Poll Fan's patch for "New Horizons" B14b4.1 WIP 28.07.16

[Uzver]

@Pieter Boelen: I didn' want to do that, but I'm tired of conservative discussions about "do we need 8 bullets or 6?", and I just put it here, so players can taste this, if they wants of course.

Hello everyone! I not a game creator, and I introduce you my unofficial patch to the PotC: New Horizons. I already shown this to the game creators and maybe some of this changes will be in the new release, but it takes to long for these good people, to do that. So if you want some new, come check it. This unofficial patch contains minimum 34 changes: bugfixes, balance fixes, new additions and even the one global modification! Look at .txt file to see the change log. Some of theese fixes are configurable, and you can enable/disable it, if you want more realism or convenience.
Just back up the PROGRAM folder and extract my archive into your game folder. You DON'T NEED to starting a new game after that!
***
I forgot to write something about that. The EVERY game change is tested and working with 100% guarantee. There is no troubleshooting here, because this changes is already fixing too many problems, which I can find by playing it. You CAN'T make your game worse by removing a bugs from it.
***
Source version: piratesahoy / new-horizons · GitLab
NEW! My last fixes (from 16.05.17):

 

[Uzver]

Thanks for supporting me! I will add more if I find something to fix.

 

[Jack Rackham]

I'm tired of conservative discussions about "do we need 8 bullets or 6?"

Of course we will discuss it as the current ammo have been there for quite a while (many years) and no one
has wanted something else. I'm not conservate and really wanted to check what other players thought about it.
And got answers enough.

... but it takes to long for these good people, to do that.

Not at all. New releases comes now and then. I have nothing to complain about.

 

[Grey Roger]

I'm quite happy with ammo the way it is. For that matter, I'm happy with game balance in general the way it is.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Can I vote for: "Do what you want, I have no specific opinion"?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Uzver: Because I have not played the game in ages and still cannot afford to get involved in modding again, I cannot really say anything useful on any of the specific subjects.
But what I CAN say is that I very much appreciate your enthusiasm in making and sharing your tweaks.
So in recognition of that: Congratulations on your promotion to "Storm Modder"!

 

[Uzver]

@Pieter Boelen: I dont know how this thing is working, but many thanks! I almost wasted my enthusiasm, if not for you!

@Grey Roger, @Jack Rackham, etc.:You cant sail with too many bugs on board, I'm tellin' you! And it's not a "difficult to find" kind of bugs, it's just a "I writed a code and I dont want to look how it works" kind of bugs!
Here you are: The LAI types. Is someone knows what is going on after ressurecting people? Why their lootbox on the start position? I know!
Why guardians leaving their posts after death and loosing ability to speak? Or... (I laughed too long) The player can't respawn in Conceicao because he awaiting for the governor of Alicetown(!!!) to meet him! By HIMSELF! Or how about the empty dialog of coastal guards? May be they shoud be deleted from the game, if they are not working at all? Finally, how about stealing millions from a street merchants, is this kind of balance you prefer?
Anyhow, I dont want to helping you, guys, any longer...I cant help you with your laziness anyway.

Last fixes:
+ I fixed all what you have read previosly
+ 1 capsize fix, new method to fix guards and warriors (after the starting of new game);
I'm sorry about motionless soldiers, now ALL is correct (I returned default soldiers for existing gamesessions)
+ one more fix about civillian war in pirate camps
+ new riots in pirates camps,
+ new deathrate system, based on luckskills,
...and only God knows how many problems I can fix with my new ReInitType system...

I'm JUST fixing bugs, not rebalance the whole game! And...ALL changes, that affecting game balance or realism is ON THE TRIGGER now. Switches off easily! All info in the readme file.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks! I almost wasted my inthusiasm, if not for you!

"People changing stuff" is often controversial. I've had huge discussions when changing stuff myself!
Don't be discouraged by that though.

If big discussions happen, I usually try to listen to what other people say and then do what I think is best based on the feedback.
Usually people are fine with it when they actually try it in the game.
And if they're not and provide feedback, I usually try to make changes to improve based on their suggestions.

I'm JUST fixing bugs, not rebalance the whole game!

I really appreciate that!!!

ALL changes, that affecting the game balance or realism is ON THE TRIGGER now. Switches off easily!

That is definitely very wise! With a toggle, I reckon virtually anything is welcome to be added.
It also seems to be important if not too many actual changes are made at the same time, so that any impacts can be related to specific updates.
We have had a while back that a million things were changed at the same time, but we didn't have the people or support to figure out what caused the new bugs.

In the end, we reverted the code to an earlier version and just removed all the new stuff.
Not because we wanted to, but because we didn't have a choice. Big shame, because there WAS good stuff in there!
I did save all that stuff here though: http://piratesahoy.net/threads/temporary-archive-of-mod-excluded-content.28193/
Just in case it might be of use in the future. Feel free to have a look through it.


At the moment, we do have a few big challenges in the community and your help would be very welcome indeed!
Because I am too busy with real life, at the moment @Grey Roger takes care of new updates as a ZIP archive here:
Mod Release - Build 14 Beta 4.1 WIP [Last Update: 7 January 2017]
That means any new stuff has to pass by him or it remains separate from the "main mod".

Ideally a new PUBLIC RELEASE should be made, because the current focus of the Beta 4.1 WIP is pretty much "fixes and stable content ONLY".
This means experimental work that still needs to be tested has got no place to go.
We also do not have enough people to properly test any such experimental features.

If you are interested, there are some forum posts and private conversions on how to handle these situations.
Nothing much happened based on these, so they remain largely unaddressed.
But I imagine it may be wise to leave that until a later date. Better to not do too much at the same time.

 

[Uzver]

I understood. Thanks!
Just look on it like on a result of my freelance beta tests. I really try do not damage the game specific, most parts of my work containing bugfixes of the original content.
Every change was described (excluding some new, but it can easily finded with descriptions and IS.c tags). And now you got all of my work, and I just want to play this game comfortable, until my furlough is over.
So excuse me, if my opinion been too loud. I tried to concentrate on existing problems.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks again, @Uzver!

Hopefully @Grey Roger will be able to make some good use of your hard work at some point.

 

[Uzver]

By the way, the game insensibly consuming player's ammo. (the tip: character_login.c/s137)
Dont ask me how I did know that. It's a magic.

 

[Grey Roger]

If I read that correctly, it's not taking the player's ammo, it's taking ammo from other people. When an enemy fires, he does not consume ammo. In fact, enemies don't need ammo at all. To simulate the enemy's use of ammo, that code removes his full load and gives him a random reduced load. That code is probably why, when you loot the corpse of an enemy with a gun, you randomly get 1-3 powder and 1-3 bullets, rather than a full 6 of each. You, on the other hand, only lose what you use when you fire.

 

[Uzver]

I repeat, I'm not an idiot!...it's talking about player's and officer's ammo in deed.
Can you read code and my words properly? At first - it is the tip, NOT an answer!
Second - try to use Ctrl+F and look at UPPER void LoginCharacter(aref chr, string locID), and then take a look at bool LAi_CharacterLogin(chr, locID). Attentivelly!
(SetUpCharacterWeapons() is still about PB and GP only!)
You will clearly see that NO hard restriction for the main character.
Third - at least, try to throw some poisoned knifes to someone, then leave and return to location quick. Do it 3-4 times. Take a look in inventory. Only one script can do it.
Sorry, but this is your second wrong explanation about code to me.
***
The answer is: S137 >>> if (ENABLE_AMMOMOD && !IsOfficer(chr))
I quote myself: "It's not a "difficult to find" kind of bugs, it's just a "I writed a code and I dont want to look how it works" kind of bugs."

 

[Jack Rackham]

I havn't noticed ammo being taken from the maincharacter in game without firing.

 

[Uzver]

try to throw some poisoned knifes to someone, then leave and return to location quick

But I'm seen that. It is my magic ability to find bugs and some other problems (it's also a curse).


@Pieter Boelen: sorry, I making bad things disappear
It wouldn't happening again.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Yikes, this is not going to good places!!!
Any chance of keeping things civil here while I go catch up on some lost sleep?

 

[Grey Roger]

Like @Jack Rackham, I do not recall ever seeing my own ammo reduced in this way. However, thinking about it a bit more, there may have been a few rare occasions during quests when officers' ammo was reduced, not necessarily as an intended result of the quest.

It's a simple enough addition to one line, and is easily added to the most current version of the file, so there is no risk of bringing outdated code into the game. At worst, the addition seems to do no harm; at best, it may prevent officers from losing ammunition in rare circumstances. So I've added it to the 7th January version of "characters_login.c".

But anyone wanting to use the full package should note that it does appear to be based on an obsolete version of the game.

Spoiler

One big clue is "PROGRAM\KB_routines.c", which contains this line:

int modifier = GetCharPriceMod(GetMainCharacter(),_priceType,true,true)

Function 'GetCharPriceMod' is a float, not an int, and this was corrected last year to:

float modifier = GetCharPriceMod(GetMainCharacter(),_priceType,true,true);

There is also reference to "Coastal Guards_dialog.c" having a problem which causes blank dialogs with the coast guards. Again, this was supposed to have been fixed last year, and indeed, when I did a few test smuggling runs, the coast guards had no problems with their dialogs. (If anyone does get a blank dialog from the coast guards while using the 7th January version of the game, with or without the zip update, I'd like to see the resulting "compile.log" and "error.log" files.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

But anyone wanting to use the full package should note that it does appear to be based on an obsolete version of the game.

@Uzver: That's a good question, actually. Which exact modpack version (according to your compile.log/main game menu) did you base this on?
That's always a good thing to know for compatibility and to let potential testers know the requirements.

 

[Uzver]

It may be caused by my localization, I, correctly, dont know what changes it causes by. My current version is B14 b4.1 WIP, but I think that smuggle localizers from my country may change something by their will. Aa-and it is what I was mostly afraid of...

By the way, add some != PLAYER_TYPE_CASTAWAY requisitions in case "Tut_start": of Storyline/freeplay/quests/both_reactions.c to prevent generation of invalid item in captain's chest. (all because of (player gun)/(player blade))

 

[Uzver]

LAI_types: void LAi_SetGuardianType(aref chr)
{ if(chr.ReInitType == "GuardianType") return;
chr.chr_ai.type = LAI_DEFAULT_TYPE;
LAi_type_guardian_Init(chr);
LAi_group_MoveCharacter(chr, LAI_GROUP_GUARDS);
chr.isSoldier = true; // KK
chr.ReInitType = "";
chr.ReInitType = "GuardianType";}

characters.c/CreateCharacter(): if(character.ReInitType == "Guardiantype") LAi_SetGuardianType(character);

Decision for you'r guards (or civil guards/or any type) problems.