Thief 3 Gold – Hand-drawn maps and briefing videos

Judith on 10/1/2015 at 08:47

I like it. The premise is simple, and it should stay that way, because that will be sort of a batch job. You need to be able to do that in a reasonable time.

I'd work with the font placement and size. There's no need to emulate Thief 1 style 1:1. The technical reason behind big fonts was low resolution. People sit about a meter away from 27" LCDs nowadays, and you have full HD resolution at your disposal. I think what I did for "Checking inn, cashing out" came out too big and in-your-face in that regard, and your font is even larger.

snobel on 10/1/2015 at 11:37

That looks promising! I agree that the font could be smaller...

I've put the briefings (https://copy.com/uGpbxFFJd8pLtbTO) here. The complete set of extracted sounds used to be available online, but apparently no longer.

Quote Posted by mensch

I had some issues getting the savegames (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87194) from in this thread to work with Thief 3 Gold, but after pasting a SaveGame.txt with the T3G-1.1 string in each of the folders they appeared ingame.

Those issues are intentional. :p There was suspicion that reused saves from early versions of T3 Gold were messing people's endgame up, so a simple version checking scheme was put in. Good that you figured it out but only use original saves from the City sections, and only for testing etc.

Beleg Cúthalion on 10/1/2015 at 12:12

I've uploaded a copy of SoundDrone (http://www.jaybmusic.net/Eidos/DXIW_Sound_Drone_v1.0_BETA.exe) here. But I wouldn't wonder when clearing already had a DarkFate mirror. You have to point the tool to T3's csc sound file archives and then you'll get a vast list of everything inside.

mensch on 10/1/2015 at 14:55

Thanks for the files, I've uploaded a new version of the briefing containing fresh screenshots and smaller text (centered now as well). Also, I now have a Photoshop workflow to achieve a more or less consistent look throughout the briefing. The character model of the Chalice is a bit anticlimactic as opposed to how it appears in the original cutscene, but it's the best I could do with all the decor surrounding the tiny thing.

[video=youtube;mZat4OkAcKs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZat4OkAcKs[/video]

I've also done a quick, preliminary inventory of the stills needed for every briefing:

01: Checking Inn, Cashing out
- Heartless Perry
- Insignia of the inn
- Map of The Blue Heron Inn
- Lord Julian’s guard

02: End of the Bloodline
- Crest of the Rutherfords
- Castle exterior
- Lion’s head torch
- Bloodline Opal

03: St. Edgar’s Eve
- St. Edgar's Church exterior
- Builder's Chalice
- Statue of St. Edgar
- Hammerite priests in aggressive stance

04: Into the Pagan Sanctuary
- Jacknall's Paw
- ?
- South Quarter
- Tree beast

05: The House of the Widow Moira
- Abysmal Gale exterior
- Mansion exterior
- Compendium of Reproach
- Mansion household

06: The Sunken Citadel
- Sunken Citadel interior
- Glyph Key
- Kurshok silhouette
- ?

07: Killing Time
- Stonemarket Clock Tower
- Gears
- Tower interior
- ?

08: Of Brethren... And Betrayers
- Keeper Compound interior
- Fallen clocktower
- Orland’s office
- Murder scene

09: Robbing the Cradle
- Cradle exterior
- Interior shots

10: Still Life with Blackjack
- Gamall
- Statues
- Artifacts
- Museum exterior

Not sure if every subject is feasible, but I plan to work on one briefing at a time, so we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward with a mix of anticipation and utter despair to replaying the Cradle again. So I might save that one for last...

Quote Posted by snobel

Ah, that explains. Initially I was worried I would have to do a linear playthrough in order to gather the screenshots. Even with the saves right before the various missions and me playing as a bloodthirsty, NPC-murdering bastard, it's quite an undertaking.

snobel on 10/1/2015 at 20:00

Quote Posted by mensch

I've uploaded a new version of the briefing containing fresh screenshots and smaller text (centered now as well).

:thumb:

Quote:

Even with the saves right before the various missions and me playing as a bloodthirsty, NPC-murdering bastard, it's quite an undertaking.

If you set the difficulty to zero in the SneakyTweaker tool, the NPCs won't attack you. They'll be blind and deaf - if someone gets in your way (like the guard outside the Peony Suite in the Inn mission), push against them for a while, then they'll leave.

Edit: Found the (http://ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137498&p=2100404&viewfull=1#post2100404) sound files.

Edit 2: In preparation for the real thing, here's a set of very small (https://copy.com/HWhrFcbwfgGhCrSA) placeholder videos (showing the mission title and basename for two seconds). Additionally a set of empty schema files will disable the original audio-only briefing. Extract into the T3 Gold mod installation folder (which can be found through the Sneaky Upgrade start menu group).

mensch on 11/1/2015 at 15:26

Quote Posted by snobel

Nice! I was looking for a cheat or trainer to render Garrett invisible, but it turns out I just had to read the explanation of the Sneak Upgrade options, instead of fruitlessly Googling.

Thanks to snobel I now have a set of screenshots for each mission, except for the Cradle and the Pagan Sanctuary. Both my saves for those missions appear to be corrupt, they crash the game as soon as the loading screen appears. Does somebody have a working save game I could use? Theoretically I could play through the whole game in order to reach the missions, but in the case of the Cradle that means completing eight missions.

Also Garrett mentions the fallen clocktower in Of Brethren... And Betrayers, I can't recall, but is it possible to make screenshots of the clocktower both intact and fallen? In that case I would like to take Beleg up on his offer to make some screenshots using the mission editor, if possible.

Quote:

Edit: Found the (http://ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137498&p=2100404&viewfull=1#post2100404) sound files.

I'll see if I can spruce up the audio of the briefing a bit with some sound effects (tolling bells, footsteps).

Quote:

Edit 2: In preparation for the real thing, here's a set of very small placeholder videos (showing the mission title and basename for two seconds). Additionally a set of empty schema files will disable the original audio-only briefing. Extract into the T3 Gold mod installation folder (which can be found through the Sneaky Upgrade start menu group).

I haven't use the RADTools from Bink before, but do you know if there's a preferred input format? If not I'll experiment a bit.

snobel on 11/1/2015 at 17:20

Quote Posted by mensch

Both my saves for those missions appear to be corrupt, they crash the game as soon as the loading screen appears. Does somebody have a working save game I could use?

I get crashes too - 25% on the (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94258&p=1962544&viewfull=1#post1962544) crash-o-meter :) - when using original City saves. I think that's the first time that has happened. Hopefully Beleg can provide some T3G 1.1 saves.

Quote:

I haven't use the RADTools from Bink before, but do you know if there's a preferred input format? If not I'll experiment a bit.

I don't know - never used it for anything besides experiments. Btw. be sure to hang on to your source files because formats other than Bink will hopefully become usable later.

Beleg Cúthalion on 11/1/2015 at 21:16

I just noticed that the debug mode (joystick symbol) doesn't support widescreen and high res in my T3Ed SU setup. Snobel, is there a trick to enable it? Otherwise I can try to get some good before/after shots of the Clocktower (or anything else required).

snobel on 12/1/2015 at 07:44

That's because only the 'release' exe is patched, not the 'opt' version. If you post the resolution(s) you want to use I can hex-edit it for you.

Edit: Is there a console command to switch off the HUD?

Judith on 12/1/2015 at 09:25

There's no such command in the FleshWorks Wiki, I just keep my copy of T3UI.ini with HudWindow set to Invisible.