Kazmeister
Landlubber
"Ask not what your mod team can do for you, but what you can do for your mod team." ...me. [On modding X2: The Threat]
You may want to grab a snack before you start reading this. It's a bit longer than I originally intended.
Hey all this is my first post on piratesahoy.net and I wouldn't have joined at all but the "Thoughts" thread started by Ron Losey has inspired me to throw in my two cents. I was originally going to post in that thread but I ended up way off topic... Oops.
For all those who keep asking for new features... Speaking from a modder's perspective, these guys mod the game to add stuff they want to see in the game. It's the reward of seeing something in the game that you wanted to see from the get-go that keeps you going. Most of it isn't easy, and everything you change will change ten other things you didn't think of, which you'll then have to fix, which will change ten more things... each... And so on. This is work, plain and simple, and none of these guys are getting paid to do it. (At least I don't think they are...) If you don't like the mods they're making, roll up your sleeves and dive in. Learn to do it, and add whatever you want. (errr... Whatever you're able...)
Anyway, to Pieter and others: Help me help you. I have a bunch of questions and hopefully someone will be able to answer them for me.
I already have some modding experience (HalfLife2 and X2: The Threat, amongst others) and a bit of graphic design skill. I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and learn to do some of the things I'd like to see for myself.
Is there a modding tutorial somewhere for this game, and how thoroughly can it be modded with only a text editor? What 3D tool can I use to design new objects and import them into the game? I have a pretty extensive collection of ships I've created in .obj and .3ds format already but none of them were designed with PotC in mind and they'll no doubt require extensive modification to work with the available animations and such. I can export to .3ds but for now I'm bound to my laptop and I don't have 3DS Max available. Is it even possible to add completely new ships or are the new ships that have been added merely reskins of packaged ships?
I've already added a few new items and such with a text editor and that's very easy, but the scripting I'll have to learn almost from scratch. Any reference material I can dig up would be helpful to no end.
Is it possible to add more companion slots or are they hard coded into the .exe?
That stuff, along with digging through the PotC files will be enough to get me started. So moving on...
I've spoken as a modder, so now I'll speak as average joe gamer (Note: I realize my opinions don't really count for scratch, but I'll throw 'em out there anyway):
Here's my favorite mods so far: Berth Ships (Pure genius!), cannon smoke (I battle only from first-person and this mod is terrific as the opposing ship completely disappears from view for a few angst-ridden moments- "What's he doing... Is he coming about? Is he closing to board?" I love it.), the cabin feature... Even though I think I broke it, as I can't exchange items with my chest. And of course all the bloody new ships, especially the cutter and fast schooner. Cannon count ain't got sh*t on speed and maneuverability. While hand to hand combat should be up close and brutal, ship to ship should be precise and surgical. Just this guy's opinion. On mods to come, I'm really looking forward to the option to build new towns. I haven't actually played with any of the post B12 mods yet but I will soon. I'll wait until they're polished a bit more though, I'm playtested to death right now. One more bug and I'll scream. And have nightmares.
I'm beginning to agree with Ron Losey that things (With the post-B12 mods) seem to be quickly becoming overcomplicated and overly micromanagerial (Is that a word?).
While some people might find swords that break and having to purchase ammo and powder an entertaining addition, I think these things will quickly become tiresome, even to those who favor them strongly right now. While I agree with Pieter that if we're going to have blacksmiths we want them to have a purpose, I think they should be used almost entirely for upgrades rather than fixing equipment that breaks on a regular basis. I propose a method like the following:
You buy a sword. It's okay, but nothing spectacular. You then take the sword to the blacksmith and have him/her hone a fine edge to it. Damage increases and such, but after a while the blade dulls back to its "factory" state. It never goes past that though. Breakage should be so rare as to be nearly nonexistant, as I for one get rather attached to my equipment and would prefer to never have to replace it. It would also be super sweet if the blacksmith had a button to rename a blade. (How many Nick Sharps were there, anyway? This guy must have owned a few thousand sabres. Seems like everybody's got one...)
On ammunition for small arms... This is a good idea, but just make us buy ammo. Not powder, waddage, and ball (or shot), but just ammo. And make it cheap. I hardly ever use my pistols anyway. I do however like my companions to use theirs. Ideally I would be able to get down and dirty with my limb-removal tool while my officers kept their distance and fired off a shot now and again. Yeah this would require an AI tweak though and nobody likes to mess with the AI right? Want people to use their blades more liberally? How about a perk to make you swing faster? That would be really useful.
But you want to know what I really want? Here's what I really want. I want to take my corvette, rip out all the nonessential crap, and have it run like mad even when it's pointing high to windward and retain enough oomph to spin on it's heel and fire a barrage. I want to be able to take that fast schooner and uparmor it with iron plates at the waterline, even though it might sacrifice some speed. I want to increase my cargo capacity while reducing my crewspace, or vice-versa. In a sentance, I want to see a new button at the shipyard: "Modify Ship" I also want to be able to buy used, slightly "broken in" ships at reduced rates.
Compared to what's already been done, I think this would be well within the limitations of modding, and honestly, I'm surprised no one has done it already. No graphics changes would be required (other than a new button... maybe) and no deep functionality would be altered. And yet it would expand our options considerably.
I really like the cabin idea. Expand it. Make a door or a button to the below-deck scene from boarding and if possible have passengers (from your passenger list) wandering about your boat. Add more boxes so players can sort their equipment and store it. To find out what deck areas are available, the scripting could check against the ship type. Make it feel like you're really living aboard your ship. There's so much more that can be done with the cabin idea. Remember Final Fantasy 7? The things that set it apart from all other RPG's were the abilities to wander about your airship, and buy a home to keep your stuff in. With PotC it'd be cool if we could do that with our ship.
One of the mods allows for people you run into to teach you, improving your perks. It'd be pretty cool if our officers could do that, or we could teach our officers. Of course something would have to be done to counter balance this, so maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea.
I've got more ideas, but I should have been in bed an hour ago (two hours ago, at posting) so I'll cut this short for now. I'll start working on some of these ideas myself, probably tomorrow night, and see how much I can figure out on my own.
For all those responsible for the mods that somehow keep coming out, thanks for keeping the game interesting even way past it's shelf life and keep up the good work.
...I don't have a signature yet... I'll wing it.
-James-
Not enough...?
How about...
James Kennedy
Sergeant, U.S. Army, Iraq
Attack Helicopter Repair Technician
Webmaster, Kazplanet Productions (www.kazplanet.com)
3D Graphic Designer
Photographer
Amateur Sailor
Game Tweaker
and
Really, really tired right now... *yawn*
By the way, I may hang about this forum for a while and I realize "Where the f*ck is my eye?!" is a mouthful, so feel free to just call me James. Kaz is my nickname and also works.
G'night!
You may want to grab a snack before you start reading this. It's a bit longer than I originally intended.
Hey all this is my first post on piratesahoy.net and I wouldn't have joined at all but the "Thoughts" thread started by Ron Losey has inspired me to throw in my two cents. I was originally going to post in that thread but I ended up way off topic... Oops.
For all those who keep asking for new features... Speaking from a modder's perspective, these guys mod the game to add stuff they want to see in the game. It's the reward of seeing something in the game that you wanted to see from the get-go that keeps you going. Most of it isn't easy, and everything you change will change ten other things you didn't think of, which you'll then have to fix, which will change ten more things... each... And so on. This is work, plain and simple, and none of these guys are getting paid to do it. (At least I don't think they are...) If you don't like the mods they're making, roll up your sleeves and dive in. Learn to do it, and add whatever you want. (errr... Whatever you're able...)
Anyway, to Pieter and others: Help me help you. I have a bunch of questions and hopefully someone will be able to answer them for me.
I already have some modding experience (HalfLife2 and X2: The Threat, amongst others) and a bit of graphic design skill. I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and learn to do some of the things I'd like to see for myself.
Is there a modding tutorial somewhere for this game, and how thoroughly can it be modded with only a text editor? What 3D tool can I use to design new objects and import them into the game? I have a pretty extensive collection of ships I've created in .obj and .3ds format already but none of them were designed with PotC in mind and they'll no doubt require extensive modification to work with the available animations and such. I can export to .3ds but for now I'm bound to my laptop and I don't have 3DS Max available. Is it even possible to add completely new ships or are the new ships that have been added merely reskins of packaged ships?
I've already added a few new items and such with a text editor and that's very easy, but the scripting I'll have to learn almost from scratch. Any reference material I can dig up would be helpful to no end.
Is it possible to add more companion slots or are they hard coded into the .exe?
That stuff, along with digging through the PotC files will be enough to get me started. So moving on...
I've spoken as a modder, so now I'll speak as average joe gamer (Note: I realize my opinions don't really count for scratch, but I'll throw 'em out there anyway):
Here's my favorite mods so far: Berth Ships (Pure genius!), cannon smoke (I battle only from first-person and this mod is terrific as the opposing ship completely disappears from view for a few angst-ridden moments- "What's he doing... Is he coming about? Is he closing to board?" I love it.), the cabin feature... Even though I think I broke it, as I can't exchange items with my chest. And of course all the bloody new ships, especially the cutter and fast schooner. Cannon count ain't got sh*t on speed and maneuverability. While hand to hand combat should be up close and brutal, ship to ship should be precise and surgical. Just this guy's opinion. On mods to come, I'm really looking forward to the option to build new towns. I haven't actually played with any of the post B12 mods yet but I will soon. I'll wait until they're polished a bit more though, I'm playtested to death right now. One more bug and I'll scream. And have nightmares.
I'm beginning to agree with Ron Losey that things (With the post-B12 mods) seem to be quickly becoming overcomplicated and overly micromanagerial (Is that a word?).
While some people might find swords that break and having to purchase ammo and powder an entertaining addition, I think these things will quickly become tiresome, even to those who favor them strongly right now. While I agree with Pieter that if we're going to have blacksmiths we want them to have a purpose, I think they should be used almost entirely for upgrades rather than fixing equipment that breaks on a regular basis. I propose a method like the following:
You buy a sword. It's okay, but nothing spectacular. You then take the sword to the blacksmith and have him/her hone a fine edge to it. Damage increases and such, but after a while the blade dulls back to its "factory" state. It never goes past that though. Breakage should be so rare as to be nearly nonexistant, as I for one get rather attached to my equipment and would prefer to never have to replace it. It would also be super sweet if the blacksmith had a button to rename a blade. (How many Nick Sharps were there, anyway? This guy must have owned a few thousand sabres. Seems like everybody's got one...)
On ammunition for small arms... This is a good idea, but just make us buy ammo. Not powder, waddage, and ball (or shot), but just ammo. And make it cheap. I hardly ever use my pistols anyway. I do however like my companions to use theirs. Ideally I would be able to get down and dirty with my limb-removal tool while my officers kept their distance and fired off a shot now and again. Yeah this would require an AI tweak though and nobody likes to mess with the AI right? Want people to use their blades more liberally? How about a perk to make you swing faster? That would be really useful.
But you want to know what I really want? Here's what I really want. I want to take my corvette, rip out all the nonessential crap, and have it run like mad even when it's pointing high to windward and retain enough oomph to spin on it's heel and fire a barrage. I want to be able to take that fast schooner and uparmor it with iron plates at the waterline, even though it might sacrifice some speed. I want to increase my cargo capacity while reducing my crewspace, or vice-versa. In a sentance, I want to see a new button at the shipyard: "Modify Ship" I also want to be able to buy used, slightly "broken in" ships at reduced rates.
Compared to what's already been done, I think this would be well within the limitations of modding, and honestly, I'm surprised no one has done it already. No graphics changes would be required (other than a new button... maybe) and no deep functionality would be altered. And yet it would expand our options considerably.
I really like the cabin idea. Expand it. Make a door or a button to the below-deck scene from boarding and if possible have passengers (from your passenger list) wandering about your boat. Add more boxes so players can sort their equipment and store it. To find out what deck areas are available, the scripting could check against the ship type. Make it feel like you're really living aboard your ship. There's so much more that can be done with the cabin idea. Remember Final Fantasy 7? The things that set it apart from all other RPG's were the abilities to wander about your airship, and buy a home to keep your stuff in. With PotC it'd be cool if we could do that with our ship.
One of the mods allows for people you run into to teach you, improving your perks. It'd be pretty cool if our officers could do that, or we could teach our officers. Of course something would have to be done to counter balance this, so maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea.
I've got more ideas, but I should have been in bed an hour ago (two hours ago, at posting) so I'll cut this short for now. I'll start working on some of these ideas myself, probably tomorrow night, and see how much I can figure out on my own.
For all those responsible for the mods that somehow keep coming out, thanks for keeping the game interesting even way past it's shelf life and keep up the good work.
...I don't have a signature yet... I'll wing it.
-James-
Not enough...?
How about...
James Kennedy
Sergeant, U.S. Army, Iraq
Attack Helicopter Repair Technician
Webmaster, Kazplanet Productions (www.kazplanet.com)
3D Graphic Designer
Photographer
Amateur Sailor
Game Tweaker
and
Really, really tired right now... *yawn*
By the way, I may hang about this forum for a while and I realize "Where the f*ck is my eye?!" is a mouthful, so feel free to just call me James. Kaz is my nickname and also works.
G'night!
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