Mod Release GOF Historical Eras Module #2

[botaki]

very nice MK nice work on the trailer!

 

[modernknight1]

Thanks botaki,

This one is better. I cleaned the video up more and was able to expand the paintings a little. Much better I think. I also added a little beginning game play on this vid with a new character after the intro vids.

 

[Darthtuvok]

sooooo is the game coming out today? just cuz I need to know wether i take my vacation on the beginning of monday or when the game comes out :3

Nothing beets a pirate game with protein shakes while workin out

 

[Delestre]

Me, myself and I - we are ready for boarding, thank you MK for everything what is coming, nevermind if soon or not soon. I´m shure your work will guarantee us pretty much of good times, whenever it´s ready.
But (to be honest) nevertheless sitting and waiting is not my favorite activity. So all I can do, is jump and wait.

 

[modernknight1]

Sorry gents for the delay. I am still reskinning the last 2 ships (Mordaunt & Jamaicaship) with three new skins each. These will be done in the next day or two. Be glad for the delay because one of my two last beta testers found a gamebreaking bug and we are fixing it. Don't worry...not too serious. Keep in mind there are five noticeable bugs I have not been able to fix.

1. Sound bug in multiple ship battles with no cannon sounds.

2. Mast crash bug....not as bad as in previous GOF versions but its still there and requires you to save often during large battles.

3. CTD when encountering large bounty hunter or Gentlemen of Luck encounters. Simply reload the game. Only happens occasionally.

4. Flag bug. This is because I'm using some Storm 2.8 files so occasionally flags will be seen floating over sunken ships or looking distorted over your masts. Does not happen often.

5. Character mismatch error message. This will not crash anything, you will occassionally see the message pop up during land and sea encounters. It has to do with the character directory not being completely updated and reconciled with all the new characters I've added. Not a big deal and I will eventually be able to fix it.

Once I release the mod in a few days, it will still be considered "Beta 2". If interested people want to step up to form a new team to fix stuff that would be great. I do not want to add more content to the mod unless is it historically germane to the Golden Age era only. Tuvok has already volunteered.

MK

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I will be playing this when it is released and will do what little I can to help.

4. This is interesting as POTC does a bit of this too.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

4. This is interesting as POTC does a bit of this too.

Must be a different reason though. AoP 2 doesn't have a "Different Flags" mod, which I'm pretty sure is the cause of it in PotC.

 

[modernknight1]

I will be playing this when it is released and will do what little I can to help.

4. This is interesting as POTC does a bit of this too.

I will greatly value your efforts Hylie!

and Pieter has done more than anyone to help me solve all of the little implementation problems I've had.

MK

 

[modernknight1]

Again sorry for the delays. The bad bug is almost fixed. The good news is that in the process of fixing it I think I may have solved the mast crashing bug for good!!!

I just started the skins for the very last ship. Pheww!!!

Here's another vid to show off some minor improvements....

- Notice I am playing as Edward Teach "Blackbeard" using the POTC Jack Sparrow model with a beard added.

- Notice new coins

- Notice new 17th century card backs

- Notice new much better town guard voiceovers

- Notice new compass

- Notice a couple of the new characters and a small sampling of the new loading screens and music

MK

 

[Pieter Boelen]

- Notice I am playing as Edward Teach "Blackbeard" using the POTC Jack Sparrow model with a beard added.

 

[modernknight1]

I quite thought it was funny as well but let me give you my reasoning. I got rid of all the POTC movie characters, but kept three of the models - Barbossa, Teague and Sparrow. Barbossa looked the part of an old Dutch captain - especially with that hat and coat. The Teague model just looks like a pirate so I made him Calico Jack because he was known for his loud bright clothes. I also always liked the MadJack model.


So if you look at the famous depictions of Blackbeard in art like those by Howard Pyle, etc., I really believe that Disney created Jack Sparrow's look from those old renderings. I mean he's got the large prominent tricorn hat, he wears the colored bandana below it, he has a large very dark captains greatcoat, he wears a colorful sash that hangs down, and a wide baldric with buckle for pistols and scabbard.


So here's a comparison....


First Blackbeard.... and then My beard enhanced Sparrow model in GOF Eras - who is now known as Edward Teach. I get to keep the cool model and keep my mod historical....win win.

Update: The bug is almost fixed. Its a time consuming one to edit and test. I also found several more ships that were not on my reskin list that I forgot about. So I got two more done and the work can be seen in the New GOF Era mod skins topic in storm modelling section and Todays GOF screenshots. Sorry almost done I promise! MK

 

[Pieter Boelen]

You're not wrong. Good thinking, in fact! But still funny!

 

[Malachias]

With your retrofit of the game's contents in order to fit in with a specific historically accurate time period, what did you end up doing with the quests? I see you removed the POTC elements presumably because they were both anachronistic and fantastical. What about the main quest or the ship of souls quest? Tenochtitlan? They all have fantasy elements to them. I enjoy hyper-realism though. I am very much anticipating the release of the mod.

 

[Delestre]

 

[kipper]

 

[modernknight1]

Sorry all, I had to go out of town for a week and still haven't got my gaming laptop back up and running yet. Did make some progress. The big bug is fixed but I am determined to fix a couple more small ones and we are very close. The screenshots show the problem in trying to implement some new flag code and the jettyships function in New Horizeons. Still working the last skin as well. I added some more characters and game content as well. Soon. MK

Edit: In answer to the questions above...no there are no late era flush deck frigates in Mod2. They are in Era's Mod3 which still needs a lot to be finished. There are as Hylie points out many of the earlier style frigates. In addition all of the frigates/sloops of war/and 5th,6th raters that have lateen rigs are in Mod2. So there is the Unicorn, Greyhound, Raa, Neptunis, and some new ships from POTEHO that are almost as sleek as their later cousins.

None of the quests are affected and there are still skeletons and the Flying Dutchman - the original one from the game. The POTC version is not in the game.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Those flags look like something Madison Avenue would cook up, and getting the ships to sit right at the jetty is still a problem. In POTC the short ones at Bonaire are the worst.

There is a whole lot to look forward to here.

 

[jokash]

uuu great pic

 

[modernknight1]

I'm so sorry mates. Real life emergencies intervened in me being able to finish this week. I am back to work and I have a set deadline of the 1st or 2nd of November because I am in the process of moving myself and family to the Northwest US. I had meant to move last month but my life has been topsy turvy. I must get this out before I move so you can all start enjoying it. I have been working on a few things. I got burned out on ships and still am finishing the last two (yes I found one more that needed the MK touch). So I made some more characters.

I have to tell you that Blaz de Lezo was my inspiration to make a few more. So we are up to 67 characters now. Blaz de Lezo is like the Spanish equivalent of Lord Nelson. He started his career during the Golden Age but really distinguished himself after. After studying him I was forced to reassess my opinion of the Age of Utter boredom (1726-1755). You must realize that I have stated many times that I consider that era very fascinating and lively ON LAND and in politics, but at sea and regarding piracy its sad times indeed. I considered Anson the only real interesting figure of that time at sea, but now I have to admit that Blaz de Lezo is up there with him and maybe above him.

De Lezo captured dozens of British prizes and in the interface shot I used a painting that commemorates his capture of a much larger British warship with a Spanish frigate. The Spanish and South American kids learn about this guy like we know about George Washington in America. There is a fairly common saying that Blaz de Lezo is the reason that America still speaks Spanish. He defeated the largest British invasion in history. I wrote an article about it a few months back - http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/the-greatest-disasters-in-british-naval-history.20280/ Not to mention that this guy had lost an eye, a leg and an arm. So I used the old POTC corsair3 model for him. It's interesting that all the portraits of him show him with his screwed up eye, but he didn't wear an eye-patch so I didn't put one on the character. So I have no pirates in era's with peg legs, hooks or eye patches, but the greatest Spanish hero in the game has them. Funny! LOL

I couldn't resist the last character. One of my favorite pirate movies of all time is Roman Polanski's "Pirates". Walter Matthau plays Captain Bartholomew Redd. So I needed to make him. The funny thing is that he turned out so good and looks so much like Walter Matthau that I left the beard off. I have a version of him with the beard and it looks great but I figured, hey he's a younger Captain Redd earlier in his career.

I also wanted to add Hornigold and and Condent. They both turned out AWESOME! I am really getting good at this and these are completely my own creations with no content from Metazot. I also found a great model in POTC for Dampier, so I changed him out with the guy I had already made and then made the other guy one of Dampier's friends who had a very interesting life - Lionel Wafer.

I also got burned out doing code experimentation and changes. There are so many things I have been improving and it's really frustrating having so little help and little success. Still it's so much better than the original game, its not even comparable.

So here's some screens of the new characters. This will be two posts because of only ten shots per post..... Be patient - release is around the corner.....MK

 

[modernknight1]

Edit: Keep in mind that the stern on the Convoy ship is a work in progress - most of what you see is Van de Velde's original drawing overlayed, with me filling it up with textures that match. This will be my best yet and the last ship skinned for the mod. MK