A new MOD for Thief 3

Tony Ayalew on 28/4/2009 at 09:39

Quote Posted by New Horizon

I'm really not sure what the best way is for you to release this mod Tony. I'm not clear on whether or not it alters the whole game, or just a few missions. It sounds like if you were to release a full set of custom IBT files, it would essentially be like uploading most of the game...so, I have an idea.

You could release your mod as a patch. This will require some work on your part to pull it off.

1. You will need to create TWO identical installations of Thief 3 on your computer. Basically, install T3 to a new directory...call it, T3_original. After the game has been installed to this location, right click and copy it. This will give you a folder called, "copy of T3_original"...rename it T3_patched. Now, you will have to bake your IBT's in your editor directory...'without' the John P textures...your mod must work with the original textures only. Once you have baked your new IBT's, do whatever you have to do to get your mod working in the T3_patched folder....again, without adding any John P textures. Once your mod is running...you will need to use this program.

(http://www.patchwise.com/downloads/index.php#trials)

It is called Patchwise. Follow the directions to create your patch.

It will ask for the 'original' unaltered directory. That will be T3_original. It will ask for the altered directory...T3_patched. The program will scan both of those directories and create a patch that contains 'only' the differences between the two folders. This 'should' be smaller...but may still be a bit larger than you expect. This program should also allow people to uninstall the mod afterwards. You just have to make it clear that it must be installed over an unaltered T3 installation.

I've strated my MOD in begin 2008. Now it's half 2009. In this 1,5 year I have never heard something like this kind of patch before. It sounds very interesting.

Just to make it clear: My MOD does contain IBT files (like I said, the old ways require it to remove IBT Files).

Also make it clear MY MOD IS USED FOR THE COMPLETE GAME, FROM START TO FINISH, EVERY BIT (I thought this was clear by now...).

I do not have any IBT Files right now.

Judith on 28/4/2009 at 10:52

Quote Posted by New Horizon

That's a neat idea :) I actually thought about one thing, when it comes to T3 vanilla install - I'm almost certain the OMs were cooked with the debug, "slower" version of the .exe. Afeter all these years I get framerate slowdowns quite often. So, I thought it would be sweet to re-cook all IBT's with the "release version" of the exe, using the editor and the unr files supplied with it. But I guess that a distribution of such "optimized" OMs would be a huge copyright infringement ;)

Beleg Cúthalion on 28/4/2009 at 11:02

I don't really know which slowdowns you experience with altered exe files, but since you cannot play the game with only ibt files, this should be alright. After all, the enforcer patches we're working on (or the one by Fallen+Keeper) would basically do the same thing. JohnP has altered original files, all of that would be illegal otherwise.

Tony Ayalew on 28/4/2009 at 11:03

Thanks everyone.

Beleg Cúthalion on 28/4/2009 at 11:11

With PatchWise they get overwritten automatically. If you ship the files zipped up then everyone has to overwrite them by hand.

Judith on 28/4/2009 at 11:17

Quote Posted by Beleg Cúthalion

I mean, the missions cooked with "T3main editor version" are worse in terms of performance. It was done on purpose, along with the light limit, to match the processing power of first Xbox. I've noticed this while cooking my FM. When I was testing it with "debug exe", it had framerate drops in many places. When I tested it and cooked with "release version" (with send to xbox command), the performance was better. I haven't used the editor version to test FMs since then ;)

Tony Ayalew on 28/4/2009 at 11:39

Quote Posted by Beleg Cúthalion

With PatchWise they get overwritten automatically. If you ship the files zipped up then everyone has to overwrite them by hand.

That's not what I mean. :sweat: I do not have any changed IBT Files, only pure files. Like the editor (but changed).
Isn't there something in DEFAULT.INI or some other file that can be tweaked in such a way that the IBT files are IGNORED?

By the way: I'm not really planning to use Patchwise if the only problem is IBT FILES. (Remember: I do not have any tweaked IBT FILES!).

I hope someone can asnwer this question.

Tony. :sweat:

Beleg Cúthalion on 28/4/2009 at 13:30

I thought we were over this already. You cannot play TDS without ibt files or T3Ed. You won't get people do download T3Ed along with your mod. Ergo you need altered ibts if you want anyone play it (as far as we know), quod erat demonstrandum. Plus, if you're really so nitpicking about your ideas, this is the way we won't be able to steal them directly. :p

That's why I say... if I was (were?) you: Throw out JohnP's textures since they eat space and instead get the old ones in. Make your scripts ready, check the texture layout, remove the ; in front of "writetoresourceblockfiles" (or whatever it says) in your user.ini, send the mission (e.g. SouthQuarter1) to xBox, cut the Autoplay.ibt from the folder where TDS stores the savegames, put it in a fake TDS directory (like every FM has) and rename it to (e.g.) SouthQuarter1.ibt. Then, back in T3Ed, "export map for game" to create a SouthQuarter1.gmp in the maps folder. Take it and throw it along with your new ibt file. Do that for all your missions, include the Kernel.ibts at the end, add all the files you need (again, there's a list in Komag's tutorial), zip it up and voilà, there's your MOD and it's GarrettLoader-ready. Easy to use, easy to remove, and probably less big than your MOD plus all necessary T3Ed files.

That's the only way I see for this to happen (except for PatchWise maybe) if we don't want to sit around for another three pages chewing through what ibt files are and why T3Ed is so big.

New Horizon on 28/4/2009 at 13:39

Quote Posted by Tony Ayalew

Tony, you have to create the IBT files by running the editor as described earlier in this thread. This is the best and only way people will be able to play them without the editor.

Since your mod spans the entire game, you have to do this, there is no other way.

Follow the directions I gave you in creating a patch, and you won't have any problems.

If you follow my advice, patchwise will create a self extracting executable that contains 'only the differences' between your IBT's and the original IBT's. I hope I explained it clearly because you need to firmly understand how it works. Patchwise creates a 'differential' patch....a patch that will only contain the differences between two folders. This is how game companies create their patches, they just use different programs.

New Horizon on 28/4/2009 at 13:43

Quote Posted by Beleg Cúthalion

The only thing I would add to this is to then follow the directions I gave and create two fresh installs of T3. Remove the original files from one and put in that altered files. Run Patchwise and it should extract only the differences between the two T3 installs...and shrink down the mod even further.