regrets, this sinister relic I dug up from a long-forgotten undercellar, brought in an unexpected number of the rich and influential, I knew my only course of action was to sell, and do it quickly.

My best offer came from Archibald Flint, the boss of Fiddler's Hill and its merry men: one of the bigger names in the business, and as they say, the occult. Not that I would say no: if a man like him wants something, an independent can only hold out so long as he has contacts left - or fingers. Trouble is, someone else also wanted to do him a favour...

On my way to Fiddler's Hill, I took a shortcut through Willett's Bridge, an antique thoroughfare bypassing some of the slums I wanted to avoid. The place enjoys a bad reputation - high tolls, confiscated cargo, and a series of gruesome accidents. Not the best place to be seen carrying a precious relic, but when you are in a hurry it is easy to make mistakes.

The ramshackle mansion above belongs to a man named Messer Montrose, a factor who lords over the place with a group of thugs, and whose contacts with the Bailiff of the nearby jail has made him above the law. His men were waiting for me high above the city, and after a savage beating, threw me over the bridge down into the muddy streets. And so..."

Download links:
MEGA (43 MB)

...and the mission downloader!

***Performance warning***:due to its construction, this mission's hardware requirements exceed the TDM baseline. The mission has been tested on a variety of configurations, and generally produces acceptable frame rates on contemporary or slightly out of date hardware. Some older PCs may experience significant slowdowns in the open areas, which may render the mission unplayable for some people. I offer my apologies for this inconvenience -- optimalisation should be credited to Bikerdude, while the remaining problems are all mine. You will need TDM 2.02 to play this mission.

Notes:

• There are multiple ways to accomplish your objectives, and even more to explore the mission - although some are less obvious than others.
• There are no lockpicks in this mission, as Foxley can't use them; also, he is no master thief when it comes to stealth - be careful! Brute force, if necessary, is legitimate.
• There is no poll to rate the mission because I do not believe in them. Your comments are welcome in writing, however!
• You can find my concept art in the PK4 file. These images obviously contain heavy spoilers.
• This mission series predates, and is thus unrelated to the Penny Dreadful TV series.

Special thanks: to my testers; Airship Ballet, AluminumHaste, Lux, Obsttorte, Premier, Skacky and Xarg for detailed and thorough feedback, which has been invaluable. Springheel for the custom GUI and loading screen, RJFerret for help with objectives, Goldchocobo & Co. for voice acting, Grayman for gib generation and, last but not least, the Canon Texture Project for various canonical textures.

 

1.1 update note: This mission has been released in an updated version. This update contains a number of small bugfixes, it adds slightly more equipment on lower difficulties, and cuts down on file size by removing duplicate assets which have been incorporated into the TDM core since the mission's release (43 instead of 102 MB!). Thanks are due to my testers, Bikerdude, lowenz, nbohr1more and Oldjim.

[Vae]

Downloaded...Will play this evening...

[Bikerdude]

The mission is now available via the in-game downloader and to help you get in the mood, here is the awesome trailer for PD2 produced by our very own Goldwell.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmPfCfbeWvg

[Goldwell]

Congrats on the release!

[chakkman]

The mission is now available via the in-game downloader and to help you get in the mood, here is the awesome trailer for PD2 produced by our very own Goldwell.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmPfCfbeWvg

Wow, that really gave me goose bumps. Looking forward to play it.

[grayman]

Congrats, guys!!

[SteveL]

Gratz guys! I'm currently downloading, which is v slow. Due to demand I expect

 

Update: the in-game downloader took 15 mins to get to 29%. Got it from the Mega link instead.

Edited July 8, 2014 by SteveL

[Lux]

Congratulations on another superb FM release!

[Dunedain19]

Congratulations on both the release and what is an excellent mission!

[Oktokolo]

A well done mission.

 

It was a bit of a key hunt for me but it well fit the scenario and i liked to sneak around collecting all that valuables, keys and equipment. Was a good idea to provide multiple places to find basic tools. I missed the lockpicking a lot (i know, it's story-related).

 

I purposedly let the vineseller's door open and "his" spiders attacked a guard. After killing the spiders, the guard switched into frency mode (maybe he got poisoned) and either killed or got killed by another guard. Nice idea to provide that sort of use-once "weapon" to the player.

 

The geometry really looked realistic and there where loads of persons with logically sound backgrounds.

But guards did the weirdest of things on patrol. Sometimes i saw three of them piling up behind the kitchen's door in the tower with that bridge. Often guards collided and got stuck on each other for some time. But i updated to 2.02 just before i started this mission, so that could be the reason for the unexpected AI behaviour.

 

Got three minor graphic glitches:

Transparent wall in the small guard house:

 

Missing mortar in arch near beggar:

 

Wall part not reaching the floor near spawn point:

 

And i really need to know: Where are the keys for the armory and the mansion with the well lit guarded entrance and garden?

Completet the mission accidently by visiting a gate in the bridge tower but got a save near that temporal location to try any hints about that keys...

 

 

[SteveL]

I only got part way through last night before reluctantly saving and having to go to bed, but I thought I'd stop by to say what a wonderful job! Probably the most atmospheric start to a mission I've played. The thieves' highway is great. No performance issues either. My machine isn't new but I've only found one spot where fps dropped below 40 and i had to back into a corner to get a view down two streets to make that happen. It's beautiful, great job. I'm drinking in every detail. And I've not even found the target destination yet :-)

[GUFF]

I can't figure out where the mission ends. Approaching either gate (on the high bridge or outside where the notice is posted) will not end the mission after all objectives have been completed aside from the optional loot objective. If it helps the ways I completed the objectives were

Poisoned the wine cask with the hemlock vial and broke Scissor Jack out of his jail cell, rather than killing the two.

Was playing on Expert, too, if that helps.

 

Other than this, great mission. Was hard at times to figure out where to go at times.but not excessively so.

[Melan]

Hm. You have to be standing

 

right under the archway to the gate in the small street behind Montrose mansion.

 

 

Double-checked if there was a problem with the loot goal (it used to be mandatory by accident), but nope.

[Aswand]

Thanks. Been looking forward to this.

[Obsttorte]

Got the same problem as Guff, can't finish the mission.

 

I've been taking a look in the map file. Are you sure your setup for the Escape goal works (It reads like no entities of spawnclass idPlayer ..., a bit odd).

[esme]

Ditto, can't get the exit to trigger

 

I'm assuming this is the exit as I've tried every other one

 

 

 

 

Also found what I assume is an easter egg

a mine and a couple of fire arrows next to a fish mural and instructions on the wall about what to do with them

 

Edited July 11, 2014 by esme

[Bikerdude]

@Guff/Obs/Esme, something else is going on here as neither melan, myself or the beta testers had this issue. have you completed all the objectives?

 

Can you guys upload your savegame's so I can have a look, also what difficylty levels were you all playing play on?

[TheUnbeholden]

How do I get into the second city section, beyond that gate? There doesn't appear to be any way to open the gate, and I've already completed all the objectives, unless there is somekind hidden optional objective. I know theres a point to that sewer section, like that room I can see passed the grate, and there has to be way to get on the other side of all that.. maybe you should have provided a easier way passed all that, and even though I usually hate it when fidcal does key hunts, here I found it tolerable because there wasn't to many to find and the way is more or less clear after the initial ridiculous jump across to that small gap, and then another jump onto that bridge.

Edited July 11, 2014 by TheUnbeholden

[Bikerdude]

• How do I get into the second city section, beyond that gate? There doesn't appear to be any way to open the gate,
  
• I know theres a point to that sewer section, like that room I can see passed the grate and there has to be way to get on the other side of all that..
  

• When you get to that location, look up you taffer!
  
• There are lots of places to explore that can be considered optional and you get little rewards for finding them as well as discovering some
  secret places
   
  
• It is very worthwhile exploring the whole mission as it all plays a part in the over arching storyline that started with PD1 and will continue in the subsequent missions in the series.
  

[Vae]

I can confirm the issue with not being able to exit the map when objectives have been completed. Also, the transparent wall in the guard house.

[Bikerdude]

I can confirm the issue with not being able to exit the map when objectives have been completed. Also, the transparent wall in the guard house.

What objectives did you complete..? and what level did you play on..?

[Vae]

Played on hard...assassinated both guys...Did not complete the optional loot goal.

[Bikerdude]

Played on hard...assassinated both guys...Did not complete the optional loot goal.

As per my post to Guff/Obs/Esme, can you PM me a copy of your save game please.

[Vae]

Sure thing.

[GUFF]

Sent you my savefile.