Fan Mission: Volta II - Cauldron of the Gods by Kingsal (11/30/17) V2.2

[kingsal 538]

acolyte6- In response to your other question:

 

 

Look on the north side of the first floor of the church, there is a hole in the wall near some flames. Go through the hole and head north through the caves and you'll find the key.

 

[NeonsStyle 566]

I finished your mission yesterday and loved it. It was such a great throw back, and felt so nostalgic. I loved the beasties,

and the dialect was awesome. Thanks so much for it.

[sittingduck71 4]

Thank you for this mission, fantastic DP atmosphere!

 

I still think I may have heard a Burrick at one point!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[raymeld 28]

Sorry , don't know how to do a spoiler on this tablet.

Great mission as folks say but I've been seemingly everywhere and killed all the ratmen I can find , and can't find the objective.

If anyone could give a simple clue to save my sanity I'd be grateful!

[CarltonTroisi 31]

Sorry , don't know how to do a spoiler on this tablet.

Great mission as folks say but I've been seemingly everywhere and killed all the ratmen I can find , and can't find the objective.

If anyone could give a simple clue to save my sanity I'd be grateful!

 

You're saying there's another objective besides getting Bellero back to the city!?

 

(I also got the loot objective after grabbing enough booty)

[kingsal 538]

Sorry , don't know how to do a spoiler on this tablet.

Great mission as folks say but I've been seemingly everywhere and killed all the ratmen I can find , and can't find the objective.

If anyone could give a simple clue to save my sanity I'd be grateful!

 

Hey raymeld, here is a hint for the objective:

 

Explore around the main temple, to the east of the large cavern, labeled the "The Cauldron" on your map.

 

 

Once you get past that part and need an additional hint:

 

Head in a northern direction to find Bellero.

 

[Ryan101 16]

A mind bendingly awesome FM. One thing is bothering me, though...

 

 

What do the ancient keys unlock? I looked everywhere!

 

[raymeld 28]

Thank you kingsal!I'ts a fact I'm not great at completing these missions but I still enjoy playing after all these years!

Wonderful mission , but my fingers were getting keyboard numbness after wandering round for hours!

[esme 145]

A mind bendingly awesome FM. One thing is bothering me, though...

 

 

What do the ancient keys unlock? I looked everywhere!

 

 

Near the cauldron there's a metal bridge with a patrolling ratman on it, a little to the side there's a stone bridge, at that bridge face the direction of the cauldron & explore to your left

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by esme

[raymeld 28]

Sorry to bother you again Kingsal. Back on main computer so can add spoiler!

Following your instructions i ended up somewhere I 'd reached before
I've now reached ( again! a large tree with half a dozen rat men , fire outside with ratman crouched by it and ratman with torch guarding entrance .Large entrance in tree , inside itwet area with fluctuating light , path running up right hand side.Ratmen on path.Been up there before and found nothing.Is his body anywhere near here?

Am I close?

[kingsal 538]

Sorry to bother you again Kingsal. Back on main computer so can add spoiler!

Following your instructions i ended up somewhere I 'd reached before

I've now reached ( again! a large tree with half a dozen rat men , fire outside with ratman crouched by it and ratman with torch guarding entrance .Large entrance in tree , inside itwet area with fluctuating light , path running up right hand side.Ratmen on path.Been up there before and found nothing.Is his body anywhere near here?

Am I close?

 

Ah, okay..

 

You are really close. Head towards the top of the tree. You will see a split in the side of the tree with some skulls on spikes (past a couple ratmen). Head into that room and look to your left. There is an opening that leads down some vines. Once you grab Bellero, head back up to the room your were just in and look around for a river of blood. You can jump in that river and it will zip you back to the beginning of that area.

 

[raymeld 28]

Ah, thanks. I was that close the first time , must have turned the wrong way up top , easy for me to do with such a wonderful vista to explore.

At least my compass work was o.k second time round!

What a great mission.Shades of the Lost City without the lava.Thanks for a great experience.Definitely replayable if only to stalk the ratmen with my bow and arrows!

Edited December 22, 2017 by raymeld

[CarltonTroisi 31]

Ah, thanks. I was that close the first time , must have turned the wrong way up top , easy for me to do with such a wonderful vista to explore.

At least my compass work was o.k second time round!

What a great mission.Shades of the Lost City without the lava.Thanks for a great experience.Definitely replayable if only to stalk the ratmen with my bow and arrows!

 

I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed even a well-placed arrow to the head wasn't good enough to take them down; I'd usually need a second shot, by which time the stealth score went way up. (I ended up with an embarrassing score.) Maybe my aim was a little off, or the ratmen were already on alert?

[kingsal 538]

 

I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed even a well-placed arrow to the head wasn't good enough to take them down; I'd usually need a second shot, by which time the stealth score went way up. (I ended up with an embarrassing score.) Maybe my aim was a little off, or the ratmen were already on alert?

 

 

The difficulty levels have a bit to do with how lethal headshots are. I think on normal headshots are lethal, but on hard and expert it requires one shot + another arrow to the body or anywhere else. I'm going to look into getting a little more control over the size of the headshot zone. If I can make it smaller, I might make headshots lethal on the harder difficulties.

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by kingsal

[CarltonTroisi 31]

Sounds like a good idea. Great mission, btw! Nothing beats a grand adventure underground.

 

Do you hope to make this into a full campaign?

[Tarhiel 30]

Just about finished this mission - this is absolutely gorgeous mission with such an attention to detail!

 

So much of the props + rock textures must have been made especially for this mission!

And the atmosphere of the whole place - I loved the design

of the pagan area - the "body of the many" touches and muddy/bodily fluids vibe made it pretty disturbing - one may only think what they do with the bodies there.

 

 

Can somebody post where all the secrets were?

i was able to find 5 out of 7.

 

I think at least one more might be in the

last part of the pagan area, after the portal - I was able to find my last, fifth, secret there on a branch just outside that portal (there is luminescent mushroom nearby to point you in the right direction)

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by Tarhiel

[kingsal 538]

Hey Tarhiel,

 

Here is a list of all the secrets in the level:

 

 

 

1. The Builder's apartment in the street area. Accessed through a window above the pump house.

2. Towards the beginning of the caves there is a large room with 3 octagonal buildings and a beast on patrol (just after you find Bellero's hat by a waterfall). There is a small gem hidden in the eastern building.

3. A small cruciform on the roof of the Builder church in the north part of the caves.

4. South east of the Builder church is a set of 3 octagonal crypt buildings. In the northern building there is a valuable statue. (Accessible by the roof)

5. An invisibility potion inside a building in the large cauldron area. The building is in a row along the north side and is the one closest to the northern entrance. (Accessible by the roof )

6. In the lower crypt area, there is an Ancient Torc on the roof of the large building to the north. You'll need to use a rope arrow or vine arrow to get up there

7. A wooden idol figure located on a tree branch directly after you pass through the portal.

 

Edited January 3, 2018 by kingsal

[CountMorillonite 19]

Hey Tarhiel,

 

Here is a list of all the secrets in the level:

 

 

 

1. The Builder's apartment in the street area. Accessed through a window above the pump house.

2. Towards the beginning of the caves there is a large room with 3 octagonal buildings and a beast on patrol (just after you find Bellero's hat by a waterfall). There is a small gem hidden in the eastern building.

3. A small cruciform on the roof of the Builder church in the north part of the caves.

4. South east of the Builder church is a set of 3 octagonal crypt buildings. In the northern building there is a valuable statue. (Accessible by the roof)

5. An invisibility potion inside a building in the large cauldron area. The building is in a row along the north side and is the one closest to the northern entrance. (Accessible by the roof )

6. In the lower crypt area, there is an Ancient Torc on the roof of the large building to the north. You'll need to use a rope arrow or vine arrow to get up there

7. A wooden idol figure located on a tree branch directly after you pass through the portal.

 

 

I spent a long time playing this mission. Mostly to familiarize myself to the terrain. I was well into it before realizing that there were secrets, and 7 of them !! I got 2 on my own and had to rely on your list for the other 5. The two I got on my own were #2 & #7 on your list.

 

Apparently, there were 3 "Ritual Offering??" side quests. One in the church, one near a waterfall, and one at Secret #1 ( though only a pedestal was situated there, no statue to give instructions). Did I miss a readable about these side missions? It would be easy to miss this as it's not in the Objectives.

 

I was shocked that I got as much as 1734/1942. It's extremely hard to be thorough in this mission. And a loot list would be too difficult to itemize so I won't ask for one. I'm quite happy with my tally.

 

None of these are complaints. I loved the mission and will play it many times in the future.

 

Thx for your missions.

[Mr Mike 11]

I've not tried TDM for a long time (mostly because the lack of any reverb in the audio made everything feel so flat when compared with the original Thief) but I'm itching to try this mission out. Is 2.06 to be released imminently or should I just try this out now? (Not even sure old missions will support any sort of default reverb)

[kingsal 538]

I've not tried TDM for a long time (mostly because the lack of any reverb in the audio made everything feel so flat when compared with the original Thief) but I'm itching to try this mission out. Is 2.06 to be released imminently or should I just try this out now? (Not even sure old missions will support any sort of default reverb)

Hey Mr Mike- This mission does have EAX set-up. You might have to jump through some hoops to get darkmod to work with EAX. Here is a good way to do it.

Edited January 17, 2018 by kingsal

[peter_spy 1499]

Or you could just try it with current 2.06 beta. It was stable enough for the mission to be playable in beta testing stage, and it supports EFX from the get-go.

[CountMorillonite 19]

Or you could just try it with current 2.06 beta. It was stable enough for the mission to be playable in beta testing stage, and it supports EFX from the get-go.

I'm still running 2.05 and EAX 4.0 HD is offered under the Settings menu as either "off" or "on". I have it turned on, so it looks like I don't have to install anything extra. Or is there a special EAX, updated from 4.0 HD that I need ?

[peter_spy 1499]

Depends on your sound card and OS. I don't have a Creative card anymore, and the EFX is the software solution, so it works with any sound card. EAX works only with Creative cards and on windows 7 it requires Creative ALchemy to work.

[CountMorillonite 19]

Depends on your sound card and OS. I don't have a Creative card anymore, and the EFX is the software solution, so it works with any sound card. EAX works only with Creative cards and on windows 7 it requires Creative ALchemy to work.

Does that mean that the EAX option in the settings menu is always there and can be turned on or off, but will not work depending on what the OS and Sound Card is?

 

In my case, I'm using Windows10 Home, and rely on NVIDIA for audio.

[peter_spy 1499]

It might be so. If you don't hear enhanced audio, like in the video below, then it doesn't work.

 

 

It will work in 2.06, regardless of your audio solution. Note that not many missions have EFX set up. You can open PK4 packages with programs like 7-Zip, if you see a folder named "efxs", then it supports enhanced audio.