Dahenjo on 20/1/2021 at 19:52
Playthrough in 4K resolution with all loot & secrets, no KOs.
[video=youtube;vkLWEapbA4o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkLWEapbA4o[/video]
Wormrat on 8/2/2021 at 23:33
Excellent voice work in the intro! And then the mission itself, wow. It felt like every inch of this mission was high-quality and polished. This would be my current pick to show someone "this old engine's still got it" in the beauty department. Maybe after voting is over I can get a technical explanation for why the shadows seemed crisper (higher resolution?) than any other FM I've seen.
I played on Hard, limited myself to a few checkpoint saves, and tried to stay under the KO limit. I did well until I bungled my drop-in into the master bedroom, knocked out both civilians there, and then ran into a guard outside who I stabbed. So uh... yeah. Not the cleanest job. But it was an intense and immersive experience. Everything felt realistic and was a fair challenge. I'm going back on Expert and putting everyone to sleep so I can search for loot.
DirkBogan on 9/2/2021 at 03:46
@Wormrat,
In NewDark, there are both settings for shadow softness and lightmap scale. There are 8 presets for shadow softness that modify both how soft/sharp and how 'accurate' the lighting is, and lightmap scale can be set to any amount between 64 times or 1/16th the original lightmap resolution. A Midsummer Night's Heist uses 'Medium (9pt wghtd avg) [4x compute time]' shadow softness preset and x4 lightmap scale, leading to incredibly defined shadow with slightly soft edges. It also takes quite a fast computer to build the mission in a reasonable time.
There are downsides to this, in that these global settings don't allow granular changes to lighting on particular surfaces. Notably, the moonlight in this FM produces equally sharp shadows to electric lights in a small room. But the end result is still gorgeous.
Wormrat on 9/2/2021 at 06:15
Very helpful, thanks!
draconigen on 2/3/2021 at 11:27
Damn, I was just a bunch of days too late to get a graving for thief and find about the contest. From three maps I've played so far, this one is my favorite! I love the thoughtful mansion design and well hidden secrets. Keep up the good job and I'll make sure to be around and vote next time.
Toulomne on 10/3/2021 at 07:18
Playing contest missions a bit late, so sadly I didn't get a chance to vote. This is a top-notch classic mansion mission, especially considering the size restriction, which is hardly noticeable. While I tagged some of the other missions from this contest with "genre: mini" in my FM list, I didn't do that for this mission : )
-The decorations and furniture were absolutely gorgeous and opulent-looking and very well done
-I really enjoyed all the various attic areas and dropping down on the lord of the house, that's what really solidified the mission for me. One thing I do wonder is, if someone accidentally loses their rope arrow early on (as I very nearly did!), how would they even access the locked part of the mansion and the secret gem area? Hopefully I didn't have to find out, quite possibly there is an extra rope arrow somewhere I missed.
-Managed to finish this smoothly without any deaths \ reloads on expert but I ignored the 2 max knockouts objective. Felt a bit too easy so I think the mission was meant to be played with that objective mostly, kind of wish I had gone with it, was still very good even if a bit too easy due to plenty of dark places to knock out guards from and only 2 watchers.
-Found only 1 secret, the hidden gems in the attic and was surprised at how many I missed since I felt I was pretty thorough poking around, guess I will replay this someday and try to find more secrets \ loot and hold myself to the 2 max knockouts objective, sounds fun : )
Great job, thanks for an excellent mission!
thehardyboyz on 14/7/2025 at 17:08
I just discovered this mission and consider it a real gem!
Level design is perfect, I love how space is used and places are interconnected.
The general atmosphere was very solid, a few readables but not too much.
Really, that's a very, very solid mission. I had a lot of fun playing it !
Finished on expert (and ghosted) - Last save at 1h50
Around 2700 loot at first, then I checked a few hints as I know I was missing secrets.
This is actually the only negative point on that mission according to my experience : Secrets were a bit too... secret.
I spent like 10 minutes wandering in the attic but I just couldn't find the lever. And even when I found the answer on this thread, it wasn't easy.
Anyway, amazing mission once again, thanks a lot !
PS : I know the posts were made a long time ago, but a see a few guys saying this FM is too easy, finished in 15mn or whatever.
Guys, if you KO everyone on sight in a 20-30 rooms mission, where the challenge is to get past security is small spaces, it seems obvious that you won't be highly challenged.
This mission has to be played at least no hits, or ghosted, to be enjoyed to its full potential. :thumb:
