Hello. I have a bit of a dilemma with Thief Gold. This being the first time I play Thief, I want to play the game as close as I can to its original release in terms of game content.

On a fresh GOG install, all works well, except that the cutscenes do not play. So I patched it up with NewDark, which did allow the cutscenes to play. However, the readme on NewDark notes that there may be issues with pathfinding using it in Thief 1, and I'm not sure how severe or game-breaking they might be.

I do see the sticky topic for TGFix. I'm hesitant to use it because: I don't want any of the improved graphics mods; I don't know what other changes are part of it and whether it fixes whatever issues caused by moving to T2's engine in NewDark (seems like it's supposed to, but it's not clear about that); and I prefer not to use automatic installers.

So I see here:

Fresh GOG install:
+minimal modding (what I want)
-cutscenes don't play

with NewDark patch:
+cutscenes do play
+engine updates
-(maybe) pathfinding issues?

with TGFix:
+NewDark engine updates
+(maybe) without the pathfinding issues?
-I don't know what else it does

Alternately, I can play with just the GOG install and alt+tab and watch the cutscenes in VLC or something. But that's not ideal, and I don't know when they're supposed to play.

Ultimately, my question is: does using NewDark on Thief Gold introduce issues that break certain things in the game that would otherwise not be broken?

short story - patch up with TFix, do not select any mods, that should fix all the engine issues, and you keep you very close to the original experience (there should be no pathfinding issues, the last one was in the maw, and I have managed to solve that).

long story - let me just quote the final note from the TTLG TFix topic:

What would be the difference between a TFix install with the mods unselected and a NewDark install? I see stuff like "includes fixed missions" and "adjusted textures", but I don't know what that means. Also, I want the marshmallow puke sky. Can I choose not to install that or manually remove the change after install?

I know I'm being picky, but I want to play Thief "pure" the first time through, warts and all (except I want cutscenes to work).

if you just drop the "raw" NewDark files into your Thief install, some things will get broken - the most obvious would be the Maw portal, which will cease to work completely, seriously affecting the difficulty (and gameplay). TFix has a fix for this, and the portal will work again. currently, I would not recommend a manual installation of NewDark for T1/TG, unless you are a modder yourself and are fully aware of all the risks. so as I've said, if you want NewDark, and stay as close to the vanilla gameplay as possible at the same time, TFix with no mods should be the best solution.

if you really can't live without pouring razor blades into your eyes (the 8bit sky), go to patches/fam and delete the skyhw folder after you install TFix.