nicked on 29/10/2022 at 09:19
It's important to make the distinction between a patch, and a "remaster".
If a mission has been patched to fix bugs, there's no sense keeping the old version. If a mission has undergone significant design or structural changes, there's no harm in keeping the original for comparison and posterity. This relies on the author being clear over their intentions with the new release.
mxleader on 31/10/2022 at 00:16
Quote Posted by nicked
It's important to make the distinction between a patch, and a "remaster".
If a mission has been patched to fix bugs, there's no sense keeping the old version. If a mission has undergone significant design or structural changes, there's no harm in keeping the original for comparison and posterity. This relies on the author being clear over their intentions with the new release.
That's a good point. One of my favorite missions is A Thief's Holiday. The original version is still really cool to play through and has one item that the 2004 remaster doesn't have. But for the 2004 release there is V2 and V3 which is the same mission but with updates and fixes. I have all three versions saved because I never delete any of the FM versions even though I probably should. There are other FMs that only have minor fixes that shouldn't be a problem for anyone to play on whatever machine they have. But having different versions available for download if you want to have slightly different game play or maybe you prefer older vs newer graphics. If an original release was just super buggy making it terrible to try and play then there is no solid reason to save that release on a server unless you just like messing with people.
downwinder on 6/11/2022 at 00:00
there is one case where jis made a mission on thief 2 first then made a updated version on thief gold,in that case i say have both as they on different thief games,i think mission is hammer and garrett???
i personally like the thief gold=newest version
there might be other rare cases but over all i feel the latest version is best of all missions in t1/g/2,i dont play thief 3 fan missions anymore
Hit Deity on 20/11/2022 at 13:48
My vote would be to save them. Someone already pointed out that keeping broken or buggy versions wouldn't be necessary, but ones that change significantly, well.. I think those should be preserved.
Ideally, a curated site where someone who had the time could make the necessary decisions about what constitutes "enough of a change to warrant saving" would be needed, ofc. But I think it's a great idea. Just hearing that there are different versions of some FMs, something I never really thought about, has me curious now which ones I could get hold of.
The current (newest) version could be listed, then extra download links and ofc notes about the different versions would also be appreciated. I think it's a great idea.
<Username> on 6/10/2024 at 09:46
:eek: I didn't know about Thievery Customs. That site appears to have earlier version of other fan missions as well. Very nice!
Brody on 6/10/2024 at 10:49
Well, I've had the website since around 2002/2003.
Originally for Thievery and its successor NightBlade, which was never fully developed. Sometime later I added TheDarkMod.
About 1.5 - 2 years ago I started uploading all the files that I had collected on my hard drive for Thief 1 - 3 over the years to the Download Center.
Especially in light of the fact that the otherwise well-known websites for missions are no longer maintained or have been discontinued altogether, I thought it was once again a good addition and alternative.
I initially focused on the missions, I still have a lot of other files, be it patches, videos, etc., that are still coming to the center, so I'll work through them bit by bit from time to time.
Best Regards,
Brody
<Username> on 6/10/2024 at 12:31
That is awesome! I will be adding your site to my bookmarks.
