How to play Fan Missions nowadays?

Brynolf on 11/11/2020 at 13:10

Thank you guys for all the replies. Demagogue, time flies doesn't it. :D

stevedonkey on 5/12/2020 at 16:23

I've actually been using DarkLoader for a while now, currently on version 4.3. Why is it outdated? Just used it a few minutes ago, and I mean - all it really does is put the mission files in the right directory for you automatically, right? Why should I switch to AngelLoader or another one? What are the benefits?

Also, why is DarkLoader 215MB? I mean, like I said - all it does is move the mission files around, so it shouldn't be that big, right?

zajazd on 5/12/2020 at 18:02

Quote Posted by stevedonkey

Some missions will not work properly with DarkLoader, some will not work at all.

Dahenjo on 5/12/2020 at 19:26

Quote Posted by stevedonkey

The biggest difference/benefit from the player's perspective is that you can have multiple FMs installed since it puts them under a separate folder away from the games' files & folders, also it concurrently handles FMs for three Thief games & SS2 if desired. Many do still use Darkloader but there are frequent posts of problems, mainly due to it not being updated while the games have been in various ways. My AngelLoader folder fully installed (unzipped, etc) is only 40MB, it is constantly updated with added features or fixes to any issues found, and has been made to be as much like Darkloader as possible.

FenPhoenix on 5/12/2020 at 23:07

To be pedantic, AngelLoader itself is only ~7MB, but it will cache FM readme files into a folder as you view them (so it doesn't have to constantly extract them from zip/7z files), and that cache folder may end up being some dozens of megs or so depending how many readmes have been cached.

DarkLoader extracts FMs straight to your base Thief folder because that used to be the only way to do it, but it always has the danger of messing up your install. There even used to be instructions in some thread around here about how to clean up your Thief install in that situation. Some newer FMs (Patriot is one, I believe) straight-up don't work with it.

AngelLoader lets you search and filter your FMs list, it has a better title/author detector, it detects NewDark Thief Gold missions properly (DarkLoader thinks every NewDark FM is for Thief 2 and you have to go edit the ini file to fix it). It's designed to look like DarkLoader and be comfortable for users used to DarkLoader. It has lots of other features you may or may not care about (it works just as well if you simply want to play and be done with it - that's what I do).

baeuchlein on 7/12/2020 at 15:32

I have a Thief 2 installation which includes ancient DarkLoader as well as the newer FM loaders (NewDarkloader, FMSel, AngelLoader). DarkLoader is only 8 MB in size, so there must be something else there to get it swollen to a size of 215 MB.

On my computers, DarkLoader has not been able to correctly select the language of a multi-language FM since about NewDark v1.25, which is one of the reasons why I ceased to use it for more than some compatibility checks. One can still try old DarkLoader, but if it messes up the Thief installation, this usually means long, tedious, and unnecessary work to get Thief up and running again. I recommend against using the ancient and retired FM loader. It was nice to have in the old days when there was no NewDark around, but times have changed.

stevedonkey on 9/12/2020 at 10:17

OK, thanks for the replies, guys.

1) I only ever play Thief 1+2 FMs, and I play FMs made from 1999 and the latest I have is from 2019 and they all work.
2) I figured out that there's a file called TafferPatcher_TMA_218_beta.exe included in my install that is 214MB big. DarkLoader itself is less than 1MB. I'm guessing the patcher did a lot of stuff at install?
3) My original Thief Installations (used to have the originals back in the day, but since Windows7 I've been using the gog versions) are absolutely fine - I can launch from DarkLoader or from gog Launcher or from the Start Menu, and everything is fine, and all my savestates are there (also for the FMs)
4) ONE THING I have noticed, however, is that in TDP/Gold and its FMs, the jumping is pretty insane. Jumps seem to be very long, and if I time it right, I keep jumping and each jump gets longer and faster until I start to "fall down". Is this a side-effect of all the patches TafferPatcher_TMA_218_beta.exe installed?
5) any other recommendations for patching/upgrading as far as beauty/playability is concerned? I do know that the TafferPatcher_TMA_218_beta.exe must have installed that climbing/jumping fix to allow climbing from a crouched position or whatever, and all the default loot boxes look nicer, but didn't know if there were any other standard patches that have been introduced since 2017

zappenduster on 9/12/2020 at 11:12

Quote Posted by stevedonkey

I only ever play Thief 1+2 FMs, and I play FMs made from 1999 and the latest I have is from 2019 and they all work.

Me too, and same result on my DarkLoader installation, I never had any problems except re-editing Darkloader.ini for Thief1 missions made under ND. :)

Never change a running system ... :ebil:

voodoo47 on 9/12/2020 at 11:58

this is why we can't have nice things.

trefoilknot on 9/12/2020 at 13:46

Quote Posted by zappenduster

Never change a running system ... :ebil:

“Never change a system that hasn't broken for you, personally, yet.”

Fixed that for you!