Luthien on 11/10/2002 at 11:08
Flare elevatoring is a further development of flare or key climbing. The big advantage is that it does not use up any of the items. Thus, flare elevatoring allows to reach any height with only three objects of the same type and without losing any of them. The only disadvantage is that you can only climb vertically and not across precipices as it's possible with staircase stacking.
THE ELEVATORING HOW-TO
23rd of November, 2002
1. INTRODUCTION
Elevatoring is a highly efficient climbing technique that has one
big advantages over the other techniques like stacking: it does
not use up any of the items used to climb. Elevatoring allows to
reach any height with only three objects of the same type and
without losing any of them. It is even possible to get down from
any height and - with patience - to cross any precipice. It has
been successfully tested in all of the Thief 2 missions and ten
Thief 1 missions (see appendix B).
2. ELEVATORING THEORY
Elevatoring works with any objects that fall into your lap when
you drop them while looking straight up or down. The list of
items in Thief 2 includes flares, food and keys while only keys
work in Thief 1.
Said items get wedged inside Garrett and support him in mid air
while his body supports them. When jumping, the object passes
through Garrett's body for two jumps. This can be exploit
repeatedly to gain height. Since the objects are picked up before
they fall to the ground, any height can be reached with the same
number of objects.
It works as long as you have this type of object still in your
inventory after dropping the one you stand on. It does not work
with the last flare, key, etc. of a certain type.
3. THE BASICS
3.1. PREPARATIONS
First of all, lower the mouse sensitivity to a low setting. Move
the slider all the way to the left or maybe to the first or second
secondary graduation line. If it is too high, elevatoring may
become a game of chance with a slim success margin.
Make a save in a dedicated slot before you start and use quick
save to save a few times during the climbing process. Overall,
it's a very easy and reliable technique, so saving is not this
important.
Collect at least three items of a proper type. Flares, keys and
food work well. If you are unable to find three of a kind, two of
one kind and two more of another kind work too. In that case,
alternate between the item types and never drop the last of a
kind.
Finally, find a suitable place for climbing. If possible, start
close to a wall which you can mantle later, but not directly next
to it. A distance of a half step is better.
3.2. CLIMBING - STEP BY STEP
In the following sections I assume you are using keys as they are
the only type of objects that work in both, Thief 1 and Thief 2.
Please refer to appendix A for a complete list of objects that
were tested in Thief 2. To drop an item, press the 'R' key -
unless you modified your keyboard settings, that is.
1) Look straight up and drop (not throw) a key (or whatever item
you are using). The key should land flat on your head.
2) Look straight down. You should see the old key below you
(unless you just placed the first key, of course).
3) Pick up the key and jump at the same time. When done right,
you gain a little height, wedge in the key above your head and
take the key below you. Jump again to gain more height.
4) Repeat steps 1 to 3 until you have gained enough height. When
you get close to the lip of a wall it may be wise to not face it
directly as Garrett may try to mantle it and fall down. Saving
the game once every three to five cycles may be a good idea.
5) When you are high enough, face the floor where you want to get.
Look down so that the remaining key gets hilighted, but not
straight down. Jump towards the floor and pick up the key at
the same time.
Note: Even if you have a surplus of the object, it is still
important to pick up the lower item regularly. Otherwise, the
items will eventually push each other around and Garrett falls off
sooner or later.
4. ADVANCED ELEVATORING
Here you can find more advanced and also more difficult uses of
elevatoring. More difficult means that you should save more
often.
4.1 MOVING HORIZONTALLY
It is also possible to move a little bit in any horizontal
direction while elevatoring. With patience, one can cross any
precipice. It is possible to move slightly in any direction
after step 5 in above description:
3b) Face in the direction you want to travel look down so you can
see the object below you, but not straight down. Touch the
sneak key for a moment. Garrett starts to slide off the
object, loses a little height and moves a bit in the target
direction. Do not overdo it or Garret falls off.
Note: When looking straight down, Garrett can not move forwards
or backwards.
4.2. GETTING DOWN AGAIN
With the knowledge of moving horizontally it is now easy to get
down.
3c) Look straight down and touch the "sneak forward" or "walk
backward" key for a moment. As mentioned above, when Garrett
looks straight down, he can not move forward or backward.
Instead, he loses a little heigt. Release the key before he
falls through the object. It then falls down a bit and settles
into a new position. Repeat this until Garrett reaches the
ground. If Garrett gets close to sliding off, repeat steps 1
to 3 once more, then continue descending.
4.3 GETTING DOWN FROM ANY PLACE
How do you get down when you are not already hanging in thin air?
I can think of two ways:
a) Start elevatoring up as described in section 3 and move
horizontally towards the precipice (see 4.1). As soon as you
leave the firm ground behind, start elevatoring down (see 4.2).
You need some room above you to do this.
b) Save the game. Ready the chosen item and jump off the edge.
While still in flight, look stright down and drop a few of the
items fast. With luck, one of them gets wedged in Garrett's
body. If not, or if you take too much damage or loose too many
items, reload the game. After that, continue as in section 3
or 4.2 to get up or down.
5. AFTERWORD
Please contact me through a private message on the TTLG forums at
(
http://www.ttlg.com) or by posting to the Thief General Discussions
forum if you can provide any of the information below or other
interesting findings about elevatoring.
Information wanted about
* Elevatoring in the missing Thief 1 missions: Training, Down in
the Bonehoard, The Haunted Cathedral, The Lost City, Escape!,
Strange Bedfellows, The Maw of Chaos. As far as I know, neither
of this missions has enough keys.
* More objects that can be used for elevatoring, especially in
Thief 1.
* Elevatoring with scouting orbs. I was not able to make it work
because the scouting orbs are so big that they push each other
around.
* Elevaroring with scrolls and papyri. I suspect it works with
them, but I could not locate more than one copy of each scroll
yet.
* Elevatoring with robot boilers.
* Hidden places that were not reported to have been visited
before.
* Corrections to this document.
Thanks to
* Azal for his Thief 1 Collector's Edition, listing the number of
keys in each mission.
Happy elevatoring!
Luthien
APPENDIX
A. ITEMS THAT CAN BE USED FOR ELEVATORING
Thief 1
Keys
Thief 2
Keys, flares, any kind of food except healing fruits, most or all
of the chemicals or thechnical contraptions found at Soulforge.
Scouting orbs do not work.
B. MISSIONS THAT HAVE ENOUGH OBJECTS FOR ELEVATORING
Thief 1
Bafford's
Cragscleft
Assassins
Thieves' Guild
The Sword
Mage Keep
Song of Caverns
Undercover
Return to the Cathedral
Blooper Reel
Thief 2
All missions
C. INTERESTING PLACES TO CLIMB
This is a partial list of interesting places to climb. All places
have been successfully tested.
* The crystal atop roof of Angelwatch in Life of the Party with
flares.
* The lighthouse in Precious Cargo with flares.
* The cathedral in Sabotage at Soulforge. Collect some of the
technical contraptions from one of the storage rooms and leave
the catedral through the doors at the starting point.
* The roofs of the city in Ambush with food from the grocery.
* Ste storehouses in Shipping and Receiving with flares.
* The five towers in Mage Keep with keys stolen from the mages.
* The overhead gardens in Cragscleft with keys from the prison
guards.
* The catherdral roof in Undercover with keys.
