StandAndDeliver on 9/5/2024 at 22:53

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This is a fan mission I made to get my bearings, see what I've done right, see what I can improve. I present: Coveted Formulae.

Drive: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xb0NRoFYZSZngYTO3dO5H_Q78yjlJZcu/view?usp=sharing)

Briefing:
Tonight's job is a small one, and a simple one - but only the foolish and the broke turn down all the little ones. An anonymous client rapped upon the door of this week's dirt-caked flophouse, leaving behind nothing but a little sack of gold and a note.

They want me to break into one of Tol Camrick and Sons' smaller foundries down in the Old Quarter, and steal the formula for their plate alloy. If it were a chemist daring enough to rob a bank or break someone out of Cragscleft, they would've stolen it already, so if I were a gambling man I'd say my client is some taffer from the Shemenov company.

The 550 coins they're offering up ought to cover my rent for the next month, but I'll need some more if I want to eat more than shoe leather. Nearby Hammerite church was sold and moved out of recently, but they still maintain a small compound in the utilities and sewer lines underneath this neighborhood. There's a taphouse I should also hit along the way, since the wine market is always reliable. Lastly, I should remember that Tol Camrick isn't the dumbest company around. I should scope the place out and do some research before I go in.

Notes:
- The drunkard and the bartender are non-hostile unless you decide to hit them for some reason.
- This is my first level, so I made it in 64x64x64 to keep myself from getting too ambitious and getting stuck. However, there's still a couple routes for a more enterprising thief, so keep your eyes peeled.
- I'd expect most players to complete this in 10-25 minutes.
- I designed this around Expert, and recommend playing it on that difficulty.
- There is an inevitable level 2 (searching with sword up) alert, but that one NPC is isolated to one room and can't tell his buddies, and he is alerted by you leaving the room.

Let me know what you liked and didn't like. Aside from spoiler content below, I'm most worried about if the loot requirement was too hard to meet, as well as minor Dromed mistakes like glitched readables. I spent a lot of time being paranoid about readables. I'm very new to Thief FM making, so I also want to know how to get my mission onto platforms like Taffer's Paradise and Thiefguild.

Commentary after mission:
-I was really happy with how the safe alarm turned out. I'm not 100% sure I gave the right amount of hints or not, but I tried to be generous without shoving them in the player's face.
-I wasn't happy with the Hammerite Archer on Expert not making a noise to "announce himself" at the beginning of the mission. If anyone knows how to make an AI make a normal idling noise while waiting at an AIWatchObj, lmk please.
-There's a hidden rope arrow spot in the southwest that gets you a quicker and safer route into the sewers. I really liked how it turned out.
-I was frustrated with height changes in the hallways below the inn making AIs make less footstep noises no matter what I did. However, I think the visual appearance of that hallway turned out almost perfectly, with that light beam down the center and the flickering light making it worth a chef's kiss.
-I was disappointed that AIs didn't make sloshing sounds walking in water. Again, if someone knows a solution, LMK.
-In the southwest of the map, in where the statue was moved from, listen very closely. They're watching.
-I prefer low loot counts, I dislike loot requirements above 2000 in general.
-I like EAX, and more missions should have it.

StandAndDeliver on 10/5/2024 at 00:22

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The one about the bar door opening outwards is on purpose so that drunks can get out, but if you're talking about the Hammerite utility building I'll check that out. I remember getting that to open inwards, but maybe I deleted it to debug it and forgot about it. If I find anything I'll upload an updated version before long so I can get more glitches fixed at once. I'll also check the doors in the bar and hammerite compound to see if I missed any.

Marbrien on 10/5/2024 at 09:33

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I downloaded the FM from the link in the first post, and I have quite a lot of missing wall textures (blue surfaces instead) near the start. I unintalled the mission from Angel Loader (v1.9.4), deleted it, and downloaded it again, but the problem persists. I also tried disabling all the mods in Angel Loader, but that didn't cure it.

The walls missing textures are the wall visible to the left looking out from the starting point, and the whole of the archway it is attached to (but not the plaque above the other side of that arch, which is OK): and virtually all the walls of the covered passageway that connects the two outside locations in the starting area. All interiors and the sewer/underground section are OK.

Does anyone know what might be causing this?

Renault on 10/5/2024 at 13:43

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Playing with T2 by chance? This is for T1. Guessing there's no AI in the mission either.

zajazd on 10/5/2024 at 15:16

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Congrats to the author. It was a enjoyable small mission.