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Fan Mission: The Painter’s Wife v1.2 by Fractured Glass Company (2020/07/01)


Dragofer

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I am enjoying this very much so far. It took me an evening to even get to the mansion.

One tiny problem: you need to activate the "Open doors on unlock" option. Otherwise the elevator doesn't work correctly (the doors won't open)

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Black writing on dark theme is unreadable Dragofer. 

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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Congratulations again to the creators of this mission, mission like this has not been done yet, both to the scope and complexity.

This was a blast to test and anybody playing this is up for a ride :)

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Oh this is wonderful map. Such a great treat to be given such a large sprawling map full of verticality. Love it. :D

Congratulations on all who participated. Very well done! :D

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I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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@nbohr1more It's now done. I thought I was the only one who still opened threads for TDM FMs on TTLG, but they've always been well-received.

@NeonsStyle Fixed, thanks for pointing out the font issues (resulting from copy-pasting from a Word doc). And also thanks on behalf of everyone for the congratulations :)

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UPDATED 23:50 03/07/2020 TO THINGS RAISED IN THIS BELOW (BUG CATCHING UPDATED/LOCATION HUNT UPDATED/MAP MARKERS UPDATED)

My first impressions on seeing the preview screenshots were "Bloody hell, that's a lot of verticality, this is going to be fun" as some of my favourite aspects of Thief 3 were the downtime exploring the hub city and the rooftops etc.

Load in and hit M to get an idea what I'm looking at, expecting a few streets and some rooftops/windows/shops to peak inside on my way to the manor and ooooooooh boy. Whole city block and more to look go around. And that's where like one of the other folks mentioned I started to get overwhelmed in both the positive and negative sense of the word.

Neither of the shops mentioned in the prologue are marked [they are, the font is just tiny and not hand written like the contact's apartment so playing on a tv across the room as I do could not see the shop labels without walking across the room and peering at the map more closely] which fine doesn't take a genius to figure out the weapons shop is going to be in or near the place marked as the manufacturing area, but the apothecary I only found after blindly wandering around the sewers for hours trying different passages trying to locate the

Spoiler

Hidden Chapel: NOW FOUND - TO FIND EITHER HUG RIGHT HAND WALL AFTER EXITING APOTHECARY OR GO LEFT UP STAIRS AFTER EXITING TOILET VENTS IN GAMBLING DEN AND LOOK UP

that various notes and books keep referencing (which I still haven't been able to locate any sign of as of yet though there are several perma-blocked doors in the sewers and a ladder/gate near them I can't locate a key for as of yet) yet our contact's apartment which has nothing in it seemingly is marked?

At this point I've only covered the upper portion of the map as far down as St Andrew's and Bridge St as like others have said there is just so much content to explore

Spoiler

Assassins to stop [Upper Bridge Street, look for mushrooms], emeralds to steal [out on jealous neighbour's balcony look directly forward and up for entrance OR look above building with broken elevator on upper bridge street], spooky mage towers to pilfer for arcane artefacts I have not found a use for yet and a clock tower with some sort of secret [careful jumps and scaling from small assassin's balcony to get to route to clock tower: once inside starts a hunt for 12 bits of hidden loot around the general area] in addition to the aforementioned hidden subterranean Chapel

I would say that what I've done so far, several hours of exploration and side content does make the whole thing feel a bit... unfocused or more accurately the more I've thought about it like you chaps have created what honestly could be a hub world/location for a legitimate full game. I could easily see myself heading off to different areas with specific missions given and encountering all these hidden nooks and side objectives along the way with the drive of the main directive keeping me moving in one direction to prevent a cascade of discoveries or meandering that swallows the main goal. Wouldn't be anything to stop anyone that wanted to wander the entire city combing it for every optional challenge, story or goodie of course, just add a little structure for those of us that like that in their experience.

This could be achieved with a tweak to the current objectives;

Spoiler

-Gear up (with shops marked on map); this sets the player exploring the upper right portion of the map and everything in it
-Check in at contact's apartment for a photo of Lily so I know who to look for (perhaps have a note/tip off from a friend of the contact in the apartment saying that they've overheard one of the alderman's men trying to set up a meeting with a known blade for hire in the underground gamblers den the Hammer's are trying to find); sets the player moving from top right to middle left of map, gives them chance to bump into info about the thieves hideout and hidden chapel.
- Find the Den/Assassin (Sends player directly across the middle of the map); naturally presents option to access the sewers and so on while getting in to the Den

Don't get me wrong this is an amazing piece of work, just my opinion on how it could be more digestible as I find I have to keep turning the game off to take a breather from the array of things all going on at once.

Bug Catching;

Spoiler

Left Pillar with note attached in Factory Area (one saying the house's furnishings etc are for sale) has no collision

Above this along the ledge that goes over to where the Lion's Head Inn is (has a vent you can short cut through), that wall isn't entirely solid. If you sprint while looking towards the wall of the building the camera clips through

Cistern under Thieve's Hideout, the tunnel you reach for a gold plate underwater the tunnel wall on the inside curve as you pass through the gap in the bars lets the camera through

Inside maintenance shaft that goes up to inside the clock tower; stand up in bit of tunnel after the ladder and your head goes through the ceiling

Apothecary shop, jump on to the top of the work bench, right onto space between ceiling and shelf, crouch turn to face the shop and walk backwards to get out of bounds. You can see the spooky magic area with the half a shipwreck etc from here and the full layout of the sewers.

That's everything for now and I will definitely be finishing this and hopefully have more to add at a later date. Once again overall damn fine work gents.

Edited by Lzocast
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Thanks for the feedback @Lzocast as well as the bug list :) Yeah, it's certainly understandable that one can get a bit overwhelmed or confused about where to go, and we all did work hard on making it so that players could (relatively) easily learn their way around the map. We spent weeks trying to find the best ways to guide the player around but no solution was ever 100% perfect, especially given how large this particular map is. Glad you like it though, and yes, take breaks! I can't imagine finding everything in this map in one go

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@Amadeus No problem mate, I've updated the original post a tad now, anything in bold is corrections or additions to my findings. Bug list has something that I feel is while cool potentially spoilery since I haven't actually discovered how to get to/trigger the thing I have now seen yet xD. Any hints on that?

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Ha, I do know what you're talking about but I definitely won't be giving any hints on that just yet. You'll be pleasantly surprised when you find out for yourself though :)

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I'm currently making my way slowly and haphazardly through this massive mission map. I've had nothing but WOW reactions so many times, but I will say this might be the first mission to make me incredibly aggravated that unlike T1/T2 we cannot make notes or mark on the map in the game, because I keep encountering things that seem usable (but I can't use yet) or locks I cannot pick or just places I know I want to come back to later. And not just one or two of these locations! So I'm left taking notes out of game by either turning a light on (Thiefy blasphemy!) so I can jot a note, or tabbing out of the game. Or simply forgetting about exactly where these places are, which my MS-damaged sieve of a brain is really good at. That's not a negative against this mission, though, simply something I suppose the engine isn't built for. The only negatives I've encountered so far that are specific to this mission have been: 

Spoiler

1. The map is wonderful, and I am so very, very grateful there is an automap location function, but some of the smaller text is incredibly difficult if not impossible to read, and I'm not sitting that far from my monitor.

2. After coming out of the Andersarken area (THAT WAS AMAZING BTW) I could BARELY hear that the PC was making a comment. I had to reload a quicksave I'd made just prior exiting and turn up my speaker volume a LOT to be able to hear his comment on the golden death mask (and I already have both voice volumes up to max)... and then promptly turn down speaker volume because everything else was way too loud. 

I'll be returning to those streets/roofs really soon, and I'll probably be there for days. Marvelous.

Edited by Shaz
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I just can't seem to stay off this too long so here we go for things found and bugs to report;

Spoiler

Assassins to stop [Upper Bridge Street, look for mushrooms up high]

Emerald to steal [out on jealous neighbour's balcony look directly forward and up for entrance OR look above building with broken elevator on upper bridge street]

Spooky mage towers to pilfer for arcane artefacts [No use for mysterious stone yet found; located in top of large tower directly south of Factory area]

Clock tower with some sort of secret [careful jumps and scaling from small assassin's balcony to get to route to clock tower: once inside starts a hunt for 12 bits of hidden loot around the map] 

Chalice in Haunted Chapel [To find either hug right hand wall after exiting apothecary or go left up stairs after going through toilet vents in gambling den and look up]

Time out of Space and also a Face [Look at the miniature on the upper level of the highest accessible balcony apartment on Wycombe Street]

Dimension Door [Take the Mask found above to the wind chime apartments attic and USE on stand. Accessed from St Andrews window and then climbing a roof garden's drainpipe]

Thieves Hideout [Accessible from multiple routes once you find the Cistern chamber in the sewers]

Loot Locations found so far;

Spoiler

1. Wall Garden stained glass window sill

2. Sloan Square via the Wall Garden Vents, look for a roof top nook to the left of the vent exit

3. Wycombe Street via Wall Garden Vents, look at the rooftop to the right of the vent exit

4. Inside the Secret Room accessed with the Death Mask (attic of Wind Chime Apartment Upper Street)

5. St Alban's Scribe Room on top of bookcase (accessed by parkouring over the upper wall)

Bugs;

Spoiler

When climbing wind chime apartment drainpipe the roof to the immediate right has no collision

 

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I've been playing quite a few TDM missions recently, and this one is ... overwhelming. In a good way! I've spent a good few hours exploring the rooftops before eventually making my way down and into some of the lower locations. I oscillate between knowing where I am and being completely lost. Good times :)

Spoiler

A possible bug or, more likely, a misunderstanding on my part: I have Marlow's Letters and want to complete the non-lethal objective. I returned to what I believe is the Courthouse Captain's office (there's a letter on the desk that begins "Your Honour, Your requests are reasonable but ...", and A Draft of New Court Regulations) and have placed Marlow's Letters on the desk, but nothing happens. Do I need to find more evidence?

Spoiler

Another one of my objectives is to collect 4,800 loot and I currently have 4,432. I think I've found 4 of the hidden loot items. Lots of fun and very challenging!

 

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Any chance of getting a HD copy of the map? Be great on the 2nd monitor :)

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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6 hours ago, NeonsStyle said:

Any chance of getting a HD copy of the map? Be great on the 2nd monitor :)

Sure, here is the map file in 2048x2048. I'll check whether an even higher res original can be found somewhere. (Probably ought to revise some of the annotations in an update).

Spoiler

IzqCROe.png

@Bumbling Thief

Spoiler

There are 2 desks in that courthouse, I think you may be working with the wrong one when it comes to placing the evidence. Should robably just make them both viable.

@kin

Spoiler

A voiceover is played when you see the wife.

 

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Thanks, that's very helpful. 👍 Ingame, the map appears pretty small, so that you can hardly read some of the text.

Think I'll just restart the mission. All that straying around has really led me to a dead end, so to say. Need a more tidy approach.

Edited by chakkman
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Thank you :D

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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Congrats guys! This thing is one beast of mission and well worth the time. Lots of incredible scenery and just an enormous amount of exploration. Not too mention some unbelievable secrets. 

 

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I could really use hints for some things I am unable to find the key (or switch or what have you) to open:

Spoiler

1. Display in Harwoode's gallery

2. Thief's stash (have what I assume is the key for the trunk inside, but I cannot open the door)

3. Sewer door below Marlow's manor

Thanks much for either nudges or blatant answers, because I can't figure out any of those for the life of me!

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@Dragofer that makes sense, I don't know why it never occurred to me. Thanks very much!

I still have a lot to explore, and my only issue is that the map is so large and detailed that I lose track of where things are. I'll start making annotations on the hi-res map :)

This mission has really stuck in my head, it's been on my mind even when I'm not playing. Thanks again, it's fantastic.

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@Shaz

 

49 minutes ago, Shaz said:

I could really use hints for some things I am unable to find the key (or switch or what have you) to open:

  Hide contents

1. Display in Harwoode's gallery

2. Thief's stash (have what I assume is the key for the trunk inside, but I cannot open the door)

3. Sewer door below Marlow's manor

Thanks much for either nudges or blatant answers, because I can't figure out any of those for the life of me!

Spoiler

1. Assuming this is for the emerald, the keyhole you need to pick is on the stand the case sits on. Crouch and look to the right hand side

2. Both key for door and chest are in the boss lady's bedroom

3. Look for a power/tool room then a work bench in Marlow's basement. They key is hanging up on that work bench.

 

Edited by Lzocast
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Thanks, Lzocast. I didn't check past the obvious door on the stand of the first one, but the other two, I scoured those locations for the keys. Two or three times each, because they seemed to be likely locations, but obviously unsuccessfully. Once more unto the breach!

EDIT: Found the keys, but I do have to say that sometimes TDM makes *seeing* keys pretty painful. The sewer key blended in so well to its background that I might have never seen it had I not been told it was there. I really wish keys could stand out more.

Thanks again, Lzocast. All that's left is for me to decide if I'm up for finding more Hidden Loot items!

Edited by Shaz
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