I humbly offer my services.

[Gareth]

Good evening!

What a genuine bit of luck and coincidence this is! I've spent many a day scouring the internet for any hope of an up-to-date more "modern" Age of Sail game. Today was focused on trying to find a mod that could improve the naval realism of Empire Total War beyond the tweaks I've added to the unit stats.

In my frustration at the lack of content I resolved to make something myself. I didn't know where I'd start, but I knew there was a number of engines available for "free"; CryEngine 3 being one of them (Crysis 2, Mechwarrior Online, to name a few). I'd never committed myself to a modding project before, not because of time constraints (which we all have, wife, child and dog in tow), but because I'd never found a project that aligned itself with my long-term passions or interests.

Those passions are (in no particular order): Naval Combat/History of Warfare, Napoleonic-Era Warships (in particular 3rd, 2nd and 1st raters) and high-fidelity representations of the former!

I then resolved to get my hands on some 3D modelling software, and create of full exterior-interior model of the victory, perhaps in the confines of a game; allowing one to walk freely around the vessel, though with no meaningful interaction. I've limited knowledge of such software, however, and haven't used any since school! But I'm a fast learner and a natural PC user.

This gave me the "urges" again, despite being in the middle of creating a presentation for University, due in a few days, I might add, I have to install and download Gentlemen Of Fortune again, I needed to see the ships in their 3D glory!

This brought me to Pirates Ahoy - checking for updates and patches, in the hope they'd ironed out a few bugs and perhaps added a ship or two...

I noticed a few other mods, and decided to see what was in the "Game Promo and Info" Forum.

SO HERE WE ARE. I'm yours, I'm going to help, I don't care how useful I'll eventually end up being; I'm here for the long haul, if you'll have me.

PROS:
-Real sailing experience (learnt at age 10, now 28), Dad has always had boats, we learnt together - limited to the Lakes of England's Lake District, but I've knowledge and experience on such vessels none-the-less.
-Technophile, will learn fast when it comes to using computer programs
-Dedicated, have long-term love for Age of Sail and fighting ships, this is my dream project
-Can help, will help - there must be some use for me!
-Currently in love with Charles II's Sovereign of the Seas, next on my "to build" list (wooden models, large scale)
-Son's called Jack.

EXPERIENCE:
-Made a few maps in Unreal Tournament when it came out, wasn't very old, but picked up map editing quickly and loved designing elaborate buildings to fight within/without!
-Used 3d modelling software before, but use limited
-Read 80% of O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series of books
-Played POTBS from Beta 2007, very prolific and active Port Battle Commander for the first year of retail, unfortunately servers died after Map1 victory on Roberts (we won due to, essentially, the ULTIMATE victory (the first one) having already been decided.
-Currently building real wooden model of HMS Victory (1.4metres in length) 1:72 scale, not cheap but I love making things, it's 3D too! Far from finished but I'm sure it's useful in some way!
-Read one of Nelson's autobiographies, relatively well versed on the history of fighting ships and naval combat.


CONS:
-No portfolio, impressive or otherwise, to show
-Minimal experience in making a game, bloody hell!
-No licensed software as yet
-Englishman, with an Englishman's love for sinking Dons and Frogs.


Sirs, I come to you with apprehension and excitement: with this discovery I now have something Age of Saily to look forward to, and hopefully will one day find a real use for this powerful PC, but I'm also concerned you need help; and that the project might not succeed, nor reach its' full potential.

Will you accept my help? I'm open to suggestions, from history referencing, tabling and data collection to the designing and construction of 3D buildings or ships, but either way - I desperately desire to help.

In great anticipation,

Gareth

 

[Armada]

Ahoy and welcome!

Thanks very much for offering your help; there are many areas you could contribute to, and I'm sure your work will be appreciated in any case.
We always tend to say that it's a good idea to help out where your greatest interests lie, and by the sound of things, it seems to me that 3D modelling would suit you quite well.

If we consider the Victory; at the moment, we already have a very decent model for use in the PotC Build Mod and AoP2: GoF.
However, it's not up to the standard we want for Hearts of Oak, and will need to be either upgraded or completely rebuilt, so you could potentially tackle that project.
I'm sure your wooden model would be an excellent reference, and we have tutorials and advisers available to help with the modelling process.
Modelling a first rate to a high standard would be quite a challenge, but if you keep at it, it's certainly achievable.

Most of us here started out with little to no experience in modding whatsoever, yet great things have been achieved by the community, so you don't need to worry about being inexperienced.
Might I also add that being an Englishman is not a con!

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Welcome aboard mate!
Glad to hear of your enthusiasim for the project! and your experience is more than many of had when we first started here. Is your Victory a 3d model or a real life one, or are you in the process of making both? Wedori is working on a 1765 version of the victory already, there are some progress screens in this thread, post #53 http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/list-of-development-roles.19797/page-3. an 1805 version would be most welcome, but it might make sense to collaborate with wedori on it, as even though the decorations and other aspects were different between 1765 and 1805 there is of course much in common, being the same ship.

 

[Gareth]

Aha! You jest? Such would be an enormous honour - I've collected much in the way of reference material on the Victory for the purpose of making said model.

If you're serious please induct me into the team and give me access to any material you may think beneficial. I note you're modelling the Bellona

The imagining of the undertaking of such a task has born in me a number of very specific and technical questions regarding the depth and complexity of the 3D model, especially in relation to destructible objects etc - I've no idea what the team is gunning for in terms of complexity, how deep do you want it?

I note that Wedori is already working on a Victory, albeit the '65 one - would my time not be better spent on another ship? Once Wedori has finished his model a 1805 cosmetic update can be easily achieved. Tricky having 2 peeps working on the same file?

I'll keep my eye on this post.

Regards,

Gareth

 

[Armada]

I completely forgot that Wedori posted those screenshots. Indeed if that is the case, it's best to collaborate if the Victory is what you want to build.
There are of course many other large vessels, that are not currently being built, which you could build from scratch.

EDIT: Ah! We posted at the same time.
The quality we're aiming for is pretty much as faithful a representation as possible, within reasonable polygon limits, to get a good balance between performance and detail. I reckon a good limit to aim for is around 100,000 polygons for an entire ship of the line, excluding armaments and other standardised details. I appreciate that's quite a vague set of guidelines, but once you start modelling a ship and let our other modellers take a look, you'll soon find out just how much detail we want to cram in.

My personal view is that choosing a different ship to build would be a better option, because you can work at your own pace and gain more experience than collaborating.

I'll add you to the 3D Artists' group so you can at least access our WIP forum to see what others are up to.
Welcome to the team!

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Well I agree It would be best to wait until the 1765 Victory is done before thinking of making an 1805 version, and for all I know Wedori could be planning it himself. So it would probably be best to work on another ship. You might want to take a look at this thread. http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/ships-we-need.19549/ and this one for some more plans http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/selected-ship-plans-plan-websites-and-other-resources.18660/ How much modelling experience do you have? I wouldn't recommend a first rate or even a ship of the line as your first ship. I've built six ships and still limited myself to nothing larger than a frigate, but of course there is nothing stopping you from building a ship of the line first if you want. Are you familiar with the various classes of ships of the line during the Napoleonic wars enough to choose a specific design? or would you like suggestions?
@Armada- Whoa, Only 100,000 polys for a ship of the line? I reckon it should differ by rate, but only experience can give us really specific guidelines. That's only twice what a low-poly frigate is for POTC/COAS. Hopefully it can be a bit higher than that.

 

[Armada]

@Armada- Whoa, Only 100,000 polys for a ship of the line? I reckon it should differ by rate, but only experience can give us really specific guidelines. That's only twice what a low-poly frigate is for POTC/COAS. Hopefully it can be a bit higher than that.

Please note I'm excluding the cannons from that poly count. For many of our custom models in the Storm games, a massive chunk of the poly count is taken up by the cannons alone.
The Trinity 2nd Rate, for example, consists of around 65,000 polys excluding cannons. I know it doesn't have a fully modelled interior, but considering the exterior is pretty much the standard we want, completing the interior shouldn't increase that value by much.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but we'll soon find out as my Bellona model progresses.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Welcome to the team, mate!

 

[Post Captain]

I've just added you to the modeling coordination thread.

Good evening!

CONS:
-Englishman, with an Englishman's love for sinking Dons and Frogs.

Funny, I'm from the US and I still like doing that.

PROS:
-Real sailing experience (learnt at age 10, now 28), Dad has always had boats, we learnt together - limited to the Lakes of England's Lake District, but I've knowledge and experience on such vessels none-the-less.

Anything gaff-rigged? You might be able to help on the small craft sailing advice depending on how much you know.

 

[Gareth]

@ Post Captain ... Not gaff-rigged I'm afraid! Suspect that would be a bit heavy for freshwater sailing, beautiful as they are!
@ The Welcomers ... Thank you very much! Very excited to be here, really!
@ Captain Armstrong ... Yep quite familiar with the classes of that era and their uses. I have a few 1st-rates in mind, I googled around for a potential second-rate spotting a gap on the "ships we need" thread but google doesn't tell me much.

I agree a Ship of the Line is ambitious. However they told me that when I chose the wooden model too! But SOLs I love... Better to create something I know I'll be passionate about, then designing a merchant that I'd have no intention of sailing

I'm moving over the the private threads now! See you in the "ships we need" thread I've got some questions there.