Sneaky Upgrade 1.1.11 released news

A good four years after the last release, version 1.1.11 is out. Throwing the better-late-than-never card, here's what's new:

The code patch and installer:

• New tweak to auto-equip the blackjack instead of the dagger when you click attack with no weapon selected. (On by default in the Minimalist Project)
• New 'no idle breathing' tweak
• A new tweaker page for difficulty settings - more fine-grained control
• For new installations of the SU, two quicksaves will now be used. Also, clear-text savegame names by default
• The Options screen multisampling slider now shows "OK" for the settings that are actually valid, and the full range of 16 values is available
• The 'Lower resolution while using mouselook' option is now off by default for all installs, to allow depth buffer calculations with ReShade >= 4.8.0
• 'Direct load' is now off by default. (Could cause crashes during quickload)
• Logging is now off by default, because apparently some people get "logging" and "telemetry" confused...
• Press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+End in any order to end the current mission. (Previously, End had to be pressed last)
• Fix for the option to disable gamepad phantom input. (Config key mismatch)
• Fix for the jerky camera when exiting unpaused reading mode
• Fix for the installer almost always replacing a local d3d8.dll. Should now leave a manually installed DLL alone
• Fix for SneakyTweaker going into an endless loop when the Installed Mods folder was empty
• Updated the bundled d3d8to9 DLL to v1.12.0
• It is now possible to set up a self-contained and portable install. (No installer support yet but static files like the uninstaller are now placed in a SneakyUpgrade subfolder in the game install)

Here's a video showing the full range of multisampling settings, with those that should actually work marked "OK". Also shows the fixed unpaused reading mode, which will no longer whip the camera around when you exit it:

Lots of work this time has gone into improvements and fixes for the Thief 3 Gold mod, by Beleg Cúthalion and myself with contributions from Glypher. The main improvements:

• All merged mission maps are divided into sections using assets for the two original half-maps
• The Inn mission has had several fixes and improvements, such as more AI on difficulties above NORMAL, the new exit from the Inn is now hidden on EASY difficulty and on difficulties above EASY, a final "go back to where you started" objective is now added
• New option to disable tutorial pop-ups for consumables and an option to make the Enforcers neutral has been split off from the existing option to make them invisible

In all merged mission maps, the map name as used on the pause screen, save games and loading screens now use the original strings and textures for the two original half-maps, as shown in the video below. Notice how the map title in the pause screen (below "Paused") has changed after running down the corridor:

Dividing the merged maps into sections was made possible by code patching done for the (very WIP) City merging project. It also solves a problem with map titles either being meaningful (i.e "The Cradle") for the merged map but then the changed titles would override third-party translations, or rather confusingly using the original titles (i.e. "Outer Cradle") everywhere in the merged map as it was in T3 Gold 1.3.

Here's another video showing some of the new stuff in the Inn mission, like the map playing and looking like the original on EASY difficulty (and in case you were wondering: yes, all the tutorial elements are still there - on EASY), then restarting on HARD to give a peek of the new AI. (On NORMAL, the map plays like the original but with tutorial elements removed.)

The most important fixes in this version of T3 Gold (view the entire list here) are:

• The knock-out stats for the Inn mission were fixed
• Several missing patient journals were added to the Cradle
• A broken portal in the Museum was fixed
• The unused City section briefing for Old Quarter was restored. Also, a conversation near the Auldale gate, which was missing many lines, was fixed
• The Compendium of Reproach now actually looks like a golden slab
• An important missing readable was restored in the Abysmal Gale
• An important missing conversation was restored in the Docks tavern

The latter two issues were confirmed by Terri Brosius herself - it took a while but now they're fixed...



Here's a video showing a glimpse of the Old Quarter briefing, and also the fixed conversation in full. (During the conversation it's easy to notice that the new tweak disabling Garrett's idle breathing animation is active here.)

Thanks to Glypher for skin fixes including the Compendium fix, and for testing and suggestions. Thanks to lowenz and Athalle for translation work.

Apart from T3 Gold there are only minor changes to the mods: The Collective Texture Pack has an additional option to disable the tutorial elements (footprints etc) and the Fonts mod has fixed a bug with the options for individual font textures.

Get it from the files section. Note that saves from Thief 3 Gold 1.3 are incompatible with this version but the Update Edition can be applied on top of the previous 1.1.10 Full Edition - at the expense of the new T3 Gold options having no effect.