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Fan Mission: Now and Then by joebarnin (2020/09/08)


joebarnin

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7 hours ago, Riper said:

I have a question about second objective:

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can it be done only in the past? I came back with the painting but I haven't done the second objective

 

Spoiler

 

I'm not sure exactly what the 'second' objective is, because different objectives get added depending on your actions. What's the text of the objective? 

No matter which objective it is, I believe it isn't mandatory, so you should be able to finish the mission without doing it.

 

 

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I'm not sure if it's specific to this FM, but I found an issue.

When I try peeking through a keyhole (by leaning forward), Dark Mod v2.09 crashes for me under Manjaro Linux. I've tried this with both the original version of the mission and v2. (Edit: Never mind, I've been playing v2 all along. I just downloaded it from two different sources and thought they are different.) In the latter, I could reproduce it by starting a new game on the hardest and easiest difficulty, going down the ladder from the starting position, and peeking through the keyhole of either of the closest doors.

I'm attaching the terminal output of running "./thedarkmod.x64 +set logfile 2 +gfxinfo +map nowandthen +condump nowandthenv2_log.txt", as well as the generated nowandthenv2_log.txt. (The latter doesn't seem to contain anything about the crash itself.)

Other than this, I'm enjoying the mission so far.

nowandthenv2_console_output.txt nowandthenv2_log.txt

Edited by maxigaz
Correction about mission version
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/14/2021 at 4:29 PM, joebarnin said:
  Hide contents

 

I'm not sure exactly what the 'second' objective is, because different objectives get added depending on your actions. What's the text of the objective? 

No matter which objective it is, I believe it isn't mandatory, so you should be able to finish the mission without doing it.

 

 

Sorry for confusion, it's the one:

Spoiler

to look for clues where the painting is.

 

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On 3/4/2021 at 11:36 AM, Riper said:

Sorry for confusion, it's the one:

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to look for clues where the painting is.

 

Thanks. I see the problem: I should mark that objective "complete" when you

Spoiler

steal the painting. Regardless if you have found the other clues.

You can complete the mission without finishing that objective. Or,

Spoiler

read the document in the safe in Addison's room.

 

Edited by joebarnin
typo
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Hi,

It was a cool mission with many good ideas, thanks. 

I found only 3 secrets but it's fine. I did 3 optional tasks.

I also found a way to get out of the map.

I couldn't take the valuables from a safe. They were there but only as standard scene items, not as treasures.

Spoiler

 

Especially the hole was cool.

It was very hard to find the flat of Franklin even though I was there a few times earlier. Leaving the green bust in his shop would have been better. Or leaving some text in his flat which I cannot take so it can be easier to identify the place.

I didn't find the stash or secret place of the person who likes to watch fire. I found the switch but not the thing it activates. I checked the room. No idea if this is a bug or normal.

The safe with static treasures was in the past, it was in the room of the lord. A jug and a set of dices.

 

 

Edited by Gerberox
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@GerberoxThanks for your comments.

Spoiler

The fireplace secret: you have to put out the fire with a water arrow, then the switch will open the secret. 

Spoiler

The safe with the static treasures: another player found this bug too. It seems to be intermittent - it works for most players. Try closing the safe and opening it, that might fix it. 

 

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On 3/14/2021 at 7:19 PM, joebarnin said:

@GerberoxThanks for your comments.

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The safe with the static treasures: another player found this bug too. It seems to be intermittent - it works for most players. Try closing the safe and opening it, that might fix it. 

 

Spoiler

This sometimes happens in other missions as well, not only in safes, but also in cabinets and boxes. At least for me, closing and reopening the lid has always solved the problem.

 

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Sys Specs Laptop Lenovo V145 15AST, AMD A9- 9425 Radeon R5 - 5 cores 3,1 GHz  RAM 8Gb, GPU 1+2 Gb -Win10 64 v21H2

Favorite online apps you may like too 😉

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  • 8 months later...

Every 6 month I check for new TDM missions and that one has been my favorite for the last 2 years I think. I found a true Thief spirit : a regular stealing start, surprises and loads of secrets, and above all the ... you know ... whatever 😉. A big thank you to you joebarnin, and all of those who made available one of the best free stealth game available on PC.

Could anyone tell me what the

Spoiler

button next to Megan chimney does ? Her upstairs neighbour Eloïse wrote a hint to that secret stash I never found, despite the noise clue.

 

Edited by plotzzz
forgot a question
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  • 5 months later...
2 hours ago, Knockout Thief said:

I need a hint on where to find the key to the display case for the turquoisium. I have a lot of keys , none work.

Hint 1:

Spoiler

The lowest level of the museum (basement)

Hint 2:

Spoiler

The basement can be accessed via the elevator, or by crawl spaces (crawl space entrance near the main door)

Solution: 

Spoiler

One of the rooms in the basement has a lot of extra display cases. Hunt around behind one of them, you'll find the key

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...

Pretty amazing mission. A bit difficult though.

I found the (navigation) map a bit too vague and thus almost unusable. A lot of locations can only be accessed via other buildings, but this cannot be seen on the map (no clue). There's a long road that is completely not accessible, but because it looks on the map a regular street I put a lot of effort into trying to reach it somehow, although actually it's a fake road. Also no street names anywhere on buildings doesn't help.

I noticed that the mission outro can only be played once. If I try again, the animation halts. For it to be played successfully I have to restart tdm.

Also, during that scene with the player looking at the painting in a chair, you are physically still in the location next to the drain pipe lid. Because you can swing your blackjack and hit the lid and you hear the sound during playback.

I was wondering why during playback in the center you see a giant cursor:

Spoiler

nowandthen(2023-03-1621-38-43)(1072-32-571.75).thumb.jpg.1599e0be4feefd65fcc23660befb54e3.jpg

Edit: I was looking at the original video file and it does not have the giant cursur in it. Maybe a gui or mtr related bug?

Btw. I noticed that some things, like the streets looked very similar to your newest mission that I betatested. Maybe it's supposed to be the same city?

nowandthen(2023-03-1620-22-10)(000).thumb.jpg.41c4e1bc51c3ff67058daa27da742a34.jpg

Where can I find the ring that is lost in the museum?

Edited by datiswous
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15 hours ago, datiswous said:

Pretty amazing mission. A bit difficult though.

 A lot of locations can only be accessed via other buildings, but this cannot be seen on the map (no clue). There's a long road that is completely not accessible, but because it looks on the map a regular street I put a lot of effort into trying to reach it somehow, although actually it's a fake road. Also no street names anywhere on buildings doesn't help.

Yeah, a real gem that could need a lot more attention.

During beta, I too spent a considerable amount of time searching for a way into the gated fake road. 🤪

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17 hours ago, datiswous said:

I was wondering why during playback in the center you see a giant cursor:

  Reveal hidden contents

nowandthen(2023-03-1621-38-43)(1072-32-571.75).thumb.jpg.1599e0be4feefd65fcc23660befb54e3.jpg

Edit: I was looking at the original video file and it does not have the giant cursur in it. Maybe a gui or mtr related bug?

Indeed it is. If I change the code in finale.gui Into:

Spoiler
windowDef Desktop
{
  rect 0 ,0 ,640 ,480 // Standard element to define nominal grid, e.g., for placing and sizing buttons
  backcolor 1,1,1,0
  matcolor 0, 0, 0, 1
  nocursor 1
  background "video/finale"; // mp4 shader defined in materials/cutscene_video.mtr file.

  onTime 0
  {
     nocursor 1 // This work ONLY in this location, not in Desktop or after reset/matcolor here
     resetCinematics; // reset Video to start
     Desktop::matcolor 1,1,1,1; // show video
     // Doesn't work: localsound "video/cutscene_video"; // shader as defined in sound/cutscene_video.sndshd
  }
}

 

And now the giant cursor doesn't show:

Spoiler

nowandthen(2023-03-1622-05-58)(1072-32-605.52).thumb.jpg.d1661a830b16275c57845efcbf10a83b.jpg

I made nocursor 1 toplevel as described here. It's probably ok to remove the other non-toplevel nocursor 1, but I couldn't, because otherwise the quicksave near the end doesn't load anymore.

Edited by datiswous
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Thanks for the subtitles. I'll add them to the mission, along with fixes for the issues you found.

23 hours ago, datiswous said:

I found the (navigation) map a bit too vague

I usually like to have the map be vague, but I am sorry that it misled you about that street. I guess I should make it more clear when areas are unreachable.

23 hours ago, datiswous said:

Btw. I noticed that some things, like the streets looked very similar to your newest mission that I betatested. Maybe it's supposed to be the same city?

That's a charitable way of looking at it. 😉

 

23 hours ago, datiswous said:

Where can I find the ring that is lost in the museum?

Spoiler

It's next to a grate on the ground floor, but the only way to reach it is from the ducts underneath. Get to a place you can climb up, try to open the grate (it will open a bit and then get stuck), and you'll be able to peak and see a ring right on the edge of the opening.

 

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  • 3 months later...
14 hours ago, datiswous said:

I was wondering why you didn't just use an in-game scene as the mission ending instead of going for the video that was based on that seperate map file. Maybe it's technically easier?

I dunno. Ignorance? Laziness? I'll go with laziness 😆. I really don't remember why.

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  • 8 months later...

I just finished this. Nice mission, I really enjoyed it. :) A few issues, but, overall a very nice experience.

Spoiler

I liked the story and theme of the mission. Interesting approach with the time machine. Reminded me a bit of that Dishonored mission, with the past and present mix of the Aramis Stilton manor. The story was well told in general. Maybe a bit too obvious and direct, in other missions you often only get a glimpse of the whole picture, and you don't get to meet all the characters too. I generally prefer that, but, that might just be personal preference.

The architecture of the map was good and well laid and thought out. I sometimes thought the architecture of the actual building was a bit too "linear"/symmetric. I'm not a big fan of chaotic architecture, but, it all seemed a tad sterile. Just a small nag though.

The difficulty was alright, although I found that there were too many elite guards on the highest difficulty in the mission (dunno if there are differences between the difficulties). Especially in the museum, I found the amount of elite guards too excessive. Note that these are the absolute ultimate enemies, as they can't be knocked out, and can#t be killed easily either (as far as I know it's possible to shoot an arrow through the few centimeters their visor is opened, but, I never managed that...), so, they should be really sparse. Also, in other missions, they're usually the captains of the guard, or at least high ranked officers, so, I wouldn't really use them in such frequency.

The secrets were great, maybe some of them a bit obvious, with readables or hints quite near them, so, there wasn't really an issue with finding them. The one I had to search the most for was the hidden switch in the tavern storage room.

The readables were generally good, as were the side quest, although I must say that I'm not crazy for these "Help people to find the way to their loved one", or "Help a merchant out to save his business" side missions, as they seem a bit strange, when I just rob out the whole place, and then I'm supposed to save these people which I just robbed off everything they have. ;)

I noticed some issues with textures and assets overlapping, or not being properly lined up, and I also found a few places where I simply got stuck and had to quickload. Could have needed a bit more polishing in that regard, but, I understand that it's hard with big maps. Also, the elite guard guarding in front of the museum got stuck on the right side of the stairs in front of the museum (it was basically walking on the spot the whole time, until it got alerted by me). Luckily there was a side window I could go out.

So, yeah, nice mission, and, looking forwards to play your other ones now.

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