Period-accurate sail textures

[Hylie Pistof]

I have started to Winmerge the ships_init.c's. Two down, two to go.

EDIT: Here is the modified ships_init.c. It is mostly cannons and crew changes, with some waterline changes too.

The early Neptunus is missing too. I thought at least some of the skins would make it.

 

[Armada]

I hadn't got round to adding those neptunus models yet, but we should definitely include them.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I just popped these files into my game and they make a huge difference; looks very good indeed!

 

[Armada]

Glad to hear it. That reminds me, I still have to edit the last few emblemed pure white sails. Shouldn't take long.

By the way, is there any chance of implementing anything listed here for the next update:

Further changes? Here's a few thoughts:

• Remove the 'Normal' textures completely (all the 'sail_parus_whole_white' textures). Post Captain said they looked particularly inaccurate in the other thread.
• Remove the 'Che Guevara' textures. I'm not entirely sure what they're doing here in the first place...
• Remove the first option of the 'PA Logo' from certain sails; looks a bit out-of-place compared to the second option.
• Ensure all ships in the first one/two periods don't use the reefline texture of 'Pure White' or 'Weathered' sails.
• Ensure emblems for the 'Pure White' texture are exclusive to the first one/two periods.

Not a high priority, so anything you could do would be a bonus, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Uhm... I'll see if I can find the time. I haven't been being very productive lately and am having a hard time even to get myself to compile the next update.
On the other hand, removing the Che Guevara sails should not be too difficult and would clean things up nicely already.

 

[Armada]

Yep, that would be good.

Anyway, I've just finished de-striping the pure white emblem sails (nations 0 - 4 and SWS' Christian sails). Emblemed_Sails_Fix.7z.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Brilliant!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Please find attached a cleaned up Select Sails interface with Che Guevara and the old no-longer-accurate PiratesAhoy! Logo sails both completely removed.
Can somebody please test this and see if it works without weird effects?

Removing the 'Normal' sail textures sounds like a royal pain, because those are the ones all the logos were made for. So we would then lose all that too!

As far as I can tell from the code, no randomly generated ship will EVER use the reefline weathered sail texture!
So which ships DO we want to automatically use that? ALL ships? Or only those above class 3 (that's the way the code is currently set up)?

 

[Armada]

They can now use the weathered reefline texture; I remember making a change in that file to enable it properly.
I think it was this section:

case SAILSTYPE_WEATHERED:
FileStr[1] += "common";
FileStr[2] = "";

I'd say definitely make the emblems available to ships of every tier (perhaps except tier 8, with tartanes and such).
After all, I set up the new GeraldSails lines for nearly every ship, so they support emblems and/or reeflines properly.

I just tested your file, and the Che and PA logo sails are definitely gone.
I do still think it's worth removing the "Normal" sails, mind. While they do have some emblems, they're actually copies of the "Standard" sails' emblems.
So removing the Normal ones (every "sail_parus" texture) would actually save us some space, while retaining the deep customisation of the Standard ones, which look nicer anyway.

EDIT: one more thing, the SWS Christian sails need to be paired up with sail_purewhite_plain instead of _common.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

On the subject of cleaning up the sail textures further, here are some questions:
- Do we need to keep the pure white sails? Maybe for the US ships? I do like them with white ones instead of weathered...
- How do we want to have the various default sail settings set up? I like weathered by default, but should the Build Default include ANY national emblems in the earlier time periods?
At the moment, no ship ever has any emblems on the default settings. Except for the player ship if they are selected.

They can now use the weathered reefline texture; I remember making a change in that file to enable it properly.

That file is purely the Select Sails interface and does not influence any ships at sea. The functions for those are in kam_generalfunctions.c .

I'd say definitely make the emblems available to ships of every tier (perhaps except tier 8, with tartanes and such).
After all, I set up the new GeraldSails lines for nearly every ship, so they support emblems and/or reeflines properly.

See attached for a copy of the file that enables the emblems for all ships larger than class 8.
It also now includes the distinction between _plain and _common same as the pure white sails do.

I do still think it's worth removing the "Normal" sails, mind. While they do have some emblems, they're actually copies of the "Standard" sails' emblems.
So removing the Normal ones (every "sail_parus" texture) would actually save us some space, while retaining the deep customisation of the Standard ones, which look nicer anyway.

Hmm.... That sounds a lot more complex than the small removals I have done now. I'd have to look into that...

EDIT: one more thing, the SWS Christian sails need to be paired up with sail_purewhite_plain instead of _common.

Easily done. In fact, I just did it in my copy of the file.

 

[Armada]

On the subject of cleaning up the sail textures further, here are some questions:
- Do we need to keep the pure white sails? Maybe for the US ships? I do like them with white ones instead of weathered...
- How do we want to have the various default sail settings set up? I like weathered by default, but should the Build Default include ANY national emblems in the earlier time periods?
At the moment, no ship ever has any emblems on the default settings. Except for the player ship if they are selected.

1. Yes, it's definitely worth keeping the Pure White sails for all ships. They have nothing specifically to do with US ships, as far as I know, and were probably used very often. Post Captain could confirm that.
2. Weathered as default works for me, and if you can enable emblems for some ships in the early periods, that might be nice for variety's sake.

That file is purely the Select Sails interface and does not influence any ships at sea. The functions for those are in kam_generalfunctions.c .

Ah, I see. Should have figured that by the file's name.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I would VERY much appreciate if some of our more historically inclined would try the two files I just posted and see if they have the intended effect.
(Minus, of course, those things I haven't addressed yet... )

2. Weathered as default works for me, and if you can enable emblems for some ships in the early periods, that might be nice for variety's sake.

Only... weathered doesn't HAVE emblems.

 

[Armada]

Only... weathered doesn't HAVE emblems.

True, but I meant weathered should apply to most ships, but the occasional one might have pure white with an emblem in periods 1 and 2.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Can do. I'd have to look into that. Most importantly, that has to be set up in such a way that the sails don't change when you reload either. But I think that can be managed.

So... which NATIONS would get emblems then? Just Spain and Portugal? Would SWS's Christian sails with the crosses and Mary picture be the ones we put to use?

 

[Armada]

Those would be an obvious choice, for sure. I don't know if the Mary emblem would be very common, but I think the crosses were.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That'd make it easier, actually. The two crosses occasionally used for Spanish and Portuguese ships in the first two periods. Nothing else on default settings.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I think I successfully removed all parus sails from the game now. However, clearly the whole sail selection code needs to be completely rewritten as it confuses the crap out of me.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

An additional thought: How about I put the SWS cross sails in as the default emblemed sails for Pure White and remove them from Special Sails. Seems simpler to me too.

 

[Armada]

An additional thought: How about I put the SWS cross sails in as the default emblemed sails for Pure White and remove them from Special Sails. Seems simpler to me too.

That would make sense, though there is already a Spanish emblem for Pure White which has the coat of arms instead. Would you be able to allow both to be chosen if playing as the Spanish? (like how you can choose the different Pirate emblems)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I just removed the original Spanish emblem altogether. I reckon it was inaccurate anyway and that is much simpler to handle.

Here are my suggestions for the new Default Sails selection:

int DEFAULT_SAILS = 1;
    // 0: Stock PotC sails, with emblems
    // 1: Build Default: All ships 'Weathered' sails, no emblems except where historically accurate
    // 2: All ships pure white sails, no emblems except where historically accurate
    // 3: All ships pure white sails, with emblems
 
bool PIRATES_BLACK_SAILS = false;
    // 0: Pirates use the same sails as DEFAULT_SAILS (set above)
    // 1: Pirates use emblemed black sails

Any thoughts?