Thief 2 Setup and Modding Guide

Thief 2 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 aswell as Thief 2X and how to play them.

Welcome

This guide will help you get Thief 2 running on your computer.
The Steam version of Thief 2 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 2 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 2 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 2 into this new folder and move any save files and mods you have from your old installation 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 My tools, TGTool and T2Tool, are no longer being updated.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 T2Fix. 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 -T2Fix 1.27c[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 2, 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, read the readme file displayed to fully understand what's going to happen if you want, and click Next again. Choose your install folder, which for me is...



Click next and you'll have a dropdown list to choose from. Choosing ANY option in the list will open up this particular menu to be more detailed.



This window is largely down to what you want to have installed. I personally like to go with the "Full" option but you can choose to pick whatever you want to install. Mouse over each option to get a description is what that particular thing does. Once you've made your choices, click Next.



For video preset, Default should do the job just fine but if you want High, go for it. It may need more computer CPU resources though. Decide on Shortcuts if you want to run this game more easily outside of Steam, and click Advanced Options.



This options allow you to tweak the game at a lower level. Lots of good stuff here but the defaults are generally fine. Postprocessing and HDR Rendering are the two main options you might want to turn on here. Once done, hit Next to be presented with the final list of things that will be done, and hit Install to start the process!



Now, I hate to break it to you but That's it! Once you've used T2Fix, (Almost) no more work needs to be done! Your copy of Thief 2 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.

T2Fix will create a folder called USERMODS into your Thief 2 directory. Put your mods in here. If they match the folder structure of the ZIP file then they should work fine.

Recommended Mods

There are many mods out there for Thief 2 but here are some of the best ones that you can apply.

Thief 2 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.

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 2 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 2 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 2, you could always try one of the many (over 800 and ever growing) Fan Missions released for the game.

You can find Thief 2 missions at the following websites.

Thief Missions[thiefmissions.com]
Taffers Paradise[www.taffersparadise.co.uk]
Dake 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 2 comes with a Fan Mission loader called FMSel.

To use FMSel, Right click on Thief 2 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 2 again, 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 2 without using any FM.
Play FM - Will Launch Thief 2 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 2 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 2 save files have gone! What have you done?!
Don't Panic! Your save files are still there. When Thief 2 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 I 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_2\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 2?
Nope.

How to play Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age

If you've never played, or heard of, Thief 2X, you should correct that right now and get it. It's an amazing unofficial expansion pack for Thief 2.

Installing the game the normal way these days will likely not work. The steps to getting Thief 2 running reliably these days has resulted in installations of T2X becoming broken.

There are a few ways to getting the game running on modern systems though:

Load it as a Fan Mission

I've taken Thief 2X and packaged it up as a Fan Mission that you can load the same way as any other FM.

Thief 2X - v1.1 - Google Drive[drive.google.com]

Download this, put it in the same folder where you put your other FMs, and load it that way! Easy!

Other benefits include being able to play the campaign in large monitor resolutions, and use Steams overlay, and screenshot functionality.

Modified T2X Darkinst.cfg

The DARKINST.CFG provided with the regular Thief 2X installer used to work, but now no longer does. So I've made a fixed version of DARKINST.CFG that you can download here:

Modified DARKINST.CFG file - Google Drive[drive.google.com]

Put it in your Thief_2\T2X folder (NOT your root Thief 2 folder) and you can run T2X from the Shortcut on your Desktop!

The End

OK, you should now have a fully working copy of Thief 2. It should now be playable on Windows Vista/7/8 in glorious widescreen with EAX and fully mod ready!

Here are some pictures of the game in 1920x1080 I took after following my own guide.




















Now, go get your sneak on and enjoy this incredible sequel either for the first time or for a re-visit. Just make sure you go and play the original too at some point :)

Thanks for reading. This guide is from my own website at http://www.saleck.net/creations/gamefixguides/thief2.php. 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 my other guides:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=113158282
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=635606028
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=144316078
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=144318168
http://steamcommunity.com/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 it!

https://www.paypal.me/saleck

Thank You!

[Sirius104]

Edit: I solved it with the help of a thread on TTLG forums. This worked for me:
"Install the original game missions and delete any remains of the following folders in your main Thief folder:

Pal
Bitmap
Books
Fam
Intrface
Obj
Mesh
Strings
Motions

but don't delete the movies, crfs or the res folder!"

I don't know what it meant by "install the original missions", I didn't attempt to do that part. But removing those folders and running Thief 2 loaded the main menu correctly and the health bars and whatever was changed by the FM were restored to normal. I also deleted the "Rose Cottage" folder under the FMs folder. So delete any FM you have installed currently under the FM folder as well, to be safe. Anyway it worked for me. May this post help someone else in the future stuck in the same predicament. I am making a backup ZIP of my Thief 2 folder now for sure! and I'd suggest others to do the same since it can break this way.

[Sirius104]

Vol Saleck, you seem to know quite well how to work the Thief 2 and FMs folders and files. I had deleted an FM (Rose Cottage) and forgot to Uninstall it first. It seems NewDark doesn't have the option to uninstall it now, or to "restore Thief 2" to original files. So when I launch Thief 2 exe or other FMs, I have the Rose Cottage menus and health bars, and everything that's been changed around by that FM. Any way to restore Thief 2 files to the original ones? Surely NewDark had put the originals somewhere. I just am not sure where. Or how they're named.

[magdalen1959]

Why doesn't Steam install the game in a folder of the name of the game? I'm trying to install Tafferpatch but it doesn't recognise the Steam folder so thinks I don't own the game. WTF!

[ttranchkt]

Hello and greatings, Thanks for this Guide. Work Dromed with the Steam Version of Thief Games, Because i would like FanMission create,

[Not Interested]

Great guide! Very well done! Just FYI the OpenAL Soft link is dead. Googling is a breeze of course but just a nitpick!

[SugarFreeman]

Does anybody have any idea what could be happening with me? Lemme explain:

-I recently played Thief: Gold with its additional fix. Worked like a charm. I still have it installed on my PC.
-I just today installed Thief 2 for the first time. I noticed the main menu is the same as Thief: Gold's, and assumed they might be using the same engine.
-I got used to the controls I had set for Thief: Gold, so I figured I'd close 2 and load up Gold real quick to screenshot my bindings so I can recreate them in 2.
-For some reason Gold crashes, and I get a notification saying "Thief 2" has stopped responding???
-I can't launch Thief: Gold, even from the file directory. It keeps crashing and saying "Thief 2" has stopped responding.
-Even after installing the Thief 2 fixes this persists.

Anybody have any idea whats going on here?

[Micropoint]

Hello, is there anyway way to play thie 2 modded + co-op ?

[Autosavant Demetrius]

What exactly is "complete mission and resource fix"? I prefer to play old games as vanilla as possible, does that one change anything too much?

[zonker the mute]

Hi.
Is there a dromed forum?
I'm looking for help with stairs and elevators.
-thanks.

[Prime4212]

Hi i want to ask, first time i play this game without T2fix, the screen is error and glitchy + flickering, looks like a ton of ant in my screen lol.
But after i install the T2Fix the provlem still exist, and when i use -use_d3d_display it worked.
Then the main problem is when i start new game, after reading the mission briefing my game crashed, how to fix this ?