Solved I smell mutiny .... (my comrade ships shooting each other)

[Pieter Boelen]

The problem was that the Open Sea Mod would first initialize itself and then UN-initialize itself again before you'd get round to play when loading a Savegame.
So you wouldn't just get the regular DirectSail instead of the huge distances that the Open Sea Mod gives you.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

AAhh. When the open Sea mod was created much time was spent making sure an average ship like a fluyt could make the longest runs in under 30 days. Just barely though. I timed out several times while testing.
It used to work fairly recently as I would sit here reading 600 page books while monitoring progress over the sea.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It used to work fairly recently as I would sit here reading 600 page books while monitoring progress over the sea.

It worked until I put it in the main game code and the game decided to somehow override my code after it being initialized.
Should be back to normal with that fix I posted. I tested it and it takes forever again.

 

[Baste]

For reference, this is the settings in engine.ini that correspond to the settings in the configuration utility (Config.exe):

full_screen = 1 - Fullscreen mode
full_screen = 0 - Windowed mode

screen_x = 800 - Horizontal resolution
screen_y = 600 - Vertical resolution

screen_bpp = D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8 - 32-bit
screen_bpp = D3DFMT_R5G6B5 - 16-bit

texture_degradation = 0 - Texture quality: High
texture_degradation = 1 - Texture quality: Medium
texture_degradation = 2 - Texture quality: Low

safe_render = 1 - Safe mode on
safe_render = 0 - Safe mode off

;offclass = soundservice - Sound on
offclass = soundservice - Sound off

I've also never had any problems with the configuration utility, but it works to just have engine.ini. If your computer is slow you should set "tracefilesoff = 1". By having "tracefilesoff = 0" logs are created, and that can impact performance on a slow computer. You should only have the game log things when tracking down an error, such as a crash. Likewise, Safe mode should only be on if you experience sound issues.

I noticed that the changelog doesn't mention that the configuration utility has been removed. I guess it should to help prevent further confusion.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Good points. I'm adding this to the changelog:

- Config.exe removed to prevent compatibility issues
  Edit engine.ini manually with Notepad

How about we add some notes to the engine.ini included in the download as per your suggestions?

modules path = modules\
full_screen = 0            ; 1 = Fullscreen mode, 0 - Windowed mode
screen_x = 1600            ; Horizontal resolution
screen_y = 900            ; Vertical resolution
lockable_back_buffer = 0
screen_bpp = D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8    : D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8 = 32-bit, D3DFMT_R5G6B5 = 16-bit
texture_degradation = 0        ; 0 = Texture quality: High, 2 = Texture quality: Low
;controls = pc_controls
controls = pcs_controls
program_directory = PROGRAM
run = seadogs.c
show_fps = 0
safe_render = 0            ; 1 = Safe Mode ON, 0 = Safe Mode OFF
texture_log = 0
geometry_log = 0
;offclass = soundservice    ; remove ';' in front to disable sound
mem_profile = memory.mp
startFontIniFile = resource\ini\fonts.ini
font = interface_normal
numoftips = 77            ; 0 = Disable Loading Screen Tips
tracefilesoff = 0        ; 1 = NO error logs (helps with game performance)

We've got error logging enabled by default these days so that when people get bugs, they can give us the logs.

 

[Baste]

I almost forgot about this. Yes, having explanations in the file can be useful.

We've got error logging enabled by default these days so that when people get bugs, they can give us the logs.

I know that's the case, but on slow computers it is better to have it disabled. It can always be enabled again when tracking down an error.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

We could include two engine.ini files in the modpack download next time; people could select the "improved performance, no error logs" version if they'd want.
It does tend to help a lot with troubleshooting. Otherwise people just go reporting "it doesn't work" again.

 

[Baste]

Nah, keep the file with error logging enabled by default. People are instructed to change their settings in engine.ini, are they not? When they do and see the note about error logging and performance, they can decide for themselves which setting they want. Hopefully, if they decide to disable it and get an error they want help with, they'll understand that they need to enable it again.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

True, that!