Resurgence - The Ancient Crown (Jun 2002)

Ymochel on 25/7/2002 at 12:32

My video card is also well aged: Voodoo Banshee :)
I normally tend to play Thief of 800*600 or 1024*768 maximum. That should obviously make a difference.
I am aware, the level is packed full with stuff, and in the early parts of the mission there are polygon quirks. The thing is I don't think I could optimize it a lot to run more smoothly, without putting a very lot of effort in it. Not sure.

As I said, I would really like to have Monroe's mansion a lot bigger so the actual mission objective is more fun.
For that purpose I maybe should just wait for Thief 3.

Ymochel on 25/7/2002 at 16:57

I just replayed the mission for fun. As I said it runs okay on my 450Mhz.
However, I suppose the main problem with speed is less the polycount and more the amount of S&R I use. Only an idea, could be wrong.

Anyways, there are two secrets, which I often got questions about:

1. Warren Spector's Bookstore
The key was indeed flushed into the canals by the rain water.
[SPOILER]However, it didn't make it out in the open but got stuck in the drain. In the waterworks there is a valve that you can turn. It opens a hatch on the northern part of the small building, somewhat below the surface of the water. Here you will find the key.[/SPOILER]
In the bookstore there are a few more or less exciting books - and there is a secret which I will not tell you how it can be found...

2. The third floor of the office block
In here you can find all the 15 spells I designed for the series. However, you can only take one per each of the five levels (actually I think once you deplete one you can take the other levels, haven't checked for too long). Also, there is a zombie version of Lord British (from the Ultima games) up there guarding the "treasure".
[SPOILER]It is tricky to get in. Works only on Novice difficulty.
You have to follow Miss Parker once she leaves the office. Don't lose her out of sight cause then the pathfinding doesn't work and she ends up elsewhere (never figured out why). After a long trip around the level she will go into the toilet in Tylderon's bar. She teleports out but in turn there will be an ugly orc skull which acts as the key to the third floor.
Alternatively you can load up the level DromEd :D[/SPOILER]

Lytha on 27/7/2002 at 16:53

Hi Ymochel,

I read about your mission in this thread here and thought I should give it a try, I had not played it before, but I have not played a lot of FMs yet. The first impression was very cool. :)

Ambient sounds, camvator(without the vator ;) ), textures, the hats, the jacket of Miss Parker, the office... very sweet :)

But, I've several questions, and, like others, I don't want to read all the long books thoroughly to understand what exactly is going on, especially not the armageddon book that seemed to be twice in the mission, uhm... Do I need to read them?

Well, the first impression in the office was great. Until I had the feeling that I was running in circles; it was so bad that I looked at it in dromed to figure out several things (the secret door pedestal in the basement was where I was stuck in the gameplay - I had tossed around all crates in frustration, all but the correct one... I thought it was cute that it kept flying in the air when I had taken the crate below it away... ah yeah)

Well, now for the questions, irritations, and the spoilers.

[spoiler]I just got killed by Kosh (mean of him), and since I fired all the spells in the park when I was running around in frustrated circles there... I'm also not at all sure how I made these spell items that I could access only with F1 & F2, so I can't make new "charges".

Well, I tried to shoot him (not sure if I hit him at all... loading time of the gun was too long), so then I tried to bop him with the blackjack a few times before he ripped off my head and did what Lorcan (sp? the bad guy) from the Seventh Crystal wanted to do with the player. Erm...

Uhm.. what is up with Miss Parker? I wacked her on the forehead in frustration (she did not teleport away in the toilet, Novice difficulty, I never let her out of my eyes. Once in the toilet, she obviously felt that she should go back to the office to stand in the door, and that she should restart the initial conversation a few times whenever I approached her in the right manner. So, no spells from the top floor for me. :( -- Err, I wacked her with the blackjack, and she, uhm... you know what she did. Here comes my question: Why? What is she? (In which of the long books could I find a clue?)

I also had problems to understand what the phonecaller told me... I even don't know if that was Kosh or someone else? I made out (also with what I had seen in the dromed) that I was supposed now to walk to the park, but I could not understand the rest of the call. :(

And then... err... I have no idea of whom the scroll in the park might be (that I finally found after I had used all the spells into the air and at the trees...) [/spoiler]

Well, I am going to give it another shot in a few minutes(*), it runs up to half an hour relatively nicely on my system before it starts to drop to 1-2 fps, but I would be thankful for tips on which of the books, papyri, and scrolls are the relevant ones to understand what is going on. :)

(*) and it's not an acute case of masochism that I go and give it another shot - different than than the various times when I launched the Inverted Manse. Now, that's a mission which is always a good way to make sure that I don't touch any FMs anymore for a long time, and so I can concentrate on other things again after a few minutes in the Inverted Manse. Ah yeah... No, in this case, it's <strike>(buggy and frustrating, but also)</strike> cool. I like it, bugs or no. :)

Ymochel on 11/8/2002 at 09:21

My girlfriend was here for a visit and I didn't browse these boards at all, and I had little time to read them before that even.
Here are a few answers, although you might have found out some of that already...

Quote:

Originally posted by Lytha
Hi Ymochel,
I read about your mission in this thread here and thought I should give it a try, I had not played it before, but I have not played a lot of FMs yet. The first impression was very cool. :)

Ambient sounds, camvator(without the vator ;) ), textures, the hats, the jacket of Miss Parker, the office... very sweet :)

Thanks :)

Ok, as for the queries: no, as mentioned in my thread on the topic of books, none of the long books are necessary reads. Only short papyruses and notes contain important clues.
As for the Armaggeddon book, that is the "bible" of the setting so to speak. There even is a book interpreting it ;).
It gives a background how the city was founded etc but it is not relveant for the plot. All the history that relates to the plot will be explained by other more accessible means.

[SPOILER]
(the secret door pedestal in the basement was where I was stuck in the gameplay - I had tossed around all crates in frustration, all but the correct one... I thought it was cute that it kept flying in the air when I had taken the crate below it away... ah yeah)

Ah, yes that is a known bug that I oughta fix.
I don't know if it was too hard to find but I might add a hint at the secret lab below the basement somewhere.

I just got killed by Kosh (mean of him), and since I fired all the spells in the park when I was running around in frustrated circles there... I'm also not at all sure how I made these spell items that I could access only with F1 & F2, so I can't make new "charges".

You get the spells simply by picking them up in the park. You have the choice between three different classes, they are explained on the scroll. On Novice you get two spells instead of just one.
There is only one charge per spell in this mission. In later missions you will gain more permanent spells.

Well, I tried to shoot him (not sure if I hit him at all... loading time of the gun was too long), so then I tried to bop him with the blackjack a few times before he ripped off my head

His behaviour clearly needs perfection. I didn't want to make him hostile towards the player from the beginning though so that one is correct. But he notices you way too easily, which is also why it's so hard to steal the crown from him.

Uhm.. what is up with Miss Parker? I wacked her on the forehead in frustration (she did not teleport away in the toilet, Novice difficulty, I never let her out of my eyes. Once in the toilet, she obviously felt that she should go back to the office to stand in the door, and that she should restart the initial conversation a few times whenever I approached her in the right manner.

Crap that :) She also obviously needs a lot more testing...

Err, I wacked her with the blackjack, and she, uhm... you know what she did. Here comes my question: Why? What is she? (In which of the long books could I find a clue?)

You can't. Who she is will be explained in later missions. I didn't want to give her an obvious "special" appearance but for those players who attacked her I wanted to show it. (Also I don't want anyone to kill her :P)

I also had problems to understand what the phonecaller told me... I even don't know if that was Kosh or someone else? I made out (also with what I had seen in the dromed) that I was supposed now to walk to the park, but I could not understand the rest of the call. :(

I think this explains why you didn't understand who wrote the letter in the park. I suppose the sound quality of the phone call isn't perfect but I like the voice acting so I will keep it like this. Not sure what could be done to make it better to understand. The objectives give you the clue what to do at least.
I recall that the Eyes speech in Thief 1 was also damn hard to understand - especially if you're not a native speaker of English. Maybe something can be done, will think about this.

Anyway, the guy who calls you and left the note (and spells) in the park for you is a person named Phalvach al Garond. You don't yet know who he is but he explains that he enabled Cosh to speak and write and gave him magic powers. He also tempted him to become a serial killer.
[/SPOILER]

Well, I am going to give it another shot in a few minutes(*), it runs up to half an hour relatively nicely on my system before it starts to drop to 1-2 fps,

Hmmm, I am still a bit unsure about the performance issues. I built and tested (to some extend I did really! ;)) the level on my PII450 with Voodoo Banshee - definitely not a fast system these days. It ran quite okay for me at all times. I really wonder what slows it down so much for others. Anyway, the sequel will run smoother for everybody I hope :)

I am glad you liked it. I will see if I find the time to bugfix it and then start working on the rest of the series :D

Lytha on 11/8/2002 at 12:00

Ymochel,

as I said, I gave it another try, again in Normal for the possibility to get into the room upstairs of the office; this time, Ms. Parker teleported away in the toilet without any problems.

I assume that I caused a problem in her patrol path when I opened the toilet door and tried to watch what was going on. Not too surprising actually, that she did not teleport away then. My problems last time might also have been related to me not keeping very close to her while I was chasing her on the patrol path.

This time, it was definitely easier overall; I knew where to go and what not to do (i.e. shoot all the spells into the air in the park)

I even read the long book this time, and the commentary. And yes, it is funny, and it added definitely character to the mission :D - if the player is not on the search for clues and thinks that the book contains help in form of a hidden message on page #39 or so. ;) I think that was the problem that people had with the books: "I am stuck, I need a clue, maybe one of the books has it?" *read the first 2 pages closely, find no direct clue, start flipping the pages* "Am I supposed to read this all?!"

After you know what is going on & after you've finished the mission once, the books add a very pleasant character to the mission. :)

Cosh -
[spoiler]I still had a hard time with him due to the framerates (more thoughts about that later). However, I had let the Mexican Bouncer and the freshly spawned Guard alive and awake for him, and also the party guests. He teleported around now quite a lot, and I think the guards did a few damages to him which made my task easier. Sometimes, he disappeared totally (I guess he went down into the basement), then he re-appeared. I zapped him then with a "freeze" (I had read the readme.txt in the mean time and thought this might be a good idea), I think, I got caught then in his teleport field, and we went down to the basement.

I am still not sure if that is how it is planned, but it was fun. :D It wouldn't have been fun without the "freeze" though, because I had a hard time to get out of his teleport-field. Hm. The rest worked fine then (I shot him again, then I tried taking the crown, and it worked.)[/spoiler]

The framerate problem is most certainly because of the use of S&R. When Cosh and I were in the basement, it seemed to me that he is firing the teleport stim (or similar) approx. every 15 seconds. If other objects do the same, there is always a heavy action going on, which causes the slowdown after a while; and which explains why the mission runs fine then again after a restart of Thief. I'm not sure if you are using emitters and cloning as well, like in Totality's 4th tutorial ("the magic rock marker"), but that would explain the framerate problem as well.

It is symptomatic that the problems occured after ~30 minutes or so; then maybe enough objects were spawned or S&R stuff emitted to make the Dark Engine go to its knees.

The mission is definitely cool, I liked it a lot! :)

Ymochel on 12/8/2002 at 11:46

Glad you like it! :)

Heh, I am still torn over what to do now. As usual I take on too many things at once. I intend to write a long story soon after recording a couple of new songs. From September on I'll be back in uni doing my final year - lots of hard lectures and a research project. I ought to get a job too and possibly I might take an Italian language class.
So besides writing, studying and working I also would like my social life not to disappear totally - which is why I was thinking not to install Thief on my new notebook at all. I am kindof afraid that I will not do anything other than DromEding which would be sorely bad for my academic career, interhuman relationships and of course my mental health :)

But I would really like to finish the Resurgence campaign eventually and Thief3 just appears to be too far away still... I am getting weak, will install Thief now just to see how it works on this new machine :)

Maybe after all you will see the full series someday...

Lytha on 16/8/2002 at 08:58

I would like to see how the story of the Ancient Crown is continued, but the academic career should definitely come first, of course.

... speaking of which, I have been neglecting a lot of stuff lately, too - thanks to dromed. :/

Ymochel on 17/8/2002 at 00:02

Hehe yes. DromEd is evil I am convinced ... evil but brilliant :)

We will see how it goes. If there is some time on boring lonely nights this year, and no annoying friends dragging me to the pub (yes yes, I'd never even enter such a place unless by violent force ;P) I might end up starting up good ol' DromEd again ... and not finish till the sun rises :D

Btw du sprichst doch auch Deutsch oder nicht? (wage Errinnerungen aus den fruehen Tagen dieses Forums :))

John D. on 17/8/2002 at 05:51

I liked Resurgence of the Ancient Crown, you certainly created a strange new world
which I enjoyed! When you get your real life in order, please continue!:D

Norman Druart on 28/8/2002 at 18:32

I decided to play The Ancient Crown because I'm interested in FM's in which you don't play as Garrett. I really liked the setting as film noir meets Thief; I imagined it as taking place a century or so after the events of Thief in a world where technological advancement occured at a more constant but slower pace than in our world.

I encountered a lot of bugs and rough spots but that's to be expected in such a technically ambitious beta. The spells and teleporting were very cool. I hope that a finalized version comes out some day, perhaps in T3 form?

I completed all of the objectives except for "Find out why Monroe stole the crown." I think I read all of the notes in the mansion but maybe I missed something. Also, when do you receive the phone call from Phalvach al Garond?

Diolch Ymochel!