Fan Mission: Volta II - Cauldron of the Gods by Kingsal (11/30/17) V2.3

[kingsal]

Hello everyone! I'm excited to bring you Cauldron of the Gods, the second mission in the Volta series.

This mission is large, so I'd expect anywhere from 1.5 - 2+ hours depending on your play style.

**Hard and Expert difficulties increase AI awareness, patrols, and amount of health potions in the level.**

 

 

Version 2.3 (requires 2.12)

Available in the in-game downloader or HERE

 

Credits:

Vocals:

Andrew Bartmess - The Thief / Narrator

Goldwell - Bellero / Drunk Nobleman

Yandros - The Manbeasts

Modeling:

Epifire - Builder props

Drdocker - Rock models

**See cauldron_v1/models/model_credits.txt for full list.

Music Credit:

Ghast, Gigagooga, Sephy, Spadey

**See cauldron_v1/sound/sound_credits.txt for full list.

Scripting help:

Obsttorte, SteveL

 

Special thanks to these awesome beta testers:

Bikerdude, Boilder's_hiss, Epifire, DrDocker, FinalBoss, Goldwell, Judith, Springheel

 

New to TDM?

-I'd recommend playing the tutorial and Volta 1: The Stone before playing this this mission.

 

Stuck or having a problem?

 

Please post spoiler free in the thread below. Gameplay tweaks, new mechanics, and known issues are in the readme file.

 

 

Tips:

 

 

- You can use the flint in your inventory to ignite flammable objects by selecting the flint and hitting the "use" button close to the object.

- The sporebomb will burst when thrown at hard objects, such as rock or metal. However, if thrown at soft natural surfaces such as grass, sand, mud it will bloom to create a larger area of effect.

- The invisibility potion lasts about 8 seconds. Enemies can still hear you moving when its activated.

- The vine arrows in this FM have a larger grow radius and can be used on rock and wood surfaces.

- Pick up bodies by highlighting them and pressing the "use" button

- Keep an eye out for stuff on the ground like equipment and readable scrolls!

 

 

 

A couple screen shots:

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy it!

-Kingsal

Edited October 27, 2024 by kingsal

[Springheel]

Congrats on the release! This is going to blow people's socks off.

[Durandall]

Loved the first one, can't wait to get into this. So many missions in recent months, I need to find some Dark Mod time and catch up.

[BuckleBean]

Congrats, looks great!

[nbohr1more]

OMG!

 

Is this real life?

 

We have a triple "A" release here!

[Goldwell]

FM page created and uploaded to the official servers.

[peispud]

I agree with the triple "A" rating. This really hits the bulls-eye with classic Thief look and game play. Eidos Montreal should take a look at how it's done.

[Melan]

Congrats! This is really something.

[peter_spy]

It was pure pleasure to test this FM. Kingsal proved again that he really understands design and aesthetic aspects that made Thief: The Dark Project unique. What is more important, he proved that you can successfully bring these into TDM and make an enjoyable mission. Volta I and II are solid proof that legacy of Thief can live on in TDM.

 

If you want to convince a DromEder to switch to TDM, this is what you should show By the way, there should be a mission thread on TTLG forums as well.

[Bikerdude]

Kingsal proved again that he really understands design and aesthetic aspects that made Thief: The Dark Project unique. What is more important, he proved that you can successfully bring these into TDM and make an enjoyable mission. Volta I and II are solid proof that legacy of Thief can live on in TDM.

 

If you want to convince a DromEder to switch to TDM, this is what you should show By the way, there should be a mission thread on TTLG forums as well.

Totally Agree, @Kingsal you should post the FM annoucenment over on the TTLG if you havent done so already.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Bikerdude

[Epifire]

Indeed some of the very best exploration elements of the early Thief games. In my honest opinion Cauldron has improved on the same formula and expanded in others. A great change up to the first installment and definitely a worthy successor in the Volta series.

 

Glad to have been involved where I could be. Looking forward to whatever comes next!

[lowenz]

We got a new masterpiece for winter holidays, guys?

Edited December 1, 2017 by lowenz

[grayman]

Congrats! Can't wait to play this.

[AluminumHaste]

I played a bit of the beta but was stopped by some SVN bugs, will gladly give this another go, I LOVE Volta 1

[Heuli]

Hi i am german people sorry my englisch. you are the king i love the mission Danke

[kingsal]

Thanks everyone! I will get this posted over at TTLG today.

 

Edit: Kin beat me to it! http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148479&p=2378019#post2378019

Edited December 1, 2017 by kingsal

[Goldwell]

Congratulations on the release Kingsal!

 

This mission is very well done, taking many pages out of the Thief: The Dark Project design book and mixing them with your own unique touch.

 

The custom artwork, briefing video, AI, ambient music and SFX are all very high quality, true to the thief universe and cohesively implemented with a level of polish that makes this feel more unique than any other TDM mission before it.

 

The level design is well thought out, intuitive and fun to play. On each playthrough I found myself coming back and discovering new things that I missed before. So there is plenty of replay value here too.

 

Overall a very enjoyable experience, well done Kingsal, you've done an incredible job here!

[kingsal]

UPDATE: Skacky over at TTLG has reported a crash late in the level. I've not been able to reproduce it on my own, but please make hard saves every so often as a precaution. Im getting the crash looked at and will hopefully be able to address it in an update. Thanks!

Edited December 1, 2017 by kingsal

[Bikerdude]

Edit: Kin beat me to it! http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148479&p=2378019#post2378019

He always does :-D

Edited December 1, 2017 by Bikerdude

[Taquito.]

Seriously!? :o

[chakkman]

Congrats on the release! This is going to blow people's socks off.

 

The screenshots do already... awesome atmosphere.

[Oktokolo]

Played on 2.06 with soft shadows enabled:

 

 

The mission really feels a lot like dark project. And i like ruined underground cities. Also loved the maple syrup river and monster tree idea. My blackjack got dusty though.

Spent 5 hours until i found the drunken bastard and got him to the elevator (did a lot of sightseeing and target practice on the way in). I was so lucky that i am not a ghoster (but with a lot of patience and saves it might be ghostable).

 

Had some issues that might or might not go away as 2.06 gets out of beta:

I got stuck on geometry a lot. I had to spam the mantle key a lot of times and even needed to noclip on a dozen occasions.

Textures looked pretty washed out on a lot of surfaces.

The stone door does not open when i use the ancient key on the "rod" next to it. Tried attaching keys to the rods on both sides of the wall.

Spore bomb radius is rather short. Have to hit the target above the legs to actually affect it. And TDM hasn't the best throwing mechanics.

The fungus lights are brighter than street lamps and seem to have a comparable illumination radius.

There are a lot of locations featuring lights without a visible source.

Electric lights' mounts are invisible. They look like hovering midair.

Most streams that look like they should have some impulse do not seem to have one.

Sewer water reflects some reddish environment that is not there.

 

 

[Goldwell]

Played on 2.06 with soft shadows enabled:

 

 

The mission really feels a lot like dark project. And i like ruined underground cities. Also loved the maple syrup river and monster tree idea. My blackjack got dusty though.

Spent 5 hours until i found the drunken bastard and got him to the elevator (did a lot of sightseeing and target practice on the way in). I was so lucky that i am not a ghoster (but with a lot of patience and saves it might be ghostable).

 

Had some issues that might or might not go away as 2.06 gets out of beta:

I got stuck on geometry a lot. I had to spam the mantle key a lot of times and even needed to noclip on a dozen occasions.

Textures looked pretty washed out on a lot of surfaces.

The stone door does not open when i use the ancient key on the "rod" next to it. Tried attaching keys to the rods on both sides of the wall.

Spore bomb radius is rather short. Have to hit the target above the legs to actually affect it. And TDM hasn't the best throwing mechanics.

The fungus lights are brighter than street lamps and seem to have a comparable illumination radius.

There are a lot of locations featuring lights without a visible source.

Electric lights' mounts are invisible. They look like hovering midair.

Most streams that look like they should have some impulse do not seem to have one.

Sewer water reflects some reddish environment that is not there.

 

 

 

 

 

Re: The spore bomb, I found it worked best if you hit the ground near the target, like a hard surface. That causes a decently sized cloud of gas to appear and knockout multiple enemies even. Also if you hold down the use key it throws the spore bomb further, I had no idea the throwing mechanics in TDM worked like that but it makes it a lot easier to throw knowing that.

 

 

[kingsal]

Played on 2.06 with soft shadows enabled:

 

 

The mission really feels a lot like dark project. And i like ruined underground cities. Also loved the maple syrup river and monster tree idea. My blackjack got dusty though.

Spent 5 hours until i found the drunken bastard and got him to the elevator (did a lot of sightseeing and target practice on the way in). I was so lucky that i am not a ghoster (but with a lot of patience and saves it might be ghostable).

 

Had some issues that might or might not go away as 2.06 gets out of beta:

I got stuck on geometry a lot. I had to spam the mantle key a lot of times and even needed to noclip on a dozen occasions.

Textures looked pretty washed out on a lot of surfaces.

The stone door does not open when i use the ancient key on the "rod" next to it. Tried attaching keys to the rods on both sides of the wall.

Spore bomb radius is rather short. Have to hit the target above the legs to actually affect it. And TDM hasn't the best throwing mechanics.

The fungus lights are brighter than street lamps and seem to have a comparable illumination radius.

There are a lot of locations featuring lights without a visible source.

Electric lights' mounts are invisible. They look like hovering midair.

Most streams that look like they should have some impulse do not seem to have one.

Sewer water reflects some reddish environment that is not there.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback and for playing.

 

 

 

- You wouldn't happen to have screenshots of the areas you got stuck would you? Because that would be pretty helpful.

- The stone door might be a 2.06 problem, but Ill take a look at it.

- The other stuff I may or may not address in an update.

 

 

[kingsal]

**updated to 1.1

- This was mostly to fix a rare crash happening in the level and a few other minor things. (Thanks to Grayman for the help)

- See the readme for a complete list.

 

Unfortunately, I have to strongly recommend playing this in 2.05 for now. I know the mission will work in 2.06, but it (nor 2.06 for that matter) have been well-tested and you might experience crappy bugs

Edited December 2, 2017 by kingsal