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Thief: The Dark Project

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 23:48, 25 August 2016 by Tafferwocky (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 264860 by GabenIsMahLord (talk) Why?)
Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project cover
Developers
Looking Glass Studios
Publishers
Eidos Interactive
Square Enix
Engines
Dark Engine
Release dates
Windows November 30, 1998
Thief: The Dark Project guide on StrategyWiki
Thief: The Dark Project on Wikipedia
Thief
Thief: The Dark Project 1998
Thief II: The Metal Age 2000
Thief: Deadly Shadows 2004
The Dark Mod (unofficial spin-off) 2009
Thief 2014

This page is for the original game. For the 2014 reboot, see Thief (2014).

Key points

TFix helps run the game on modern systems.

General information

A Wiki for the classic Thief games
TTLG Forums - Thief Series
TTLG Forums - modding & mission design
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Users' Forums for game series.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
TFix removes the CD check.
Windows
Amazon.com
DRM-free
Almost exclusively available as part of the Complete Collection, which also includes Thief II: The Metal Age and Thief: Deadly Shadows.
Windows
Amazon.com
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Thief Gold.
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Thief Gold.
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Thief Gold.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Thief Gold.
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Thief Gold.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Thief Gold.
Windows
An updated version of the original demos is available.

Version differences

Thief: Gold includes extra missions and some other enhancements. The original content can be played using GoldToDark.

Essential improvements

TFix

TFix updates the game with NewDark for modern systems. Also contains mission fixes and optional texture mods. The GOG release has an out-of-date, stripped-down version of this patch.

Fan Missions

A large number of Fan Missions, many of very high quality, have been produced for the Thief games. A categorised list is available here.
Some of the older FMs for Thief Gold and the Dark Project suffer compatibility issues when played with TFix/NewDark. An ongoing effort to preserve, test and fix these missions has resulted in a series of patches.
Instructions

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Texture mods

Enhancement Pack 2.0

The Enhancement Pack 2.0 is an updated version of the original Enhancement Pack (which is included in TFix and is much less comprehensive). This contains higher quality reproductions of original textures and objects. Also works with Thief II: The Metal Age.

The Necro Project

The Necro Project pack is very similar to the Enhancement Pack 2, but focuses on giving the game a slightly darker, noir look. Somewhere between the EP2 and HD Mod in lore-accuracy. Also works with Thief II: The Metal Age.

Thief Gold HD Texture Mod

The Thief Gold HD Texture Mod adds new textures, effects and enemy skins to all original missions. Significantly alters the game's graphical style (far more than the two packs above). The mod is compatible with Thief: The Dark Project and Thief Gold. Includes a tool to configure advanced graphics settings (Anti-Aliasing, Bloom, etc.). An FAQ with installation steps is available.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/211600/pfx/[Note 1]
Configuration files are: cam.cfg (basic settings, resolution), cam_ext.cfg (NewDark advanced settings), cam_mod.ini (Mod and fan mission options), install.cfg and user.bnd (key bindings).

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/211600/pfx/[Note 1]
Fan mission saves are kept in the mission's folder.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video settings

Template:Video settings

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Windowed

Instructions

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Installing TFix enables Vsync by default. Vsync can be disabled.
Instructions

High frame rate

Instructions

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

EAX support

Thief features enhanced 3D sound effects that originally required a Creative sound card with special EAX drivers. To use EAX effects on modern systems, do the following:
Instructions

VR support

Issues fixed

A detailed forum thread for technical difficulties is available on the Through The Looking Glass forum.

Crashes on multi-core systems

Instructions

Videos do not play

Instructions

Gamma slider has no effect on gamma/brightness

Instructions

Retail version won't install

Owners of the original disc version may encounter problems when attempting to install on modern operating systems.[1]
Instructions

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode

Thief has frame rate issues in fullscreen mode on Windows 8 and later.
Instructions

Other information

Fan Missions

A large number of Fan Missions, many of very high quality, have been produced for the Thief games. A categorised list is available here.
Some of the older FMs for Thief Gold and the Dark Project suffer compatibility issues when played with TFix/NewDark. An ongoing effort to preserve, test and fix these missions has resulted in a series of patches.
Instructions

Sound effects enhancement pack

This mod provides cleaned up and resampled sound files for Thief Gold and Thief II: The Metal Age. The quality difference is particularly noticeable when wearing headphones.

GoldToDark

GoldToDark is a patch that will convert Thief Gold into the original Thief: The Dark Project. This must be used on a clean installation of Thief Gold. TFix can be installed thereafter and should correctly detect that you are using The Dark Project instead of Thief Gold.

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 6, 9 DirectX 9 requires NewDark/TFix.
Software renderer
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio DirectSound, OpenAL OpenAL requires NewDark/TFix.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 166 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 210 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA video card
1 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6 compatible
Sound (audio device) 100% Direct X 6.0 compatible sound card
Other 4x CD-ROM drive
The system requirements for NewDark/TFix- and by extension those for the GOG.com release- are higher than the original requirements listed here.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/211600/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (211600) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References