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WIP GOF - HD Upgraded GUI MOD

TheBlackKnight

Corsaire Flibustier
Storm Modder
Pirate Legend
All,

This is another HD-Sub Project which overhauls the game to modern standards.
Since I started overhauling the GUI, many of the items listed below have been dramatically improved including fonts and icons.
I will provide additional updates when everything is ready for release.

See new photos of WIP at the bottom of the latest post.

Priority right now goes to HD Ship Portraits and HD Characters and Models first, because everything ties together in one package.

BACKGROUND:

This mod puts the primary icons, interface backgrounds, borders, and fonts on "steroids" in high resolution.
Texture map files are 2048X2048 (max MIP quality) to be compatible at any video resolution.

What does this MOD replace so far?

1) All currently replaced with HD icons resized and scaled for widescreen resolutions with shadowing
2) Characters Icon - Replaced with HD "Jackman" portrait icon
3) Ships Icon - Replaced with HD "Frigate at Sea" icon
3) Nations Icon - Replaced with HD "Crossed England and French Flags" icon
3) Logs Icon - Replaced with HD "Sawkins Log" icon
4) Trade Icon - Replaced with HD "Bag of Gold Coins" icon
5) Items Icon - Replaced with HD "Leather Satchel" icon
6) Treasure Map Background - Replaced with HD resolution actual map
7) Blank Ship Icon - Replaced with HD "HMS Bellerophron" icon
8 Inventory Items GUI - Upgraded from an original MOD to HD quality and oil painting
8) The final replacement uploaded so far is the GUNDECK under "cannon control".

I never really liked the carrack portrait (at least it looks like this ship type to me), as it is really low resolution and does not due it justice.

This was replaced with a HD "colorized" version of the primary deck of the HMS Leopard (English Royal Navy 50-gun Portland-Class Fourth Rate Frigate, 1790) with a few more cannons added for good measure.
Proper period ship colors were used to match the aesthetics of the game.
This was a bit of work to get it right, using model schematics I own and importing into game with proper scale.

DOWNLOAD Link:

The Black Knight CoAS MODS Dropbox - WIP Upgraded GUI Mod (All)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9hgkt5o5mk1bwwe/UBQZhrQrs7

OR the DOWNLOADS Section in the primary link on Pirates Ahoy!

Download Size: ~55 MB

Instructions:

1) Prepare for backup!
2) Download icons_spec.tga.tx, blank_ship2.tga.tx, gundeck.tga.tx, treasure map.tga.tx
3) Overwrite in resource/textures/interfaces (icons_spec.tga.tx, blank_ship2.tga.tx, and gundeck.tga.tx, CharacterEquipment_SLIB.tga.tx)
4) Overwrite in resource/textures/interfaces/maps (treasure map.tga.tx)
4) Enjoy the game!

Preview of the some items upgraded are listed below.

Cheers to the Captain!

Upgraded Gun Deck GUI S.jpg


Treasure Map GU I S.jpg


HD Inventory Background GUI.jpg
 
Last edited:
All,

Here is another addition to the GUI mod with more to add as I have time to finish.
HD Relations Icons for the National Screen (Hostile, Neutral, Allied), relations icons.tga.tx.
They match the HD Nations Coat of Arms from the Pennant Flag mod (England's colors are now fixed), and still maintain the artistic style and original design.

Look best on the original darker papyrus backgrounds, or my updated backgrounds, which are also in the dropbox, namely papirus_big.tga.tx and card_desk.tga.tx.
If you look closely you will see that the GUI is morphing as I am redoing the borders, buttons, icons, and such into HD with new bezels and raised sections to give them a 3D look.
Even texture placement and text orientation errors from the original game are being fixed.
The text files that I use are around 10X the original for better clarity.

Relations Icons Texture file is a little over 5 MB and the backgrounds are 21 MB apiece.
HD nations is just another 5 MB.
You can find everything in my CoAS GUI Mod Dropbox.
 
Last edited:
That looks pretty sharp.

Everything is getting an overhaul in some form or other.
I just work on different pieces as time allows.
2D work is somewhat intensive to fix, as attention to detail is pretty important.
Some of the original game work, as much as I hate to say it was "sloppy" by the artists simply reusing old materials. A good example was icons and textures.
However, some of it was completely due to setting the game up for lower resolutions, so I will not bash too hard.
 
Last edited:
Reusing icons in the original game? DEFINITELY! There's even icons from the 2003 PotC game being used. :shock

Your work looks much better. :onya
 
What am I doing wrong to get that blank square?
View attachment 15016

That top square is used for clothing and cuirasses.

Based on MK's default item files, the only items that are currently active are rags and merchant clothes (unless I have a missed a few items), unless you modify the items list to bring the cuirasses back as they were temporarily removed from game.

MK stated that he had not completed this feature, which he wanted to revamp this cuirasses.

Personally, I like them the way they were, although the only way to actually see you wearing a cuirass is to make a new character texture file, import it into the game, and modify the hero describe file to to use the textures then start a new game.

Of course, you can just "permanently" add a cuirass to your characters outfit similar to characters such John Workman without starting a new game.
 
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Huh. I can't recall seeing any clothing items for sale.

They are not sale items, they are found in treasures as currently set in world item generation.
The only place I have found rags and merchant clothes are in chests.
Originally cuirasses of course could be bought from merchants, but unless they are edited back in they will not appear in game at all.
 
All,

Inventory Screens and necessary icons are getting close to being done now.
This is an untouched in-game character screenshot reduced down about 400% in terms of image quality and 50% in overall resolution
You can started to see the HD characters, icons, interface, and fonts all coming together now.
Still a lot of work to do.

If you are wondering what that ship's anchor and rope is doing in the right corner of the character portrait, that is additional game code which I have been programming to display status as a ship's Captain and actual game naval "rank", if I can get it properly working with all characters when assigning them as ship mates in your fleet (companions).
It uses modified code from the the nation allegiance when you are carrying a Letter of Marque.

See new images in the next post.
 
Last edited:
All,

I cleaned up about 99% of the overall GUI into full HD and bring some sparkle back to an old game.
All images are reduced by 50% in resolution at roughly 450% in terms of quality.
Not sure how big this will be in terms of size, when it gets packaged all together.
My best guess is quite large, over 1 GB.

I still have a couple of icons to upgrade/fix but the final product looks good.
The benefit is that by upgrading the GUI, you actually upgrade many of the features of the game at the same time, like spyglass information, battle inferface, world map, cannon control, maps, animals, etc.
The other benefit is if you run the game at a lower resolution (I run my game at a modified 2560X1600), the GUI gets even more enhanced over these screenshots because the texture and coding files are running at a levels well ABOVE what you are displaying.

Loading times increase changes are minimal after the first game run if you have a decent gaming rig.
This mod when released will be compatible with any version of CoAS.
My installation is running most of the HD packs which I already released such as the the inventory and items as well as WIP for the ships, portraits, models.
As I have stated previously, it all ties together in a nice tight bow.

NEW HD GUI as it stands now...

Main Screen.jpg


GUI1.jpg


GUI2.jpg


GUI3.jpg


GUI4.jpg


GUI5.jpg


GUI6.jpg
 
Last edited:
All,

A few more shots at this time of the WIP Battle Interface (land, sea, and spyglass) with use of HD icons and fonts.

These are not some type of "paste in place" artwork, because everything was redone from scratch.
I used basic designs from some of the upgraded interfaces from POTEHO, because they look a lot better than the originals and have more features.

In addition to interface, ship icons, shot types, sails, etc were also upgraded to match the same level of quality as the rest still "keeping to the pirate code" of the original game design.

There is some modified script code to make some of this work correctly in terms of font size, positioning, and scale for widescreen purposes.
Its is not all quite fixed yet, especially in the spyglass because everything is coded based on scaling/position factor that is not a "single number" and its a real pain in the ass to find the right combinations, as it changes with resolution.
The higher you go outside of 4:3 resolution you go, the worse the interface gets stretched.

All screenshots were significantly reduced here, and some of the battle portraits for characters are not adjusted yet for widescreen.

If anyone has a better idea for an icon for measuring distance (currently a spyglass), I would gladly welcome ideas.
I have tried a bunch of different ideas, but nothing really fits including rulers, sextants, and quadrants.

BattleInterface1.jpg


BattleInterface2.jpg


BattleInterface3.jpg
 
Last edited:
It all looks pretty good. Methinks estimating distance is something that was guessed based on experience, like where to adjust the spyglass to for the max range of your cannons.
 
All,

All interface work has been completed.
I have begun compiling all the HD interface texture files into one downloadable directory zip file.
I may have the process complete within the next two weeks or so.
From crosschecking files, it looks as though only HD fonts are the most easily compatible with POTC New Horizons.
The next linking sub-project is the ship portraits which is roughly 50% complete.
 
All,

This is another HD-Sub Project which overhauls the game to modern standards.
Since I started overhauling the GUI, many of the items listed below have been dramatically improved including fonts and icons.
I will provide additional updates when everything is ready for release.

See new photos of WIP at the bottom of the latest post.

Priority right now goes to HD Ship Portraits and HD Characters and Models first, because everything ties together in one package.

BACKGROUND:

This mod puts the primary icons, interface backgrounds, borders, and fonts on "steroids" in high resolution.
Texture map files are 2048X2048 (max MIP quality) to be compatible at any video resolution.

What does this MOD replace so far?

1) All currently replaced with HD icons resized and scaled for widescreen resolutions with shadowing
2) Characters Icon - Replaced with HD "Jackman" portrait icon
3) Ships Icon - Replaced with HD "Frigate at Sea" icon
3) Nations Icon - Replaced with HD "Crossed England and French Flags" icon
3) Logs Icon - Replaced with HD "Sawkins Log" icon
4) Trade Icon - Replaced with HD "Bag of Gold Coins" icon
5) Items Icon - Replaced with HD "Leather Satchel" icon
6) Treasure Map Background - Replaced with HD resolution actual map
7) Blank Ship Icon - Replaced with HD "HMS Bellerophron" icon
8 Inventory Items GUI - Upgraded from an original MOD to HD quality and oil painting
8) The final replacement uploaded so far is the GUNDECK under "cannon control".

I never really liked the carrack portrait (at least it looks like this ship type to me), as it is really low resolution and does not due it justice.

This was replaced with a HD "colorized" version of the primary deck of the HMS Leopard (English Royal Navy 50-gun Portland-Class Fourth Rate Frigate, 1790) with a few more cannons added for good measure.
Proper period ship colors were used to match the aesthetics of the game.
This was a bit of work to get it right, using model schematics I own and importing into game with proper scale.

DOWNLOAD Link:

The Black Knight CoAS MODS Dropbox - WIP Upgraded GUI Mod (All)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9hgkt5o5mk1bwwe/UBQZhrQrs7

OR the DOWNLOADS Section in the primary link on Pirates Ahoy!

Download Size: ~55 MB

Instructions:

1) Prepare for backup!
2) Download icons_spec.tga.tx, blank_ship2.tga.tx, gundeck.tga.tx, treasure map.tga.tx
3) Overwrite in resource/textures/interfaces (icons_spec.tga.tx, blank_ship2.tga.tx, and gundeck.tga.tx, CharacterEquipment_SLIB.tga.tx)
4) Overwrite in resource/textures/interfaces/maps (treasure map.tga.tx)
4) Enjoy the game!

Preview of the some items upgraded are listed below.

Cheers to the Captain!

View attachment 14777

View attachment 14778

View attachment 14779

This is a stupid question, but here it is.
I downloaded the HD GUI Mod and when I added all items, my system asked me to overwrite them....but in the items (blank_ship2 ALT.tga.tx and HD nations.tga.tx), they just dropped in and never asked me to overwrite.
Do I have to replace or delete the blank_ship2 tga.tx and the nations.tga.tx with the above-mentioned items, or do I have to leave as it, all together?? I am asking because don't want any instability in my game. Thanks in advance and forget my ignorance.
 
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