Made a proper link:

Thief 2 Campaign: Death's Cold Embrace (Oct 2017)

It's a great new campaign! I simply an astounded at the quality of Thief-series missions and campaigns that continue to be released!

***

However, thanks to it, I have discovered that GOG's current download of Thief 2 is flawed. You may not notice the problem until you reach one of the later levels in the campaign: The Wailing Keep. There - it's a "game breaker" (well, 'mission breaker')

The current download file (direct, not Galaxy) is:

setup_thief_2_-_the_metal_age_1.25_nd_(10930).exe

That's the same file I downloaded back in May '17. I did an FC /B compare and they are the same - meaning this problem has existed since at least when GOG published that version, and continues to exist.

The install noted has multiple file-placement errors; however, I think just one of them actually matters (or, only one mattered on my system):

squirrel.osm

That file SHOULD be located in the game's root folder, but GOG has it located (incorrectly) in the DOC folder.

Simply moving squirrel.osm from DOC to the game root appears to fix the problem. The other incorrectly-located files - on my install there are already "duplicates" of them in the correct locations - so I didn't test moving them as well.

So far, it appears to be save-game-compatible to move that file to the correct place, and then load the game, and pick up where I left off. So far...

***

Basically, it looks like when GOG manually updated T2 to NewDark 1.25, GOG inadvertently put files from one of the update zips, 'contrib.zip', into the incorrect directory (DOC, instead of the game-root).

The squirrel.osm is a new 'feature', and probably not much used yet (by mission authors); and thus likely not many missions yet will fail due to this error. But this campaign (at least, starting with the mission, The Wailing Keep) is one of them.

I'll figure out later (when I have more time) the best way to report this to GOG...

GOG Support ticket: #183015
GOG Support ticket: #178116

generally, all required extra scripts should be supplied by the fan mission. also, you wouldn't be having this problem if you would have patched up with TafferPatcher, which is something you should do if you are into mods and FMs.

I disagree on both points.

*) The squirrel.osm is more like the "script engine" than the individual fan mission script.

It's BECAUSE squirrel.osm is incorrectly located in the game-install (here from GOG) that the fan mission script fails in the mission as I reported. squirrel.osm is not a fan mission script - it's the support for them.

It's a new feature in the latest NewDark (which is what GOG is selling) for ANY FM author to use, not a fan-mission script belonging to one particular fan mission.

*) TafferPatcher should not be necessary when you install the GOG-version and it shows it is already fully updated (NewDark 1.25 and the latest launcher). It's basically being presented as an already "fully patched" update. GOG have inadvertently put files in the wrong place - that's what needs correcting; and that's what I was presenting.

That said, it is possible that T.P. may have "fixed" it - but the only thing wrong is the inadvertently placed files - it's not like they are missing or out of date. I would think GOG would rather correct their placement than just have them wasting space sitting idle in the incorrect location.

JMO

there aren't any "fan mission scripts", just custom/extra scripts available for a fm author to use. and any fm using scripts other than the original, vanilla T2 scripts should include a copy just to be sure this exact situation won't happen.

but no harm in moving the file in the game root, so I'll do that next time I'll be updating the T2 GOG NewDark package (assuming GOG will not do it in the meantime).

I don't get why you want to be so pedantic about this, and crap on the thread over it. But whatever...

TTLG.com is considered by many to be a definitive source of Thief knowledge; and in this post:


http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146448


It clearly states: Notice it states, "It also includes a new script OSM (squirrel.osm)"?


All I am saying is GOG put it in the wrong place. You seem to be have a pedant-fit over that.

because GOG didn't - I did.

at that point, I was unsure whether putting it into the root is a good idea - this affects script load priorities, and I didn't want things to backfire, so (as the script is not required for the vanilla game, and that's what GOG is selling here) I have moved it out of the way for the time being. you know the old saying - if unsure, don't.

as mentioned, anyone doing things their own way (without TP) is expected to know very well what they are signing up for - making sure all required scripts are present and up to date is part of that deal (TP will do that for you, among other things).