Goethe's Ghost on 12/11/2018 at 18:22
Hello everyone.
Which mission loader should I use to play Thief missions?
I've seen two of them ("Dark Loader" and "Thief Loader"), but is there a new, more modern loader that can handle the necessary conversion of sound files and so forth?
I suppose that I'm looking for something that can handle all sorts of Thief missions; from both "The Dark Project" and "The Metal Age".
Thank you.
R Soul on 12/11/2018 at 21:36
I'm a little biased but I recommend NewDarkLoader:
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146917)
A brief history:
The NewDark patch comes with a new FM installed called FMSel, which makes use of a new way to install FMs (into their own subfolders). This keeps the main folder tidy, allows multiple FMs to be installed at once (as a Dromed user I find that useful).
FMSel is perfectly functional but also quite minimalist. E.g. it shows the FM list but you can only view the readme via a right-click menu. And then it uses your default viewer (Word, Notepad etc).
I wrote NewDarkLoader to have the features of FMSel but with the appearance of Darkloader, e.g. it automatically shows the FM's readme (see the link for other features).
Some people have had trouble using the original DarkLoader (4.3 is the last version) or have had the odd glitch when installing/uninstalling. All three loaders will convert .mp3 files to .wav, but on my PC Darkloader took quite a bit longer for some modestly sized files. In addition the original .wav format, NewDark supports .ogg. FMSel has an option to convert .ogg to .wav, but I don't know what advantage that gives.
There's no reason for an FM author to supply sounds in any other format.
Another change from DarkLoader to FMSel or NewDarkLoader is that the new programs expect T1 and T2 missions to be in separate folders.
Zontik on 13/11/2018 at 08:10
I can't run NDL on Windows XP (32). That's one more change. FMsel doesn't bother which OS I use.
Goethe's Ghost on 13/11/2018 at 16:01
I'm receiving a "Divided by Zero" error when trying to either exit the program or run the original game. Is there something else I need to install?
[EDIT] I tried the other loader "Dark Loader v4.3" and it's having a very difficult time with more modern missions. I'll try going back to the prior one and see what I can do.
R Soul on 13/11/2018 at 20:20
Quote Posted by Goethe
I'm receiving a "Divided by Zero" error when trying to either exit the program or run the original game. Is there something else I need to install?
That sounds like a recently reported bug caused by the FM zip folder having no FMs in it. Make sure you have some FMs in there, and that you're choosing the correct folder (not Thief2\FMs). I have an update that's nearly ready (just needs testing) which should fix that bug, so let me know if you're willing to test it.
Goethe's Ghost on 14/11/2018 at 04:25
Quote Posted by R Soul
That sounds like a recently reported bug caused by the FM zip folder having no FMs in it. Make sure you have some FMs in there, and that you're choosing the correct folder (not Thief2\FMs). I have an update that's nearly ready (just needs testing) which should fix that bug, so let me know if you're willing to test it.
Yes, that would be good.
I would test it out for you and see how it works.
