Fan Mission: The Lieutenant 2: High Expectations by Frost_Salamander (2023/04/24)

[Frost_Salamander]

2 minutes ago, mango777 said:

Absolute beauty Frost_Salamander!! Well done on making such a superb level!! The standard was so high I cannot possibly find fault with it. I never found the code for the safe in the hotel though - where did you ferret that away you sly old fox? 

 

Again - beautiful work!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! 

Hint for the safe code here: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21837-fan-mission-the-lieutenant-2-high-expectations-by-frost_salamander-20230424/&do=findComment&comment=485264

Actually, it's probably time I added these hints to the original post....

[Melchior]

In terms of levels of perfection - its only 3rd best because the others are so darn good.

Fine Architecture - Clever Plot, Maaabey a twist or two...heheh. Classic Good stuff. Also: Thank Goodness its not a Chase/Shadow mission again. I'm not quite finished yet, having done what I was tasked to do - but that seems like only 1/3 of whats possible....replay factor is HIGH.

In short; If you've already Finished: Iris, Hazard Pay, 1st Lieutenant, and Volta's and the W.S. Series - play this next.

The sense of connection - to the 1st mission is there too, I hope a 3rd part will be in the works too.

[cvlw]

Great map Frost Salamander!  Thick and rich in action and exploration.  Great looking map.  Lots of sweet, delicious thievery, too.  This series is bulking up nicely!

I too had Coates...

Spoiler

...in the Church.  I thumped him and then had problems getting to the river as I couldn't get out of the area with the body shouldered.  I ended up dropping him into the well which took some propping/flopping/pushing, but got him in and it completed the objective.  Then I read this thread and found that he just simply needed to be executed. The wording in the briefing seemed to gravitate towards dropping him into the river.  So, in a version.next, I might recommend a different wording.

BTW he was walking face first into the back wall of the church sanctuary when I got there.  If he is supposed to be wandering around, he wasn't in my case.  I am on v1.1 of the map.

Thanks much!

Clint

 

[Frost_Salamander]

6 hours ago, cvlw said:

Great map Frost Salamander!  Thick and rich in action and exploration.  Great looking map.  Lots of sweet, delicious thievery, too.  This series is bulking up nicely!

I too had Coates...

  Reveal hidden contents

...in the Church.  I thumped him and then had problems getting to the river as I couldn't get out of the area with the body shouldered.  I ended up dropping him into the well which took some propping/flopping/pushing, but got him in and it completed the objective.  Then I read this thread and found that he just simply needed to be executed. The wording in the briefing seemed to gravitate towards dropping him into the river.  So, in a version.next, I might recommend a different wording.

BTW he was walking face first into the back wall of the church sanctuary when I got there.  If he is supposed to be wandering around, he wasn't in my case.  I am on v1.1 of the map.

Thanks much!

Clint

 

@cvlw Thanks for the feedback! Bit of a spoiler response:

Spoiler

Yes the idea is that you should try to be a bit more creative in offing Coates if you can (which is why you have no sword or broadheads), but you can actually kill him any way you want. the objective only checks that he's dead, not where he's placed or how he dies.  You don't need to drag Coates out of the church, you can drown him in the baptism font! Ideally you would also be able to chuck him off a building, but unfortunately TDM doesn't apply fall damage to ragdolls in a reliable way.

There is also a bit of an exception for the church. Some arrows spawn upstairs in the church only if Coates spawns in the church as well.  There are broadheads in Griffin's room, and a fire arrow in the belfry.  I included these for people who might find creeping around the ground floor too difficult/tedious (plus it's just fun to snipe from the rafters).

Regarding Coates being stuck like that - well that's a new one . He does have a bit of a path he follows but that's the first time I've seen that happen.  I've already done an update but I'll have a look regardless.  Thanks!

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Frost_Salamander

[irisx]

A very well thought-out and balanced mission, and for some reason I found it fits perfectly with my playing pace. Lots of non-obvious places to explore but with enough hints to pick your curiosity. Some nice touches also

Spoiler

like the Exorcist-inspired subplot in the Abbey and a couple of places with characters suggestively interacting behind closed doors --little touches that, even in the absence of sophisticated scripted dialogue, greatly add to the atmosphere and the feeling that this is a little but self-contained world, with things happening around while the main plot progresses.

A couple of potential small bugs:

Spoiler

In the Abbey's winery (?), the liquid in the large container does not reach its bottom, you can lie down breathing indefinitely   I suppose this would also spoil any plan of drowning Coates in there.

I also had a couple of crashes in the Cathedral when changing to the bow weapon and at the beginning of the shooting animation. Reloading and switching through weapons fixed this.

Overall, another great mission for 2023!

Edit: I also had the

Spoiler

unpickable key on the guard, spent some time harassing him -and getting beaten to death in response- before I realized it was a bug

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by irisx

[Frost_Salamander]

49 minutes ago, irisx said:

A very well thought-out and balanced mission, and for some reason I found it fits perfectly with my playing pace. Lots of non-obvious places to explore but with enough hints to pick your curiosity. Some nice touches also

  Hide contents

like the Exorcist-inspired subplot in the Abbey and a couple of places with characters suggestively interacting behind closed doors --little touches that, even in the absence of sophisticated scripted dialogue, greatly add to the atmosphere and the feeling that this is a little but self-contained world, with things happening around while the main plot progresses.

A couple of potential small bugs:

  Hide contents

In the Abbey's winery (?), the liquid in the large container does not reach its bottom, you can lie down breathing indefinitely   I suppose this would also spoil any plan of drowning Coates in there.

I also had a couple of crashes in the Cathedral when changing to the bow weapon and at the beginning of the shooting animation. Reloading and switching through weapons fixed this.

Overall, another great mission for 2023!

Edit: I also had the

  Hide contents

unpickable key on the guard, spent some time harassing him -and getting beaten to death in response- before I realized it was a bug

 

Thanks for playing and the kind feedback

re: the bugs:

• the brew tank is a new one - thanks for that.  Will add it to the list for any future update.
• the bow: I think that's a TDM bug.  I experienced it as well, but only the early days of developing the mission so  I thought it had gone away, but I guess not: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/21345-210-crashes-may-be-bow-frontend-acceleration-related/
• the keys on the guard: never did get to the bottom of that one as I could never reproduce it.

[esme]

Well that was fun, took me a while to work out how to get into the upper floors, I'm quite proud of getting to the archer over the river he was bugging me

Tragically death visited the area

Spoiler

Mr Coates was attending a soiree in the hotel and slipped on a misplaced candle plummeting head first into a toilet that someone had left the seat up on, unable to extricate himself, he drowned in the murky, noxious & surprisingly deep liquid

Let this be a reminder to put the seat down when you finish guys

Spoiler

Also in an unrelated accident Mr Sharpe fell in the mansion pool & drowned while on a midnight walk

Or so everyone believes

I did have a few issues at the beginning where the game crashed to desktop a couple of times right at the start but that has apparently been looked at, so I'll give it a few weeks & try the new version

Also Mr Harrington was inside his apartment walking into the wall with the veranda on the other side when I found him, not sure if that's been mentioned

But overall a really enjoyable mission, excellent architecture, well decorated, good but not impossible puzzles, thank you

Edited May 10, 2023 by esme
detail

[High John]

Yes, a well designed mission, with a number of challenges hitting the sweet spot - for me - of being not too easy and not too difficult.

I had three problems - all of my own making - that involved a lot of going back over old ground.  This was because I played this over a number of days, and possibly my memory isn't what it used to be.

1. I knocked out Mr Burns fairly early (I knock out lots of people).  When later on I then found I needed to do something with his body, I'd forgotten which of the many bodies was his.
2. Ditto with Mr Sharpe.
3. And I came across the hotel safe early, and the combination late.  At which point I'd forgotten which building the safe was in(!)

[datiswous]

23 hours ago, High John said:

This was because I played this over a number of days, and possibly my memory isn't what it used to be.

I have to say, this is a problem I have with missions. Wondering what could help..

Btw. I think it's better if you would use a spoiler for the more detailed aspect of your post.

[hightide]

I'm enjoying this mission, but having to split it up over a few days has made it hard to make connections/remember where I have been. thanks for putting tips in the first post!

I still need to find 

Spoiler

Atkinson

and somehow get into the church. What am I overlooking there?

• edit: I tried the climb again and made it, locating Coates. No key, though

also, find the combination for the safe in Harrington's.

and figure out how to enter the room of the tenant whose rent is late (near Lenard's safe house).

 

a few bugs that may have been reported (I'm not reading the thread too carefully before I finish)

Spoiler

it seems there are some gold items that cannot be frobbed in the store.

the guard East of Coates' mansion: I found it was impossible to pickpocket the key

Coates' neighbor has a locked chest I could not open (same room as sleeping man)

is there an objective for curing the afflicted priest? or does he just revert to normal? mine was floating above the bed despite fulfilling all the steps.

not a bug, but the repeated loud cat yowls were very alarming and annoying. maybe just because I have cats, and I kept thinking they were fighting.

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by hightide
progress

[Frost_Salamander]

@hightide are you asking for hints?

regarding the bugs:

Spoiler

• which gold items? I haven't had any bug reports about that
• The guard keys not being frobable, yes that's a known issue.  I don't have a solution but you can lockpick the doors they unlock anyways
• The locked chest in Coates' neighbor's house - there is a key in that room somewhere...
• The afflicted priest: there are some explanations for this in the first post of this thread.  If you still need a hint let me know
• yeah I think the cat sounds are annoying too.  Someone did a playthrough on Youtube and I found it annoying just watching it.  I may remove it in the next bugfix release.

 

[hightide]

I realized I had misread a hint in the thread and gotten ahead of myself. mission complete!

at the shop there are 

Spoiler

several plates and candlesticks in a locked window display that do not highlight for pick up; tdm_show_loot outlines them

there is also the safe upstairs, if I could get a hint for the key?

[Frost_Salamander]

7 hours ago, hightide said:

I realized I had misread a hint in the thread and gotten ahead of myself. mission complete!

at the shop there are 

  Reveal hidden contents

several plates and candlesticks in a locked window display that do not highlight for pick up; tdm_show_loot outlines them

there is also the safe upstairs, if I could get a hint for the key?

Spoiler

dumb question, but did you unlock the cabinet doors?  Nobody else has reported a problem with that loot.  Also, is it both cabinets or just one of them?

regarding the safe, the store is called Harrington's.  Have you found Mr. Harrington?  He lives in the top-floor apartment in the building on the west side of the square.

 

[gokudo]

Love the mission so far. I seem to have run into a bug:

Spoiler

I've drowned Coates in a well and have made it back to the Safe House. I read the letter but there's no key. From other posts there's meant to be a key and a letter. Is this a bug?

 

[Frost_Salamander]

12 minutes ago, gokudo said:

Love the mission so far. I seem to have run into a bug:

  Hide contents

I've drowned Coates in a well and have made it back to the Safe House. I read the letter but there's no key. From other posts there's meant to be a key and a letter. Is this a bug?

 

Spoiler

Yes there should be one on top of the desk next to the letter.  It might be easy to miss.  If it's not there, it's either a bug or maybe it's fallen through the desk?  Maybe check inside the desk and/or on the floor...

 

[hightide]

10 hours ago, Frost_Salamander said:

  Hide contents

dumb question, but did you unlock the cabinet doors?  Nobody else has reported a problem with that loot.  Also, is it both cabinets or just one of them?

regarding the safe, the store is called Harrington's.  Have you found Mr. Harrington?  He lives in the top-floor apartment in the building on the west side of the square.

 

haha, yes, I've unlocked the doors. the ones behind the desk are fine, the one with musical instruments is unfrobbable.

EDIT: weirdest thing, I closed the door and reopened it and everything could be frobbed. 

as for the key, it had blended into the color of the desk drawer and I missed it. even using show_keys I had a hard time getting the right angle for it to highlight.

Edited May 13, 2023 by hightide

[Frost_Salamander]

8 minutes ago, hightide said:

haha, yes, I've unlocked the doors. the ones behind the desk are fine, the one with musical instruments is unfrobbable.

EDIT: weirdest thing, I closed the door and reopened it and everything could be frobbed. 

as for the key, it had blended into the color of the desk drawer and I missed it. even using show_keys I had a hard time getting the right angle for it to highlight.

OK.  The close-and-reopen thing sometimes happens, but it's rare.  It's something to do with the frob lock entities I think (the things that prevent you from frobbing through containers while the doors are closed).

The musical instruments aren't loot so that cabinet doesn't open.  In retrospect, I shouldn't have put a lock on that cabinet door I guess...

As for the key on the desk, I'll make a note to make it a different colour in a future update so it's not so easily missed.

Thanks!

[gokudo]

On 5/13/2023 at 8:55 PM, Frost_Salamander said:

  Hide contents

Yes there should be one on top of the desk next to the letter.  It might be easy to miss.  If it's not there, it's either a bug or maybe it's fallen through the desk?  Maybe check inside the desk and/or on the floor...

 

Alas, I've had another look but no joy. Looks like this may be a bug with having settings set to the max.

[Frost_Salamander]

1 minute ago, gokudo said:

Alas, I've had another look but no joy. Looks like this may be a bug with having settings set to the max.

okay.  If you don't have a save before that objective triggered or don't want to restart/redo anything, you should just be able to spawn the key. Open the console and type:

spawn fsx:prison_cell_key

It should appear in front of you somewhere (e.g. on the floor)

[gokudo]

On 5/14/2023 at 11:43 PM, Frost_Salamander said:

okay.  If you don't have a save before that objective triggered or don't want to restart/redo anything, you should just be able to spawn the key. Open the console and type:

spawn fsx:prison_cell_key

It should appear in front of you somewhere (e.g. on the floor)

That worked. Now onto the Burns quest!

[JiriH]

...and I finished the mission.

I really like your idea no sword + no broadheads - it made the mission more enjoyable as I was scratching my head for a few moments how do I kill somebody (before trying the obvious:). This may be not much, but you nailed your goal perfectly! It made the mission longer and richer while not making accomplishing the objective tedious.

Lots of vertical movement (building ledges), windows open (great indicator! - makes the game experience more... streamlined?) somewhere high up you cannot get to at the first glance. Good looking, rich architecture in several styles (I liked the hotel a lot). Architecture does not hamper player's movement (!) - although the map is quite big, boring running is minimal.
Design: textures are a perfect fit for the architecture; the items on the scene make the locations rich and believable. The design was probably thoroughly tested as there was just a couple of occurrences where I jumped on a table etc., got stuck and had to NOCLIP my way out - great job!
The only thing I did not like was spawning/endgame area (the cellars), where the lanterns make you walk blindly as their light cones obscure what is behind them (please see the attached screenshot). It has its charm, but I did not like it as it served no other purpose (e.g. walking blindly into a corpse;).
 

I did not finish the Atkins objective. I did a lot of the subtasks on the list, but as I was not aware such a list exists, so I considered the subtasks just an eye/script candy.

There is the bug with pool guard's key which was already discussed and is fixed.

 

Overall: Such a nice mission! Rich for the eye, rich for the story.
Thank you, it was a wonderful experience.

[AluminumHaste]

Light bleeds through walls when this door is open.

 

When closed:

 

Words are cut off on the first page.

 

 

 

readables/fsx/letter_coats_sharpe
{
    precache
    "num_pages"    : "3"
    "page1_title"    :
    {
        ""
    }
    "page1_body"    :
    {
        ""
        "Sharpe,"
        ""
        "  Your display of loyalty in dealing with the Watts girl is commendable.  It is certainly distasteful but we do what we must. Now that our 'friend' has outlived his usefulness, we must deal with him next and then we can put this unpleasantness behind us."
        "    Now to the future. You see, City Watch officials and mayors are only the start.  I've been exploring how a certain foreign nation can help culture my interests.  The stakes are about to be raised Sharpe, and as my head of security your role is" <------Missing from readable
    }
    "page2_title"    :
    {
        ""
    }
    "page2_body"    :
    {
        ""
        "about to become even more crucial."

 

[AluminumHaste]

Once the player crosses this visportal, the light on the carpet gets brighter, and on the wall the shadows change subtly.

 

 

Beautiful pool, but ummm, where is this light coming from?

[Frost_Salamander]

Thanks:

• will look at the lights changing - that might be the same ambient thing that happened in the square
• I've fixed the readable already for an update I'm getting ready
• the pool - the lights are magic

[Frost_Salamander]

On 5/19/2023 at 1:19 PM, AluminumHaste said:

Light bleeds through walls when this door is open.

I have no idea what's causing this.  It's the oil lamp just inside that window on the upper deck of that room.  Stuff like this drives me crazy.  Also, while I was just sitting outside staring at it, sometimes the light bleed would just suddenly appear even when the door was closed, or it would remain visible after the door was closed and would disappear if you moved/looked around.  I thought it might have been another door opening somewhere, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

On 5/19/2023 at 1:45 PM, AluminumHaste said:

Once the player crosses this visportal, the light on the carpet gets brighter, and on the wall the shadows change subtly.

I can't seem to reproduce this at all. I thought it was a similar issue that I had in another section with the ambient light changing slightly, but I can't see any difference crossing between those rooms.  Anyone else notice it?