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Ascend The Dim Valley (2020) TG FM

City Mages Mansion/Estate Miscellaneous Buildings Pagan Relic/Artifact/Talisman

My fence claims that, after years of searching, some eccentric old coot struck upon a way into Craggenmense, that sunken gash in the mountains up north. The whispers of riches from this ancient ... Read more

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Garrett TMT
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THIEF FAN-MISSION: Ascend The Dim Valley | [Expert][German]
marbleman
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Thief Gold FM - Ascend the Dim Valley - Ghost / Full Loot Walkthrough
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TafferBoy plays Ascend The Dim Valley
Master of Dromed
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Thief 1 Fan Mission: Ascend The Dim Valley [Expert]

 

Screenshots


info NOTES:     This FM REQUIRES NewDark 1.26 (earlier versions have blocky/pixellated shadows), and is only compatible with FMSel, AngelLoader, or NewDarkLoader. It also requires Squirrel.osm, which has been included with NewDark since 1.25.
IMPORTANT: To avoid texture errors, place the contents of this .7z in the \fam folder of this FM: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AhJkQkziXhl_UhpcWjffea7X...

+===+
IMPORTANT:
—I recommend you don’t use any graphics mods to play this mission. My choice of textures and objects wasn’t slapdash; many terrain brushes exist only to allow me more granular control over texture alignment and appearance.
—As of V1.1, the ‘ambient_volume 800’ line in the fm.cfg file is commented out. If you find the ambient volume too loud or too quiet, try removing the (;) from this line.
+===+
GAMEPLAY NOTES (MAY CONTAIN VERY LIGHT SPOILERS)

—Remember that the lightgem isn’t just dependent on the floor being lit up! If you’re standing on a dark spot, but the wall behind you is in light, Garrett will be lit up by that light source if he goes between the source and the wall!
—You are not missing any gameplay or content on lower difficulties. Expert has slightly less equipment and slightly fewer guards, but loot is identical for all.
—There are no invisible enemies.
—There are no ‘cryptic’ clues in readables. If you can’t pick up a readable, it isn’t required to complete objectives. Most readables are shorter than one page.
—No keys/loot are hidden under furniture or inside solid objects.
—There are no micro-switches. Any hidden switches that may or may not exist would be normal size.
—Some windows can be opened. If you have trouble getting through window frames, trying holding space and/or leaning though them.
—Try mantling on everything! Doors, signs, lights, trees, windows, walls, balconies, everything. Even torches, if you don’t mind getting hot feet.

+===+
TECHNICAL NOTES

—This FM only supports FMSel, AngelLoader, or NewDarkLoader — these can load fm.cfg files.
—This FM was made using NewDark 1.26. It might be compatible with 1.25, but I would recommend upgrading if only to play the dozens of excellent FMs that actually require 1.26 and newer.
+===+
KNOWN ISSUES
—the ambient propagation is screwy in a few isolated spots. For these places, none of the variants I tried that avoided gaps in the roombrushing and no sound bleed through walls produced perfect ambient propagation. No doubt a more talented mapper could have achieved it, but alas, you’re stuck with me.

Author

DirkBogan   Missions
Author



Briefing

My fence claims that, after years of searching,
some eccentric old coot struck upon a way into Craggenmense,
that sunken gash in the mountains up north.
The whispers of riches from this ancient crevasse have been around forever,
but nobody’s had the faintest idea how to get in until now.
This geriatric wants me to make use of his discovery by acquiring The Iron Façade for him.

Following a long stretch of decay after they were abandoned by whatever precursor culture built them,
the immense ruins of Craggenmense became home to a tribe of supposedly human squatters.
Either they forget how they stumbled their way in, or they found the debris so alluring
that they ditched their nomadic lifestyle in favour of propping up their own ramshackle housing in its midst.
Rumour has it that some parochial power struggle is raging between two clans in this overstuffed fissure,
but sourcing reliable information has proven difficult. Craggenmense is legendary,
but I’ve only ever seen mention of The Iron Façade in the Keepers’ most profane archives...
heh, guess that settles who the old timer is.

I always suspected there’d be some passage above ground.
One look at the towering landscape should have put that suspicion to bed.
Good news is the cave system dumps me out at the squalor infesting the base of the valley.
I’m not likely to stand out amongst the filth.

It’s a chore, but I wouldn’t miss it. Besides the trinket my client wants,
there should be enough… material culture lying around to make the arduous trip worth my while.

star 9.16

I've played this FM:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Topics and Reviews

New Topic / Review


message   You Will Get Lost...
Poorman    Nov. 12, 2024, 9:57 p.m.

....Just keep going, and explore every. single. corner. The design of this mission is breathtaking, with a surreal, bizzare sense to the layout. I have to admit to getting completely frustrated at one point, I was running around in circles! (I did get a hint from the walkthrough and then carried on). As a general rule, keep going up (Ascend?) an...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 2

message   Actually pretty good!
Danman7    Sept. 29, 2024, 9:14 p.m.

When you filter FMs by "most popular" and play some of them for a while, you get a feeling for different "guilds of builders". The people that helped DirkBogan make this cool mission are among the top creators for the thief community. No wonder the mission has some Into the Odd (claustrophobic spaces and books with only titles) and The Black Pa...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 0

message   Beautiful vertical mission.
taffer-kun    Oct. 24, 2023, 11:26 a.m.

I don't like unfiltered textures in Thief, so I went into the files of the FM to enable texture filtering.

After that it was an excellent experience. The author has a great eye for beautiful environments. As soon as you emerge from the well, you're introduced to an epic sight. The mission is vertical with plenty of stairs, ladders, balconies...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 0

message   Masterclass in architecture and design
Brodo Swaggins    Feb. 11, 2022, 4:45 p.m.

More than any other mission, this captured the uncanny magic of the original game for me: multiple heists, otherworldly sound design, a smart mix of dread and discovery, with great, unobtrusive writing throughout. At first I wasn’t sure I liked the derezzed textures, but I came to love them, partly because they assisted making the familiar new a...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 3

message   The Textures, my god, the textures.
MarcusFlintlock    Aug. 17, 2021, 4:54 a.m.

Full disclosure, it's been a good long while since I've played this mission. Needless to say, I liked it.

However, I just wanted to specifically compliment the author for the textures. I'm the kind of person who really just can't stand the texture quality of Thief—blame my young gamer brain—and so I very regularly make use of Necroage, the HD...

forum Replies: 1   thumbs_up_down Votes: 12

message   Ascend The Dim Valley
SPIDIvonMARDER    Nov. 4, 2020, 10:53 p.m.

Uzupełnienie do recenzjo Hattoriego: w pełni się zgadzam. Dodam od siebie, że ta architektura jest zakazanym, szalonym snem osób takich jak ja, które marzą o równie wyuzdanej architekturze. Choć wiedzą, że jest niesamowicie niefunkcjonalna.
Pokoje mogą mieć półpiętra z różnych stron, być wewnętrznymi krużgankami lub foyer, łączyć się ze sobą na...

forum Replies: 1   thumbs_up_down Votes: 2

message   Klimatyczna i imponująca!
Hadrian    Oct. 31, 2020, 11:47 a.m.

Przejście misji zajęło mi 2h i to oczywiście był bardzo przyjemnie spędzony czas, choć muszę przyznać, że podchodziłem do misji z dużą rezerwą, bo z poprzednią misję DirkaBogana poróżniłem się poprzez nadmierną labiryntowość i nieintuicyjność. Tutaj jest znacznie lepiej pod tym względem, choć

Tak jak SPIDI powiedział, architektura jest wręcz ...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 2

message   Lots of nooks and crannies.
Bikerdude    Sept. 6, 2020, 12:13 p.m.

This type of T1/2 mission is what I thoroughly enjoy the most. I love the rats nest nature of the FM, the constant rewards and eye candy you get when you explore. Then there is the story, very unique and encapsulated, fantastic.

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 5

message   Keep looking up
Valky    Aug. 13, 2020, 4:58 a.m.

Ascend the Dim Valley is a shining example of what the culmination of 20 years worth of FM's can and should lead to. I clocked in at a bit over 4 hours, trying to explore the entire map, and even then I ended up with ~4700 with 1000 loot missing.

The map is massive, placed within a small valley where two opposing lords in their mansions/cast...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 6

message   Impressive surreal and gloomy city labyrinth
Mike    July 28, 2020, 1:56 a.m.

Compact settlement of Craggenmense in the deep of some valley in the mountains - and it is vertical, detailed and labirynthine. It's a spiral multi-layered layout in which sometimes you can easily lost. It is not big: only two big mansions of sworn rivals (who rule this city) and several buildings around them.

This mission oozes atmosphere: ...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 3

message   Like a good VB Long Neck for breakfast
Skejven    July 26, 2020, 8:25 p.m.

Outstanding mission, Dirk already showed with his previous mission that he can create amazing city missions and this one only proves that even more. Just like in Egress the interiors feature creative brushwork and great level design. Those, along with Dirks choice of textures and ambients create enviroments that are bizzare, very unnatural but w...

forum Replies: 0   thumbs_up_down Votes: 8