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February 26th, 2001
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Author : Keeper of Metal and Gold (Ben Ramsey)
Contact Info : keeper@byu.net
Homepage : http://www.keepofmetalandgold.com
Date of Release : June 4th, 2001
Version: : Final 1.0


Description : A woman named Victoria has offered me a job to steal a sword from a nobleman named Constantine, but in my preparations for the hiest I heard word of a giant tree with valuable magical healing fruit which grows in Constantine's orchard. I've decided to put off the sword job for another night, and steal into the high wall orchard to grab some of the fruits for myself, as they will probably bring in a pretty penny on the street. Basso has supplied me with a basic map he drew from information he bribed from an old guard who somehow used to "work" there - in a tree? Anyway, since I've heard the tree is rather huge, I'm glad the Keepers made me master the art of the rope arrow, which should come in quite handy on this little heist.


(Final Release Notes)

- In response to beta testers (thank you all very much!), I've added more tools (especially rope arrows and health potions) to Garrett's starting arsenal, though the mission is possible to complete on Fast Foot using only 1 rope arrow and finding all the loot (if anyone actually ever finds ALL the loot, I'll give you the utmost honor and respects!). I've also aligned EVERY SINGLE TREE TEXTURE to flow better with the direction of the main tree and the branches, instead of just the Dromed default (this took hours alone!). I also brightened up the ambient lighting and made the lights in the mission lighter as well, though it is still a relatively dark mission, so play at night with the lights off!. There were a few other fixes here and there, so things should be pretty much completed now, and bug free (as far as I know). Enjoy
- BTW, This mission is NOTHING like any mission you have played before. So you might love it! Or you might not like it at all! Either way, I always love feedback, so feel free to e-mail me to let me know what you think of the mission.


Briefing : No

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* Playing Information *

Game : Thief: The Dark Project or Thief Gold
Mission Title : The Great Tree
File Name : Miss20
Difficulty Settings : Yes
Equipment Store : No
Map : Yes
Auto Map : No
New Graphics : Not really (the map is hand drawn)
New Sounds : Yes (one ambient made by Loanstar)
Multi-Language Support : No

Briefing : No
Length : n/a
Size : n/a

Difficulty Level Info : Slow Toes, Mid Stroll, Fast Foot
* Construction *

Base : From Scratch
Build Time : 8 weeks, or 108 hours or so (according to info_window)

Thanks to: Everyone who wrote excellent tutorials, Loanstar (Paul Billo) for the cool ambient, and everyone who spent time to betatest the mission and give me good feedback :-)

Beta Testers:
Carlos Martinez
Mike Grogan
John Walsh (Viper6)
Robert Gronemann (BWV)
Jeff Knez

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* Playing Notes *

The three difficulty settings change things as follows:

Fast Foot: 1 fire arrow
1 flashbomb
4 rope arrows
12 broadheads
3 healing potions
many enemies, high loot requirement (60% of total), escape objective

Mid Stroll: 3 fire arrows
2 flashbombs
9 rope arrows
24 broadheads
3 healing potions
some enemies, medium loot requirement (40% of total), escape objective

Slow Toes: 5 fire arrows
3 flashbombs
13 rope arrows
36 broadheads
6 healing potions
few enemies, small loot requirement (15% of total), no escape objective


There are a couple other items in your inventory, but those are the ones that change. There is one extra item you only get from a locker on Slow Toes (an extra mine).


- I hope you are not afraid of heights, and are good at climbing. This mission is mainly vertical in nature, so if you are not used to that there are a few tips below:

* A few tips on traversing this mission: *

- To climb up slanted areas, it can help a lot to run diagonal a bit then jump just at the base of the slant to make it the highest up
- You can safely fall quite a ways if you land on a slanted surface
- Rope arrows stick into wood and "leaves", so they'll come in quite handy in this mission. But it is possible to complete the mission on Fast Foot using only 1 rope arrow!
- You can climb up very very steep inclines if you are in the V "spine" of two flat planes (if that makes sense). For example, if you were reading a book, the V "spine" would be the middle where the two pages meet, the whole middle line from bottom to top. When you hold the book as you read, you are probably holding it at a very steep angle, but not quite straight up and down. If a mini Garrett was trying to climb right up one of the pages, he would be slipping back down. But if he climbs up the middle, up the spine, he would be able to make it, though very slowly. (Was that a crazy example or what?!) Hope that helps you in this mission :-)
- Learn and master the art of retrieving your rope arrows. For example, if you shoot a rope arrow, climb up, jump off to a branch, and then cannot reach your rope arrow to retrieve it, shoot another rope arrow halfway to the one that is too far, jump to the rope you just shot, retrieve the father arrow, jump back to the branch, and finally retrieve the closer arrow. You can make rows of 3 or 4 or more arrows using the same method, and with enough practice you can always retrieve ALL rope arrows you ever use :-)
- You'll do a lot of climbing diagonal, mantling, and jumping in this mission, to some pretty precarious locations, so save often and keep a keen eye for soft landing areas.


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* Loading Information *

Runs from Dark Loader. Leave the file ZIPPED - DO NOT UNZIP this file, but put the whole "gtree.zip" file into whatever folder/directory you want to on your hard drive, then in Darkloader setup, point to this folder/directory, and the mission should show up in the Darkloader main screen.

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* Copyright Information *

This level is ? by Ben Ramsey

Distribution of this level is allowed in any way, shape, or manner you wish. However, you must leave the mission intact and give me credit for it. It's all yours :-)

This level was not made and is not supported by Looking Glass Studios or Eidos
Interactive.