Need Help Modifiyng Freeplay

[Lonious]

In fact, now I think about it, it's not the iconic ship for Dark Teacher because Dark Teacher doesn't have any ship! The Mefisto is commanded by Dark Captain.

I understand that, but the Dark Teacher is the more unique model. Plus, there's reason to suspect that Dark Teacher was the real leader - "Dark Captain" is just a placeholder for whoever replaced him after he was killed.

That's why I decided to include "Dark Captain" as an officer, because he's the one with the navigation skills.

Looking at some other predefined characters, starting Dark Teacher at level 10 wouldn't be too bad. Give him a xebec. In reality, that type of ship operated in the Mediterranean, not the Caribbean. As you say, he fled from Italy, i.e. the Mediterranean, making him possibly the only character with a genuine reason to have a xebec.


The fact that he sailed off is enough evidence that he quit! A governor has no time to sail half way across the Caribbean, he pays captains to do it for him.

But why a Xebec only? The Xebec is not a unique ship, it's a generic sailboat for beginners. Meanwhile the other special models like Blackbeard and Norrington have huge powerful starting ships. It won't be fair.

If I were to give "Dark Teacher" a mundane sailboat, why not give the rest of the special characters starting ships as well? Maybe give Blackbeard a brig and then give him the QAR only after accomplishing a certain quest or reaching a certain level...? Maybe add a La Concorde ship to capture?

Exactly. Start at medium level and let the player have something to do during the game. Otherwise what's the point of playing these characters? Their journeys are already complete. It's time to start a whole new game before you've even set sail.

I would myself ask what's the point of playing any Freeplay character at all, given that no one in fact currently has any special quest to do?

I can help with that. Or you can look at existing quests to start with. Everyone has to start somewhere...

So if I were to follow your advice and make these characters start out from the beginning, we'd have to do it for nearly all the special models as well, then give them all quests to acquire their associated ships. That would be quite a lot to do...

 

[Grey Roger]

I understand that, but the Dark Teacher is the more unique model. Plus, there's reason to suspect that Dark Teacher was the real leader - "Dark Captain" is just a placeholder for whoever replaced him after he was killed.

That's why I decided to include "Dark Captain" as an officer, because he's the one with the navigation skills.

There are only two red-robed models, "Animists1" and "Animists2". Dark Teacher uses one, Dark Captain uses the other, and all the red-robed boarders and deck crew use the same two models. So neither is particularly unique.

Dark Teacher is indeed the leader who stays in the cave and commands the sect. Dark Captain commands the Mefisto. Then there's Teacher who goes off to recruit new followers, plus several lesser characters known only as "Mystery Man" who command the smaller ships attacking Montanez or attack anyone trying to deliver letters for Father Bernard.

Adding Dark Captain as an officer is not a bad idea, and you could possibly add Teacher as well.

But why a Xebec only? The Xebec is not a unique ship, it's a generic sailboat for beginners. Meanwhile the other special models like Blackbeard and Norrington have huge powerful starting ships. It won't be fair.

All FreePlay characters are not equal. Blackbeard gets QAR because that's the whole point of the character, to allow players ready access to a ship that otherwise is available only by using cheatmode to choose any ship in the game, or by visiting Vanderdecken's shipyard. By comparison, the Mefisto is available to any player who completes the "Strange Things Going On" sidequest. Norrington is a senior naval officer.

By the same logic, should all the special characters who already start off with small ships be given larger ships instead? Should Francis Drake start with the fast war galleon Revenge instead of the little Golden Hind? Should Hilda Sparre or the various "Witcher" characters start with something bigger than a basic lugger?

Dark Teacher and his cult are refugees. They escaped destruction by Jaoquin de Masse and his Maltese knights. If they'd had the Mefisto, they probably wouldn't have had to run.

If I were to give "Dark Teacher" a mundane sailboat, why not give the rest of the special characters starting ships as well? Maybe give Blackbeard a brig and then give him the QAR only after accomplishing a certain quest or reaching a certain level...? Maybe add a La Concorde ship to capture?

Not a bad idea - a realistic Blackbeard who starts with a sloop named Revenge, captures a merchant ship named La Concorde, and converts it to a warship named Queen Anne's Revenge - not the fantasy ship model, probably a heavy East Indiaman or a frigate of some sort. He would need to be an alternative to the fantasy film Blackbeard, of course.

I would myself ask what's the point of playing any Freeplay character at all, given that no one in fact currently has any special quest to do?

The point generally is to start with a modest level character and do whatever you like as you build up. But in fact there are several special quests. Horatio Hornblower has one specific quest, José Joaquím Almeida has two, and then there are the special quests for any Gambler, Engineer or Agent FreePlay character.

So if I were to follow your advice and make these characters start out from the beginning, we'd have to do it for nearly all the special models as well, then give them all quests to acquire their associated ships. That would be quite a lot to do...

There's no need to do all of them. Pick one you like, do a full job for that one including a custom start and a special quest. Then, if you're still interested, do another.

 

[Jack Rackham]

Not a bad idea - a realistic Blackbeard who starts with a sloop named Revenge, captures a merchant ship named La Concorde, and converts it to a warship named Queen Anne's Revenge - not the fantasy ship model, probably a heavy East Indiaman or a frigate of some sort. He would need to be an alternative to the fantasy film Blackbeard, of course.

Just to inform you. In a way that has been done in WoodesRogers quest.

 

[Lonious]

There are only two red-robed models, "Animists1" and "Animists2". Dark Teacher uses one, Dark Captain uses the other, and all the red-robed boarders and deck crew use the same two models. So neither is particularly unique.

Dark Teacher is indeed the leader who stays in the cave and commands the sect. Dark Captain commands the Mefisto. Then there's Teacher who goes off to recruit new followers, plus several lesser characters known only as "Mystery Man" who command the smaller ships attacking Montanez or attack anyone trying to deliver letters for Father Bernard.

Adding Dark Captain as an officer is not a bad idea, and you could possibly add Teacher as well.


All FreePlay characters are not equal. Blackbeard gets QAR because that's the whole point of the character, to allow players ready access to a ship that otherwise is available only by using cheatmode to choose any ship in the game, or by visiting Vanderdecken's shipyard. By comparison, the Mefisto is available to any player who completes the "Strange Things Going On" sidequest. Norrington is a senior naval officer.

By the same logic, should all the special characters who already start off with small ships be given larger ships instead? Should Francis Drake start with the fast war galleon Revenge instead of the little Golden Hind? Should Hilda Sparre or the various "Witcher" characters start with something bigger than a basic lugger?

Dark Teacher and his cult are refugees. They escaped destruction by Jaoquin de Masse and his Maltese knights. If they'd had the Mefisto, they probably wouldn't have had to run.


Not a bad idea - a realistic Blackbeard who starts with a sloop named Revenge, captures a merchant ship named La Concorde, and converts it to a warship named Queen Anne's Revenge - not the fantasy ship model, probably a heavy East Indiaman or a frigate of some sort. He would need to be an alternative to the fantasy film Blackbeard, of course.


The point generally is to start with a modest level character and do whatever you like as you build up. But in fact there are several special quests. Horatio Hornblower has one specific quest, José Joaquím Almeida has two, and then there are the special quests for any Gambler, Engineer or Agent FreePlay character.


There's no need to do all of them. Pick one you like, do a full job for that one including a custom start and a special quest. Then, if you're still interested, do another.

What about still giving Mefisto to him, but putting in some sort of unique quest to do? Like I said, I still don't think it's quite fair that Beckett and Norrington start out with massive ships, while other unique models have to start out with a tiny ship.

That's why I wanted to give Barbossa a quest to kill Blackbeard at the beginning. He already has HMS Providence - if Blackbeard were to be hunted down later on, the player could capture a massive ship of the line and the duel wouldn't be as interesting.

I would rather have the "unique" characters start out with the ship that's associated with them, then give them some sort of quest with that ship.

 

[Grey Roger]

What about still giving Mefisto to him, but putting in some sort of unique quest to do? Like I said, I still don't think it's quite fair that Beckett and Norrington start out with massive ships, while other unique models have to start out with a tiny ship.

I still say that if he'd had the Mefisto when he was still in Italy, he probably wouldn't have been driven out. So he must have acquired the ship some time later. However, it's your character, do what you like with him. A player who wants to start with Mefisto can easily enable cheatmode to get it, this just gives the player another way to do the same. (Incidentally, are you accounting for the fact that a player can choose his starting year in FreePlay? And that the Mefisto is a different type of ship depending on which period you're playing?)

Life is not fair, neither is FreePlay. Some characters start off with small ships, some start off with big ships, some start with something in between. It all depends on the character's background. Of course, at present, Beckett starts off with the big ship, not much money and no skill to command the ship, so he's at a massive penalty to leadership and sailing. Naval characters start with a ship appropriate to their rank, then earn a new free ship every time they are promoted. Except that some specific characters don't - they get the ships which the historical captain had during his career, so an officer who got a promotion without a new ship might not get a new ship in the game either. Others might not get as good a ship as a generic naval officer, for the same reason.

That's why I wanted to give Barbossa a quest to kill Blackbeard at the beginning. He already has HMS Providence - if Blackbeard were to be hunted down later on, the player could capture a massive ship of the line and the duel wouldn't be as interesting.

That should be the player's choice. But in any case, there's an easy way to prevent the player from doing that. Have the quest assigned by dialog with a governor. Check the player's ship class. If it's tier 1 or tier 2, the governor can refuse the quest on the grounds that Blackbeard will spot something that size from miles away and he's in a fast ship, which means he'll be long gone before you can get near him. You can only take the quest if you have a smaller ship. Of course, the player could talk to the governor while in command of a frigate, then capture a 1st rate - again, that's the player's choice. If the player wants to make the game boringly easy, e.g. go after Blackbeard in a 1st rate ship (or start a game with a class 3 ship like Mefisto ), let him. If he wants the game to be interesting, he can go after Blackbeard with a frigate.

I would rather have the "unique" characters start out with the ship that's associated with them, then give them some sort of quest with that ship.

That is precisely why some characters start with bigger ships than others. Francis Drake starts with the class 6 Golden Hind because he's famous for commanding that ship. Jack Aubrey gets the frigate HMS Surprise for the same reason. Barbossa gets the Black Pearl along with the curse of Cortes, Jack Sparrow gets the Black Pearl with no curse. And Anamaria just has the leaky dinghy which Sparrow steals from her in "Hoist the Colours", then sinks as he enters Port Royale for the first time in the first film.

 

[Grey Roger]

I've been working on a new model for Will Turner as he was in the later films. First I tried a simple retexture of "Chamelon":

Snag 1 is that "Chameleon" has short sleeves and trousers. I can probably do some fakery with texturing to turn the arms into shirt sleeves and the legs into long boots.
Snag 2 is that he can't have a cross-belt. The model has an open coat and the cross-belt will look silly as it wraps around the lapel.

Then I tried using TOOL to put the head of "Chameleon" onto the body of one of the captain models - "9Jd", to be exact, but it doesn't matter as they're all the same model with different textures.

The snag here is that the captain model has no neck. It has a collar and the texture usually includes a cravat. So Will's head has to sit close to the body, you won't see his long neck. And there's a gap at the back of the head, not a problem for a NPC whom you'd be facing but definitely a problem for a player character model which you'll almost always be seeing from behind.

Since you will be seeing the model mostly from behind, the lack of a cross-belt isn't too serious. So I'll probably go with the basic retexture of "Chameleon".

And that leaves the regular "Will" model free for a custom start, while this new model will become Will Turner as the captain of the uncursed Flying Dutchman.

 

[Jack Rackham]

I had the same problem when switching heads to create the HowardPyle model. The (korsar or korsar1) body had no neck on the backside.
So I cut out a head from a very bald guy. One of the fatman models. Turned it upside down and added it to the model. Adjusted the size.



If you want you can cut out the extra neck from HowardPyle and add it to your model.

 

[Lonious]

I've been working on a new model for Will Turner as he was in the later films. First I tried a simple retexture of "Chamelon":
View attachment 40395
Snag 1 is that "Chameleon" has short sleeves and trousers. I can probably do some fakery with texturing to turn the arms into shirt sleeves and the legs into long boots.
Snag 2 is that he can't have a cross-belt. The model has an open coat and the cross-belt will look silly as it wraps around the lapel.

Then I tried using TOOL to put the head of "Chameleon" onto the body of one of the captain models - "9Jd", to be exact, but it doesn't matter as they're all the same model with different textures.
View attachment 40393 View attachment 40394
The snag here is that the captain model has no neck. It has a collar and the texture usually includes a cravat. So Will's head has to sit close to the body, you won't see his long neck. And there's a gap at the back of the head, not a problem for a NPC whom you'd be facing but definitely a problem for a player character model which you'll almost always be seeing from behind.

Since you will be seeing the model mostly from behind, the lack of a cross-belt isn't too serious. So I'll probably go with the basic retexture of "Chameleon".

And that leaves the regular "Will" model free for a custom start, while this new model will become Will Turner as the captain of the uncursed Flying Dutchman.

While browsing through the models, I found "EITC CPT" Jack, who in the photo seems to be wearing a blue coat but with Jack's face on the "Artois Voysey" head. But ingame, he looks like a generic British officer. Where can the actual model in the photo be found?

 

[Grey Roger]

I had the same problem when switching heads to create the HowardPyle model. The (korsar or korsar1) body had no neck on the backside.
So I cut out a head from a very bald guy. One of the fatman models. Turned it upside down and added it to the model. Adjusted the size.

Thanks!

However, there is a slight problem. Because the "Fatman2" head is inverted, so is its lighting. If the sun is to the left of the character then the neck's left side is in shadow and the right side is lit:

It's not too bad in dull light or around midday when the sun is nearly directly above, but it's noticable in early to mid morning, or mid to late afternoon, when the sun is lower and shining onto the side. I tried playing "Woodes Rogers" as far as sailing to Nevis and saw the same effect on Howard Pyle.

(The pictures here show Will Turner still using the original coat from the source model "9Jd". I haven't got round to retexturing the main body yet. That's my next task...)

 

[Grey Roger]

While browsing through the models, I found "EITC CPT" Jack, who in the photo seems to be wearing a blue coat but with Jack's face on the "Artois Voysey" head. But ingame, he looks like a generic British officer. Where can the actual model in the photo be found?

A lot of characters seem to share face portrait 356, which is the interface picture you see. But as far as I can tell, model "47_Sparrow_Eitc_cpt" has never looked like that. Someone provided a link to Build 14 Alpha 9, which I downloaded with a view to looking at some old ship models. The version of "47_Sparrow_Eitc_cpt" in that ancient version looks the same as the current version.

In any case, I wouldn't suggest making any FreePlay special starts for Jack Sparrow. Anyone wanting a full film experience will play the "Hoist the Colours" storyline. So there's little point in doing much even for the more realistic models of Jack Sparrow, let alone approximations such as "47_Sparrow_Eitc_cpt".

 

[Lonious]

A lot of characters seem to share face portrait 356, which is the interface picture you see. But as far as I can tell, model "47_Sparrow_Eitc_cpt" has never looked like that. Someone provided a link to Build 14 Alpha 9, which I downloaded with a view to looking at some old ship models. The version of "47_Sparrow_Eitc_cpt" in that ancient version looks the same as the current version.

In any case, I wouldn't suggest making any FreePlay special starts for Jack Sparrow. Anyone wanting a full film experience will play the "Hoist the Colours" storyline. So there's little point in doing much even for the more realistic models of Jack Sparrow, let alone approximations such as "47_Sparrow_Eitc_cpt".

I was thinking of making a "special start" for EITC Jack. Like, for instance, giving him EITC models for the crew and boarders. What do you think?

 

[Jack Rackham]

If I find a small (skin textured) cylinder that can be attached to any character maybe it would be better to use as an extra neck.

 

[Grey Roger]

Pending an improved neck model for both this model and "Howard_Pyle" from @Jack Rackham, this is the new model for Will Turner:


Added texture details include the cross-belt buckle, the amulet, and the scaly leather waistband under the trouser belt, all copied from pictures of Will Turner which I found in various places around the Internet. If you look closely you might even see the scar on his chest.

 

[Jack Rackham]

It looks good.