Thief Gold

Thief Gold

730 ratings
Thief Gold Setup and Modding Guide
By Saleck
Thief Gold was built for Windows 9x systems and has a hard time running on modern computers.
This guide will help you set up the game using the latest unofficial patches and teach you how to apply mods.
You'll also learn about Fan Missions here and how to play them.
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Welcome
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.
The Program Files folder
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!
Getting the game set up for play
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 My tools, TGTool and T2Tool, are no longer being updated.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.
How to install Mods
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.
Recommended Mods
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 through the OpenAL library
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.
Fan Missions
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.



Here are some questions you may have:
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.
The End
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
Support Me!
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!
64 Comments
Bloodpelt 14 Oct @ 11:37am 
The sound enhancement pack seems so "dangerous" to my anti virus program that I am unable to download it. :alertalert:
Airth 26 Jun @ 5:00pm 
cbt
Thumper 5 Feb @ 2:19pm 
For anyone looking for surround sound support and full EAX integration, i would recommend checking my guide. This will provide better audio propagation and reverb as well as full surround sound up to 7.1, which OPENAL does not provide.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292412423
It's a me Mario :D 3 Dec, 2023 @ 10:35am 
Dark Parade is out bois LFG
emnfifi 21 Oct, 2023 @ 10:30am 
hi ive installed thief gold but instead of it being full-screen, its in a small box just over a quarter of the size of my screen. really frustrating and would appreciate any help.
Thane 15 Oct, 2023 @ 8:01pm 
Child of Karras' links for the Sound Enhancement Packs appear to be broken/unusable.
Nomad45BC 15 Jul, 2023 @ 3:24am 
If anyone can assist me with this, The installer for Child of Karras' Sound Enhancement Pack... where do I place the file path as? In the main game folder or the usermods? bit lost on that. lol
Arsaces 16 Jun, 2023 @ 3:46am 
How am I supposed to install OpenAL Soft?
bobo 25 Feb, 2023 @ 5:36pm 
Man, thank you so much. I was about to give up on this game - I just thought the pitch black lighting was an aesthetic choice until I got literally stuck in a corner looking at a completely black screen, thought "something HAS to be wrong here", and luckily found this guide. Didn't even need to switch folders or get the proper DirectX+VC stuff, just ran the fixer and it, well, fixed it!
XPAHITEL 10 Nov, 2022 @ 10:44am 
the official site is https://www.openal.org/ only. be aware of scum sites