Kazmeister
Landlubber
Well, well, well.
Before I ever even knew about these forums or the Build Mod, I had already added a few "new" blades and ships to PotC. Now that I've seen some of the outstanding mods put forth by you all, I'm thinking much bigger.
So what's the logical next step after learning to add new ships and items?
Hey, I know! Let's add a completely new aspect to the gameplay! Let's add a 'modify ship' function to the shipyard interface! It'll be <i>great</i>!
It'll also be damn near impossible. But maybe not quite. After looking over some of Akella's code, I'm astounded by the haphazard way it's thrown together. Maybe it's just because I'm not russian, but <i>wow</i> this is going to be way more difficult than modding other games I'm familiar with. This will definitely prove to be the hardest bit of mod-work I've ever done.
All that said, I'm not giving up. This thread will be a running account of the "Modify Ship" modding experience, until it's either completed or I've died of frustration. At any rate, hopefully other folks will be able to learn from my mistakes, because I'm going to make quite a few in my stumbling efforts to make this work.
So let's get started, shall we?
As this is going to be a pretty complicated task (Esp. for me <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> ) I'm first going to break down what needs to be done into some smaller parts.
1: Learn the code. (Yep... Pretty important step, neh?)
2: Learn what files affect what. And figure out everything I'll have to change to pull this off.
3: Add a button to the shipyard interface to call a new interface which I'll call the "Modify Ship" interface (Well, what else would I call it? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> )
4: Build the Modify Ship interface, this would seem to be most easily accomplished if it's based on the shipyard interface I think.
5: Add a bunch of new buttons to the modify ship interface, such as: Replace Holds with Berthing (Decrease cargo space and increase max crew), Replace Berthing with Holds (opposite of the former), Fortify Ship Superstructure (Increase hull but add weight and decrease speed), Streamline Hull (Decrease cargo space to increase speed), Reengineer Sailplan (Reduce SP to increase speed), Reengineer Keel and Rudder (Improve turning radius but decrease... Something.), Rig for Fishing (This would enable the ship to replenish it's own food supply -Superambitious and probably impossible-), Convert to Merchant Ship (Disable cannon and increase cargo space)... And so on, and so on.
6: Charge for each and pass time, similar to the way ship repairs are with b12.
Wow. Sounds simple, right? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />
To make any of this work though, first I need to figure out how to "permanently" change the statistics of the player's ships on the fly (while the game is running). And I'm not even sure if this is possible. It seems to me the only things that can be changed on the fly right now are the hp and sp (As a result of damage) and I still have to find out how even that works. But even these "alterations" are completely undone when you click that "repair all" button. So if repair all sets a ship to it's default state, this mod may be screwed.
Of course, a much easier but far more time consuming way would be to create a few thousand ships that reflect each modification and just replace the old ship with the new "modified" one. I'd like to avoid this like the plague though.
So to start with, if anyone knows how to alter a ship's stats through an in-game interface (or even if it's possible) please let me know.
As a matter of fact, if any of you experienced PotC modders have <i>any</i> advice or constructive criticism (note the <i>constructive</i> part) to offer... Well I'll take any help I can get.
*sigh* Well here goes.
-James-
...I just now thought of something. Some perks effectively change a ship's characteristics. Wonder if I can use that to my advantage... Maybe the ships could be improved by the same system that changes character's skills... On the other hand, maybe I'm <i>completely</i> wrong. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />
Before I ever even knew about these forums or the Build Mod, I had already added a few "new" blades and ships to PotC. Now that I've seen some of the outstanding mods put forth by you all, I'm thinking much bigger.
So what's the logical next step after learning to add new ships and items?
Hey, I know! Let's add a completely new aspect to the gameplay! Let's add a 'modify ship' function to the shipyard interface! It'll be <i>great</i>!
It'll also be damn near impossible. But maybe not quite. After looking over some of Akella's code, I'm astounded by the haphazard way it's thrown together. Maybe it's just because I'm not russian, but <i>wow</i> this is going to be way more difficult than modding other games I'm familiar with. This will definitely prove to be the hardest bit of mod-work I've ever done.
All that said, I'm not giving up. This thread will be a running account of the "Modify Ship" modding experience, until it's either completed or I've died of frustration. At any rate, hopefully other folks will be able to learn from my mistakes, because I'm going to make quite a few in my stumbling efforts to make this work.
So let's get started, shall we?
As this is going to be a pretty complicated task (Esp. for me <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> ) I'm first going to break down what needs to be done into some smaller parts.
1: Learn the code. (Yep... Pretty important step, neh?)
2: Learn what files affect what. And figure out everything I'll have to change to pull this off.
3: Add a button to the shipyard interface to call a new interface which I'll call the "Modify Ship" interface (Well, what else would I call it? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> )
4: Build the Modify Ship interface, this would seem to be most easily accomplished if it's based on the shipyard interface I think.
5: Add a bunch of new buttons to the modify ship interface, such as: Replace Holds with Berthing (Decrease cargo space and increase max crew), Replace Berthing with Holds (opposite of the former), Fortify Ship Superstructure (Increase hull but add weight and decrease speed), Streamline Hull (Decrease cargo space to increase speed), Reengineer Sailplan (Reduce SP to increase speed), Reengineer Keel and Rudder (Improve turning radius but decrease... Something.), Rig for Fishing (This would enable the ship to replenish it's own food supply -Superambitious and probably impossible-), Convert to Merchant Ship (Disable cannon and increase cargo space)... And so on, and so on.
6: Charge for each and pass time, similar to the way ship repairs are with b12.
Wow. Sounds simple, right? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />
To make any of this work though, first I need to figure out how to "permanently" change the statistics of the player's ships on the fly (while the game is running). And I'm not even sure if this is possible. It seems to me the only things that can be changed on the fly right now are the hp and sp (As a result of damage) and I still have to find out how even that works. But even these "alterations" are completely undone when you click that "repair all" button. So if repair all sets a ship to it's default state, this mod may be screwed.
Of course, a much easier but far more time consuming way would be to create a few thousand ships that reflect each modification and just replace the old ship with the new "modified" one. I'd like to avoid this like the plague though.
So to start with, if anyone knows how to alter a ship's stats through an in-game interface (or even if it's possible) please let me know.
As a matter of fact, if any of you experienced PotC modders have <i>any</i> advice or constructive criticism (note the <i>constructive</i> part) to offer... Well I'll take any help I can get.
*sigh* Well here goes.
-James-
...I just now thought of something. Some perks effectively change a ship's characteristics. Wonder if I can use that to my advantage... Maybe the ships could be improved by the same system that changes character's skills... On the other hand, maybe I'm <i>completely</i> wrong. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />