Ship Pack Details and Updates

[Legendary_Spider]

I'm a perfectionist in my work too. I think it's actually a good trait. It helps you to strive to become even better at your skill.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

How high should the mast for the lateen be? I tried the one from battleship1 and it is too big. This is the one from frigate1. Is it too short? And yes, a little fine tuning is needed.... )

I got this mast from a big pinnace. Is it too tall?

 

[Armada]

I'm a perfectionist in my work too. I think it's actually a good trait. It helps you to strive to become even better at your skill.

Yeah, I suppose. But what does hinder it is when you start missing deadlines because you take too much time in 'perfecting' your work. That's happened to me several times.

How high should the mast for the lateen be?

Take a look at this photo and decide for yourself:

Top tip for masts which are too tall: try moving the mast locator down a bit...
Oh, and while you're at it, you may want to replace the foremast, too. The texture mapping is a bit weird on that one.
If you find a near-perfect match, just write the original locators to a file and make the replacement read them.

 

[Legendary_Spider]

Well you said yourself that the nice thing about this whole modding thing is that there ARE no dealines.

 

[Armada]

True. Now, if only the same idea could be applied to real life...
The only thing with no deadlines is that, if you drag a project on for too long, there's a danger that you'll lose interest and abandon it for something else.
Or, real life might get in the way and you are forced to stop for extended periods of time, or even indefinitely. I think that's what happened to many past modders here, who have 'mysteriously left' without notice. :?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

AHA! A photo of the real deal. :mi I have been going off a pic of the one in game, and it appears that the old mast (the mizzen mast?) was too tall. Don't hold up your Summertime Blues Ship Pack for this ship. It's a real rats nest up in the rigging. :j1

 

[Legendary_Spider]

Yeah like every single moddler we had.

Now I'm left alone with naught but some tutorials they left behind to try to pick it up.

 

[Armada]

AHA! A photo of the real deal. :mi

There's plenty more where that came from, if you search 'VOC Amsterdam' in Google images.
I'll release the Whatever-it's-gonna-be called Ship Pack as soon as I get a decent window of opportunity...
... I've no idea when that will be, though. I have exams starting next week, so I'm bogged down with revision most of the time.

Yeah like every single moddler we had.

We still have a couple of talented modellers around. Look at what pgargon and Jack Harrison have achieved lately!
Plus, Bonjourmonami, who is also doing some modelling work, came back recently after a long period away from PA... and there's always a chance others can come back, too.

Some of the modelling tutorials aren't all that comprehensive, and others can also be far too complex for beginners to understand. Some of them need rewriting, which I might do sometime.
Anyhow, don't rush to try and pick it up yet. You have a promising storyline to be thinking about, y'know.

 

[Legendary_Spider]

Yes, I'm trying to learn to model. Armada is teaching me how to texture, I'm trying to write a cool new story AND I'm still trying to re-do all the sound. What a headache. lol

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Armada, you could also send your pack to me and I'll include it in the next Patch straight away.
I think it's time for another one, eh?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

That way it would not need to be renamed.

Methinks I've hung meself a dozen times with these ropes. They say the last 10% of the job take 90% of the time, and they are right. :j1

 

[Armada]

Armada, you could also send your pack to me and I'll include it in the next Patch straight away.

If we do that, how I am I going to have two versions; one 'full', one 'lite'?
Plus, the patch will be be pretty big with this pack on top of it.

That way it would not need to be renamed.

Renaming it isn't a huge problem. Right now, I've just got to finish it.

They say the last 10% of the job take 90% of the time, and they are right. :j1

That is so true! Unfortunate, but true.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Well, it's done. I don't like the rear vants, but there is no way I can make them any wider to clear the lateen. Let me know what you think.


edit: The install that I used to do this conversion is now DOA. It worked fine for the time I was working on this ship, but now no ships will show up at all. I can't start a new game or anything. I put this ship in another install and it starts and plays, but I had to start a new game, so can't tell if it is this ship or not yet.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If we do that, how I am I going to have two versions; one 'full', one 'lite'?
Plus, the patch will be be pretty big with this pack on top of it.

Well, we're going to have to include it in the next patch anyway, won't we?
In any case, I'm wanting to try to make a Build 14 Beta 2 Full installer soon, so we've got a base version to work from again that's easily installable.
I'm not quite sure what I'll do yet, but for sure I'm going to make a next Patch as soon as you've released your final version of the Ship Pack.
Then I'll see if I can make a Build 14 Beta 2 soon after, though we maybe should do some cleaning up between the next Patch and the next full Beta release.

 

[Armada]

Well, it's done. I don't like the rear vants, but there is no way I can make them any wider to clear the lateen.

That's much better, nice job! Don't worry about the vants for now. They're not hugely important for the mizzen mast.
The ship works fine for me, without starting a new game. It must be your install doing strange things again. :?

Well, we're going to have to include it in the next patch anyway, won't we?

I guess so. That will ensure everyone has it, as opposed to being an 'option extra'.
We'll have to use the full version for that, then. We're probably looking at a similar size to Patch 5, once the entire ship pack plus patch content is considered.

Cleaning up before Beta 2 is just what we need, and about time too!
I guess that will involve finally kicking out a few ships, then? Perhaps we need to update your long list of ships from ages ago, which grouped them depending on quality, because that would really help.
I'll also sort out the interface screenshots images, when the time comes, to make coded doubles share pictures etc. We are actually running out of spaces left in the images, with new models and all, so this will be important too.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Thanks for being my guinea pig. 3 That's 2 installs KIA in a week. One thing I forgot to do was clean out all of the spanker files. They are labeled tho.

Clean up? :shoot: Could some of those VCO ships be "cleaned up"? :will

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Yep, with cleaning up I want to remove the substandard ships and ensure the ships we keep get the best textures we've got available for them.

 

[Armada]

Update time, mateys!

I've finally finished compiling fixes and other content for the preliminary ship pack, so as soon as you guinea pigs can, be sure to grab it here.

Among these fixes and last minute stuff is:

• The rigging update for all Corvette models
• Fixes and new details for Lydia1, 2 and 3. I don't know what to do with Lydia4 (the blue one) yet, so I've left it as is.
• Updates for Interface Screenshot pictures for some ships
• Updates to some ships' type names
• Several walk files fixed (hopefully!)
• Walk file made for HMS_Interceptor
• New hull textures for HMS_Bounty and Edinburg
• Rigging improvements to NL_Amsterdam, FastMerchantman and NL_Merchantman (thanks to miklkit)
• Reduced chances of the player's ship from appearing in random encounters
• Extended the end date of the last period to 1830
• Improved glass texture for multiple ships' stern windows
• Improved cannon texture in deck.tga, to make them look more like the high-poly guns
• Colour contrast improvement for Corvette5 hull texture

Now to explain a couple of them:
The improved glass texture is what the Bounty and Edinburgh use, which looks very realistic and more like glass than most other textures.
I've adapted several ships' textures to use this glass, with some interesting results!
Some ships to take a look at include: Bellona, Surprise1, Greyhound, Poseidon models, Victory models, Dauntless/Endeavour, and even Ketch1, for example.
They are all high quality ships anyway, but this just brings the glass to life a bit more than before.
See this example for Victory1:

[attachment=6355:Victory_stern_windows.jpg]

As for Corvette5's hull texture, I just noticed that the sides were far more flat in colour than the stern, so I adjusted the contrast and evened things up a bit:

[attachment=6356:Corvette5_new.jpg]

One final note about walk files: I believe I've fixed the Constitution issue, and also updated the SteamFrigate walk file, to stop the crew from running up and down the ratlines.
They have all worked well in my game, so hopefully there should be no problems after the update.
Just remember to hit F11 or things won't work properly. If the walk files somehow don't work, then please try a new game to see if that affects it.

So let's be clear: I need all the issues from the preliminary pack to be confirmed as fixed, and anything new reported ASAP.
Besides that, opinions on the new stuff will be appreciated. Now get testing, me hearteys!

P.S. I haven't included the Caravol1 rigging update yet. I need more time to have a proper look at it.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

AARRGGHH!!

The wife is taking me out to the steak house in a bit. Filet mignon and prime rib and bottles of wine.... :luv It may be a day or so before I can do anything. :j1 Where is Legendary_Spider?

 

[Armada]

Well we can't argue with your wife, of course! :
There's no rush to test this immediately. I'm sure Legendary_Spider will appear soon, so just start when it's most convenient for you.
Enjoy yourself in the meantime.