Sneaky Upgrade: Unofficial patch for Thief 3

[snobel]

OK, good to know. I'll get in touch when I start looking into this.

[Infinitron]

Why isn't this post in Thief General Discussion together with the TafferPatcher and TFix posts?

[snobel]

I originally posted here (under a different title) for the bigger audience. Since the current release is all about FMs it's best to keep it here for now, but I agree it should be moved to Thief Gen eventually - maybe with the next release?

[SS2]

Anyone else have problems with extreme stuttering/lag when using this patch? It isn't my PC. And it seems to go away with a "clean" steam version install with only the widescreen .exe thing (not related to this patch)

[snobel]

Try enabling vsync in the game, enforcing vsync in the graphics driver and enforcing a 60 Hz refresh rate in the graphics driver if your monitor can go higher.

One difference between the SU and the old widescreen patch is that the old patch keeps the horizontal FOV constant (cropping the picture compared to 4:3 modes), while the SU keeps the vertical FOV constant (expanding the picture compared to 4:3 modes). So for a given widescreen resolution more stuff will need to be drawn for each frame, putting more strain on your hardware. If that's the problem then you can select a lower resolution, or lower the FOVFactor setting a bit.

If this doesn't help, then you can try the old version (1.1.0). If it actually makes a difference, then please post about it (because it shouldn't, really).

[Mr. Tibbs]

I'm having the same issue as SS2. The framerate drops erratically and gameplay begins to stutter after a few minutes of play. I've tried forcing Vsync through CCC, but there's no change. It doesn't matter what settings I play it on, I get the same performance issues. Tried rolling back to 1.10 but I have the same issues. I'm using a gog copy but I have disc copy in case that helps. I'm using the 13.1 ati drivers. I never used to have any issues running Deadly Shadows last year. Any ideas of what I should try?

[snobel]

Some questions for starters:

Have you ever applied any tweaks or other patches to your T3 installation before installing the Sneaky Upgrade? (The legacy FOV patch in particular.)
Do you have a graphics card and monitor capable of refresh rates above 60 Hz?
Does the game run normally if you select one of the original resolutions? (e.g. 1024x768, 1600x1200.)

[Mr.Math]

I had the same problem as Mr. Tibbs and SS2, but I don´t think it is Sneaky Upgrade related, as I had this same issue with Minimalist project. After some time I found out, that it occurs after I change graphic options too often and always had to uninstall(completely, erasing all the files). Last time I installed the game with sneaky upgrade and change the options only once, without problems. But it may have been just coincidence.

[Mr. Tibbs]

It was a fresh install without any tweaks applied.

No, 60 Hz is the max my monitor can handle.

When I run it in an original resolution, it really lags by the time I enter the Blue Heron Inn. Having more than one light on screen kills the framerate. I have the same issues with or without the patch.

[snobel]

OK, sounds like a graphics driver issue then. I don't really have any suggestions there, except if it worked before maybe try a driver version from back then?

I suggest you both post your system specs including driver version, just in case someone else has input.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Sure, and thanks for taking the time to reply. It has to be the drivers. I tried the patch last year and it worked flawlessly.

I'm on ATI Drivers 13.1
Windows 7 64bit
6950 HD
i3 2100
4 GB ram

I'll try rolling back my drivers to see if I can get it running smoothly again.

[chk772]

Thanks for this great patch. I installed Thief 3 yesterday, from a mag's DVD, and applied the patch and it works well. However i had a little problem:

The first time after a reboot or boot that i start the thief3.exe, it literally does nothing. Means, i can see the thief3.exe process in the task manager, and the Thief3main.exe or how it's called (that one however disappears from the process list after a few seconds), but nothing happens. The problem is, the first time i applied this patch, i applied the "set desktop compositing to Windows basic scheme when starting the game", and it did that, and it stayed that way, even when the game wasn't starting. Couldn't do anything to change back to Aero. However, when i start thief3.exe for a second time, it works.

Now, so i don't have to reboot every time i played Thief 3, i have reinstalled the patch, with disabling the desktop scheme changing to Windows Basic. The problem with Thief not starting the first time i click the thief3.exe remains the same though, it only just works for the 2nd time every time.

I must say though, that i experienced that stuff on 1 or 2 other games on my system too. Nonetheless, anyone experiencing the same problem?


Btw, this should really be stickied to the Thief Series general forum... some will have a hard time finding this.

[snobel]

The first time after a reboot or boot that i start the thief3.exe, it literally does nothing. Means, i can see the thief3.exe process in the task manager, and the Thief3main.exe or how it's called (that one however disappears from the process list after a few seconds), but nothing happens.

There should be executables called T3.exe and T3Main.exe. The proper way to launch the game is through T3.exe, which will then launch T3Main.exe. In the original game, when T3Main.exe is terminated T3.exe hangs around for 10 seconds or so, before exiting too. The patched T3Main.exe terminates T3.exe immediately when it exits normally.

That cover disc version of the game may have some unexpected changes. Try replacing your T3.exe (not T3Main.exe) with the one from this archive. It's the one that comes with the game's editor and it's the least problematic version... T3.exe is in the System subfolder of the game's installation folder. After copying in the file, try executing it directly by clicking on it from there.

The problem is, the first time i applied this patch, i applied the "set desktop compositing to Windows basic scheme when starting the game", and it did that, and it stayed that way, even when the game wasn't starting. Couldn't do anything to change back to Aero.

The theme switching is tied to T3.exe: Aero is disabled when it is launched and re-enabled when it is terminated. If you terminate it from the task manager, then the theme should switch back. It's using Windows' compatibility features, so if it doesn't work then there must be something else wrong there.

[chk772]

Thanks, will try that. As i wrote, could well be a problem related to my computer, as i have the same problem with a few other games.

Mobiler Beitrag

[snobel]

Yeah, possibly. But if the alternative T3.exe doesn't help, could you try if the first version of the patch works? If it does, then there probably is a bug lurking somewhere...

[chrish]

After a long hiatus (I think my last post on TTLG was in 2006!), I've gotten a new laptop and installed Thief: Deadly Shadows (GOG version) thusly:

1. Install GOG Thief: Deadly Shadows
2. Install Collective Texture Pack 1.03 (Garrett w/no scar, Thief 1 inspired outfit)
3. Install T3 Sneaky Upgrade

First launch of Thief: DS via Sneaky works as expected, so I go into Options and pick 1920x1080, 4x FSAA, Subtitles On, then Exit to desktop.

Double-click Thief: DS and I immediately get the 'This application has crashed.' dialog with Debug or Close options (I've got VisualStudio installed).

[snobel]

Locate the User Options folder (normally C:\Users\Public\Documents\Thief - Deadly Shadows\Savegames\User Options) and remove both ini files in it, then see if the game will run with the default options. If it will, try changing only the resolution.

If it won't run, please uninstall the SU, then install this older version, which is much simpler, and see if that works. If it does, I hope I can get you to carry out a few experiments, to track down the cause of the problem.

Unfortunately I don't have Windows 8 to test on, although it did work fine for me on the 64-bit release preview.

[chrish]

Thanks snobel, I'll give it another go tonight and let you know what (hopefully!) works.

[chrish]

Running with the simpler version (which downloaded a new T3Mail.exe during install...) was a success, thanks!

Let me know what sort of experiments you'd like me to carry out to help figure out why the 1.1.1.1 version wasn't working for me.

[snobel]

A bit of preparation is needed. I'll send you a PM, hopefully tomorrow.

[Shadowcrawler]

I have Thief 3 from Mastertronic, only the game installed, not any editors. I applied no patches at all.

I can play the original game fine.

Installed 1.1.1.1 patch taking the defaults it automatically selected. Afterward I launched fmsel from the desktop icon created. Installed Thief Rising 1.0, and began to play.

While in the room at the very beginning, I saved and then clicking back to go back to game screen, the game save screens stays and shakes/shimmers. The screen is frozen and I can hear the player jumping when I press spacebar but cannot see anything.

Is there an easy way to fix this?

I have not tested this with any other t3 fm installed through fmsel.

[snobel]

I've never heard of anything like that before. The patch doesn't interfere with saving at all. It will adjust the saving screen to the current resolution, but that happens during startup.

Better terminate both T3Main.exe and T3.exe through the task manager, then relaunch and try to reproduce the issue. If you can't, then it was probably a random bug (Thief 3 has some). On the other hand, if you can reproduce it please post again...

[gnartsch]

Installed Thief Rising 1.0, and began to play.

Hang on!
Why do you play version 1.0 of that campaign ?
It had a few issues, including some things that prevented proper startup - including exactly problem you describe.
v1.1 got released just a week later on may 1st in 2012 already which fixed these issues.

And just last week the Gold Edition got released.
You better get that one!

[Shadowcrawler]

I tried the updated Rising, same issue. Then tried the Gold edition, problem has gone away. Sometimes when using Garrett's mechanical eye to zoom the colors get distorted, but otherwise so far it works better.

I have the most recent drivers I can find from Intel that will install for the Intel graphic chipset on the mb.

One thing I noticed is that some things move a little choppy, and even sometimes audio is choppy.

I have rebooted and will try again to see if the choppiness and slowness happens again. I will test this with T3 OM and fm's again and see what happens.

What tweaks can I do to make T3 and T3 fm's run smoothly and troubleshoot any slowness, etc.?

thank you for the feedback to my previous posts.

Hang on!
Why do you play version 1.0 of that campaign ?
It had a few issues, including some things that prevented proper startup - including exactly problem you describe.
v1.1 got released just a week later on may 1st in 2012 already which fixed these issues.

And just last week the Gold Edition got released.
You better get that one!

[snobel]

Version 1.1.2 is out, the first post has been updated accordingly. Here's a more comprehensive list of changes for this release:

Edit: Bugfix release 1.1.2.1 is out, see the list of fixed issues below.

The installer:

• No longer requires the Visual C++ 2010 runtime
• Now checks the integrity of the patched executables
• Creates a start menu group containing shortcuts to the readmes, installed FMs etc
• Various minor improvements
• Better desktop icons

The game:

• Movies are now shown correctly. Movies other than the main menu backdrop are allowed to crop to fit the monitor, up to a 16:9 aspect ratio by default (the actual movie aspect ratio is approximately 16:7). There are new options to adjust how much cropping is allowed
• Loading screens are now shown correctly. There is a new option to set the aspect ratio for the loading screens
• Most of the ultrawidescreen issues have been fixed: FOV and speed for the bow zoom and mechanical eye, lighting on readables, the options screen 'Defaults' button going missing or losing the text, subtitles appearing to the right
• If the "Thief - Deadly Shadows" folder in your Documents folder is not used for savegames, then it can be deleted and will not be recreated
• Tweak to disable the mechanical eye overlay
• Tweak to not show the loot percentage when picking up loot
• Fix for Ion Launcher's desktop covering full-screen window
• Various minor bugfixes

FM support:

• New option for prioritizing FM languages. The installer allows selection of the language to be given the highest priority.
• Fix for the mechanical eye zoom not working in FMs. (Sort of, the overlay is disabled by default for FMs)
• Option to use the IntroMovies function to show a briefing movie
• A couple of other new options for mappers and testing
• FMSel updated to 1.1.1 (from the 1.21 NewDark release) plus some minor fixes
• GUI translations for FMSel. German, French, Polish and Danish are currently available
• The T3 edition of the FMSel DLL now works with Thief 1-2 as well

A big thank you to bikerdude, Beleg Cúthalion, gnartsch and chrish for testing, and to the FMSel translators. FMSel patch for the 1.21 sources is here.

The focus for 1.1.3 will be more tweaks, the Minimalist Project and hopefully more fixes for the remaining known issues.

Fixed bugs in 1.1.2.1:

• Temporarily leaving the game window (alt-tab, alt-enter, Windows key etc.) no longer causes text to become enlarged or disappear
• Windows 8: Changing the game's brightness setting had no effect
• Windows 8: Lockpicking etc. was broken, even with VSync on
• Crash when selecting an unsupported multisampling mode (original bug)
• Windows 8: Crash when selecting a supported multisampling mode
• Windows 8, Linux/WINE: The desktop would show between levels, even with the fix to disable desktop effects while playing (original bug, sort of).
• A 'waiting' mouse pointer was shown during intro movies and loading screens
• Some FMs would fail when launched with the command line argument -fm=<name>