COSAS 2 Mission X - Available Now ... 8-15-08 - by Digital Nightfall
R Soul on 1/7/2018 at 18:33
Make sure you have the latest version of the file "NVScript.osm". You can download it here:
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134166)
(1st link)
Put it where MissionX is installed (Thief2\ or Thief2\FMs\CoSaS2_MissionX_v113\ if that exists). It may also help if you put that file in the Mission X zip file so if you uninstall it, you can reinstall it without having to do this again.
Anarchic Fox on 2/7/2018 at 00:40
If that's all it takes I'm going to be mad. There are people in scattered corners of the Internet who say "Yeah, MX is great, but if it doesn't work you're screwed." :nono:
Anarchic Fox on 2/7/2018 at 03:02
Okay, here's what I've been keeping secret for so long. If Klatremus didn't figure this out (and there are subtle hints in the readables), no one will, so I'll share it.
When designing this level, we did not realize how thoroughly set Thief players were in their mode of play. We genuinely thought that about half the players would choose not to assist Rubber, because his rationale is so flimsy and he is violating the agreed-upon plan. But the lure of extra objectives drew people in, even though Rubber's cover is not blown.
On the ground floor works and lives a good man named Grichemer, who manages the servants, almost all of whom are female, and who are mostly chosen for their charm and looks. Unlike most managers, he genuinely cares for the wellbeing of those under his employ. Now, the guards are kept under tight discipline, and in their own way care and look after the servants... drunk gamblers are not safe people for skimpily dressed servants to be around. However, horrible things have happened when valued guests bring their own guards, because the Ivory Rose ones are not allowed to punish the evil acts of private guards. And on the night of the mission, here comes Lord Raputo, whose personal soldiers are notorious for their rapacity when off duty. He chooses his men based on loyalty and competence alone.
Grichemer does what he can for the evening and night crew. Many of the servants he keeps in the kitchen and dining areas, where guests will presumably not wander. A few hardy ones he assigns to the clubhouses, hoping that when Raputo's guards are in a group they will be safe (which is true, they are very disciplined). One he locks in the money changing room, and if you linger in that area, you will see that it is a very good thing she is locked in there. The rest, he fires the moment they come in the door, thinking that is the most he can do to keep them safe. If you wait in Grichemer's bedroom, you will occasionally see him go inside and agonize over the fact that he, too, will be fired in the morning. He left the hotel short-staffed on the most important of nights. What else could happen?
Rubber has, as befitting an undercover agent, quickly established himself as hard-working and reliable. He takes the hard, tedious and late tasks without complaint, and is strangely calm around guards, both Ivory Rose and personal. And Rubber knows nothing about Grichemer's plan, because Grichemer intends to let the blame fall entirely on his own shoulders. When the Ivory Rose guards, who care for each other and for the servants, realize that many of the evening staff are missing, they go to Rubber to ask if anything is amiss. He is so very reliable and trustworthy. Rubber panics, grabs his mask, and asks for help.
Now, when designing the "Raputo's scroll" objective, we wanted to reassure players about something. A good agent would not steal while on a mission, because that could give the presence of the entire team away. But a typical Thief player -- in fact, in turns out, practically every Thief player -- will steal anything shiny. Raputo's scroll indicates that he knows a plan is afoot, so even if gold is found suspiciously missing, it would not change Raputo's plans. Dante can steal as much as he likes, without it having any negative repercussions...
...Except for the good man Grichemer. It is, after all, a night when all the higher-ups are distracted, and the guards are required to focus on the top floors. If the morning comes, and it is discovered not only that he fired many of the staff, but also that copious gold went missing on his watch, then what happens to him will be worse than being fired.
The correct way to play is to steal nothing, since that is what a good agent would do. But Dante, as the closing cutscene establishes, is a kleptomaniac.
The Black Cat on 2/7/2018 at 03:34
Quote Posted by Anarchic Fox
Okay, here's what I've been keeping secret for so long. If Klatremus didn't figure this out (and there are subtle hints in the readables), no one will, so I'll share it.
When designing this level, we did not realize how thoroughly set Thief players were in their mode of play. We genuinely thought that about half the players would choose not to assist Rubber, because his rationale is so flimsy and he is violating the agreed-upon plan. But the lure of extra objectives drew people in, even though Rubber's cover is not blown.
On the ground floor works and lives a good man named Grichemer, who manages the servants, almost all of whom are female, and who are mostly chosen for their charm and looks. Unlike most managers, he genuinely cares for the wellbeing of those under his employ. Now, the guards are kept under tight discipline, and in their own way care and look after the servants... drunk gamblers are not safe people for skimpily dressed servants to be around. However, horrible things have happened when valued guests bring their own guards, because the Ivory Rose ones are not allowed to punish the evil acts of private guards. And on the night of the mission, here comes Lord Raputo, whose personal soldiers are notorious for their rapacity when off duty. He chooses his men based on loyalty and competence alone.
Grichemer does what he can for the evening and night crew. Many of the servants he keeps in the kitchen and dining areas, where guests will presumably not wander. A few hardy ones he assigns to the clubhouses, hoping that when Raputo's guards are in a group they will be safe (which is true, they are very disciplined). One he locks in the money changing room, and if you linger in that area, you will see that it is a very good thing she is locked in there. The rest, he fires the moment they come in the door, thinking that is the most he can do to keep them safe. If you wait in Grichemer's bedroom, you will occasionally see him go inside and agonize over the fact that he, too, will be fired in the morning. He left the hotel short-staffed on the most important of nights. What else could happen?
Rubber has, as befitting an undercover agent, quickly established himself as hard-working and reliable. He takes the hard, tedious and late tasks without complaint, and is strangely calm around guards, both Ivory Rose and personal. And Rubber knows nothing about Grichemer's plan, because Grichemer intends to let the blame fall entirely on his own shoulders. When the Ivory Rose guards, who care for each other and for the servants, realize that many of the evening staff are missing, they go to Rubber to ask if anything is amiss. He is so very reliable and trustworthy. Rubber panics, grabs his mask, and asks for help.
Now, when designing the "Raputo's scroll" objective, we wanted to reassure players about something. A good agent would not steal while on a mission, because that could give the presence of the entire team away. But a typical Thief player -- in fact, in turns out, practically every Thief player -- will steal anything shiny. Raputo's scroll indicates that he knows a plan is afoot, so even if gold is found suspiciously missing, it would not change Raputo's plans. Dante can steal as much as he likes, without it having any negative repercussions...
...Except for the good man Grichemer. It is, after all, a night when all the higher-ups are distracted, and the guards are required to focus on the top floors. If the morning comes, and it is discovered not only that he fired many of the staff, but also that copious gold went missing on his watch, then what happens to him will be worse than being fired.
The correct way to play is to steal nothing, since that is what a good agent would do. But Dante, as the closing cutscene establishes, is a kleptomaniac.
When I was playing, what I wasn't sure about was how my actions would affect the mission later. I was always paranoid that people would notice missing loot, or that blackjacking someone would mean a later event wouldn't happen. I was always worried about playing it wrong. Did you plan for multiple playstyles when making the mission?
downwinder on 2/7/2018 at 04:11
in order to open box you have to go to that power room and flip the right switch that then sets a timer for you to go open the right box and remove the fuse then close box,not sureif you got to put one back in ,does that help?
alsoonly one of the switches has to be pulled ,and it has to be a certain one that leads to the box you got to open so you look at roof to follow wire to it then do that one
The Black Cat on 2/7/2018 at 04:37
Quote Posted by downwinder
in order to open box
you have to go to that power room and flip the right switch that then sets a timer for you to go open the right box and remove the fuse then close box,not sureif you got to put one back in ,does that help?
also
only one of the switches has to be pulled ,and it has to be a certain one that leads to the box you got to open so you look at roof to follow wire to it then do that oneI am absolutely sure it was the correct switch (second from the left) and the correct fuse box (though neither of the boxes would open or do anything when frobbed).
I'll restart the mission and try the other objective instead.
Quote Posted by R Soul
Make sure you have the latest version of the file "NVScript.osm". You can download it here:
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134166)
(1st link)
Put it where MissionX is installed (Thief2\ or Thief2\FMs\CoSaS2_MissionX_v113\ if that exists). It may also help if you put that file in the Mission X zip file so if you uninstall it, you can reinstall it without having to do this again.
I put the file in the mission folder and restarted the mission, but now the mask doesn't work. I put the old NVScripts.osm file back and the mask still doesn't work. What's going on?
Anarchic Fox on 2/7/2018 at 06:48
Quote Posted by The Black Cat
When I was playing, what I wasn't sure about was how my actions would affect the mission later. I was always paranoid that people would notice missing loot, or that blackjacking someone would mean a later event wouldn't happen. I was always worried about playing it wrong. Did you plan for multiple playstyles when making the mission?
We were really clueless about how players would respond to MX. I mean, we labelled the hardest difficulty "Impossible" because we knew the mission could not be solved without hints. And then people jumped in on the highest difficulty anyway, and complained because all the agents gave crappy hints. I think players don't even realize there are different recorded lines for all three difficulties! The team is really nice and supportive on the lowest difficulty, and I always tested on that one just because they sounded so friendly. We also made sure to include all failure options right at the start, which is why you're faced with such an intimidating task list.
Perhaps our single biggest mistake was making people feel that there was a time limit. We all knew that a time limit was a bad idea, so we didn't put one in. And yet, the rumor spread that there was one.
We did plan for multiple playstyles. There is a canonical playstyle and a canonical ending (which is the best ending, by the way), but we included a blackjack and poison drops even though they made no sense from a story perspective. We put in lots of little dark nooks to hide bodies, if you wanted to play that way, but we also deliberately designed the mission so that you could ghost it. At the time "Perfect Supreme Ghost" wasn't a thing yet, though, and it's nigh miraculous that it's actually possible.
Quote:
I put the file in the mission folder and restarted the mission, but now the mask doesn't work. I put the old NVScripts.osm file back and the mask still doesn't work. What's going on?
What version are you playing?
The Black Cat on 2/7/2018 at 07:23
Quote Posted by Anarchic Fox
We were really clueless about how players would respond to MX. I mean, we labelled the hardest difficulty "Impossible" because we knew the mission could not be solved without hints. And then people jumped in on the highest difficulty anyway, and complained because all the agents gave crappy hints. I think players don't even realize there are different recorded lines for all three difficulties! The team is really nice and supportive on the lowest difficulty, and I always tested on that one just because they sounded so friendly. We also made sure to include all failure options right at the start, which is why you're faced with such an intimidating task list.
Perhaps our single biggest mistake was making people feel that there was a time limit. We all knew that a time limit was a bad idea, so we didn't put one in. And yet, the rumor spread that there was one.
We did plan for multiple playstyles. There is a canonical playstyle and a canonical ending (which is the best ending, by the way), but we included a blackjack and poison drops even though they made no sense from a story perspective. We put in lots of little dark nooks to hide bodies, if you wanted to play that way, but we also deliberately designed the mission so that you could ghost it. At the time "Perfect Supreme Ghost" wasn't a thing yet, though, and it's nigh miraculous that it's actually possible.
What version are you playing?
I was playing version 1.13. I just tried the patch now, which I didn't notice originally, and the problem persists. I have no idea why it worked the first time I played but not now.
Anarchic Fox on 2/7/2018 at 07:45
Quote Posted by The Black Cat
I was playing version 1.13. I just tried the patch now, which I didn't notice originally, and the problem persists. I have no idea why it worked the first time I played but not now.
Oh man, this brings back memories. >_>
Are you playing the Steam version, and what loader are you using?
The Black Cat on 2/7/2018 at 07:47
Quote Posted by Anarchic Fox
Oh man, this brings back memories. >_>
Are you playing the Steam version, and what loader are you using?
I'm playing the GOG version with Tafferpatcher installed, and I'm using NewDarkLoader.