Solved Question on Combining GOF Mods (Smoother seas)

[Elderlaw]

Greetings to all...

New account here after lurking for the past few weeks. (Yeah I'm new to AOP2. Glad to have discovered it, even if I am a decade late!)

HUGE kudos to the GOF modders. I don't know HOW I missed this game until now, and your mods are just an amazing improvement. Thank you!

I have two installs running. One with GOF 1.2, and one with GOF2.0. What I would like, is for 2.0 to have the smoother sea from ver. 1.2. How hard would that be?

I have spent some time looking through the file systems of the game and am pretty familiar with where things are. But, I don't know exactly what files need to be copied from 1.2 to 2.0. Anyone know?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I suspect the relevant files would be in PROGRAM\Weather, though I am not familiar with the modifications made by that team.

Recommend to get WinMerge and compare the files to see if you can track down the relevant differences.

 

[Thagarr]

Ahoy Elderlaw, welcome aboard mate!

This one was tough to track down, unfortunately, I don't remember exactly what was changed. CoAS uses a bit more complicated scripting system that are sometimes tied to DLL's and other files, a real pain for modding. The ridiculous amounts of fog and rough seas were added to "compensate" for flaws in the game engine. Ships and islands at a distance will appear as floating above the water, there are a couple of other things, but if I recall correctly that is the main one.

I am not much of a modder myself, so I can't be of much help in fixing it, but what Pieter suggested is a good place to start. I believe there was also some things changed in the particles.c and some of the files in the /RESOURCE folder, there might even have been something in the /SEA_AI folder. I am not positive though.

This is one reason that we chose to devote most of our attention to a new game engine and create our own game, the Storm engine is really starting to show it's age.

 

[Elderlaw]

Thank you both for the fast responses! (BTW WinMerge rocks. Thanks for that little gem Pieter.)

There are no differences (at all) between the two versions program\weather\ folders. I will continue checking the other locations later this evening.

And if this approach fails.... I'll try a reverse strategy. Putting the safer (shorter) list of ships from 2.0 into 1.2. That would achieve the same goal of having the least crashes and smoother sea, all in one package. I had assumed moving all those models, textures, etc would be far more complicated than just making a weather/sea change.

I am indeed following the developments with the new engine, Thagarr. Very exciting stuff. Wish I had the skills to contribute much to HoO.

Anywhoo, thanks again to both of you guys

 

[Elderlaw]

Problem solved (in case anyone wants to know in the future). The files in question are in the folder \Program\Weather\init\. "Day.c", "Evening.c", "Morning.c" and "Night.c". I copied those four files from GOF 1.2 into GOF 2.0. Seas are smooth again and with limited testing, seems like less overall fog too.

Sail on

 

[Luke159]

Congrats bud, we'll make a modder out of ya yet.

Transferring the ships over will require some extra work though but its not to hard, to help you on your way I strongly suggest you get winmerge its a free tool that all modders will agree is important to have and makes life so much easier. Ah seems our beloved Pieter has already pointed you in the direction for winmerg (note to self read the whole topic before posting a comment).

 

[Elderlaw]

Thanks Luke. Wait... LUKE?!?

Sir I am fairly new here, but have seen a lot of your past posts and mod work, and was JUST THINKING YESTERDAY, "Man I hope things are going better for Luke159". Your presence has been missed by people you don't even know. And yes I owe Pieter a beverage of his choosing for the winmerge tip. Somehow I had never heard of it before.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

WinMerge is a life saver. I would've gone crazy a long time ago without it.

 

[Luke159]

Thanks Luke. Wait... LUKE?!?

Sir I am fairly new here, but have seen a lot of your past posts and mod work, and was JUST THINKING YESTERDAY, "Man I hope things are going better for Luke159". Your presence has been missed by people you don't even know. And yes I owe Pieter a beverage of his choosing for the winmerge tip. Somehow I had never heard of it before.

Why thank you Elderlaw, its very appreciated and not something I was expecting so a nice surprise as well.

Its been some time but I'm hopping to add more to my work around here, it could be before or just after xmas, that part we will have to wait and see. But it will come, as soon as I remember where things are (feel a little like Homer from the series "The Simpsons", when ever I ask myself where can I find this I have no idea's. But back in the day I always had a very good idea of where to look or at least start to look) it will come back once I start to really delve into files and things (I hope).

WinMerge is a life saver. I would've gone crazy a long time ago without it.

Amen to than, when porting stuff over from GOF 1.2 to GOF 2 (a feature here and there) I would o0ften go through most files just making sure I didn't miss anything else or removing a feature that didn't work correctly. At one point I had checked every single file in GOF 1.2 twice in that same day so yes very much a life saver (would have been sitting here in many years to come saying I present to you GOF 2.0 now while reaching for my zimmer frame so I could get up.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

....as soon as I remember where things are

You can always ask. Many things are similar to PotC, in which case I can usually tell you right away.
For those things that aren't, adding your game folder to the Windows Search Index is another life-saver.
Allows you to type in whatever you want in Windows Search and it will find all files that contain it!

 

[PappyDan]

just like elderlaw im new to the forum after finding it a decade late,
i have ordered a copy from amazon AOP2 and already downloaded the GOF 2.0 and beta patch 1.4 along with 7Z so i can install it right.
watching the vids on youtube i think you guys did a great job on the mods and that is what attracted me to the game,
of course J2 also got me hooked on eve as well, i have lurked on the forum, read a good bit, wish you guys was still working on GOF to make it the best mod ever.
my idea may be old but i do kinda of wish you did the mod in like 3 steps.
1. the bug fix.
2. the ship upgrades.
3. the new playable characters.
wish i had known about this a long time ago i would have liked to have been a beta tester for the group to help get things right.

 

[Elderlaw]

Welcome PappyDan! Congrats on scoring your copy of AOP2. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

I understand what you mean about GOF being worked on further, but it certainly was not abandoned in a half finished state. I have a lot of hours in playing that mod, and it feels "complete" to me.

Also, if you do end up enjoying AOP2, be sure to check out the New Horizons mod for the older POTC game.

 

[PappyDan]

thank you Elderlaw.
im going to give the game a go to get a feel for the controls then load up the mods to see what all is new and improved.
will have to get a copy of POTC and check it out.