HMS Indefatigable (1784) frigate

[Martes]

Well... It works.
It just works ))

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Of course, she refuses to move without sails, people are climbing in the air and the game crashes when trying to switch to the deck view without deck path.
And no guns yet.

But it can be considered a launch, can it?

 

[Captain Murphy]

Dang, can't wait to see it in my Tides of War build. Great job!

 

[Martes]

Dang, can't wait to see it in my Tides of War build. Great job!

Ambient occlusion makes anything better

But that's up to @Flannery now, right?

 

[Martes]

Ahem, so that nobody would think I am lazy, slowpoke had finally found this:

INZANE´S Step by Step Tutorial

 

[Armada]

Should I wrap the mast and yards meshes in groups, or I can directly parent them to locators?

You can do either; it doesn't seem to affect the exported models.

Of course, she refuses to move without sails, people are climbing in the air and the game crashes when trying to switch to the deck view without deck path.
And no guns yet.

But it can be considered a launch, can it?

That's a promising start!

You'll need to make the path mesh before going any further. I used to have an image showing how to make one easily, but I can't find it now.
If you take a look at a path model in GM Viewer and press 5 to show the wireframe, you'll see how they're laid out.

Ahem, so that nobody would think I am lazy, slowpoke had finally found this:

INZANE´S Step by Step Tutorial

That does seem to cover most points, though it's a bit long-winded (and I find the Outliner is easier to use than the Hypergraph). Note that you don't need "vant" locators, since you modelled the shrouds manually.
The General Guide to Locators has a few diagrams that show the sail and flag setup slightly better.

 

[Armada]

I used to have an image showing how to make one easily, but I can't find it now.

Never mind, I found it! See below; making a plane and deleting the highlighted faces is the quickest method I use. Note that you'll need to bridge any gaps between decks where you want the player to be able to climb ladders.



Those pics were buried in this old thread, which I'm sure @Captain Armstrong remembers: Released - 20 gun privateer schooner

 

[Martes]

Thanks!
I have taken the deck mesh and made necessary holes, and inverted it, and going to test it today.
The, I think, I will make a couple of sails, just to see, how it goes, and then the guns.

Looking at the locators on the Constitution, the number of ropes makes me shiver.

 

[Martes]

Camera + path - works.

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Sails next.

What's the key for screenshot, I coudn't remember?

 

[Martes]

Quick update: got fore course working, and went a bit about the harbour.

#2. Added the spanker.

#3. Hmmm, either I have missed something or I am doing something wrong, but the yards do not seem to turn according to the wind, they are fixed in place. How do I get that working?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

What's the key for screenshot, I coudn't remember?

F9 if you want the engine to save the screenshot as TGA in your main game folder.
But I never use that; PrintScreen, then Paste in Paint is much easier for me.
Especially when playing the game in windowed mode, so I can Alt+Tab in and out.

 

[Martes]

F9 if you want the engine to save the screenshot as TGA in your main game folder.
But I never use that; PrintScreen, then Paste in Paint is much easier for me.
Especially when playing the game in windowed mode, so I can Alt+Tab in and out.

Oh, I used Ctrl+PrintScreen, so it obviously went to the telescope ))

 

[Grey Roger]

F9 if you want the engine to save the screenshot as TGA in your main game folder.

Or possibly F8.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Or possibly F8.

Oops.... F9 is "hide the interface", isn't it? That's what I get for not starting the game for half a year...

 

[Grey Roger]

#3. Hmmm, either I have missed something or I am doing something wrong, but the yards do not seem to turn according to the wind, they are fixed in place. How do I get that working?

I don't know the technicalities of making yards move, but the last time I saw yards which didn't move, the reason was that they were part of the mast model. Are your yards also part of the mast models, or do they have their own "rey" model files?

 

[Grey Roger]

I was personally mainly thinking of Iron Man Mode, where you never have the luxury of a top grade compass with "radar".
So this will definitely add some extra difficulty to a game mode that is already quite difficult.
Whether this is desirable or not depends on the players though. I'm not a player, so I cannot really say what would be best....

You already need to check flags if you're playing Iron Man, and sometimes even if you're not. Napoleonic era warships aren't the only ones which are shared between nations. Several other ships are shared between various nations, some of them quite big. And just to confuse people even more, the Heavy East Indiaman and Fast War Galleon are also "versatile" - check the flag to see whether it's a merchant which is easy to capture, or a naval ship which is not! (Even I got caught out by that recently. During a DirectSail, I encountered a group of ships, the lead one definitely a merchant, with a pinnace of war and a couple of Heavy East Indiamen behind. Thinking this to be a group of merchants, I went to attack, and only when I got close did I finally notice that the pinnace of war and both East Indiamen were flying naval flags. This wasn't "group of merchants", this was "single merchant with heavy escort"!)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

You already need to check flags if you're playing Iron Man

True. But fixed colour schemes could help make things less difficult. You're right though that it's never going to work for all ships.
So really, I don't know how much of a difference it would make either way.
I am no Iron Man player (or a player at all), so my thoughts are just that: thoughts. They're not opinions and they're certainly not decisions.

And just to confuse people even more, the Heavy East Indiaman and Fast War Galleon are also "versatile" - check the flag to see whether it's a merchant which is easy to capture, or a naval ship which is not! (Even I got caught out by that recently. During a DirectSail, I encountered a group of ships, the lead one definitely a merchant, with a pinnace of war and a couple of Heavy East Indiamen behind. Thinking this to be a group of merchants, I went to attack, and only when I got close did I finally notice that the pinnace of war and both East Indiamen were flying naval flags. This wasn't "group of merchants", this was "single merchant with heavy escort"!)

Ooh, that's a good one! Great to hear too that the merchant/navy ensigns actually serve a purpose like that then.
That means it wasn't a waste of our time and effort to add that to the game!

 

[Armada]

Camera + path - works.

Excellent!

Hmmm, either I have missed something or I am doing something wrong, but the yards do not seem to turn according to the wind, they are fixed in place. How do I get that working?

I think the yards only turn if they have sail locators, so they'll remain static until you add those.

 

[Martes]

if they have sail locators, so they'll remain static until you add those

As I mentioned, I have added two sails - fore course (to rey_a2) and a spanker (rey_a4). they both work - I get some movement, that is - and flatter when turning to the wind, but their yards remain static.

May it be have to be set somewhere in the code (I replaced the current Indefatigable model, but did not touch the ships_init.c section), or because I did not add any ropes yet?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

May it be have to be set somewhere in the code (I replaced the current Indefatigable model, but did not touch the ships_init.c section), or because I did not add any ropes yet?

Shouldn't be, no.

 

[Martes]

Hm...

I added two ropes to the ends of the fore course sail, but it didn't change anything (looks better, though)
Will try to add ropes to the ends of the yards.

At the moment it looks like that:

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For comparison, Constitution, even with sails lowered, has the yards turning:

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