durtbag123 on 30/6/2009 at 21:48

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For those of you who haven't followed Tony Ayalew's new Thief: Deadly Shadows mod, I'll list off the additions that he made.

• Night Vision.
• 3rd person Animations in 1st person Perspective.
• Player Properties
• Changes with Default.INI.
• Improved Minimalist Age Project.
• Improved Lights.
• Tweaked Arrows


Night Vision:

The Night Vision, something that was created by my own request, is an invaluable tool when playing with the brightness down. It spreads a bright green light that purges all shadows that may be hindering your field of view. It has its own icon in the Item's menu which you must switch to before pressing the action button to activate it. It does come with it's drawbacks, however. People in the vicinity will detect something is wrong and go on alert, like Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Solid Eye. This disadvantage is actually good for the game, as it would undoubtedly be too easy if you could have the Night Vision on all of the time. One problem is that the Night Vision replaces the health potion as a world object and a menu icon, so instead of having health potion, and finding health potion in the game world, you will have the small green eyeballs to find instead. This isn't that big of a problem, since the minimalist project tweaks include "More Healthy Food" that replaces health potions.


3rd Person Animations in 1st Person Perspective

The mod changes all 1st person animations to the 3rd person ones, adding more camera inertia and a more "alive" feeling to the game, (Mirror's Edge anyone?). Blackjacking and backstabbing looks great with such smooth kinetic effects. Climbing is slowed down to a realistic level, and so is the bow drawing. The new animations may take a little getting used to along the lines of shooting, as the the bow's sight is a little out of perspective when standing up, but when you are crouching and shooting, everything lines up as it should. Since the camera position is changed on Garrett's body, I noticed that there was subtle Fish-Eye lens effect around the edges of the screen. Buildings look taller, and your feet look farther away (Kind of like when you are in the hazy green memory in the Shalebridge Cradle).


Player Properties

Players can now jump higher and the camera position is changed. First person is locked unless you are climbing. Since the camera position is changed on Garrett's body to pander to the new animations, I noticed that there was a subtle, Fish-Eye lens effect around the edges of the screen. Buildings look taller, and your feet look farther away (Kind of like when you are in the memory in the Shalebridge Cradle).


Changes to the Default.ini

In the ReadMe, Tony lists all of the changes made specifically, but I am only going to note the ones that are most prominent. There were changes to the gamma, brightness, and contrast in the Default.ini, but I will talk about that when I get to the improved lighting.
Anyway, Garrett is now faster, whether he is creeping, running, or walking, and so is the game's performance! Changes have been made that alter the game's limited frame rate so that things move more smoothly. It is not an incredibly dramatic change, but it is a great addition once you contrast it with the original performance


Improved Minimalist Project

When you receive your lockpicks in the training mission, you also get the climbing gloves. The difficulty of the game has also been enhanced, making all play styles more challenging than ever before. And when I say "play styles" I am speaking of the new game modes that have been created. They include "MoneyMaker" "Normal" "Assassin" and "Daredevil." All have their own exclusive set of objectives. All are fun to play. Food is healthier than in the original Minimalist Project, and parallels effects of a regular health potion, which is now gone due the addition of the Night Vision. You can carry 9 of each food item. A few textures from John-P's HD T3 pack have been added, but I would recommend downloading the full pack rather than just sticking with what the mod supplies: the full set makes the game look even more awesome.


Improved Lights

Now we come to it: probably the best change that this mod has made: the improved lights. The light now spreads realistically, rather than staying in circular auras around their sources. The contrast has been increased (it is completely customizable from the main menu) and the shadows are darker because of it. It is much harder to find places to hide, also playing on the difficulty levels in a very good way. To put it bluntly: the lights look freaking amazing.


Tweaked Arrows

The arrows now expose you a little bit. The broadheads expose you a little, while the elemental arrows expose you even more due to their glowing tips. Of course, the fire arrow, the real stealth blasphemer, lights you up like a Christmas tree...a Christmas tree covered in spotlights. An intense orange glow emanates them whenever you pull one out, exposing you completely. When I say intense, I mean INTENSE. Fire one of these bad boys down the street and watch all the lighting react: pure eye candy.


Well that concludes this thing. I give this mod a 9/10. Despite some very small, nitpicked issues, this is a great addition to Thief 3 and be sure to check it out when it is released.

Finally I'd like to thank Tony himself for giving me the honor of being the official tester. :thumb:

Stath MIA on 30/6/2009 at 23:34

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Cool, where can I find this mod?

durtbag123 on 1/7/2009 at 00:21

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@Stath MIA the mod is not out at this time. I was just testing it and I wrote this out to give the mod a little more publicity.


@DrK it's really useful with the new lighting. :)

Herr_Garrett on 1/7/2009 at 09:35

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I want to try this out, and soon.

Thirith on 2/7/2009 at 13:51

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Any chance of YouTube videos of the new/tweaked animations? :)