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Can't talk to people or fire weapons

B

Bumpbert

Landlubber
I am having two main problems with the gameplay of POTC. First, I die continuously in naval battles. I suspect this is because I don't have enough range with my cannons, so I'll just keep trying to get closer unless someone knows of a common bug where the cannons don't fire. But it's probably just range (I'm not too good with interpreting the minimap, so I'm kind of clueless with ranges and winds, etc.)

The second is a bit nasty. I can only talk to about 25% of the NPCs. Other people just don't respond. I press spacebar and nothing happens.

Outside the tutorial, I've only been able to talk to some barmaids, a blacksmith, and one or two commoners. Tavernkeepers, most wandering NPCS, shopkeepers, and just about everybody ignores me.
 
Ye gots tew git yer cannon skills above 5 or so befer ye kin count on hittin' anythang! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

If'n yer reputation be really low, only a few folks'll be a speakin' tew ye! Has ye been slaughterin' de populace agin? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />
 
Hm, I've been saving and reloading so many times it's hard to recall just what I've done in which game. I've never attacked the innocent populace, but I have been hunting smugglers in the caves, and in one saved game I think I killed a guy who attacked me when I tried to talk to him in his house. Oxbay citizens are really territorial!

I'm a "bloke," 'cause I saved a few women from bandits and notified someone about their purse hanging from their pocket.

But I'll make sure to practice my cannon skills. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
Uh oh. I loaded the very first saved game, one from which I had earlier been able to talk to certain people. Now I can't. For example, I cannot even talk to the shipwright in the tutorial!

I just went to Redmond to deliver the news about the French, and after I entered the governor's mansion, the game made my character walk to that guy who stands in front of and to the right of the governor; but I just froze there and couldn't speak to him. So the bug is `plot-killing`, if bug is what it is.
 
When you are in a battle, are you in first person on your deck, aiming the cannons with the gunsight? That is a mite more accurate when trying to blow someone out of the water, heh!

The "F" key and the "E" key will zoom in and out on the minimap, and the gray `pie-shaped` areas are your field of fire.

If your cannons are loaded with grape or knippels, you will have less range than with bombs or balls...

You CAN shoot without being in first person on the deck, but as Fred Bob suggests, if your accuracy level is not up, you won't hit much with any kind of accuracy. Upping your canon level will cause your men to load their cannons faster.

In third person, if you are trying to shoot but one of your own ships is in the way, you will not be able to fire. Be careful when you aim in first person, if the sight is red, you have a target, if it's green, it's your own ship (or an ally) so DO NOT FIRE - if you hit them, your reputation will plummet, and so will your crew's morale.

If you want to aim at your enemy's sails or masts, aim so that your sight as you move it up goes from red to yellow - just slightly <i>above</i> the enemy's ship... That will put holes in their sails (if they're down) and you may make hits on the masts - hit the masts enough times and you will cause the mast to topple (which is pretty cool to see!).

Sometimes the seas are rough - so it will be difficult to fire accurately because there may be swells in the way - or you will target and fire, but as soon as you do, your cannons fire above the ship (and be careful if one of your own is behind the one you're aiming at!)...

That should help ya a little, in getting your ship to ship battles better! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Bumpbert, are you playing the Build 12 modded game, or unmodded?

It sounds to me like you have some corrupted files and either need to uninstall and reinstall, or perhaps pick up the updates and bugfixes that were just added to the B12 server...

Just start your B12 installer and choose "Updates". Hopefully that should help! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
 
I am using Build 12. I sure hope I don't have to reinstall, because I've done it twice already and it takes a while -- plus, it seems to empty out a good portion of the PROGRAMS folder so that I have to replace a bunch of missing files by hand, from a backup folder I made.

I will try updating first. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" />

Looks like they were applied successfully. Testing now...
 
Unfortunately, the updates did nothing.

I don't know if this helps, but sometimes when I click the spacebar in front of someone, it almost seems to slow down a little bit as if it were trying to open a conversation menu...but it rarely happens.

I am going to reinstall Build 12 now.
 
Reinstallation also does nothing. More, I've found that the same `freeze-error` occurs when I enter Quebradas Costillas, I walk a few steps forward and then am completely incapacitated (except for sidestepping).
 
Where are you at, in the world? Do you have a US/UK version of the game, or a EURO version?

Open up the BuildSettings.h file and turn on these lines:

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->int TRACELOG =        0;      //run extra trace() commands

int TRACEALLLOGS =    0;      //trace() every Log() call<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->Change the "0" to "1".

Run the game until you have a freeze, and hopefully there will be a logfile you can then copy and paste here for someone to look at - maybe we can figure out what's going on with your game... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />

Either that, or maybe NathanKell can look at one of your savegames and see if he can figure it out... He may be around soon... Hang loose! We'll track this down! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
I had a problem where I could not talk to maybe 5% of the NPCs. Turned out I had a virus, or some spyware (not sure which did it I had both) that corrupted a file or something, or maybe I just had a bad installation. It also made so that when at sea, I never had the option of going back to the world map, so it was impossible to sail between islands. I reinstalled the game, and build 12 and it is working fine for me now. Haven't had a single bug in about a month.

(If you go for a month with out a bug in this game, leave the house immediately and purchase a lottery ticket. I messed up and accidently purchased a subway ticket instead, but as luck would have it, it was a nice one!) <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="xD:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />
 
BumpBert, sounds to me like your spacebar isn't working right. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shrug" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" />
 
I have the same freezing problem and i can't talk to a lot of pepole eiter, but since Bumpbert and me both are new maybe it's a fault in the download server?
 
Try resettin' yer controls tew de defaults. Nuttin' werked right fer Fred Bob till he done dat! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
 
Well, it turns out that there were more missing files -- I should have guessed. It's the same problem that initially gave me the runtime error.

I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't made a backup folder of all the PROGRAMS files.

Anyway, I looked at the error messages and it turns out that the game couldn't load the dialog files. They weren't in DIALOG. So I just copied them from my backup file; Build 12 installation must have erased them.

<b>Blackwolf</b>, follow Catalina's advice and see if the error message says something like "COMPILE ERROR. Cannot load file Program/DialogOxbay_citizen," etc.

If you get one like that, you'll probably have to do what I did -- get the files back in some way, either by reinstalling or copying from a backup folder.

Anyway, thanks for the help, everyone. I've been playing for a while without bugs, so I think I may be able to just enjoy the game now!

I figured out how to fire cannons, too. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> I keep missing, but I boarded a ship successfully when I got sick of firing at 'em!
 
Ah, great, glad you got things working! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Actually, it may be that you're running your graphics harder than your computer machine can handle and your computer can't compute the "action" comand very fast. I've had the same problem with like a bizzillion ships on the map. I had to hold down my spacebar for a few seconds to fire the cannons.
 
I think il try instaling the game in another direction and the copy the dialog files to the curent location of my game and the se what happens... i was stupid enogh not to make a back up <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":facepalm" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />
 
Download Build12Temp.exe from the PA FTP, it has _all_ program and INI files. (Just remember to do an onlineupdate to b12 after you extract it to your POTC folder...).

Cat, I'm afraid you're on step 2 rather than 1 with the tracelogs bit; that only works if, in engine.ini, tracefilesoff = 0 instead of =1 (otherwise POTC won't output any logs at all).
It's the line in the INI that you need to edit to turn logging on; the stuff in BS.h just tweaks how much information and in what form is output to the log files (and tracelog is so that every single time the game gives a Log_SetStringToLog() command, it also traces it so you have a permament record).
 
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/oops3.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eek:ops2" border="0" alt="oops3.gif" /> Maybe I should stop trying to do too many things at once! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />
 
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