Flag Locators Repair Project

[Hylie Pistof]

I was in no compatibility mode when working with Batavia1. My point is that I could not work with its masts at all before, but now I can. You always could?


I will add that line and try it tonight.

 

[tommy61157]

Last night I noticed something different about the flags on the NL_Batavia1 or the class 3 light east Indiaman. So I captured one (they are very common in this game) and looked at it in GMViewer and TOOL. Now TOOL could not read the masts of that ship before so I could do nothing with it, but last night it worked! :will So I wasted an evening trying to get the flags working so it would not have GA. My conclusion is that this ship is not compatible with POTC and should be remasted like Batavia2 or dumped. The only good thing I accomplished was that it no longer seems to give GA, but is ugly with no flags or both flag and pennant per mast.

Aw, I kinda liked all the indiaman ships, hopefully you don't have to dump any of them to fix the GA....:?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

There are many different kinds of Indiaman.

There is the class 5 Indiaman that is a retired light frigate that has been stripped down and is used as a fast merchantman.

The most common type are the class 1 and 2 East Indiaman.

There is the Mordaunt, which is a modified East Indiaman.

And then there are the class 3 & 4 Light East Indiaman. Those are the troublesome ones. They are VCO ships that were ported into POTC some years ago. The class 4 one had new masts put on it and seems to be trouble free. The class 3 one still has the old masts and is a mess. They both are on the block for removal and have been for well over a year. I'm thinking about deleting the class 3 one from my game because it makes it hard to study other ships.

 

[Armada]

Regarding NL_Batavia1, I think it needs one heck of an upgrade if it is to stand any chance of staying in the game, same as any VCO ship.
In the meantime, I strongly recommend re-rigging it to use the masts from Batavia2. At least that way, it will be consistent with the rigging style and GA-free.

The way I see it, of all the VCO ships, I reckon we're most likely to lose the Lydia frigates, Warship11, Merchant11, and at least one of the Batavias.
The first three just look too fat and disproportioned to me, not to mention the amount of work required to get them up to decent standards.
I've already tried saving the Lydia using Maya, but by combination of all the new ships we're getting and a lack of interest, I've given up.

 

[Black Bart]

..............
As for the forts, I'm eager to know if Pieter's suggestion would work, as follows:
Find the 'FORT' entry at the bottom of ships_init.c, and then find this section:

refShip.CanEncounter	= false;
SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT = SHIP_FORT+1;

Replace with:

refShip.Flags.NoPennants = true; // GA fix?
refShip.CanEncounter	= false;
SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT = SHIP_FORT+1;

Now, press F11 in-game, and see if it helps. If it does, then that has to be the easiest fix yet.

Just to say i've got this set in game and will report back if i notice any change(i should get to Bridgetown in the next 24 hours or so).

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I forgot to install that last night. It's installed now. Was crashing the gaff schooner and getting GA, even tho I can find nothing wrong with it. Back to the destruction derby again.


I'm up to a level 4 Captain now and have yet to see a Lydia in game. What is wrong with Lydia 1,2,&3?

The Batavias don't have crews. All crewless ships should be repaired or dumped IMO. I've thought about re-rigging it. That would be a big help because what it has now does not obey any rules I have tried to date.

When will we lose some of these ships?

 

[Armada]

The Lydia frigates still don't have correct path models, and even though I might be able to make them myself, I'm not sure I want to bother.
The problem is, the more I look at them, the more fat and poorly shaped they look compared to real frigates.
Plus, when you consider the new high-detail models we're due to get in-game soon, why should we keep odd-shaped models like this?

Crewless ships shouldn't be much of an issue, since I can use the SailorTool to make their walk files now.
As for losing ships, they'll definitely be gone for Beta 2, if not Patch 7 (if it's released).

 

[nightwatcher]

Regarding NL_Batavia1, I think it needs one heck of an upgrade if it is to stand any chance of staying in the game, same as any VCO ship.
In the meantime, I strongly recommend re-rigging it to use the masts from Batavia2. At least that way, it will be consistent with the rigging style and GA-free.

The way I see it, of all the VCO ships, I reckon we're most likely to lose the Lydia frigates, Warship11, Merchant11, and at least one of the Batavias.
The first three just look too fat and disproportioned to me, not to mention the amount of work required to get them up to decent standards.
I've already tried saving the Lydia using Maya, but by combination of all the new ships we're getting and a lack of interest, I've given up.

Did we have the plans for her?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Regarding NL_Batavia1, I think it needs one heck of an upgrade if it is to stand any chance of staying in the game, same as any VCO ship.
In the meantime, I strongly recommend re-rigging it to use the masts from Batavia2. At least that way, it will be consistent with the rigging style and GA-free.

The way I see it, of all the VCO ships, I reckon we're most likely to lose the Lydia frigates, Warship11, Merchant11, and at least one of the Batavias.
The first three just look too fat and disproportioned to me, not to mention the amount of work required to get them up to decent standards.
I've already tried saving the Lydia using Maya, but by combination of all the new ships we're getting and a lack of interest, I've given up.

Did we have the plans for her?

Your wish is my command. You might find this thread interesting. http://forum.piratesahoy.net/index.php/topic/17705-interesting-ship-plans/





I tried to string some ropes on the gaff schooner and corrupted the GM with TOOL. It's fine otherwise.

 

[nightwatcher]

Oh, I must have overlooked her there. Ok, will get in touch with rider88 and then put her on the desk as soon as the Revenge has a hand full of water under her keel.

 

[Armada]

I tried to string some ropes on the gaff schooner and corrupted the GM with TOOL. It's fine otherwise.

If this carries on, there might be a very long list of ships to be re-exported through Maya, just so they'll behave themselves!

Ok, will get in touch with rider88 and then put her on the desk as soon as the Revenge has a hand full of water under her keel.

So you're going to make the real Batavia? That would be wonderful!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Since I back up my back ups, it was easy to replace the corrupted GM, but if this continues it will mean no future upgrades from me will include ropes down to the hull. That means gaffs, spankers, lateens, and jib sails will look odd.

A new Batavia? :will

 

[nightwatcher]

It seems so!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I just got in a battle where a frigate (frigate5_44) lost its main mast and I got occasional light GA and its flags were messed up. These ships look to have the same masts and sails as the Amsterdam, so it would be fairly easy to upgrade them while

looking into the flags. But there was another project started to replace these ships. So the question is: Should I bother?



Also, I no longer remember just which ships I've worked on and which were good to begin with, so I will just start posting good ships to my folder in the FTP as I confirm they are ok. That means that both Batavias will be there soon as while they look terrible, they give no GA.

 

[Armada]

I'd say you should skip the stock frigates and move on to something else for now.
Hopefully Jack Harrison will bring news of his progress soon, but I don't know when that'll be. He's been silent for a while now. :?
If he doesn't finish the upgraded ship before Beta 2, then you could repair the stock frigates for that version anyway.

 

[Baste]

A somewhat late reply, but anyway:

The camera height adjustment in first-person sailing view was originally intended for my game, which uses the stock ships. Since Pieter wanted to increase the camera height I tried it on some ships in the build mod and it seemed to work so I posted the code. I see Pieter has posted the stock values. Apparently it isn't quite compatible with all ships in the build mod, so I hope it's possible to fix it some other way. I see you have been talking about adjusting the camera locator for each ship individually, and I guess that's the best way. Sorry for the trouble, mates.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Too late. I've already started on one. Call me selfish but I don't want to sail ugly ships and these ships have ugly rigging. But their sails are pretty cool. Their flags need work and since I have to sail them anyway........... As they get finished they will go on the FTP.

What I want to do is ship classes. I've been wasting time doing lone ships and want to get back into production mode. What would be a good class to work on? The Lineships?



Baste: We are finding that the cameras are all over the place. Most ships are ok, but some are too low and some are too high. It is really easy to adjust the camera and I do it while working on the flags.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Baste, your suggestion on the camera height was much appreciated anyway.
It was a failed experiment perhaps, but certainly an experiment worth trying.

 

[Baste]

I understand, but it's too bad that it didn't work so good. :/

I've tried it with all the stock ships now, and it doesn't work quite good with some of them either.
I guess I need to move the camera locator for them. I've read about Inez Dias' tool, is that what I should use? If I am to change, for example, the "Lugger1", should I then open the "lugger1.gm" file, or are there other files that need to be modified for each ship?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Yes, you want TOOL. The camera locator is in the main GM. You said it correctly. Lugger1.GM and so on for the other ships. All that is needed to change is the "camera" locator in "position Y".

I also use GMViewer because it shows the changes pretty well.