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better sail simulation

DoubleRumRation

Landlubber
I've been searching the files to see if it's possible to change ship navigation control, so instead of pressing "A", "D" continuosly to turn the ship, it could be set to "RUDDER_LEFT", "RUDDER_RIGHT", and "RUDDER_CENTERED" with a single key press.
But i guess the code is in a dll out of my reach, anyone knows?

Also related to this, i think ship turn rate is dependent on speed, so a ship moving at near 0 knots because has turned the bow toward the wind or all sails are lowered would have troubles to turn, while another ship could gain speed and initiate a turn lowering sails, crossing the point when the wind is just in front and still go on turning for a while.

Because and this is the 3rd problem, square sails should slow down the ship at certain angles, so ships should have to sail with latin sails only against the wind.

To end this, is it posible to better simulate sail navigation in this game? Sorry perhaps this has been discussed already. :mm
 
I'd recommend you try Build 14 Beta 1 for Pirates of the Caribbean and see if the sailing system is more to your liking in there.
It IS possible to do the same in CoAS that we did in PotC. :yes
 
Alas, i don't have POTC but would much appreciate a better sailing model as well. I will pirate a big company game bacause usually i just play an hour, realize it sucks, and uninstall. But obscure games like this...... support the developer! So Pieter, know any online pay n download places to buy POTC? Id rather do that than a hard copy by mail via amazon or somethign.

One thing i remember about the reboot of sid meirs Pirates! was the sailing model felt very accurate. A fast Jibe in a sloop left you with a very satisfying "thwat" as the boom whipped round from port to starboard, the sail lufting for a second before filling with wind. The sails themselves reacted to the wind, perfectly from what i remember, it was awesome.

I really wish i was the god of modding, the Akella games would need one to get that kind of realism in the games. Sails are completely static AFAIK.
 
There's no online download places for PotC, I'm afraid, just for CoAS. All we've been able to find is this:
2. Where can I get the game?
The game seems rather hard-to-find these days. Try Amazon.com, eBay.com or the Yahoo Store
The visual sailing effects are no different than in CoAS, maybe not as good; it's just the statistics that are changed.

If you want a sailing simulator, I can recommend Virtual Sailor: http://www.avsim.com/vs
I've been active in the community for that simulator for many years and made some (non-sailing) ships for it.
It costs 25 US$ to download and you can get incredible additional ships and scenery for free.
There's various period ships also. Unfortunately the sails there really AREN'T animated.
 
I'd recommend you try Build 14 Beta 1 for Pirates of the Caribbean and see if the sailing system is more to your liking in there.

In a word YES
me.gif
. Not only the sail simulation but the different ship types have their own sailing character.
I have sound problems and i thought my POTC version was corrupted but still same problems with new copy.
Anyway, impressive mod, it was a pleasure to read the documentation, specially snow white sorrow view of the game, yes that's the game i want to play.
I felt cheated when i tried the COAS CMV3 and met blackpearls, interceptors, black angels (weren't they supposed to be unique ships?)... all of them firing 42 pds and up (
piratesing.gif
bombs bigger than my lugger) and incredible speed and turn rate of course.
There are plenty of arcade games out there, i want to play a game where a brig is a brig, a schooner a schooner and a frigate a frigate. Some are made to run downwind, some are made to sail upwind and some to patrol and fight.

I'm still testing POTC Build but the only flaw i see is that the AI needs tweaks now. A group of ships inside the port bay were being pushed backwards to ground because they were trying to leave the bay sailing right into the wind.

That being said, the whole mod, the design, the planning, the implementation, the details....
doff.gif
chapeau!
 
I'm not sure how much we can do about the AI; we might need source code access for that, which we DO have for CoAS, but not for PotC.
Admittedly it can be pretty stupid when it comes to wind direction. :modding
 
You mean you want to define which sails are part of the "Battle Sails" setting?
I think it depends on the sail locator names, but it's best to ask someone who knows ship modeling, like ZarethPL, Kazeite or Pgargon.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Latin Sail". Do you want to add a fourth sail state into the game?
Might be possible with the source code, but far from easy to be sure.
It'd also require locator-work to every single ship, which is a lot of work.
 
As a battle sails are all labeled rey_a1, a2 a3 etc, in the locator file. That is reefed first. He would like to also not only the staysail but also the Mizzen remains. Therefore, the only rey_bx ... renamed. :rolleyes:
 
I believe the spelling is "Lateen", meaning just the fore & aft sails such as stay sails, jibs and driver. I think the use of staysails became more prevalent in the late 1700 early 1800s as a method for square rigged ships to point closer to the wind. I do not think it was typical to set the staysails when going down wind. They get blanked by the courses and tops'ls. The staysails are also very useful during storms to provide just a bit of control when the square sails were furled.

Hope this helps,
Greg.
 
I'm all for more sail options (flying royals during a gale is downright absurd), but I am on the crew of a square rigged vessel (the Brig Pilgrim) and I have never heard of a square-rigger flying only lateen (triangular) or other fore and aft sails to sail closer to the wind. There would simply not be enough sail area to gain sufficient speed. Square sails function perfectly well sailing "into the wind" they just can't sail as close to the wind as fore and aft sails. (the closest a square rigged vessel can sail is generally six points off the wind. In other words, if there were an imaginary line perpendicular to the wind, it could sail about 22 degrees off that line towards the wind)
The fastest I've ever sailed on the Pilgrim is in a gale sailing into the wind with both square and fore and aft sails set.

I'd like to see:

Battle trim: Tops'ls, spanker, fore topmast stays'l
All sail
STUDDINGSAILS (yes!)
etc.
Or, even better, full control over which individual sails are set (I don't know if that's possible with this engine.)

If anyone has any technical questions regarding the sailing of square-riggers, feel free to ask me.
 
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