• New Horizons on Maelstrom
    Maelstrom New Horizons


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Surprise!!!!!

How about making it easier to knock away a mast or spar, maybe with a "lucky shot" ability? (I saw this in the game once, it was so awesome, that this fool captain totally ran his ship into a cliff and all his masts' `cross-beams` fell right off. I didn't know that could happen.) Or the chance of a shot through a sail to cause the sail to get ripped in two? Then, like CCC's `C-button` firedrill, you'd hafta drop everything you're doing (i.e., stop loading ammo) and replace the sail on the spot.

Similiarly, there should be a "beams" cargo item from which you repair masts and spars, since the "planks" are more of a ship's hull proper thing.
 
Hm, as far as I know the only thing that's animated in the game are characters. Now it would be no problem to make a "cannon character" (with the gunport part of it), and I think I could give it an animation that moves the cannon forward while the gun port door (what's it called ?) opens up.
However, the problem I see is, how to get those "characters" in place. Not sure if the LAI_Character.. functions work on shipboard, or if you can log in a character into a ship at all (because it's not a location).
Inzane, can you make a skeleton in maya ? (We wouldn't need bones for moving the cannon alone, but for opening the gun port door.)
 
Sorry to say it, but after some investigation I'm afraid it can't be done. Just don't know how to load a character (or anything else that can be animated) onto a ship. You could probably animate the cannons in the boarding scenes (because those are locations) but I see no way to do it while you're sailing. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

Does anyone know if the lowpoly characters on the ships can be scripted ?
 
Yes and no. They change what they're doing pased on POS_Mode or whatever it is in AIShip (ironically this attribute also determines the music played; see an old response of mine to Pieter Boelen for details).
I.e. possible modes are, IIRC, SAIL, BATTLE, and STORM. That's tied in with the vertex type codes in the walk file.

But I don't really see a way for that to help, I'm afraid.
 
Regarding the glowing windows--does POTC use the `self-illumination` (or whatever it's called in Maya) channel?

Regarding running the guns in and out--this is a hack, but couldn't you make two models and swap between them via a keypress (which would flash and reload the scene), rather than an animation? Not as cool...but still.
 
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->but couldn't you make two models and swap between them<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If we knew when the low_men kneel down to load the guns we could then exchange *their* models for one that includes the gun and has an animation which also moves the gun forward.
 
And what about your crew holds some muskets and firing at the enemy(but no damage only animation)....just an idea <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/oops3.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eek:ops2" border="0" alt="oops3.gif" />
 
Inez: Interesting....
I'm not sure what happens if you swap ship models, because those you tell the game with code what the model name is/are (and thus it's possible that we could swap on the fly); but for low_man* I think they're `hard-coded`, so you'd have to have an external application to handle `file-swapping` during gameplay (and then trigger a reload of sea mode).
 
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dev.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":d:" border="0" alt="dev.gif" /> well here is a image of the ship in action.
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Inzane1/batttle.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
 
That looks awesome! Especially the large flag in the mast. Somehow I get the feeling that I am going to use this model a <i>veeery</i> big lot when released! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
 
I wished we could have such big flags on all ships - and the old Pirates! Gold flags.

By the way, Izane, how about making a model of the "Acheron" as well? Doing a bit of picture research, I found that few ships had a completly open gun deck as most ships in PotC have. Some would have some cannons on the weather deck, but not like the PotC frigate, or Battleship. Smaller ones, perhaps up to the Brig, would have their cannons mounted in the open, of course, but anything larger would have most of the guns below deck.
 
Yeah the Acheron was a beauty and most certainly wouldn't have been captured if it werent for the cunning idea of making the surprise a nautical phasmid.hehee lol
 
Inzane... great model great ship <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />

Was thinking of getting into doing something similar myself. I live near Portsmouth and have easy access to HMS Victory, Nelsons Flagship at trafalgar. I've always wanted to model her as she is a fantastic ship.
Although I've been making low poly models for the games industy for years and years now I havnt really investigated how to go about making a ship for PotC. Is it possible you could give me some sort of guide as to what I need to do? I mean what poly count would be acceptable and is there levels of detail needed for it to work in the game? Also I dont know what texture sizes or formats are required.
Any help or advice you could give me would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-v_Grimmelshausen`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(v_Grimmelshausen)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I wished we could have such big flags on all ships - and the old Pirates! Gold flags.

By the way, Izane, how about making a model of the "Acheron" as well? Doing a bit of picture research, I found that few ships had a completly open gun deck as most ships in PotC have. Some would have some cannons on the weather deck, but not like the PotC frigate, or Battleship. Smaller ones, perhaps up to the Brig, would have their cannons mounted in the open, of course, but anything larger would have most of the guns below deck.[/quote]thats something that could happen.As it right now I been doing alot of research On the privteer Rattlesnake.I have taken 2 trips to Salem To get pics of a 7 foot reconstruction of her.I also bought a wooden kit of her.Alot of refrence in there alone.Sadly the 74 has to be rebuilt from scratch again. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":c" border="0" alt="mad.gif" /> She is totaly unplayable with the build 12.and also got a ton of ideas from building the Frigate.So it will be much better.
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Groggsy`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Groggsy)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Inzane... great model great ship  :cheers  

Was thinking of getting into doing something similar myself. I live near Portsmouth and have easy access to HMS Victory, Nelsons Flagship at trafalgar. I've always wanted to model her as she is a fantastic ship.
Although I've been making low poly models for the games industy for years and years now I havnt really investigated how to go about making a ship for PotC. Is it possible you could give me some sort of guide as to what I need to do? I mean what poly count would be acceptable and is there levels of detail needed for it to work in the game? Also I dont know what texture sizes or formats are required.
Any help or advice you could give me would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />[/quote]It depends on what modeler you use.there are no LODs for the model, just the textures.the textures can be converted from tga into the game format via a converter from this site.the sizes for the textures can go as high as 2048 by 2048 or even 2048 by 512 or 1024 by 512 or even as small as 256 by 256 .6000 polys is very playable.I push mine to around 9000.and with a newer 3d card there are no problems.Maya 4.5 is needed for converting with a plugin thats on this site.I think 3d max is useable to with a plugin.But Maya works for me.you can build the model in a diffrent modeler and import it into Maya for the adding of locators applying the textures and converting to the game format.But she has to be already textured for that to happen.And its best to texture the model with tgas or your going to have to hex edit the file itself and thats just to much work.SO USE TGA.the first thing you should do before modeling is to download the GM_viewer and explore the stock ship models to give you a idea of how the are constructed.and to become aware of the locators and how they are used.this will get you started off on the right foot.Don't worry about locators right now,worry about scale, textureing and building.ANd there is a wonderful Tool by Inez that lets you convert the game models into vmrl.so you can use a converted ship to set youw scale to the workspace <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
 
Inzane, not wanting to sound greedy, but do you consider the frigate complete ? Will you make it available to the public ? Will we be allowed to incorporate it in the build ?
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-NathanKell`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NathanKell)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Regarding the glowing windows--does POTC use the `self-illumination` (or whatever it's called in Maya) channel?

Regarding running the guns in and out--this is a hack, but couldn't you make two models and swap between them via a keypress (which would flash and reload the scene), rather than an animation? Not as cool...but still.[/quote]thats something I have been exploring with no luck <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":c" border="0" alt="mad.gif" />
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Inez` Dias+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Inez Dias)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Inzane, not wanting to sound greedy, but do you consider the frigate complete ? Will you make it available to the public ? Will we be allowed to incorporate it in the build ?[/quote]hehehe I think its just about ready.Lately I been cleaning up the textures.and tweeking the gun models.As soon as those items are done she is finished and passed off to be included into the build. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/william.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":will" border="0" alt="william.gif" /> and a long deserved break for myself will follow. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sadly the 74 has to be rebuilt from scratch again.  She is totaly unplayable with the build 12.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":c" border="0" alt="mad.gif" /> Arr, that´s really sad. She was a true beauty. By the way, I wonder why the ingame Man o War seems so incredibly large. There would be no need for that, it´s got just as many cannons per gun deck as does the Battleship (12), just it got three covered gun decks. The "Dauntless" in the movie doesn´t look half as oversized, and according to the comment on the bonus disc, she´s supposed to be a hundred gun vessel like the Man of War.
 
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