Hidden Hands: The Lost Citadel (23/07/2020)

[JackFarmer]

Hidden Hands: The Lost Citadel

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Title: Hidden Hands: The Lost Citadel
Filename : hhtlc.pk4
Authors: Jack Farmer with Amadeus & Joebarnin
Date of release: 18.09.2020
Latest version: 5 (released June 2021)
EFX: Yes

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Hidden Hands series:

I - Initiation
II - Vitalic Fever
III - The Lost Citadel

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Available via the Dark Mod Mission Downloader (Version 4)

 

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Jack Farmer:        Mapping & drafts
Amadeus:            Editing and revising of all texts for readables, narration and dialogues, testing of gameplay and gameplay mechanics, all alpha testing & performance optimization
joebarnin:           Beta testing lead, debugging and debugging reports

Beta testers:

Krilmar
Joebarnin
Cambridge Spy
manzanita-crow
Shadow

Voice actors:

New Horizon:         The educated Builder & Brother Gilbert (Briefing video)
Goldchocobo:        The naive Builder, guard (A union of its own)
Jedi_Wannabe:       Two guards (Of monsters and master guards)
AndrosTheOxen:    Jonus, guard (A union of its own)
Boy Lag:                 Guard (Evolution of the peasants)
Malasdair:              Narrator (Briefing video & in game comments)

Special thanks to:

- Springheel, Sotha, and Fidcal for the tutorials
- VanishedOne, HMart, Destined, Grayman, Joebarnin, Dragofer, demagogue, AluminumHaste, STRUNK, Geep and ERH+ for patiently answering my questions and solving in-game issues
- All voice actors & beta testers for their great support
- All others not mentioned here who answered my questions in the Newbie thread or via PM

Pilfered items:

- Setup for the main menu animation originally developed by Goldwell for "Snowed Inn"
- Portal sky with trees originally developed and arranged by Dragofer for "Down By The Riverside"
- Selected cliff sections originally developed and arranged by Dragofer for "A Perilous Refuge"
- The scary, red-eyed Builder ghosts that have been originally developed by Bienie for "Longhorn Lodge"
- Floating boat set-up originally developed by Bikerdude for one of his missions

Contributors from the Inventor's Guild:

- STRUNK created a prefab (S.T.A.R.S) used for various puzzles and mechanical items, he also helped with models
- Dragofer supplied the experimental func_mover entity (modified by STRUNK to fit the mission purposes)
- Joebarnin provided the script alteration for the mechanical locks
- Grayman adjusted the switch/door mechanics for all sliding doors and fixed several AI problems

Additional ambient sounds by gigagooga
All other new ambient tracks and sound effects produced and mixed by Jack Farmer

    Explosion sound taken from freesound.org produced by tommccann
    Drowning man sound taken from freesound.org produced by muses202
    Engine room machine sound taken from freesound.org produced by Astounded
    Electric zap taken from freesound.org produced by Joel_Audio

Briefing video by SirSmokeALot

 

"Walk On Roses" (title screen reprise)

RC Deickler    - Drums & loops
R. Recum       - Keyboards
gigagooga    - Additional ambient outtakes

This mission is dedicated to all past & present Dark Mod and Dark Radiant contributors - thank you for all of your hard work over the years.

=============================================================

Listen to another crazy inventor and learn more about his sick brain!

 

Marvel at the latest inventions from the Inventors Guild!

Sneak through long forgotten ruins and face (yes. I know, once again) the unspeakable evil!

Show the undead that the living are not to be trifled with!

Solve puzzles the complexity of which would even melt the brains of Nobel Prize winners!

Edited July 8 by JackFarmer

[Amadeus]

Yeah!!! Congrats on finishing this gargantuan mission

[joebarnin]

Congratulations! This is a massive and enjoyable mission. Get ready for multi-part fun! 

Interesting, that this mission and The Painter's Wife were released close together. They don't have much in common, other than they are excellent (IMHO) and HUGE. A tribute to the modders, and a tribute to TDM platform that enables two very different missions.

[Bienie]

Congrats on the release! Excited to try this one out!

[Dragofer]

Big congrats on the release! And, the mission is now available in the mission downloader.

[Jedi_Wannabe]

Super big congrats on release! I was honored to have a sneak peak.

[JackFarmer]

1 minute ago, Jedi_Wannabe said:

Super big congrats on release! I was honored to have a sneak peak.

Look out for the deep lake kraken!

[Jedi_Wannabe]

6 minutes ago, JackFarmer said:

Look out for the deep lake kraken!

Haha that was my favorite line!

[Heuli]

Not a nice mission, a tunnel that explodes and I don't know what to do. I translated the texts using Google Translate
I don't know what to do thanks

Edited July 25, 2020 by Heuli

[Filizitas]

I like the missions, all the cool ideas and usage of systems. But i think it needs some polishing.
The hall reverb effects are really over the top.
There is a robot that makes a really really loud hissing noise  hes out side at the starting area.
The cameras seem to make alarm but i cannot hear it?
Its clearly very cool and i hope to finish it soon

[kin]

Game crashes after the

Spoiler

lockpicking of the two golden doors in zombie area

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by kin

[Mike 1002]

This mission is great, but could someone please give me a hint as to where the bomb is at in the underwater facility.

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Mike 1002

[joebarnin]

5 hours ago, kin said:

Game crashes after the

  Hide contents

lockpicking of the two golden doors in zombie area

 

Do you have the release version of DM 2.08? There was a crash in beta versions that wasn’t fixed until just before 2.08 was officially released. 

[JackFarmer]

21 minutes ago, Mike 1002 said:

This mission is great, but could someone please give me a hint as to where the bomb is at in the underwater facility.

 

Hint:

 

There are lots of identical items installed in many rooms.  Look out for a room with such a device that behaves differently compared to identical items installed in other rooms.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by JackFarmer

[kin]

On 7/25/2020 at 10:03 PM, joebarnin said:

Do you have the release version of DM 2.08? There was a crash in beta versions that wasn’t fixed until just before 2.08 was officially released. 

Yes I have the 2.08 version, I am not sure if it is related, but my updater every time I try to use it says that I have admin rights to it and may cause issues. Tried puttingthe game in C:/GAMES/DARKMOD but I get the same message.

edit: I have windows 7 64bit and the admin message started popping up only after the 2.08 update

Edited July 27, 2020 by kin

[Summer]

I must be a special kind of dumb-dumb today but...

I have the explosive device, so what the heck do I do with it now? I've clicked on every damn thing in the base. I think...

[JackFarmer]

24 minutes ago, Summer said:

I must be a special kind of dumb-dumb today but...

  Reveal hidden contents

I have the explosive device, so what the heck do I do with it now? I've clicked on every damn thing in the base. I think...

 

Hint:

By removing the explosive device you have completed the relevant objective from the list. The passage through the air lock is now possible without failing the mission (=blowing up the station).

 

[prjames]

55 minutes ago, JackFarmer said:

Hint:

 

  Hide contents

 

By removing the explosive device you have completed the relevant objective from the list. The passage through the air lock is now possible without failing the mission (=blowing up the station).

 

 

I'm equally dumb-dumb.

 

Spoiler

I recognize what I think is the electrical item that has the bomb (the device with two spheres sticking up, to the left of the airlock - the device with two displays whose pointers are wildly going back and forth) but I move all around it and try to frob things but I can't frob anything.  What device am I supposed to pick up and where do I take it, to disarm the bomb???  (I don't think it's the lantern in the room because irregardless of where the lantern is, those pointers keep wildly tilting back and forth.)

Please give me a hint before I go crazy.  Thank you!

- prjames

Edited July 26, 2020 by prjames

[JackFarmer]

6 minutes ago, prjames said:

I'm equally dumb-dumb.

 

  Hide contents

I recognize what I think is the electrical item that has the bomb (the device with two spheres sticking up, to the left of the airlock - the device with two displays whose pointers are wildly going back and forth) but I move all around it and try to frob things but I can't frob anything.  What device am I supposed to pick up and where do I take it, to disarm the bomb???  (I don't think it's the lantern in the room because irregardless of where the lantern is, those pointers keep wildly tilting back and forth.)

Please give me a hint before I go crazy.  Thank you!

- prjames

Hint

Search for an electrical device that is meant to provide fresh air and behaves differently compared to the identical devices installed everywhere else in the station.

 

[tapewolf]

Just completed this, it was amazing.  I particularly love the soundtrack work in this series, and am still impressed you managed to find suitable uses for the M1 Pole preset.

I've also enjoyed the slipping in of contemporary lyrics and musicians.

Spoiler

The bomb thing was probably the most puzzling, particularly since there is a piece of electrical equipment apparently going haywire next to the airlock.  When I went round auditing the fans I thought I just being something crazy, especially as I didn't figure out how to open the fan and actually found the bomb by accident, albeit in the place I suspected it was.

I also utterly failed to get into the lock area, I really couldn't find the key.  I managed to enter the lake by opening the gate in the radio room, jumping off the roof of the building and into the water, and then quickly racing through the gate before it could self-close.

A possible bug is that one of the undead in the crypt was apparently flagged as a regular NPC.  When I took him out with a fire arrow, the game ended because I had committed murder.  I think he was also immune to holy water, but I didn't last long enough to find out for certain.

Spoiler

Was there a use for the four 'True Believer' books, or was it just interesting backstory?  It certainly set the tone well for the note from Brother Leonard.

 

EDIT:  Oh, yeah also

Spoiler

The fire elementals are quite prone to friendly fire, especially if I went down to watch the battle taking place.  I had to reload on one occasion because they all soared up to the ceiling to duke it out and left the remaining zombie standing there like a lemon.

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by tapewolf
Added another bug

[Summer]

Question:

Are we supposed to do something with the four bone pieces you find in the crypt? I tried placing them in the bowls in the main crypt room, but nothing happened... Is there a specific order? I mean, I read the readable about arm, spine, leg, and head, so I know that, but the bowls...?

Thanks in advance  Man, this is such a huge mission!

[JackFarmer]

1 hour ago, Summer said:

Question:

  Reveal hidden contents

Are we supposed to do something with the four bone pieces you find in the crypt? I tried placing them in the bowls in the main crypt room, but nothing happened... Is there a specific order? I mean, I read the readable about arm, spine, leg, and head, so I know that, but the bowls...?

Thanks in advance  Man, this is such a huge mission!

Yes, you have to put the bone pieces in the several bowl.

When you enter the crypt, you will see a very comfortable stone bench to the left with a table in front of it. Check the readable that lies on the table. The readalbe is called "The Tortures of St. Wilbert".

This particular readable should help you.

Good Luck!

[Summer]

4 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

 

  Hide contents

 

Yes, you have to put the bone pieces in the several bowl.

When you enter the crypt, you will see a very comfortable stone bench to the left with a table in front of it. Check the readable that lies on the table. The readalbe is called "The Tortures of St. Wilbert".

This particular readable should help you.

Good Luck!

 

 

Yes, I read that readable.

But I don't seem to be getting the order right... Which bone goes into which bowl? I've tried several variations, and nothing happens. So I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong... I just drop the items in, right? Enter didn't take the objects out of inventory.

Thanks a lot, Jack, for taking the time to help me

[Marbrien]

I cannot get this to install properly. I'm using an up-to-date TDM version 2.08, 64 bit. I've tried using the in-game installer, and also downloading it separately from all three of the download sites on the FMs page of the TDM site.  The result is always the same. On installing the mission, I get a blank Objectives parchment, and cannot proceed. I have uninstalled the game each time before trying another download. Does anyone have any idea what is going wrong?

NB: is there a way of verifying that a download has completed without corruption, other than by trying to install the FM?

OK, I have got this working by downloading the FM on another PC and taking it across to my TDM laptop on a USB stick. It seems there may be a problem downloading files on that laptop.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Marbrien

[JackFarmer]

38 minutes ago, Summer said:

Yes, I read that readable.

  Reveal hidden contents

But I don't seem to be getting the order right... Which bone goes into which bowl? I've tried several variations, and nothing happens. So I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong... I just drop the items in, right? Enter didn't take the objects out of inventory.

 

Thanks a lot, Jack, for taking the time to help me

Hello Summer,

Try this: