******CALENDRA'S LEGACY v 1.a****** OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE: APRIL 1ST 2002 YOU WILL NEED TO PLAY THIS MISSION AFTER A FRESH BOOT Minimum System Requirements are higher than for T2. Probably around an Athlon 850 w/ 256 MB RAM and 32 MB GEFORCE or better video card required. Otherwise you will get chop. Remember to reboot before you play. This mod is a resource gobbler and you could crash to desktop simply because you've run out of memory. Rebooting should eliminate this "bug". ********************************************************* Wow, this project actually made it to your hard drive! Why wow? Well, because frankly it almost didn’t. Although I am responsible for 80 to 90% of everything you see in this mission pack I did have help...quite a bit of help. Most folks don’t know and can’t imagine the amount of effort/passion that goes into creating a game mod, let alone a multi mission pack. Those of you who fall into this category are the lucky ones. The rest of you (especially my fellow DromEdites) will understand why, before launching into this thing, I want to thank some folks: Firstly I’d like to thank YOU: (the player). When my team released Calendra’s Cistern two years ago I started getting e-mail that bolstered my resolve to do the next chapter in the story. Without those e-mails, Calendra’s Legacy would not have become a reality. So, pat yourself on the back. Your kindness and enthusiasm has given rise to a 3-mission pack. Such is the fruit of your kind support. Secondly I want to thank Thumper for coming back. His dedication and eye for perfection coupled with his strong desire to take a good idea and make it better helped forge Calendra’s Legacy into something special. Even in the shadow of the tyrannical deadline I imposed on our release date, Thump remained good-natured and infinitely valuable to the project. Next I want to thank Loanstar who really gave the project more time than he could spare. Even though he left the Thief community while we were still doing recordings, Loanstar’s musical and vocal talents are a major part of Calendra’s Legacy. I wish him all the best in RL. When I was about to scrap the project, LS picked me up slapped me around and got me refocused. If not for that, there might be no Legacy at all. Datoyminaytah answered a plea for help shortly after I got refocused. His tutelage enabled me to learn the mysteries of schemas and many other DromEd secrets. He also got the prelude mission running with all the objectives and thunder schemas. (No small task I assure you). Saturnine, despite RL, built the majority of the (SPOILER ALERT): Keeper Complex in the epilogue mission. Although I admittedly modified many of his rougher designs, his vision for the Keeper Lair remains the central charm of "A Winter’s Eve." Although RL has called him away from Thief-ish endeavors, I’ll always remember our conversations on the ICQ P2P phone and thinking, "what a charming guy he is." Thanks Dave, I owe you big time. Lazarus, back from the dead, returned to make our movies. No one could have or would have done them better. I shudder to think of the hours Laz put in on Premier and After FX...especially when he had to redo the main briefing from scratch. Thank you for your dedication. Phantom, Schwaa, and Darkangel were enormously helpful in creating custom .bin files for the mission. Thanks to you folks for helping make Calendra’s Legacy a real custom experience. ******************************************* If you are still reading you are a REAL fan. If you are still reading maybe something’s wrong with Darkloader =) In either case thanks for staying with me. As a jumping off point I’d like to say that Calendra’s Legacy might not fit splendidly into your understanding of the Thief Milieu created by Looking Glass Studios. Furthermore, Garrett probably isn’t exactly the same fellow you played in Thief the Dark Project or the Metal Age. Why? Well in short, I suppose it’s because I’m a writer. I don’t want to write someone else’s story. I want to write my story. So Calendra is NEW. And more importantly, Calendra is mostly about STORY. Calendra’s Legacy takes a different road than the Original Missions produced by LGS. Although I think it recreates the lush but gritty darkness of the City as I first saw it in TtDP, it redefines Garrett’s place in that City. Calendra is about Garrett being the King of Thieves. It is about his destiny and the mystery of his lifelong relationship with the Keepers. This is a story that embraces the plot of the original Thief game at the same time it divorces itself from it entirely. Divorce is a fine metaphor because the Calendra series also takes a different look at Garrett’s love life. I was not a fan of T2’s Viktoria romance. I found myself squirming during that briefing when Garrett told her not to wait up because he’d be working late. "I love her! She tore out my eye and has green teeth! Yummy!" So I created a new pseudo-romance for our hero because as much as Garrett doesn’t believe in true love, well you probably know where I’m headed with this and I’ll refrain from being crass. I guess the Garrett in my head was inspired by Mel Gibson in "Payback" but that’s pretty irrelevant information. The bottom line is I hope you like a good story. I hope you’ll like the depth and detail of Calendra’s Legacy. I worked hard to make the most elaborate settings I could with loot and power ups hidden in diverse locations to reward players who like to explore every inch of a mission. For those of you who like to immerse yourselves in the plot and read and ponder every readable scrap in the mission...hehe...there is PLENTY to read and ponder. Over 100 texts in all three missions. On the other hand, if you hate that kind of crap you’ll find you can complete the mainstream plot of all three missions quite quickly without having to understand much more than the bare bones storyline. You could spend upwards of 3 hours playing the first mission, "A Meeting with Basso" but you can actually complete it in under 3 minutes if you like. For those crazy folks at the Edios Thief Forum, Don’t expect to easily ghost or perfect thief this mission pack. Collecting every coin in Calendra’s Legacy would be a feat of utterly astounding magnitude and one that is completely unlinked to any objectives. For you diehards, it is possible to collect every coin...but you will have to scour the missions from top to bottom which (considering the size) might be less fun than you think. =) Can you ghost Calendra’s Legacy? Frankly I don’t know. If not, you can come pretty close to it. There are a few places I know you need to use consumables...I guess I don’t think it’s bad to make you play with your toys to solve a problem or to get by an AI. In most respects, however, ghosters should find an enjoyable challenge. "Ok," you say, "Thanks Purah for telling us all this crap we can find out on our own. But what about the STORY? If Calendra’s Legacy is "mostly about STORY" then what is the story?" ******************************************* CALENDRA'S CISTERN??? "What’s that?" ******************************************* If you’ve never played Calendra’s Cistern, this section is for you! The Cistern is where this story began. Where it leads is the Legacy. Calendra’s Cistern was a mission for Thief the Dark Project that really stretched the limits of the editor and our abilities as designers. To be candid, it sometimes fell short as dramatically as where it succeeded. The story of the Cistern begins with Garrett receiving a note from a "former" Keeper Acolyte who occasionally shared Garrett’s bed. Garrett winds up doing most of the dirty work for her by agreeing to meet her in the cellar of the Weeping Angel Tavern and thereafter stealing a sinister relic. In the course of the mission he discovers a clandestine cult called the Larloch Society whose autumnal rites and outrageous party are being held in the refurbished cisterns below the city streets. Risking life and limb, Garrett steals the Cylix of Jortul, a powerful and evil relic smuggled into the City and into the Larloch Society’s well-guarded shrine. Although there was debate in the Thief community over Garrett’s motives for this somewhat outlandish task, I always felt it was an amalgam of complex issues including: lust, personal challenge, curiosity and a keen understanding of that valuable underworld currency: the traffic of "favors." (carrying Basso out of Crags Cleft [which made our hero slow and vulnerable and exposed him to greater risks than he would have otherwise faced] would be another prime example) Thus it was a bundle rather than a single straw that broke the camel’s back or in this case stirred a thief to action. So our hero steals the Cylix from a sinister cult and delivers it to Mercedes’ flat near the District of Lampfire Hills. In exchange he gets a little erm, are we still refraining from being crass? Suffice to say there is some, well...we might say the favors Mercedes is doing him...I mean, doing for him or... Perhaps it is better to bypass that torrid bedroom altogether. Ahem. Thus ends Calendra’s Cistern. ********************************** ON WITH CALENDRA'S LEGACY!!! ********************************** Calendra’s Legacy begins immediately after the Cistern ends...the very same night as a matter of fact. Garrett is restless. He stirs in his sleep. The Cylix of Jortul gleams in the gush of predawn streetlamps. From the open window he can smell the sea and knows Murkbell is only a bowshot away. (Aint it great being bad?) So Garrett slips out of bed, takes the Cylix with him and hits the wet dark streets in search of a fence. He finds a pawnshop before sunrise whose owner knows of a buyer, a certain Duchess Suedomsa. Is it his imagination that the shopkeeper’s eyes betray an infernal gleam as he studies the ill-gotten relic? Garrett senses something might go wrong so he decides to call on an old friend and make preparations for the sale scheduled later that night. ******************** Your plan is simple: ******************** 1) Meet Basso, and arrange for him to drop some extra equipment off at your rented 2) room later tonight. You may need it if the sale goes bad. The sale is going to happen in Murkbell at a pub called the Black Die. The buyer is a certain Duchess Suedomsa. Carrying an arsenal to meet a rich client not only shows a lack of self confidence but is the absolute pinnacle of bad taste: it’s the mark of an amateur, which you are not. Hence you’ll be going to the meeting carrying only a few discrete items that might help you escape if things get ugly. 3) You don’t want to draw attention to yourself so you’re going to be the model of subtlety as you creep into the Murkbell District and rent a room at the Old Widow Inn. Even you decide to pick up some items along the way, it’s important that no one notices you before the sale tonight. 4) Once you’ve rented your room you’re going to hit the hay. You were up all night and you need some rest before the deal scheduled for midnight. 5) Aside from that, try to give Mercedes the slip. You feel fairly certain she isn’t going to be happy over your recent choices...but hey, what did she expect? You’re a pro at this game. -Purah ================================ CALENDRA’S LEGACY STORY BY PURAH ================================ Mission One: A Meeting With Basso -------------------------------- Architecture: Purah Scripting: Purah Objectives: Datoyminaytah Conversations: Datoyminaytah & Purah Recordings/Sound FX/Voices: Loanstar, Saturnine & Purah Build Time: 4 months ================================ Mission Two: Midnight in Murkbell -------------------------------- Architecture: Purah Scripting: Purah & Thumper Objectives: Purah Conversations: Purah Recordings/Sound FX/Voices: Loanstar, Thumper, Purah, KoMaG Build Time: 9 months ================================ Mission Three: A Winter’s Eve -------------------------------- Architecture: Purah & Saturnine Scripting: Purah Objectives: Purah Conversations: Purah Recordings/Sound FX/Voices: Purah, KoMaG Build Time: 4 months ***KNOWN BUGS************* THIS MOD. USES RESOURCES LIKE MAD. PLAY ON A FRESH BOOT. IF YOU CRASH IT IS PROBABLY MEMORY RELATED. (SEE MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AT TOP OF PAGE) THERE SOME KNOWN INSTANCES OF AI'S GETTING STUCK IN ODD POSITIONS...EESPECIALLY ZOMBIES. THIS IS ENGINE RELATED AND NOT VERY FIXABLE (HAS TO DO W/ HOW THE ENGINE HANDLES [SPECIFICALLY] ZOMBIES BEING SLAIN BEYOND THE PLAYERS LINE OF SIGHT AND EFFICIENCY SETTINGS OF AI'S AFAIK). YOU CAN ALSO GET STUCK ON SOME ARCHITECTURE: MOSTLY WHERE SLOPING CITY STREETS MEET WALLS. YOU COULD CALL THIS A DESIGN FLAW BUT IT'S TOO BAD THE ENGINE HAS SUCH LIMITATIONS. I HAVE ALSO HEARD THAT ON SOME RARE OCCASIONS THE TIMER IN MISSION 2 FAILS. HAVING CHECKED AND RECHECKED THE MECHANISM, ALL I CAN SAY IS, IT SHOULD WORK JUST FINE. YOU MAY HIT A SOUND PROPOGATION BUG BUT I THINK I'VE FIXED THEM ALL. WITH MY DEADLINE [WIFE IMPOSED] AND THE COMPLEXITY OF THE ARCHITECTURE, IT GETS HARD TO TRACE EVERY POSSIBLE SOUND PROPOGATION ERROR DOWN. ALL OTHER KNOWN BUGS ARE DEAD. ************************** Special Thanks to: · Tim Wilson aka Undule for many cool textures · Trimfect for his toilet in "A Meeting with Basso" created for CoSaS and used w/ permission · Gingerbread Man for his help, support, and belief in our talents · Jayle? 3D objects · Lazarus for all the .Avi Briefing Work. His talents inspired me to keep going. · CRC for many AI Skins including the Cardinal, the Duchess, the undead, etc. Although he did not like the final version of Mercedes he was a decent sport about letting me have my way J · Wynne the voice of the Duchess Suedomsa · Angela Billo the voice of Mercedes and Twila Huso also the voice of Mercedes · Daniel (Digital Nightfall) Todd for a supportive ear on those long lonely nights when I wondered if Calendra’s Legacy would ever see the light of day. · The members of the TTLG and Eidos Thief Forums for their many supportive e-mails (without which CL never would have gotten off the ground) · Keeper of Metal and Gold for Alpha-Alpha & Beta Testing in my own house! · Gargy Gygax for writing the Tomb of Horrors (an antique AD&D module that inspired and provided some artwork for Arkhyn’s Tomb in Mission #1) · The now Defunct Looking Glass Studios and their progeny for creating such a ground- breaking game. · Olivia De Berardinis for her lovely pinup art · Joshua Heinrich for his custom music · Schwaa, Phantom, Dark Angel for custom 3D .bins · My wife Nichole for putting up w/ over a year of DromEd · Gaylesaver for introducing me to custom .osm scripts. Without his efforts certain things would have been impossible. · Crypto for additional Garrett voice overs since the advent of Loanstar’s hiatus. · If I’ve forgotten anyone I want to thank them too. So many things came together from so many places to create CL it is hard to remember all the origins, especially when some of them appeared over a year ago. · Angel Boris whose lovely images provide the movie models for Mercedes. I found Angel's face on the web as I searched for a suitabel model and since I took all images from free sites I assume they are public domain. Although I modified her pictures using PSP and Adobe to the extent that they are technically new images, I feel impelled to list her in the credits. · Bart Klepka for his wonderful Daggerfall music mix which we used for one of the movies. · BETA TESTERS: · Jonathan K (jono456) · Peter Smith · J. Kenz (Schwaa) · Nightwalker · Silent_Warrior · Marc Hamlin · Oskar "Hrothgar" Schwermer · Hawklette7 · KoMaG · Brian Welch · Crypto · Chris Sisk ************************************************ Legal Junk: This Mission is probably the first R-rated FM which is not necessarily a great thing but the mission is certainly gritty. It is rated Mature for: Violence, Profanity, and partial Nudity. You should probably be 17 to play it. (unless you are an exceptionally vile 9 year old schooled in the arts of profanity from a tender age by your raunchy uncle Ned who persists in scratching himself at your mother’s kitchen table) This mission was made during the aftermath of Looking Glass Studios demise and therefore is not their fault. You get no help or support from Eidos or LGS if you opt to play this mission. If the mission explodes with the force of 6 megaton bomb and you lose your good looks, well, you were warned. Use DarkLoader to play this mission or suffer the consequences of over 1600 files invading your T2 folder...actually...suffer those consequences anyway. If you want to redistribute this mission in part or in whole please ask. You KNOW I’m going to say YES anyway. :)