Need Help Making some personal alterations (NPCs & Characters)

[MatthewThePirate]

I love everything about the mod. However I wanted to know if it was possible to restore some of the orginal game models (mainly the town guards) as I find their apperance can be a little jarring, or better put, they (to me) stick out quite a bit, where as the orginal models blended with the world better and were smoother. What files would I need to remove to resore them? (And also, "can" I restore the orginals, or will it bug out without the orginal files being put back in place?)

Secondly, even though it's a "POTC game", it was of course orginally set in the Sea Dogs universe before Disney, it would be great if it was possible to have a mod or simply remove files which eliminated the POTC quests, characters and ships from the game (including that roaming black pearl, or perhaps replace it with the flying dutchman [even the POTC model for that, because it's cool] and have it as a generic cursed ship going about you can come across), so it essentially becomes purely a Sea Dogs title as it were, or as close as possible.

 

[Grey Roger]

Some of the original town guard uniforms are still in the game. If you capture a town for yourself, the guards will use the French uniforms from the original game.

If you don't want to encounter the Black Pearl, don't play the "Tales of a Sea Hawk" storyline! There are numerous other storylines from which to choose. (You may want to avoid "Hoist the Colours" as that's based even more closely on the film than the original game was. You don't just encounter the Black Pearl, you take command of it part way through the story.)

You could also try Free Play. That is essentially what you asked for: a mod which eliminates the PoTC quests and characters, as well as anything to do with the Black Pearl. You can choose which time period to play, which incidentally also gives you another chance at guard models. In reality, soldier uniforms changed throughout the ages, and each period has its own set of uniforms, so if you don't like the uniforms you see in "Tales of a Sea Hawk" which is set in the "Colonial Powers" period, try Free Play and set the year to a different period. By default, Free Play already picks a different period as the year is set to 1682, which is "Golden Age of Piracy" period. You can change the year - try setting it to between 1600 and 1679, which is "Spanish Main", with very different uniforms. You can also click on the character picture and choose a different character, and you can also click on the ship to choose another starting ship as well.

There is no cursed ship to encounter at random. But if you go to Cayman and talk to the governor, he asks you to go looking for his daughter. You'll end up facing the Flying Dutchman.

 

[MatthewThePirate]

Ah, I had not realised the uniform differences with the timeline in the game! As for the Tales of a Sea Hawk, it's the one I wanted to remove the the BP from, seeing how Nathaniel was meant to be the main character of the game in the Sea Dogs lore for this game, hence the POTC stuff felt out of place to come across in his story.

Essentially a restoration of little details of the original game when it came to NPCs for that, along with the removal of POTC assets, but keeping the rest of the mod.

Don't get me wrong, I like the style of the uniforms, but not how they were modeled for this game as they seem to stick out somewhat when comapared to the other NPCs. (Like the custom buildings also do.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

As for the Tales of a Sea Hawk, it's the one I wanted to remove the the BP from, seeing how Nathaniel was meant to be the main character of the game in the Sea Dogs lore for this game, hence the POTC stuff felt out of place to come across in his story.

We once had the idea to do that as well:
Standard Storyline De-filmization
Nothing came of it, but if you want to, you're welcome to do this as far as I'm concerned.

Essentially a restoration of little details of the original game when it came to NPCs for that, along with the removal of POTC assets, but keeping the rest of the mod.

I think most PotC film content is already avoidable.
If you run into any that isn't, that should be changed.

Don't get me wrong, I like the style of the uniforms, but not how they were modeled for this game as they seem to stick out somewhat when comapared to the other NPCs.

I'm surprised you think the soldier models stick out.
They've re-textures of original game models, so that shouldn't be any different in style.

Like the custom buildings also do.

Yep, those are definitely a bit nuts!
You can disable that BuildingSet mod in the game's menu though.

 

[Grey Roger]

Ah, I had not realised the uniform differences with the timeline in the game! As for the Tales of a Sea Hawk, it's the one I wanted to remove the the BP from, seeing how Nathaniel was meant to be the main character of the game in the Sea Dogs lore for this game, hence the POTC stuff felt out of place to come across in his story.

From what I understand, Danielle Greene was originally meant to be the main character! There are traces of a different version of the story based on Danielle still in the game code, though none of it is active and some serious work would be needed to complete it. But the mod does allow you to play "Tales of a Sea Hawk" using any character model, and a recent mod means that if you play as a female - including Danielle - you'll meet Nathaniel as the main NPC, with dialogs and questbook entries corrected accordingly.

Essentially a restoration of little details of the original game when it came to NPCs for that, along with the removal of POTC assets, but keeping the rest of the mod.

Play FreePlay instead of the storyline and pick Nathaniel Hawk as your character. You'll need to change the ship type and name as well as the flags to make it look properly like the storyline version. Then you can play all the sidequests without the storyline and its PoTC stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I like the style of the uniforms, but not how they were modeled for this game as they seem to stick out somewhat when comapared to the other NPCs. (Like the custom buildings also do.)

First, you'll need all the soldier models from the stock game. The texture files seem to still be in the modded game, but not the original models. (Looking closely, the texture files in the mod aren't quite the same as those from the stock game. A stock French soldier using stock files has a red shirt, for example. A stock French soldier using modded files has a blue shirt and a cross on the tunic, probably better as red is more normally associated with Britain. Besides, the red-shirt original is now used for Personal soldiers, who appear if you conquer a colony for yourself and install one of your officers as the governor.)

Then you need to edit "PROGRAM\Models\initModels.c" to add definitions for the stock soldier models. Look at the definitions for existing soldiers such as "Soldier_Eng_17", "Soldier_Eng2_17" etc. Copy these and replace the model name with "Soldier_Eng", "Soldier_Eng2" etc. You probably won't need the 'model.period' lines as you'll be using your stock models for every period in which you want to play.

"PROGRAM\NATIONS\nations_init.c" lists the soldier models used by each nation in each period, e.g.:

Spoiler

    if (period == PERIOD_GOLDEN_AGE_OF_PIRACY) {

       rNation.Name = "Britain";       //the Kingdom of Britain was founded 1707
       rNation.Desc = "British";

       //Location fantom models
       rNation.fantomModel.m0 = "offic_eng_17";
       rNation.fantomModel.m1 = "soldier_eng_17";
       rNation.fantomModel.m2 = "soldier_eng2_17";
       rNation.fantomModel.m3 = "soldier_eng3_17";
       rNation.fantomModel.m4 = "soldier_eng4_17";
       rNation.fantomModel.m5 = "soldier_eng5_17";
       rNation.fantomModel.m6 = "soldier_eng6_17";
       //Boarding models
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m1 = "offic_eng_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m1.ani = "man";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m2 = "soldier_eng_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m2.ani = "man";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m3 = "soldier_eng2_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m3.ani = "man";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m4 = "soldier_eng3_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m4.ani = "man";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m5 = "soldier_eng4_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m5.ani = "man";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m6 = "soldier_eng5_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m6.ani = "man";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m7 = "soldier_eng6_17";
       rNation.boardingModel.enemy.m7.ani = "man";
   }
   }

Replace "offic_eng_15", "soldier_eng_15" etc. with your choice of stock game models. This section is for the "Golden Age of Piracy" period; you'll need to change the entries for each soldier, for each nation, for each period that you want to play. Good luck!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

From what I understand, Danielle Greene was originally meant to be the main character! There are traces of a different version of the story based on Danielle still in the game code, though none of it is active and some serious work would be needed to complete it.

The game was originally supposed to have TWO main characters and you'd be able to choose between Nathaniel and Danielle at the start.
The stock game even has left-over interface files to allow you the choice between the two.

Play FreePlay instead of the storyline and pick Nathaniel Hawk as your character. You'll need to change the ship type and name as well as the flags to make it look properly like the storyline version. Then you can play all the sidequests without the storyline and its PoTC stuff.

There isn't a lot of PotC film stuff in the storyline, though. Only cursed pirates once and the Black Pearl at the end.

First, you'll need all the soldier models from the stock game. The texture files seem to still be in the modded game, but not the original models.

Don't those Personal soldiers still use those exact models?

Looking closely, the texture files in the mod aren't quite the same as those from the stock game. A stock French soldier using stock files has a red shirt, for example. A stock French soldier using modded files has a blue shirt and a cross on the tunic, probably better as red is more normally associated with Britain. Besides, the red-shirt original is now used for Personal soldiers, who appear if you conquer a colony for yourself and install one of your officers as the governor.

I don't remember those got changed, but maybe @Thomas the Terror was feeling particularly creative at the time...

 

[Grey Roger]

The game was originally supposed to have TWO main characters and you'd be able to choose between Nathaniel and Danielle at the start.
The stock game even has left-over interface files to allow you the choice between the two.

I wish I'd known that, and where to find them, when I was starting "Ardent". (Then again, the introductory scene with the Inquisitor is amusing, and you get to see him again later if you find your way to the final Easter egg. )

Don't those Personal soldiers still use those exact models?

They use the same models as the stock French soldiers. English stock soldiers are the same as current "Spanish Main" English soldiers. Dutch stock soldiers are the same as current "Early Explorers" Dutch soldiers, with berets and cuirasses. Portuguese stock soldiers are also the same as "Early Explorers" types, though "Spanish Main" types are fairly similar. Spanish stock soldiers are again the same as current "Early Explorers" types.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I wish I'd known that, and where to find them, when I was starting "Ardent". (Then again, the introductory scene with the Inquisitor is amusing, and you get to see him again later if you find your way to the final Easter egg. )

Dialog is far easier to handle than an interface anyway; especially an unfinished interface.
And you'd have been required to call that interface only in your storyline.
It could've been done, I suppose, but your current solution is more practical AND more fun!

They use the same models as the stock French soldiers.

Ah; true, that! I seem to remember they were considered not historically accurate enough, but got repurposed as Personal since they existed anyway.
So in the end, all stock game soldier models remain in use even in the latest versions of the mod.