Need Help Hoist the colors (For the 125431th time)

[Grey Roger]

Meanwhile, I've made a new install on my PC with your DMC addition included. It will take some time before I get to test it as I first have to play the "Hoist the Colours" story, in between various other things I'm working on! But I have done some initial checking and found various minor spelling mistakes in some dialog files plus the questbook. Also, in "TempQuest.c", you've blanked out the numbers in the names of "Pirates_1", "Pirates_2" etc. That's fine, but you don't need 'TranslateString("","")' for the blank last name. If there's one string which does not need to be translated in any language, it's "". So I've changed the line to 'ch.lastname = "";'.

Here's a zip with corrected files plus the new "BlackCaesar" model, which will be used for character "Bos'un". He makes a brief appearance in the "Free Slave" sidequest. Barbossa has a large, black officer simply named "Bos'un" in the film; the game character is not associated with Barbossa but it's too much of a coincidence having a similarly named officer of similar appearance, and as the actor who plays Bo'sun in the film is big, the new model seems appropriate.

 

[Sebrian]

for the blank last name. If there's one string which does not need to be translated in any language, it's "". So I've changed the line to 'ch.lastname = "";'.

oops

Thank you for checking the spelling, much appreciated, not much of a writer, but i'm trying to do a good enough job

 

[Sebrian]

So... right now i'm quite happy with how bootstrap's meeting scene is done, i will add the sleeping/later awake crew members later on, i'm doing the "Will turner's" part of the quest now.

I already have the code made to do everything, it's just a question of if it's a good idea gameplay wise.

Questions:
1, I want the player to take control of Will Turner, he starts with a tartane for a ship, or no ship at all, has to buy a ship or talk to certain npc's around Redmond to get a ship, and sail to 4-5 islands to find other npc's to progress the quest (Think Devilin opera), and can do freeplay quests not directly related to Jack Sparrow. Should i take away players items as well ? As i don't want Will Turner to use Jack's compass etc. or just leave it as is for the gameplay, maybe restrict the player to only use Will's sword, and would you enjoy playing as Will Turner at all ? I myself think it's a nice change of pase.

2. We will need to limit the DMC storyline start to after the player has finished sidequests that make him a Pirate lord, and other Jack Sparrow related sidequests maybe as well, it just would not make sense otherwise. Is that okay ? (Not changing any of the sidequests, just setting variables to check for their completion before you can start Admirals Missing Son). The DMC questline will get done, and more than likely "At the world's end" as well, as i do enjoy doing it, so don't worry, there will be plenty of content after player finishes the sidequests, so little limiting won't hurt as much i think,.

3. I want to use another video from the movie, i know that we should try to minimise that, but i think it sets the atmosphere of the whole scene, see the video link below, from the start to about 1:35, after that the player "becomes" Will Turner and scene continues in a fake Redmond Fort.


video


Edit:

I forgot to set:
LAi_SetStayType(characterfromID("turks_prison_guard1"));

So he doesn't keep following the player, please ignore it, it's fixed in my version, i will upload my version soon, when some more of testings/quests are done, as this is not game breaking, just silly (He is set to "none" after player escapes the prison.)

I should have just set some npc locations to "none" after the "no fight" option of the quest, i will fix/optimise the whole code when i'm done with DMC, it's hard for me to do it
as i keep wriring it, but it will be done, sorry

Edit2:

I have added a fade animation when the player gets thrown into cell, to make it smoother, will be in the next upload as well.

File with these fixes attached.

 

[Grey Roger]

So... right now i'm quite happy with how bootstrap's meeting scene is done, i will add the sleeping/later awake crew members later on, i'm doing the "Will turner's" part of the quest now.

I already have the code made to do everything, it's just a question of if it's a good idea gameplay wise.

Questions:
1, I want the player to take control of Will Turner, he starts with a tartane for a ship, or no ship at all, has to buy a ship or talk to certain npc's around Redmond to get a ship, and sail to 4-5 islands to find other npc's to progress the quest (Think Devilin opera), and can do freeplay quests not directly related to Jack Sparrow. Should i take away players items as well ? As i don't want Will Turner to use Jack's compass etc. or just leave it as is for the gameplay, maybe restrict the player to only use Will's sword, and would you enjoy playing as Will Turner at all ? I myself think it's a nice change of pase.

That should be possible. The storyline already does something similar, briefly, when you become Barbossa during the battle between Black Pearl and Interceptor. However, don't follow that too closely as an example because it doesn't quite do the transition in full.

To take command of Will Turner's ship, instead of using 'GiveShip2Character' (which is what several storylines do, and which means you'll lose any upgrades you bought for your ship when the next 'GiveShip2Character' returns your original ship), do this:

ExchangeCharacterShip(PChar, CharacterFromID("Will Turner"));

That means the player's ship is preserved as WIll Turner gets it, while the player get whatever was assigned to Will Turner, whether that's a tartane or nothing at all. The other advantage of this is that when you later use a similar command to return your ship, the player gets back whatever he had before, whether that's the Black Pearl, the Crimson Blood or anything else, with any upgrades, damage and cargo it had.

To remove the player's items:

TempRemoveItems(PChar);
PChar.quest.old_blade = GetCharacterEquipByGroup(PChar, BLADE_ITEM_TYPE);
PChar.quest.old_gun = GetCharacterEquipByGroup(PChar, GUN_ITEM_TYPE);
RemoveCharacterEquip(PChar, GUN_ITEM_TYPE);
RemoveCharacterEquip(PChar, BLADE_ITEM_TYPE);

And to put them back:

RestoreTempRemovedItems(PChar);
if (PChar.quest.old_blade != "") EquipCharacterByItem(PChar,PChar.quest.old_blade);
if (PChar.quest.old_gun != "") EquipCharacterByItem(PChar,PChar.quest.old_gun);
DeleteQuestAttribute("old_blade");
DeleteQuestAttribute("old_gun");

That takes away your weapons, remembering what you had equipped before; and then gives you back and re-equips the same weapons when you revert to Jack Sparrow.

You'll also want to remove the player's officers and passengers:

StorePassengers(PChar.id);

And then give them back later:

RestorePassengers(PChar.id);

2. We will need to limit the DMC storyline start to after the player has finished sidequests that make him a Pirate lord, and other Jack Sparrow related sidequests maybe as well, it just would not make sense otherwise. Is that okay ? (Not changing any of the sidequests, just setting variables to check for their completion before you can start Admirals Missing Son). The DMC questline will get done, and more than likely "At the world's end" as well, as i do enjoy doing it, so don't worry, there will be plenty of content after player finishes the sidequests, so little limiting won't hurt as much i think,.

The one which makes the player a Pirate Lord is "Sao Feng's Bodyguards". Perhaps define a new item to be Jack's Piece of Eight, which in the game is given to him by Teague at the end of that quest:

:Now, take this. It's very important to me, and now it is to you. Keep it with you at all times. It is the symbol marking you as a Pirate Lord of the Caribbean.

The place to give it would be "both_reaction.c", case "Teague_gives_Piece_of_8". Then all you need to do to check that the player is a Pirate Lord is to check for possession of the item:

if (!CheckCharacterItem(PChar, "Jacks_piece"))

(Replace "Jacks_piece" with whatever you choose to call it.)

I wouldn't do anything to change "Admiral's Missing Son". Partly to avoid damaging the storyline as it is now, but mainly because you may end up disabling the entire DMC story! Perhaps check for being a Pirate Lord part way into DMC so that the player can't get past that point before becoming a lord. In the same way, you can start the "Help the Church" sidequest at any time, but you won't complete it until after you receive the Black Pearl because that's when the "Ammand" sidequest is unlocked - that is the storyline's version of "Help the Church". So, for example, the player could complete "Justine le Moigne's Disappearance" and take Tia Dalma to Antigua, then she tells the player that he can't go any further until he's a Pirate Lord. Or, if you have a scene at the Brethren Court, the player can't enter without the Piece of Eight.

3. I want to use another video from the movie, i know that we should try to minimise that, but i think it sets the atmosphere of the whole scene, see the video link below, from the start to about 1:35, after that the player "becomes" Will Turner and scene continues in a fake Redmond Fort.

Having short clips of video to set the scene seems to be standard practice, so one more won't do any harm. A minute and a half might be a bit long, but some other videos already in the game are longer than that. So, if it's useful for the story, go ahead!

I should have just set some npc locations to "none" after the "no fight" option of the quest, i will fix/optimise the whole code when i'm done with DMC, it's hard for me to do it
as i keep wriring it, but it will be done, sorry

Better might be to do everything to get each scene working correctly, test the scene, and then proceed to the next part. Otherwise you have to remember all the parts which still need to be modified. And if the optimisation then affects a further scene, you could end up with a domino effect...

 

[Sebrian]

Thanks @Grey Roger ! A lot of useful information, you helped me out yet again!

I wouldn't do anything to change "Admiral's Missing Son". Partly to avoid damaging the storyline as it is now, but mainly because you may end up disabling the entire DMC story! Perhaps check for being a Pirate Lord part way into DMC so that the player can't get past that point before becoming a lord. In the same way, you can start the "Help the Church" sidequest at any time, but you won't complete it until after you receive the Black Pearl because that's when the "Ammand" sidequest is unlocked - that is the storyline's version of "Help the Church". So, for example, the player could complete "Justine le Moigne's Disappearance" and take Tia Dalma to Antigua, then she tells the player that he can't go any further until he's a Pirate Lord. Or, if you have a scene at the Brethren Court, the player can't enter without the Piece of Eight.

Yes, indeed, i will just check for an item, it just wouldn't make sense to play Jack's quests as Will, what could be the best way to restrict some of Jack's quests while you are playing as Will ? As the player will be able to do some freeplay as Will, which i wouldn't want to discourage.

 

[Grey Roger]

Thinking about this a bit more, especially with sidequests in mind, I would advise switching to Will only for a very short time, preferably for a specific scene. Otherwise you have to allow for what happens if the player started a sidequest as Jack, then is switched to Will. And not just for those sidequests which were modified for Jack Sparrow. "Hard Labours of an Assassin", for example, is going to look silly if Mateus Santos has hired Jack Sparrow to kill someone, then Will Turner returns to report having done it. And "Saga of the Blacque Family" will look silly if Jack Sparrow gets as far as collecting Marc Blacque from Port Royale, who then disappears from the passenger list because the player is now Will Turner, yet Will Turner can still go to St. Pierre to tell Milon Blacque that he's brought Marc with him.

Then there's the matter of XP and money. Will inherits Jack's XP, level and money. He gains more XP and money, and possibly goes up a level or two. Then Jack inherits all that XP and money (and levels) when the player reverts to Jack Sparrow.

Basically, if the player is going to remain as Will for a serious amount of time, things are liable to get very messy!

For comparison, the player switches to Barbossa just for the battle with Interceptor, then switches back to Jack when the battle ends. In the "Hornblower" storyline, during the climactic assault on Guadeloupe, the player switches to various other characters briefly for cut-scenes and then reverts to Hornblower to continue the story action. In "Tales of a Sea Hawk", the player briefly becomes Danielle right after Danielle has attacked Nathaniel in Rheims' house, listens to Rheims' dialog about the idol, and then reverts back to Nathaniel so that the player can go looking for Danielle. And in "Devlin Opera", you can switch to Blaze or Bonnie for a choice of adventure in St. Pierre, then you switch back to Beatrice when that specific adventure is over.

 

[Sebrian]

Good points, all scenes of Will are scripted besides one, where he has to find info on Jack's location, for that he must travel between many ports... well i could script that too to be honest, i really wanted the player to be able to do some freeplay as a different character. Oh well too bad, it will indeed just be too complicated to make work with ongoing quests etc...

 

[Grey Roger]

Game storylines, unlike films, generally show only one character's perspective on the story, namely that of the character you play, the primary character of the storyline. Thus, "Curse of the Black Pearl" shows other things happening before Jack's arrival in Port Royale, but the game doesn't show them. Instead it shows Jack's early life before that arrival.

And so, in "Tales of a Sea Hawk", you have no idea what Danielle is doing because you're Nathaniel. A film would probably alternate between the two characters, the game story doesn't. In "Bartolomeu", you don't see Emilio Soares being abducted by Johan Elting; while in "Assassin", you do the abducting but you don't see what Bartolomeu is doing elsewhere.

Though the storyline is titled "Hoist the Colours" on screen, in game code it's "JackSparrow". The player doesn't need to see directly what Will Turner, Cutler Beckett or anyone else is doing unless Jack is personally there seeing it happen. The reason you switch to Barbossa for the battle between Black Pearl and Interceptor is probably so you get to play the cursed Pearl (you play all other versions of the ship as Jack), or because it's harder to write a sea battle which you're supposed to lose. (And also to account for players like me, though the writers of the storyline probably didn't think of that. Have a look at The adventures of the Interceptor. )

 

[Sebrian]

Game storylines, unlike films, generally show only one character's perspective on the story, namely that of the character you play, the primary character of the storyline. Thus, "Curse of the Black Pearl" shows other things happening before Jack's arrival in Port Royale, but the game doesn't show them. Instead it shows Jack's early life before that arrival.

And so, in "Tales of a Sea Hawk", you have no idea what Danielle is doing because you're Nathaniel. A film would probably alternate between the two characters, the game story doesn't. In "Bartolomeu", you don't see Emilio Soares being abducted by Johan Elting; while in "Assassin", you do the abducting but you don't see what Bartolomeu is doing elsewhere.

Though the storyline is titled "Hoist the Colours" on screen, in game code it's "JackSparrow". The player doesn't need to see directly what Will Turner, Cutler Beckett or anyone else is doing unless Jack is personally there seeing it happen. The reason you switch to Barbossa for the battle between Black Pearl and Interceptor is probably so you get to play the cursed Pearl (you play all other versions of the ship as Jack), or because it's harder to write a sea battle which you're supposed to lose. (And also to account for players like me, though the writers of the storyline probably didn't think of that. Have a look at The adventures of the Interceptor. )

That's one way to approach the story with Interceptor i suppose I didn't even know that Duntless attacks you at some point if you don't follow the quest, which i of course did, interesting!

I love the way Hoist the colours shows Jack's eary life, it might not be too "cannon" by now, as the last movie does show a somewhat different "young jack", but it's really cool regardless. With that said, i think here showing other character's perspective adds a lot to the story, and there are no interesting parts which i could show instead for it all to make sense, all i could do is show more of Jack instead of any of Will, it's hard to explain with you not remembering DMC so well... i think a bit more scripted story for Will will do just fine, i want him to do some combat as well, it will be cool, i think...

The official game does a lot of character swiching, but well, we can't compare these two games, that game lacks A LOT compared to new horizons build!

Game link, maybe you have played it ?

 

[Sebrian]

Another small fix, as i did not play the whole story from the beggining i forgot to set back the dialogue file path after it got changed to the officer one! As i use a quick skip via console none of the BP quest cases trigger for me...

Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Annamaria")].Dialog.Filename = "Annamaria_dialog.c"; and Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Mr. Gibbs")].Dialog.Filename = "Mr. Gibbs_dialog.c";";

Better might be to do everything to get each scene working correctly, test the scene, and then proceed to the next part. Otherwise you have to remember all the parts which still need to be modified. And if the optimisation then affects a further scene, you could end up with a domino effect...

Yes, you are absolutely right, i shouldn't try to rush DMC, rather make it stable at each scene, which is what i'm doing right now, so proggress might take a while longer.

Roger please report any bugs in my quest if they happen when playing the whole Black pearl's questline, i just don't have so much time on me right now...it will help a lot, and i will fix any issues asap!

 

[Grey Roger]

There are two versions of Jack's early life, probably neither with a canon element between them. But the point is, this is Jack Sparrow's story, seen (almost) entirely through Jack's eyes. And so, for example, we don't the Black Pearl attacking Port Royale, apart from Jack commenting in prison that he recognises the guns, and a couple of skeletons visiting him. We don't see Will's part in it, until he arrives in prison to release Jack. Nor do we see Elizabeth on board the Black Pearl when Barbossa explains the curse of Cortes, followed by her close encounter with the skeletal crew. All these are key elements of the film but are not included in the storyline because Jack Sparrow wasn't involved.

Therefore, you don't need to show Will trying to find Jack's location. The player knows exactly where Jack is, due to being Jack. Feel free to make up something, non-canon if necessary, to fill in what Jack is doing while Will is trying to find him.

If you have code written for Will Turner's part, could it perhaps be transferred into a player-specific quest for FreePlay as Will Turner?

 

[Sebrian]

There are two versions of Jack's early life, probably neither with a canon element between them. But the point is, this is Jack Sparrow's story, seen (almost) entirely through Jack's eyes. And so, for example, we don't the Black Pearl attacking Port Royale, apart from Jack commenting in prison that he recognises the guns, and a couple of skeletons visiting him. We don't see Will's part in it, until he arrives in prison to release Jack. Nor do we see Elizabeth on board the Black Pearl when Barbossa explains the curse of Cortes, followed by her close encounter with the skeletal crew. All these are key elements of the film but are not included in the storyline because Jack Sparrow wasn't involved.

Therefore, you don't need to show Will trying to find Jack's location. The player knows exactly where Jack is, due to being Jack. Feel free to make up something, non-canon if necessary, to fill in what Jack is doing while Will is trying to find him.

If you have code written for Will Turner's part, could it perhaps be transferred into a player-specific quest for FreePlay as Will Turner?

Understood, so i will change it up a bit, only showing Jack's point of view, the questline will be a bit shorter then, but i will try to compensate that with added gameplay and as you said ill make some things up as well on my own.

I have some unfinished code written for Will Turner, it might be transfered to freeplay, but as it is right now, it wouldn't make much sense as it's own story, i can save it for when we have actual freeplay quests for him (which i still think is an awesome idea!) and it could add a bit more to it, but as of right now it does not have any backstory, and it would be kinda bad to flop the player right into DMC questline with no backstory when he starts Will's freeplay

 

[Sebrian]

Another quick question, as this is what i'm doing at this moment, should i move this part to a game engine or just add it all as a video and then continue with Jack's part, as this scene here explains why is Will even trying to find Jack, and there is no way of going around it... but it requires to change player to will, at least the model, write code to spawn several npc's etc. in short a lot of work for a 1 minute gameplay dialogue scene... is it worth it ? Or just show a longer film cutsecne and be done with it, as some players will skip trought the dialogue anyways...

The issue is it's from around 0:40 till the end (2min), and then i will have another similar lenght video later. so i'm just debating on showing more videos against swtching to the character. as it won't do anything in a gamelay perspective now... but we absolutey have to explain each characters motivation (elizabeth, becket,will) for the player to understand why are they even appearing as Jack encounters them, but scenes explaning it do not involve Jack, he gets to know Will's motivation later on, but i think it won't get the whole point across and set the tone of the story right, even if i add more dialogue to it... my brain hurts a bit now

It's "Hey Jack Elizabeth is in trouble and i need your compass to save her" VS "Showing beckett make a deal with Will to save Eizabeth and requsting the compass"


I hope it all makes sense to you!

same video again

 

[Grey Roger]

The main snag with having too many video clips is, why bother playing the game? Just go and watch the film. Any player who isn't interested enough in the backstory to read the dialog is also liable to press the spacebar to skip the video, especially if it's a couple of minutes long. (Incidentally, remember that not all our players are English speakers. There's a Spanish translation in a fairly advanced state and a Russian translation in a somewhat less advanced state. Video clips can't be translated, dialog files can. You don't need to do the translating but using dialogs rather than videos helps the folks who do.)

Does Will Turner appear in EITC uniform anywhere else, especially in Jack Sparrow's presence? If so, it may be worth making a model for him - it should be easy enough, just transplant Will Turner's face onto an EITC uniform texture and apply it to a soldier model. Otherwise just use whatever model you'll be using for Will Turner for the rest of the story. Elizabeth Swann doesn't have her full wardrobe either and probably never will.

There's another tool at your disposal which has been used a couple of times in the storyline. Switch the player to Guy Verbinski, relocate to Tortuga tavern, and have "Storyteller" (alias Joshamee Gibbs) relate what is going on.

 

[Sebrian]

The main snag with having too many video clips is, why bother playing the game? Just go and watch the film. Any player who isn't interested enough in the backstory to read the dialog is also liable to press the spacebar to skip the video, especially if it's a couple of minutes long. (Incidentally, remember that not all our players are English speakers. There's a Spanish translation in a fairly advanced state and a Russian translation in a somewhat less advanced state. Video clips can't be translated, dialog files can. You don't need to do the translating but using dialogs rather than videos helps the folks who do.)

Does Will Turner appear in EITC uniform anywhere else, especially in Jack Sparrow's presence? If so, it may be worth making a model for him - it should be easy enough, just transplant Will Turner's face onto an EITC uniform texture and apply it to a soldier model. Otherwise just use whatever model you'll be using for Will Turner for the rest of the story. Elizabeth Swann doesn't have her full wardrobe either and probably never will.

There's another tool at your disposal which has been used a couple of times in the storyline. Switch the player to Guy Verbinski, relocate to Tortuga tavern, and have "Storyteller" (alias Joshamee Gibbs) relate what is going on.

Okay, with translations it does indeed make sense to do the most important dialogue wihin the engine, Will Turner does not appear in the EITC uniform at all, and Elizabeth has only 3 costumes overall, the "dress", "pirate" and the "pirate lord" one which is used in "At the world's end".

Now i have a clear picture of the quest again:

1. Focus on the Jack Sparrow, don't switch to other characters for long;
2. Add more gameplay/non cannon suff where needed;
3. More engine dialogue and less videos where possible;
4. Don't touch the quests we already have, modify DMC to fit into the current story.

What i will most likely need for DMC is "Fishy" Bill Turner, for now i'm using just your "normal" new model. And i have all the locations i need including the church one and even The Dutchman's deck!

Elizabeth Swann doesn't have her full wardrobe either and probably never will.

You said that we most likely never will have DMC story either, so who knows

Right now i have everything done and tested till "Cannibal island" and ill be working on it tomorrow, i think there is not much to ask anymore, so ill just focus on coding,
thank you again Roger! It would all look way different without your input, and @Jack Rackham for locations, i will fix up the part which i have uploaded if bugs occour after you play trough the whole story, and hopefully finish DMC by the next update after this one.

It's just a heads up in case i don't visit the forums for a while, i'm not dead, just busy

 

[Grey Roger]

Okay, with translations it does indeed make sense to do the most important dialogue wihin the engine, Will Turner does not appear in the EITC uniform at all, and Elizabeth has only 3 costumes overall, the "dress", "pirate" and the "pirate lord" one which is used in "At the world's end".

4 costumes. There are two dresses, a yellow one (in the game already) and a red one (when she's captured by Barbossa).

Will Turner appears in EITC uniform (or at least, a uniform very similar to the game's existing "Eitc_cpt1_47" and "Eitc_lt1_47" models) in that video. Does he continue to use that uniform in any part of the film which will be depicted in the story?

Now i have a clear picture of the quest again:

1. Focus on the Jack Sparrow, don't switch to other characters for long;
2. Add more gameplay/non cannon suff where needed;
3. More engine dialogue and less videos where possible;
4. Don't touch the quests we already have, modify DMC to fit into the current story.

1-3 are optional. No storyline has switched between characters for long gameplay before, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Just be aware of the pitfalls such as weirdness in sidequests. You don't need to add non-canon stuff, it is simply a way you could use to fill in the blanks when the films don't tell us what Jack has been doing. Videos add more atmosphere but can't be translated; it's your choice which to use and when.

Another thought for consideration: players who know the film well will know everyone's motives. Players who do not know the film may be surprised at some of Will Turner's actions without the video to explain them. If the game concentrates on playing from Jack's perspective as it has done for pretty much the whole CotBP story, that surprise effect may be a good thing as Jack is also unaware of what Will is doing and may be likewise surprised. (In "Tales of a Sea Hawk", Nathaniel has no idea of what has been happening between Danielle Green, Raoul Rheims and Governor Silehard, so he's in for a nasty surprise when he tells Danielle that he's been working for the governor. That surprise would be ruined if there was some previous video or dialog of Silehard ordering Rheims to be killed because of what he knows about the treasure.)

What i will most likely need for DMC is "Fishy" Bill Turner, for now i'm using just your "normal" new model. And i have all the locations i need including the church one and even The Dutchman's deck!

It should be easy enough to add some barnacles to Bill's face and clothes. The seaweed dangling from his hat is another matter; it would need a new model, not a simple retexture.

 

[Sebrian]

Will Turner appears in EITC uniform (or at least, a uniform very similar to the game's existing "Eitc_cpt1_47" and "Eitc_lt1_47" models) in that video. Does he continue to use that uniform in any part of the film which will be depicted in the story?

He only appears in this uniform durring two scenes, that one and another one with Beckett, which comes soon afer, might not be worth it to model the uniform just for that...

Another thought for consideration: players who know the film well will know everyone's motives. Players who do not know the film may be surprised at some of Will Turner's actions without the video to explain them. If the game concentrates on playing from Jack's perspective as it has done for pretty much the whole CotBP story, that surprise effect may be a good thing as Jack is also unaware of what Will is doing and may be likewise surprised. (In "Tales of a Sea Hawk", Nathaniel has no idea of what has been happening between Danielle Green, Raoul Rheims and Governor Silehard, so he's in for a nasty surprise when he tells Danielle that he's been working for the governor. That surprise would be ruined if there was some previous video or dialog of Silehard ordering Rheims to be killed because of what he knows about the treasure.)

Yes, you have a good point there Roger! and for that i have decided to leave Will's and Elizabeth's scenes out for now, i have added more gameplay and dialogue for Jack, and so far i think it is working out nicely, with some additional dialogue expansions for when he meets Will,,,

Plus this leaves room for freeplay quests as Will Turner just as we have discussed before

But i can add the scenes with them in case it will be needed, we shall see how it plays out in the long run...

I have finished cannibal island scenes, they are happening on Khael Roa, i think it's a fitting location (all made into fake locations of course). Now starting work on Tortuga's scene, overall about 1/2 of DMC is done, it needs some polish and testing and i will upload everything later on.

 

[Grey Roger]

Where on Khael Roa are you putting the cannibal island scenes? Setting aside that some players might go to Khael Roa, alias Cozumel, just because they can, the storyline may actively send the player there.

You're ambushed by Cutler Beckett at the lighthouse, he burns the Wicked Wench and puts you on the Lindisfarne, then there's a storm and you meet Davy Jones, who offers you his deal. You have the option to turn down his deal, in which case you can go your own way but won't be able to continue the story until you go looking for him. And you'll find him in the hideout on Khael Roa/Cozumel. The player should not wander into your cannibal areas while looking for Davy Jones!

 

[Sebrian]

Where on Khael Roa are you putting the cannibal island scenes? Setting aside that some players might go to Khael Roa, alias Cozumel, just because they can, the storyline may actively send the player there.

You're ambushed by Cutler Beckett at the lighthouse, he burns the Wicked Wench and puts you on the Lindisfarne, then there's a storm and you meet Davy Jones, who offers you his deal. You have the option to turn down his deal, in which case you can go your own way but won't be able to continue the story until you go looking for him. And you'll find him in the hideout on Khael Roa/Cozumel. The player should not wander into your cannibal areas while looking for Davy Jones!

When player arrives to Khael Roa bootstrap's dialogue scene triggers, and player get's teleported to "fake Khael Roa shore" after it. And the whole jungle is made from a bunch of fake locations put together and @Jack Rackham Indian village So i don't touch the actual Khael Roa at all, it could be any island to be honest.

Quick question, what is the best way to place player's ship near shore ? (So it is visible) And is there a way to actually place ship on the shore itself (Docked) ? See link below:

Pearl ashore

 

[Grey Roger]

That can work - the "Bartolomeu" story does something similar, though without any dialog. When you arrive in Khael Roa waters you teleport to Vera Cruz. When the time comes for you to leave Vera Cruz, you're put back on your ship near Khael Roa.

To put the player's ship near a shore or port:

SetCharacterShipLocation(PChar, "fake Khael Roa shore");

As to putting a ship on shore, or at least very close to it, again there's an example in "Bartolomeu" in which you walk across Curacao to a beach, where you find a Spanish battleship by the shore. As far as I can tell, this is done by creating a special locator file for the shore which has only one "Ship" locator, placed close to land. Then:

setCharacterShipLocation(characterFromID("Spanish Captain"), "Curacao_shore_03");

puts the character's ship near the shore - and as the only valid locator for it is the one next to the beach, that's where the ship appears. So, if your "fake Khael Roa shore" uses a similarly modified locator file with its only "Ship" locator near the beach then 'SetCharacterShipLocation' should put your ship there.

I can't see that picture. But a Google Image search for "Black Pearl ashore" turned up this one:
Black Pearl

There might be a way to put a model of the Black Pearl permanently there. In that case, you would not need the 'SetCharacterShipLocation' command - you don't want to see the Pearl both at sea and lying on its side on the sand! I'd need to see your updated "QuestLocations.c" file with "fake Khael Roa shore" added.