Thief 3 Tweaks - Requests and Discussion

[dracflamloc]

I may do it once I've played the game more, but right now coding is the last thing I feel like doing

[dracflamloc]

For those looking to edit textures (.dds files), theres a program called "DXTbmp" which lets you edit them. I've tried making the loading screens all transparent but it just displys black when shown in game. I guess it's because they put a command to blank the screen before loading. I was hoping to have it just keep displaying your current view until it had loaded. IF we could get the scripts editor to work it'd be nice to make it take a screenshot and just show that screenshot during loading since transparency doesnt work.

[Renault]

In regards to sound tweaking, I really dislike some of the new voice actors. Is it feasible that we could actually insert the old guards samples into the new game?

[Mentalepsy]

Komag has figured out how to disable head bobbing in first-person mode. Note that this also disables head bobbing in third-person mode, which will look rather odd, but in first-person mode you will of course probably not notice, unless you happen to study your shadow on the wall while moving back and forth.

To disable head bob:

In T3PlayerAnims.ini:

find "-- NORMAL GROUND MOVEMENT --" section
change all [Forward1] through [Forward6]
change:
'Translate=false'
to:
'Translate=true'

[Snowmit]

Here's one I haven't seen posted that I found while digging through the file:

To increase your mouse sensitivity open default.ini and find:

[Engine.PlayerInput]
MouseSensitivity=50

I raised mine to 70 and found that the turning was much more responsive. I also found that if I had my MouseLagThreshold set to =0 at the same time that everything was kind of twitchy. So I'm running with MouseLagThreshold=75 and MouseSensitivity=70 and it feels great to play.

[NoCoolAlias]

Here's how to make "S" bind to "Walk forward" and "W" to "Run forward" (plus change "X" to "Walk backwards" and "F" to "Crouch") :

Open "C:My Documents\Thief - Deadly Shadows\SaveGames\User Options\options.ini"

The key is the "MoveForwardBackward" command.
By default, the keys are set as follows:

S=MoveForwardBackward -1.000000
W=MoveForwardBackward 1.000000

To match the original Thief bindings, do


S=MoveForwardBackward 0.500000
W=MoveForwardBackward 1.000000
X=MoveForwardBackward -1.000000


And since "X" was the default "Crouch" key, you'll probably need to change F to
F=Crouch

The animations do work correctly. However, the "Creep" and "Walk" keys ("Ctrl" and "Shift" by default) are a little odd: they do not multiply the speed by a fraction, they directly change it to a new one.
So with the new bindings, "S" and "Shift+S" are exactly the same speed (1/2 speed), and "Ctrl+S" and "Ctrl+W" are both the same speed (1/3 speed)

[Mentalepsy]

Good information here

I may play with the animation file some more- there's a couple things that I'd like to do, if I can figure out how.

I found a controller option in default.ini called "Vibration" that defaults to 1. I guess this is for force feedback controllers, which most PC users probably aren't using. Changing it to 0 seems to boost performance slightly; then again, maybe I'm seeing things.

Also, under Flesh, there's LightIntensityTolerance and ShadowIntensityTolerance, with some comments about performance and the mention of a "bug." I played with this a little, but I didn't notice anything; thought somebody might be interested.

Anybody figured out what T3UISoup.ini is for?

[gga_nate]

I need some performance enhancements. I'd like to see any besides the basic graphical options in the menu. Anyone know of any?

[Mentalepsy]

I need some performance enhancements. I'd like to see any besides the basic graphical options in the menu. Anyone know of any?

Unfortunately I haven't found much that seems to affect my performance.

Try the following in default.ini:
1) Change BodyAwarenessMode to 0.
2) Change Vibration to 0.
3) Change LightIntensityTolerance to 10 and ShadowIntensityTolerance to 30. There's apparently some kind of bug associated with this that may or may not still be around. If you have problems, set them both back to zero.

These may help a little, I'm not sure. If you notice anything, post it here. I'll see if I can find some more stuff in these ini files.

[Mentalepsy]

I need some performance enhancements. I'd like to see any besides the basic graphical options in the menu. Anyone know of any?

Well, in default.ini there are some options under [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] you could try turning off: HighDetailActors, TripleBuffering, etc. I didn't see a bit of difference performance-wise on my system by changing these options, so I don't know if it's a CPU bottleneck, or if these options just don't do anything, or what. Try it and see.

You could also try increasing CacheSizeMegs under
[Engine.GameEngine] from 1 to 2, 4, 8, etc. It seems that I get slightly better performance at 4 than I did at 1. Increasing it too high won't help any more, though, and might even make it run slower.

[Snowmit]

Anybody figured out what T3UISoup.ini is for?

I would guess that it somehow controls the smoky fog stuff that swims behind the menus and so on when you're changing options, looking at briefing and such. Mind, I haven't played with it at all.

[Hidden_7]

Here's how to make "S" bind to "Walk forward" and "W" to "Run forward" (plus change "X" to "Walk backwards" and "F" to "Crouch") :

Open "C:My Documents\Thief - Deadly Shadows\SaveGames\User Options\options.ini"

The key is the "MoveForwardBackward" command.
By default, the keys are set as follows:

S=MoveForwardBackward -1.000000
W=MoveForwardBackward 1.000000

To match the original Thief bindings, do


S=MoveForwardBackward 0.500000
W=MoveForwardBackward 1.000000
X=MoveForwardBackward -1.000000


And since "X" was the default "Crouch" key, you'll probably need to change F to
F=Crouch

The animations do work correctly. However, the "Creep" and "Walk" keys ("Ctrl" and "Shift" by default) are a little odd: they do not multiply the speed by a fraction, they directly change it to a new one.
So with the new bindings, "S" and "Shift+S" are exactly the same speed (1/2 speed), and "Ctrl+S" and "Ctrl+W" are both the same speed (1/3 speed)

I wonder, is there anyway to change WHAT speed those keys set you too? My thinking is that with a little tweaking would it be possible to have a walk forward key, and a modifier for running, with another one for creeping? Cause that's my favorite Thief set up as all, I even find it hard to go back and play 1/Gold because I got so used to it for II

[Ozymandias]

This may have already been said, but after disabling VSYNC, my framerate trippled from 30 to 90 fps with all settings on medium. (using a laptop) Thought this was worthy enough to share for laptop users at least, although Thief 3 already has decent performance without any tweaks.

[bob]

Body Awareness Setting:

I found that I did get a boost in framerate, however my lighting got worse. Started having the light flickering problem some ppl are having. I have an ATI 9600XT incase you are wondering.

Head Bob:

If you do the same thing for backward 1-6, you will get rid of head bob going backwards too. I tried it for left and right, but it didnt do anything. I have a feeling the foward and backward might work for crouching aswell but havent tried it.

I really wish the first-person camera was like a normal FPS. Realistically you arent going to experience any "head bob", your head/eyes/whatever compensate for your body's movement. This is one area where developers need to stop striving for realism, they already had it in Wolfenstein 3D.

[herechickychick]

nevermind, figured it out

[Ishtvan]

I wonder, is there anyway to change WHAT speed those keys set you too? My thinking is that with a little tweaking would it be possible to have a walk forward key, and a modifier for running, with another one for creeping? Cause that's my favorite Thief set up as all, I even find it hard to go back and play 1/Gold because I got so used to it for II

Hidden_7, I like that setup for Walk/Run too, and I think I've got it working.

Step 1:
Change the options.ini file in your My Documents/Thief3 personal settings folder. Set your movement keys like so, supposing they're ASWD:

W=MoveForwardBackward 0.500000
S=MoveForwardBackward -0.500000
and the same for the strafing keys if you want

Step 2:
Now, in the Thief3 directory, edit the file: System/default.ini (you probably should make a backup first)

In the section "[T3Settings]" change the following:
WalkMultiplier=1.0

You now have a default movement speed of walking, and when you hold down the WALK key, you run (haven't figured out how to toggle it yet). The animations look right, footsteps sound right, and AI respond right, so I'm guessing this is all there is to it.

Now, has anyone figured out how to remove those pesky arrow trail textures?

[Valkyre]

Excellent thread. Too bad the Xbox version doesn't have any options to turn off engine features, it would have really made it possible to get a smooth frame rate.

[Jahandar]

If the BodyAwareness option doesn't disable the viewable player model, perhaps it instead relates to object/world collision, for instance determining how 'close' you have to be to knock over a chair, or something along those lines.

Haven't tried it myself (not too interested, either way), just thought I'd throw that out..

[Mentalepsy]

I would guess that it somehow controls the smoky fog stuff that swims behind the menus and so on when you're changing options, looking at briefing and such. Mind, I haven't played with it at all.

I played with it, but I didn't really notice what it did. Then again, I guess I didn't notice the smoky fog stuff all that much anyway.

I found that I did get a boost in framerate, however my lighting got worse. Started having the light flickering problem some ppl are having. I have an ATI 9600XT incase you are wondering.

Are you using 4.5 drivers? I'm on 4.4, and changing BodyAwarenessMode doesn't affect my lighting.


Hope people are getting some use out of these tweaks.

[bob]

I dont know. I have driver version 6.14.10.6387, pixel shader 1.4. So whatever catalyst that is.

[TreeTrunk]

I'm more intersted in keeping the bells and whistles on, like body awareness, as I am enjoying it.

I found that turning resolution down to 800 x 600 greatly improves the performance on my machine, for some reason.

1.4 Ghz P IV, GF 4 Ti4200, Soundblaster Crashlive

I'm not a framerate person, as my neurons are slow and I flew Flight Simulator on the C64 (1 frame per second while landing <-- I'm an old fart) So I'm very very happy with what I've got now. But smoother is better, so I will try turning off VSYNCH and see what happens. Thanks for the tips everyone.

My suggestion, honestly, is that if you can handle try: try turning your resolution down, sit back and accept the resulting graphics, and then start playing the game. Its awesome. The gameplay will sweep you in and you will be immersed.



No offense meant to those who really need the smooth high-res graphics. I'm just urging an Acceptance approach to Thief III, to maximize enjoyment.

[Nupraptor]

It runs smoothly at 1024x768 for me. Which, honestly, is the lowest resolution I can stand to play games. I can live with jaggies; But at 800x600 and below, the image simply becomes too grainy for me to tolerate. It's probably less noticeable on smaller monitors. But with a 19", 640x480 and 800x600 almost look interlaced.

[Lockpicker]

This one is cool to mess with...

Under [Physics] in the Default.ini
the default is

JumpHeight__t=48

change to

JumpHeight__t=60 for a little more lift

JumpHeight__t=115 for some serious ups yo.

WHO SAID WHITE THIEVES CAN'T JUMP?!?!

[Kircaldy]

Seems like the "Change walk/run keys" trick also messes up the wasd lock picking. At least when modifying the strafe keys and then trying to use a/d to pick the 9/3 o' clock lock positions.

One just has to get used to mouse lock-picking then. Sigh.

Btw, runs really sweet on my P2.8/R9800 @ 1600x1200 MAX. Teehee... (although I get mouse lag when enabling FSAA?)

[Srikandi]

Great tips! Thanks guys. Keep 'em coming!

On the font format: DDS is just a compressed bitmap format that also can store mipmap data.

THere's a free photoshop plugin that will let you edit it. Works with Paintshop Pro too. You can get it here.

Irfanview is a free graphics viewer which will display and convert .dds files, and do lots more. You'll also need the plugin pack. You can get it here.

That's all you need to make desktops or whatever from the loading screens, which are in content/T3/PcTextures/DynamicallyLoaded. All the maps are also in there as .dds files starting with the prefix HDMAP_ -- very handy for anyone doing a faniste