Thief: The Dark Project

To do: Cover the massive amount of differences introduced in Thief: Gold. Properly rip the unused sounds and models. Create a prerelease article to cover the developer diaries.

Developed by the legendary Looking Glass Studios, Thief: The Dark Project switched the "S" in "FPS" to mean "Sneaker" and birthed a whole new genre for it. It has unused content taffin' around...

This page also covers Thief: Gold, an updated re-release/expansion pack a year later with additional levels, opponents, models, sounds, behind the scenes material (that was supposed to release during the game's development but didn't happen due to short time) and the DromEd level editor.

Blooper Reel Mission#

Watch on YouTubeOnly present in Thief: Gold, add the line of text starting_mission 16 to your user.cfg, then start a new game and skip training to go to the "Blooper Reel" mission.

This secret Easter egg level is a modified version of Lord Bafford's Manor showcasing various bugs and oddities that popped up during development (along with a few weird in-jokes), complete with various plaques scattered around providing developer commentary on what you're trying to comprehend.

Unused Audio#

Contained within snd.cfg is a large amount of unused audio. Due to the way audio is named internally, it's often fairly simply to reconstruct the flow of conversations.

OM T1 Lord Bafford's Manor#

OM T1 Undercover#

These indicate a simple mission to perform, provided by three different voices, where Garret needs to retrieve a candlestick and place it by the altar. There is also audio from others commenting about Garret running about, which is not something that's tracked in the mission.

Unused Sounds#

Found in The Dark Project is a compressed zip file called RES/snd.CRF, with a folder testvoic. Each file within that subfolder is test audio that simply states what happened on a given bank, such as changing alert levels, being attacked, and so on. These sounds were removed in Thief Gold.

Meanwhile in Thief Gold, RES/snd.CRF has a folder GUARD2, which contains TEST.ZIP. The file is a duplicate of the sounds in the English folder.

Unused Models#

These can be found inside the mesh.CRF archive.

Unused Bugdemon#

Originally the bugbeasts (named Bugdemon) appear Female and pink skinned. These were replaced with the Green unsexed bugbeasts that you see in the game. The original model based on concept art appeared in the hidden Blooper Reel mission in Thief Gold.

The Periscope Plant#

Model Name: cameraco.BIN

There is an unused plant in the games' files called the Periscope Plant, it is similar to the Periscope Eye that was used in Cragslceft Prison, it is possible that it could have been a prototype for what we know now as the Eyeball Plant from Thief 2: The Metal Age, It has the appearance of a leafy outdoor plant with a long and thin central stalk on the end of which is periscope lens.

The Spectre#

Model Name: expapp2.BIN

There is an unused predecessor of what we know now; Apparitions, which is called The Spectre, It has no legs; only a wide trailing gown. To attack, it rises into the air and waves its arms above its head. The Spectre is reused in Fan Missions and doesn't make a comeback in Thief 2: The Metal Age.

Ramirez' Unused Sergeant#

Model Name: expramsg.BIN

Staying in the game's files not doing anything, it was probably supposed to appear in Assassins at one point, having its special AI settings and attributes, with it being stronger than Ramirez' normal guards, it's also reused in Fan Missions, also it doesn't reappear in Thief 2: The Metal Age.

Two-Headed Ogre#

A texture leftover from Dark Camelot. Unfortunately, the model was never shipped with the game, but the texture did ship with the game, with the name oger2.GIF in the txt folder of the mesh.crf archive.

Unused Red Dice#

Model Name: dice.BIN

Asides from the one in the Little Big World section of The Sword mission (which is brushwork) there is a model for red dice in TDP, TG and Thief 2 The Metal Age which is not used by any of the official missions in-game.

Wraith#

There are two unused textures, WRAITH.GIF and WRAITH2.GIF inside the txt folder of the mesh.CRF archive, although there is no idea what the textures for are, there is no model to use these textures, most likely an apparition.

Unused Text#

There is a TON of unused readables/text/tips in the game's files for guard discussions and mission-related text for Lord Bafford's Manor, Break From Cragscleft Prison, Down In The Bonehoard, Thieves' Guild, The Haunted Cathedral, The Mage Towers, Undercover and lastly Return To The Cathedral.

Lord Bafford's Manor#

There are four pieces of text concerning Lord Bafford. Two pertain to correspondence which have subtle mentions about his financial issues, and two are tips.

Dominic:
A couple things I'd like you to look into.
First, if you could give Ginny a chat and put some Fear of Flattening 
into him, I'd much appreciate it.  I don't know who he thinks he's 
taffing around with, but this Dreckboun thing is too much.  Ginny's 
been a good cadge for years now, so I'll give him benefit of the 
doubt, but not for much longer.  
Next, there's a new thiefs-pawn 
turned up, operating in the north districts, name of Victoria.  She's 
made quite a few connections, and I don't want to think she'll be 
getting ambitions of moving in.  See if you can dig up any leverage 
on her - best to have some insurance.

Finally, there's the business I 
spoke to you about before.  I know you're a busy man, but Ramirez's 
prices are a bit steep for simple matters such as debtors.  
Would you consider...

Lord Bafford,

I write to you to remind you of your duties to your Baron and your 
city. Surely you do not expect that the payment you sent on the first 
of the month are the entirety of your taxgelt - or do you think the 
Baron is unaware of your gambling houses?  Let me remind you of the 
example made of Lord Brynveran, and assure you that the penalties for 
concealment of income are as harsh today as they were in Brynveran's 
time.  The main difference, of course, is that today, the inspectors 
receive a bounty and are even more enthusiastic in their duties.

The Baron waits for the remainder of your taxgelt.  I advise that you not 
leave him waiting too long.
    Julian Friehalt
    Commissioner of Taxes

Bafford's previous master of guards reportedly spent a lot 
of time worrying about the sewers, but the current  chief is more lax.

The guards Lord Bafford hires are slow and not very 
competent, but there's at least fifteen of them scattered about 
through the mansion.

Note that this unused tip is incorrect on normal difficulty.

Undercover#

Novices aren't allowed to carry personal weapons except on campaign, 
so you'd better keep yours under your robes unless you need to use 
them.

This unused tip is inaccurate. Garret may wield his weapon but raising it for an attack alerts others.