...this feels unfinished and highly buggy in the AI department - AIs not only seem to have heightened senses and alertness (e.g. they cannot be blackjacked from the front (via the usual forward leaning gimmick) and they seem to notice you from farther than usual even non-alerted) but they often tend to behave in strange ways - alerting to you and giving settling remarks even when you are completely dark and from a distance, manifesting clairvoyant homing-in abilities or else refusing to cool down from 2nd alert (the woman in the connecting house did not after more than half an hour of real time and multiple loads, after which I decided to just ignore her). Also what are the two additional guards that spawn supposed to do (and when do they actually appear?) - they always did weirdly different things for me, once even seen running in the streets likely towards the police station for no discernible reason.

I am also not happy about the hodgepodge of grimey textures used in this, the one distinguishing feature of author's previous missions were always their crisp and clean well-styled visuals but this is just all over the place, and the npc models are simply and visibly too dark to the point of the most unfortunate gameplay effect of melting with the environments (everything is generally too dark even on the highest gamma settings).

And aren't you supposed to do something with the lady in the tower? The story would suggest so.


PS This is mostly a historical post now (though the latter two paragraphs are still valid on my part) but I leave it as is for the context of later findings and explanations, please read the whole thread below.

I can't confirm your observations. The A.I. worked fine in my playthrough, and, they could be knocked out from the front as well.

Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your installation?

The AI settings have not been changed at all. That hyper-aware behavior is due to them fully seeing/chasing the player (alert level 3). After that happens they will go back to patrolling, but they will still be at a higher alert state for a long time.

Thus you see them patrolling normally and try to come up behind them, but they might spin around ("eyes in the back of their heads" syndrome). When the guards are in this state, they will not be fully back to normal (alert level 0) until you hear them make some settling comment like "must have been rats." This has been normal AI behavior in Thief since 1998.

Also there are no AIs that spawn later.

Ripped_Phreak: I am fully in the know of everything you mention as I've been playing this since almost as long, but the fact remains that I encountered all as described (including the one AI that remained in the 2nd (search) mode forever despite me being fully dark (as long as I remained in the same room with it, when I came back much later she seemed back to normal movement routine). To me it seemed that the detection routines are set far more sensitive than usual (as she may have been permanently alerting to me for some reason) but it may be something technical as chakkman mentioned, anyway I currently have no explanation (re-played an older mission after that and my installation seemed fine).

I meant the two more guards in the T palace courtyard (standing next to the side door) - initially they weren't there.

ADDITION(al findings): The thing about forward BJing was in the warehouse: there are (at least on the 2nd floor there) positively spots that seem like perfect shadows (in the pillar shadows, with your light gem perfectly dark) but actually aren't - they may give settling remarks from some distance when coming towards you and leaning-forward-BJing doesn't work (they fully detect you when up close) - the spots are tricky also in that they're right next to perfectly safe true shadow spots inside those same shadows and your light gem doesn't change in any way between them.

PS I believe now the same or similar phenomenon (seemingly safe by the dark light gem but actually not) may be also behind at least one or two more instances of such observations of mine elsewhere in the level, once quite from a distance (about the width of an average room).

I am also playing this mission and everything seem to be alright with the AI behaviour. I didn't notice anything unusual.

"I meant the two more guards in the T palace courtyard (standing next to the side door) - initially they weren't there."

This is probably due to guards coming outside during a search for you, or possibly falling off their balconies during a search, then not being able to find their way back inside. I promise no extra guards spawn in at a later time.

"I believe now the same or similar phenomenon (seemingly safe by the dark light gem but actually not) may be also behind at least one or two more instances"

Yes, I've been told before that this Necro Age style light gem does not show the player the proper information and I won't be using it for future missions.

OK I haven't picked up that with Necro Age light gem before as I never played with that mod (never liked its visuals) but it all now seems to make perfect sense as explanation to me, thank you - on both counts...

PS So I also gather the guards are supposed to be inside the palace then? As said I've seen them running likely towards the police station when I was relatively far from the palace and long before actually entering it (some time after just scouting the courtyard) (trigger unknown but in hindsight they may have seen me from the upper balcony), so does this mean they are able to open the entrance door when leaving but not when returning? :-)

PPS Nothing against spawning NPCs (of course) as a means of spicing up a scenario

If any of the guards from Theobald's palace are making it all the way to the police station, then you were doing something highly unusual and probably naughty. =)