New Location-specific Loading Screens

[Pieter Boelen]

Indeed I did; I hope you don't mind. I wanted those to follow the "new style" as well.
If you want, I can give you the Photoshop file for the loading screens, so you can make your next one in the same style.
Provided you'll be making new ones later on, that is.

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

No need, Pieter. I think I won't make any new locations for my quest.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I now officially have no more old style loading screens in my game! All files have been renamed to be a bit more sensible as well.
Old folder size: 115 MB for 215 items. New folder size: 91.3 MB for 215 items.
Note that the old folder had several unused and doubled files that have been removed now.
The reason why the number of files has remained the same is because some additional screens have been added where needed.

In any case, sit back and see here the final batch:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

 

[Pieter Boelen]

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I also redid the Mateus Santos sideques loading screens, trying to retain the cards that Sir Christopher Mings added on them.
However, I've been forced to leave off a couple because I couldn't find the originals.
So I still need help with finishing these. See here for more information!
http://forum.piratesahoy.net/topic/16855-searching-for-specific-playing-card-images

 

[Armada]

Some even more excellent pics Pieter, nice job!
They'll help to keep a nice consistent theme in the game, I reckon.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That's pretty much the main intent. With the project finished (unless we want to redo or add any),
we'll have a proper consistent look throughout now. Additionally, there'll be no more town names on the screens.
Therefore, the screens will be correct no matter the time period and regardless of whether Real Caribbean is on or off.

At the moment I'm uploading my files so that other people can play around with this.
I renamed all loading screens, which required a lot of search-and-replace in the location init files.
I did check it all, but with hundreds of locations, I can easily have made some mistakes.
So the more people can play with this, the better it is.
That way we can uncover any potential mistakes of mine and fix them before we release Build 14 Beta 2.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Upload finished: http://www.pyratesahoy.com/build/b14_beta2_wip/location_loading_screens.exe (52.9 MB)
Extract to your main game folder, then run Rename.bat; intended for Build 14 Beta 1 Patch 4.
This will replace all location init files and the full loading screen textures folder with the new and renamed versions.
New game required for the changes to take effect properly.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I also redid the Mateus Santos sideques loading screens, trying to retain the cards that Sir Christopher Mings added on them.
However, I've been forced to leave off a couple because I couldn't find the originals.
So I still need help with finishing these. See here for more information!
http://forum.piratesahoy.net/topic/16855-searching-for-specific-playing-card-images

And help still requested for these.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Opening post updated with the status of this project, as well as the download link and installation instructions.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Wooohooo! The puter wuz doing maintenance, so was only now able to get that pack. Wow man, you have some connection. The download peaked at 2mb/s! New game eh? Aye aye!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Cheers, mate.

But it's not my connection that defines your download speed. Good thing too or you'd never reach 2 MB/s. Not even 50 KB/s probably.
The download is stored on the PiratesAhoy! FTP and that's where you're downloading from.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

News from the lab rat. Ctd city. It installed ok, and at first it seemed to play well. I saw several new screens. Then the ctd's started and kept getting worse. I finally deleted the player I had created and made a new one. Or tried to. I can't even create a player now. Will create a new install and try again. This is the install that has Morgan's sound set in it, and I found an error message caused by a mis spelled word. Corrected that, which had not caused a prior ctd that I know of, and the ctd's continued.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

No new player? Try removing the "options", then try again.

When do these new CTDs occur exactly? I don't quite see why the loading screens should cause such issues.
I had expected some missing screens due to little mistakes of mine, but CTDs are a different story!

I can detect nothing in your log files that would explain these problems. The only thing I did note was this:

RUNTIME ERROR - file: interface\utilite.c; line: 583
void function return value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: interface\utilite.c; line: 583
function 'FindNameParts' stack error

However, that seems related to changing a characters' name or something.
Were you changing your or another character's name by any chance?

In any case, that error log does pose a valid question. Open PROGRAM\INTERFACE\utilite.c and find:

void FindNameParts(string nameStr, ref name, ref middleName, ref lastName)
{
string part;
int nextIdx = FindSubstrTrim(nameStr, 0, &part);

middleName = "";

if(nextIdx < 0)
{
name = "";
lastName = part;
return 0;
}

Replace with:

void FindNameParts(string nameStr, ref name, ref middleName, ref lastName)
{
string part;
int nextIdx = FindSubstrTrim(nameStr, 0, &part);

middleName = "";

if(nextIdx < 0)
{
name = "";
lastName = part;
return; // PB: was "return 0;" - void function return value?
}

I don't expect this will solve your CTDs, but it should at least solve that particular error.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I probably should not have posted about that install last night. I created a new install and played it for hours with no ctds. I only saw one missing screen and it was an npc. The old install was ctding when trying to rename the player. Will try to reinstall everything in to it and see if I can revive it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

A missing screen that is an NPC? Do you mean character portrait?
My files have no relation to character portraits; they're location loading screens.
For character portraits, it's Talisman's file updates you want.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

The bad install was not salvageable. Changing either the player or ship name caused a ctd after re-installing everything. This new install is running well except for heavy graphic anomalies. I don't like the screen you chose for when you go to sea. Every time I see it I think "Oh no! I'm in a storm!" It does look pretty cool tho.

I tried your suggestion in both installs.

Yes, I made an oblique reference to Talisman's work. Will try it soon.

Having someone in the hotel room is unsettling. Raiding that trunk is a good source of income early on in a game. But there are moral questions.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The screen for when you go to sea? The one with the Santa Maria? We've had that one in there for a long time.
I see what you mean though. The actual storm screen is a lot more stormy though.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Santa Maria? Those paintings are nice. I especially like the boarding painting. There is a LOT going on and there is never time to see it all. There are some interesting location screens. I didn't realize how many black screens there were before.