Title		: Ultra Difficalty Patch
Filename		: UltimateDifficulty.zip
Author		:none
Contact info	: don't blame me, I didn't do it!
		Oh, alright, m.garland@verizon.net
		I wouldn't mind positive feedback, but negative feedback would just
		depress me.
Homepage:	none

Date of original
release		: September 15, 2001 to beat the 64 cubed deadline; Oct.15 updated
		some problems (see below).

Version		: 1.2

Mission Briefing	
====================================
New Ultimate Difficulty Mod for Thief1/Gold
====================================

If you are like me, the original missions (as great as they are) and many FMs are lacking in the suspense and immersion they once had.  You know all of the tricks of the game.  You know just how much you can push your luck with a guard and still avoid being noticed.  You find it too simple to run around a mission, black*jacking every guard in sight and casually chucking their body into some dim corner.  Sure, there are self*imposed styles of play that can add challenge back into the game, but to me at least, they detract from the immersion.  And they dont change the fundamentals of the gameplay all that much.  

In January I got a spiffy new computer with EAX capability et al, and I felt the desire to replay my two favorite games.  But I wanted more of a challenge.  I have ghosted before and while that was good fun, it wasnt exactly what I was looking for.  What I wanted was the same feeling I had when I originally played my first mission of Thief two years ago.  That nervous hesitation, that uncertainty about just how much you could get away with without being detected and that feeling of fear and panic after being spotted.  So I set out to create a custom gamesys for Thief that would change certain aspects of the gameplay in fundamental ways, in the direction of increased realism and difficulty.

After months of work, I have produced a new gamesys for Thief1/Gold with the following improvements and modifications in gameplay:


* A lone guard who is alerted and makes a confirmed sighting of Garret, searches for him, and gives up, will run to alert others instead of returning to his regular patrol.  After that however, he will resume his patrol.
* The AI vision cones have been completely redesigned to given them better distance vision, a more accurate loss of acuity over distance, and to eliminate Garrets ability to use leaning tricks to blackjack guards while alerted.
* I have heavily modified the dynamics of noise creation as a result of Garrets footsteps.  Running on wood and cobblestone now has the potential to alert guards within a few meters.  This means you will have to *walk* up behind them for a successful blackjack.  Also, creeping on marble, metal, or gravel is actually *quieter* and no longer alerts guards thus eliminating the need to tap the forward key and creep-crouch.
* Garret is now more visible to AIs as the visgem will indicate.  To offset this new disadvantage, I have increased the bonus Garret receives for crouching and sticking close to walls.
* Bodies are now MUCH harder to hide.  Forget about tossing your victim in a shadowy spot on a well patrolled hall.  Only two things may effectively hide a body now: a physical barrier, or an area of nearly absolute darkness.
* The AI have been made faster, especially zombies (who are now a real threat to an experienced player!)
* Residual alertness on guards who have been raised to level 3 now increases their perceptiveness by a considerable margin.
* Yelling made by guards during combat or searching travels further and is heard more easily by other guards. 
* Blackjacking someone makes a minor sound disturbance. 
* A collapsing body makes a minor sound disturbance. (both of these are not loud enough to alert anyone but simply attract their attention if already alerted and perhaps illicit a "Who's their?"..."Musta been rats.")

Usage instructions:
To play with the custom gamesys, your simplest option is to backup your old dark.gam and replace it with the new one.  Load up Thief and be prepared to find a whole new challenge awaiting your in the missions you have grown to love.  Any fanmission that doesnt use a custom will experience the changes as well.

==============================
Tips for playing with the new difficulty:
==============================

-Never try to run up behind a guard to blackjack them (unless they are dimwitted ones that work for Bafford) Your default mode of travel should probably be walking from now on.
-Be much more prudent when hiding bodies.
-Take more time to consider your course of action and plan from the shadows.
-Blackjacking is now a more risky tactic and should be used sparingly.
-Plan your escape tactics ahead of time as the AIs wont be quite so easy to evade anymore.
-Be prepared to resort to less-conventional tactics to overcome a situation.  Spots that were possible to sneak through on expert will be much hard if not impossible with this gamesys.
-If guards are nearby, you may be forced to creep while walking upstairs to remain unheard.  This is because the noise Garret makes is a measure of his total speed, not what movement mode you are using.


====================================
If your have any bugs to report, feel free to email me at hmartens1@rogers.com.  I am 'Northon' on TTLG. Distribute these files to your hearts content.  A fan-mission author who wants to use my gamesys as a base for their own is free to do so.



Beta Tester	: Me.

Special thanks	: KoMaG (Ben Ramsey - it was his inspirations that finally got me started
		Dromeding), and all those that helped me at the editors guild at
		www.ttlg.com, and those that wrote tutorials, custom menus, helpful files,
		etc, at Thief-TheCircle.com and everywhere else (I love you guys! *sniff*)

=====================================================================================
* Play Information *

Game		: Thief 2: The Metal Age
Level Name	: Ultra Difficalty Patch
File name	: miss20.mis
Difficulty Settings    : Yeah, all the same (Default). 
Equipment store	: No. (You went there yesterday.)
Map		: Blank - to prevent crashes. Building the FM was hard enough. Maybe one day.
		I'll acquire the skills and/or a program to do something like that.
Automap		: No
New graphics	: No
New sounds	: No
EAX Support	: No 
Multi language support  : Huh? No lo multi-hablar comprende

Briefing		: No

Known bugs	: Fixed Torches Goal and a couple of other minor annoyances. Objectives now
		check off in the correct order.
Update		: Not yet.
Other info	: Fairly easy to master the basics. Unfortunately, basic missions are
		dull, so I ran aground a few times on the proverbial "advanced" Dromed ship. I
		had fun making this, my first mission. I could have gone back and enhanced 
		quite a few things, messed around with the lighting and textures some more, 
		but I feel like it's time to move on (to the next Contest).

=====================================================================================

*  Construction  *

Base		: My head.
Map Size		: Very small; somewhere around 64x64x64 ;)
Build Time	: About 45 days. Give or take a few blackouts and some transient memory
		loss. ;) Thanks Skyy, I owe ya one! And you, too, Diet Pepsi.

=======================================================================================
unzipping information   : Don't Unzip; just play it through Darkloader, but make sure you put it in
		        your usual FM place.

Loading information     : {See above.}

* Copyright *

No copyright. You can mangle it, twist it, corrupt it, beat it, squeeze it, whatever makes you happy.
Just don't put my name on it if you do. :P
And the ubiquitous, "This level wasn't made by Looking Glass or Eidos and is not supported by the
