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Devlin Opera for the 65742th time

Hmm, yes that's a coincidence. My reservations are the jungle fort which needs to be empty/abandoned (evacuating the Bonaire pirate fort completely or temporarily both seems a bit suboptimal). And I thought of Cayman as a strategic location not too far from Isla Juana/Cuba and Santiago/Jamaica, but can't let the character say the same about Palo Brasil which is only near some small colonies (and historically inaccurate ones...)

Hurra for the check :onya
 
Isla de Palo Brasil is further from Cuba but closer to Aruba, which according to Bonnie will be one of your quest destinations.

You could have the effect of evacuating the pirate fort by having a quest location which is a copy of the fort (which you'll need to do anyway if you're putting a fort on Cayman). Then you just reroute 'Locations[FindLocation("Douwesen_Jungle_01")].reload.l1.go' and 'Locations[FindLocation("Douwesen_Jungle_01")].reload.l4..go' to point to your quest fort. And you'd want some explanation as to why the fort is temporarily abandoned - perhaps the Spanish have just raided it, or all the pirates are out hunting for a big Spanish treasure ship, or something related to whatever brought you there for quest purposes. In any case, it seems to me that modifying Bonaire Pirate Fort for your quest is less suboptimal, not to mention a lot less work, than modifiying most of Cayman island. ;)
 
You're probably right that it would be more convenient, the problem is I'm very used to the idea of Cayman in my head. :modding

Strategic location means there are french corsairs trying to use the island as their new hideout because of the relative proximity to the richest Spanish trading ports of the time, and what's around Palo Brasil are not really the richest Spanish trading ports of the time, not when I try to do at least a bit of "Early Caribbean History". Also the whole point is that the arrival of corsairs trying to settle there endangers people living in the jungle, and this doesn't make too much sense if there's normally a pirate settlement already.
 
Then I'd recommend doing whatever you want to Cayman in "StartStoryline.c" so that it's always there. You don't want someone going to Cayman on other business, finding Cayman in normal condition, then later going there for the story and finding that the whole island has changed. xD ("Peter Blood's Ship" might not exist in "Early Explorers" but "Peter Blood's Crew" does, so do treasure quests, and so does a unique sword in a cave.) You can always have Blaze comment that the camp will probably be demolished when the Spanish learn about it, and in about 50 years' time all this will be impassable jungle. ;)
 
I was thinking abut StartStoryline.c anyway, and already did the same for the Hispaniola jungle tavern, which you can always find during the storyline, but only enter at a specific point. And having locations that change in a specific storyline wouldn't be new. The road from Santo Domingo to the village with the oversized cathedral e.g. is the same, just with one more reload and one more turnoff you pass. I would do something similar for the road between Eden Rock and Spanish Cayman City.

Looking at the treasure quest walkthrough, it seems there's potential treasure in the areas of the two other beaches, Cayman Kai and Sand Bluff, so my changes shouldn't interfere with treasure quests.

With that decision I could try to make the map textures and with them, upload the last part of the story.

What unique sword in a cave? The little cave near Cayman Kai, that's also the treasure site, only had a hunting sword for me. If I remember correctly, the Leviathan Rock beach cave, from which it is copied, spawns random swords as well. This is different from the stock game, where the Maltese Knight Sword could only be found in the Leviathan Rock cave and the Falchion could only be found sticking in a pole in the Oxbay jungle cave.
 
Sand Bluff leads to some jungle, which has a turn-off to the house like Clint Eastwood's house on Nevis, and a path continuing to more jungle. From there you can continue on to the house similar to Rheims' house. Or you can poke around in the bushes and maybe find a hole in the ground which drops you into a dungeon. You'll need to do that anyway if you're on a treasure quest which starts at Sand Bluff, though if there's a treasure quest then you won't find the sword because an active treasure quest seems to override all "randitem" contents. But if you're not on a treasure quest and find the hole, then you'll find the "Sword of the Earth". The exit from that cave leads to the duplicate of Rheims' house, though there's no way from the house directly to the cave - you have to go back to the jungle and find the hole again.
 
Who's familiar with TX concerter?

I converted TX to TGA, opened and edited them with AI, saved as AI, converted to TGA, and now try to convert them back to TX. I don't know which presets to chose in TX converter, then it tells me to resize it, creates TX files anyway but they seem to be upside down with the fonts messed up.
 

Attachments

  • map-Kopie.zip
    4.3 MB · Views: 88
You can tell the settings from the original files by having TX Convertor read them. For example, here's what it says about "map.tga":
tx_convertor.jpg
The file is 1024x1024 and is converted using the "DXT3 - 2x compressed" setting.

Your file "map-Kopie.tga" is 5692x3200! This is huge - it took TX Convertor ages to load it. It's also not a square like 1024x1024. Part of the problem is that there's a large black area each side of the map, and part of the problem is that the top and bottom of the map have been clipped off.

I've removed the black side parts, resized the rest to 1024x768, then copied and pasted it onto "map.tga". Then I used TX Convertor with "DXT3 - 2x compressed" to convert the resulting file. I've also done the same with "map_scaled-Kopie" and "map_scaled.tga". Attached is a zip file with the results.
 

Attachments

  • map-Devlin.zip
    1.2 MB · Views: 97
Grey Roger said:
Attached is a zip file with the results.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. Looks like I messed it quite up when converting. I'm always struggling with image sizes and file formats, and failed before on character interface pictures and loading screens. Problem is, I'd need to do more maps and on this one, the font is still weird. Somehow I need to be able to open the TGA files in Adobe Illustrator and save them again as TGA, because converting them between TX and TGA doesn't seem to be the main problem if I just use the right setting next time.

In game logic I've now made it so that Beatrice recognises the first marker to be at Santo Domingo. The second one I tried to place in a way that it points to Eden Rock as good as possible. But because it's less distinct and because Eden Rock isn't as well known as Santo Domingo, she doesn't recognise it. You're then given the choice either to "comb every beach and cove on Las Tortugas" or get a map of Las Tortugas, in which case you get a quest book entry that it probably means Eden Rock, with the quest case probably triggering at Eden Rock in either case.

Of course, on the scaled map none of the markers are very distinct, but so be it. This is less intended as a sophisticated lesson in map reading and more as a means to connect quests.
 
The font is weird because there appear to be two versions of each piece of text, an italic hollow outline with a solid blue on top. I'd suggest picking one of them, not both; and making them smaller so you can still see the island underneath. Perhaps make the crosses smaller too.

Especially on the scaled map. ;)

If you can read the text "Map of New Colonies Archipelago" clearly in the box on the left of the map, that's the size of font you probably want.

If Beatrice doesn't recognise Eden Rock because it's not as well known as Santo Domingo then she's going to be completely mystified by Aruba. It hasn't been colonised by Spain or any other European power yet, so there's no map for sale. You have no choice here, you will have to search for the beach the hard way...
 
In AI, this is just one piece of text each and also looked good. At some point, the main body of text and the outline seem to have gotten separated and misaligned somehow.

About Aruba, do you mean that players have to find the landing point manually by sailing around the island? I have no idea how Sail-to works in other modes because I always play with Sail-to fully available. I can think of workarounds in the shape of quest scenes, perhaps for example an Arawak hails you in his canoe to make contact as soon as you start snooping around in the Aruba waters, or something like that.

By the way, my game seems to be corrupted somehow - already. So I probably need to set up a completely new one again. For that I've already updated my separate Devlin Opera folder, so I could upload that one. Apart from the whole map thing I'm somewhat on a chapter end point anyway.
 
Normally you can only use "Sail-To" if you have a map of the island or if you've already found the beach or shore by manually sailing there. With no map of Aruba available in "Early Explorers", players will therefore normally have to find the landing point manually.

If it's any help, both landing points on Aruba are on the south coast (do a quick FreePlay in any other period and use "console.c" to give yourself the map, or just use TX Convertor to look at "mapAruba"). And you can walk between the two beaches, possibly finding the Arawak village on the way. So you could simply put a cross on the south side of Aruba on your worldmaps and let Beatrice know that she needs to concentrate her search there. (You've set Beatrice up to be an explorer. Make her do some exploring! :p)

Alternatively, if you want to make it easy for the player:
Code: 
Island_SetReloadEnableLocal("Aruba", "reload_1", true);
Island_SetReloadEnableLocal("Aruba", "reload_2", true);
... should enable "Sail-To" to Sandy Beach and Rocky Cove respectively without needing an island map.

I'll be away for the next two weeks, though I may be able to check in here once or twice. After that, if you've brought the story to the end of another chapter then it will probably be time to release the next update and that new chapter can go in.
 
There's still a lot to iron out with map textures, officer perks and such, but I'm still continuing with the quest otherwise.

Devlinchimney.png

This here is supposed to be a base camp that Columbus set up when he visited Cayman on his fourth voyage in 1503 and it has been abandoned since. But it doesn't look very abandoned. So is there an easy way to remove the chimney smoke?
 
So is there an easy way to remove the chimney smoke?
Click to expand...
The smoke is generated by smoke locators. You could make a copy of the locatorfile and delete the smoke locators.
Other cloned locations may still want the smoke.
 
I see, I thought maybe it could be changed in the location file, because there's still a lot of stuff I don't understand. I'll see if there are already alternative locator files or if maybe I do a copy with removed smoke locators.
 
If this location is only used in your storyline you could switch the locator file in the location file. If not better to
make that change in your StartStoryline.
 
It's just for Devlin Opera.

This time there was no chimney smoke at all. Do smoke locators just randomly decide if they spawn smoke or not?
 
I made a separate locator file now, removed the smoke locators and added a few more locators so characters can hide and their ambush can be triggered when coming through the gate.

On the occasion I also changed the locator file for mediumhouse2. The only sit locator until now has people being stuck sideways in the mattress. I must still adjust the positions a bit, but characters will now be able to sit properly on the bed and also sit at the table in front of what looks like a bowl of cereal. This locator file can keep the standard name.
 
Will you look at the calendar, it's that time of the year again!

Nobody in the world (or at least very few people in the world) love this game more than I do. The base game, the mod and modding itself are all important parts of my life. I'm planning to get a tattoo in honour of it, no joke.

But that's not the case 365 days a year. Usually after a few months of very, very intense passion, I suddenly lose interest in the game and in pirates for the time being. Then I drift away to the Sims 4 or Greek Mythology or something like that. Until I wake up some day - usually in the early summer, the association is strong - and feel the itch.

But this game isn't easy to take breaks, I can't just drop in and out like that.

First reason is the question of relevance. There's always talk about moving to a different engine or creating a new game altogether, which honestly scares me, because I'm the kind who doesn't like too much change. I don't want to be left alone with it in a way.

Second reason is how I have to re-install, set up everything new, make all the adjustements ranging from personalised controls to modding stuff I made and so on. All the files and codes and folders almost scare me off after this long break. Last year, I have learned and achieved so much, it would make it even more difficult to re-learn everything.

And an important addition to the second reason: I moved out from where the computer with everything on it is. It's all there, I'm still nearby, I often visit but I don't live there and I don't own the computer. And when I moved, I only brought a very, very old laptop with me. This means before I could even think of playing and/or modding regularly and intensely, I'd have to buy a new computer. Which is planned for this year and is not really a question of money, but a question of time and commitment and logistics and so on...

Anyway, take this as a "hello" and as a "I miss you" and as something I just needed to say right now.
 
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