T3 FM: Impurities in the mix(SFM_zSchism) - poll (03/10/05)

[bikerdude]

This is more like it, lots of fab architecture, lots of lighting, I had to stop all the time to look around, this along with the walk is what its all about... Headf on over the shadowdarkeep...

:-)

Download

[Eshaktaar]

I might be missing something blatantly obvious, but what's the name of the FM you are referring to, and where can it be downloaded?

[epithumia]

I try to follow these things closely, and I have absolutely no idea what mission is under discussion here.

[Ziemanskye]

Impurities in the Mix, aka SFM_zSchism.

In a fit of common sense, the mission titles don't in anyway resemble the filenames of my two missions (Two Steps being the mission name for Townhouse).

But I'm glad you like it Bikerdude.

[potterr]

GarrettLoader tells you the mission names in the FM lists. As Ziemanskye said these two misison names have no relation to the Filenames, much like future FMs. Its unfortunate that before GL no-one really read the name of the missions in the readme and went by the filename instead.

[epithumia]

Darkloader has always done the same thing, although it uses the title from the last mission present in the file.

It only seems reasonable that if at all possible the name of the file containing a mission should bear some resemblance to the name of the mission itself. It is beyond me to comprehend why someone would deliberately choose to do otherwise. (Of course, collections of missions in the same file would be a reasonable exception.)

[bikerdude]

I got it from thiefmissions.com/demos/

Its not a full mission yet, but its still very good to play. And I for one am looking forward to when it comes out.

Biker

[Ziemanskye]

If you're on about Schism, then it's as done as it's going to be (so long as it's version 4 you're playing). It was never meant to be much more of a mission, in that the main thing I wanted to do was make something that looked good.

[bikerdude]

Hi mate

Well you succeeded at doing that, its the prettiest T3 mission Ive seen so far

Biker

[tiger@sound.net]

And probably the most creative Hammerite Church and retirement home, that could be used as their private asylum and/or hospital, that you will ever see!

And I have never seen so many new and unique static-meshes and animations, through-out all of my personal T3 FM fun.

And one "unique surprise" is the usage of normal daylight.
(So much so, that your average thief player will probably feel a bit like a paranoid bug, on a bright kitchen floor, for most of his adventure.)

Plus, this seems to be the very first FM with totally optional objectives?
(And those, along with a fine story, will make this FM nicely replayable.)

So, Thank you, for your most excellent creativity, Ziemanskye!

[Sluggs]

Any chance of some screenies of this please?

[mxleader]

Oh, it's a T3 mission! Please put that in the title so I don't have to bother with the thread since I can't play the damn T3 missions!

[Judith]

Sluggs, here you are, btw. I must get my hands on this one, how come I missed it?

http://ladyjo1.free.fr/thief/article...id_article=173

Good thing that Komag put it on Shadowdark. Looks like I'm busy tonight

[Nightwalker]

I think many of us enjoy FMs from ALL the games. I certainly do, though I still have a few T3 FMs to get to, including this one.

[Garrett's Shadow]

i fullfill the Hammer optional objective by killing that pagan in the lower area, and it checks off that objective and crosses out the Pagan optional one, BUT IT ALSO FORCES ME TO RELOAD A SAVE!

what the hell zat all about?

(it can't be cuz of the "kill no non-combatants" bit, cuz she's running around w a blasted sword in her hands!)

O M G !!! i redid it, checked, YES!!!
it IS that clause!!! oki, fine, BUT DUDE - if you are gonna have optional objectives like that, you really shoulda made it so the ones that would conflict with a difficulty setting don't show up on the list when a player chooses that difficulty!

and how is a npc running around with a bloody damn sword out a "non-combatant"???
(is it her "intimate toy" instead of a weapon? u kno those Pagans!)

[Marbrien]

I'm using Sneaky Upgrade v1.1.2.1. When I frob the glyph in the initial area, the game crashes. Any ideas, anyone?

[snobel]

It looks like the standard vertex pools are too small. If you're using FMSel add the part in code tags here to the User.ini file in the unpacked FM. (You can reach the FM installation folder from the Sneaky Upgrade start menu group.)

The proper way to fix it though, is to make a User_patch.ini file containing those values and add that file to the FM archive root. And then upload it somewhere and nudge the FM hosters to update it.

[Marbrien]

It looks like the standard vertex pools are too small. If you're using FMSel add the part in code tags here to the User.ini file in the unpacked FM. (You can reach the FM installation folder from the Sneaky Upgrade start menu group.)

The proper way to fix it though, is to make a User_patch.ini file containing those values and add that file to the FM archive root. And then upload it somewhere and nudge the FM hosters to update it.

Thanks, that got it working.

[snobel]

With permission from Ziemanskye this FM has been updated to fix the crash on start-up when using FMSel. (The vertex pool thing.) Additionally some obsolete files were deleted and the readme was converted to GLML format, mainly to have the proper title show up in FMSel. The FM itself is unchanged.

I've sent out note by PM to the various FM mirror maintainers that I know of - hopefully they'll update it. In the mean time it's available here.

[yxlplig]

With permission from Ziemanskye this FM has been updated to fix the crash on start-up when using FMSel. (The vertex pool thing.) Additionally some obsolete files were deleted and the readme was converted to GLML format, mainly to have the proper title show up in FMSel. The FM itself is unchanged.

I've sent out note by PM to the various FM mirror maintainers that I know of - hopefully they'll update it. In the mean time it's available here.

I've found this new version of the FM to be harder to get running than the previous version. I got the old version running by adding the vertex pool thing to the user.ini, this new one I can't get started at all. It crashes while loading the level. It also took forever for FMSelect to install it, could this be a corrupt file?

[snobel]

I just downloaded both versions, installed them with FMSel and compared the contents. All the FM files are identical. Maybe it's your virus checker playing a trick? It's true that the installation takes a bit longer for the new version. Must be because of a higher default compression level for the zip tool I used. It didn't take anywhere near 'forever' in my case.

Could you try re-downloading and reinstalling the FM with AV turned off? If it still doesn't work, set the log level to Dump in the tweaker's Advanced page, start the FM, find the "current" log through the Sneaky Upgrade program menu group and upload it. (It's going to be somewhat long.)

[yxlplig]

Looks like Windows Defender was the culprit. I turned it off and redownloaded the file, FMSelect installed it in 1 second like it normally does and the mission loads up.

Thanks for posting that, I would even say that it might have taken me forever to think of trying that on my own.

[<Username>]

With permission from Ziemanskye this FM has been updated to fix the crash on start-up when using FMSel.

I downloaded SFM_zSchism-v4_01.zip from Taffers Paradise and played with Sneaky Upgrade 1.1.10. I experienced no crashes. Thank you for the fix!

Stats:

• Expert difficulty
• 31 minutes
• 1050 loot
• 1 hint needed

Elements I liked:

• The rooms in the Hammerite compound are filled with objects. This makes them feel more lived in.
• There is effort put into the diaries you have to read to complete the mission.
• You get a choice of optional objectives you can complete.

Elements that could be improved:

• What's up with these three arches in the outside area with either a blue swirling mist or a bright light behind them? They don't lead anywhere. Why are they there?
• The interior architecture feels very cramped: lots of tiny rooms and lots of doors.
• The mission is missing a loot count. I don't know if I missed any loot.

Bugs:

• Savegames in the outside area are labelled "zSchismEntry". Savegames in the inside area are labelled with just the date and no mission name. They are not labelled with proper mission names.
• There was a dead Hammerite in the room with the four healing potions. The hot cauldron next to him killed him, apparently. The cauldron also damaged me when I stepped near it. All cauldrons in the mission have the same problem: The radius at which they cause damage is a bit too high. There is one room you cannot enter through one of the two doors leading to it without taking damage because there is a cauldron next to this door.
• Another Hammerite in the mission got into a fight with one of the rust mites near the three fountains. He could not reach the rust mite with his hammer, so the fight never ended and I could just walk by him, ignoring his constant screams of "Just wait thou until I reach thee."
• There is an empty objective in the objectives screen.
• In the briefing screen, one of the objectives reads "Find and read 0 diary entries". Only when you're in the mission does the value get updated to "read 5 diaries".
• I got the prompts how to use healing potions and holy water when I picked up the first of either item.

Hints needed:

• I missed the diary on the middle bench near the three fountains.