Fan Mission: Iris by WellingtonCrab [TDM 2.11 Required] (2022/02/13)

[Dead Rat]

Thank you Wellingtoncrab - a very absorbing mission this one, there's just so much to explore and all beautifully presented. I'll be taking my time with this outing. 

[Wellingtoncrab]

@evildieselglad to hear you enjoyed it through to the end! Those two thing you mentioned are pretty common pain paints in the mission that should probably get smoothed over with a patch at some point.

Thanks for playing!

 

 

[LuxQSD]

Absolutely loved the mission. Took me over 6 hours to beat, which I think is a record in terms of length. Got a bit over 14k loot before I resorted to using cheats to find the rest. There's some stuff I went out of my way to scope out.

Spoiler

Some issues I noticed: The guard carrying a purse in Bottombridge was walking into a wall next to the stairs leading to the Heretic Lair. His pathfinding seems to have reset after I picked his pocket, but it was hard with the female thug having clear view of me from above.

There is a large hole in the ceiling with a view into the void on the top floor of the Burgage House. I'm surprised no one noticed it yet. It's right above the unfrobbable door.

There is another smaller hole with a view into the void on the rooftop of the house that contains the wine memento in the plague ward. It's on the slopped part of the rooftop going towards Grimkirk.

The bracelet hung from an arrow stuck in a wall on one of the white triangle secrets is a bit buggy. If I take the arrow first the bracelet disappears for me. I had to reload a save and take the bracelet first before taking the arrow.

I collected all the loot, but I was somehow missing 5g in the end. Some sleuthing around and it seems that one of the arrows in the shop still costs money after the shopkeeper has been knocked out.

That's for the bugs I encountered, now for some personal notes:

Am I the only one who connected the Hunter's Lodgings and the dead hunter in the mansion nearby? Am I to assume they owned the room? I saw a note in the lodging about the bounty for the Blackfriar Beast (with a dagger stuck into it, implying they were hunting for it) and assumed that the thing in the derelict mansion is the monster in question. I have attempted (in vain) to somehow cut off the beast's head for the bounty, but that didn't seem to be an option. What a pity. An idea to add this as a special loot item if you decide to update the mission maybe, unless I'm completely off track here.

I loved all the minor changes you made when you put on the glasses. Aside from showing you secret passages and loot stashes, you can see glowing symbols near useful objects such as keys, mementos and equipment. I've tried to look around with the glasses as much as possible and noticed these changes:

Painting in the Alienist's Office changes completely to another one.

Painting in The Ratman's mansion lobby shows him with a rat head.

Painting in Ursine manor shows her with a demon? head.

Most corpses in the Plague Ward have clothes on with the glasses equipped.

Enemies in the Plague Ward have better versions of their clothes equipped.

The statue in front of the protag's house has it's head back on.

Am I to presume that the glasses (in addition to weird void areas) are meant to show you how things are 'actually' meant to look like? Or maybe show you the 'truth', so to speak. Wonder if there's a deeper meaning to it aside from them being just a helpful tool. Just pointing all this stuff out because I love the attention to detail you did with them. Please do share if I missed any more major changes that the glasses show.

As for the story, I mostly agree with the other theories that the protagonist is dreaming everything that's happened in the mission. I do believe that either his daughter or (more likely) wife, died during the plague outbreak. As he got older, he might have succumbed to alzheimers or some form of dementia, possibly making him forget what his loved one even looked like. Due to his age, I severely doubt he's in the condition to jump around and do parkour. Therefore, he managed to get a dose of mandrasola (There is a vial of it right under his bed at the start of the mission) in hopes of recounting the face of his loved one through a dream. Noticed that the protagonist is pretty much confirmed to be a retired thief. He has stashed all his old equipment up in the attic at his house and left it there even after he left the plague ward. The no kill objective also mentions that he has trouble recounting his time as a thief, but he can at least try by doing the mission without killing anyone.

As for the alternate ending, my interpretation is that by collecting all the mementos, the protag has spent too much time dreaming and remembering unimportant details that he eventually dies from either an overdose of mandrasola or another symptom related to it back in the real world. Unless there's a deeper meaning to all the mementos and they relate to something bad he did in the past that he might regret and tempt him to commit suicide, I don't see another reason why you're not allowed to finish the mission normally by going back to bed during the alternate ending. I am to assume that during the normal ending, the protagonist wakes up normally and recalls what his loved one's face looked like, his objective complete as he lives the remainder of his days at least semi-content. Not a happy story no matter which way you slice it.

So that's my take on it. Tell me what you guys think. I might just be completely off in my theories, after all. Either way, this mission was top quality and I honestly can't wait to see what the author does next. Happy holidays!

 

[Wellingtoncrab]

@LuxQSD

Thanks for playing and the very useful bug reports! You're making some interesting connections I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere in the thread, so you seem like a very thoughtful player and I am glad in the end you enjoyed the mission.

Thanks again for playing!

[tib]

Iris is really an unbelieveble mission, but it need to be confirmed by some continued obstacles.

[Wellingtoncrab]

2 minutes ago, tib said:

Iris is really an unbelieveble mission, but it need to be confirmed by some continued obstacles.

Need some help or hints? Can try and nudge you in the right direction.

[The Elusive One]

Enjoying the mission, getting lost a lot though.

But I am stumped by the code for the Three Monuments Hall, probably something obvious that I'm missing.

So could I get some help please?

[Wellingtoncrab]

Certainly @The Elusive One!

 

Spoiler

Perhaps the name “Three Monuments” is in reference to something nearby.

Need more:

Spoiler

There are three monuments in hollowbrook (and one repeat in red rook) - perhaps they have a clue

Need more:

Spoiler

The plaques on the monuments reference a number and a position

 

 

Let me know if you need any more assistance.

[The Elusive One]

@Wellingtoncrab Thank you, got inside now and grabbed all that fat loot.

From what I can gather, I'm missing two mementos:

Spoiler

Widower's bottle and Mandrasola Root

Any chance you could tell me where to find those?

BTW, don't know if it's just me or or if it's a known problem. Footman Domingo is carrying a coin purse, that I can't frob in any way I've tried.

[Wellingtoncrab]

@The Elusive Onesure might be a little trickier to subtly hint but let’s try:

Spoiler

Bottle: look above south slough gate

Root: look below the stacks

I had not heard that bug before that I can recall and will take a look. Thanks for reporting it. 

[The Elusive One]

@Wellingtoncrab Thanks again, managed to find them to get the alternate ending.

[kovda]

I found a place that could be part of the "mysteries of the void".

Spoiler

At the top of Bridgebottom, there is a balcony that leads to the Quarantine Checkpoint. There is a lamp above the door from where you can climb up to the void.

Another comment...

Spoiler

I have no idea how to get one of the "mysteries of the void" without cheating. The scroll at the top of The Stacks. I had been jumping from the edge of the nearest roof for about an hour to reach the beam but I couldn't catch it. I even tried some crazy ideas like to walk up on arrows that I had shot on the side of the roof to form a staircase.

 

[Wellingtoncrab]

@kovdaOh yeah that’s a good one!

 

Spoiler

Regarding the one in the stacks it is really possible but rather boggling (all of these locations with one obvious exception are provided by players playing the map and discovering these areas). If you watch Klatremus’s play through on YouTube he has it on video if it is helpful.

 

[krazykimchi]

One of the first custom missions I've played, the level design here is outstanding and is easily one of the best Thief missions I've played. Levels were big and sprawling but never too confusing. Good level design made completing objectives feel natural. The lore seemed pretty good though I'm not big on reading in-game lore, and I really enjoyed finding loot (I think I only found around 1/3 of the available loot, which is insane). Great job! 

I encountered one glitch, the guard in that little booth near the water, I took his keys and turned off the camera and he became stuck in the doorway. I had to reload a save and steal everything and leave quickly to stop the glitch. Just thought it might be worth mentioning but it wasn't a big deal. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by krazykimchi

[Wellingtoncrab]

@krazykimchi thanks for taking the time to both play and leave your thoughts. I am glad to hear you enjoyed the mission - if this one of your first you have a lot to look forward to!

I will add that guard to my list of things to look at when I get around to another patch. Thanks again!

[Azaran]

Great mission, but something I noticed is it gets extremely choppy, almost unplayable, if I play for more than 15 minutes at a time. This only happens with this mission.

I have 24 GB of ram (nothing else intensive running in the background either) and a decent video card, and lowering the graphics settings doesn't seem to do anything. When I exit, and restart the game, it's back to normal, even in open areas, before it eventually degrades, so I'm pretty sure there's some kind of problem particular to this mission

Edited April 30, 2023 by Azaran

[Wellingtoncrab]

1 hour ago, Azaran said:

Great mission, but something I noticed is it gets extremely choppy, almost unplayable, if I play for more than 15 minutes at a time. This only happens with this mission.

I have 24 GB of ram (nothing else intensive running in the background either) and a decent video card, and lowering the graphics settings doesn't seem to do anything. When I exit, and restart the game, it's back to normal, even in open areas, before it eventually degrades, so I'm pretty sure there's some kind of problem particular to this mission

Interesting - sorry to hear you having an issue with the mission - as far as I know the game loads pretty much every reasource into memory when the map itself loads so not sure what would accumulate over a play through like this, so I wonder if it is an issue with some scripting in the mission getting stuck in a loop or something.

Is the console throwing out any errors of note?

Presumably you are on 2.11 with no mods installed? Mind giving me a run down of your system specs, os, graphics settings so I can see if I can replicate the issue?

Alternatively you can upload a save game and I will taker a look myself.

[Azaran]

23 hours ago, Wellingtoncrab said:

Interesting - sorry to hear you having an issue with the mission - as far as I know the game loads pretty much every reasource into memory when the map itself loads so not sure what would accumulate over a play through like this, so I wonder if it is an issue with some scripting in the mission getting stuck in a loop or something.

Is the console throwing out any errors of note?

Presumably you are on 2.11 with no mods installed? Mind giving me a run down of your system specs, os, graphics settings so I can see if I can replicate the issue?

Alternatively you can upload a save game and I will taker a look myself.

Thanks, must have been a one off thing. I went back, started getting choppy for some reason, I kept going then cleared up, and I finished the mission with no issues, played for an hour. Not sure what it was, but now looks like it's just something that's temporary and clears

[Wellingtoncrab]

16 minutes ago, Azaran said:

Thanks, must have been a one off thing. I went back, started getting choppy for some reason, I kept going then cleared up, and I finished the mission with no issues, played for an hour. Not sure what it was, but now looks like it's just something that's temporary and clears

Well I am glad to hear that! Apologies for the hiccup and I hope it didn’t get too far in the way of enjoying the mission.

[SeriousToni]

Yesterday I started this mission and I must say, besides what has been said already about visuals and size, that:

I really like that you made the city area neutral. I've always hated that in huge city missions, you had to sneak past a thousand guards and civilians because you forgot to find something in the other edge of the map. In Iris you can wander through the city itself without that hassle. Good decision!

Thanks for that so far gorgeous mission!

[SeriousToni]

Hm I guess there's some kind of language barrier there as I'm currently lost and don't know what to do.

Spoiler

I collected a lot of books that featured quotes on a black plate, but I don't get why and what I'm supposed to do with these. I tried to get over the wall of quarantine. However standing on the huge metal door that should lead through guarded by 2 guards, there's no interaction possible and I feel like every window or pathway leads me back to the neutral areas which I've been before. I think I visited most of the citizen houses, but how do I make progress?

And what's it with all that collectables? Sorry if this sounds harsh, but mostly I cannot translate them into something useful in my language and I don't want to switch between an online translator and the game back and forth (I know that is a problem on my end - no need to apologize for this on yourself!)

 

[Wellingtoncrab]

@SeriousToni

Spoiler

The collectibles have flavor text which add to the story but are not necessary to completely the mission.

It sounds like you have made it to the quarantine check point, which is sealed and does not provide a way through the plague wall.

Beneath the check point is the effluent for Red Rook's sewer system which may be a good place to look.

If you need a more explicit clue:

Spoiler

The way into the plague ward is through the old pump house which is connected to "the sump" area. Once you get to the pump house you will need to lift the quarantine shutters to move through though - to access the controls you can find or purchase some lock picks or use the quarantine shutter key. 

Sorry there isn't any localization for the mission outside of English as that is a bit beyond my abilities admittedly/

 

[SeriousToni]

Thanks, I wasn't aware that there are lock picks in the mission. Gonna have to go back and lookout where to find them then.

Yes I can guess for people more fluent in English these texts are pretty pleasantly written. Good to know that these are flavour texts. As I said it's not your fault if my English is not sufficient

[AluminumHaste]

6 hours ago, SeriousToni said:

Thanks, I wasn't aware that there are lock picks in the mission. Gonna have to go back and lookout where to find them then.

Yes I can guess for people more fluent in English these texts are pretty pleasantly written. Good to know that these are flavour texts. As I said it's not your fault if my English is not sufficient

I honestly thought English was your first language.

About the lockpicks

Spoiler

I believe you can buy them from the merchant near the start area, also you can find them from a house that thieves are using

 

[SeriousToni]

I finally

Spoiler

found the way to the sealed district. However feeling like I've been everywhere you can go without having door codes, I can't find the way to the final house. Is there a hint one can give me? I already knocked out everyone except the zombie in the sewers. But I can't find my way to the house I am supposed to go. (there's no map available either for this zone)