Fan Mission: Noble Affairs by Goldwell 2022/02/22 [TDM 2.10 Required]

[Goldwell]

 

IMPORTANT

It is highly recommended that you play with shadow maps turned on to get full use of the new volumetric lights in 2.10. Go into Settings -> Video -> Advanced -> "Shadows Implementation" set to "Maps".

Additionally it is recommended that you play with EFX and HRTF turned on. Go into Settings -> Audio -> Turn "OpenAL EFX" & "OpenAL HRTF" set both to "On".

 

Author note

Noble Affairs features a brand new female protagonist named Clara who comes with a new female voice set.

Originally this mission was meant for the connection contest which is why you will notice a lot of references to Kingsal's Volta universe. Due to time constraints this mission was not entered into the contest and instead I decided to release this as a standalone mission. This mission takes place after the events of Volta 1: The Stone but before the events of Shadows of Northdale Act 1.

This mission is dedicated to Grayman, may he rest in peace!

- Goldwell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thank you first up to Epifire for his very helpful advice and putting in some really hard effort and creating some amazing custom models! Please check out his art station page: https://www.artstation.com/epifire

I wanted to thank Amadeus, Dragofer, Epifire, Kingsal & Skacky for helping out by providing custom models, readable/text improvements and also general mapping advice. You guys have been incredibly helpful, thank you!

I also want to thank my A-Star beta team who helped to squash many bugs: Amadeus, Epifire, Kingsal, Moonbo, Nbohr1more, Random_Taffer & Skacky.

And I wanted to thank the fantastic vocal cast:
Clara - Joy Hayward
Shop keeper - Andrew Bartmess
Produce Merchant - Epifire
Citywatch guard - Random_Taffer

I wanted to thank someone who often doesn't get enough love and that's Greebo who works very hard to create the tools that myself and all other mappers use. Dark Radiant is a fantastic application which is always finding new ways to innovate and improve the mapping experience. Without the work you put in Greebo there would be a lot less missions made, so thank you!

Thank you to the Cryo Chamber label for granting permission to use their music throughout the mission.
Please check them out at: https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com

Thank you to Michael Ghelfi for his audio ambient tracks.
You can find more of his work at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelGhelfi

And if you wish to support him he also has a patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/MichaelGhelfi

And finally thank you to you, the player for playing my missions and providing all the wonderful support and feedback over the years!

 

 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE (Requires 2.10)

Version 1.2

File Size: 465mb

[Heuli]

Congratulations on the release!

[nbohr1more]

Congrats!

 

This is a LANDMARK release and is almost too good to be true!

 

It's pretty incredible that we've had multiple unbelievable missions come out recently!

I just put the blasted shards of my blown-up mind back into my skull from the last batch of missions,

and now this comes along and my brain matter is back on the floors and walls

 

Mission is available at Moddb now as well:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/addons/noble-affairs-210-beta-required

 

Even though you aren't officially in the contest, it would be cool to have a poll on the thread so folks can see where it might have placed. I feel that there are multiple perfect score releases in this contest so it really comes down to more critical players as the deciding factor.

[Jedi_Wannabe]

Congrats!!

[Zerg Rush]

Congrat's, wow, a lot of excellent new missions this year.

[Goldwell]

I have updated the mission to version 1.1.

 

Download link is in the OP.

[nbohr1more]

Moddb version is now at 1.1 as well.

[Zerg Rush]

First TDM mission with a female lead and a cool change to the lockpics, making TDM even greater, if possible.

 

[kingsal]

Congrats on the release Goldwell, this mission rules!

[thebigh]

Congratulations on the release! We've been so spoiled for excellent missions of late.

[madtaffer]

Congrats!

Spoiler

This small gate can't be frobed or picked. Is this intentional ?

 

[Epifire]

Fantastic! Very happy to see how this turned out!

 

3 hours ago, madtaffer said:

Congrats!

  Reveal hidden contents

This small gate can't be frobed or picked. Is this intentional ?

 

Spoiler

That is tied to an optional job you can get from The Silent Dagger.

 

[Zerg Rush]

I finished the mission yesterday in a first run in Easy, I loved it, tricky, different with excellent graphics. 

But for some reason, despite having finished it, quite bruised and with quite good statistics (4 secrets, 2930 loot, stealth score 2), neither the ending nor the saves after finding the recording in the basement, were saved, the last savepoint when opening the game again is before I pick up this recording.
Bug or local problem of mine?

Anyway I will play it again, great mission apart of this issue. PD, nice guards in the factory.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Zerg Rush

[kin]

Congratulations on the release. I am amazed with your skill.

Spoiler

Is there a way to deal with those "invisible demons" in the flooded area other than avoiding them?

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by kin

[Zerg Rush]

4 hours ago, kin said:

Congratulation on the release. I am amazed with your skill.

  Reveal hidden contents

Is there a way to deal with those "invisible demons" in the flooded area other than avoiding them?

 

Spoiler

I killed some of them with mines and holy water arrows

 

[Wellingtoncrab]

What a fantastic mission! I really enjoyed every element from the great audio/visual presentation to the fine detail and exploration opportunities squeezed into the layout. This is definitely a showcase for those new volumetric lights!

Spoiler

while I didn’t manage to break into the back of the shoppe on this first round - I was excited to see this looked like a viable option for a “discount”! Just gotta figure out how to get in there…

[Goldwell]

I have updated the mission to version 1.2.

 

Download link is in the OP.

 

And thank you everyone for the kind words!

[Zerg Rush]

I finished it again , now with a slight better result (7 secrets and two of the challenges from the shop), but I didn't know, how to entry the shop, nor where I find the combination of the save in the jewelery to finish the third challenge.

[Goldwell]

3 hours ago, Zerg Rush said:

I finished it again , now with a slight better result (7 secrets and two of the challenges from the shop), but I didn't know, how to entry the shop, nor where I find the combination of the save in the jewelery to finish the third challenge.

 

Re: the safe there is a tip inside the silent dagger which gives hints there.

 

Or if you're looking for a more direct hint

Spoiler

Check the rock with a tree on it in the starting water area

 

Re: breaking into the fences shop, you'll find that key during the contract called Unwanted Guests
 

Or a more direct hint

Spoiler

You'll find the key on the top floor of the factory, where the "unwanted guest" patrols around

 

[Zerg Rush]

Thanks, going in a third round, yes, in found a key in the unwanted Guests challenge, but i don't realized it's use

[NeonsStyle]

Congratulations on the release. Looking forward to another of yours

[Zerg Rush]

Ha, rough but nice

PD Nice the note in the floor by the sleeping guy in the water area  

Edited February 24, 2022 by Zerg Rush

[NeonsStyle]

Enjoyable level. Loved the entry into the level by, was very cool. 

Playing this. Found a strange issue with the AI in the water. There's a body down there, and they attacked it. lol Also at that spot, on a pipe above the body I got stuck between the pipe and the fake door. Don't like those creepies though. 

One thing I really don't like about 2.10 is the AI are super sensitive. The slightest sound, even creeping had
me detected multiple times from almost every AI. Not sure if you're not tweakign the AI sensitiviies to a realistic
level, or if 2.10 is over the top.  Still, another cool level. Love the new thief

[Goldwell]

58 minutes ago, NeonsStyle said:

Enjoyable level. Loved the entry into the level by, was very cool. 

Playing this. Found a strange issue with the AI in the water. There's a body down there, and they attacked it. lol Also at that spot, on a pipe above the body I got stuck between the pipe and the fake door. Don't like those creepies though. 

One thing I really don't like about 2.10 is the AI are super sensitive. The slightest sound, even creeping had
me detected multiple times from almost every AI. Not sure if you're not tweakign the AI sensitiviies to a realistic
level, or if 2.10 is over the top.  Still, another cool level. Love the new thief

The AI will freak out if it hears a mouse farting 20 miles away. 

 

Possibly one of the most irritating parts of TDM. 
 

For that reason I actually play with the AI sound difficulty setting set to “forgiving”. Because the standard setting is ridiculously sensitive as you mentioned.  

 

Thanks for the kind words too, glad you had a good time

[NeonsStyle]

I never have had this AI issue in 2.09 but only  since 2.10 it's like they are hypersensitive. 

I wrote that at about 2am after I'd just finished n was knackered. It was a really fun mission. The jeweller I found
really interesting, and never did find any reference to his valuables location. I also found the only way to get into that room opposite the main entrance into the Noble womans house was to alert the AI and get them to open it. The interior of the house though was gorgeous. Being an artist, I drooled over all the paintings. Had to KO the guards so I can spend some time in this Gallery of portraits. Very enjoyable level Goldwell. Look forward to your next one. I'll play this again!

Edited February 26, 2022 by NeonsStyle