Mod Release Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales - Historical Immersion Supermod

[Levis]

I dont have the game. For the next week I'm still working on making sure the POTC release is working well. So if you send it to me monday 26th I can proably take a look at it after that

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Hey @Modder01! Did you ever see the modpack installer I made for you?
Does it work? And will you post it to ModDB?

 

[Modder01]

@Pieter Boelen I will test it all in good time. (probably this weekend)
@Levis I will PM you with the dropbox link soon.

 

[Drakon1590]

Hello.

I do not know where to start. Well, as not a single user of this forum, I'm a fan of RPGs, and one of those games that I play is of course the game "Age of Pirates". Some time ago I came across a network on your mod titled "Historical Immersion Supermod" which intrigued me. In my opinion the most noteworthy is the fact that your modification improves the bugs in the game, and adds new ships. However, not everything I liked. The most irritates me change the appearance of the main characters Blaze and Beatrice. Besides, I think that new ships were not well balanced with respect to the standard ships, but it is not a significant problem for me. Another issue is the ability to move around the island, of course it diversifies the game, but it can also sometimes be annoying. I am not a supporter of modifying games, but sometimes it is necessary that the game was actually playable. Therefore I would like to ask a few questions.

The first and most important question:

What bugs in the game has not yet been fixed?


For a long time I have not played the game "Age of Pirates", but I remember that sooner or later saved game broke down, and further play was not possible. I'm not sure, but one of the reasons could be receiving at the same time a number of tasks related to the escort when it was a low level of skill tactics. Actually, I do not know if the low skill level tactics, is important when taking on the task of escorting, but it does not matter.

Here is the second question:
Are you still there are errors in the save game, regardless of what is the cause of these errors?


I want to get rid of, in my opinion, some unnecessary stuff from this modification, and I want to do it in a safe way, so I would like to ask you a few questions.

Here are the questions:
How to restore the original appearance of Blaze and Beatrice, and their original portraits?
If no task in the game is not associated with it, I would like to know how to remove the ability to move around the island and everything associated with it?
How to restore the original amount of money that you get when you start new game?

Moreover, it is still a matter of sound in the game. It is true that for me it is not a matter of the highest importance, but still would like to know how to improve the comfort of listening to the sounds of the game, and that sounds can be removed.

Here are the questions:
What to do to the sounds of cannon shots not disappeared, when I turn the view?
Which sounds added by you provide greatest realism?
And finally, how to remove the sounds and music, which I will not apply in the game?


As I wrote above, ships added by you are probably not well balanced, so I want to ask one more question:
How to better balance the ships?


Waiting for your reply and thank you in advance


PS. I'm not sure which of the changes outlined in this post I want to introduce, but I preferred to ask about anything that came to my mind.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Modder01 has not been around for a while and no one else knows enough about this mod to answer your questions.

 

[Drakon1590]

Modder01 has not been around for a while and no one else knows enough about this mod to answer your questions.

So I understand that I can forget about receiving answers to my questions?

If so, then bad, because I have another question about unnecessary files. I found some probably unnecessary folders and would like to know if these folders can be safely removed. The same applies to folders that contain files for other language versions of the game Age of Pirates.

 

[Modder01]

I know my account has been mothballing for the last couple of years.... Sorry about that. I am reviving this old thread and I am starting work on the mod again.... As for Drakon's questions, here are some of the answers.

What bugs in the game has not yet been fixed?

One of the main and unavoidable problems associated with this game is its sound system. When doing complex events such as destroying two ships in a row or simultaneously, the system will either be overloaded or will play two different music files at one time. When you exit the battle the second music sound that should have terminated when you exited to the global map will continue to play on loop or repeat until you refresh the game (save, close, reopen). If you continue with this error ongoing or cause more of these errors (cascade effect is possible) it could corrupt your save file or CTD so please save often when encountering this error. Also when the sound system gets overloaded by too many simultanious sound events (especially loud cannon fire from more than 30 cannons) the further sound events for that object will not be created (therefore the sounds for a 50 gun ship if all 50 guns were to go off at once, only 30 or so would be declared as sound events).

The next problem arises with the surrender system. It is possible that if your ship is medium sized (like a 3rd Rate Warship) you can force the enemy crew to surrender by mashing the greyed out surrender button in the "talk to ship" interface. If you perform this action too many times the game will CTD. I have no idea how to fix this issue.

Are you still there are errors in the save game, regardless of what is the cause of these errors?

The save game can be corrupted for any number of reasons. I do not have a definitive answer for what causes this, however sometimes the sound error that I discuss above can corrupt the save file if you leave the error alone for a long period of time.

1. How to restore the original appearance of Blaze and Beatrice, and their original portraits?
2. If no task in the game is not associated with it, I would like to know how to remove the ability to move around the island and everything associated with it?
3. How to restore the original amount of money that you get when you start new game?
(numbered questions here to ease answering the questions in sequence -Modder01)

1.The original appearances of Blaze and Beatrice (both in model+texture and png portraits) are found in the game files before the mod is installed. Since the mod overwrites the original files, you will have to create a backup of the old files before the mod is installed. (Note: Models are using the extension "*.gm" and Textures, which are based on Targa Images, have the extension "*.tga.tx") Models are located in the following path "Age of Pirates - Caribbean Tales\RESOURCE\Models\Characters" with the files "Devlin" and either "Beatrice" or "BeatriceA" being the file names. (This depends on which is the stock model before the mod is installed). Textures are Located in the Following Path "Age of Pirates - Caribbean Tales\RESOURCE\Textures\Characters" with the files "BlazeN" and either "Beatrice" or "BeatriceA" being the file names. (Again depends on stock game's original). The portraits are located in the following path "Age of Pirates - Caribbean Tales\RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES\PORTRAITS". Unfortunately you will have to view the targa texture files individually by eliminating the "*.tx" file extension (just remember to replace it when your done) to find the right file that has blaze and beatrice's portraits in it. Another way is that there might be a portrait defined in the "characters_init.c" file, however I cannot be sure this is true. When you install the mod, overwrite the files in those paths and you should be good to go.

2. The move (I assume you mean the travel/sail to option) ground and sea ability is either innate in the stock game or is part of the original mod by CyberOps that I built this current mod upon. I have no knowledge of where it is in the game's files, nor how to remove it.

3. The amount of starting money is controlled from the "characters_init.c" file from the following path "Age of Pirates - Caribbean Tales\Program\characters". It is best to use a free program called "Notepad ++" (its a programming tool). Although notepad is good, there is no native formatting that will transfer over making it a pain to edit in notepad. Go to the line on each character (use CTRL+F to find "blaze" and "beatrice") that is called "ch.money". In the quotes set the value to the stock value that you remember or have backed up from the original game.

1. What to do to the sounds of cannon shots not disappeared, when I turn the view?
2. Which sounds added by you provide greatest realism?
3. And finally, how to remove the sounds and music, which I will not apply in the game?
(numbered questions here to ease answering the questions in sequence -Modder01)

1. That is a sound error that I do not know how to fix. It could be related to the CTD/Game Save corruption cascade error detailed in the first question.

2. Most of the sounds I added were the cannon sounds, music and fixed the character voices to the modded ones:
The music you hear is controlled by a file called "music_alias.ini" which is changed via the sound scheme changer program called "Music Options.exe" This changer will have a couple of options that are found in the "Music Options Key.txt" file because the options that show up on the program are longer the options you will hear when clicked. Here is a printout of the "Music Options Key.txt" file:
"Original: Original AOP Music
MC: Epic Music
POTC: Mod Content
K3: Classical Music
CptBlackfleet: No Music"
Each name before the colon corresponds to a file folder in the main AOP directory in which a custom "music_alias.ini" is contained in each file folder. By an extension, each "music_alias.ini" file shows all of the added Music files including the original files that the stock game has.
The cannon sounds were made possible by a custom sound assignment "rCannon.Sound" in "cannons_init.c" that forces the game to search the "Sea Battles" folder for the corresponding sound files in the specified naming convention (3 variations of each sound are required for each definition in cannons_init.c) Right now the 16-42pdr cannons are using heavily modified stock sounds from various versions of sea dogs (POTC, AOP:COAS and AOP:CT), however I have just tested new more historical sounds that will replace them (16-42) and the underwhelming, but realistic 92pdr mortar sound. The voice files are too heavily modified to change, however a varied degree of stock sounds for the voice acting is still heard in the game itself.

3. This question has been answered by the tutorial included in my answer to number 2.

How to better balance the ships?

Ship balancing can be performed in the "ships_init.c" and "cannons_init.c" files. You can edit in "ships_init.c": the max calibre the ship can carry, the starting calibre of the cannons when purchased, the slow down value in speed of any wind against the sails, the speed and turn rate, hit points and sail hit points (Note: Sail hit points cannot be modified without lasting problems), price of the ship, number of crew (min and max), subdivision of crew into the different crew types (must add up to the max crew) and the capacity of the hold. In "cannons_init.c" you can change each cannon's: range min and max (based on firing angle), the reload time (Speculation Note: in seconds - for full reload or milliseconds - per cannon), cost per cannon, damage multipliers, cannonball size multipliers (for damage calculation) and the hit points of a cannon (explodes when 0).

If there are any more questions please let me know,

-Modder01

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Hey @Modder01, welcome back to the forum!

@LarryHookins: Looks like there is another AoP/SD modder back in these waters.

 

[Modder01]

I have tasked myself with the goals of the new version of the Mod (v5.0):
- Improved sounds (Cannons and Ship sounds)
- Re-balance the Ships

As far as re-balancing is concerned, I believe the first goal is to set down my intentions of focus on this iteration of balance:
Note: I believe that in each class and type there should be at least one so-called elite ship that is more powerful than the others of the same class to act as intermediaries to the next class of ship.

All ships of this period were divided into two types, Traders and Warships.

So far in the game's evolution, the following ships are available including the supermod (Categorized by type):
Traders (Classified by, in order of importance, protection, cargo hold space and number of cannons):
Tartane/War Tartane (class 7)
Cutter (class 6)
Sloop (class 6) (Lead Trader of Class)
Barquentine (class 5)
Barque (class 5) (Lead Trader of Class)
Fluyt (class 4)
Fast Galleon (class 4) (Hybrid)
Flag Galleon (class 4) (Hybrid) (Lead Trader of Class)
West Indianman (class 3)
Light Frigate (class 3) (Hybrid) (Lead Trader of Class)

Warships (Classified by, in order of importance, number of cannons and has either enhanced protection or speed/maneuverability):
Lugger (class 6)
Sloop of War (class 6)
Xebec (class 6) (Lead Warship of Class)
Schooner (class 5) (Note: Trade/War Hybrid)
Carrack (class 5) (Note: Trade/War Hybrid)
Caravel (class 5) (Lead Warship of Class) (Note: Trade/War Hybrid)
Brig (class 4)
Royal Navy Brig (class 4)
6th Rate Warship (class 4) (Lead Warship of Class)
Frigate (class 3)
Great Frigate (class 3) (Lead Warship of Class)
3rd Rate Warship (Class 2)
3rd Rate Man-o-War (Class 2)
2nd Rate Warship (Class 2) (Lead Warship of Class)
Ship of the Line (Class 1) (Lead Warship of the Class - Normal Gameplay)
Flying Dutchman (Class 1) (Lead Warship of the Class - via Dutchman Quest)

Cannons should be limited to class and size of the ship:
Proposal A (from 12pdr - Class 1 can mount Mortars - 92pdr):
Class 6 = up to 12pdr Max Calibre
Class 5 = up to 16pdr Max Calibre
Class 4 = up to 24pdr Max Calibre
Class 3 = up to 32pdr Max Calibre
Class 2 = up to 36pdr Max Calibre
Class 1 = up to 92pdr Max Calibre

Proposal B (from 16pdr - Class 1 can mount Mortars - 92pdr):
Class 6 = up to 16pdr Max Calibre
Class 5 = up to 24pdr Max Calibre
Class 4 = up to 32pdr Max Calibre
Class 3 = up to 36pdr Max Calibre
Class 2 = up to 42pdr Max Calibre
Class 1 = up to 92pdr Max Calibre

Proposal C (from 12pdr - limited to 48pdr Max at Class 1):
Class 6 = up to 12pdr Max Calibre
Class 5 = up to 16pdr Max Calibre
Class 4 = up to 24pdr Max Calibre
Class 3 = up to 32pdr Max Calibre
Class 2 = up to 42pdr Max Calibre
Class 1 = up to 48pdr Max Calibre

Proposal D (from 16pdr - limited to 48pdr Max at Class 1):
Class 6 = up to 16pdr Max Calibre
Class 5 = up to 24pdr Max Calibre
Class 4 = up to 32pdr Max Calibre
Class 3 = up to 36pdr Max Calibre
Class 2 = up to 42pdr Max Calibre
Class 1 = up to 48pdr Max Calibre

Notes:
- Class lead ships should have the median starting HP (without upgrades) between the previous ship in its class and the successor ship.
- Hybrid ships on the Warships label should have cargo space comparable to their trade rivals.
- The exception is lead warships (which have the median between the trader lead ship and the trader predecessor in cargo capacity).
- Lead ship hybrids in the Trader label will have the median cargo space between their predecessors and the next class of trader (if one exists).
- Lead warships that are not hybrids will have cargo space 15% less than the lead ship of the trader class.
- Every warship except for class 2 and 1 will have a 15% reduction in their cargo space comparable to the corresponding trader ship.
- Class lead ships will ALWAYS have the max caliber available
- Mid-tier of class ships will have one caliber below max caliber of of the class
- Low Tier class ships will have the minimum calibre available to them on purchase, but other classes will have a minimum on purchase of the last maximum per class if only two ships per type or one calibre below the minimum if three ships in the class.
-Forts will have the ability to mount mortars regardless of any proposals accepted.
-The max HP in the game besides the Fort will be tied between the Ship of the Line and the Flying Dutchman at 15,000 (fully upgraded).

 

[Modder01]

Just a Little Update:
I have started to work on the HP and calibers allowed for each ship and want to get your feedback on the values.
Attached is the new ship_init.c with better values.
In my original update to the Cyberops mod, the cannon damage values were changed slightly. This HP increase across the board will allow for longer combat against ships that load bombs. I know that the mid tier ships between the minimum and maximum values aren't perfect so I would welcome the input.

-Modder01

 

[Modder01]

It is hard to tell if the changes I implemented for ships_init.c are working properly since not only have I not seen any feedback to the contrary of these changes, but I haven't had the time to test the changes extensively myself. The new cannon sounds that I have tested seem to be working perfectly by the way.

 

[Modder01]

I have been contacted by ChezJfrey, a fellow storm modder, who has revamped AOP:CT to Storm Engine 2.8 standards. His project is going to be merged with this project in an effort to stabilize AOP:CT. Mod v5.0 has been updated to accommodate this change. The Following is a comprehensive list of the Changes for Mod v5.0:
- Re-balance to ships
- Improve the cannon sounds and add new music files
- Fix the Broken Dutchman Quest I incorporated in v4.0 (with ChezJfrey's help)
- Incorporate the upgrade of Storm Engine 2.8 into AOP:CT
- Fix the Battleinterface showing of random pictures in the ship health and sail HUD for modded ships. (If battleinterface.c is not as a pain to modify as it was in STORM Engine 2.5)

Please Note: That this list may be subject to change and that this is in preliminary discussion stages.

 

[Miss Juf]

This is good news. I liked playing this mod very much and would enjoy an improved version.

 

[Modder01]

Just a Little Update on the Progress of Mod v5.0:
On Ship Rebalancing:
The ship_init.c changes I have outlined above are ready to test. I have employed ChezJefrey to help test the ships out for balance.

On the Storm Engine 2.8 Merge:
I have been conversing with ChezJefrey on fixing some of the visual and other problems in the STORM Engine 2.8 Merge. I think we have fixed most of the errors except for the alpha map fixes for some of the ships. When the textures for some of the supermod's mod ships were compressed, they didn't have the correct alpha map for it and thus now causes the ships affected to appear transparent. This is being worked on and will likely be fixed soon. It appears the 2.8 Merge will make the HI Supermod a standalone game (I am not entirely sure if that is true, but I will have to talk to ChezJefrey on that one once all the bugs are ironed out). The interface scaling issues are almost completely eliminated, however there are still some resolution bugs in how the 1920x1080 resolution behaves.

On the Sounds and Music:
I have incorporated the cannon sound changes and have also found some unused cannon sounds from the new folder of the 2.8 Storm Engine. I will be rearranging these sounds to accommodate the new sounds. The Music hasn't been tested yet (coming from AOP1:SOFS), but I am sure it will work as long as I remember to fix the music_alias files to match.

On the Dutchman Quest:
I have found some inconsistencies with the quest giver in Bridgetown. It was originally designed for Blaze Sharp, however I have expanded the dialog for Beatrice as well so that the dialog wouldn't sound as awkward.

On the Battle-interface Changes:
These changes haven't begun testing yet. My aim is to incorporate the correct ship pictures of the ships in question while at sea. At the moment the mod-ships have random ship pictures. When this feature enters the testing phase, the ships will have the correct ship icons in the battle-interface HUD in the top left corner.

 

[Modder01]

Updates and status of progress on Mod v5.0:
Ship Rebalancing:
I have tested a little bit. An extreme example of this is if you use 48 pounder cannons on the Dutchman (round shot) it will take 3 broadsides (give or take) to sink a non-upgraded caravel.. How's that for durability! I also have nerfed the overpowered turn rate for the "corvette" or 6th rate Warship as she is called in the game by 10 degrees. The dutchman's comparative stats for speed and wind against speed have been nerfed slightly while buffing the turn rate by 1 degree.

Storm Engine 2.8 Merge:
Still having battleinterface scaling issues with the ship icon while at sea. On the world map it appears fine.... Still problems with game scaling on the main menu. The transparency issues with ship models have apparently been fixed.

Sounds and Music:
The cannon sounds changes are pretty much finalized. Music incorperation not started yet. Found some new sources for pistol/musket/blunderbuss sounds (not sure if I can incorporate the latter 2 sounds for the musket/musketoon and the only blunderbuss). I have discovered the sound and music alias INI's need to be redone as some of the sound events were poorly ported from the CT Supermod to the 2.8 engine.

On the Dutchman Quest:
I now have a better understanding of the questing system and have discovered that by using the DoDialogExitQuest function in the dialog file of the quest giver, I go to a separate win condition system. Therefore I have made two contingencies: one for win condition and one ad verbatum of the functions/logic I need defined in quests_check.c where I added in the values as necessary. These contingencies haven't been tested, I have to run them by ChezJefrey before I proceed to test. I have also added Logbook entries related to the quest so the player recognizes that there is a quest going on and improves immersion.

Battle Interface Changes:
The changes have been made and are working perfectly.

Other news:
I have found some text display bugs for the custom items I defined for quests and for new items for quest rewards in the main story quest. I ironed those out today so that they display correctly. Also I rewrote some of the item descriptions to be shorter and to the point while some others will be more detailed.

 

[Modder01]

Updates and status of progress on Mod v5.0 (HUGE Progress):
Ship Re-balancing:
Since this has been tested for a couple of hours, this part of the additions has been sidelined until later when testing can resume on a larger scale (more testers) in order to increase efficiency of bug fixing for the 2.8 port.

Storm Engine 2.8 Merge:
I am talking with ChezJfrey on how best to address the main menu problem. The battleinterface scaling issues are going to be fixed also at some point. If there was a way to not allow the battleinterface pictures to scale just like on the world map where the textures are fine.

Sounds and Music:
I have fully integrated the new music and am currently working on the alias files. I discovered that sound.c has been tampered with; which was denying the Shipyard music, and the difference between sailing "day" and sailing "night". This has been corrected... Now spokplavanie is now related to day sailing while enplavanie will be related to night sailing for any future modders who want to continue after this release. I have also recorded some weapon sounds for the pistol, musket/musketoon, and blunderbuss. Not sure if all can be incorporated, but I will try to do so.

Dutchman Quest:
This has been sidelined until later when Storm Engine 2.8 and music/sounds are running smoothly.

Battle Interface Changes:
Complete.

Other News:
I will be going back to college tomorrow for my Junior year. I will have limited access and time to work on the mod. There will be less updates, but rest assured that work on the mod will continue until the release. I will also send my test game copy back to ChezJfrey so he will be able to see my changes.

 

[Modder01]

Progress on the 2.8 merge:
The battle_interface ship picture scaling issue has been fixed.

Progress on sounds and music:
Music alias files were completed yesterday after the post on progress.

Other changes:
I have updated all the English videos to 1080p and 720p (for the pirates ahoy logo only) so that the scene fills the whole screen. I also fixed a video naming error that was preventing the ending video to play for ending the story line under Spanish state service with Blaze sharp.

 

[Modder01]

Just a quick note:
I am currently fixing the class naming system that I introduced in the initial version of the supermod. I now have access to new information which will allow me to reclassify all of the ships I currently have in game. I also plan to replace the schooner that is currently in game with the Schooner_l from COAS as it is more historical than the one that replaced the original schooner when the original mod was made. Also, ship descriptions are getting a facelift. Now they will be more detailed about historical information and overall ship characteristics.

EDIT:
Please note: The "Battleship", for now, will be called a "Second-Rate Ship of the Line." While this ship is technically a third rate based on amount of cannon, there are no other ships in COAS that I can port from that have a second rate designation by cannons... I could designate her a "Third-Rate Frigate" or something similar such as "Great Frigate" or "Royal Frigate" based off of the Stuart King System of ship ratings (which I used to tell apart the other frigates in the fourth rate designation), but then the speed of the ship and maneuvering may need to be buffed to match which would be game-breaking to the progression throughout each tier of ship.

I could also replace the battleship with the warship Bellona as it has 84 cannon instead of 80 (besides the battleship's model is very ugly), but it would still receive the frigate designation in addition to still being a Third-Rate. If you have any recommendations for a port over of a 90-98 gun ship please share it...

 

[Modder01]

Another Quick note:
The Battleship model (in AOP) and the ships_init.c values that are unrelated to the rebalancing project will be replaced by the Bellona from COAS.
The 90-98 gun ship called Trinity/Christian Sixtus from PotBS that is in the POTC Build mod (and there is a COAS version, but it's not in my version of GOF) should become the second rate ship that I was looking for... I don't have a link unfortunately for that ship because for some reason all the links are broken... Can someone hook me up with that ship and all related files if possible?

So in conclusion:
The Schooner that is currently in the game will be swapped out in model, textures, sailorspoints and shipyard picture with the Schooner_l from COAS.
The Battleship will be Replaced by the Bellona's model, textures, sailorspoints and shipyard picture from COAS. Now known as the "Third-Rate Frigate".
If possible, one new ship will be added: the Trinity ship from PotBS to become the "Second-Rate Ship of the Line". The general ship values will also be transferred, if they exist...

 

[Modder01]

New Update:
-The Schooner and the Battleship's models, textures, ship pictures, sailorspoints and ship_init data have been imported successfully into the game. The improved ship descriptions were also being a problem child because of the 512 character buffer size limit per line, all characters, not just the ones in quotes - for common.ini. I now have them as a balance between historical and meeting the size limit. The ship type Names have always been a problem. I have been forced to reduce the type names of every ship in the game in order for them to fit on one line in the shipyard interface...
- I am downloading Build 14 4.0 (hopefully 7-zip can extract *.tar files ) so I can get the 98 gun ship Trinity imported into this game. *the waiting game* EDIT: It does extract *.tar files!
- Still no word on some sea particle and land shader glitches (at night) in the game engine that need to be fixed.
- The Main Menu when you first start the game is improperly sized because it retained the original aspect ratio that is absent now from the rest of the game. I have no knowledge on how to resize or stretch the aspect ratio to 16x9 instead of 4x3 and hardlock it. Unfortunately the screen won't resize unless you have a native resolution of 4x3, so if Chez can stretch the aspect ratio to 16x9 most monitors at most resolutions of said ratio will enjoy a full-screen experience even on the title screen.

Here are some notes for the road ahead:
- The bugs and resolution changes will be the first priority as always...
- The Ships and alias files will be the second priority after that. *still needs to scour the sound_alias files*
-The Dutchman Quest will then be perfected.
-Once these bugs and other things have been fixed, the real testing will begin. Before release I will be releasing a beta version with all files needed to play as a test game which will be given to a test pool on request only. Then over a period of 2-4 weeks expected time, the game will undergo practical play-testing until the game has had all remaining undetected or hidden bugs fixed and stomped out for good.
-After this I will have to create a new preview video for version 5.0 and will then release version 5.0 with all due haste...