Thief's Rising 2 : TDS campaign, 19/12/2020

[fortuni]

When you get to the tower there are some ledges in the corner you can mantle, from there you mantle up onto the roof of the far building in the screenshot, but yes some of those mantles are a bit tricky. I don't know why your having such a hard time, I didn't have any such mantling issues in beta testing, but then again I'm left handed so I play using a controller set up to the same controls as I have for both TG and T2 so with me I found all the controls very fluid.

[Adsk1]

Nothing I have tried works, in T1/2 and TDM you can jump and catch a ledge with your fingers - is this even possibly in TDS...

Only before your jump reaches it's zenith and you start to fall back down again.

Here's a YouTube video of me getting up to that collectable.

Hope this helps.

[Bikerdude]

@fortuni

It turns out I had the gravity double the normal, so the player was heaver, this state of affairs was due to the number in sneaky tweaker not being that clear with regard to heavy versus light. Things became a lot easier after that, the crates though were still a pita.

b.

[pwl]

Ok I am trying to progress in the book hunt and I cannot find book 457 it is not in library 4 shelf 5 unless it is up high but I cannot find it?

nevermind I did not look up

I am having trouble picking up the keepers ring from the lock box I got some loot out of it and I can see the ring but it will not highlight?

[Adsk1]

I am having trouble picking up the keepers ring from the lock box I got some loot out of it and I can see the ring but it will not highlight?

Have you read the note about the ring (Located in the apartment with the balcony that overlooks the streets)?

[Nicholasspb]

Big Thank You, Adsk1! Am enjoying your campaing on winter holidays! You really succeeded in making a great new campaign, even if using some original map assets as a base. New scripts, atmosphere, plenty of guards, story itself, optional stuff to find - impressive!

I have only 1 problem insofar - I can't start Mission 6, the game crashes 5-10 seconds after the end of briefing. Tried TR2 with mods (was playing with John's CTP for the first 5 missions, worked well, just had to downgrade resolution from 4x to my normal), tried to disable all mods, even downgrade resolution even more; same result.

I suspect that the levels are quite complex for T3 engine, pushing it to the limit, thus causing technical issues, but still, Is there any working solution?

[Adsk1]

Big Thank You, Adsk1! Am enjoying your campaing on winter holidays! You really succeeded in making a great new campaign, even if using some original map assets as a base. New scripts, atmosphere, plenty of guards, story itself, optional stuff to find - impressive!

Thank you for the kind comments.

I have only 1 problem insofar - I can't start Mission 6, the game crashes 5-10 seconds after the end of briefing.

Is this during the loading of the mission? If so it sounds like it could be down to the larger amount of assets that are in the latter half of the game's missions. I increased the PCVertexPools values in the FM's User.ini file to allow TR2 to have more assets. Maybe you have another .ini file that is overriding these settings at lower values. I'm no expert on these issues, but maybe Snobel might have more insight.

[snobel]

That's a good guess but unless a User.ini file was copied into a mod, which is both enabled and above the FM in the stack, then the FM User.ini takes precedence.

But I think it contains a mistake: in Default.ini, the vertexpool section looks like this:

[PCVertexPools]
DynamicVertexPool0=3145728
StaticVertexPool=2621440
StaticShadowVertexPool=1572864

@Nicholasspb: Try adding that zero in the FM's User.ini so that it reads DynamicVertexPool0=25165824 and see if that fixes it. If you don't know where the unpacked FM is located, find the FM installation folder through the start menu, under "Thief 3 Sneaky Upgrade". Or, if you installed using the default paths, just go to "C:\ProgramData\Thief 3 Sneaky Upgrade\Installed FMs\TR2" directly.

[Nicholasspb]

@Nicholasspb: Try adding that zero in the FM's User.ini so that it reads DynamicVertexPool0=25165824 and see if that fixes it. If you don't know where the unpacked FM is located, find the FM installation folder through the start menu, under "Thief 3 Sneaky Upgrade". Or, if you installed using the default paths, just go to "C:\ProgramData\Thief 3 Sneaky Upgrade\Installed FMs\TR2" directly.

Thanks for quick responses, appreciate that. Modified user.ini, as you said. Unfortunately, problem remained. Still crashing on a loading screen of Mission 6, when loading bar is only 10-15 percent full.

1 remark: My "Installed FMs'' folder is inside the root folder of the game, and not in "Thief 3 Sneaky Upgrade" folder. Can this somehow be a cause of a problem?

[snobel]

I checked again, and DynamicVertexPool (no zero) is correct. Better change it back!

Having the FMs in the game root shouldn't be a problem - if it is, it's a bug in my patch.

Can you upload your save somewhere and either post a link here or PM me?

[Nicholasspb]

Can you upload your save somewhere and either post a link here or PM me?

Here it is. https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...6z?usp=sharing

[snobel]

I tried your save, it loads without issue here.

Please set the log level to Dump on the tweaker's troubleshooting page and load a non-failing save, quit the game, then copy out Sneaky.log from the SU folder in C:\ProgramData. Then do it again, this time loading the failing save as far as it gets. Then upload the two logs. Hopefully something can be figured out from those.

[Nicholasspb]

Uploaded logs are now available via the same link. I am really curious to find out, what is so different between your and my game settings. I trust your expertise on this, Snobel

[snobel]

Unfortunately nothing really stands out in the logs. I extracted your Options.ini and SneakyOptions.ini files and tried those (except for the FM install path) - it made no difference. I did verify that having FMs (and mods) installed in the game root is ok.

I wonder if it could be a graphics driver issue - here's a few things you can try:

• Switch to windowed mode
• Temporarily move or rename the d3d8.dll in the game's System folder, to go back to D3D8
• Replace the d3d8.dll with the one from dgVoodoo, to try D3D11
• Update your graphics driver, if not up to date
• Update Windows - from the logs, it looks like you're a couple of versions behind

Also, the usual suggestions apply: do a proper reboot if you're in the habit of leaving the computer in sleep mode. And disable virus checkers - although, when you get as far as the loading screen, I don't think it's AV interference this time...

I can install the Steam version myself to more closely mimick your install, but that's a bit of work so please try as much of the above as possible first.

[Nicholasspb]

Snobel, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continuing support! Nothing seems to help so far (I completely forgot about Windows updates, thx for mentioning it). Later I will probably try to do fresh steam reinstall. For now I guess TR2 and last Savar mission will be the only T3 missions I didn't finish.
(yeah, and missions of the infamous architect/cop guy, whom is better not to call by his name)

Adsk1, still love your campaign!

If there are no more technical suggestions, then I think, we can move beyond this little sub topic. It's not a life or death situation

[Adsk1]

Just clutching at straws here, but could this be related to the STEAM version, or even AngelLoader?

Has anyone else that is using either, or both of these got onto mission 6 successfully?

[snobel]

I was curious enough to do a quick install of both the Steam version and AngelLoader - and the save is still working.

@Nicholasspb: I guess it could be caused by some corrupted file, in which case reinstalling should fix it. Uninstall the SU first, and remember to back up all saves, because Steam will probably delete everything while uninstalling the game. (When you're reinstalling anyway I'd suggest keeping the installed mods and FMs out of the game install this time. Having as little 'foreign' stuff as possible in a Steam game install is probably a good idea.)

[Nicholasspb]

Solved it!!! Angelloader is the root cause, with fmsel mission loads in 5 sec.

Update. Tried angelloader for the gazillionth time... but now mission works fine as well. Seems that uninstall and reinstall of the campaign without touching the game itself solved the problem.

Now we are talking!!! I can resume my playthrough in which I failed big time to save poor kitty in Mission 2 and my conscience will torment me till the end of campaign (Of course, I read the note, found the place, heard sad meows. Just couldn't see the cat itself on the tree from the ground, therefore for some reason I thought, it's just ethereal or atmospheric and abstained from heroic climb and jump)
It was painful reading the other note in Mission 4

[Nicholasspb]

Mission 7 was a challenging loot finding and guard KOing experience, one of the hardest T3 levels for sure. A worthy test for experienced players; newbies, beware Running in circles managed to grab 89 percent loot, all nests, torn out pages and almost everything else. Thanks goes to Bikerdude for his informative screenshot with red marker on page 2, otherwise I wouldn't be able to finish. (allergy to reading walkthroughs) I managed to climb on that problematic roof before, but didn't see any loot flickering or open windows anywhere. If there had been a loot bottle on bright window-ledge across the gap, then I would have found secret cat sculpture myself.

Stuck in Mission 8. Not because I don't know where to go, but because these stones and ledges outside tower after coloured floors area are poorly climbable. I can't jump on a particular one, therefore can't proceed further. Even obviously climbable stones I've passed don't always work this way.

I even opened walkthrough to double check (which I almost never do). It says there "On the south side you'll need to turn around and mantle up to a high post sticking out of a ridge...".
Well, the narrow block on that side is not climbable, although reachable (pressed space 200 times). This block, where Reuben stands, must be climbable to reach high post, but it's not.

So, I am left with 2 thoughts.
1. I am missing something so obvious, and if that's the case, I'll facepalm hard till the end of the day.
2. The climbable objects are not really climbable. Oh, and you can climb on invisible ledge and immediately fall on the same south side as well.

[Adsk1]

One of the issues I found with T3 mantling is that it is impossible to mantle if there is a wall to your side which you are pressed tight up against. So you need to ever so slightly move off the wall (avoiding falling to your death), and aim your jump to mantle toward the outer edge of the target ledge.
Using this technique, I was able to successfully complete all tricky mantle's throughout the campaign. I hope it helps you.

[Nicholasspb]

Thanks, I knew that this was the way, was just frustrated that could not climb properly. Playing new T3 missions after some time just reminded me, how bad mantling and ledge walking are in TDS, compared to TDM!

I can already say, that this campaign is on par with Savar's Keeper campaign, which I just finished. This one has more gameplay variations and different puzzles/traps, Savar's more focused on finding essential and optional secret areas with/and loot to progress through the missions, but both are uniquely challenging in their own way

P.S. Biker found Reuben's screams frustrating but I just giggle when I hear them every time I fall. I actually like your and your friends' voice acting. But this 1 scream is a little off Does not feel organic to Reuben's character.

[Nicholasspb]

Update: Finally, I finished this gigantic campaign. Missions 1-6 are harder than average, 7-10 are hardcore, 11 hardcore squared! 12 is an unsuspected T1 inspired climax. Yes, I easily recognised the passage near the final battle overlooking the lava pit was made to mimic the same location in T1, just meters before facing Constantine, but here the player is on the opposite (portal) side.

In mission 12 the game crashes, if U try to read plaques next to levers in the Maw, so I an unaware, what important info I missed.

The only mission, where frustration overwhelmed the fun part for me is 11.
To make it better I would recommend :
1. reducing the number of constantly respawning guards, or at least make them spawn, but not from the rooms player has already emptied, it makes no sense.
2. If 1 is too difficult to implement, then ease the not to be seen restriction after getting to cargohold with unlimited arrow storage. Remove this storage near the galley. And add specific objective "I can't be seen, while I am looking for weapons to protect my life, or Khare's guards will rip me in shreds!"
3. Adding 1 line of Reuben's thoughts after interacting with locked Bilge Access door would be quite helpful, e.g. "This hatch is missing the valve; Taff, I can't open it!"

In mission 8 I almost quit when I climbed to the top, but missed 1 bracelet along the way and could not return back, invisible maze be damned. Turning game music off, turning rock music on and loading save at the 1-st puzzle for the second run was a satisfying solution. I told myself, that this may very well be one of the last high quality FMs made for T3 (only 2 new entries in the last 7 years), so surrender was not the option.

Thank You, Adam, and all the people, who contributed to this masterpiece!

[fortuni]

Well done for finishing this monster sized campaign.

I found the respawning guards on the boat annoying at first, but after a couple of replays they become quite easy to predict.

And yes the invisible maze is brilliant, even though it's a 3D invisible maze, don't think it's been done before in any mission.

[Adsk1]

Update: Finally, I finished this gigantic campaign.

Congratulations!

Yes, I easily recognised the passage near the final battle overlooking the lava pit was made to mimic the same location in T1, just meters before facing Constantine, but here the player is on the opposite (portal) side.

Glad you recognised it.

In mission 12 the game crashes, if U try to read plaques next to levers in the Maw

I can't see why they would crash the game. But you didn't miss anything, they just reference the ladders which they control.

The only mission, where frustration overwhelmed the fun part for me is 11.

Unfortunately there are a whole bunch of issues that would arise from utilising your suggestions, which would have broken the mission. The whole scripting system for that area was extremely complicated and was judged to be the best I could get it, while still achieving what I was trying to achieve.
I do agree with your suggestion regarding the Bilge Access door. Perhaps something to add with a future patch.

In mission 8 I almost quit

I'm glad you persisted.

Did you acquire all of the collectables and unlock the shooting range?

Thank You, Adam, and all the people, who contributed to this masterpiece!

Thank you for playing it.