Thief - The Trail of the Arch-Heretic - Doomworld /idgames database frontend

Title:	Thief - The Trail of the Arch-Heretic
Filename:	levels/heretic/Ports/njhthief.zip
Size:	5.18 MB
Date:	05/03/06
Author:	Nigel Rowand (Enjay)
Description:	A moody, ambient WAD intended to put some of the feeling of "Thief: the Dark Project" into Heretic. It's a reworking of my own njthief WAD for Doom2.
Credits:	Looking Glass Studios (RIP) for the excellent Thief games, Solarsnowfall for his fire sprites and effects and Sir_Alien for also allowing me to use them (as he had "dibs" on them for his project), the authors of the monster resource WAD (esp Espi) for the Hellguard. Westwood/SSI for the "Eye of the Beholder" series which has inspired me since my early days of gaming, id, Raven, Volocity/Rogue for Doom, Heretic, Hexen and Strife, Randy Heit and Graf Zahl for Zdoom and GZdoom respectively Csabo for XWE and Jack Vermeulen for DeePsea which was used to map it and put it all together. I don't think I forgot anyone, but if I did, let me know.
Base:	Modified from njthief1.wad for Doom2 (http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=11107)
Build time:	Not sure. Longer than I wanted because RL got in the way.
Editor(s) used:	DeePsea, XWE, PSP, GoldWave.
Bugs:	Nothing I know of.
Rating:	(32 votes) Log in at the Doomworld forums to comment.

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View njhthief.txt

===========================================================================
Archive Maintainer      : Heretic level for GZDoom
Update to               : This is a reworking of njthief1, but should not replace it
Advanced engine needed  : GZDoom
Primary purpose         : Single play
===========================================================================
Title                   : Thief - The Trail of the Arch-Heretic
Filename                : njhthief.wad
Release date            : 3 May 2006 
Author                  : Nigel Rowand (Enjay)
Email Address           : enjay001@hotmail.com
Other Files By Author   : Quite a few.
Misc. Author Info       : Batteries not included.

Description             : A moody, ambient WAD intended to put some of the 
			  feeling of "Thief: the Dark Project" into Heretic.
			  It's a reworking of my own njthief WAD for Doom2.

Additional Credits to   : Looking Glass Studios (RIP) for the excellent Thief
			  games, Solarsnowfall for his fire sprites and effects
			  and Sir_Alien for also allowing me to use them (as he 
			  had "dibs" on them for his project), the authors of the
			  monster resource WAD (esp Espi) for the Hellguard.  
			  Westwood/SSI for the "Eye of the Beholder" series 
			  which has inspired me since my early days of gaming, 
			  id, Raven, Volocity/Rogue for Doom, Heretic, Hexen and
			  Strife, Randy Heit and Graf Zahl for Zdoom and GZdoom
			  respectively Csabo for XWE and Jack Vermeulen for 
			  DeePsea which was used to map it and put it all 
			  together.
			  
			  I don't think I forgot anyone, but if I did, let me know.
===========================================================================
* What is included *

New levels              : One - E1M1
Sounds                  : Yes - many
Music                   : No - well a short loop for the intro and outro.  
			  Everything else uses ambient sounds instead of music.
Graphics                : Yes - many.  Most use their own palette rather 
		          than the Heretic one thanks to GZdoom
Dehacked/BEX Patch      : No
Demos                   : No
Other                   : Yes DECORATE for items and enemies
Other files required    : none

* Play Information *

Game                    : Heretic
Map #                   : E1M1
Single Player           : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Player starts present.  May work but some non-critical 
			  scripts will probably break.
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : No
Other game styles       : Thieving - see below. :)
Difficulty Settings     : Yes

* Construction *

Base                    : Modified from njthief1.wad for Doom2
			  (http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=11107)
Build Time              : Not sure.  Longer than I wanted because RL got in the way.  
Editor(s) used          : DeePsea, XWE, PSP, GoldWave. 
Known Bugs              : Nothing I know of. 
May Not Run With        : Anything other than GZdoom and a pretty fast computer
			  (see below for speed tips)
Tested With             : GZdoom on a 2.8GHz machine with a GeForce 6200

* General information *

* Why do this?  I wanted to revamp my old level to use some GZDoom features.
It started as a personal amusement thing, but I decided to release it.  
I used Heretic because it seemed a bit more in tune with the feel of Thief 
than Doom did and it's been a long time since I did any mapping for Heretic.

However, I did notice a real lack of a mid-toughness enemy of the kind Doom2
has plenty of (Mancubus, Hell knight, Baron etc) so I included the Hell Guard
from the monster resource WAD (and tweaked him to suit my needs).  I think 
he possibly has some Heretic in his sprites anyway.  He wasn't used that often
but he plugged a gap I felt was there.

* Jumping and crouching?  Sure, why not?  I don't think either are needed to
complete the level, but both are needed, I think, (crouching just once) to 
collect all the items.  There are no big jumpy or crouchy bits though.

* Thieving:
There is no way to adequately use the AI in Doom engine games to emulate the
sneaking and hiding aspect of the Thief games.  However, at least I put in
a bit of loot for you to steal. :)  The loot items serve no other purpose other
than to be collected and give you a thieving ranking on completing the level.
Loot can mainly be found as pick-up items, but some chests will also give you
gold.  There is a total of 12000 gold to be collected on the map and it is 
distributed slightly differently on the various difficulty settings.  All the
loot (except the chests) glows in the dark for no other reason than I like 
the effect and it reminded me of the "frob glow" from Thief - even if it is 
unrealistic and makes finding the loot very easy at times.

The loot items are as follows:

Coin worth 50 gold
Goblet worth 100 gold
Green purse containing 150 gold
Necklace worth 200 gold
Red purse containing 250 gold
Ring worth 300 gold
Red Gem worth 500 gold
Blue Gem worth 600 gold
Chests - various amounts of gold.

The Thief rankings are as follows:

< 6000 gold = Petty Thief
6000-7859 gold = Burglar
7860-9719 gold = Cat Burglar
9720-11579 gold = Master Thief
11580-12000 gold = Garrett

By default the loot you have collected will be shown in the top left of the
screen.  If you don't like this, type "puke 300" at the console to make it go 
away.  Your loot will still be counted and a total will be displayed briefly
whenever you get some loot. The message will also be logged to the console.
If you want to switch back to a permanent loot display, type "puke 300" again.

* Computer speed:
This WAD uses dynamic light objects and a few other OpenGL effects that can 
dramatically slow down older machines.  If you have any problems playing, you
might want to try the following:

Reduce screen resolution.  I usually play at 1024x768 and noticed a slight 
slow-down in some areas.  On a slower computer, this slow-down may be problematic
Reducing to 640x480 meant I didn't notice the slowdown at all.

Use alpha dynamic lights instead of multiplicative ones.  These don't look as 
pretty but are much less processor hungry.  To enable these, type the following at
the console:

gl_lights_additive 1

Switch off dynamic lights completely.  This will destroy the ambience and make 
one of the power-up items useless, but hey, it might just work.

There are a few rooms where the floor is nice and shiny.  However, these shiny 
floors can be a bit of a frame rate killer.  If you want to toggle them on and 
off type "puke 666" at the console.

* Other things:
There are a few new pickups in the game.  You can get 1% health and armour bonuses
like the Doom bottles and helmets.  There is also a flare orb.  Throw it and it 
will release a glowing light for about 30 seconds.  However, it is bouncy so
precise throwing is hard - especially on water where it bounces around like a mad 
thing.

All the monsters needed to be re-defined slightly for this WAD, so whilst I 
was at it, I changed how often they drop stuff.  They will tend to drop ammo a
little more often, but give slightly lower values when they do.  Also all the ammo
items were set to be properly bright.  For some reason, despite the fact that most
of the ammo in Heretic is in the form of glowing crystals and orbs, very little of 
it seemed too use bright sprites.  That has changed.

* Back story:
You play Garrett, the protagonist from the Thief games.  But why has he forsaken
his usual sneaky mode and gone in "all wands blazing"?  Let's hear from the man
himself (for those that know Thief, imagine this being read in the usual sarcastic
tones of Garrett, over sepia coloured sketch-like screen shots):

The keepers contacted me in their usual "subtle" manner.
Apparently some dark magic has been employed to take over 
the old Bafford place.  Quite why they thought I'd  
care I have no idea but I guess they were right because 
I started asking around...

It seems the streets around Bafford's place were closed 
off a few days ago.  Some people managed to get out, 
the rest have bolted themselves into their houses.  
Those who were caught out on the streets... Well, it 
seems fair to say they won't be coming home any time 
soon.  The tales going round the Crippled Burrick Inn 
spoke of golems, skeletal knights and all manner of 
creatures stalking the streets at the behest of their
master.  Apparently this master likes to go by the title of 
"Arch-Heretic".  Sounds like a lot of hot air to me.

I really should leave this sort of thing to the city 
guard, or the hammers, or the keepers, or anyone really.  
Taking on an army of who-knows-what simply isn't my style
and anything that keeps the city guard busy makes my life 
easier.  However, the tales also spoke of unusual gold coins 
and jewels turning up on the market.  My nose tells me 
they've come from the old Bafford house.

Before he vacated the premises, Bafford had an electric 
barrier installed on the front door.  Getting in that way 
will be impossible unless the barrier is deactivated.  
However, Basso the Boxman tells me that a friend of his 
was called to the Bafford manner a few weeks ago to submit 
an estimate for a repair.  Apparently, Bafford's kitchen 
wall still has a hole through to the sewers in it.  I used 
the very same hole on my last "visit". I hope the new 
landlord hasn't had the opportunity to fix it yet.

Taking on an army of monsters may not be my style, 
but the chance of picking up some loot is, so I guess I'll 
have to get used to making a little noise...

Objectives:
Get into Bafford Manor.
Kill the Arch-Heretic.
Grab as much loot as possible.

* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for
modification or reuse.  Permissions have been obtained from original 
authors for any of their resources modified or included in this file.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with
no modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic
format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file 
intact.  I have received permission from the original authors of any
modified or included content in this file to allow further distribution.

* Where to get the file that this text file describes *

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