T2 FM: The Drymian Codex (10 Mar, 2013)

[Yandros]

Ending question: Yes. Some 'reserves' are teleported in for the final battle, but any that you left conscious in the outdoors area will join in. With only the reserves, the pagans usually win. We debated teleporting in different numbers of reserves based on how many had been incapacitated, but honestly it just wasn't worth the effort.

Secrets: The 'found secret' message shouldn't have been suppressed for anything which was counted as a secret. We took the usual best practice approach as much as possible, namely that finding anything hidden which is required to complete the mission (like the two you mentioned, captain's quarters and guest quarters) should not count as a secret. Revealing a hidden object tied to an optional objective (like the scroll) does count as a secret whenever possible.

[Sagittal]

Ok, I'll go ahead and reveal the primary easter egg now for those who are curious enough to go back and find it. It's actually quite a lot of fun to use once you have it.

I found the 1st Easter Egg a little while back with a little encouragement from Tannar - not so intuitive to find maybe but a great effect and well worth finding

With Florian's recent clue - about needing to find the main Egg first - and a fair bit of guessing, I found the 2nd one

Nice personal touch - although it's so well hidden, for us non-dromeders, I think we would struggle to find it without a strong hint.

Please keep up the good work!

[Yandros]

although it's so well hidden, for us non-dromeders, I think we would struggle to find it without a strong hint.

Isn't that pretty much the definition of an easter egg, though?

[Sagittal]

I guess it is Yandros - and I think it should be left to the authors to set the balance of difficulty how they see it.

We taffers expect to get our FM fixes faster these days - but we have no right to expect to find an Easter Egg.

I thought there were enough clues for the first egg to know there was something worth persevering with - the fact St Aldan's skull went into inventory and the fact it could then be blessed. Just knowing there was a 2nd Egg - without Florian's clue - I don't think I would have found it. Anyway I was pleased to get it.

[Yandros]

I kind of designed the second egg to be that way. I didn't expect more than a handful of people to ever find it, since it's very personal. I had planned to do that in DCE but realized I should go ahead and do it in that mission, in case DCE never gets released for whatever reason.

[Zednaught]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but this mission crashes for me the moment it starts, although I can see the intro video and difficulty selection screen fine. I've played at least a hundred FMs without issue, so I think it's likely something to do with v1.19. Although I've downloaded it and installed the patch, it doesn't seem to help. Are there any troubleshooting issues that I should be aware of? Thanks.

[R Soul]

Although the readme says 1.19, try updating your installation to 1.21.

I think it's in Tafferpatcher now, but I haven't checked. If not, you can extract the files manually: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141132

[Zednaught]

Although the readme says 1.19, try updating your installation to 1.21.

I think it's in Tafferpatcher now, but I haven't checked. If not, you can extract the files manually: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141132

Thanks for the reply. I'd already tried Tafferpatcher , but it would still crash on me.

Well, I finally got it to work-the error was occurring between my chair and keyboard.

I've got multiple copies of Thief 2, spread across two hard drives (one's a portable backup). As it turns out, the patch was installing fine, but DarkLoader in both hard drives was looking at an exe that had not been updated. A few clicks later and it works fine.

[Yandros]

\O/ Glad to hear it. Hope you enjoy our little mission.

[Zednaught]

\O/ Glad to hear it. Hope you enjoy our little mission.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you all for making it. Thief looks fantastic these days. It's funny how this old engine can craft dark, foreboding places better than most modern graphics engines. The darkness has a density to it that even many stealth games can't equal. The crypt was genuinely scary-I turned right around and looked for another passage when I came upon it. Also, that one secret area in the sewers...I don't remember the chittering sounds of those creatures ever being so creepy.

The storytelling and discovery of secrets was well crafted, with some fun twists, seamlessly covering many different environments. I appreciate the hidden passages that connected parts of the level. Stealthing was tense, but with natural hiding spots that let me keep the knock outs to a minimum. I was only ever stuck finding a key in the sewer.

I still need to find the scroll and the gear to find the shield (edit: found it-exactly where you'd think it was, just didn't check if it was frobbable). Edit: I would have found the scroll on Hard, but not expert-was it alluded to in the text somehow?

Also, a little tip for the walkthrough: for the trap in the temple, they recommend hugging a wall and hoping to trigger it without getting trapped. The solution I found (the intended one I think) was to take the rubble from the previous room and toss it on the floor to set it off. There's a window of time when it ends where you can just walk past. Felt like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.

[Yandros]

That was the intended way past, and yes it is a bit Indy Jones-esque. If you wait for it to turn off, it doesn't come back on as long as you leave the rubble in place.

On Hard, the scroll is where it's "supposed" to be, but on Expert it has been stolen by Lucy and is in her hideout in the unhaunted crypt.

[Tannar]

I still need to find the scroll and the gear to find the shield (edit: found it-exactly where you'd think it was, just didn't check if it was frobbable). Edit: I would have found the scroll on Hard, but not expert-was it alluded to in the text somehow?

Yes, there are two texts that mention that is has gone missing. One is in the novice quarters in the chapel attic and the other is in the journal of Brother Clamyth (the archivist) which is in his quarters in the basement. But the passages regarding the scroll being missing are only present in these texts on Expert.

I'm glad that you enjoyed the mission. And I completely agree with you about the Dark Engine's ability to deliver stealth.

[jiansonz]

So far, this is a beautiful and very promising mission, but I have been well and truly stuck for about 2 hours now.

I have used a 'Cistern Sluice Gate Control'. That turned some lights blue and opened an underwater passage to a water-filled area below what I think is the Control Room. There is switch on the wall that opens an inner underwater gate. It does not help me much, because there is still another gate blocking the way, and I have been unable to find my way to the water on the other side of the gate that opened.

I have a Gear and an Old Power Station Key but I have not found any use for them yet.
EDIT: The key fits the lock above the ladder close to where I found the key, but I could pick that lock anyway...

There is a hint that a key to the crypt (behind that door with the hammer sign, I presume?) can be found in the Control Room, but I have not managed to get into that room. There are gates blocking entry, from below and from the area with the desk. I have been searching for the crypt key in the water below the control room, in case someone dropped it there.

HELP!

[nickie]

Explore that underwater area where the internal gate opened. Specifically, the floor area.

Edit. I see you were looking in the right place but it's not the crypt key that is there. There's a book on a desk which mentions the key you want, what happened to it, and water current.

[Ricebug]

I also updated the walkthrough link, if that'll help.

[jiansonz]

Thanks nickie, I had forgotten that there was another readable on that desk.

That water filled area did not give the impression to me as there could be any current strong enough to move a key (but I should have found it anyway, as I was specifically looking for a key down there!).

[Tannar]

So does that mean you've found it now? If not, it's all the way to the left as you enter the north cistern.

Regarding the clue in that text, it does say that there usually isn't a current in that cistern. Here is the excerpt from that text that contains the clue:

"Apparently it fell through the grating on the way into the control room so it oughta be right there. But he says he dove down there and couldn't find it. There's not much current there but we did have them heavy rains last week and the storm drains was open then. I suppose that could've moved it downstream a bit. Maybe even into the north cistern."

[jiansonz]

Yes, I found it shortly after reading that book again. When I was stuck, I re-read all the other readables (including the scroll right next to it!) but somehow missed to re-read the book.


I have finished the mission now. This will become a classic favourite for me.
I needed help with finding the shrine key (used a thread search) but figured out the rest.

Very enjoyable overall and I have good reason to replay it in a year or so, and then look harder for the 4 secrets and freaking 1760 gold that the creators managed to hide from me.

[Yandros]

There's some loot with the shrine key you didn't find. Look carefully in Captain Standish's quarters. Other than that, a link to the official lootlist has been added to the first post, and here it is again for good measure: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...kRJV2pkcW1lTWc

[jiansonz]

There's some loot with the shrine key you didn't find. Look carefully in Captain Standish's quarters.

Yes, there was more than the key in that hidden compartment, if that is what you mean. I played a bit more from my last save and found another secret (in High Priest's room) that added quite a bit more loot, and I found a purse on the rafters in the church attic. So at least I am over 8000 now.

[Yandros]

Well now you may as well try and find the easter egg!

[Garrett]

just finished this mission on expert with no knockout. It was a great experience. Thanks a lot, Yandros, Tannar RandomTaffer, I really enjoyed playing it. You are really good level designers and storytellers, the readables are fantastic and everything is so well built. Im really looking forward to your next mission, DCE, which Im really sure will be also fantastic.

[Tannar]

Thank you, Garrett! I'm very glad that you enjoyed it. And playing with no knockouts is the best way, I think. Well done for that!

[Cardia]

Where can i find the Gear for the crypts?

[Yandros]

Assuming you're playing on Expert, it's with the crazy old Mechanist hermit.