Flag Locators Repair Project

[Hylie Pistof]

Talisman!!!!

I have AOP- COAS but not AOP-CT. I need the mast2 and mast3 GM from the barque longue (barqem1). They can't be read in TOOL. I've tried working around them but it ends up looking like something from the gag reel.

 

[Talisman]

I think this is the one you want - the hull looks the same k

I have checked and I also cannot open mast2 or mast3 in TOOL for this model ( in Aop-CT ). So I don't know if the attachment will be of any use to you.

Mast1 & mast4 open OK

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I searched for the barqem1 in AoP and CoAS but couldn't find the original files.
She seems to have come from a Russian forum rather than one of the stock game. :?

I checked the mast files for the Lugger2 and LuggerCT and I could open them fine
and can confirm that the flag and penn locators are correct and how they should be.

All ships already should have penn locators in all necesarry spots, excepting the SoileRoyal.
Maybe also excepting any ships where somebody changed the flags after the Different Flags mod locator work was completed.
And maybe also excepting any ships that have been added since, but those would be limited to the ones Armada added
and as far as I'm aware, Armada has been adding the flag and penn locators properly.

 

[Armada]

I just finished a battle where one lost a mast, and I swear I saw two masts fall!

That was a hugely important observation, because I've just found out why!
It seems the 'deck' models for those luggers also have all the hull's locators, so there are two of every mast.
That would explain not only the two masts falling when just one should, but also the double flag anomaly which we originally saw.
Remove those locators, and hopefully, if TOOL's in a good mood, the flags should work as you set them to.

And maybe also excepting any ships that have been added since, but those would be limited to the ones Armada added
and as far as I'm aware, Armada has been adding the flag and penn locators properly.

They're all done correctly as far as I'm aware, too.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Thank you Talisman. I found that ship in AOP-COAS but it is a mess. All GMs work for me but mast2 and mast 3. If it can't be repaired maybe it should be retired. :328_skull:


Yes Pieter, everything is there and it should work properly, but it does not. At least the "penn" does nothing at all. I spent hours trying every combination I could think of, and while the locators work the "penn" does not. Perhaps what Armada discovered will make a difference.

Armada: Guess what I will be doing tonight? )

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Euphoria! :mi That was it! Thank you Armada. :warr

Should I remove the streamer?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

In another thread I mentioned that the European barque (barque1) had problems when I demasted it in the battle with the Oiseau. The French flag was floating in midair. I just finished that battle again, and there were no GA and no floating flags. It was far out at sea where no island could possibly interfere too.

OTOH, the Grand Schooner (schooner xebec) has issues. One step forward, two steps back...........

 

[Armada]

Euphoria! :mi That was it! Thank you Armada. :warr

Should I remove the streamer?

I'm glad it works! We'll have to keep on the lookout for similar mistakes... it seems there's more to some ships than meets the eye.

If you could make the streamer more like the pennant on mast2, then I think it would look fine.

OTOH, the Grand Schooner (schooner xebec) has issues. One step forward, two steps back...........

Well it wouldn't be the Build Mod without good and bad news...

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Ok, the repaired Luggers are on the FTP. The rear pennant is now about the same size as the front one. I don't believe how much time I lost because I forgot to hit F11. I have not de-masted one in game yet, but they have got to be better than before.

Talisman: That is the ship, but I can't read mast2 & 3 either.
Onward through the fog!

 

[Black Bart]

Awesome work guys! And some incredibly good news - just a month ago and eveyone was scratching thier heads over the GA problem. You'll all deserve more than a keg of Rum when your done!!

I've given up on the parus_hole.tga.tx file for now, as soon as i load it in photoshop(after converting to a normal TGA in the tx convertor tool), the alpha channel becomes black, rather than 'grey' and testing it as a 512x512 texture(original file was 256x256) in game just meant no cannon holes were shown. Not sure if this is due to the increase in res or the alpha channel issue?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I noticed you need Photoshop to save to 32 bit otherwise the alpha channel isn't saved.
But converted files should have the alpha channel properly.

And indeed if the luggers have TWO of each mast, that's DEFINITELY a reason for things to get messed up.
After all, there's going to be twice as many flags than there's set in ships_init.c,
which will confuse things whenever such a lugger is around. And luggers are fairly common too!
So that's a BRILLIANT find, Armada! And brilliant work by Hylie Pistoff on fixing it too!

 

[Armada]

Well if it weren't for HP mentioning two masts falling when only one should,
I doubt any of us would have checked for duplicated locators. So thanks to him too!

And that's a fair point about Luggers being common ships; I'll bet they've wreaked havoc behind the scenes of many a battle!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

It was noted long ago the most of the Luggers would fire their cannons twice every salvo. There was another clue. I bet they don't now! :boom

There is still lots of work to do. Do those forts without flags cause any problems? Dunno. Santo Domingo looks an awful lot like Kralendijk except that it has a flag.

I wuz sailing past Aruba so far out that I couldn't see it. There was a battle going on. I wish I knew what ships were involved because I was getting heavy GA and I couldn't see any of them.

Then later I wuz sailing on the open sea and on the hour the wind shifted and "strange sail on the port bow". Plus a loud BEEP BEEP. I thought "What's the gaffboom galeoth doing way out here?" It was a light frigate! Corvette1 to be precise. That is the only one that works in TOOL. This install is using KevinAtlanta's ships.

Where to start?

 

[Armada]

It was noted long ago the most of the Luggers would fire their cannons twice every salvo. There was another clue. I bet they don't now! :boom

Very true! That's another problem fixed!

Then later I wuz sailing on the open sea and on the hour the wind shifted and "strange sail on the port bow". Plus a loud BEEP BEEP. I thought "What's the gaffboom galeoth doing way out here?" It was a light frigate! Corvette1 to be precise. That is the only one that works in TOOL. This install is using KevinAtlanta's ships.

Corvette1?? That's never been a problem. What's different in KevinAtlanta's version?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Compile.log will give you a list of all ships you've encountered since you started the game.
You might be able to work out from that what you ran into even if they weren't around.

Alternatively, Ctrl+Arrow Keys allows you to view all other ships around as if they were your own.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

For corvette1 it might be something I did. As near as I can tell the only difference between the current model and KA's is that his has 4 stern chasers but no deck.GM. So I added a line for the deck.GM. I could do nothing with any of the others of any version because none of them can be read by TOOL.


CTRL+Arrow? ok.

 

[morgan terror]

you know, that ctrl arrow thing should really be mentioned in the controls. also, i'm pretty sure you used to be able to drop mines, but it seems impossible now.

for some odd reason i've never had the beeping. the only beeping i can remember is that it would occasionally happen at the end of a soundtrack at sea, which is probably the same bug.

 

[Armada]

About the corvettes: did you check KevinAtlanta's version alone in-game before adding the deck locator? If not, then it might already have had the beeping problem.
If it was something you did, then TOOL would have given an error message when you tried to save it, and the model would become corrupt, causing the beeping.

I've been thinking about an alternative approach to the corvette hulls.
Considering they're identical models, you could just take a model that works, and copy it for all other corvettes, then HEX edit the models to use the right textures.
I realised that I've still got some models with new details, such as gunport hatches and better cannons, which Craiggo sent me a while ago.
This includes the corvette, and the model is fully editable in TOOL. It even had the fourth stern gun locator already in place.

However, the hull itself has reverse lighting, while bizarrely, the rest of the details don't.
What I've done to rectify that is apply blank textures to the hull with new details, while keeping the details visible, and used the normal corvette hull as an extra part using a locator.
I then deleted all the locators on the new hull which already exist on the old hull, because the old ones are set in stone.
However, the fourth stern gun locator still works, even though it's part of the new hull.
This led to ANOTHER problem, because the 'vant' locators needed moving to match the deadeyes that Craiggo added, but I can't replace or remove the ones on the old hull.

So, the idea is, there needs to be an editable corvette hull WITHOUT reverse lighting or beeping, in order to make the more detailed version work.
HP, did you notice whether KA's hull had reverse lighting or not? If it doesn't, we might be able to fix it in TOOL and use it for this new model.
I've put the new model and related textures on the FTP here, so you can see what I'm on about.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

No. The only checking I did was in TOOL to make sure they worked. This really has me confused because they worked once in TOOL and then never again. No version of the corvettes works for me. Not build13, build14, or KA's. Except corvette1.

I have seen 3 in game so far. The one that beeped and sailed past at a distance in the fog (corvette1), one that was sunk by a fort as I approached. It was blue and had no anchors. And a black and red one with anchors and black masts. I was sailing the caravel and shot out its sails and left. Reverse lighting? Couldn't tell.

 

[Armada]

Guess what? We're both idiots.
If neither B13, B14, nor KA's versions work, then think about it: which version have we not thought of?

The stock version. It works. Properly.