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

[Tuomas]

God knows since when have I last registered or posted on a traditional internet forum, but had to do so to pay my respects for the developers and map makers of this game. I have no history of the original thief series, and had no expectations for the mod. This is the first FM I played. After running around in a bit of a haste, becoming increasingly desperate of the complexity of the map, I learned to enjoy the feeling of being lost, calmed down and started to pay attention to the surroundings and listening to the ambient sounds and music. It is a truly immersive experience.

I do have to admit that I could not find the entrance to the mansion, and had to resolve to a walkthrough to figure out how to enter, and at the end of the day did not manage to finish the mission.

This mod is a great achievement, thank you for all the work and passion you have put into it.

[chakkman]

Uh, you surely didn't pick the easiest map to start with.  This is more like bat shit crazy complexity. Kudos for persevering and even enjoying it though. It's a nice mission. It's just... big and complex.

[duzenko]

How do I open the secret door in the

Spoiler

attic on Lower St.?

Is there an object to put on a forbable item next to it?

Is there a secret switch in the desk below?

?

[Amadeus]

Spoiler

43 minutes ago, duzenko said:

Is there an object to put on a forbable item next to it?

 

Yeah, so if you are in the attic I believe you're in then yes, there is an object you need to find in the map and then place it there. I don't want to be too spoilery but I'll send you off in the right direction:

 

Spoiler

Check the study in one of the upper tenements on Wycombe Street

 

 

[datiswous]

A while back I made subtitles for this fm, but it was never included (I think it was going to be included in some update that did not happen). So I decided now to upload it here. Feel free to tweak the files if they're not to your liking. Plonk the pk4 in the mission's folder to activate.

subtitles_tpw.pk4

[nbohr1more]

The subtitles have been added in the mission database.

[MayheM]

Not sure if this is a bug or my computer doesn't have enough memory. When I try to extinguish one of those blue fire elementals, the game ends and goes to main menu without showing anything. I checked the console and here is an error I found that might be related to this:

Error:idafentity_base::setmodel: model imp_explosion_blue.prt is not modelDef

 

 

Edited June 7, 2025 by MayheM

[Bikerdude]

@MayheM

Can you ping me or @Amadeus @Dragofer a save game so we can replicate what your seeing.

Other helpful info -

• what version of TDM are you on.
• what operating system and version are you useing.

In the mean time, can you log a bug tracker under 'The Dark Mod' on https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/ 

Edited June 8, 2025 by Bikerdude

[MayheM]

@Bikerdude

I have version 2.13 10946 and on Windows 7 SP1 64 bit.

I ghosted that area and left already, but i was able to noclip back and the problem still happens even with the lowest texture settings and rendering scale.

I took screenshot of the console as well. Here's the save file https://filebin.net/2448nd5nc1158kyp

Btw, there is a strange black cube found in the basement of the manor, look at the screenshots. Is it supposed to be like that or is it some kind of a missing texture?

 

[Bikerdude]

27 minutes ago, MayheM said:

@Bikerdude

I took screenshot of the console as well. Here's the save file https://filebin.net/2448nd5nc1158kyp

Btw, there is a strange black cube found in the basement of the manor, look at the screenshots. Is it supposed to be like that or is it some kind of a missing texture?

 

@Amadeus@Dragoferdidn't, I/we fixed that black cube (its a missing model) in the latest version..?

Edited June 8, 2025 by Bikerdude

[Amadeus]

9 hours ago, Bikerdude said:

I/we fixed that black cube (its a missing model) in the latest version..?

I'm 99.5% sure this particular model has been fixed. curious as to why it's showing up again. And I'll take a look at the blue elemental issue

[JackFarmer]

5 hours ago, Amadeus said:

I'm 99.5% sure this particular model has been fixed. curious as to why it's showing up again. And I'll take a look at the blue elemental issue

Might be the same problem as reported here?
 

[chakkman]

When has the mission been last updated?

I can confirm the black cube thing, I had it on both of my playthroughs. The last one was approximately 6 to 8 months back.

Edited June 9, 2025 by chakkman

[Amadeus]

10 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

Might be the same problem as reported here?

Well, I was able to repeat the blue elemental crash for TPW, but I'm afraid your issue for the black mage is different. I can't replicate it. 

Also confirmed the black cube issue too. I'll get a fix out for this soon

[Amadeus]

Alright, an update for this FM is on the servers now. It fixes the dreaded black square and you should no longer experience a crash when extinguishing the blue elementals

[AluminumHaste]

On 6/11/2025 at 1:14 PM, Amadeus said:

Alright, an update for this FM is on the servers now. It fixes the dreaded black square and you should no longer experience a crash when extinguishing the blue elementals

Main page still lists v1.2 from 2021 as the latest. 

[nbohr1more]

1 hour ago, AluminumHaste said:

Main page still lists v1.2 from 2021 as the latest. 

https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=painterswife

This page actually shows version 6 which is what we have to do to bump the version. When you download the file from that page you will see that the Darkmod.txt in the pk4 shows version 1.4.

I think there is currently a bug where the mission update doesn't properly deploy a new darkmod.txt when there's already one in the folder from the previous version.

[datiswous]

6 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

I think there is currently a bug where the mission update doesn't properly deploy a new darkmod.txt when there's already one in the folder from the previous version.

Where's the bugreport?

The same applies to the readme.txt . So probably all files except the pk4 in the fm's folder.

[Sullome]

So I finally managed to finish main quest of this mission.

Unfortunately, I came to conclusion that this is not a mission for me. But first, about good things.
This mission features excellent story. It was a pleasure to talk to Andreas and to save his wife Lily. What Marlow did in his mansion... well, I read that R-rated content was toned down, but judging by letters, presence of several buildings and colors of some chambers, I believe I can imagine what was there previously. I like the ugliness of it, and exacting revenge on Marlow felt extremely satisfying. The story felt quite believable and convincing - although I believe in reality Lily would not be able to save herself, unfortunately. Good thing that Andreas have us as his guardian angel.
Side-quests and letters portray interesting stories as well, even though I wasn't able to find all of them, I feel that whoever was writing them did an astonishing job.

City itself is huge and very convoluted, extremely maze-like, and it is a full 3D maze, with a lot of verticality. I have mixed opinions on that. On one hand, it is very cool, and I was lost and found many times on the map. A lot of routes and possibilities. On another hand, I personally am not a fan of hugging walls and crouching on eaves. Just a personal preference, and this map features a lot of routes along the eaves and similar places.

Next one, this map is very dark. I am not sure if this is the issue with my settings or it is intended so. I had to use the lamp regularly. I played with those same settings on Iris, SLL and Volta, and only on this map I had to use the lamp even when I was just walking on roofs. A lot of paths and vents are located in places that are literally black, and impossible to see without some light, which alerts guards. Maybe that's intended. That's not a nitpick, just a thing potential player has to be aware of. Don't be shy of using the lamp!

The guards! I don't know how, but there are a lot of them and they are extremely alert. More then usual, at least. And they always appear in all the inconvenient places. I stopped counting times when I was opening a door or going behind a corner only to meet a guard that was casually patrolling directly towards me. For some reason I wasn't able to hear them all the time, a lot of times it felt like they were crouching up on me. Kept me on my toes! That was fun.

Now, last thing. I am not a veteran Thief player, I might say, I am a very casual player, so perhaps I've got in over my head with this mission. A lot of times, almost constantly, I was having a hard time to progress further along the main quest. All of those times I had to find some small thing that, once found, felt obvious ("How could I've missed that?") I was feeling clever and a bit stupid, and then... faced same situation, again and again and again. It felt a bit reminiscent of old point-n-click quests, where you had to find very small and very specific thing to progress further.

Spoiler

1. I got into Marlow's Mansion without an issue and quickly got into his study room, and explored the mansion from there. I managed to scour all of his mansion, I even found a door to Lily's room, stole Captain's Key and Sewer's key, and was unable to understand where to go next. Obviously Lily's in a room I cannot enter, and there was a single door with Marlow's not on it that said that it should be closed and the key is with him. Engine room was closed as well. I assumed that before saving Lily I need to find Marlow, but the city is large and I had no idea where to go. By pure luck when I was passing through his study 4th time, I noticed a small key between books. I am not sure how I missed it, since I was checking each bookcase during my 1st time in a study, and I opened all writing desks' compartment on my 1st pass as well (except the one this key was from). Once I found the key I was able to find 4th Marlow's Letter and headed towards the Assassin's House.
2. Next section of the main quest was quite interesting, even though I got lost twice (I thought that entrance to the pump house is on top, and not on bottom), I managed to find sewers, where I got lost again. Thankfully, after a bit of exploration I got into the room with key-locked vent and a tough repair guy. Spend some time looking for a key, but finally noticed it on his work wall. Then I was able to go further and pickpocket Marlow without any issues.
3. I got back to the Marlow's house, and when I opened the closed door, was puzzled since it was leading to the stone staircase near Lily's room. At that point I decided to think about that puzzle a bit later and went to steal his painting, since I was able to disable security cameras with his key in the engine room. There I also found entrance to the sewers. (And completely missed vents! They were well hidden and in complete darkness). Stealing painting was fine, even though I barely evaded being locked in the room with the painting. Thus I got back to Lily's room and started searching on ways to get inside. Was very puzzled by 2 doors that were just textures and were impossible to interact with. After about 2 hours there I noticed that on the stone staircase near Lily's room that only Marlow would use, there was a candle-holder. I thought that interacting with it would light it up, and finally decided to give it a go, but to my amuzement it opened a secred door to the red room, the torture chamber. From there I was able to find Lily, collect letters and finish the mission.

There were others, but all other times required me like 5-10 minutes to figure out, so I highlighted only the hardest ones.

Overall, I think it is a good mission, but a bit too hard for me.

Still, I had my fun playing it, so thank you all who worked hard on it!
It is truly a massive undertaking.

Edited July 28, 2025 by Sullome

[Amadeus]

On 7/28/2025 at 6:54 AM, Sullome said:

Still, I had my fun playing it, so thank you all who worked hard on it!

Thanks for playing, and for leaving some great feedback as well! Yeah, this mission is a beast in a lot of ways, but lots of good lessons on city-building were learned from this. The winding streets and dark alleyways of Mirkway Quarter are certainly not for the faint of heart

[chakkman]

This is probably the closest to those city style fan missions from Thief 1 and 2.

Well, this and Melan's Penny Dreadful 2 and 3.

Edited July 29, 2025 by chakkman

[Guest]

Off topic

Edited February 11 by tib

[Sullome]

20 hours ago, tib said:

Hi Sullome,

i really don't want to break you down, but if THIS mission is not for you, then rather try to make excellent storytelling, copywritiing or you should try fishing, also. I could be honest, not read all your report, but this first sentence cought me the most. Because, before You ever be able to play this one, a huge work of the Broken Glass Company was shined.

Try to relax, make a game or two, and then you could ranked this one.

Best regards.

Tib

Hello Tib,

Hey, don't be so antagonistic. I wasn't saying that this is a bad mission, on the contrary, it is quite good.
Everyone has their preferences, and the fact that people can find missions for their taste is what makes TDM an exceptional thing, I believe. I was very pleased by Seeking Lady Leicester, Iris and Written in Stone, for example. And I do value the work that was put into this mission.

[Keruah]

Damn, this is one hell of a mission. My first TDM mission was Iris. I thought THAT was hard. Then I found the Hidden Hands campaign, and that was harder. The Lieutenant campaign got me running around a maze of streets, alleys, rooms, offices, but I got through them. This monstrosity, I can't even start to describe. I've put it aside 5 times already. This seems to be my 6th attempt, and I'm already lost on this map. But, this time I'll try to finish at least the main quest. We'll see. Loving it so far.

[Bikerdude]

22 hours ago, Keruah said:

I've put it aside 5 times already. This seems to be my 6th attempt, and I'm already lost on this map. But, this time I'll try to finish at least the main quest. We'll see. Loving it so far.

So where are you getting stuck?

And while there is no shame in just doing the main mission, you will be missing out on so much more. There a side quests, mini quests and readables scattered all over the map, some of which are linked to the same person or snippet of someones life in the city. We have created some easter eggs, one of which is well hidden from all, but the most daring of explorers. Then there is the flavour, atmosphere and vista's to draw you in, with multiple nods to the original series...

Edited August 7, 2025 by Bikerdude