Introduction
This is a documentation with information that I think is good to know about the Pirates of the Caribbean game and the other games in the series that use the Storm Engine, as well as an explanation of the differences between the Xbox and PC versions of Pirates of the Caribbean from different regions.
I have seen several people ask about the differences and I think an explanation can help players determine which version they have. There are several differences and I want to mention the more important and/or noticeable ones.
This is what I have been able to gather and if there's something inaccurate someone who knows more is welcome to correct.
Clarification about versions
The game was released for Xbox and PC in different regions.
In simple terms, console games are known as "NTSC" versions for games released in North America and as "PAL" versions for games released in Europe. NTSC and PAL are not used for PC games.
There seems to be three "codebases" of the game, which I call "American versions", "European versions", and "Russian versions".
I categorize a version on its codebase, and what I mean by that is that even though a version may be released in a certain region, it might be based on a different codebase than other versions in that region. For example, the Polish PC version seems to have more in common with the Russian PC version than with any European PC version, so even though Poland is in Europe I consider the Polish PC version to be a "Russian version", or "based on the Russian codebase". Likewise, even though part of Russia is in Europe the Russian PC version has its own codebase.
The PAL Xbox version has files for English, German, French, and Spanish. This might mean that the in-game language changes depending on the language setting selected in the Xbox dashboard.
Here is a table with a quick overview of the versions I know of:
If you see me or someone else talk about the "American version" or the "European version", and if we aren't any more specific than that, then we are most likely talking about the US PC version or the UK PC version.
Information
The game was developed by a Russian company called Akella and was published by Bethesda. It was distributed by Ubisoft in Europe and by 1C in Russia.
It was originally called "Sea Dogs II" and was meant to be a sequel to "Sea Dogs" which was also developed by Akella and published by Bethesda.
The series (which includes "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales" and "Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships" published by Playlogic) is called "Corsairs" in Russia.
In the middle of development either Bethesda approached Disney or Disney approached Bethesda about making a deal. This deal resulted in the name of the game being changed to "Pirates of the Caribbean" and various elements from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" being added to the game. Now sales of the game would be helped by having that name and the movie would have a game tied to it. However, this deal also resulted in the game being rushed, which in turn resulted in the game having several bugs and many things were left unfinished in the game's code. The game also has little relation to the movie.
There has been some uncertainty about whether this game really is Sea Dogs II under another name or if it is another game altogether. It is confirmed in the game's code that it really is Sea Dogs II, and even the Sea Dogs II logo is included in the game's files.
The rights to the game are owned by Bethesda.
The rights to the name "Pirates of the Caribbean"; the ship "Black Pearl"; the appearance of the cursed coins; the characters "Barbossa", "Elizabeth Swann", "Will Turner", and "Jack Sparrow"; and the song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me)" are owned by Disney.
Jack Sparrow was not originally included in the game's files but was added later by Akella in a patch for the Russian PC version.
Even though the models for the characters are included in the game's files, none of them except Barbossa's are used. The model for Barbossa appears as a randomly generated pirate opponent during boardings involving pirate ships, the character Barbossa does not appear anywhere. I don't know if the Russian patch changed this and made the characters appear in the game.
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me) is included in the game's files but does not play anywhere.
Pirates of the Caribbean uses Storm Engine 2.0 and DirectX 8.1.
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales (also known as "Sea Dogs III") uses Storm Engine 2.5 and also DirectX 8.1.
Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships (also known as "Sea Dogs III 2") uses Storm Engine 2.8 and also DirectX 8.1.
I don't know about Sea Dogs, although I guess it uses Storm Engine 1.0 and DirectX 7.
The European PC versions of Pirates of the Caribbean use SafeDisc copy protection.
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales uses StarForce copy protection.
The Russian version of Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships uses StarForce copy protection, while the Western release uses TAGES copy protection.
Again, I unfortunately don't know about Sea Dogs.
All of the copy protections can be bypassed and/or removed, and if one wants to play a game that uses StarForce it is especially recommended to bypass/remove the copy protection since StarForce supposedly can cause serious problems.
I don't know which programming language the games are written in, but as I've understood it the games are written in C++.
Much of the games' source code is open in the game files and can thus relatively easy be modified.
None of the games work properly or at all with Intel graphics chips. It is strongly recommended to have an NVIDIA GeForce graphics card or an AMD Radeon (formerly by ATI) graphics card if one wants to play any of the games. There are certain workarounds that make it possible to play the games with Intel graphics chips, but none of them work as good as having a proper graphics card does.
Differences
The NTSC and PAL Xbox versions and all European PC versions have better water graphics than the US PC version.
The American versions have bigger and brighter text than the European versions. The headline text is also different between the American and European versions.
The merchant interface in the American versions uses "Buy" and "Sell" texts on the goods and items, while the merchant interface in the European versions uses red and blue arrows on the goods and items.
The NTSC Xbox version displays tips during the loading screens, and these tips are in the US PC version's and the PAL Xbox version's files too but aren't used. In the UK PC version the directory for the files is there but is empty.
In both Xbox versions' and the US PC version's root directory there is a
In the UK PC version's root directory there are a
The Xbox versions'
The
NTSC Xbox and US PC
PAL Xbox and UK PC
The video file called "Trailer" is in both Xbox versions and the US PC version, but not in the UK PC version.
The Xbox versions have a video file called "Intro" that isn't used and isn't much of an intro. I managed to get it to play and it's just a picture of what seems to be the outskirts of Douwesen a bit from the waterfall with a text that says "The Pirates of the Caribbean" (yes, it says "The") with a water reflection in the text. It's not the real "Pirates of the Caribbean" logo (that is seen in the main menu) and the video has no sound and is just a few seconds long.
The text in the video I'm talking about is this one: http://moviesmedia.ign.com/movies/image/pirates_logo.jpg
According to the site that picture is on that logo was apparently the logo used at one time. See here: Exclusive Report from the Pirates of the Caribbean Green Light Party - IGN
The UK PC version has a video file called "UBI" that shows Ubisoft's old logo, when it was "Ubi Soft". Its cover also has that logo.
The American versions have a video file called "Ending" while the UK PC version has a video file called "Ending_eng", and the PAL Xbox version has both but seems to only use Ending_eng. They are the same except that Ending doesn't have narration while Ending_eng does have narration, at least in the PC versions. I haven't been able to check if they have narration or not in the Xbox versions yet. The narration in the game is done by Keira Knightley.
The NTSC Xbox version sometimes crashes and sometimes save files get corrupted. I don't know if it's the same for the PAL Xbox version, or how it is for the US PC version. I have not seen this happen in the UK PC version.
As can be seen from all this, the UK PC version is better overall and has the least amount of problems.
I hope this can be useful for both new and old players, and can help both before and after possibly buying the game.
This is a documentation with information that I think is good to know about the Pirates of the Caribbean game and the other games in the series that use the Storm Engine, as well as an explanation of the differences between the Xbox and PC versions of Pirates of the Caribbean from different regions.
I have seen several people ask about the differences and I think an explanation can help players determine which version they have. There are several differences and I want to mention the more important and/or noticeable ones.
This is what I have been able to gather and if there's something inaccurate someone who knows more is welcome to correct.
Clarification about versions
The game was released for Xbox and PC in different regions.
In simple terms, console games are known as "NTSC" versions for games released in North America and as "PAL" versions for games released in Europe. NTSC and PAL are not used for PC games.
There seems to be three "codebases" of the game, which I call "American versions", "European versions", and "Russian versions".
I categorize a version on its codebase, and what I mean by that is that even though a version may be released in a certain region, it might be based on a different codebase than other versions in that region. For example, the Polish PC version seems to have more in common with the Russian PC version than with any European PC version, so even though Poland is in Europe I consider the Polish PC version to be a "Russian version", or "based on the Russian codebase". Likewise, even though part of Russia is in Europe the Russian PC version has its own codebase.
The PAL Xbox version has files for English, German, French, and Spanish. This might mean that the in-game language changes depending on the language setting selected in the Xbox dashboard.
Here is a table with a quick overview of the versions I know of:
| American versions | European versions | Russian versions |
| NTSC Xbox version | PAL Xbox version | Russian PC version |
| US PC version | UK PC version | Polish PC version |
| German PC version |
If you see me or someone else talk about the "American version" or the "European version", and if we aren't any more specific than that, then we are most likely talking about the US PC version or the UK PC version.
Information
The game was developed by a Russian company called Akella and was published by Bethesda. It was distributed by Ubisoft in Europe and by 1C in Russia.
It was originally called "Sea Dogs II" and was meant to be a sequel to "Sea Dogs" which was also developed by Akella and published by Bethesda.
The series (which includes "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales" and "Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships" published by Playlogic) is called "Corsairs" in Russia.
In the middle of development either Bethesda approached Disney or Disney approached Bethesda about making a deal. This deal resulted in the name of the game being changed to "Pirates of the Caribbean" and various elements from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" being added to the game. Now sales of the game would be helped by having that name and the movie would have a game tied to it. However, this deal also resulted in the game being rushed, which in turn resulted in the game having several bugs and many things were left unfinished in the game's code. The game also has little relation to the movie.
There has been some uncertainty about whether this game really is Sea Dogs II under another name or if it is another game altogether. It is confirmed in the game's code that it really is Sea Dogs II, and even the Sea Dogs II logo is included in the game's files.
The rights to the game are owned by Bethesda.
The rights to the name "Pirates of the Caribbean"; the ship "Black Pearl"; the appearance of the cursed coins; the characters "Barbossa", "Elizabeth Swann", "Will Turner", and "Jack Sparrow"; and the song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me)" are owned by Disney.
Jack Sparrow was not originally included in the game's files but was added later by Akella in a patch for the Russian PC version.
Even though the models for the characters are included in the game's files, none of them except Barbossa's are used. The model for Barbossa appears as a randomly generated pirate opponent during boardings involving pirate ships, the character Barbossa does not appear anywhere. I don't know if the Russian patch changed this and made the characters appear in the game.
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me) is included in the game's files but does not play anywhere.
Pirates of the Caribbean uses Storm Engine 2.0 and DirectX 8.1.
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales (also known as "Sea Dogs III") uses Storm Engine 2.5 and also DirectX 8.1.
Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships (also known as "Sea Dogs III 2") uses Storm Engine 2.8 and also DirectX 8.1.
I don't know about Sea Dogs, although I guess it uses Storm Engine 1.0 and DirectX 7.
The European PC versions of Pirates of the Caribbean use SafeDisc copy protection.
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales uses StarForce copy protection.
The Russian version of Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships uses StarForce copy protection, while the Western release uses TAGES copy protection.
Again, I unfortunately don't know about Sea Dogs.
All of the copy protections can be bypassed and/or removed, and if one wants to play a game that uses StarForce it is especially recommended to bypass/remove the copy protection since StarForce supposedly can cause serious problems.
I don't know which programming language the games are written in, but as I've understood it the games are written in C++.
Much of the games' source code is open in the game files and can thus relatively easy be modified.
None of the games work properly or at all with Intel graphics chips. It is strongly recommended to have an NVIDIA GeForce graphics card or an AMD Radeon (formerly by ATI) graphics card if one wants to play any of the games. There are certain workarounds that make it possible to play the games with Intel graphics chips, but none of them work as good as having a proper graphics card does.
Differences
The NTSC and PAL Xbox versions and all European PC versions have better water graphics than the US PC version.
The American versions have bigger and brighter text than the European versions. The headline text is also different between the American and European versions.
The merchant interface in the American versions uses "Buy" and "Sell" texts on the goods and items, while the merchant interface in the European versions uses red and blue arrows on the goods and items.
The NTSC Xbox version displays tips during the loading screens, and these tips are in the US PC version's and the PAL Xbox version's files too but aren't used. In the UK PC version the directory for the files is there but is empty.
In both Xbox versions' and the US PC version's root directory there is a
memory.mp file. It apparently causes the US PC version to lag, and the UK PC version's engine.ini file has a line that seems to be for using a memory.mp file.In the UK PC version's root directory there are a
DrvMgt.dll file and a SECDRV.SYS file. They are used by the SafeDisc copy protection.The Xbox versions'
xengine.ini file and the PC versions' engine.ini file have different contents in them, and the Xbox versions' xengine.ini file and the UK PC version's engine.ini file cache a lot of things.The
xengine.ini file shows that the Xbox versions run at 640 x 480 16-bit. See these posts:NTSC Xbox and US PC
PAL Xbox and UK PC
The video file called "Trailer" is in both Xbox versions and the US PC version, but not in the UK PC version.
The Xbox versions have a video file called "Intro" that isn't used and isn't much of an intro. I managed to get it to play and it's just a picture of what seems to be the outskirts of Douwesen a bit from the waterfall with a text that says "The Pirates of the Caribbean" (yes, it says "The") with a water reflection in the text. It's not the real "Pirates of the Caribbean" logo (that is seen in the main menu) and the video has no sound and is just a few seconds long.
The text in the video I'm talking about is this one: http://moviesmedia.ign.com/movies/image/pirates_logo.jpg
According to the site that picture is on that logo was apparently the logo used at one time. See here: Exclusive Report from the Pirates of the Caribbean Green Light Party - IGN
The UK PC version has a video file called "UBI" that shows Ubisoft's old logo, when it was "Ubi Soft". Its cover also has that logo.
The American versions have a video file called "Ending" while the UK PC version has a video file called "Ending_eng", and the PAL Xbox version has both but seems to only use Ending_eng. They are the same except that Ending doesn't have narration while Ending_eng does have narration, at least in the PC versions. I haven't been able to check if they have narration or not in the Xbox versions yet. The narration in the game is done by Keira Knightley.
The NTSC Xbox version sometimes crashes and sometimes save files get corrupted. I don't know if it's the same for the PAL Xbox version, or how it is for the US PC version. I have not seen this happen in the UK PC version.
As can be seen from all this, the UK PC version is better overall and has the least amount of problems.
I hope this can be useful for both new and old players, and can help both before and after possibly buying the game.
