Aged Raver on 18/2/2020 at 19:48
@Tannar >... The dark rectangle in the priest's room is where the crypt key was hanging.
DOH! Of course it was. I’d forgotten. Thanks. :)
pukey brunster on 18/2/2020 at 20:11
@pwl, regarding Wend's office - in version 1 we released it with Wend just standing there, hanging out in her office while Garrett snoops around like a creeper, reading her journal and stuff, LOL. We found it odd, to say the least, so in this version, at least she excuses herself to the next room. How convenient :laff:
Spyrano on 18/2/2020 at 20:42
I have to say, I had even more fun with this release than the contest version. Even took the time to get all the chess pieces in mission two this time around. Thanks for the update!
pukey brunster on 18/2/2020 at 20:45
Thanks @Spyrano! Really glad you had fun with it, and kudos on the chess pieces as it truly takes a "Tenacious Taffer" to find them all :cheeky:
baeuchlein on 20/2/2020 at 08:41
I think there is a little bug present in the first mission. It is not a game breaker but may confuse the player a bit. The door to the weapons shop can be opened with the front door key found in a house between the well and Lash's place. When I played the first mission on Hard two days ago and just needed the hotel map to be able to regularly end the mission, I tried to open the shop door in the standard Thief way: Lockpicks first, keys in inventory second, sword-bashing third. The front door key did the trick, but I did not remember at first from where I got that key. I was then faced with a shopkeeper who was not reacting on me, and I tried to get to him across the counter by climbing or jumping. The water arrow on display suddenly "hit" Garrett; it vanished, and a "splash" sound was heard. (And my all-new shiny shoes are RUINED now!!:o)
Later on, I concluded that the key was not meant to open this door, so I reloaded a saved game just before opening the weapons shop, got the map, and when I returned to the shop, its door had opened all on its own. The mission ended when I entered. That was obviously the intended way of finishing the mission.
And now for something completely different.:p
Concerning McTaffer's little language problem: I also had the french Readme file pre-selected when starting "The Scarlet Cascabel" (v2). My language setting in INSTALL.CFG was "language german".
It is fairly easy to change the displayed Readme file (or rather Info File) in FMSel. To select another file as an info file for the mission, right-click on the mission in FMSel's mission list. Select "Edit..." in the appearing pop-up menu. Select the "Misc" tab if it is not already selected. On the right side, you can then select an "Info File" from the ones FMSel found. Just click on whatever is displayed below the "Info File" line, and you should see a list of possible info files. Readme.rtf is the english one in the case of "The Scarlet Cascabel" (v2). The choice will be saved, so when the player closes Thief and restarts it later on, the game will still remember the file chosen.
Usually, FMSel and other FM loaders work a tiny little bit more reliable if all available files are called "FMInfo.rtf" or "FMInfo.txt" for files without a specific language, or "FMInfo-FR.rtf", "FMInfo-EN.txt" etc. for files in the appropriate language. EN in this case is for English, FR for French, DE for German, IT for Italian; whether it was ES or SP for Spanish, I do not know. This is an ancient standard set by DarkLoader.
Russian seems to be usually associated with RU or RUS, Polish with PL, but I do not know whether any FM loader reacts on these abbreviations.
To what extent FMSel takes the language defined in DARKINST.CFG or INSTALL.CFG into account, I do not know; AFAIK, FMSel ignores the language set and selects the file to use as an info file by an unknown algorithm.
If an FM author wants to make sure a certain info file is displayed when the mission is first accessed in FMSel, he/she can add an entry into the fm.ini file in the FM archive's main directory like this:
InfoFile=FMInfo.txt
And by the way, one can also add a line like "NiceName=The Scarlet Cascabel (v2)" there. FMSel will then display that name in the list, instead of just "TSCv2" (the name of the .zip, .rar or .7z FM archive). There are more interesting things one can do with fm.ini, but I do not know where one can find a comprehensive list.
By using the "InfoFile=..." line of fm.ini, one can pull off something else more convenient for players. For example, the author may create individual info files such as FMInfo-EN.rtf, FMInfo-FR.rtf etc., and then put all of them into one large FMInfo.rtf file, along with the famous "Scroll down for ..." lines, and maybe even with a description of how the player can select just the english or french file for displaying as the Info File. That should then be enough for everyone.
AFAIK, ancient DarkLoader only recognized file names beginning with "FMInfo-" as language-specific info files, not something like "Readme-" (e.g., Readme-FR.rtf). I think it would be a good choice to follow this "rule" for the future, as newer FM loaders may also chose to adopt this standard.
What NewDarkLoader and AngelLoader do in regard of these info files, I have not verified so far.
FenPhoenix on 20/2/2020 at 09:49
AngelLoader chooses a readme file based on an algorithm that looks at filenames and tries to choose one that doesn't contain spoilers (so it would reject "walkthrough.txt" and "secrets.txt" but might select "readme.txt", "fminfo-en.txt", "[mission name].txt" etc). Language is not really taken into account; it favors English readmes if there are any. I figured since it's so easy to change readmes in AngelLoader that choosing English as a safe option was okay. Perhaps I should change it to choose language readmes based on the chosen language in Settings.
AFAIK NewDarkLoader always asks you to choose a readme manually if there are multiple ones, and for the same reason as above: to avoid throwing potential spoilers in your face. AngelLoader will also do this in the rare case where it can't detect a spoiler-free readme with certainty.
Karras35 on 20/2/2020 at 11:25
Quote Posted by FenPhoenix
Perhaps I should change it to choose language readmes based on the chosen language in Settings
Yes please:angel:
Edit: Actually what I meant is, it would be great if it's possible to chose the language. I use an english game version, because I like the original voice actors better, but I would like to have readables in german whenever there is a german version of the FM.
glwhalen on 20/2/2020 at 17:00
Quote Posted by pukey brunster
Thank you!
The third Jade Idol is located behind the waterfall in the forest. Look for a place to jump down near the bridge.You can find the
lucky coin in the lighting shop in town. Full on spoiler:
look for a hidden switch under a table on the second floor.How do I access the
lighting shop? I'm stumped, and as best I can tell it's the only thing possible in Mission 1 I haven't been able to do or figure out.
Tannar on 20/2/2020 at 17:30
@baeuchlein: Thanks for that comprehensive post. A lot of great information there, some of which was new to me. I am not sure why the French readme would have been chosen, except that it was listed first in the file archive. Perhaps when no file is specified in the fm.ini file, FM Sel takes it on a first-come-first-served basis. Also, thanks for catching the key issue. That was an oversight due to some changes made long after that shop was built originally and the key assignment was overlooked. We plan to release an update when we have the new language translations finished, and we'll address that and a few other minor issues at that time.
@FenPhoenix: Thanks for that info, I didn't know you'd written it to avoid spoilers. Good idea. And I suppose it would be good to sync it to the chosen language if you ever get the urge. Thanks for your work on the loader, btw. I love using it.
Tannar on 20/2/2020 at 17:34
Quote Posted by glwhalen
How do I access the
lighting shop? I'm stumped, and as best I can tell it's the only thing possible in Mission 1 I haven't been able to do or figure out.
Hint:
Go around back, behind the shop and look up.Spoiler:
There is a beam above the top window. Use a rope arrow. If you can't see the beam well, the whole building's wood. :sly: