Thief II: The Metal Age

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Thief II: The Metal Age
ThiefII.png
Developers
Publishers
Engines
Release dates
Windows
March 21, 2000
Thief II: The Metal Age at WineHQ
Thief II: The Metal Age at Steam Charts
Thief II: The Metal Age at SteamDB
 Thief II: The Metal Age at Wikipedia
Thief
Thief: The Dark Project 1998
Thief Gold 1999
Thief II: The Metal Age 2000
Thief: Deadly Shadows 2004
The Dark Mod (unofficial spin-off) 2009
Thief (2014) 2014

Key points

Advantage Tafferpatcher improves compatibility with modern systems.

General information

More information A wiki for the classic Thief games
More information TTLG Forums - Thief Series
More information GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
More information GOG.com Support Page
More information Steam Community Discussions
More information Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys
GamersGate Availability Table Icons - Steam.svg
GOG.com DRM-free Soundtrack, manual, "making of" video, reference card, avatars.
Green Man Gaming Availability Table Icons - Steam.svg
Steam Availability Table Icons - Steam.svg Manual can be found in game's folder.
Humble Store Availability Table Icons - Steam.svg
Information Demo available (mirror1/mirror2)

Essential improvements[edit]

Tafferpatcher[edit]

Tafferpatcher installs NewDark which improves compatibility on modern systems. It also includes many optional improvements, such as The Enhancement Pack 1- which improves textures and models. The GOG.com version is pre-patched with NewDark but does not have Tafferpatcher's optional improvements.

Skip intro videos[edit]

Fix Rename/delete INTRO.AVI

  1. Go into the MOVIES folder where the game is installed.
  2. Delete or rename INTRO.AVI.
  3. The game will now go directly to the main menu.

Enhancement Pack 2.0[edit]

The Enhancement Pack 2.0 is an updated version of the original Enhancement Pack, with even better objects and textures- it is not yet included in the Tafferpatcher. It also applies changes to Thief Gold/The Dark Project.

Thief 2 HD Texture Mod[edit]

The Thief 2 HD Texture Mod is a pack with HD textures and new effects.

What adds the HD Mod to the game?: HD textures for all original missions, new vegetation, new water and lava textures, new fire flames, new Ape-Beast HD skin, "NewDark Graphics Settings Tool" - use this tool to config your thief 2 graphics settings (Anti-Aliasing, Bloom FX...), "Water Mod Tool" - use this tool to choose your own favorite water mod!

Fan Missions[edit]

A large number of excellent fan-made missions for the original games and the Dark Mod can be found here. Recommended to start in the 'Most often recommended/Must play' category. If you do not already have a shortcut to the mission selector, open cam_mod.ini and delete the ; before 'fm'. Start the mission selector (either using the separate shortcut or your main Thief 2 shortcut) and select a folder for new missions when prompted. To install a mission, simply drop its zip file into your new mission folder, start the selector then double click the mission/zip file name and select 'Ok'. Launch the mission by double clicking the name again. To skip Fan Missions and launch the original game click 'Skip FM' in the lower-left corner. Fan mission saves are kept in their own folders (separate from main game saves).

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

  Location 
Windows <path-to-game>
Information 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[edit]

  Location 
Windows <path-to-game>\SAVES

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud Impossible
GameSave Manager Native

Video settings[edit]

Graphics option Option WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution Hackable WSGF WS Gold.svg Install Tafferpatcher.
Multi-monitor Hackable WSGF MM Silver.svg Install Tafferpatcher.
Field of view (FOV) Hackable See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed Hackable See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed Hackable See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF) Hackable Install Tafferpatcher.
Anti-aliasing (AA) Hackable Install Tafferpatcher.
Vertical sync (Vsync) Hackable See Vertical sync (Vsync).
High frame rate Hackable See High frame rate.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Fix Use NewDark

  1. Install Tafferpatcher and set the resolution you want in-game.
  2. If your FOV is not detected correctly edit cam_ext.cfg in the installation folder.
  3. Change ;fov 90 to fov ## with the FOV you want.
  4. Save your changes and relaunch the game.

Windowed[edit]

Fix Set windowed mode

  1. Install Tafferpatcher.
  2. Edit cam_ext.cfg in the installation folder.
  3. Change ;force_windowed to force_windowed.
  4. Save your changes and set your chosen resolution in-game.
Information For borderless fullscreen windowed mode choose the desktop resolution in-game.

Vertical sync (Vsync)[edit]

Information Installing Tafferpatcher enables Vsync by default. Vsync can be optionally disabled.

Fix Disable Vsync

  1. Edit cam_ext.cfg in the installation folder.
  2. Change ;vsync_mode 0 to vsync_mode 0 and save your changes.

High frame rate[edit]

Fix Set Frame Rate

  1. Edit cam_ext.cfg in the installation folder.
  2. Change framerate_cap 100.0 to framerate_cap ### with the FPS you want.

Fix Ensuring Correct Game Speed

  1. Edit cam_ext.cfg in the installation folder.
  2. Change ;phys_freq 60 to phys_freq 60 and save your changes.
Information Note: This next step is only necessary if you want more than 250fps
  1. Change SlowFrame 4 to ;SlowFrame 4 and save your changes.

Input settings[edit]

Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping Native
Mouse acceleration Impossible
Mouse input in menus Native
Mouse Y-axis inversion Native
Controller
Controller support Native Go to Options, Controls and set Joystick: On.
Full controller support Impossible
Controller remapping Native Limited remapping.
Controller Y-axis inversion Unknown

Audio settings[edit]

Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls Native Volume and Ambient.
Surround sound Hackable See EAX support.
Subtitles Impossible
Closed captions Impossible
Mute on focus lost Impossible
EAX support Hackable A3D 2.0.[1] EAX 2. See EAX support.

EAX support[edit]

Information Thief II 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:

Fix Install patch and OpenAL

  1. Install NewDark using Tafferpatcher.
  2. Install OpenAL 2.1.0.0.
  3. In the game go to Options, Audio, and change Hardware Acceleration to OpenAL. EAX can now be used.

Network[edit]

Information Use T2 Multiplayer Beta for multiplayer support.
Information T2 Multiplayer is not compatible with NewDark or Tafferpatcher; use the included thief2.exe and patch with DDFix.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN co-op Hackable 2-8
Online co-op Hackable 2-8

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Peer-to-peer Native
Dedicated Impossible
Direct IP Native

Issues fixed[edit]

Crashes on multi-core systems[edit]

Fix Install NewDark

Install NewDark via Tafferpatcher.

Videos do not play[edit]

Fix Install NewDark

Install NewDark via Tafferpatcher.

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS)
XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)
1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM) 512 MB 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
2 GB
Video card (GPU) DirectX 7 compatible DirectX 9 compatible
Information These requirements are for the GOG.com version. NewDark's system requirements are higher than the game in its original form.

References

  1. ↑ A3D Reflections - A3D software and games list