baeuchlein on 7/3/2006 at 19:47
Thanks for the first two Rocksbourg missions, I really liked them. Only the large number of guards in critical spots in part 1 and the key-hunt (part 1 again) were not exactly a pleasure.
After I got accustomed to the city layout with it's small streets and the rest of the space packed with buildings, I liked this kind of architecture. Not exactly comparable to the city in Calendra's Cistern or Calendra's Legacy, but I enyoyed travelling through this city as much as I liked my stay in the Calendra missions cities.
The video codecs gave me a bit of trouble, but I could solve that problem in the end. I noticed (after one day of messing around with VirtualDub) that almost the same movie quality could be obtained if one used the Indeo codecs that come with Thief II and tweaked a bit with their settings. Since others reported problems with the codecs as well (there's even a small thread on the forums: (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103371&highlight=Rocksbourg+codecs)), this might be something that could be improved for the next missions. And I'm looking forward to them anyway.:thumb:
DrK on 7/3/2006 at 20:01
Thanks :D Glad to know you liked them, except the key hunt part :ebil:
Concerning the codecs, first the videos were built with the indeo codecs from the original game. But as my vids were 5 minutes long I had a huge size file for each vid, between 50 and 60 Mb :)
The zip files were way too big so I decided to use the WMV9 codec : same quality but way smaller.
bikerdude on 7/3/2006 at 21:00
Drk
Can you add a date to the of this thread, so preople dont get confused and think its a new Fm
ta
biker
DrK on 8/3/2006 at 00:35
Ask and ye shall receive :cheeky:
Someone removed the "New" in the title, I thought it was enough :p
Bulgarian_Taffer on 9/3/2006 at 09:05
When are we going to receive Rocksbourg - next missions?
baeuchlein on 9/3/2006 at 14:39
Quote Posted by DrK
... first the videos were built with the indeo codecs from the original game. But as my vids were 5 minutes long I had a huge size file for each vid, between 50 and 60 Mb :)
The zip files were way too big so I decided to use the WMV9 codec : same quality but way smaller.
It took me a while, but after fiddling with the codecs' quality options for a day I managed to convert both movies to the Indeo codecs without sacrificing much quality, and the AVIs were a bit smaller afterwards.
I reduced the resolution from 640x480 to 320x240, used the Indeo v5.06 codec with it's quality slider at 80% (first mission; 70% for the UNAR2 movie) and got .AVI files which are about the same size as yours, but use the Indeo codecs.
The sound part should be compressed as you did, using an MP3 codec. Although the encoding part of this codec is not shipped with Windows 9x (can't say anything about XP, however), the decoding part is present in Windows 95/98. Thus, one does not need a new codec to play the movies, only to create or convert them.
In the end, I had two movies that were of reduced quality, but it's not nearly as bad as one should expect. The text is a little bit worse, but one can still read it. A few other artifacts are visible in a few spots during the movies, but I think they're still of acceptable quality. BTW, I used VirtualDub for the conversion.
Maybe you should try this, at least for your next movies. If you don't like the quality you get, you can always go back to the WMV9 codecs.
Another idea to shrink the .zip's: Convert the
large ambient sound files to .MP3 files. Could save a few megabytes, and newer versions of DarkLoader can un-pack the .MP3 files. You could convert
all sound files to .MP3 and get a really small .zip, but then it takes one or two minutes for DarkLoader (on an Athlon XP 2100+) to prepare the mission for playing. I really tried this for the missions, but the result is only acceptable for modem users, I think.
DrK on 9/3/2006 at 17:18
Quote Posted by Bulgarian_Taffer
When are we going to receive Rocksbourg - next missions?
When it'll be done, and trust me you can wait :cheeky: Don't expect it until next autumn or something, my studies take me quite a lot of time... During February I built a lot of things in the fm btw.
Baeuchlein, I'll try your tricks on next vid, but I fear quality won't be enough for me. Thanks anyway :D
And about the mp3 for sounds in the mission, I'll never use such a thing because as you wrote it'll take too much time to reconvert them with Darkloader, and most of all (tell me if I'm wrong) it seems mp3 can't be read with DromEd : I often go take a walk in fms through DromEd (AI_aware on) so I can peacefully appreciate the atmosphere, but without sounds there's something missing, and I don't want that with builders visiting my fms through DromEd :p.
Mosley on 9/3/2006 at 18:23
Hé bé ! on n'est pas sortis de l'auberge :(
Rocksbourg :D D'ABORD, les études :mad: APRES .........
Fist and sword
Mosley
Dia on 13/3/2006 at 17:45
WOW Dr. K!! Mission 2 is absolutely awesome!! I was soooooo flippin' scared last night when climbing the ladder down to [SPOILER]Tunnel 21[/SPOILER] that I kept closing my eyes and finally decided to quit the game for the night (couldn't see where I was going with my eyes closed)! I'm going back there this eve after I get home from work. Only one problem so far: I can't find the blasted sword!! I know it's supposed to be [SPOILER]in the security area[/SPOILER], but have been all over that & still can't find it. Help please. Thanks!
dkessler on 13/3/2006 at 19:28
Dia,
just explore the tunnels carefully [SPOILER]water and walls[/SPOILER] and you will find your way into the next area.
I know the feeling you had climbing down that ladder.
and DrK: These missions have given me a thief feeling that I thought was long lost, but I am still here after all these years. Its b/c of all the authors out there that make me stay and reminisce.
Great job! :thumb:
p.s. hurry up with part three
