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    Maelstrom New Horizons


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Build 14 Beta 1 Feedback

The whole rum/food thing can be disabled... It is just realistic for some places not to want to sell any of their rum as they might only have enough for their tavern... just sail to another island and try there :yes

The whole Cozumal shore I thought we had disabled but I must be wrong
 
I recall putting a toggle on the Cozumel shore start. Not sure if it's on or off by default.

The being recognized ashore for raising a pirate flag is very much intentional. :yes
 
Just wanted to give some positive feedback...

I've been playing the new version (Build 14 Beta 1 Patch 1) for about a week now. I had a HDD crash about 2 years ago, and didn't re-install PotC. At that time, I was playing 14 Alpha 6, and had it pretty stable on my system. Anyhow, the new mod has some really nice new features - new islands, new storylines, new towns (re-textures, etc) and new quests (which I haven't played yet). And, I really like the new "get a sword on promotions" with a LoM. Excellent job to everyone.

Now, there are some stability issues on my PC - specifically as they relate to LOOTING CORPSES (several CTDs while looting on a boarding) and the TRANSFER INTERFACES (very slow) - that's where my rig seems to really lag (sound stutters and/or the transfer process is really slowed down). And, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the new music and/or sounds that seem to be played simultaneously. Or maybe there was some new / updated code changed that I didn't see in the base transfer interface. In general, the game is fairly stable on both land and sailing - the problems (at least for me) seem to be on boardings (looting and chests) and any place where the transfer interface is needed. I also get some lag when it rains (probably my Gfx card).

HERE ARE MY SETTINGS:

PotC with New Horizons (Build Mod) version 14 - Beta 1 - Patch 1
- it's the latest version as of approximately 24-Apr-2010
- fresh install of base PotC, then installed as per instructions on 24-Apr-2010

My changes to the default configuration, both hard coded and through the interface follow below. I've tried to minimize the "overhead" of graphics intensity and to make my play more stable - since my system is 5+ years old.


Hard Coded Changes:

FILENAME: /POTC/engine.ini
enabled logging - generates *.log files
1024x768 FullScreen - for gameplay - lower res = higher performance (usually)
1280x720 and 1600x900 FullScreen - for screenshots only

FILENAME: /POTC/PROGRAM/InternalSettings.h
Code: 
#define FREE_FOG			0		// BOOL - Allow fog during daylight hours 0 - false 1 - true
#define REALISTIC_WAVES			0		// BOOL - desc="Set to 0 to disable the realistic waves mod by KiwisDoFly." DEFAULT is 1
#define SAIL_LUFFING_SOUNDS		1		// INT - Set from 1 to 3 to play sail luffing sounds when sailing too close to wind.  0=off, higher numbers add more luffing sound. DEFAULT is 2


Menu Changes:

RANDOM START SKILLS = Pick extra skills
AUTO SKILLS SYSTEM = Off
SKIP VIDEOS = Skip All
WEAPONSMOD = Off
REDUCE COASTAL SHIPS = Reduce by 2 (2 total ships)
MIN SAIL CREW = All available reload cannon
SHIPS WILL SURRENDER = 0.10
EXTRA HIT CHECK = No
CANNON RANGE SCALAR = 1.25
CHANGING NATIONS RELATION = On
CANNON POWDER = No
SPYGLASS = Fun
FOOD = Off
SHIPYARD REALISM = Off
ITEM TRADER REALISM = Off
SALARY = 2
AMMO & POWDER = Off
BLADE DAMAGE = Off
BROTHEL = On
NO THEFT = 30
LOCK OPEN = 66
SAILS = Emblem White / Pirates Emblem Black (not sure if this option still works)
SHIPHIT PARTICLES = MINIMAL
EFFECTS (PARTICLES) = Off

--------------------

PC Specs: (mostly 5+ year old technology)
OS - WinXP Pro with auto updates (fresh install Dec-2009)
MB - Abit NF7s v1.2 w/ onboard nVidia sound
CPU - AMD XP2500 stable overclock (166mhz FSB to 200mhz FSB) @ 2.2gHz (equal to AMD XP3200)
RAM - 2x1gb Corsair Twinx PC3200 (2gb)
GFX - nVidia GeForce 6200 512mb DualRamDAC AGP (3d software configured for "Balanced")
HDD - Hitachi 460gb SATA
Monitor - Acer 1600x900 LCD

This system is probably on the borderline of being compatible. I last played v14 Alpha 6/7 in late 2007 and had the game working stable - at least on the system I had at the time (VERY similar to the above, but with a slightly better gfx card, but with only 512mb RAM).

--------------------


KevAtl
 
KevinAtlanta said:
Now, there are some stability issues on my PC - specifically as they relate to LOOTING CORPSES (several CTDs while looting on a boarding) and the TRANSFER INTERFACES (very slow) - that's where my rig seems to really lag (sound stutters and/or the transfer process is really slowed down). And, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the new music and/or sounds that seem to be played simultaneously. Or maybe there was some new / updated code changed that I didn't see in the base transfer interface. In general, the game is fairly stable on both land and sailing - the problems (at least for me) seem to be on boardings (looting and chests) and any place where the transfer interface is needed. I also get some lag when it rains (probably my Gfx card).
Click to expand...
I can confirm the LAG time when looting corpses (I do it mostly on land) and the music stutter - so I don't think that has anything to do with your set up.
 
Ah, the stutters in that interface. B13 is smooth for me. B14 is very bad with the mouse hanging up. B14 with the new patch is not bad. Very little stuttering.
 
The build is great work! Its really quite wonderful, having said that, a couple issues:

There are some points of stuttering from time to time, especially when battling on ship decks with a large crowd (Believe me, my processor and system are brand new and quite good so Its probably not an issue with my system there).

There are some CTDs. Usually these occur during transitions, fast-travelling, or from one menu to another. There is also a glitch that's occurred a couple times where the menu screen is not updating or changing; the game isn't frozen, but pushing buttons on the gui menus (f2 menus) Doesn't do anything; it requires a bit of fiddling to unlock it (even a reload didn't help). Sadly I lost the save where this bug was present :/ otherwise I'd put that up in the bugs thread. There are severe issues with clipping, especially on ships and in some of those new towns. Descriptions in text (especially with 'new' buildings) and for the paint jobs in the shipyards should be fixed. Playing the new horizons start, I took on that Portugese Captain (who is the star of a different plot?) and accepting his mission to get his crew back broke all fast-travel.

That covers the bug/glitch bits. Now there are some general gameplay issues I want to mention: First, the starts. I do enjoy the 'stormy start'. I just think that if you end up on a hostile island, you probably shouldn't just b e able to get back on your ship and leave (admittedly they will probably blow you out of the water the minute you are in the sailing interface). you'd think they'd take your ship with you in it or not... requiring some resourcefulness to get back sailing.

Next, there is the matter of the "Realistic" versus "Arcade" sailing. I am overall very pleased with the realistic sailing mode. The physics for this have been well-tweaked. Except I can't count how many times I forgot counter-rudder though. :shrug

If the realistic versus arcade setting principally only affected that-- The sailing and sea-battle portion of the game, that would be absolutely wonderful.

Its the other stuff that I dislike, and would generally prefer not to have to deal with.

First: the requirement to find locations before you can fast-travel to them, and the generally reduced amount of information that the game is giving you. Essentially, realistic mode strikes me as: "A really neat sailing simulation, that unfortunately also forces you to accept several other things that are just inconvenient and make game-play annoying". I really don't see why you have to take those options with the realistic sailing; why those can't just be added to the game options like all the other mods that can be toggled on or off. That's probably my number 1 suggestion. (*NB though these features of realistic mode ARE Growing on me... I still would prefer to have a toggle for all of the ones not related to physics!)

Second, its an old one but its still there... related to bullets and charges for the pistols. If I can carry 15 rapiers, 10 cutlasses, 200,000 gold coins, a clock, a compass, a microscope, a set of scales, a full set of battle armour, at least a couple dozen bottles of various potions, 10 guns, and various tools.... Why can I not carry more than 6 gunpowder charges and 6 bullets for my muskets?
 
Hmm. You might try going to "options" and picking "arcade". Then go through the individual options and set everything to be the same as "realistic".
 
Its not called realistic sailing its called realistic mode, what miklkit suggests is what you should do :yes
 
Well, first off, great mod. only got the game on thursday, so I haven't made much progress, but it seems good.
Only issues at all... 2. One which I'm guessing was realistic sail mode going "Look, it's a Storm, and you're in something that's One step above the floating bathtub. So, you're going to go round in circles, no matter the wind direction, Or where the waves are, until it's over. Got it? Good."

The other has been around since before september, Devlin Opera storyline... ah well, doesn't matter, it just gives me more reason to stop ignoring the fact realistic mode is on, so sailing as the crow flies is even Less reliable than I'm used to in AoP: CT.

Plus points: No crash to desktop so far... well, after i finally realised what that runme.bat actually Did.
and finding out how easy it is to become a friend of the Pirates... Guess even they're grateful if you get rid of the armed crime bunch.

Well, until next time, I'm off to see if pure chance can help me find Blaze... Assuming that nothing disasterous happens, like, say, the Rum running out.
You can tell i recruited them while I was on a Pirate island, but it seems they Did escape from PoTC... no money, but still food and rum, who cares? even when i ran out of food, they only complained a bit... but the next day, when the Rum is gone, so was the captain half an hour later. that's half an hour Game time.

Edit: Ouch... it's the First time i visited Tortuga/Tortue... what the heck did i do to these three? loading save... sorry, but for realism three girls Beatrice never met coming up and as it ended up Stabbing her until she blacked out is not how i wanted my first visit to go.

Second run, Avoiding Annamaria at all costs... ah, who cares, I can't remember the names of the other two and i don't want to risk the same with another random girl the second i leave the port... Avoiding all the girls here except my officers until i get out of this place.


Edit 2: Time Paradox, glitch in the matrix, or unintended spoiler... a certain Mr. Gibbs in the Tavern, and he trusted Beatrice with a certain object of Aztec origin, then joined the crew... As he looks the same age as in the films, he can't have aged much in the 200 or so years until he meets Sparrow. Ah well, glad to have old Gibbs with me, even if it shouldn't be possible. Either way, lets see how this European Barque does with him giving the orders, the two Devlin sisters in command, and Catalina navigating... with a little luck, I can run into some French privateers... or maybe just some armed thugs before i leave port.

Edit 3: restarted, got back to San Salvador, ran into a gang outside the Grand Turk town hall, got killed, realising then and Only then that i hadn't saved... Given up on Blaze having at long last checked back for information the full 8 months needed to find it. Guess it doesn't really matter, there seem to be a good few thousand other pirate treasures to choose from anyway. This time, no more just going where the wind takes me and Avoiding all ships. Time to make a start in my career as a pirate beyond killing a couple of Nathan Kell's lesser cronies.
 
Mr. Gibbs' precense is just an easter egg to be able to mess around with Isla de Muerte in ALL storylines.
 
Ah, ok. same with the skeleton pirates I've seen walking around, I'm guessing. Thanks for the answer, i was just worried as A: until that point everything had been as realistic as physically possible,
B: he didn't even ask to be paid up front, for his services or the suspicious Aztec object, and C: I hadn't (And still haven't) switched that quests file as I was going to get to at least a class 3 ship before trying the Sparrow storyline, and thought that might've affected something other than Hoist the Colors... Especially after Annamaria and the rest attacking Beatrice on arrival.
 
Changing that quests file will have no effect on any other storylines than Jack Sparrow. :no

There should be no more skeleton pirates walking around?
Except sometimes one random one on Tortuga, chasing a monk.
 
Probably, the only one i saw was inland on Tortuga... but then again, that part of Tortuga is rather empty on my PC. i found about 5 people out of the 10 wandering around who i could actually talk to, and just Two buildings i could enter... i presume it's still a work in progress, as the prison had a big sign saying "Shipyard" on the front, and some of the NPC's were... not sure what to call it. Floating, almost. legs totally immobile, not even the option to talk to them, just drifting around.

Could just be I'm meant to be above level 2 before i go there, for all i know, or something went slightly wrong with one of the installs thanks to this irritating Anti-virus wasting three-quarters of the processor at All times.

Either way, I'll stop bringing up already known things, unless it's something more important than the first land fight i had, where i learnt the hard way that the sword controls changed a lot between this and AoP1.
 
Weird NPCs? Sounds like possible BuildingSet ones, though I don't recall any of those on Tortuga...
 
Quote

-the gaff on the cutter/sloop was pointing the wrong way, against the wind.Was it not like that in the stock game too? If not, then WHAT THE HELL DID WE DO TO BREAK IT?
I know Petros noticed that in the past and he figured out a way to fix it for specific ships.
BUT that made the reys turn inside-out. And fixing that would introduce the reverse lighting issue. AGH! :facepalm

The rigging is wrong in the Stock game!!!
 
You're absolutely right. It looks so bizarre, really.
I don't recall it always being like that, but maybe it was.
I remember the Petros fix; I think I even almost managed to "fix" that reverse lighting.
But now I don't remember if I ever really did or not.
I think I managed to fix the inside-out AND the reverse lighting,
BUT the edges were not smoothed anymore, making the rey square-ish.
Seems it's a no-win scenario.

On the more positive side, we've got Maya now, which opens up more perspectives.
Though we could also not care about it and only make sure it's correct in "CoAS Build 15".
Since we've got the source code for that, if it isn't already good in CoAS, we can change it properly.
 
i've been posting an array of encountered bugs on the bugtracker, but they need confirmation.

also, i've encountered one when looking for rheims: the smuggler outside the soa jao tavern doesn't have any dialogue, just dotted lines.
 
Do you mean the smuggler who takes you to Beltrop? I played that again yesterday and it went ok.
 
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