Fan Mission: Cole Hurst 1: Eaton by bwyan (2026/06/12) version 1.1

[bwyan]

Hello and thanks for checking out this post.

I'm delighted to announce that version 1.1 of my fan mission "Cole Hurst 1: Eaton" is now available to download and play.

This post is spoiler free, so please don't avoid digging into the details below if you are interested. I'm just using the spoiler tags to organize this post a bit.

Let me start by saying "thank you" to anyone who has either previously played - or is considering playing this mission. It really means a lot to me.

I have been away for a while, but following a round of beta testing that took place some time last year, I've only just recently managed to finish this update.

I'm slightly embarrassed by how long it has taken me to complete, but I wanted to make sure that the valuable feedback I received was all properly addressed.

 

Mission description

"Tonight, Eaton's wealthiest citizens will gather at Lord Mayor Zelmer's estate to celebrate the city's founding. Nobles, dignitaries, a famed musician, and even the Queen will pass through its gates. While the guests celebrate Eaton's future, Cole Hurst is looking for a way out."

For those new to and/or curious about this mission: I guess I would describe it as a traditional heist-style mission - although with a couple of major plot twist along the way. It's a very large map and I think it should take most players at least a few hours to complete.

 

Screenshots

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Changes in version 1.1

Countless additions and a large amount of smaller tweaks and changes have all made it into this release. I may have already forgot a few things, but here are what I consider to be the main highlights:

* New secrets & optional side quests

Spoiler

1) A common sentiment that many players of the original release shared was that the starting area was somewhat lacking in terms of playable content. Another common criticism was on the lack of secrets more generally speaking.

Based on this, I've incorporated some additional hidden loot along with some accompanying readables that I hope most players will enjoy. It should make the mission feel a little "denser" in terms of things to discover and mysteries to solve.

2) Readables that hint at the possible location of a secret have all been made lootable. The overall consistency in terms of which readables can and can't be dropped has also been improved.

* Story tweaks and reworked readables

Spoiler

I was never particularly good at creating interesting and engaging readables, and - in hindsight, I was never truly satisfied with the ones I included in the original release.

With this in mind, I decided to rework the majority of the written material found in the mission and also to drop one spoken conversation that - in my opinion, didn't really serve it's intended purpose.

Side note: If anyone reading this feels up to the challenge of helping me improve the voice acting for any of the characters in this mission, then please don't hesitate to get in touch!

In version 1.1, many paragraphs should now "flow" a little better and hopefully also be more enjoyable to read. Other readables have been shortened for brevity's sake.

Lastly I'll briefly mention that Cole's internal monologue (which was originally spoken at various points throughout the mission) has been cut. Looking back, it always felt a little out of place and I also think that forcing a specific voice onto the player was probably never the right way to go.

* Subtitles

Spoiler

Since both I and one of the other original voice actors are not native English speakers, some players naturally had a bit of a hard time understanding some sentences in certain conversations.

Subtitles weren't a viable option when I first released this mission, but they are now included in this version.

I haven't yet made an effort to translate any of the subtitles into other languages, but I may consider doing so in a future update...

* Difficulty tweaks and related changes

Spoiler

1) To make sneaking slightly more of a challenge, I have re-evaluated the lighting and floor textures used in several places and also slightly altered the layout of specific rooms.

A common sentiment from players of the original release was that my rooms were generally too large, and - in hindsight, I must say that I agree. That said, the thought of having to do a complete layout overhaul always felt too unmanageable and so I decided instead to make changes to a few particularly problematic rooms.

2) On the highest difficulty level, the almost universally disliked "no knockouts" objective has been replaced by a "no (human) kills" requirement. Additionally, a "don't get spotted by Braxton's guards" objective has been introduced. I am aware that I risk alienating some players with these changes, but I'm hoping that the average "hardcore" player won't mind.

For those looking for an even bigger challenge, I highly recommend playing this mission with the in-game "AI HEARING" option set to "HARDCORE". I personally find it to be a somewhat closer approximation to the overall awareness level of the guards found in the original Thief games.

3) A "don't kill these characters" requirement was added to the "EASY" and "MEDIUM" difficulty levels. This requirement is arguably a bit of a crutch on my part, but - for continuity reasons, I need to ensure that certain characters are still alive on subsequent missions.

4) In anticipation of future follow-up missions in the "Cole Hurst" series, the overall loot requirement has been significantly lowered on all 3 difficulty levels. To facilitate this, the loot value of lootable paintings found throughout the mansion have all been decreased proportionally.

* Stability fixes

Spoiler

I've also attempted to fix at least two separate instances of the game occasionally crashing when the player would interact with specific objects. I'm being deliberately vague here, as I would prefer to avoid spoiling certain aspects of the story for new players.

That said, I can't guarantee that this version is now entirely free of game-breaking bugs, but it is generally in a much better shape compared to version 1.0.

* Various cosmetic changes

Spoiler

Various other visual issues also caught my eye while revisiting the original release. I'd say most of these were due to what might be considered "newbie mapper mistakes" or perhaps just a general lack of attention to detail on my part.

I'm hoping that no one really notices these changes - and if so, I will consider it time well spent

* Audio tweaks

Spoiler

1) Audio reverb was reevaluated in several places. Distinct reverb was also added to certain rooms that previously didn't have any.

2) Sleeping and intoxicated AI will now more easily awaken due to player generated noises. Their snoring audio queues now also occur a bit more frequently.

* TDM version 2.13 now required

Spoiler

The minimum TDM version required to play this mission has been bumped to version 2.13. It may still be playable on older versions, but this haven't been explicitly tested and I can't make any promises.

For better performance, I highly recommend that you play this mission on TDM version 2.14.

 

Contributions and acknowledgments

A special thanks to all of those listed below. I'm sincerely grateful for all your contributions!

Mission testers and technical support

@nbohr1more, @stgatilov, @duzenko, @Acolytesix, @Dragofer, @JackFarmer, @Shadow, @Cambridge Spy, @wesp5, @madtaffer, @prjames, @suzy8track, @datiswous, @boissiere and @Bergante

Story

Kelly Hrupa

Voice actors

twhalen2600 (AKA @Benny_the_guard) and Kelly Hrupa

Edited June 15 by bwyan
Wording

[bwyan]

Since it was a bit buried in my original post above, I thought I would just repeat it here in the hope that more people might notice:

Quote

If anyone reading this feels up to the challenge of helping me improve the voice acting for any of the characters in this mission, then please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Thanks!

Edited June 14 by bwyan

[Bikerdude]

13 minutes ago, bwyan said:

I thought I would just repeat it here in the hope that more people 

I voiced the average jack set, so if it fits the mission you could replace the voice set for the NPC with Average jack set and then I could do the custom lines and have it all match.

[bwyan]

16 minutes ago, Bikerdude said:

I voiced the average jack set, so if it fits the mission you could replace the voice set for the NPC with Average jack set and then I could do the custom lines and have it all match.

That's very kind of you. Let me think on it a bit... I might go ahead and replace the voice set for one of my characters in order to make this happen.

I'll most likely DM you soonish in any case. Thanks for offering your help!

[Braunro]

When I downloaded the update, I saw that it'd been a bit over two years since I played this mission so I gave it a run through. Major parts of it remained familiar, so good job on making it distinct and memorable. I enjoyed replaying it. I did run into one issue though I'm not sure if it's something that needs corrected or was a one off glitch in my playthrough. I am running 2.14. 

Spoiler

The coinpurse that was stashed for Omar the cook under the one movable package, was not lootable. It may have been like when you can't interact with loot in a safe or cabinet until you close and reopen it, except with no door you can't do that and putting the package off and on doesn't do anything. I had a thought and loaded my last save and went back to it and, while still not able to loot it, I can hit it to move it around.

 

Edited June 16 by Braunro
Added more info.

[bwyan]

8 hours ago, Braunro said:

I'm not sure if it's something that needs corrected or was a one off glitch

Hi Braunro. Thank you so much for taking the time to play my mission and for giving me some feedback as well. I really do appreciate it.

I'll definitely look into this issue. It isn't something I've seen on Linux yet, but I'm guessing you are not alone. I'll see to it that it will be fixed in version 1.2.

Edited June 16 by bwyan

[Jnon]

On 6/14/2026 at 5:46 PM, bwyan said:

If anyone reading this feels up to the challenge of helping me improve the voice acting for any of the characters in this mission, then please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Just this past few days I've been doing recordings for my own mission, so I'd be happy to help if you still need anything done. I have a decent quality mic and I know how to clean up my own audio.

[bwyan]

1 minute ago, Jnon said:

Just this past few days I've been doing recordings for my own mission, so I'd be happy to help if you still need anything done. I have a decent quality mic and I know how to clean up my own audio.

That would be great. I've already got one part covered by Bikerdude, but I've still got one or two additional characters with parts that could also use an overhaul.

I'll shoot you a DM soon and thanks for replying!

[Cambridge Spy]

So, should I hold off on making an updated playthrough of this mission until v1.2 comes out?

[bwyan]

9 minutes ago, Cambridge Spy said:

So, should I hold off on making an updated playthrough of this mission until v1.2 comes out?

It's of course entirely up to you, but -  besides that bug report from @Braunro, I don't think you'll encounter many similar flaws or issues. That said, I am always happy to be proven wrong so it can be addressed in future versions 

Version 1.2 will mainly focus on changing the voice acting for a couple of characters and possibly fixing some smaller number of issues. That's the plan for now, at least.