fortuni on 1/4/2014 at 16:04
I know Thief Gold and Thief 1 were slightly different games released by TLG one having 3 new levels, but with regards to the actual making of fms, are they actually different engines giving the fms a different look ( and if they are why would TLG build 2 different engines for basily the same game ) or is it that they have different scripts to work with when making an fm ( sorry about my lack of technical langauge but im a bit simple ), which is easier to use, better to make bigger and more complicated fms blar blar blar......can anyone point me towards a thread that would give me a much clearer understanding....im also a little confused as to the dates of TG/T1 as a lot of the fms were released all within the same time frame so what made authors choose which Thief fm to make, as it was not a case of TG came first and then a few years later a better T1 arrived on the scene.....
Many thanks in advance
Tannar on 1/4/2014 at 16:14
I'm sure someone with more specific technical knowledge will answer your question more thoroughly, but essentially you are right. TG is an updated version of T1 with (aside from the extra missions) newer resources, scripts etc. You can play T1 missions with TG but not the other way around unless you use the TG patch which basically adds the TG resources not found in T1. Also, there is no TLG. Thief was released by Looking Glass Studios (LGS).
fortuni on 1/4/2014 at 16:33
seems strange to me that if TG is the updated version of the game, why do TG fms look more basic than T1 fms, and how come so many more fms were made for T1 than TG even though they were roughly all made at the same time.....i have noticed though that TG fms tend to be smaller in mbits but that may just be by chance.....a history lesson from a 'tech' would be very much appreciated....
Renault on 1/4/2014 at 17:03
As far as looking more "basic," you'd have to be more specific. Level of detail is completely up to the author though, so a T2 FM could look far more generic than a T1 mission depending on who created it. TG certainly didn't exclude any resources from T1, so it really shouldn't work out that way.
Also, I think back in the day, the majority of people had T1, but not everyone upgraded to TG, so most authors probably decided to create for T1, at least until T2 came out. T1 came out in November 1998, and T2 was February 2000. Somewhere in-between during that 15 months or so, Thief Gold came out (couldn't find an exact date, it was sometime in 1999). It had such a small window when it was the most current Thief game, I think most Dromeders didn't bother, unless they needed to use resources specific to one of it's three unique missions.
Nowadays though, if you want to create a mission with an old school Thief feel, you're likely going to use Thief Gold as it's the most up to date version of The Dark Project.
DiMarzio on 1/4/2014 at 17:39
I'll throw my question in here as well: what's the case between T1/G and T2 then? I know you can import textures from one another, but can you put, say, mechanist bots to TG FMs or Fire shadows to T2 FMs? In the player's point of view, jumping is of course different and sound effects (including but not limited to guards' speech). Are there any other differences? Did NewDark make any difference?
fortuni on 1/4/2014 at 19:14
@ Brethren
Authors not upgrading to TG from T1 seems a very plausible answer to my question.
I am however not an author so this may sound like a silly question to you, but when you make an fm and you download Dromed, is this an editing suite that you use to edit the copy of the Thief game that you already have installed on your computer, rather that the whole 'lego' kit that I always assumed it was
Ps I only recently discovered how to play TG fms as my dark loader wouldn't recognise them, so have only played a small no of TG fms, so that comment about looking more basic is likely due to those fms, sorry for any misunderstanding
epithumia on 1/4/2014 at 21:58
Believe it or not, there was a time when Thief Gold was quite difficult to actually acquire. I imagine a number of people just stuck with T1 for their "oldest-school" Thief experience.
voodoo47 on 1/4/2014 at 22:28
yeah, I remember that quite well - most of the compilations and rereleases had TDP and ebay prices for TG were off the charts. anyway, there is not much difference between TDP and TG engine wise - and whatever small differences there might be, they are now irrelevant as you will be using NewDark for both games anyway.
Tannar on 2/4/2014 at 00:21
Quote Posted by fortuni
I am however not an author so this may sound like a silly question to you, but when you make an fm and you download Dromed, is this an editing suite that you use to edit the copy of the Thief game that you already have installed on your computer, rather that the whole 'lego' kit that I always assumed it was
You do not typically use DromEd to "edit" the Thief game, per se, though you certainly can use it that way and many people have. In fact, we have had several "reloaded" contests where authors took an original mission and changed it into something completely new. But usually, authors use DromEd to create new missions from scratch.
Also, under normal circumstances, there would be no need to download DromEd since it is already on the Thief CD when you buy the game. Thief: The Dark Project (otherwise known as TDP or Thief 1 or T1) came with DromEd 1 which was used to create Thief 1 missions. As far as I know, there was no new editor released with Thief Gold. But a new editor was released with Thief 2. That is commonly referred to as DromEd 2 and is used to create Thief 2 missions.
You cannot (technically) use DromEd 1 to create Thief 2 missions and you cannot use DromEd 2 to create Thief 1 missions. But you
can use DromEd 2 to create something that looks and acts just like a Thief 1 mission. And now with the New Dark versions of Thief and DromEd, you can probably do just about anything.
Constance on 2/4/2014 at 03:18
Quote Posted by Tannar
[…] Thief: The Dark Project (otherwise known as TDP or Thief 1 or T1) came with DromEd 1 which was used to create Thief 1 missions. As far as I know, there was no new editor released with Thief Gold. […]
I think it was the other way around: TDP had no DromEd, but the TG CDs had it.
