Mod Release Levis' new stuff v0.1 [Last Update: May 17th 2019]

[Levis]

In this topic you will find my latest additions to the build mod. I will try to keep the archive linked in here up to date with the current latest released version of the build. Hopefully most of it will be included in it eventually.
This archive contains several new things.

Special Perks
This is an inclusion of the files already found here: Mod Release - Special Perks and interface improvements
It will show you special perks for some officer types like this:

These perks where things which are in the game already. But now they are explained.

The perks are always picked but you can click on them to see more info. If you change the officer type the perk will dissapear.
Besides the special perks also the numbers for the perks got a slight tweak, you can now see by the color if you can pick the perk already or not.

Smuggling Improvements
Most of the improvements to smuggling are done behind the scene's. But one new addition is that once you smuggled 100 goods in total you can talk to a smuggler and complain about smuggling being hard. He will give you something which enabled the smuggling book:

This is a addition to the trade book which you can toggle. For now this is still very empty, but soon (in newer versions) more and more info will be added here.
The partol state shown in this image doesn't have to be right, it's the patrol stage you know of. Once you read the tavern news the smuggling book will automaticly update the patrol state in here.

Harden your Heart Sidequest
In preperation for making it a bit harder to find the right time to smuggle a new quest is introduced. People who like to have a nice seaside picknick will see this quest pop up very soon. For other people I've writte an wiki article here (it's not linked yet to the main wiki because it's still WIP). About the quest.
Harden Your Heart Sidequest | PiratesAhoy!
One of the things you will encounter during this sidequest is Mahala, a new NPC located in Santiago.
Besides needed for the quests she also has a special thing. She tells stories. So if you are ever in the neighborhood feel free to drop by her and ask her for a nice story.

Modding Improvements
For modders this archive also adds some nice features.
You can now add an event to tavern news items. When the item is read it can trigger a function.
You can do this as follows:

object data;
data.island = "MyIsland";
data.state = 3;
aref eventdata; makearef(eventdata, data);
logTitle = "FU";
logEntry = "BAR";
WriteNewLogEntry(logTitle, logEntry, "General", false);
SetLogEvent(logTitle, "UpdateKownIslandSmugglingStateFromLog", eventdata);

When using this piece of code the game will call the function UpdateKownIslandSmugglingStateFromLog once the log entry is read. It will also send the data object with it. In here you can store data you need. You can also send &NullCharacter or something empty if you want. That case the game will make sure it won't break.

Besides the log entry events dialogs also get a nice extra trick.
Say you wanted to add a dialog file to a random character but be sure that other dialog paths aren't broken. This is now easily possible with the function.

StoreDialogLinks(false);

If you call this function inside a dialog file it will store all Dialog Option at that point. So when the player picks your new dialog path you can finish this and then call a case like this:

case "Restore Dialogs":
            Dialog.text = "Anything Else?";
            RestoreDialogLinks();
 break;

This will add all previous dialog options as options here. This way if you want to add a dialog file to someone but you have no idea what the cases are you can now just do it outside the switch and make sure the dialog option is always there because now it won't break anything.

Also if you are writing a quest and you want to set a specific type of music but you want to do this at a enterlocation quest trigger there is now something to help you. Setting the global variable

QuestMusicOverwrite = true;

Will make sure that no music will be set by the game untill you set it to false again. This gives you total control over the music and you can do something like

SetMusic("my_music");

to set whatever music you want for this location.
Once you are done with your quest thing you can call this.

QuestMusicOverwrite = false;
LoadSceneSound();

to have the game revert back to the normal sound scheme.

And last but not least there is a new quest check you can use. You can call it like this:

PChar.quest.MyQuest.win_condition.l1 = "Sleep";
PChar.quest.MyQuest.win_condition = "MyTarget";

This will trigger once you are waiting in the tavern or if you are at sea at midnight.

Download
You can download the file HERE (NEW GAME REQUIRED)
Please let me know if you are having any problems with it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That sounds like a whole bunch of seriously cool stuff! Thanks, mate.

 

[Levis]

That sounds like a whole bunch of seriously cool stuff! Thanks, mate.

Please test it all if possible so I can fix stuff when I'm back

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Please test it all if possible so I can fix stuff when I'm back

I can't make any promises on that. I haven't had the chance to play the game in years and that doesn't look to be changing any time soon...

 

[Grey Roger]

If I may make a few suggestions for the "Harden Your Heart" sidequest?

• No more drugs stuff, please. Aside from moral objections, it's historically inaccurate - opium, in particular, simply wasn't an issue in the Caribbean during the times covered by the game.
• Could the quest be made optional? Some players might not want to play it, either because they don't like supernatural curses or enhanced storms, or because they're already in the middle of a storyline or other sidequest which would be adversely affected by having to deal with this. It would be a shame if the only way they could avoid this quest is to never go near an officiant again. Other sidequests allow the player to decline or defer the quest, e.g. Ambroz Bricenos offers you the "Hard Labours of an Assassin" quest, you can refuse, then he stays there so you can later go back and accept. Perhaps give the officiant some dialog where she offers you a really wild time but warns that the last person to do this complained of nightmares and was even crazy enough to believe the nightmares were real; she doesn't believe a word of it but wants to warn you anyway. Or, instead of using officiants, have Mahala offer a new, very scary story, but warns that it's so scary that it will give you nightmares, and some nightmare come true. The point is, the player has fair warning that something is going to happen and has the choice to back out.
• There's a new character defined in "PROGRAM\Characters\init\cuba.c", Django Petulengro. He appears in Smugglers Fort. The snag there is that both the "Ardent" and "Assassin" storylines have their own uses for that location and may be damaged by the permanent addition of a character who is nothing to do with the stories. Perhaps put him into "PROGRAM\Characters\init\SideQuest.c", set his location to be blank, then only put him into place when needed for the quest? This is how Robert Durand is handled; he initially doesn't appear anywhere, he's placed into Buccaneers Camp on Hispaniola when needed for the "Angelique Moulin" quest, and is removed when he has done his job.

Not mentioned in your list is that you've opened the church in Marigot. But perhaps the priests needs a new name - "Father Travers" does not sound French, and certainly "Father" is not - British priests are "Father", French are "Pater", Spanish and Portuguese are "Padre". His dialog also seems a little confused, possibly because it appears to be copied from "Father Abbot_dialog", which is also confused. The text contains the confession elements from "pater jourdain_dialog.h", but when you confess to plundering ships and taking lives, it asks "But there were no Holland among them, were there?" That should, of course, be "Dutch" - except that this is Marigot, so it should be "French". Not that it matters because "Father Abbot_dialog.c" has the dialog code to control the confession but no link to it, so it's never used; and "Father Travers_dialog.c" doesn't have the confession code at all. I've updated the dialog for Pater Dominic on Guadeloupe, which I'll post elsewhere; you can copy that for Father Travers, if you like.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

There's a new character defined in "PROGRAM\Characters\init\cuba.c", Django Petulengro. He appears in Smugglers Fort. The snag there is that both the "Ardent" and "Assassin" storylines have their own uses for that location and may be damaged by the permanent addition of a character who is nothing to do with the stories.

Are there already other permanent characters in the Smugglers Fort? If so, perhaps the quest character could replace one of those?
Assuming that he's got a purpose to serve when the quest isn't in process. (Could even just be as much as a hint that there is a quest to be played and how to play it.)

 

[Levis]

If I may make a few suggestions for the "Harden Your Heart" sidequest?

• No more drugs stuff, please. Aside from moral objections, it's historically inaccurate - opium, in particular, simply wasn't an issue in the Caribbean during the times covered by the game.

If you have another suggestion for stuff which could induce halicunations I'm up for that. Just trying to add on existing principles here.

• Could the quest be made optional? Some players might not want to play it, either because they don't like supernatural curses or enhanced storms, or because they're already in the middle of a storyline or other sidequest which would be adversely affected by having to deal with this. It would be a shame if the only way they could avoid this quest is to never go near an officiant again. Other sidequests allow the player to decline or defer the quest, e.g. Ambroz Bricenos offers you the "Hard Labours of an Assassin" quest, you can refuse, then he stays there so you can later go back and accept. Perhaps give the officiant some dialog where she offers you a really wild time but warns that the last person to do this complained of nightmares and was even crazy enough to believe the nightmares were real; she doesn't believe a word of it but wants to warn you anyway. Or, instead of using officiants, have Mahala offer a new, very scary story, but warns that it's so scary that it will give you nightmares, and some nightmare come true. The point is, the player has fair warning that something is going to happen and has the choice to back out.

I'll see about adding a warning. But it's not that you will encounter it that easily.

• There's a new character defined in "PROGRAM\Characters\init\cuba.c", Django Petulengro. He appears in Smugglers Fort. The snag there is that both the "Ardent" and "Assassin" storylines have their own uses for that location and may be damaged by the permanent addition of a character who is nothing to do with the stories. Perhaps put him into "PROGRAM\Characters\init\SideQuest.c", set his location to be blank, then only put him into place when needed for the quest? This is how Robert Durand is handled; he initially doesn't appear anywhere, he's placed into Buccaneers Camp on Hispaniola when needed for the "Angelique Moulin" quest, and is removed when he has done his job.

I noticed this camp was still completly emty that's why I added him. He is just walking around there, what could he break in those storylines? I think it's kind of boring to have this place there with nobody in it so I would love to add some more people there.

Not mentioned in your list is that you've opened the church in Marigot. But perhaps the priests needs a new name - "Father Travers" does not sound French, and certainly "Father" is not - British priests are "Father", French are "Pater", Spanish and Portuguese are "Padre". His dialog also seems a little confused, possibly because it appears to be copied from "Father Abbot_dialog", which is also confused. The text contains the confession elements from "pater jourdain_dialog.h", but when you confess to plundering ships and taking lives, it asks "But there were no Holland among them, were there?" That should, of course, be "Dutch" - except that this is Marigot, so it should be "French". Not that it matters because "Father Abbot_dialog.c" has the dialog code to control the confession but no link to it, so it's never used; and "Father Travers_dialog.c" doesn't have the confession code at all. I've updated the dialog for Pater Dominic on Guadeloupe, which I'll post elsewhere; you can copy that for Father Travers, if you like.

The dialog file at the moment is completly placeholder, just copied it (like you saw). Need to check that once I'm ready to use him for the quest. Then I will also see for the proper priest dialog.
From what I understood from a french friend Travers is a common french name in that period. I will see for naming him Padre instead of Father.

Are there already other permanent characters in the Smugglers Fort? If so, perhaps the quest character could replace one of those?
Assuming that he's got a purpose to serve when the quest isn't in process. (Could even just be as much as a hint that there is a quest to be played and how to play it.)

The fort is completly empty at the moment.

 

[Grey Roger]

Are there already other permanent characters in the Smugglers Fort? If so, perhaps the quest character could replace one of those?
Assuming that he's got a purpose to serve when the quest isn't in process. (Could even just be as much as a hint that there is a quest to be played and how to play it.)

No, none of the characters in any current global character definition file are based there. Which is just as well, as they'd get in the way of a battle scene in "Assassin", which uses that location as the village which is attacked as a prelude to the "Siege of Oranjstad" section; and they'd also intrude on the slave camp scene in "Ardent".

 

[Levis]

No, none of the characters in any current global character definition file are based there. Which is just as well, as they'd get in the way of a battle scene in "Assassin", which uses that location as the village which is attacked as a prelude to the "Siege of Oranjstad" section; and they'd also intrude on the slave camp scene in "Ardent".

So if I was to add an inside location to one of the houses there and placed him there it wouldn't be a problem right?

 

[Grey Roger]

If you have another suggestion for stuff which could induce halicunations I'm up for that. Just trying to add on existing principles here.

Some really bad rum? I believe you can buy rum from the brothel in Nevis pirate settlement, provided the player sets brothels to be open in the "options" menu; and you can certainly buy it from the second tavern in Cartagena. You can also sometimes find it by looting random chests. Otherwise, for this quest, perhaps a very scary story from Mahala would do?

I noticed this camp was still completly emty that's why I added him. He is just walking around there, what could he break in those storylines? I think it's kind of boring to have this place there with nobody in it so I would love to add some more people there.

The problem is that so-called "Smugglers Fort" is currently in use for purposes other than a smugglers' fort. Any permanent additions are going to ruin two storylines.

The dialog file at the moment is completly placeholder, just copied it (like you saw). Need to check that once I'm ready to use him for the quest. Then I will also see for the proper priest dialog.
From what I understood from a french friend Travers is a common french name in that period. I will see for naming him Padre instead of Father.

Pater, not Padre. He's not Spanish. You've found my new thread about priests, so feel free to copy those files for Pater Travers.

 

[Grey Roger]

So if I was to add an inside location to one of the houses there and placed him there it wouldn't be a problem right?

That would be fine. The storylines could lock the entrance to that house during their scenes, then open it again when they've finished.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If you have another suggestion for stuff which could induce halicunations I'm up for that. Just trying to add on existing principles here.

@Grey Roger, would something voodoo-related be an option, you reckon?
That does sound appropriately Caribbean-like to me; though perhaps a but stereotypical.

I noticed this camp was still completly emty that's why I added him. He is just walking around there, what could he break in those storylines? I think it's kind of boring to have this place there with nobody in it so I would love to add some more people there.

Indeed I think along those same lines. It doesn't make a lot of sense to have a ghost location that suddenly turns lively for quest purposes.
Shouldn't there always be something there, but the quests override it if need be?

Some really bad rum? I believe you can buy rum from the brothel in Nevis pirate settlement, provided the player sets brothels to be open in the "options" menu; and you can certainly buy it from the second tavern in Cartagena.

Giving the Rum and Wine some extra use does sound good to me.
At the moment, I think they're just +health items, which makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever.
Having a less all-out-positive purpose for them would be indeed be much better.

 

[Grey Roger]

@Grey Roger, would something voodoo-related be an option, you reckon?
That does sound appropriately Caribbean-like to me; though perhaps a but stereotypical.

No more stereotypical than pirates drinking rum and looking for gold.

Indeed I think along those same lines. It doesn't make a lot of sense to have a ghost location that suddenly turns lively for quest purposes.
Shouldn't there always be something there, but the quests override it if need be?

Better would be to leave it as it is. That way neither @Bartolomeu o Portugues nor I need to rewrite our storylines to accommodate this sidequest. The compromise of putting the character in one of the houses can work, though.

Giving the Rum and Wine some extra use does sound good to me.
At the moment, I think they're just +health items, which makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever.
Having a less all-out-positive purpose for them would be indeed be much better.

They're also much more suited for smuggling quests because alcohol smuggling was an issue in those days (and still is). Not to beat a prohibition, but because it was taxed. Smuggling the stuff in meant taxes weren't being collected on it, and that's why Excise was involved in trying to stop it. (Susan Shaypen is an Excise agent in "Hoist the Colours", though she's after diamond smugglers rather than rum smugglers when you meet her in the story.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Better would be to leave it as it is. That way neither @Bartolomeu o Portugues nor I need to rewrite our storylines to accommodate this sidequest. The compromise of putting the character in one of the houses can work, though.

In that case, maybe make the location inaccessible outside those quests?
Otherwise if you run across it in general play, it would seem a bit unfinished...

No more stereotypical than pirates drinking rum and looking for gold.

Indeed the game is full of stereotypes anyway.

They're also much more suited for smuggling quests because alcohol smuggling was an issue in those days (and still is). Not to beat a prohibition, but because it was taxed. Smuggling the stuff in meant taxes weren't being collected on it, and that's why Excise was involved in trying to stop it. (Susan Shaypen is an Excise agent in "Hoist the Colours", though she's after diamond smugglers rather than rum smugglers when you meet her in the story.)

So then to summarize: Drugs preferably not, but weird effects from alcohol (rum/wine) or something related to voodoo would be OK.
Did I get that right?

 

[Grey Roger]

In that case, maybe make the location inaccessible outside those quests?
Otherwise if you run across it in general play, it would seem a bit unfinished...

A hidden location which players are unlikely to find, except when sent there by a quest, probably won't make the game seem unfinished. A big location which they will definitely find, with lots of apparent doors that do nothing, definitely makes the game seem unfinished, and has already drawn comment:
My problems with big cities, such as Santiago, Cartagena and an interesting bug in Turks.

So then to summarize: Drugs preferably not, but weird effects from alcohol (rum/wine) or something related to voodoo would be OK.
Did I get that right?

Close enough. And no trampling on existing storylines or quests - I learned that lesson and am willing to pass it on.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

A hidden location which players are unlikely to find, except when sent there by a quest, probably won't make the game seem unfinished. A big location which they will definitely find, with lots of apparent doors that do nothing, definitely makes the game seem unfinished, and has already drawn comment:
My problems with big cities, such as Santiago, Cartagena and an interesting bug in Turks.

Agreed.

Based on what I read here, I thought the Smugglers' Fort was more a big location that that players might accidentally find.
Would you consider it a hidden location then instead?
Of course you know better how likely it is that players would randomly run across it without deliberately going there.

And no trampling on existing storylines or quests - I learned that lesson and am willing to pass it on.

Ah, yes.
Good point. Well made.

 

[Levis]

@Grey Roger what do you think about if I try to rework the opium smuggling there is no into rum running instead? Maybe do keep the opium but only have it for sale in the opium den (and maybe for this quest) but besided that have Rum be a extra thing for smugglers.
But we probably need to call it different because you can also get rum in the stores for your crew I believe.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Rum smuggling does indeed sound VERY piratey!

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, that does sound like a great idea!

Possibility 1: whiskey. Not whisky, i.e. the quality Scotch stuff; "moonshine", the stuff produced in countless illicit stills, which will get you drunk faster than anything else and possibly turn you blind in the process.

Possibility 2: rum. Yes, the same stuff you can buy in the stores. Remember, you're not smuggling to beat a prohibition, you're smuggling to beat the taxman. What you buy in the store is all legal and properly taxed. Perhaps if the smugglers like you enough, you can buy rum from them at a drastically reduced price, then sell it somewhere else as normal. Or perhaps take note of how much rum you have before you do the deal, then make rum contraband everywhere until your stock is back down to that original amount, meaning you've sold, used or lost the contraband. Until then, you can't trade it except through smugglers or unless you have the "trustworthy" ability. ("quests_check.c" has cases "Goods" and "party_goods" which take "operation" as one of their conditions, meaning you should be able to check if your stock of an item is more than, or less than, a given amount.) Using rum has the advantage that you don't need to define a whole new cargo type.

You could also use rum or whiskey as a replacement for opium in the "Mysterious Plants" quest. There being no opium in the Caribbean at this point of history, there wasn't much chance of supplying it to natives, but "firewater" was certainly a trade item. So the opium den, and the current opium smuggling quest, can stay, while other quests can use rum or whiskey.

Have a look in "ships_init.c"for "schooner50".

 

[Levis]

While I'm working on getting a new archive to be compatible with the new one you posted I want to have an opinion @Grey Roger and @Pieter Boelen and whoever wants to join in.
The idea I have now for the smuggling is:

You can still buy opium in the opium den and it will still be used for the sidequest. BUT I will remove the opium smuggling sidequest, so it's just a fance item with a use which could give you an extra skillpoint for abilities. I might increase the price a bit to have it more balanced. For the smuggling part I want to introduce 3 tiers of "Illegal Rum". They will be normal items (so I don't have to add new goods which could lead to all kinds of difficult problems). I am thinking of a way that it might be possible to have these items still take up cargo room.
I want to add a location on several island. This would help with the problem of there being to many doors which don't do anything. These locations will be places where you can buy the illegal rum. Just as with the opium smuggling there will be buyers decided at random. There will be 3 tiers of buyers. When you start you can only buy cheap rum at some places. Once you've smuggled enough you will get access to the tier two buyers who will give you more of a profit, and it will allow you to buy the good illegal rum. The same goes for the last tier and Excellent Illegal Rum. This last one will give the best return in profit too. The code I'm now using for the opium ambush I will fix and adept it to check for the illegal rum instead. So when you are walking with illegal rum the guards might catch you.

Does this sounds like a good idea to make it a bit more realistic and have less of a drug emphasis?