Solved Updating the Worldmap

[Armada]

I just tried messing with this, and it might work, but I can only get part of the model into Maya. I'd have some gaps to fill, though it's not like there's a better solution.

Turns out there WAS a better solution: I noticed that, much like the other chewed-up island, Eleuthera is made up of two copies of a different island, scaled and rotated with some parts removed.
So I managed to recreate it by looking at the original world map GM file, and using the in-game archipelago map as a guide to position the island properly.
That's one crisis averted, at least.

For reference, here's how the map is currently looking; no islands moved yet, but the CoAS mainland has been added.
The second image is a comparison showing the in-game archipelago map used instead of the blue sea plane.

Spoiler: Show image

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Wow, that is looking incredibly interesting! Imagine being able to REALLY make this work! That'd be pretty awesome!

Edit: Moved to its own thread. I do think it deserves that, no?

 

[Armada]

It's exciting stuff, for sure.
Which of the images above do you prefer, out of interest? Bear in mind that even if we were to use a map texture instead of the sea texture, I don't think we could exceed the size of the sea plane.

One thing that occurred to me, though: how does CoAS deal with the mainland in sailing mode? Surely it's not one massive 'island' model?

 

[Armada]

I'm currently working on plotting all the coordinates on the map. When I'm done, I'll probably make a back-up and then start moving the islands around.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

One thing that occurred to me, though: how does CoAS deal with the mainland in sailing mode? Surely it's not one massive 'island' model?

This is the chart of the CoAS worldmap:

Spoiler

They have separate island models for:
Beliz
SantaCatalina
PortoBello
Cartahena
Maracaibo
Caracas
Cumana
Trinidad
Also they have Cuba and Hispaniola split in two, with a separate Tortuga.
If you need any of those model files uploaded, let me know.

Now that I see this, I'm definitely AGAINST the CoAS worldmap. It isn't accurate either and completely misses out on Aruba and Bonaire, which we do use.

Which of the images above do you prefer, out of interest? Bear in mind that even if we were to use a map texture instead of the sea texture, I don't think we could exceed the size of the sea plane.

I like the idea of the "chart" version simply on account of it being different. My li'l brother isn't too fond of it though.
According to him, the interface map should look like a map, but the worldmap shouldn't.

It does seem a bit of a shame to me though, if you're redoing the whole thing anyway, to not be a little bit creative with the look...

 

[Armada]

They have separate island models for:
Beliz
SantaCatalina
PortoBello
Cartahena
Maracaibo
Caracas
Cumana
Trinidad
Also they have Cuba and Hispaniola split in two, with a separate Tortuga.
If you need any of those model files uploaded, let me know.

Now that I see this, I'm definitely AGAINST the CoAS worldmap. It isn't accurate either and completely misses out on Aruba and Bonaire, which we do use.

Well I think we'll need the Cartahena (shouldn't that be Cartagena?) island model for the Cartagena locations we have, at least to start with.
We could add the other mainland models at some point, but we'd need to fill them with colonies, beaches and, so on.
How would we actually go about adding that island model to the sailing mode, besides using the world map coordinates to position it?

That reminds me, do we have a port location for Cartagena? We'll need one of those for obvious reasons.

I like the idea of the "chart" version simply on account of it being different. My li'l brother isn't too fond of it though.
According to him, the interface map should look like a map, but the worldmap shouldn't.

It does seem a bit of a shame to me though, if you're redoing the whole thing anyway, to not be a little bit creative with the look...

I like the chart as well, at least because it would be a trial run for Hearts of Oak.
We'll have to see what other people think.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Cartahena is the name of the model folder. Perhaps it is Russian spelling?
Anyway, uploading now.

I'd recommend you enable the cheatmode, start the Bartolomeu storyline and tell Pierre Delacroix at the beginning that you want to visit Cartagena.
You can walk around a bit, then set sail with the Santiago and go to the worldmap. That'll show you how it works right now.
Long story short: It works fine for gameplay purposes. Just doesn't look quite perfect.

Perhaps I could see what happens if we throw that CoAS island model at the PotC game engine.
Trying doesn't take long.

 

[Armada]

I've now finished plotting all the coordinates, except for Petit Tabac. I see no mention of it in Worldmap_init.c.
And presumably that and Isla Mona are meant to have shores you can access, but again I don't know where they're defined or what they're called.
But if we're changing the island models they use anyway, this won't matter so much.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Petit Tabac is defined in PROGRAM\CCCdirectsail.c (search for "BattleRocks").
IslaMona and BattleRocks both have their own location init files in PROGRAM\Locations\init .
Their shores are not accessible by default though; only when a quest leads you there.

Cartahena is the name of the model folder. Perhaps it is Russian spelling?
Anyway, uploading now.

Done: http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/TEMP/Cartagena_Island.zip

 

[Armada]

Petit Tabac is defined in PROGRAM\CCCdirectsail.c (search for "BattleRocks").
IslaMona and BattleRocks both have their own location init files in PROGRAM\Locations\init .
Their shores are not accessible by default though; only when a quest leads you there.

Thanks. I guess there's no need to plot the shore positions, then, otherwise they'd cause confusion.
Do we know of some better island models to use for these two, yet?

Done: http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/TEMP/Cartagena_Island.zip

Got it, thanks.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Do we know of some better island models to use for these two, yet?

GM Viewer sucks with island models. So no...

I don't think this land location Bartolomeu made is quite what we're looking for: RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\outside\Isle
Maybe you can take an existing island model and just downscale it? Change the colours a bit too?

WARNING - Beginning of wishful thinking:
I wouldn't mind some more of the island models to be modified here and there. They frequently don't look very Caribbean, do they?
REALLY high, with shores that don't look like shores and no palm trees anywhere. Missing towns and forts for Charlestown, Aruba and Curacao too.
There are admittedly some high islands in the Caribbean, but not many. Dominica is one, but that is not even in the game!
End of wishful thinking (for now!)

I guess there's no need to plot the shore positions, then, otherwise they'd cause confusion.

Indeed, no need.

 

[Armada]

I don't think this land location Bartolomeu made is quite what we're looking for: RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\outside\Isle
Maybe you can take an existing island model and just downscale it? Change the colours a bit too?

I'll have a look. There must be something we can use or modify.

WARNING - Beginning of wishful thinking:
I wouldn't mind some more of the island models to be modified here and there. They frequently don't look very Caribbean, do they?
REALLY high, with shores that don't look like shores and no palm trees anywhere. Missing towns and forts for Charlestown, Aruba and Curacao too.
There are admittedly some high islands in the Caribbean, but not many. Dominica is one, but that is not even in the game!
End of wishful thinking (for now!)

What AM I getting myself into?
The lack of forts and towns in places like Charlestown does annoy me as well. Hmm. World Map comes first...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Wow, PotC actually CAN load that huge "main land" island model! Look!

And before you could ever sail "around" it, DirectSail sends you to the next island. You know what that means? Our PotC engine WOULD support us adding the WHOLE main land!
And there was me thinking the CoAS worldmap system was different in order to support that. Turns out it's not!

Doesn't mean there aren't any weird effects though:

DirectSail encounters don't care about being generated inside the island. UNTIL they hit the rocks and lose their masts. Oopsy-daisy.

But anyway, I'd say this is some proper good news too!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Well, that was easy. Fort added too:

How about we keep this, considering this quick "test" turned out so successful?

 

[Armada]

Wow, PotC actually CAN load that huge "main land" island model! Look!
[...]
And before you could ever sail "around" it, DirectSail sends you to the next island. You know what that means? Our PotC engine WOULD support us adding the WHOLE main land!
And there was me thinking the CoAS worldmap system was different in order to support that. Turns out it's not!

Awesome! That's especially good news considering I've now managed to make an approximation of the missing part of the world map mainland, using parts from the existing model:

Spoiler: Show image

DirectSail encounters don't care about being generated inside the island. UNTIL they hit the rocks and lose their masts. Oopsy-daisy.

Oh dear! Is there anything we could possibly do about that?

How about we keep this, considering this quick "test" turned out so successful?

Absolutely! Is this the 'Cartahena' location you tested, or a different part?

Going back to the missing forts and towns some islands have: In the case of Charlestown, that uses a specific CoAS map, which probably has an island model to match it, right?
I wonder if I could fuse said model with the Nevis model to get a better result.

 

[Armada]

Oops... I just realised I didn't add the 'ship.pos' coordinates from Worldmap_init.c on the map model.
Those tell the game where to put the toy ship once you enter the map from ports and shores, right? The one for Martinique's town is way off.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Oh dear! Is there anything we could possibly do about that?

Disabling DirectSail ships while you're in the Cartagena area should be easy enough.

Absolutely! Is this the 'Cartahena' location you tested, or a different part?

Yes, it is. I don't think there's much point testing the other parts; they'll probably work the same way.

Going back to the missing forts and towns some islands have: In the case of Charlestown, that uses a specific CoAS map, which probably has an island model to match it, right?
I wonder if I could fuse said model with the Nevis model to get a better result.

I'm not sure if in CoAS the town and island models quite match up with each other.
Does Governor's Harbor match up with the Eleuthera island model? I can't quite remember, but I don't think so.

Oops... I just realised I didn't add the 'ship.pos' coordinates from Worldmap_init.c on the map model.
Those tell the game where to put the toy ship once you enter the map from ports and shores, right? The one for Martinique's town is way off.

Uhm... maybe...? I am being rather confused on the whole "worldmap thing".

 

[Hylie Pistof]

This is exciting stuff! Instead of merging POTC stuff to COAS would it be better to merge COAS stuff to POTC over the long term?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That at least would prevent us from having to start all our good work here from scratch (which I REALLY don't want to be doing; I want to go FORWARD, dammit!).
We'd lose out on the improved graphics and fencing and whatever else CoAS does better, though. (What DOES CoAS do better anyway???)

I'm also thinking, at this rate we might as well take Cartagena out of the "quest only" generation and make it always accessible.
That would also enable "coast raiders" at Colombia. And the town is in a better state than most when we were adding new islands before.
All it needs are a workable store, shipyard, etc. and fast travel and we're set.

 

[agentad]

This is exciting stuff! Instead of merging POTC stuff to COAS would it be better to merge COAS stuff to POTC over the long term?

totally for it, really awesome things in this thread


long live to POTC and PIRATE AHOY !!!!!