Need Help Adding New Nations

[Grey Roger]

Spain's royal arms through the years, as seen on Wikipedia's List of coats of arms of Spain:

There's a bit of a problem with the "Napoleonic" period. That last one is from Joseph Bonaparte's coat of arms, but Napoleon didn't put his brother on Spain's throne until 1808. The Bourbon coat of arms which works for the "Revolutions" period could also be used for "Napoleonic", and would be the correct one for the "Hornblower" storyline. But the Bonaparte one at least gives a bit of variety. I am open to recommendations...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I like variety.

 

[Grizzly Bait]

There's a bit of a problem with the "Napoleonic" period. That last one is from Joseph Bonaparte's coat of arms, but Napoleon didn't put his brother on Spain's throne until 1808.

I am guessing that flags, like everything else that changes historically, is tied in with the period system. Would it be feasible to change that, so that instead it would change flags based on current date, rather than current period?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Possible? Probably yes.
Easily possible? Different story...

 

[Grey Roger]

Shields: on second thoughts, it's probably best to stick with the existing flag-based shields. This is why:

The royal shields look pretty at full resolution, lose some detail at 128x128, and are little more than a blur when shrunk down to the "International Relations" screen. The original flag shields at least have the advantage of being clear and distinct.

I haven't scrapped the files, though, so if anyone else wants them, let me know.

Meanwhile, back to the original topic, and that same screen shows that copying and renaming "Crest_Personal34.tga.tx" to "Crest_Guest11.tga.tx", "Crest_Guest12.tga.tx" and "Crest_Guest13.tga.tx" does indeed provide Sweden with its shield. Likewise, "Flag_Personal34.tga.tx" becomes "Flag_Guest11.tga.tx", "Flag_Guest12.tga.tx" and "Flag_Guest13.tga.tx", and this is the result:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The royal shields look pretty at full resolution, lose some detail at 128x128, and are little more than a blur when shrunk down to the "International Relations" screen. The original flag shields at least have the advantage of being clear and distinct.

That's a shame indeed. Does it help when you right-click on those shields?
It does seem a bit cluttered, but it's also almost too cool not to use...

Meanwhile, back to the original topic, and that same screen shows that copying and renaming "Crest_Personal34.tga.tx" to "Crest_Guest11.tga.tx", "Crest_Guest12.tga.tx" and "Crest_Guest13.tga.tx" does indeed provide Sweden with its shield. Likewise, "Flag_Personal34.tga.tx" becomes "Flag_Guest11.tga.tx", "Flag_Guest12.tga.tx" and "Flag_Guest13.tga.tx", and this is the result:

Good stuff!

 

[Grey Roger]

That's a shame indeed. Does it help when you right-click on those shields?
It does seem a bit cluttered, but it's also almost too cool not to use...

That's why I haven't deleted them, though at present I only have the English and Spanish versions. Looking at Wikipedia, France is a lot easier, it just used the fleurs-de-lys on blue background all the way up to Napoleon, who used a new coat of arms with his imperial eagle. Basically, it would be the "Early Explorers" shield in all ages except possibly "Napoleonic". I've yet to investigate Holland or Portugal.

 

[Ivanusiker]

I am back . I was away because of many other things in real life...so I am getting back to work

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Welcome back, @Ivanusiker.

 

[Grey Roger]

Nicely timed. I've just finished work on putting Swedish ships into the game. This is what they look like on the worldmap:


The encounter report initially said "It looks like merchants flying the colors of ." It turned out that "common.ini" needed several more entries with various prefixes, some with nation name "Sweden" and some with adjective "Swedish". With those in place:


And so I got my first look at a Swedish NPC ship, but the spyglass data showed a white flag. A bit of hunting turned up some flag texture files in "RESOURCE\Textures\BATTLE_INTERFACE", which duly had Swedish flags added. Meanwhile I've also edited "PROGRAM\Ships\Ships_init.c" to allow Sweden access to any ship which is permitted to everyone, and a few more besides - they share "FR_CastelF" for a start.


Also:

That's not the result of random relation changes. "StartStoryline.c" now allows for the Thirty Years War.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Amazing, @Grey Roger!
Sounds like you've got it pretty much functional now.

 

[Grey Roger]

Download the latest update:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/Grey Roger/post_August31_fixes.zip

Copy the contents into place. Edit "InternalSettings.h" and look for this line:

#define SWEDEN_ALLOWED                   0

Change the 0 to 1 and start a new game. You should then be able to meet Swedish ships on the high seas or play as a Swedish character.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Change the 0 to 1 and start a new game.

Now I wonder what would still be needed to have that always enabled by default.

 

[Grey Roger]

Sweden in the Caribbean is not very realistic, which is why it's disabled by default. It's not that hard to change for anyone who wants Sweden in the game.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Realism opposed to variety again, eh? Too bad.

Maybe it could be an Advanced Settings option so it isn't too invisible?
Or perhaps there could be one Swedish Free Play character for whom it is enabled by default?

 

[Grey Roger]

Realism opposed to variety again, eh? Too bad.

I'm not sure I understand. The variety is there for those who want it.

Maybe it could be an Advanced Settings option so it isn't too invisible?

I've no idea how to do that. Also, by the time you get to Advanced Settings, it's probably too late because the toggle is needed for "Periods.c".

Or perhaps there could be one Swedish Free Play character for whom it is enabled by default?

Is "Periods.c" read before or after "characters_init.c"? If "characters_init.c" is first then that could work, and I know just the character to use...

 

[Homo eructus]

Spain's royal arms through the years, as seen on Wikipedia's List of coats of arms of Spain:
View attachment 30573 View attachment 30574 View attachment 30575 View attachment 30576 View attachment 30577 View attachment 30578

There's a bit of a problem with the "Napoleonic" period. That last one is from Joseph Bonaparte's coat of arms, but Napoleon didn't put his brother on Spain's throne until 1808. The Bourbon coat of arms which works for the "Revolutions" period could also be used for "Napoleonic", and would be the correct one for the "Hornblower" storyline. But the Bonaparte one at least gives a bit of variety. I am open to recommendations...

Oh no, thou hath summoned the Spanish Nitpicker!
We discussed this before when adding Carlos IV as king pre-1808, but I would still argue that for the post-1808 part of the period maybe Joseph Bonaparte should be switched for Fernando VII, and Spain made to be at war with France and allied with Britain from 1808 onwards (that wouldn't affect the Hornblower storyline, it would be like other historical relation changes set within periods, right?). Joseph Bonaparte never had any control over the colonies and the colonial authorities (those that didn't declare independence*) recognized Fernando VII as king and governed in his name. Therefore they would keep the Bourbon coat of arms (although I agree the flags are more recognizable at that resolution and should probably be kept for clarity's sake).

Now, I realize that if we were to open that can of worms, we probably should also change Napoleon for Louis XVIII and end the war in 1815, include the war of 1812 between Britain and the US, etc. And if we did that in the Napoleonic period, we should do it with the rest and that would be a giant mess to sort. But if we were to experiment with it, the Napoleonic period being one of the shortest and less packed with storylines and whatnot, would probably be a good place to start. For the rest of the periods, changing the names of the kings as time goes by would be enough, no need to add every tiny change of relations, we have already enough of those set already.

*Actually, it could be interesting to apply the new nation template of Sweden to maybe do something similar with the Spanish American independence movements from say 1810 onwards, to spice up the late Napoleonic period. Like spawning Colombian privateers (they didn't have a proper navy, so it would be mostly schooners and brigs), or even giving them the city of Cartagena, which was one of the first to declare independence. It would be interesting for characters like Jean Laffite who did have a Colombian letter of marque at some point in his career.

There's a lot in this post and almost nothing relevant to the topic at hand. Sorry, I kept thinking stuff up as I went and got carried away.

 

[DeathDaisy]

Oh no, thou hath summoned the Spanish Nitpicker!
We discussed this before when adding Carlos IV as king pre-1808, but I would still argue that for the post-1808 part of the period maybe Joseph Bonaparte should be switched for Fernando VII, and Spain made to be at war with France and allied with Britain from 1808 onwards (that wouldn't affect the Hornblower storyline, it would be like other historical relation changes set within periods, right?). Joseph Bonaparte never had any control over the colonies and the colonial authorities (those that didn't declare independence*) recognized Fernando VII as king and governed in his name. Therefore they would keep the Bourbon coat of arms (although I agree the flags are more recognizable at that resolution and should probably be kept for clarity's sake).

Now, I realize that if we were to open that can of worms, we probably should also change Napoleon for Louis XVIII and end the war in 1815, include the war of 1812 between Britain and the US, etc. And if we did that in the Napoleonic period, we should do it with the rest and that would be a giant mess to sort. But if we were to experiment with it, the Napoleonic period being one of the shortest and less packed with storylines and whatnot, would probably be a good place to start. For the rest of the periods, changing the names of the kings as time goes by would be enough, no need to add every tiny change of relations, we have already enough of those set already.

*Actually, it could be interesting to apply the new nation template of Sweden to maybe do something similar with the Spanish American independence movements from say 1810 onwards, to spice up the late Napoleonic period. Like spawning Colombian privateers (they didn't have a proper navy, so it would be mostly schooners and brigs), or even giving them the city of Cartagena, which was one of the first to declare independence. It would be interesting for characters like Jean Laffite who did have a Colombian letter of marque at some point in his career.

There's a lot in this post and almost nothing relevant to the topic at hand. Sorry, I kept thinking stuff up as I went and got carried away.

Sound like it's time for a new thread where we list wars and regents and get this project going!

 

[Grey Roger]

Adding relation changes based on more wars and treaties: go for it! Take a look at "PROGRAM\Storyline\FreePlay\StartStoryline.c", in which I've already added quite a few. Adding more should not be too hard. Note, however, that this only sets the relations at the beginning of the game. I've no idea how to change them dynamically as years go by, and anyway random relation changes are going to play merry havoc with history.

Edit: I had to make another correction anyway, so while I was at it, I added the War of 1812. Since that definitely makes Spain Britain's ally, Fernando VII becomes king of Spain at least for that time.

For Hornblower, Spain is going to switch sides, declare war on France and ally with Britain, though the date on which that happens almost certainly won't be realistic. If you've ever watched the Gregory Peck film "Captain Horation Hornblower RN", you'll know how Hornblower finds out about it. If you play Hornblower, whether through the storyline or from FreePlay, you're going to find out about it the same way, first hand...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'm not sure I understand. The variety is there for those who want it.

I just mean you can't have both at the same time.

I've no idea how to do that. Also, by the time you get to Advanced Settings, it's probably too late because the toggle is needed for "Periods.c".

Should be BuildSettings.h, one of the interface options files and something in resource\ini .
The periods may be initialized again when you start a new game.

Or you could have Sweden always on at game start and then disabled after new game.
There should probably be a way to do that.

Actually, it could be interesting to apply the new nation template of Sweden to maybe do something similar with the Spanish American independence movements from say 1810 onwards, to spice up the late Napoleonic period. Like spawning Colombian privateers (they didn't have a proper navy, so it would be mostly schooners and brigs), or even giving them the city of Cartagena, which was one of the first to declare independence. It would be interesting for characters like Jean Laffite who did have a Colombian letter of marque at some point in his career.

Isn't there one Free Play character who should start with a custom nation in the Napoleonic time period?

I've no idea how to change them dynamically as years go by, and anyway random relation changes are going to play merry havoc with history.

Quest timers that expire on certain dates and trigger the relevant events?