WIP Updating the Island Models

[Pieter Boelen]

*Is there anything besides the San Felipe fort locators that still needs doing?

Ideally, could you re-export some of the mod-added islands? Especially Saint Martin and Antigua?
They let the light through, but I suspect some of their "solidity data" is wrong too, which makes AI ships not "see" them properly.
After all, they don't usually sail through stock game islands, do they?

BTW: I FINALLY managed to put the flag on the Kralendijk fort! It never used to have it, not even in the stock game!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Is it only Saint Martin and Antigua that have collision problems? They should be easy enough to fix, since I don't have to mess with locators or seabed models etc.

Well, they're the ones I know have lighting problems. And I suspect the two issues might be related.

For Antigua, I was thinking of using the dock from the CoAS island model that matches the Antigua port location model. Could you upload this island if you know which one it is?

Turns out it is PortoBello, which uses a similar island model to Cartagena. That doesn't help much, does it?

 

[Armada]

Turns out it is PortoBello, which uses a similar island model to Cartagena. That doesn't help much, does it?

Ah, probably not. I'll have to improvise, then. It's just the weird TOOL-added docks that need replacing.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Are you able to take the REAL town GM file and make use of that? The Antigua Port model was modified quite a bit compared to its AoP/CoAS equivalent.
I wouldn't mind some more detail on the islands anyway. They look rather dull.

 

[Armada]

Erm, I could possibly take the added stuff by itself and use that, combined with the low-poly buildings already on the island model.
That would be the best way to keep the poly count at a reasonable level.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Cartagena proves the game apparently can deal with having the entire Central American coastline loaded at the same time.
So I dare say we can up the number of polygons quite a bit if we'd want to.

 

[Armada]

That would be fine, if I hadn't just found out that TOOL cannot read the 72,000 poly StJohns.gm to split it up for exporting into Maya.
What I was saying before, though, is that StJohnsAdd.gm (26,000 polys) and the low poly buildings should be enough to create a vaguely accurate port. Now it HAS to be enough.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

AGH! So be it.
(Stupid computer things!!! )

 

[Armada]

Back to the San Felipe fort... I've just finished getting some cannon and culverin locators positioned; 30 and 31 respectively, so this is one mean fort! See attached and let me know how it works.
They're dotted around to give the fort a good angle of attack from multiple directions. For gameplay reasons, most of them are probably not in accurate positions, but that shouldn't matter.
This was also made SO much easier now that I can export locators directly from Maya.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That fort actually FIRING looks GREAT!

I do think the "fort reload locator" still needs moving though. Seems to be at the old spot.

 

[Armada]

Great! Now the test will be whether anyone can destroy the fort successfully...

I'll look into that locator issue soon. Sorting out the Antigua island model at the moment.

 

[Armada]

Does the attached Cartahena locators file work better, now?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'll look into that locator issue soon. Sorting out the Antigua island model at the moment.

Cool, that'll be nice to have sorted too!

Is it just me or is Cartagena the ONLY real-looking fort we've got on the game? It looks pretty epic firing from up on that hill!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Does the attached Cartahena locators file work better, now?

Apparently not. To test, start a New Game on Bartolomeu and skip to Cartagena. Enable Godmode.
I noticed that I am not in "danger" of the fort when I'm basically right next to it. See attached.

 

[Armada]

So where ARE you unable to escape to the map? I'm a bit confused as to how the fort reload locator affects this.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I figure it is the centre of the locator radius from which you cannot escape. What is the position of that locator now then?
Perhaps the radius needs increasing in the island init file though?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Armada, could you have a look at the worldmap sea.tga.tx file? I think those white borders around the Central America mainland are being extended, which looks pretty weird:


And Saint Martin most DEFINITELY has the ships confused. These two guys were happily turning RIGHT into the island as I passed them:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Great! Now the test will be whether anyone can destroy the fort successfully...

Yep, that works:

I destroyed all the cannons and managed to land my troops. Seems to work pretty well.
But I had to sail over the other side of the bay where the old fort was before I could actually land my troops.
Probably related to the issue I mentioned before.

Anyway, I reckon it is pretty EPIC!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Hmm. Just wondering if soldiers could be put in the forts. It is probably a lot of work but would add a nice touch. The Dutch fort at Kralendijk looks much much better now. More solid and not flickery.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Hmm. Just wondering if soldiers could be put in the forts. It is probably a lot of work but would add a nice touch.

You mean same as the crew walking around on ships? Not sure... the forts aren't ship models at all.
Plus at best they would be the regular crew, not soldiers.

The Dutch fort at Kralendijk looks much much better now. More solid and not flickery.

Flickery fort? Uh? What do you mean? I know I put the flag there at long last, but that should be all the difference it makes.
Anyway, if it is better, who am I to complain?