Sneaky Upgrade: Unofficial patch for Thief 3

[snobel]

I've just done a test and it works fine in windowed mode! But of course the window is tiny, and to make it worse the brightness doesn't seem to work in windowed mode so all the shaddowed areas are really picth black! It does work tho...hmmm.

Did you try the user.ini change? It will at least give you a proper window. You can probably find gamma/brightness settings in the Catalyst Control Centre - but windowed mode really should be a last resort.

My refresh rate seems to be only set-able at 60Hz when the 'hide modes this monitor cannot display' box is checked, and consequently that's what it's been set at, so I guess that's not the issue. I do have 'catalyst control centre' for tweaking my card but I've never used it really, maybe some setting in there tho I wouldn't have thought that so likely....

Hopefully the game will not be able to set a mode that the monitor cannot display, so probably not much to do on that front... You still might want to have a look at the Control Centre, there may be some optimization settings that sometimes do more harm than good.

Should I try a reinstall and leave the texture pack out, tho that seems a bit unfair not to be able to get the better textures given the screen to display them on! And then just run the sneaky patch thing, after running the patch to version 1.1.

Normally I wouldn't think that John P's textures could cause something like this, but if you haven't yet tried the game without the pack, then it could be worth a try.

Edit/additional: I don't suppose you know what this eidos tweaking guide is or where else I can find a copy? I'm guessing it may cover a few things the sneaky patch thing doesn't, I've read it's fixed a few peoples troubles.

I don't know about Eidos, but there's a tweak guide right here.

[MrCat]

Because I really hate it on forums when someone posts my problem then ends it with a totally non-descript 'yea, sorted now, thanks'....

I have solved it sort of; my solution was the user.ini windowed mode edit, and setting the resolution in-game at 1920 x 1080. It's not ideal but it works fine now. I can live with it for now. The brightness in game setting still doesn't work but I'm going to try my card tweaking control centre for that and see how I go. I'll add to this report if I get less lazy and try and make it work any better!

Cheers!

[snobel]

Try switching to fullscreen when you've started the Castle mission - just in case the crash was a one-off thing.

Another thing to try (but not compatible with laziness) is different versions of the graphics driver, some are more stable than others. I can't advise you there, I'm afraid.

[MrCat]

Thanks, after I posted that last message of course more weirdness started to happen, but long story short it worked fine again after a quick reset. I also thought I'd just try taking out the user.ini windowed lines and see...and it seems to be much better behaved. Still the odd freak out but it's playable. Just have to remember to quicksave reasonably often.

I'm not generally that lazy but yea I'm not sure I can be bothered messing my drivers too much just now. I'll see how it pans out. I'll check for some 3d accelerator tweak guides somewhere and see if it's something in the rendering options in my cards control center...and if eidos have finnished tweaking their forum....how long can it take!

Cheers

[chk772]

Still wondering why this is buried in the Fan mission part of these forums, and isn't even stickied...

[snobel]

That should change when the next version is out, hopefully this month or early December.

[chk772]

Nice. Just saying that this can be easily missed, especially with the other fixes stickied in the appropiate sections.

[Umicel]

This works on the Steam version?
Sigh, i think i need reading glasses... now to see which version im running thief 3 on.

[snobel]

Yes, it works with steam. There's a minor issue, which you can fix by replacing T3.exe with the one from the T3 editor pack before installing the patch.

And of course don't let steam update your cached game after patching.

[Amalgam]

Simple question: ever since I installed the sneaky upgrade the aspect ratio of the main menu and the cutscenes have become too small. Not at all screen filling. Right next to the main menu remains a black void, and the cutscenes are played in a small rectangular box, surrounded by even more emptiness. The game itself doesn't have these issues.
Neither adjusting the resolution settings in the main menu or those from the monitor resolve the problem, so what else can be done about this?

[snobel]

By default the main menu and the loading screens are supposed to be shown at their original 4:3 aspect ratio, i.e. on a wide screen monitor they will be shown pillarboxed, with vertical black bars on each side. The movies (other than the main menu) are in cinematic widescreen and should appear letterboxed unless your monitor aspect ratio is larger than 16:9. If that's not what you're getting, please post some screenshots.

There are options in the Screen section of the SneakyOptions.ini file that affect the menu and movie aspect ratios - have you modified those?

[Mr. Tibbs]

A while back I mentioned that Deadly Shadows would suffer major framerate drops near any major light source. I've finally managed to track down the setting that was causing the poor performance. It turns out it was the Windows XP Service compatibility setting. Once I disabled that, the game ran perfectly. i have no idea why this is the case for me but I'm glad to have it up and running again. Just thought I would pass it along in case anyone else had the same issue.

Cheers for the patch, snobel!

[snobel]

You're welcome - a new version will be out tomorrow.

The XP compatibility mode helped to some extent with the text-turning-huge issue. But that is fixed now and the XP mode was removed from the installer. In other words, 1.1.2.1 and up should not give you the frame rate drops.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Thanks for the heads up. Looking forward to checking it out.

Is there any benefit to running DS as an administrator? Would you recommend it?

[snobel]

No, that should be avoided. It shouldn't ever be necessary but in case of weird behaviour it's still worth trying as a test. If running as admin makes a difference then there's probably a permissions problem somewhere that should be found and fixed instead.

[snobel]

Version 1.1.3 is out and the first post has been updated. This is what's changed:

Edit: Bugfix release 1.1.3.4 is out, see the list of fixed issues below.

The installer:

• Optionally disable the short intro movies. Enabled by default because most newcomers probably want this
• Optional fix for text corruption in some FMs. (Very visible in the main menu version number)
• Bugfix: Don't fix the game root registry entry if deselected
• Allow the FM installation folder to be inside the game root
• Install VC++2013 runtime files in the game root. (Everything has moved to VC++2013)

The game:

• Your chosen difficulty setting is now applied in the City sections. Even with the 1.1 patch only the proper missions would use the difficulty setting while the City would always use Normal difficulty. (There's an option to restore default behaviour.)
• Mod support - the features are described in the readme. Stay tuned for 1.1.4...
• There's now one set of options files for all locales and FMs
• The load/save list will now not show folders which are not savegames
• Allow the FM and mods installation folders to be inside the game root
• For unobstructed screenshots it's now again possible to remove the HUD completely by setting HUDScaleFactor=0
• New tweaks:
  
  • Better mouse response, including removed motion blur
  • More realistic physics
  • Scale the difficulty up or down. (Can be set to zero for a 'notarget' cheat)
  • Remove purple fog and bouncing arrows
  • Disable auto-raising of the blackjack and dagger
  • Reduce or remove headbobbing
  • Stay first-person, even in death...
  • Classic speed. (Walk by default, run qualifier)
  • Alternative background modes for the maps/readables screens: Black, transparent with a fixed light, fully transparent and unpaused, ditto with mouselook
  • Alternative background modes for the pause screen: Black, transparent with a fixed light, fully transparent
• Useful options for exchanging savegames with other people:
  
  • Plain text folder names, e.g. "The Blue Heron Inn 01-12-14 12_52_27" instead of "44B7761B-AFE0C308-2B5AD5A3-12B6CE09-FA239DB7"
  • Force refresh of the savegames index on start-up

Originally the plan was to provide an additional 'Fat Edition', which would use the new mod support to provide the Minimalist Project, John P's textures and the Gold Project in one installer. This has been postponed - the Gold maps are still being worked on, and testing has shown that a configuration tool for the mods is necessary.

The changes to FMSel are very minor compared to 1.1.2.1. The patch for the NewDark 1.21 source can be found here.

Many thanks to bikerdude, Child Of Karras and Beleg Cúthalion for testing.

The focus for 1.1.4 will be the Fat Edition and a configuration tool for the options and mods.

Fixed bugs in 1.1.3.4:

• Installer: Make sure the folder pointed to by the SaveGamePath registry value is available. If necessary set it to an appropriate default
• XBox360-type gamepads are now working including the analogue triggers (which show up as buttons Joy11-12)
• Make all 16 gamepad buttons known to the game available using modifiers ('shift' or 'hold')
• Button-type controls will no longer bind to analogue input

Fixed bugs in 1.1.3.3:

• When binding Interact or Use Item/Weapon to analogue input, don't attempt to bind an opposite direction. (Original bug)
• When binding Backward, Right, Rotate Down or Rotate Right to analogue input, make sure the opposite direction is available for modification as well. (Original bug)
• When binding direction/rotation to analogue input, make binding any direction to any half-axis equivalent to binding the opposite direction to the opposite half-axis. (Original bug)
• Offset the mouse position in the keybinds screen to make it work correctly in widescreen and portrait modes
• Suspend the effect of the ClassicSpeed option while lockpicking, to make it work with the direction keys

Fixed bugs in 1.1.3.2:

• Limit the frame rate to 90 fps by default, to avoid original issues with lockpicking etc. at high frame rates.

Fixed bugs in 1.1.3.1:

• Make sure the FM and mods install paths are set
• Some FMs contain unused files that would be picked up by the mod support. To be able to use external override files an FM must now explicitly enable it
• Reduce the time spent in the loading screen by removing excessive updates of the progress bar
• Exclude the SaveGamePath from override file searches
• Relax the permissions on the folder specified by the SaveGamePath registry value to fix GOG issues
• The DisableDotBugFix option was inverted, causing problems when playing certain FMs with a game installed to ...\GOG.com\...
• A couple of minor improvements

[Pheonix]

[*]Optionally disable the short intro movies. Enabled by default because most newcomers probably want this

I actually prefer to change it to the The Trailer (ThiefTrailer_NOESRB...etc.. or something like that.)

[*]Your chosen difficulty setting is now applied in the City sections. Even with the 1.1 patch only the proper missions would use the difficulty setting while the City would always use Normal difficulty. (There's an option to restore default behaviour.)

Oh, awesome!!!

[*]Remove purple fog and bouncing arrows

In the future maybe give the option to just change them? Make the arrows smaller without changing the HUD (I actually like the HUD on default - after removing the glow behind the gears. And I'd actually prefer the fog to be there, but maybe a very lite white/grey (like real fog,) not so intruding, more natural looking.

[*]Useful options for exchanging savegames with other people:

• Plaintext folder names, e.g. "The Blue Heron Inn 01-12-14 12_52_27" instead of "44B7761B-AFE0C308-2B5AD5A3-12B6CE09-FA239DB7"
• Force refresh of the savegames index on start-up

This last one I like the best!! Though it will be MUCH larger, I can build myself a Save Game Pack like I did with Thief 1 & 2. Play any mission I want, by just loading the appropriate Save Game. Any chance you could be working on a means of renaming save games???

[Pheonix]

On second thought, though, I think I might wait for the "FAT" upgrade I'm planning to reinstall T3 before this, and this will stop me from having to re-download the Collective Texture Pack (it's huge.) One file for everything I use... Just AWESOME!!

[snobel]

I actually prefer to change it to the The Trailer

Me too. It'll probably be an option later.

In the future maybe give the option to just change them? Make the arrows smaller without changing the HUD (I actually like the HUD on default - after removing the glow behind the gears. And I'd actually prefer the fog to be there, but maybe a very lite white/grey (like real fog,) not so intruding, more natural looking.

I'll make a note of this, but it'll probably be some time before I get around to adding more tweaks.

This last one I like the best!! Though it will be MUCH larger, I can build myself a Save Game Pack like I did with Thief 1 & 2. Play any mission I want, by just loading the appropriate Save Game. Any chance you could be working on a means of renaming save games???

I'll see if it's possible to write a script to extract the proper names and rename the folders.

On second thought, though, I think I might wait for the "FAT" upgrade I'm planning to reinstall T3 before this, and this will stop me from having to re-download the Collective Texture Pack (it's huge.) One file for everything I use... Just AWESOME!!

The Fat Edition is going to be equally huge - about 170 MB I think, which will expand to almost 900 MB for a full install (thanks to CBT-optimized Gold maps).

If you're up for some testing you can have a Fat beta in a couple of weeks... It'll be without Gold and you'll need to configure the mods mainly by moving/renaming files.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Thanks to your efforts, snobel, Deadly Shadows just keeps getting better! It used to be a nightmare to get running on modern setups. Also, I appreciate the head-up regarding my administrator query.

[Pheonix]

I wasn't meaning to complain about the size of the texture upgrade (though reading my wording, it certainly looks like I was.) I was just commenting on the size. Sorry, but I was going short on sleep at the time and was not at my most coherent. I liked it because it put everything I install into a "single" download. Also, I didn't save the links, and I'd have to search for it again. I have this thread saved, it's easy for me to find

About beta testing, I'm willing to try, but I'm not at my best any more. I'm becoming rather forgetful and finding it hard to concentrate. So, I'm afraid that I might not be much help. I'll try though If I have too much trouble with it, there's nothing saying I can't back out, use the Skinny install, and install the Texture Upgrade manually.

[snobel]

Didn't read it as a complaint - hopefully my reply didn't read like I was? And yes, the Fat Edition will uninstall cleanly - its main virtue is that it doesn't need to modify your install - so you can always go back.

[Corsair]

Version 1.1.3 is out

Anyone ever have issue with starting gear in the training mission? I have the Steam version and only installed this patch. My gear list shows everything beforehand. It is only once I start the mission that my blackjack and dagger disappear from my inventory. My inventory is normal if I play without it being patched.

[snobel]

Anyone ever have issue with starting gear in the training mission?

Yes - I do. I completely forgot testing with the Steam version this time and of course there's Steam issues in both the installer and the game.

Thanks for reporting it - I think I know what's wrong, so hopefully I can have a bugfix release out this weekend. In the mean time you can get version 1.1.2.1 from the first page - that version does work for me with Steam.

[tolsen64]

I installed the GOG version of Thief 3. It's in C:\Program Files\gog.com\Thief - Deadly Shadows. I installed the latest Sneaky Upgrade, set the FM install path to C:\T3. When I launch a FM through FMSEL, it installs fine but then I get the loading screen for the original game, not the fan mission. When I start the mission, get a Thief 3 Sneakily Upgraded crash error. When I launch it using the command line t3.exe -fm=C:\T3\cabot1b_orig I get a c++ error and a loading screen that says "No string tags found for 'T_cabot1bOrig LoadingQuote #'!" Starting the game normally works fine. Any Ideas?