Thief Fan Missions FAQ Thread - Thief Gold HD Texture Mod for Thief: The Dark Project

This forum is the place to discuss Thief Fan Missions. This thread is intended to provide answers to the most frequently asked questions of this forum.

What is a Thief Fan Mission?

Thief Fan Missions (FMs) are additional levels that you can play using the original game. These missions are not in any way supported by Looking Glass Studios or Eidos Montreal. They are created by Thief players, just like you, for the enjoyment of other Thief fans. You must have the original game to play the FMs. There are FMs available for all the different Thief releases: Thief The Dark Project (T1), Thief Gold (TG), Thief II The Metal Age (T2) and Thief Deadly Shadows (T3). Official missions that are part of the original games are called OMs.

How do I get the game ready to play FMs?

Step 1:
It may be helpful to start with a fresh install of the game when beginning your launch into the world of FMs. Though many will find that this is not needed, some may encounter problems that can be solved with a simple re-install.

Step 2:
Install the newest TFix version!

TFix: unofficial patch for Thief1/Gold
TFix is an all-in-one fix pack for Thief and Thief Gold (apply & play, no other fixes are necessary). it uses NewDark, the brand new update of the Dark Engine - this improves compatibility with new pcs significantly, fixes graphic issues, adds support for widescreen resolutions and much more (see the notes, including the final one).

Step 3:
Install the newest Thief Gold HD Mod version! Not all "FMs" use only the default "OM" textures! There are also FMs with custom textures. Because of this we will make a list including all "FMs" which use the default textures only! Otherwise, there are low-res textures mixed with HD textures...

Note! If you have Thief Gold you can play the TDP FMs as well as the TG FMs. T1 and TG FMs cannot be played with T2, and vice versa.

That's it!

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Now I want to play some FMs! How?

DarkLoader

DarkLoader has been used for years in the Thief FM community, and is a excellent program. This program has been recently updated to version 4.3.1b by Tom N. Harris (telliamed on TTLG). It was originally created by Bjorn Henke (old site is here). The DarkLoader ZIP file contains a readme file with instructions for installation and use. If you are having trouble with it, slow down and read the directions. However, DarkLoader can NOT be used to play T3 FMs.

How To Install & Play FMs With DarkLoader - Video by sNeaksieGarrett

Note T1/G missions, updated to NewDark, will appear in Darkloader as T2 missions. See this post for a solution which may fix the problem.

GarrettLoader

GarrettLoader is a newer program created by Richard Potter. This program handles FMs for all of the Thief games.

The self-extracting installation file included with GarrettLoader will walk you through the installation process. You can download GarrettLoader 1.41 here or the beta version 1.42 of GarrettLoader at The Circle. This is just a patch that you use after installing 1.41.

After you've got DarkLoader or GarrettLoader installed on your system and configured, you're ready to play FMs. One very important note: GarrettLoader and DarkLoader should not be used in unison.

This post is from the author of GarrettLoader:

Someone wrote:

Do NOT mix GarrettLoader with DarkLoader installs (for Thief 1/Gold/2 FMs). That is to say if you install an FM via either DarkLoader or GarrettLoader do not then try and install one via the other program...this will muck things up massively. If you do wish to switch between programs, make sure you restore to the original missions first.

FM Selector

FMSel is the inbuilt fan mission player that comes with the NewDark Patch.

In the directory where you installed Thief, find a file called "cam_mod.ini." Open it up. Right below the line where it says "always start the FM selector", remove the semicolon in front of ;fm, then save the file. The FM selector will now start up whenever you start Thief.

To set the fan mission path, start up Thief, which should start the FM Selector automatically. At the bottom of the window is an icon of a gear. Click it, go down to and click on "FM Archive Path" and browse to where you keep your fan missions. For more information see here.

Got it! Now. where can I get the FMs?

FMs can be downloaded from:
TTLG's own Thief: The Circle website
Cheap Thief Missions
Southquarter
Darklurker.com
Darklurker.org
The Keep of Metal and Gold
Shadowdark Keep.

The easiest way to use FMs after downloading is to create a separate directory on your PC and save them there. In the setup portion of both DarkLoader and GarrettLoader, you can specify the exact location where you are storing your FMs.

Some of the sites listed above have rankings/ratings for many of the FMs. The Circle not only has a review system but polls so that everyone can give their opinions on the missions.

Ratings/reviews are also available at the following sites. Keep in mind; most of them are only one person’s opinion. It’s best to try each FM out and decide for yourself:

South Quarter
Morrgan's Site
russelmz Review Thread
General Fan Mission Review and Discussion Megathread
Dark Mod Review Site
The Abandoned Workshops

There are walkthroughs, loot lists and hints available for some FMs. These can be accessed via links in the individual FM entries at The Circle and Cheap Thief Missions.

The FMs are ZIP files; should I unzip the files myself?

No, don't unzip the files! DarkLoader will unzip the files for you and do any required cleanup when you select a different mission. You can unzip them only if you want to snoop around in the files rather than actually play the mission.

The Darkloader screen says this mission requires "scripts" to run. Where do I get them from and what do I do with them?

Some missions require special scripts to run. These are very easy to install. Check Cheap Thief Missions Scripts page for instructions and download links. Please note that the latest version of the NV Scripts is found here. The one at Cheap Thief missions is now outdated. The latest version of DarkLoader (4.3.1b) includes these scripts in the installation file.

Do I need DromEd/T3Ed and what is it?

You don't need DromEd or the T3 Editor to play the FMs. DromEd is the mission editing program used to create the missions.

I want to make a FM of my own. Is this the place to ask questions?

No. There's a different forum for that. For T1 and T2 missions, go to The Editors Guild and for T3, head over to The Thief III Editors' Guild.

Edited by: Bentraxx