Sneaky Upgrade: Unofficial patch for Thief 3

[snobel]

You're very welcome. Furious Flames is not just an excellent FM, it's also good for testing because of all the custom stuff.

I really hope you do return to T3 editing, as you hinted at in the FF thread.

[zoog]

Hail
Got such stupid subj but couldn't find anything.
Set sneaky upgrade up -- and hanging on jumping on a ladder, uninstalled it -- all clear.
Tried with affinity settings - in vain, but in 3rd person view it seems to do climb, hardly though.
Any ideas?

[snobel]

Is it any ladder, or a specific one?

Is this the old Sneaky Upgrade linked to in the first post, or the beta version?

Did you apply any other tweaks apart from affinity settings?

Could you try setting both T3.exe and the patched T3Main.exe to run on the same specific core? (I.e. imagecfg -a 0x1 T3.exe, ditto for T3Main)

[zoog]

All ladders; keylocks docking is kind of strange; one unbearable box in 1st mission I could push only from 3rd person.

Is this the old Sneaky Upgrade linked to in the first post, or the beta version?

1st one -- file version 0.0.0.0

Did you apply any other tweaks apart from affinity settings?

No; 1st time I digged many *.ini files but then uninstalled the game, deleted everything, installed again (OK), installed upgrade (sticks), uninstalled upgrade (OK).

try setting both T3.exe and the patched T3Main.exe to run on the same specific core?

Did. Nothing got better.

And btw thank you for great release) In spite of my problem)

[snobel]

I suddenly remembered that someone on WSGF were having the same symptoms and discovered that they were caused by the monitor refresh frequency being too high - 120 Hz in that case, but if you're running at any rate above 60 Hz, try forcing 60 Hz in the display driver and make sure that vsync is enabled in the game. Failing that:

Could you post your Windows version and system specs including the resolution you play at? Also if you changed anything in SneakyUpgrade.ini, please post the full contents of that file (in CODE tags).

If you have the time, some screenshots - or better, Fraps videos - showing the issues may help. (Please use the ladder in the Inn mission if you can.) Maybe if I can emulate exactly what you do, then I can reproduce it.

You could also try the beta Upgrade linked to a few posts above. It would be surprising if it helped, but you never know.

[zoog]

I suddenly remembered that someone on WSGF were having the same symptoms and discovered that they were caused by the monitor refresh frequency being too high - 120 Hz in that case

Seems to be the case - I'm using the upgrade to run game at 100Hz on my CRT.
Wil try to play with animation rates..

[Firehawk]

I got the same problem with and without the upgrade. I need to turn on VSYNC in graphicoptions then everything works fine

[zoog]

Firehawk, hell yes!)) I suspedted it's a silly problem.
Thank you)

[snobel]

From the Kings and Queens thread:

THANKS FOR THE HELP!
Although some things remain complicated! I can't change the resolution! i have WXP (1240x1024) i think, so what resolution must i put? My pc is monocore (old) with invidia grafic card! The game starts, but it's veeery slow, almost unplayable! As you already understand i'm not a pc master after all, as i understand the veeery simple english only!!!

Did these issues appear after applying the patch?

How do you attempt to change the resolution? Through the options screen, or by editing the options.ini file? If it's through the options screen, do you change it, but nothing happens, or can't you move the resolution slider?

Which part is slow, level loading or the actual 3D game?

[Bar]

From the Kings and Queens thread:



Did these issues appear after applying the patch?

How do you attempt to change the resolution? Through the options screen, or by editing the options.ini file? If it's through the options screen, do you change it, but nothing happens, or can't you move the resolution slider?

Which part is slow, level loading or the actual 3D game?

SNOBEL, yes after the applying!
the actual 3D game is slow now,I try to change the resolution from the game's menu options, I can move the resolution slider, but I can't save the changes!

[snobel]

How many positions does your resolution slider have, and what are the minimum and maximum resolutions you have?

Locate the folder that contains your savegames. Since you're on XP it will probably be in the folder named "Thief - Deadly Shadows" in "My Documents". In it you'll find a folder named "User Options", or the equivalent in another language. Inside that you should find a file named "SneakyOptions.ini". Open it and look for a line starting with "Resolution=". The number there is the position of the slider, counting from zero.

Do a couple of experiments where you change the slider position, quit the game (that is when the position is saved) and inspect the file to see if the value has changed. Remember to close the text editor before you start the game, and then re-open the ini file when you've quit the game again. Report back whether you can make the Resolution value change or not.

As for the slowness, the patch doesn't directly affect the 3D rendering in any way, so it must be indirectly through the resolution or FOV.

[Bar]

How many positions does your resolution slider have, and what are the minimum and maximum resolutions you have?

Locate the folder that contains your savegames. Since you're on XP it will probably be in the folder named "Thief - Deadly Shadows" in "My Documents". In it you'll find a folder named "User Options", or the equivalent in another language. Inside that you should find a file named "SneakyOptions.ini". Open it and look for a line starting with "Resolution=". The number there is the position of the slider, counting from zero.

Do a couple of experiments where you change the slider position, quit the game (that is when the position is saved) and inspect the file to see if the value has changed. Remember to close the text editor before you start the game, and then re-open the ini file when you've quit the game again. Report back whether you can make the Resolution value change or not.

As for the slowness, the patch doesn't directly affect the 3D rendering in any way, so it must be indirectly through the resolution or FOV.

min:640x480
max:1280x1024
"SneakyOptions.ini" not exists, only as "User Options",

[snobel]

"SneakyOptions.ini" not exists, only as "User Options",

1. So you have the User Options folder, but no SneakyOptions.ini file inside it?

2. What is the full path to the User Options folder?

3. What is the full path to your game installation folder?

4. You're sure you have the correct savegames folder, i.e. if you make a save, then a new weirdly-named folder is created next to the User Options folder?

If something is keeping the game from creating the ini file, then it's no wonder the resolution stays the same...

5. Can you manually create a SneakyOptions.ini file inside the User Options folder?

[Bar]

ALL THIS IS TOO COMPLICATED FOR ME.... ANYWAY THE FM IS PLAYABLE THANKS TO YOU SNOBEL!!! I CAN SAVE AS OFTEN AS I WANT! NO MATTER IF THE VISION IS A LITTLE THINER THAN BEFORE! I CAN REINSTALL THIEF3 AFTER ITS FINISH!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, YOU ARE VERY KIND, AS THE MOST IN THIS SITE!!!!!

[snobel]

OK - the final 1.1.1 release should be out before Christmas anyway. If you apply that on top of a fresh install and still have these issues, please do post again.

I've uploaded a copy of SneakyOptions.ini here, it has the resolution setting lowered one step from the default. You can try copying that to the User Options folder and see if it makes a difference.

[Hiatus]

@snobel:

I'd like to ask you to consider making non-installer version for the next final of SneakyUpgrade patch. I think some (more advanced) users, not only me, would be interested in having non-installer version, that can be installed/copied manually, without any .exe (mainly to better understand what the patch works like, and what is going on "behind the scenes" when installing the patch).

Could you consider making such a version of SU?

TIA!

[snobel]

To avoid confusion I'd rather not publish it that way. But of course the raw components are available to you (or anyone else) on request.

You can also do it the sneaky way and just take the installer apart using innounp.

[Hiatus]

ok, thanks for the reply. When next final appears, I'll let you know about obtaining non-installer version, then .

ps any ETA on next final?

[snobel]

Maybe this weekend, at the latest on the 21st, just before the world ends.

[snobel]

Looks like the world is not going to end after all - Better get something released then...

Unfortunately there's been some late issues, which have taken up all the testing time, so the final release will have to wait until after new year's.

But here's a new beta, which is 99 % there. (Don't get confused by the various components still having 1.1.0.x version numbers - that's just because they're not quite 1.1.1.x yet.)
Here's a direct link to the readme. Edit: Beta links removed, because the real thing is out.

I'd appreciate some feedback, particularly about the installer and FMSel, from people who have 64-bit Windows or Windows 7-8.

New stuff:

• No need for downloads during installation
• Built-in FM selector and support for FMSel from NewDark
• FMSel improvements:
  
  • Pheonix's spring cleaning and name format features
  • No 30-character limit on folder names for Thief 3
  • Support for GLML files.
  • Automatically reads the FM title if a GLML file is found
  • Auto-launches the archive folder selection if the path is not set
• Fixed a couple of FM related crashes
• Fix for video corruption on linux/WINE
• Better multi-core fix
• Less dependency on registry keys. (The ION_ROOT key is ignored by default.)

To play FMs, download some FM archives to a dedicated folder, click on the FM Selector glyph icon, select the folder you downloaded to, restart the FM selector, select an FM, click play... For more information about using FMSel, see the FMSel readme.

To hopefully make FM playing just work, a path in the user's AppData folder is used by default for FM installation. If you want another location, run the original game once after installation, then edit the path in User Options\SneakyOptions.ini.

Some known issues:

• It's best to uninstall the 1.1.0 patch before installing this one, otherwise some garbage files will be left behind.
• If you've had the 1.1.0 version installed, the old SneakyUpgrade.ini file will be renamed to SneakyOptions_diff.ini by the installer. The patched game will recognize this on first launch and copy the settings over. But if your installation folder is in Program Files the game may not have permission to delete the _diff.ini file, causing it to be re-applied on every launch. For now, if there's a _diff.ini file in your game root after installation, delete it.
• There's some work-in-progress to allow individual savegames folders for different users. As a consequence, if you've ever edited the SaveGamePath registry value to make it point into your Documents folder, then you may have to edit it back, or move your savegames to the location set by the registry. On XP it's currently recommended to play the game using the admin account that was used to install it.
• If the new icon for the original game looks like the old one, refreshing the desktop or logging out/in should fix it.

Source code for the modified FMSel will be included in the final release.

[PsymH]

I downloaded your new package and I'm about to test this, but the first problem occurs. The FM selector doesn't appear. I launched t3.exe and T3Main.exe with the "-FM" parameter, but instead the FM selector appears the game starts in normal way. Do you have an idea what's wrong?

[snobel]

Thanks for testing.

What is your Windows version, install path and savegames path?

Did you let the installer provide the icon, or did you make your own? In the latter case make sure the "start in" folder is the location of T3.exe. Also, better make sure the target line ends in "...\T3.exe" -fm, using lower case letters for the -fm part. (Hopefully it's case insensitive, but I really don't remember right now. )

When you launch T3.exe -fm and the (original) game starts, if you press Alt-Enter to switch to windowed mode, does the window have the yellow icon, or the cyan version?

If you rename FMSel.dll temporarily, does the built-in FM selector launch? (It's basically a boring old Windows folder selection dialog...)

If you have another Thief game with the NewDark patch installed, could you try copying FMSel.dll from the T3 System folder into the other game, and see if it will launch there? (In case you don't use FMSel with that game, just copy a shortcut to Thief(2).exe and add -fm to the target line.)

[PsymH]

Hi Snobel!

My windows version: Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
Game Path: E:\Spiele\Thief - Deadly Shadows
Savegame Path: E:\Benutzer\Martin\Dokumente\Thief - Deadly Shadows

As you can see I'm playing the german version

The icons are provided from the installer and when I use alt & tab after the game shows the main menu I see a cyan icon.

If I rename the fmsel.dll the game launches still normally. And if I use your dll with thief 2 it shows the FM selector.

I entertain suspicion that there is something wrong with the patching process for the t3.exe. If I examine this file with a hex editor I cannot find any mention for fmsel.dll.

[snobel]

Those paths should of course be perfectly fine. The German locale also should not be a problem, even different foreign locales for the OMs and FMs should work. Do you have the SneakyOptions.ini file in your Spieler-Optionen folder?

The cyan icon means that the game thinks it's playing an FM. I've no idea at this point what could keep the selectors from showing up. Unfortunately I'm away from home (and any computer that can run T3) so actual debugging will have to wait about a week.

There is one thing you can try: Manually unpack an FM (say, AwesomeFM.zip) somewhere, say C:\InstalledFMs\AwesomeFM, then edit SneakyOptions.ini and in the [Loader] section set the InstallPath option to the path (C:\InstalledFMs) and the FanMission option to the folder name (AwesomeFM). Then launch the game using the FM icon. If the FM launches it will at least narrow things down. Edit: Also try changing the target line to ...T3.exe -fm=AwesomeFM, except for the actual FM name...

Also, for the heck of it, try setting T3Main.exe to run as administrator. (Temporarily - it should not be necessary...)

I entertain suspicion that there is something wrong with the patching process for the t3.exe. If I examine this file with a hex editor I cannot find any mention for fmsel.dll.

You mean T3Main.exe? That is the one which is patched. T3.exe is only changed for the extra multicore fix. I'll get you a set of known good files, just in case.

[bikerdude]

Set sneaky upgrade up -- and hanging on jumping on a ladder, uninstalled it -- all clear.
Any ideas?

There is a simple fix for this if you dig deep enough, just enable "vsync"