Fixed Black Pearl

[Grey Roger]

So I finally got to Cozumel, found my way through the temple, got back out, and faced the Black Pearl. As I had a full set of four ships at the time, to take the Pearl I had to swap ships and lose my frigate.

To quote Oddball in "Kelly's Heroes", after he's swapped his Sherman for the Tiger: "It's a piece of junk!"

I had hoped for a decent ship like the Black Pearl in Build 13. What I got has about the same speed (16 versus 15.7) and lower turn rate (70 versus 82), and that's after I've given it all the upgrades. It feels distinctly more sluggish on the turn, too - perhaps it has turn rate 70 but takes a while to get up to that rate. It has bigger guns but fewer of them. And it's cursed - the crew look like they've been nibbled by sharks, the sails look like they've been nibbled by giant moths, and there is the same smoke screen as you get when carrying a cursed coin, which blocks your forward vision while not blocking anybody else's vision to impair their shooting at you.

Jack Sparrow had none of these troubles when he had taken over the Black Pearl at the end of the film!

The Black Pearl is going into mothballs, I'll take command of the Mefisto for a while, then I'll steal another flush-decked frigate and go about my business as before.

One interesting feature of the Black Pearl is the sweeps. Presumably this is supposed to represent oars. Could this be incorporated into some more realistic ships, i.e. galleys? Watch the original "Tales of a Sea Hawk", or more accurately just "The Sea Hawk", the old Errol Flynn film - there's just such a ship in the opening battle.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If she is still cursed, does she also have a ridiculous amount of hull HP?
There is some code in place intended to swap her with the uncursed version, but I seem to remember reports before that does not work.

Those sweeps are just a temporary wind-independent speed burst. Could easily be added to other ships, but it isn't something exceedingly special.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Umm, I remember returning from Cozumel and pulling up to the dock with a cursed Black Pearl, but I can not remember if the shipyard cured the smoke or not. I do remember that the hull stayed at the high HP level.

Methinks my attempts to repaint her as the Wicked Wench failed too.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

This is where the ship is supposed to be swapped:

    case "end_game":
       SetQuestHeader("After_Final");  // --> Cat for Danielle fix
       AddQuestRecord("After_Final", 1);

       Pchar.quest.Story_Take_Clement_Home.win_condition.l1 = "location";
       Pchar.quest.Story_Take_Clement_Home.win_condition.l1.location = "Oxbay_Lighthouse";
       Pchar.quest.Story_Take_Clement_Home.win_condition = "Story_Take_Clement_Home";
       Pchar.quest.Story_Take_Clement_Home.fail_condition = "Story_Take_Clement_Home";
       Characters[GetCharacterIndex("researcher")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "Home_again";
       Characters[GetCharacterIndex("danielle")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "Clement_home";

       // KK: Swap cursed Pearl with normal Pearl -->
       if (GetCharacterShipType(PChar) == SHIP_CURSED) GiveShip2Character(pchar, "BlackPearl", "Black Pearl", -1, PIRATE, true, true);
       iPassenger = GetCompanionIndex(PChar, 1);
       if (iPassenger > 0 && GetCharacterShipType(&Characters[iPassenger]) == SHIP_CURSED) GiveShip2Character(&Characters[iPassenger], "BlackPearl", "Black Pearl", -1, PIRATE, true, true);
       iPassenger = GetCompanionIndex(PChar, 2);
       if (iPassenger > 0 && GetCharacterShipType(&Characters[iPassenger]) == SHIP_CURSED) GiveShip2Character(&Characters[iPassenger], "BlackPearl", "Black Pearl", -1, PIRATE, true, true);
       iPassenger = GetCompanionIndex(PChar, 3);
       if (iPassenger > 0 && GetCharacterShipType(&Characters[iPassenger]) == SHIP_CURSED) GiveShip2Character(&Characters[iPassenger], "BlackPearl", "Black Pearl", -1, PIRATE, true, true);
       // KK: Swap cursed Pearl with normal Pearl <--

       Reinit_KhaelRoa(); // Enable Khael Roa as personal base
     break;

 

[Grey Roger]

Repainting certainly didn't work for me as there was no alternative colour scheme available. (Has one been added in Beta 3.1?)

I've got as far as returning to Port Royale and telling Danielle to stick around but dump the amulet. I've yet to get to the lighthouse and put Clement ashore - does this need to happen before the cursed Black Pearl is swapped for the uncursed version?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The ship-swapping has been confirmed to NOT happen. It is supposed to occur RIGHT AFTER you capture the Black Pearl.
In other words, you're not supposed to ever be commanding the cursed version. Unless you buy her from Vanderdecken, but that is different.

Looks like the cursed Black Pearl deliberately does not have any repaint options;
probably because that can cause issues with the stats, because those don't match up with the other versions.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Yeah, that was like 2 years ago and I don't remember all of the gory details. It would be nice if the BP did change to something usable.

 

[Grey Roger]

The ship-swapping has been confirmed to NOT happen. It is supposed to occur RIGHT AFTER you capture the Black Pearl.
In other words, you're not supposed to ever be commanding the cursed version. Unless you buy her from Vanderdecken, but that is different.

So if I understand that correctly, you're supposed to get the uncursed Black Pearl (the code is there) but in fact you end up with the cursed one (the code presumably doesn't activate for some reason).

I've only been to Vanderdecken once, that being when I was on Isla de Muerte on other business and decided to visit him while I was in the neighbourhood. I saved game, got one of his ships to play with, then reloaded the saved game so it never happened and continued on with my regular ship.

In any case, if I want something with superior firepower and inferior turn rate I have Silehard's flagship, as some unfortunate fort is going to find out...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

So if I understand that correctly, you're supposed to get the uncursed Black Pearl (the code is there) but in fact you end up with the cursed one (the code presumably doesn't activate for some reason).

Exactly. I'll give that code a quick test as soon as I get the chance and see if I can restore it to proper working order.

In the meantime, you can use the console to give yourself the uncursed Pearl instead.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

PROBLEM FOUND and fixed. Turns out GetCharacterShipType was supposed to be GetCharacterShipID .
Swapping that in the code I posted above should ensure you get the uncursed Black Pearl and not the cursed one.
I tested this through console and it seems to work fine.

 

[Grey Roger]

Do you need to start a whole new game for that to work, or will it work if I edit the file and reload from before the battle with the Black Pearl? And which file needs to be edited?

Not that I'm that bothered anyway. Black Pearl is still inferior to a flushdeck frigate and very inferior to the Build 13 Black Pearl. The fact that it's Tier 4 compared to a frigate's Tier 3 should have been a clue. Mine is now sitting in a berth in Bridgetown and I'm on the hunt for a new flushdeck frigate...

Another piece of weirdness. When you board the Black Pearl, the below decks (gun decks, cargo holds) are black. Since then, when I've boarded any other ship, its below decks are also black. Except the cabin, possibly because it has a different style cabin to the Black Pearl and there is no black version.
Bring back the Build 13 Black Pearl - now there was a ship worth completing a quest for!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The file is PROGRAM\Storyline\standard\quests\quests_reaction.c . If you edit it, then play through the capture of the Pearl again, it should work.

All ships were rebalanced and reclassified in Build 14, but they do all make sense compared to each other.

I just checked all SpeedRate values in ships_init.c and the Black Pearl is indeed still the fastest ship in the game.

The black decks must be because the Pearl has got her own boarding deck textures.
However, you're only supposed to see those used when the Pearl is the enemy.
I'm pretty sure some of the relevant coding is incorrect though.

 

[Grey Roger]

That worked - thanks! I reloaded my saved game from where I was standing on Cozumel shore, replayed the battle, and did indeed get the uncursed Black Pearl. Speed 20.7, turn rate 82 (after taking her to Port Royale and giving her the upgrades), and now I'm not looking for a replacement frigate any more.

The black decks appear on the Black Pearl, e.g. when going to the hold to ransom a prisoner. I repainted the ship to be English Fast Galleon and the first effect of that was that when I fly a British flag, the Black Pearl has the Red Ensign instead of the Blue Ensign - presumably it's categorised as a trade ship rather than a warship, being EITC. The second effect is that the Black Pearl's lower decks are now back to normal wood.

But the black decks also appear on all enemy ships since Cozumel, and repainting the Black Pearl didn't fix that. I raid a French group of merchants, board a fast merchantman, and her lower decks are black, for example.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Huh? The Wicked Wench ("English Fast Galleon") does not have a DeckTexturesDir defined, so that shouldn't be happening.

The shown ensign should depend on whether you have a LoM or not. Only for non-player ships is the ship categorization taken into account.

 

[Grey Roger]

I have a Letter of Marque. It came from Silehard's replacement when I went to Jamaica right after taking the Black Pearl. (Silehard had surrendered so I took him to Jamaica to see if there was a reward for bringing him in, the governor hinted that he didn't want to see Silehard in one piece, so I obliged. Silehard asked to be allowed to fight to the death so I obliged him too, partly because I'm honorable and partly because that way I get his sword. ) In its post-Cozumel colour scheme, the Black Pearl had the Blue Ensign. Repainted as the Wicked Wench, it got the Red Ensign.

I agree that the black decks should not be happening. Never mind what is happening to the Wicked Wench / Black Pearl, the real question is why is it happening to other ships?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Oh wait, now I remember. The Wicked Wench is one of the few ships that IS set to always show the merchant ensign.

It is happening to other ships because the DeckTexturesDir code is not correctly written.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Yes the decks were a mess for a while but got mostly sorted out. There were a lot of other things going on then and this got lost in the shuffle.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

In summary: too slow, too clumsy, generally inferior to the flushdeck frigate and totally inferior to the Build 13 Black Pearl. The uncursed version is fast and agile, generally superior to the flushdeck frigate and far more useful for general pirating.

Just checked the difference between SHIP_CURSED and "BlackPearl". Cursed one has:
bigger cannons
lower weight
distinctly lower cargo capacity
a bit less crew (both min and max)
higher price
insane hull and sail hit points
a slightly different Y axis acceleration value

Speed and TurnRate are exactly the same. Only thing I can think of is that the InertiaAccelerationY value is messing up her handling compared to the uncursed one.
That would be easily fixed; don't know why they're different anyway.

 

[Grey Roger]

Speed and turn rate are most certainly not the same! See my earlier posts. Cursed: speed 16, turn rate 70, after being fully upgraded. Uncursed: speed 20.7, turn rate 82, again after upgrades. See also your own statement:

I just checked all SpeedRate values in ships_init.c and the Black Pearl is indeed still the fastest ship in the game.

It is. At least, the uncursed version is. The cursed version isn't, hence my first post in this thread.

I can't remember now what guns the cursed Black Pearl had, but it doesn't really matter because if I want something with big guns and poor speed and turn, I've still got Sovereign of the Seas. Price is irrelevant because the only reason I'd sell the Black Pearl is if I don't want to keep it. Cargo capacity is useful though, and the net result is that the uncursed Pearl is fast, agile, has big enough guns for most purposes, and can carry plenty of loot from any ships I can't capture due to already having enough prizes to take me up to the four ship limit.
What pirate could ask for more?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Speed and turn rate are most certainly not the same! See my earlier posts. Cursed: speed 16, turn rate 70, after being fully upgraded.

I am talking about the code and in ships_init.c you should find that "BlackPearl" and SHIP_CURSED both have:

  if(iRealismMode>0 || REALISTIC_SHIP_INERTIA){
     refShip.SpeedRate     = 16.0;
     refShip.TurnRate     = 70;
[...]
   }else{
     refShip.SpeedRate     = 16.8;
     refShip.TurnRate     = 36.5;
[...]
   }

That is indeed the fastest in the game. Fully uncursed Pearl/Wicked Wench is decidedly slower:

  if(iRealismMode>0 || REALISTIC_SHIP_INERTIA){
     refShip.SpeedRate     = 12.5;
     refShip.TurnRate     = 70;
[...]
   }else{
     refShip.SpeedRate     = 12.5;
     refShip.TurnRate     = 36.5;
[...]
   }

SpeedRate of 20.7 is not defined anywhere in the code. So something seriously weird seems to be going on.
I am getting an ingame 18.1 kts and turnrate of 41 on "BlackPearl", which is not what is set in ships_init.c .
"UncursedPearl" also gets 13.4/40 which should be 12.5/36.5 as per the code.

Almost seems as if the "pirate nation stat modifiers" are being applied to all Black Pearl versions except SHIP_CURSED.
Except.... They're all set as "unique", so that should not be happening!