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Yet another fast war galleon

For some reason, it didn't work properly. Admittedly I didn't follow your instructions entirely. Originally I added deck guns to the main hull model and saved it under a new name, leaving everything else in place, so I could view the result in GM Viewer and see where the guns were. Once they were all in their proper places, I deleted everything from the model except the guns ("FastGalleon5.gm" has a lot more components than just the deck and hull. For one thing, it already has anchors.) Then I saved the result ad "FastGalleon5_deck.gm" and added a "deck" locator to "FastGalleon5.gm". The guns appeared where they were supposed to, but all the ship's flags were now ensigns. Two of them are supposed to be pennants. It didn't matter if I quit the game, started again and reloaded my savegame; or even if I quit, started again, and started a whole new game with a whole new character. On the other hand, if I removed the "deck" locator, the flags went back to normal.

So I reverted to my original plan, which was to start with the "deck" file from one of the larger galleon models. This already has some deck guns, plus bell, wheel and capstan. It's then just a matter of moving them around to fit the fast galleon model. Well, not quite - the large galleon has 7 deck guns and I want 8, so I had to add another one. Easy enough - start with the galleon's "deck" model, delete everything except one deck gun, save the result as a model in its own right, and put that into TOOL's "Meshes" folder. (I tried using your "lilgun" model but it didn't look the same as the others, even after I created a new texture file to match.)

I've still to do the capstan - in fact, I've still to decide if it's even going to have a capstan, because the main deck is already crowded with cannons, a boat, and the ladder to the forecastle. But the bell, wheel and deck guns are in place:
fast_galleon5_wheel.jpg fast_galleon5_bell.jpg fast_galleon5_deck_guns.jpg
 
I've also found a different texture for main cannons. The standard fast galleon has rough-looking metal:
rough_cannon.jpg

This one has more polished cannons:
smooth_cannon.jpg

And the flag of the Holy Roman Empire is now done, along with its corresponding pennant. (So are the interface flag and shield.)
imperial_flag.jpg imperial_pennant.jpg imperial_galleon.jpg

Flag and sail emblem are both selectable by the normal means, so when this lot goes online, anyone wanting to play the 30 Years War on the Imperial side can use whichever ship they like.
 
Maybe I remembered the process wrong. I made a quick test and it isn't enough to delete the original hull
from the new file with your additions. That file was of use only during the process to find the right positions.
The problem is that the locatorfile still have a lot of content. I checked the Golden Hind and the deck's locatorfile and it's almost empty.

So I must either have cleaned out the locatofile or more probably noted every added items position. Then started with one of them and
added the others. One by one.
 
Out of interest, do you have capstan, bell or wheel as separate items? Those would be useful when trying to create any more "deck" files. (Without those, I was actually better off starting with the "deck" file from the large galleon as it already has them.)
 
There was once an archive with all sorts of separate pieces; from VCO, I think.
@Jack Rackham, do you happen to know if that still exists?
 
There was once an archive with all sorts of separate pieces; from VCO, I think.
Click to expand...
Not sure which one that was. I still have one VCO archive with cut out pieces. Very limited speed to upload
anything so big at the moment. The fiber connection they promised has not yet reached the taiga...

I have uploaded a few ship items here. They're all from POTC. The textures for the "steering wheel in 3 parts" are to be found
not in Ships but in Textures.
 

Attachments

  • ship parts.7z
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For some reason, "anchorwheel.gm" doesn't work. Neither does another one I found in a model from GoF. Either TOOL crashed when I tried to add the part, or it crashed after I'd added the part and tried to save the "deck" file. Other parts seem to work, though I've already got a bell and wheel from the original "Galeon1_deck.gm" which I modified by moving things around. And if I delete everything else from "Galeon1_deck.gm" to leave "anchorwheel", then save that, it does work.

Capstans are supposed to raise and lower the anchors, aren't they? So shouldn't a ship with two anchors have two capstans? Anyway, the main deck is mostly occupied by a couple of boats and a ladder to the forecastle, so there's not much room for one central capstan, which is why I wanted a model to add a second one. So:
capstan1.jpg capstans2.jpg

Also, the whale figurehead doesn't seem aggressive enough for a fast war galleon. So I tried the half-gryphon instead. A bit of scaling, plus I found out how to use the YZ and ZY values for a locator, and:
half_gryphon.jpg

The same trick - blank out the dragon in the ship's texture, then add a new locator to the bow - could be applied to one of the other fast galleons, so I may put the whale onto "FastGalleon3". That's not a war galleon, it's one of the dual purpose versions with bigger hold and smaller guns. But I'm not replacing all the dragons. A couple of fast galleons with custom figureheads make for a bit of variety, but the VCO figureheads are widely used in other ship models. Leaving the rest of the fast galleons with their dragons makes them different from those other ships.
 
Grey Roger said:
Capstans are supposed to raise and lower the anchors, aren't they? So shouldn't a ship with two anchors have two capstans?
Click to expand...
I don't think I've ever heard of that before... usually they'd put either the port or the starboard chain/rope around the same capstan.
I think the capstan might also be used for other things than the anchor; for example to hoist rigging.

Grey Roger said:
Also, the whale figurehead doesn't seem aggressive enough for a fast war galleon. So I tried the half-gryphon instead.
Click to expand...
Looks fitting. :onya

Grey Roger said:
The same trick - blank out the dragon in the ship's texture, then add a new locator to the bow - could be applied to one of the other fast galleons, so I may put the whale onto "FastGalleon3". That's not a war galleon, it's one of the dual purpose versions with bigger hold and smaller guns. But I'm not replacing all the dragons. A couple of fast galleons with custom figureheads make for a bit of variety, but the VCO figureheads are widely used in other ship models. Leaving the rest of the fast galleons with their dragons makes them different from those other ships.
Click to expand...
Sounds good to me! :cheers
 
Pieter Boelen said:
I don't think I've ever heard of that before... usually they'd put either the port or the starboard chain/rope around the same capstan.
I think the capstan might also be used for other things than the anchor; for example to hoist rigging.
Click to expand...
How would you get the rope for the port anchor off the capstan without dropping it, so that you can then raise the starboard anchor? Anyway, as you can see from the top view in the second picture, a single, centrally mounted capstan isn't going to fit. ("SP_ApostolFelipe" also has two capstans.)
 
Grey Roger said:
How would you get the rope for the port anchor off the capstan without dropping it, so that you can then raise the starboard anchor?
Click to expand...
You can put a stopper on it so it doesn't drop. That's quite a common practice that's still done these days; even on large cruise ships.

Grey Roger said:
Anyway, as you can see from the top view in the second picture, a single, centrally mounted capstan isn't going to fit. ("SP_ApostolFelipe" also has two capstans.)
Click to expand...
Maybe it did actually occur like that in history. I'm no expert at all.
Perhaps @Captain Armstrong or @Bava or @Armada would know more details.

In any case, it does fit and looks nice, which is the most important as far as I'm concerned.
 
Not an expert for spanish ships (especially not of that era), but my first guess would be a capstan right aft of the main mast if the riding bits are on the main deck.

Untitled.png
 
I tried remaking the "deck" file with just one capstan mounted aft of the main mast. It fits and looks good, until this happens:
sailor_capstan.jpg
That sailor has just walked straight through the capstan. They don't seem to walk through the capstans in the forward position; if they're going in that general direction, they're heading for the ladder which leads to the forecastle, and manage to miss the capstans.
 
I think there is some sort of way to control the lines on which the sailors walk, but that's probably quite tricky to do... :facepalm
 
Would it be realistic to have a capstan on the quarterdeck? Perhaps this one is for rigging rather than anchors...

The reason I ask is that the older model of the fast galleon has one there. And the walk file which controls sailor movement seems still to be for the old model. That version also had longer, shallower ladders leading to the forecastle and quarterdeck, so any sailor climbing to the forecastle starts the climb a little way out from the ladder and appears to walk on air for the first few paces. It also means that they'll avoid that part of the quarterdeck where the capstan used to be. The only snag is that the capstan on the old model is an integral part of the hull, it's not even a component which can be isolated by using TOOL to delete everything else; and that capstan lacks the bars. So if I put my capstan in the same place, the sailors can walk through the bars, which at least doesn't look as bad as walking through the middle of the capstan, though it does look silly if one of them stands next to the capstan with the bar sticking though his body. That, at least, was easily fixed by rotating the capstan by 90 degrees. Now when a sailor stops on the same point, it looks as though he's getting ready to turn the capstan.
capstan_quarterdeck.jpg
 
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