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Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors - by Bikerdude & the Crucible Team (updated 18/12/2015)


Bikerdude

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Why not just enjoy the mission and ignore the minor bugs

Why not improve something, get it ever closer to perfection? Updating bugs and imperfections upon final release seems like the obvious thing to do for these kinds of campaigns anyway. Of course, if there is no wish and the product is already considered to be good enough, that's a valid choice also. That said, I only noticed one bug myself so far:

A lady sleeping in the air, about 2 feet above the bed. Very conspicuous lol.

That funny thing aside, it's quite a blast so far. I am taking one route and Fen took a completely different route. I can already feel a high replay value. I'm at a point in my gaming life where I only play big releases and maybe don't even play those fully through, but I am enjoying the heck out of this so far and now that it's Christmas time, I'm going to even finish this.

 

One question: is this a planned to be the thing to introduce newcommers with? Like the "OMs" that define this game? Or do you reckon it's past that point and are simply making one hell of a campaign? I ask this because partially cause it seems like a fairly difficult first mission to throw a new player into. Also this seems quite big for something with the name "prologue" attached to it. Is it smaller than I think it is or is it just tiny compared to what is to come? :P

 

Edit: LOL, I love this mission. I just had the goofiest moment I've ever had in TDM. I alerted some guys, jumped into the canal, sneaked back out, waited in the dark for the most alert guy to deal with the fact that he lost me and when he finally did and walked by me I blackjacked him (I was standing in the dark almost perpendicular to direction he was facing) - he stopped and contemplated what had just happened. I stood there as well for like 3-5 seconds, contemplating if he's really not going to kill me. Then I blackjacked again and he fell down. I had no idea someone would fall at 2 knocks, lol, especially since both were identical. I'm guessing it's cause he had been alerted, but that really took me by surprise.

Edited by Thor
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Would someone mind putting up a normal link to download it?

I only have internet access at work & it'd be nice to download it without opening the game up.

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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Would someone mind putting up a normal link to download it?

I only have internet access at work & it'd be nice to download it without opening the game up.

 

They are on the missions page:

 

http://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?id=105

 

EG:

 

http://www.southquarter.com/tdm/fms/bcd.pk4

 

:)

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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I still have lots to explore, but a couple of minor errors while I'm thinking about them:

  • The book on alchemy is called #str 08615.
  • I wandered into Lazarova's home by chance; my character immediately knew somehow and I got a new objective to find something inciminating. However, even after I completed that objective, the objective to find out where she is remains active and incomplete. Edit: or maybe it looks as though it does because of bug #3254; I didn't try going to the exit point.

The second one highlights how much non-linear exploration there is in this map. :smile:

Edited by VanishedOne

Some things I'm repeatedly thinking about...

 

- louder scream when you're dying

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@Bikerdude, it's the left side of the gable where the dormers are (top-left) in that first screenshot. Sorry, I did think of red circling it but I was in a hurry and I wanted to make sure to take a wide enough shot so the place in the map is recognizable. As an aside you can mantle onto the thatched roof leading to that gable and you'll go out of visportal bounds and the game will do its usual "freeze for a minute while all the visportals open".

 

@nbohr, indeed, it works okay when you lower it in game, it's when you set it at the menu and then attempt to start the mission is when it crashes.

 

OK, I was able to fix this with one or both of the following changes:

 

Replace "min_lod_bias" "1" with "min_lod_bias" "1.0" or removed the min_lod_bias arg from the moveable crate.

I didn't think that was a limitation of the system but I guess it's a bug for now.

 

Uploading a fixed mission pack to my dropbox now.

 

Edit:

 

Here is the fixed version:

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17706561/bcd.pk4

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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  1. Why not improve something, get it ever closer to perfection? Updating bugs and imperfections upon final release seems like the obvious thing to do for these kinds of campaigns anyway. Of course, if there is no wish and the product is already considered to be good enough, that's a valid choice also.

One question: is this a planned to be the thing to introduce newcommers with? Like the "OMs" that define this game? Or do you reckon it's past that point and are simply making one hell of a campaign?

Also this seems quite big for something with the name "prologue" attached to it. Is it smaller than I think it is or is it just tiny compared to what is to come? :P

I alerted some guys, jumped into the canal, sneaked back out, waited in the dark for the most alert guy to deal with the fact that he lost me and when he finally did and walked by me I blackjacked him (I was standing in the dark almost perpendicular to direction he was facing) - he stopped and contemplated what had just happened. I stood there as well for like 3-5 seconds, contemplating if he's really not going to kill me.

  1. Any fixable bugs that are not MOD bugs will be fixed in the new year.

The campaign overall is challenging and difficulty levels high than the TDM norm. So in that regard yes, The idea is to partially break-in players, so they know what to exspect in subsequent missions. That said myself and the tam will endever to beta test will new players/lerkers so its not so hard as to annoy.

The campaign missions are all as large/massive as this one, and atm there are potentially 8 more in the works.

heh, awesome. That will be TDM 2.03 showing its colours.

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One question: is this a planned to be the thing to introduce newcommers with? Like the "OMs" that define this game? Or do you reckon it's past that point and are simply making one hell of a campaign? I ask this because partially cause it seems like a fairly difficult first mission to throw a new player into. Also this seems quite big for something with the name "prologue" attached to it. Is it smaller than I think it is or is it just tiny compared to what is to come? :P

This is not meant to be a beginners' mission (although let's face it, TDM will mostly be played by Thief vets), so we just want to make a campaign that's memorable and fun.

 

It is a prologue mission because it is not connected to the main storyline. Otherwise, ironically, it is one of the largest missions we have produced so far - the rest are large enough, but most are just slightly smaller than this one.

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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Are there any secrets in this mission?

Edit: Forgot to mention that I haven't come across any bugs. Plays tremendously well and is amazing in all its nooks and crannies.

Edited by llanita

fosig_zpshhfnjs18.png

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If you mean 'secrets' in the Thief II sense, TDM doesn't have them unless a mapper uses a custom script to track them (I think The Heart of Lone Salvation and A House of Locked Secrets are the ones that do this; presumably there's some sort of HoLS club).

Some things I'm repeatedly thinking about...

 

- louder scream when you're dying

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This is one of the few missions I feel an immediate need to replay, so sprawling and intricate it is. I took a particular path which eventually proved difficult to break off from, but I could easily see myself going another way. I particularly like how it's made difficult to hit all the optional objectives going along one's chosen path, as if they should just remain targets of opportunity (though the expert loot objective seems to demand that you do a bit of backtracking) while keeping to the main goal.

 

In terms of plot, I feel as if this mission would benefit from in-game conversations, rather than just readables, though I know that's a lot more difficult to pull off than just jotting down a text file. Still, something other than readables would have helped increase the mystery with Lazarova.

 

For a prologue, this was stupefying in its size and presentation. I can't wait to see where you guys go from here.

 

 

Also, what's the deal with the hidden Valkyrie sword? I found it completely by accident, but it seems to serve no real purpose in the mission and, indeed, vanished from my inventory as soon as I picked it up. I felt gratified for finding it, but is it only an easter egg or something?

 

 

Oh and I suppose I should mention that I had to restart this level at least once due to a gamebreaking bug. I got it by quickloading once, and the game claimed it couldn't load a body or some such, because it was already present. Weird, and it didn't repeat on my second try, so... *shrug*

Edited by Ryan101
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  1. This is one of the few missions I feel an immediate need to replay, so sprawling and intricate it is. I took a particular path which eventually proved difficult to break off from, but I could easily see myself going another way. I particularly like how it's made difficult to hit all the optional objectives going along one's chosen path, as if they should just remain targets of opportunity (though the expert loot objective seems to demand that you do a bit of backtracking) while keeping to the main goal.

In terms of plot, I feel as if this mission would benefit from in-game conversations, rather than just readables, though I know that's a lot more difficult to pull off than just jotting down a text file. Still, something other than readables would have helped increase the mystery with Lazarova.

For a prologue, this was stupefying in its size and presentation. I can't wait to see where you guys go from here.

Also, what's the deal with the hidden Valkyrie sword? I found it completely by accident, but it seems to serve no real purpose in the mission and, indeed, vanished from my inventory as soon as I picked it up. I felt gratified for finding it, but is it only an easter egg or something?

Oh and I suppose I should mention that I had to restart this level at least once due to a gamebreaking bug. I got it by quickloading once, and the game claimed it couldn't load a body or some such, because it was already present. Weird, and it didn't repeat on my second try, so... *shrug*

  1. nice.

getting people who wanted to do it who did the original voices of some of the Ai would have taken time, then getting the recording done more time. So while a nice idea, I didnt have the time or the motivation at this stage - I just wanted it out the door. Count your chickens that it got completed at all.

yup, thats the idea!

It was origianlly a bonus objective, but due the 16 objectives bug in 2.03 I have to turn it into a hidden peice of loot - blame the mod not the mission.

another mod bug, not a problem with the mission :mellow:

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Very very nice!

And a very nice vertical map layout with a lot of options where and how to proceed. Awesome!

Just one question:

 

I had the objective (on hardest difficulty) to follow that female thug in the inn.

But I did not spot anyone and had to find my way on my own. Did I miss her? Should I have approached her in the Taverne launge, maybe?

 

 

And a rather annoying bug:

 

Within the Inventors Guild house, accessible via the starecase in the blue hall,

there is a room with two guards playing cards and a third one sleeping in his bed.

On a bed in that room is a CURSED letter. If you frob it, then you are busted.

You can't select a weapon or bring up your inventory or do anything else.

Not even a blank page shows up nor can you drop that cursed letter.

All you can do is to reload a previous savegame

 

 

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I have almost finished this one, but will already post my experiences with it:

 

The good:

 

Gorgeous graphics, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge city, vertical gameplay (Melan lead designer? :P), so many places to explore, detailed readables, detailed interiors (and exteriors), the effort that was put into this one is easy to recognize and many more things I guess

 

 

The bad:

 

It is easy to get lost, the mission almost feels too long (if that is even possible), the same desk with the switch to open the hidden place behind the books is used like 5 times (really?), It feels like this whole project is way too ambitious and bound to never be finished

 

 

The ugly:

 

 

Some really nasty bugs, minor ones like the chair on the highest floor of the inn falling through the ground and big ones like the one mentioned by gnartsch located in the guards room of the big mansion, where a letter on one of the beds will deactivate all of your weapons and inventory as well as the ability to open the door again after trying to read it

 

 

The conclusion:

 

 

I hope this wont be misunderstood, this is a great mission with great design, 5/5 in all categories for me, but if you really want to design all missions of this campaign like the prologue, the whole thing might be released in 2050 :P

 

Edited by Cookie
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Hi again, Just wanted to know if all the map is accessible? I can't seem to find my way down to the SW section.

(south of Lazarova's)

, I just need to know if that area is accessible. If so, Im going to love finding my way down there. Thanks so much for an amazing fm. I'm still wandering around and I've gone way past 3 hours of gameplay which is positively divine!!!!! :D :smugbert:

fosig_zpshhfnjs18.png

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llanita:

Not in this mission.

 

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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Updated with a fix for the broken guard readable and alchemy book label:

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17706561/bcd.pk4

 

I tried to do it properly with translation strings but I got a blank page so one readable is not translatable for now.

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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I've had lots of fun playing the mod, and such a city it's like I was in thief 1 again. It took me about 2 days on expert, got all the objectives. I also enjoy our hero's narration here and there. (I'm looking around the forum for that spoiler function)(as soon as I figure out that.....)

test....you never read this

 

Edited by Lord Stenvaagi
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