Mod Release Build 14 Beta 3 Progress

[Levis]

Although, I enjoy the cursed coin thing as works now, generally I am not a fan of the supernatural stuff in the game. If someone want to expand it I hope we will be allowed to turn it off if it doesn't suit us.

If I rework it you can probally disable it even more as it is now .

 

[Nenketsu]

Installed the WiP update and applied the fix, as well as the widescreen lunar cycles fix (which is cool btw). Game runs fine, and even loaded up saves without problem.

I started a new game in the Buccaneer Story and for some reason whenever I attempt to quick save it says that I am not allowed to save when sailing or boarding, neither of which am I doing. I can save just fine using the normal method, however.

EDIT: This only happened in the spawn city. At sea and elsewhere it saves fine. I'm not sure whether it was a temporary, and thus now resolved issue, or if it is specifically attributed to that city.

 

[CaptnLysop]

specifically attributed to that city.

Could be, I havent even started looking into the scripts for certain characters/storylines, as I have just started POTC Build.

@The rest, esp. Pieter
I played and modded/customized COAS so far, making a "specialized" CMV, as well as turning the GoF into a mix with CMV (can call it hybrid) - I didnt like some features in GoF, and reverted/adjusted them. Now I found this one, I still have the 2 CD-Roms lying about, and everything (installation, patching etc.) ran like a charm.

OFC, Vanilla PotC won't run on Win 7, but with the patch/buildmod, like a CHARM *knock on wood*.
Sadly I dont have time at all, so the only thing I was (needed to) doing, was changing some HUD/control elements.

I'm not only happy with the buildmod, I feel like I am in heaven when playing it, only things were some UI-sounds (the overly loud annoying clicking sounds when switching taskbar options, some others too). The datetime display I also never liked, it takes away from the immersion for me, but as always, no problem turning that off.

Before tl;dr, I say one thing;
since I didnt feel the need to change anything major at all, yet, this is a hearty salute and bow before the people making and keeping it alive - if I dont say "this I need to change, that needs to go", and instead (almost) everything is to my liking.... that doesnt happen too often, brothers Thanks for all the work, I really appreciate the ongoing support.

PS, little spoiler:
I have never figured out if this was a bug or not: in the original game you ****spoiler start**** fight that dastardly black pearl and destroy it if I recall correctly ****spoiler end****, and it states that "you cannot continue playing". Well, I never knew if I'm the only one but the game just didnt play a cutscene or the credits, it just never finished. So I was basically free-roaming forever, was pretty cool.
If I'm not mistaken I was also able to board and keep the ship in the spoiler, so I dunno if my game was breaking, or if it was intended.

Anyways, long live PotC! And now that I wrote about it I need to get my fix again, haha

 

[Levis]

Installed the WiP update and applied the fix, as well as the widescreen lunar cycles fix (which is cool btw). Game runs fine, and even loaded up saves without problem.

I started a new game in the Buccaneer Story and for some reason whenever I attempt to quick save it says that I am not allowed to save when sailing or boarding, neither of which am I doing. I can save just fine using the normal method, however.

EDIT: This only happened in the spawn city. At sea and elsewhere it saves fine. I'm not sure whether it was a temporary, and thus now resolved issue, or if it is specifically attributed to that city.

I really sugest not using quicksave cause it is know to cause corrupt saves.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I have never figured out if this was a bug or not: in the original game you ****spoiler start**** fight that dastardly black pearl and destroy it if I recall correctly ****spoiler end****, and it states that "you cannot continue playing". Well, I never knew if I'm the only one but the game just didnt play a cutscene or the credits, it just never finished. So I was basically free-roaming forever, was pretty cool.
If I'm not mistaken I was also able to board and keep the ship in the spoiler, so I dunno if my game was breaking, or if it was intended.

That was in the unmodded game? Odd. Anyway, that is all intentionally possible in the Build Mod now.

 

[pianicata4]

on first april,modernknight1 was banned and left us,he was about to make the ships from VCO

R.I.P my friend,we miss you too hard ;(,now no one can make the VCO ships

 

[Pieter Boelen]

now no one can make the VCO ships

Except yourself.

You have to realize that us modders generally do what we want to do. Because we do this for free and for our own enjoyment, see?
We might take suggestions from other people at times, but very rarely will somebody do the work for you.
Trust me, I know. I've tried many times to get people to help me with certain big projects and in the end I often had to do them myself anyway.
That is the only way to ensure it happens.

And in this particular case, it isn't actually all that difficult. But it does take some time.
We'd be quite happy to point you in the right direction.

 

[sir_Grbac]

There are already missions to attack random ships to take as prize. Talk to the governors.

But the Governors only give small ships for prizes now, like only sloops and cutters, I miss when I got the Soleil Royal, the one with the best to-date fight I had, the one I blabbered on the forum (it sank my frigate in 2 broadsides, I survived on a dinghy and 20-25 men, boarded the Soleil and took over the ship, was an awesome fight (and no crashes), maybe (if there is) up the chances of governors giving bigger ships to hunt instead of small boats with a bed sheet for a sails?

 

[pianicata4]

But the Governors only give small ships for prizes now, like only sloops and cutters, I miss when I got the Soleil Royal, the one with the best to-date fight I had, the one I blabbered on the forum (it sank my frigate in 2 broadsides, I survived on a dinghy and 20-25 men, boarded the Soleil and took over the ship, was an awesome fight (and no crashes), maybe (if there is) up the chances of governors giving bigger ships to hunt instead of small boats with a bed sheet for a sails?

hell yea the soleil royal french ship!,if you use the ship period accuarcy time to zero,you got chance to encounter class 1 only battle fleets including the soleil royal ,you may need full upgrated ship and armors to survive it

 

[Levis]

But the Governors only give small ships for prizes now, like only sloops and cutters, I miss when I got the Soleil Royal, the one with the best to-date fight I had, the one I blabbered on the forum (it sank my frigate in 2 broadsides, I survived on a dinghy and 20-25 men, boarded the Soleil and took over the ship, was an awesome fight (and no crashes), maybe (if there is) up the chances of governors giving bigger ships to hunt instead of small boats with a bed sheet for a sails?

This sounds like something I might want to work on soon . Probally not by the gouvenor. But I still would like to see more down with treasure fleets. I imagine you going into the tavern and hearing a rumor about a spanish treasure galleon. After some more digging you know where it sails and you go hunt it. If you find it you will have a nice battle. Say a treasure galleon (which isn't that defenceless by itself) which is guardes by 2 tier 2 or 1 ships. That would give you quite a battle. You would need at least 2 ships if you want to stand any chance

 

[Pieter Boelen]

But the Governors only give small ships for prizes now, like only sloops and cutters, I miss when I got the Soleil Royal, the one with the best to-date fight I had, the one I blabbered on the forum (it sank my frigate in 2 broadsides, I survived on a dinghy and 20-25 men, boarded the Soleil and took over the ship, was an awesome fight (and no crashes), maybe (if there is) up the chances of governors giving bigger ships to hunt instead of small boats with a bed sheet for a sails?

This code at the top of PROGRAM\QUESTS\quests_common.c controls the size of the ship you have to fight:

  //PB: Generate Rank and Skills
   pRank = sti(PChar.rank);
   if(GetShipCap()) { if((8-GetCharacterShipClass(PChar)) * 2 < pRank) { pRank = (8-GetCharacterShipClass(PChar)) * 2; } } // NK
   irank = makeint((pRank/2.0 + Rand(pRank/2)) * (2.0/3.0 + ((makefloat(GetDifficulty())-1.0)/5.0)) + 0.5);
   if(irank < 1) irank = 1;

Simply put, this means that as your player rank increases, the size of the governor ship hunts will do too.
Increasing the difficulty level will also pit you against tougher opponents.

What is your player level at the moment?

This sounds like something I might want to work on soon . Probally not by the gouvenor. But I still would like to see more down with treasure fleets. I imagine you going into the tavern and hearing a rumor about a spanish treasure galleon. After some more digging you know where it sails and you go hunt it. If you find it you will have a nice battle. Say a treasure galleon (which isn't that defenceless by itself) which is guardes by 2 tier 2 or 1 ships. That would give you quite a battle. You would need at least 2 ships if you want to stand any chance

We do have random Treasure Fleets in the game. Search PROGRAM\SEA_AI\AIFantom.c for TreasureFleet .
They only show up as random encounters though. Would indeed be VERY cool if there were rumours about the fleet's whereabouts.

 

[sir_Grbac]

What is your player level at the moment?

At the moment 0, because I'm still awaiting for a new hard drive, but last time I played, I was around 40.

 

[pianicata4]

for some firecrackers who wants some capital fights and epic ships heres my save ^^

 

[Pieter Boelen]

At the moment 0, because I'm still awaiting for a new hard drive, but last time I played, I was around 40.

Odd. That should be high enough to get large ships.
Though I forgot the code works a bit differently: The player level and difficulty controls the enemy LEVEL.
Then the ship the enemy gets will depend on the enemy's level-based skills:

  int maxclass, minclass;
   maxclass = GetShipMinClassForSkills(sti(rFantom.skill.Leadership), sti(rFantom.skill.Sailing));   // PB: Same limit as for player
   if(sti(rFantom.nation) == PIRATE  && maxclass < MAXPIRATECLASS)       maxclass = MAXPIRATECLASS;     // KK
   if(HasSubStr(character_id,"Coastal_Captain") && maxclass < MAXCOASTGUARDCLASS)     maxclass = MAXCOASTGUARDCLASS;   // PB
   if(GetCurrentPeriod() <= PERIOD_EARLY_EXPLORERS || GetCurrentPeriod() >= PERIOD_NAPOLEONIC)
   {
     if(sti(rFantom.nation) == HOLLAND  && maxclass < 3)             maxclass = 3;
     if(sti(rFantom.nation) == PORTUGAL  && maxclass < 3)             maxclass = 3;
   }

   minclass =       maxclass + 2;
   if(minclass > 8)   minclass = 8;

 

[DavyJack]

They only show up as random encounters though. Would indeed be VERY cool if there were rumours about the fleet's whereabouts.

Aye!!!

 

[Jason]

But the Governors only give small ships for prizes now, like only sloops and cutters, I miss when I got the Soleil Royal, the one with the best to-date fight I had, the one I blabbered on the forum (it sank my frigate in 2 broadsides, I survived on a dinghy and 20-25 men, boarded the Soleil and took over the ship, was an awesome fight (and no crashes), maybe (if there is) up the chances of governors giving bigger ships to hunt instead of small boats with a bed sheet for a sails?

No, sometimes they give second, third and fourth rates.

 

[Grey Roger]

We do have random Treasure Fleets in the game. Search PROGRAM\SEA_AI\AIFantom.c for TreasureFleet .
They only show up as random encounters though. Would indeed be VERY cool if there were rumours about the fleet's whereabouts.

I'm going to guess that being introduced to governors' daughters, becoming very friendly with them and possibly marrying one of them, is based on something similar happening in Sid Meier's "Pirates" game. In that, if you ask your girlfriend or wife for news, she will tell you the location of the treasure fleet. Perhaps this would be a suitable place to learn of the treasure fleet's location in PotC as well?

As for ships to hunt for governors: I'm now level 54 due to completing the main quest and most of the side quests, raiding Martinique fort a few times and attacking at least one group of enemy ships on every journey from one port to another. Generally I still usually only get little targets such as brigs, last time I got a 5th rate warship, and I don't recall seeing anything bigger than that as a governor's target. The only time I've definitely seen anything larger is during random encounters if I happen to find a large enemy force, e.g. large patrol or convoy. And the only really big ship of the line I've seen is the one I took off Silehard because he'd been naughty.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Level 54 gives me enemies ranging between level 34 and 63. I just tested and this DOES frequently return a maxclass of 1.
However, there are a couple of limitations that can still prevent a Tier 1 ship from actually being used:
- A pirate enemy will never have a larger ship than Tier 4
- In Early Explorers or Napoleonic: Holland and Portugal will never have a larger ship than Tier 3

You play the Standard storyline set in Colonial Powers, right? Then those nation-requirements mentioned above do not apply.
Make sure that the governor you talk to is of a nation that has non-pirate enemies.

Further testing indicates that the Difficulty Level plays a BIG role in the size of ship that is returned.
By default, the Standard storyline is on Apprentice level and that will only VERY rarely return a Tier 1 ship.
However, if you switch to Swashbuckler, it becomes pretty common.
You can change difficulty levels on-the-fly through the Options menu.

Note also that at sea, large ships are pretty uncommon, but they DO exist.
There is one encounter type that gets between 6 and 10 Tier 3-1 ships. That's a pretty big one!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I have been messing around with the Installer EXE, so the next release will have an optional Widescreen Textures section.
That way, the improved widescreen files won't be forced onto people. That was not exactly fair, was it?

At the moment, this includes:

- ADDITIONAL INSTALLATION OPTIONS:
  . Widescreen Textures including:
  > Improved Spyglasses by TheBlackKnight
  > Widescreen Moon Textures by Purseon

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I can verify that at shwashbuckler level the big ships do happen.