Fan Mission: The Imperial Sword [ 15yr Anniversary Contest ]

[nbohr1more]

The Imperial Sword

By: Bikerdude

"When passing through the small town of Brouften, the locals mentioned that the Town Council have been having issues with one of the local nobels. One Lord Drafferi, who has been interrupting Town Council meetings and claiming that nobody on the council has any authority on town matters..."

 

Notes:

- TDM 2.12 or later is REQUIRED to play this mission.

- This FM is based on an abandoned old version of The Elixir that doesn't resemble the current mission at all as a base for town of Brouften.

- This FM should play on the vast majority of systems. I have perf tweaked this thing to within an inch of its life. And have moved almost all of the VL ligh effects to the ‘ better’ LOD level.

- min recommended spec (as per beta testing) Intel Core i7(3^rd gen), nvidia 1030 4gb (GDDR5), will get you 60fps inside and 45fps outside.

- Various areas will look better with shadow maps enabled (SoftShadows set to high and Shadows Softness set to zero) at the possible expense of performance.

- When you play there are 2 LOD settings of note, normal and better. On better all of the VL lights and alpha shadows are turned on.

- I also suggest using MAPS shadows with softness set to low and quality so to medium or high.

- And lastly this mission has subtitles for all the custom audio and briefing.

 

Tip:

- When searching for needed items, use the "F" \ "Lean Forward" Key

 

Brunting Steel:

The sword in this mission is made of Brunting Steel which is a semi-mythical metal in the TDM universe. It is similar to Damascus Steel which was famed for it's strength in comparison to other steel swords. In TDM mythology, it was originally forged on an island utopia, similar to the fabled metal "Orichalcum" crafted in Atlantis.

The first mission to mention Brunting Steel is "Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors"

 

Download Link:

- (v1.3.6) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mu-FdGH1FivMgt4Fy1OgwiDjvIpA1Uck/view

Changes:

• The briefing has been tweaked to remove some of the confusing aspects, aswell as the audio, so the narration is easier to understand.
• There is now more than one exit point to complete then mission.
• A number of annoyances that some players reported have been tweaked or outright changed.
• In game map

 

( The mission is also available in the Mission Database )

https://www.thedarkmod.com/missiondetails/?internalName=imperial_sword

 

Credits:

A big thanks goes to -

- nbhor1more for his fantastic story and readables.

- WellingtonCrab for the fantastic signs, plaques, decals & other textures.

- Mortem desino, Narrator for their awesome and subtle custom dialog.

- Goldwell for the "Grumpy old man voice"

- Datiswous for the subtitles

- Kingsal for the awesome new grass and flowers.

- Flanders and Melan for their excellent models and textures.

- Nobiax for his excellent small plants - nobiax.deviantart.com.

- kyyrma and GigaGooga for thier ever-handy sounds packs.

- Obstortte for the custom frob script.

- Jackfarmer for the brilliant custom briefing.

- freesound.org for ambient tracks, further details in sndshd file.

- Beta testers: Mat99 (star tester), Nbhor1more, Amadeus, Xak, Jackfarmer, MikeA1 and S1lverwolf.

 

Teaser:
 

 

Before and After screens:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15yr Anniversary Contest Thread:

 

[chakkman]

Oh yeah! Grats to the release.  

[datiswous]

4 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

Various areas will look better with shadow maps enabled at the possible expense of performance.

Why is that?

[thebigh]

Congratulation on the release!

[nbohr1more]

22 minutes ago, datiswous said:

Why is that?

Alpha textures with shadows ( which is impossible with stencil )

[Tarhiel]

New mission from bikerdude?
Instadownload

[chakkman]

This is some very fine looking mission, especially the lighting.

Spoiler

I noticed an issue with the altar in the chapel. Objects sink into the surface: 

 

There is a cellar hatch here which has a weird floating extra lock:

 

Apart from that, I also noticed quite a few errors in the readables. Bikerdude might want to look into those.

I really like the mission so far (Bikerdude always has some great, great city mission design). Will continue playing tomorrow.

 

Edited September 21, 2024 by chakkman

[Heuli]

wow a mission from Bikerdude great I have nothing to do today on Sunday so your new mission comes at just the right time thank you

[thebigh]

Finished everything except I can't find the last plaque :P. Great little city mission, and I love clambering around the streets getting into out-of-the-way places.

[Johnnytheboy76]

Got very excited when I saw a new mission was ready for download. Played and completed already. Loved exploring the city but there was just one thing I couldn't figure out:

Spoiler

At the start of the map, there's a Builder tower. When you go down to the cellar, there's a candle holder on the wall that can be frobbed. I can hear something opening but can't find what it is!

 

 

[nbohr1more]

12 minutes ago, Johnnytheboy76 said:

Got very excited when I saw a new mission was ready for download. Played and completed already. Loved exploring the city but there was just one thing I couldn't figure out:

  Reveal hidden contents

At the start of the map, there's a Builder tower. When you go down to the cellar, there's a candle holder on the wall that can be frobbed. I can hear something opening but can't find what it is!

 

 

Hint:

Spoiler

It's in another "important" building.

 

[chakkman]

1 hour ago, nbohr1more said:

Hint:

  Hide contents

It's in another "important" building.

 

Spoiler

Can you elaborate? I checked everything apart from the mansion, and, I couldn't find anything which opened.

 

[nbohr1more]

13 minutes ago, chakkman said:

  Hide contents

Can you elaborate? I checked everything apart from the mansion, and, I couldn't find anything which opened.

 

Spoiler

The mansion is important...

 

[chakkman]

Spoiler

Thanks. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it there either, but, it's OK. I only found 3 of 9 secrets in the end anyway.  

Great mission nonetheless. 

 

[joebarnin]

Wonderful mission. Beautiful to look at, nice geometry. Good use of verticality. I was

Spoiler

doing insanely stupid jumps (to my death) to try to get to the library, before I saw the power cable to walk across. D'oh!

I found a few issues: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ymo4atbtil7v4twke4zwj/ABKgFsFTeXiUAsyQ6Q7kxiI?rlkey=zwxi27vkvo19c4nfaindmjz4v&st=crogqgmk&dl=1

The readable screengrabs show the problem reading from left page to right.

[chakkman]

1 minute ago, joebarnin said:

 

  Hide contents

doing insanely stupid jumps (to my death) to try to get to the library, before I saw the power cable to walk across. D'oh!

Spoiler

The curse of playing with low brightness/gamma.  I often miss stuff like that too.

 

[werner]

3 hours ago, chakkman said:

  Hide contents

Thanks. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it there either, but, it's OK. I only found 3 of 9 secrets in the end anyway.  

Great mission nonetheless. 

 

Me too. Fortunately this mission can be finished without. But I'm also puzzled by ...

Spoiler

the font and the fake sword. What use they may be for ...

Nevertheless, wonderfull mission with lovely scenery, thank you very much, Bikerdude! (and to all the other guys who created it)

[chakkman]

Spoiler

I wondered about the fake sword too. Couldn't find a use for it. Thought at first that I could prevent the gas trap with it, but, that's obviously only the floor trigger which needs to be avoided.

 

[nightmare]

First time I saw a snail in dark mod mission.

[thebigh]

The font in the little church heals you which can be useful.

[werner]

No, snails have been in serveral missions but the plaque idea was new.

[taffernicus]

I can't wait to play this FM tonight...hopefully there is a lick of thief highway element in this FM

[nbohr1more]

New version with a few minor fixes up in the mission database.

[thebigh]

1 hour ago, taffernicus said:

I can't wait to play this FM tonight...hopefully there is a lick of thief highway element in this FM

 

More than just a lick

[Cambridge Spy]

There really needs to be in-game subtitles for the briefing and conversation.