This guide will help you get Thief Gold running on your computer.

The Steam version of Thief Gold is actually the GOG version. They did an OK job of setting up the game and getting up and running for players but that still isn't enough for some people who report crashes and general instability.

Let's start off with some important information.

The Program Files folder is a protected folder within your Windows installation that works differently from other folders on your computer.

The long story short is that if you have your copy of Thief Gold located within either the Program Files or the Program Files (x86) folder, you may encounter problems and some, or all, mods may not work at all. This varies from machine to machine and some people may not have a problem at all.

If you think you might be being affected by this, try moving your copy of Thief Gold from the Program Files folder into another folder like 'C:\Games' and launch it. If mods are installed correctly, they may start working for you.

If this is the case, you can make another Steam Library Folder using the Steam Library Folders feature. Go to View > Settings and Click the 'Downloads' Tab to find it.

Click Add Library Folder and make it anywhere you want.



Once you've done this, you can reinstall Thief Gold into this new folder and move any save files and mods you have from your old installtion into this new installation!

As of March 2020. My tools, TGTool and T2Tool, are no longer being updated. I don't have the time to keep up with changes due to work and other life commitments. The software downloaded by those tools will still remain online for a while but may eventually get taken down.

There are a few ways to get your copy of Thief Gold up and running. You could download all the necessary patches yourself but there's a pack out there that provides everything for you in one bundle!

The pack is called TFix. If your looking for a quick and easy way to get Thief running with great default settings and the ability to install mods easily then this setup is for you.

TTLG - TFix 1.27[www.ttlg.com]

You'll need Administrator privileges for this tool to work. You'll also have to confirm to Windows' build in scanners that you want to run the executable in question. Just click "More Info" and then "Run Anyway" and you're good to go!



For this new version of Thief Gold, you will need to have Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP1 C++ runtime libraries[www.microsoft.com] and the latest version of DirectX[www.microsoft.com] installed on your computer.



Click next and decide what Components you would like to install. Mouse over each entry to get a description of what it does. When you're ready, click Next.



Give the installer your game location, which in my case is:



and hit Install. The installer may prompt you for some additional settings while installing but they are described well so you know what to pick based on your situation.

Now, I hate to break it to you but That's it! Once you've used TFix, (Almost) no more work needs to be done! Your copy of Thief Gold is up and running. Of course, you can dive right into the game right now but you can also edit the cam_ext.cfg file with Notepad and you can alter anything you want like post-processing effects, Bloom and 16x AA for some extra added visuals.

Some of the commands works on a Boolean system, 0 is off, 1 is on. Turn features on or off by changing the numbers. Also remember to remove any semi-colons ; in front of the command you want to enable (to disable, just re-add the semi-colon again)

Be sure to make a backup of the file first before you go altering something you might wish you hadn't.

Mods usually come in Zip files. Inside these files you will find one or more folders. Fam, Mesh, Snd and Obj are just a few examples of what these files are called.

TFix creates a folder called USERMODS in the Thief Gold directory. You can place your unzipped mods in there. As long as the folder structure remains the same as it does in the ZIP file then any mod placed in here will work fine.

There are many mods out there for Thief Gold but here are some of the best ones that you can apply.

Thief Gold HD Texture Mod
By Bentraxx
This mod bumps the textures up hugely and gives many of the models, enemies and objects in the game a much needed face-lift. This mod installs automatically so no user input is required. It comes with a menu so you can quickly and easily choose what mod you want to apply.

You'll want to download "Thief 1 HD Mod 1.2 - Full Version"

Thief Enhancement Pack[www.ttlg.com]
By Nameless Voice, other contributors

If you have the Thief Gold HD mod installed, this will not be used.

This mod focuses on improving just the models and objects in the game. TFix includes this mod. Follow the instructions on the webpage to install the mod.

Child of Karras' Sound Enhancement Pack[www.ttlg.com]
By Child of Karras
Cleans up the original sound effects, removing many artefacts left over from conversion processes and the result is a clean collection of the original game sounds that nobody should be without.

EAX will now work in Thief Gold through the OpenAL library. You can get the OpenAL installation file (oalinst.exe) from here:

OpenAL 2.1.0.0 Download[www.dropbox.com]

After you have installed OpenAL, you can optionally install the more up-to-date "OpenAL Soft" which can be found here[openal-soft.org]. It will require a manual installation but isn't very difficult.

Once you have installed the library, Start Thief Gold and go to Options > Audio and click on Hardware Acceleration until it shows the Option 'OpenAL'



Now when you play the game, you will have all the echoey hallways you could possibly dream of.

If you want to try something a little different after you've played Thief Gold, you could always try one of the many Fan Missions released for the game.

You can find Thief Gold missions at the following websites. Thief 1 FMs should work with Thief Gold.

Thief Missions[thiefmissions.com]
Taffers Paradise[www.taffersparadise.co.uk]
Dark Fate[www.darkfate.org]

Once you have a few, you may be tempted to put them straight into your USERMODS folder but hold on there, champ! It's not that easy.

Long story short, Fan Missions (FMs) may not be 100% functional if you do this. Luckily, The NewDark version of Thief Gold comes with a Fan Mission loader called FMSel.

To use FMSel, Right click on Thief Gold in your Steam Games list and click Properties.

Click Set Launch Options and in that box, enter in -fm and click OK.



When you launch Thief Gold through Steam now, FMSel will start and it may ask you to create an FMs directory. Click Yes. Don't worry about it saying Thief 2 at the top, it's just the way NewDark works.

Once you've done that, FMSel will ask you to specify a folder in which you keep your FMs so put all your FMs in one folder and have FMSel use that folder.



Once you've done that, FMSel will list all the FMs it finds in that folder.



From here you can do many different things:
Skip FM - Will Launch Thief Gold without using any FM.
Play FM - Will Launch Thief Gold with the currently selected FM. It will ask you to Extract Archive which, when Yes is selected, will install the FM into the FMs folder.
Start FM - Will Launch Thief Gold with the currently selected FM and set your Status to 'Playing' (I presume this is used for things like Windows Live Messenger and other software)

You can also rate your FMs, Search for an FM in the Name text bar, Read any Readmes inside (Right click > View Info File) and many other things.



All my Thief Gold save files have gone! What have you done?!
Don't Panic! Your save files are still there. When Thief Gold is launched with an FM, you get to have seperate saves! These are stored in your FMs folder. Every time you launch that FM, you'll see your saves there again from the last time you played.

Will my installed mods work with an FM?
They should do but it depends on the FM; some use custom health indicators and light gems so they will take priority when loaded. Other than that, mods should work OK.

Can you install mods this way too?
No.

I pressed the screenshot button to take a picture in this FM. Where it is stored?
Screenshots are stored per Fan Mission. Look in:
\steamapps\common\thief_gold\FMs\<FM NAME>\screenshots

Be aware that in-game brightness will somehow not affect the screenshot you take this way. The best way to work around this is to use Steams in-game screenshot taker.

Will Thief 1/Gold FMs work in Thief 2?
That's a question with many different answers but the short answer is they should do. Thief 2 FMs will most likely not work with Thief Gold due to the extra content Thief 2 has.

Can I hold you responsible for anything daft I do like try to install System Shock 2 FMs into Thief?
Nope.

OK, you should now have a fully working copy of Thief Gold. It should now be playable on anything from Windows 7, and up, In glorious HD resolutions, with EAX, and fully mod ready!

Here are some pictures of the game in 3840x2160 I took after following my own guide after applying the Thief Gold HD Texture Mod.




















Now, go get your sneak on and enjoy this incredible game either for the first time or for a re-visit.

Thanks for reading. This guide is from my own website.[www.saleck.net]
If you have the retail version of the game, you will be able to find out more information on installing the game there.
If you feel like donating anything, you can also donate at my site.

Be sure to check out some of my other guides:

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=113169312
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=635606028
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=144316078
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=144318168
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=144319596

If you liked this guide, and would like to support any of the little projects that I do, you can send me a donation through the link below. I appreciate anything sent my way!

https://www.paypal.me/saleck

Thank You!