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Location & island remodeling campaign

Hi.

It depends which storyline you choose......they range from 1550 to 1793.
The standard original stotyline is now set to start at 1690.
 
Hmmmm the more early it will be the more trouble it will cost to get
apropriate material to represent the important caribbean cities correctly.
So probably this will mean some inaccuracies in the end to a certain point.
But thats fine with me. Donno bout u guys?
Anyways that timespan from 1550 to 1793 is great and gives the opportunity to add
massive new stuff (if possible!)
Will there be a visible and noticeable technologie development in ship and artillery technics (or is it already added - it's been quite a time since i last tried this mods )?
 
Well that´s a very large time span but out of standarization and source material I will choose the same era Ludwig did, late 18th century so the city model I will be exporting is going to represent that period.

I also have other questions:

1) What is the max polycount for an ingame walkable town section?

2) What is the max polycount for an ingame sailing, town + coast / island?

3) What is the max drawing distance at wich the engine renders far objects?
 
<!--quoteo(post=297882:date=Jan 16 2009, 11:14 PM:name=Capitan Caceres)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Capitan Caceres @ Jan 16 2009, 11:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=297882"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->3) What is the max drawing distance at wich the engine renders far objects?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

When sailing, polygons get clipped at 200 map units, about 4000 yards. Don't know about land.

Hook
 
We have added the Periods and Storylines mods to Build 14 Alpha 8.
The Storylines mod allows you to select a different quest to play at the beginning of the game.
The Periods mod creates different time periods that will add a different atmosphere to the playing of the game.
At the moment this is still in development and not yet perfect.
What we have already done is added period-specific soldier models to the towns.
Also the ships you encounter at sea will be correct for the period.
Weapons are not yet period-specific, though it shouldn't be too hard to make them so.

As far as the correct date for any new city models, I don't particularly care.
In theory we could switch town models based on the period,
but this would make the download size even more huge than it is.
And I don't think most players are going to worry too much about period correctness.
After all it IS a game, based on a not-so-realistic film series, and most of the locations never existed in the first place.
Still, everything improving realism is welcome by me. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/doff.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":doff" border="0" alt="doff.gif" />

Nice to see you back, Captain Caceres and Ludwig Longhair!
I hope you together with Damski62 can finally figure out how to make new location models!
We HAVE the programs and the tools now, so in theory it should work. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/w00t.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":woot" border="0" alt="w00t.gif" />
 
Thank you Hook for that information is going to be very helpful

I agree with Pieter on the realism / fantasy balance, so in this case the era represented will be the one that offers more opportunities for realism because of source material availability
 
Sounds perfect to me. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" />
 
Hi Capitan Caceres,
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Capitan Caceres Posted Yesterday, 06:14 AM
1) What is the max polycount for an ingame walkable town section?

2) What is the max polycount for an ingame sailing, town + coast / island?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know the max count possible is but present locations are at top end of around 86000 polys. unless there's any bigger ones I missed. There's no lag at that, so it could be upped quite a bit I suppose.

damski.
 
<!--quoteo(post=297882:date=Jan 16 2009, 11:14 PM:name=Capitan Caceres)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Capitan Caceres @ Jan 16 2009, 11:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=297882"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->3) What is the max drawing distance at wich the engine renders far objects?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I don't know if this is useful, but as long as I have it on my mind...

Fog density of 0.001 limits visibility to around 2900 yards
Fog density of 0.002 limits visibility to around 2400 yards
Fog density of 0.003 limits visibility to around 1200 yards
Fog density of 0.02 limits visibility to 100 yards

The first three are normal fogs you get in the game. I've limited the dense fog to 0.02 in my code, down from 0.04 which apparently was only intended to be used on the "Deserted Shore on Isla De Muerte" but for some reason we get it a lot in the normal game. This only limits what you can actually see, not polygon rendering.

Hook
 
Hmm thx for those tips.
Well can't wait to see test results on the Cartagena Scene
and some more news on the Poly-counts!
My San Juan model is for sure way to detailed for the game atm.
I'll probably have to work over a drastic reduction on the details <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />
 
Hi Ludwig,

What is the poly count for your San Juan model now?
 
Seriously i have no idea.
Probably FAAAAR beyond 250 000 in all.
I have quite detailed planmaterial and modeled the whole Fortifications 1:1 till now
so u can imagine the high detail - in some days i'll supply u guys with a first render of the whole second Castillo - San Christobal (San Felipe del Morro is depicted earlier in this thread)
but this includes removeable cornices and gueritas, which are way to detailed.
I have not dared to merge all seperate models yet, as two small forts and the southern-eastern part of the Citywall are still missing.
well don#t worry - the cornices and the gueritas are the real and only problem.
If the addition of Cartagena works perfectly i'll change those for this mod in no time <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />
 
ok counted all objects atm for San Christobal - 135596 Polygons .... so in case we make barros/city quaters it might work out ^^
but well let's wait and see
 
Hi Ludwig,

Well... might be high but if you've already built it you may as well try it. No need to add all the locators ....just the group ones and a set for load and reload, and a walk patch of course.
Have you had a look at the locations help file yet?.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Thomas the Terror Posted Today, 09:09 PM
Can you apply the Pirates of the Caribbean stock textures at the buildings, instead of UV mapping new ones?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He can if he's used stock buildings, but what are you hoping to achieve by making the new buildings fit those textures?
 
Well damski62 might be quite some help if u could
write/send me a short briefing on this "locators" issue.
I have no idea on Modding Potc yet. Just the yet untextured models to use as 3dmax files.
So probably needs a conversion to Maya.

On the texturing Thomas.
Cpt. Caceres and i already talked about using as much game supplied textures as possible, to keep that "hey that thing looks out of place"- Effect as minimal as possible.
tho it will not be achievable everywhere.
Anyways i myself have not checked into those textures.

I really need a hint or some PM-Infos on how to prepare a model for embedding into the game.
 
Yes....I'll PM you explaining as much as I can but once you see the location examples it'll be a lot easier for me to get across what I'm meaning. I'll sort some links out to files for you.
 
One other thing whilst we've been talking about size of locations.......Maya gets a bit tempremental if you work on too big a model, it's very memory greedy.
 
Thx a lot! i'm looking forward on your explanations

On maya - i'll have to see
Try and Error <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />
but i'll keep that in mind!
 
-STATUS REPORT-

After careful thinking and lots of period map study I decided to use the model of Cartagena that covers the years 1700 to 1741, this was a period of reconstruction for the city after the devastating attack of 1697, yet Cartagena´s fortifications did not cahnge much in their overall shape, they were repaired and reinforced in some points with better parapets and 3 small batteries at the bay´s entrance, so in a few words the distribution of the city remained the same and did not grow much outside of the walled perimeter, meaning that this model represents the state of the city for almost the whole colonial period.

Well enough of explanations. I am in the process of retexturing the model as well as selecting the textures that are unique to the city, I am also finishing the last details of the walls and harbour. I am still unsure on wich harbour entrance scene should I use since Cartagena´s location did not allow direct mooring of large ships next to the customs house or the arsenal, they had to remain anchored in the inner bay and the goods were unloaded into smaller boats.

I must say that the citiwall is 90% complete and I am planning to add the whole city as a test for the game´s engine using the "Voyage Century Online" technique, wich is having huge cityblocks with almost no 3D detail, just good looking textures. Wish me and the STORM engine luck.

Renders and pics will be posted soon.
 
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