Various tech support stuff

[Grey Roger]

Ah, yes, that's right, they don't have any pictures so you would have to create them. For working with graphics in this game you need the TX Converter to convert TGA files and TX files back and forth. You can find it in the downloads section.

Here's a direct link:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/Cloud/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/TX Convertor.zip

In RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES\PORTRAITS there are three folders, one for each size. You'd have to create three TGA image files with these sizes:

64 x 64 - The face icon used in the lower left part of the screen.
128 x 128 - The picture used in for example the Passengers interface.
256 x 256 - The picture used on the Character screen.

You'd take them by taking screenshots of the officer in suitable places and angles. For the 64 and 128 files you should extract the frames from existing files, such as face_16 since that is the main character, so your new pictures will be consistent with the rest.
When your TGA files are done they need to have the same name, such as "face_100". Then you convert them to TX files and place those in the respective folders. After that in PROGRAM\Characters\characters_init.c go to where the face IDs are and add a new case with the name of the model, such as "case "soldier_eng": rCharacter.FaceId = 100; break;". While you're in that file you can go up to the stats for the main character and correct the face ID to 16 - it is 31 currently which is wrong.
I think this should be all that is needed to add new pictures for characters.

Do you have Photoshop, GIMP, or anything else capable of reading Photoshop files? I have a set of three Photoshop files in each of the face icon sizes with a frame as a separate layer. All that is needed is to clip and resize the face picture to the appropriate size, copy it and paste it as a layer below the frame, and you end up with something like this:

Those are for a character I made for the build mod but you get the idea - you can see the frames round the pictures at the different sizes. The frame layers include the shadow just inside the frame so you don't need to add it yourself. If you want, I can upload the blank files so you can make your own picture files with similar frames.

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

Possible spoiler about the manowar as it involves the story: Every country has the manowar defined but unused. The only place one shows up is for governor Silehard. Though strangely enough, there is a manowar specifically intended for him but it too is unused, and he instead has a normal manowar.

Not really a spoiler for me, I knew that Silehard uses a Man'O'War, that was the very ship I prized while playing the XBOX version, that was the ship I set out to use, though what really bummed me out is that I couldn't keep my Battleship to use as the ship under ME, given the MOW is the best ship in the game, next to the Black Pearl (I guess...) In fact, on THIS version, I'm using the version that Silehard WOULD use! So I'm effectively saying "Haha suck it Charger go BRRT!" Not much of a spoiler though...

About the health, you mean that even though you leveled up in the swordfighting tutorial, you still have 40 HP when you go to Oxbay port? That's because of an oversight.
During the swordfighting tutorial your HP is set to 400 so that Malcolm won't kill you, and when you reload to Oxbay port your HP is reset. However, it is reset to the HP you had at level 1 regardless of what your level is.

The stock game is littered with things like that. For example, if you have officers and save and then quit the game, and then start it again and go to load, their pictures will be wrong. Too bad the game was rushed and released unfinished.

Here is a stock US both_reaction.c file with the only difference being that HP is reset according to your level when the tutorial reloads to Oxbay port, following the default parameters of 40 HP at level 1 and 5 HP per level. Place it in PROGRAM\QUESTS.

Ah, had a feeling... I'll put the file to good use, of course, I'll be sure to back up the ORIGINAL file as well... Feels kinda like I'm modding the game already, but without like the MAJOR content additions/changes, the sort of "modding" I don't seem to mind.

I agree with this, I also think it is a good idea to play through the game in its default state first to know how it is and be able to see what is changed in the modpack.

Yes! And since I plan to make an additional installation, I get both the modded game, AND the "original"!

Ah, yes, that's right, they don't have any pictures so you would have to create them. For working with graphics in this game you need the TX Converter to convert TGA files and TX files back and forth. You can find it in the downloads section.

In RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES\PORTRAITS there are three folders, one for each size. You'd have to create three TGA image files with these sizes:

64 x 64 - The face icon used in the lower left part of the screen.
128 x 128 - The picture used in for example the Passengers interface.
256 x 256 - The picture used on the Character screen.

You'd take them by taking screenshots of the officer in suitable places and angles. For the 64 and 128 files you should extract the frames from existing files, such as face_16 since that is the main character, so your new pictures will be consistent with the rest.
When your TGA files are done they need to have the same name, such as "face_100". Then you convert them to TX files and place those in the respective folders. After that in PROGRAM\Characters\characters_init.c go to where the face IDs are and add a new case with the name of the model, such as "case "soldier_eng": rCharacter.FaceId = 100; break;". While you're in that file you can go up to the stats for the main character and correct the face ID to 16 - it is 31 currently which is wrong.
I think this should be all that is needed to add new pictures for characters.

Nice to see that you're having fun!

If only my system supported NVIDIA Ansel... (I have an NVIDIA GT1030) Would be a lot easier this way, rather than having to wait for my character to stand still and not wave about, though I COULD set the Speedhack RIDICULOUSLY slow, and that might help? Any good spots for taking pics come to mind? Will I need to use GIMP for this? (Since I don't have Photoshop, but it's pretty close) Because I know I'll also need to give the soldier a background for the Character screen, not so much for the other two interfaces, because I'm pretty sure that's handled by the game itself. (I think?)

In the file we currently have lines like this:

    //VisibleLocatorsGroup("rld", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 0, 255, 0);  
    /*
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("reload", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 0, 255, 0);  
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("Merchant", 1.0, 15.0, 105, 0, 255, 125);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("camera", 1.0, 15.0, 155, 0, 255, 255);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("characters", 1.0, 15.0, 155, 255, 0, 0);  
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("goto", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 0, 0);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("sit", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 0, 0);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("item", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 0, 255);
    //*/

    /*
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("candles", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 255, 55);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("candles_medium", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 255, 55);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("chandeliers", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 128, 0, 128);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("torchlightes", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 155, 0);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("outside", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 155, 255);  
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("fonar", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 255, 155);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("heaters", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 255, 155);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("incas_light", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 255, 255);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("incas_sky", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 0, 255, 255);
    */

We just uncomment them like this:

    VisibleLocatorsGroup("rld", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 0, 255, 0);  

    VisibleLocatorsGroup("reload", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 0, 255, 0);  
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("Merchant", 1.0, 15.0, 105, 0, 255, 125);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("camera", 1.0, 15.0, 155, 0, 255, 255);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("characters", 1.0, 15.0, 155, 255, 0, 0);  
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("goto", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 0, 0);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("sit", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 0, 0);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("item", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 0, 255);



    VisibleLocatorsGroup("candles", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 255, 55);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("candles_medium", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 255, 55);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("chandeliers", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 128, 0, 128);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("torchlightes", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 255, 155, 0);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("outside", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 155, 255);  
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("fonar", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 255, 155);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("heaters", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 255, 155);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("incas_light", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 155, 255, 255);
    VisibleLocatorsGroup("incas_sky", 1.0, 15.0, 255, 0, 255, 255);

Then we'll be able to see the locators like this:
View attachment 41623
Move close to them to see their names.

I did that, but there are TONS more markers than what the file shows... I know where I want my unique soldier to be, but without a way to see the coordinates and without knowing what these do, things like that? That's pretty much just it... just a lot of shrugging and scratching my head...

The easiest way to see which items are in the game might be to look in RESOURCE\INI\TEXTS\ENGLISH\ItemsDescribe.txt. There you'll see all the items and their IDs, such as the "Saber" having the ID "blade1". Then in PROGRAM\ITEMS\initItems.c you can search by ID and find the stats for the items.
I don't know what the color and time does, since I haven't seen a difference from changing them.

Understood, thanks

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

Here's a direct link:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/Cloud/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/TX Convertor.zip


Do you have Photoshop, GIMP, or anything else capable of reading Photoshop files? I have a set of three Photoshop files in each of the face icon sizes with a frame as a separate layer. All that is needed is to clip and resize the face picture to the appropriate size, copy it and paste it as a layer below the frame, and you end up with something like this:
View attachment 41625 View attachment 41627 View attachment 41628
Those are for a character I made for the build mod but you get the idea - you can see the frames round the pictures at the different sizes. The frame layers include the shadow just inside the frame so you don't need to add it yourself. If you want, I can upload the blank files so you can make your own picture files with similar frames.

Don't need the link, I've already got the converter, and yes, I have GIMP, I just posted about that

Greetings from Arizona, btw

Just realized the times in which these were posted...

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

Here's a direct link:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/Cloud/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/TX Convertor.zip


Do you have Photoshop, GIMP, or anything else capable of reading Photoshop files? I have a set of three Photoshop files in each of the face icon sizes with a frame as a separate layer. All that is needed is to clip and resize the face picture to the appropriate size, copy it and paste it as a layer below the frame, and you end up with something like this:
View attachment 41625 View attachment 41627 View attachment 41628
Those are for a character I made for the build mod but you get the idea - you can see the frames round the pictures at the different sizes. The frame layers include the shadow just inside the frame so you don't need to add it yourself. If you want, I can upload the blank files so you can make your own picture files with similar frames.

So when it comes down to the shadow of the two frames (for 128 and 64 sizes), how would I go about that? Would I just make it myself?

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

Changed the name of the thread to make it more accurate for what's going on

 

[Grey Roger]

So when it comes down to the shadow of the two frames (for 128 and 64 sizes), how would I go about that? Would I just make it myself?

You can make the different pictures yourself. Attached is a zip file with the blank Photoshop files in each size. The shadows are included in the frame layer, so all you need to do is paste your own picture as a new layer under the frame. The result should then be your picture plus frame and shadow.

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

You can make the different pictures yourself. Attached is a zip file with the blank Photoshop files in each size. The shadows are included in the frame layer, so all you need to do is paste your own picture as a new layer under the frame. The result should then be your picture plus frame and shadow.

Ahh thank you, will make things substantially easier, and keep me from having to figure it out myself.

So... as for good spots to take pics... I can't just spawn a greenscreen, so I'll need some ideas, I suppose I COULD just rely on either lasso select, or if I'm feeling daring enough, select by color, though that might fail on me the worst...

 

[Grey Roger]

Lasso select should work, especially if you use it on the 256x265 picture before shrinking it to 128x128 or 64x64. Any extra bits of the background left in, or small bits of the face clipped off, won't show up as much on the lower resolutions.

Or just leave the background there. As you'll have seen from my example, I didn't bother removing the background, I just clipped and resized the picture to show more face and less body at each lower resolution.

There's another option. The Build Mod doesn't have face portraits as such for soldiers. Their interface pictures are just a soldier silhouette on top of a flag. For example:

 

[Baste]

If only my system supported NVIDIA Ansel... (I have an NVIDIA GT1030) Would be a lot easier this way, rather than having to wait for my character to stand still and not wave about, though I COULD set the Speedhack RIDICULOUSLY slow, and that might help? Any good spots for taking pics come to mind? Will I need to use GIMP for this? (Since I don't have Photoshop, but it's pretty close) Because I know I'll also need to give the soldier a background for the Character screen, not so much for the other two interfaces, because I'm pretty sure that's handled by the game itself. (I think?)

Any place and angle to take a picture is entirely for you to decide. Some ideas might be to take it in a location close to where the character appears, or a location that has something to do with the character. For example, if you're making an English soldier, perhaps town walls and/or town gates could be visible in the background, or perhaps somewhere outside the governor's residence?

There is a way to enable free camera mode that can help with this but I don't remember how to enable it.

The game does not seem to handle the background for the 128 and 64 pictures itself - the background seems to be part of the picture. You could follow Grey Roger's suggestion and leave the background from the screenshot or do something like how it is in the Build Mod, but if you want the background in the 128 and 64 pictures to be consistent with the others you will have to extract the background from the icons.tga.tx file in RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES and downsize it as appropriate.

I did that, but there are TONS more markers than what the file shows... I know where I want my unique soldier to be, but without a way to see the coordinates and without knowing what these do, things like that? That's pretty much just it... just a lot of shrugging and scratching my head...

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean. Taking Rys Bloom as an example we can see in PROGRAM\Characters\init\Officers.c that his location is "Redmond_port", his location group is "goto", and his locator is "cityzen_1". Checking this in the game we can see that this is indeed the case:

He has just walked away from it a little. Had I wanted him to instead appear at "goto_3" next to it I would just change his locator to that. So, when you have found a location and locator where you would like a new character to appear you would have to check the file for that area - such as Redmond.c - as well as these files, all in PROGRAM\Characters\init:

Officers.c
StoryCharacters.c
TempQuestCharacters.c
TempQuestEnemy.c

You'd check them to make sure the locator you have chosen isn't occupied. Say you want someone to appear at "goto_3" in Redmond port, you could search for that locator in the files and see if that location and locator is in use by anyone else. If it isn't then you can use it, if it is then you have to pick another locator.

Does this help anything or have I misunderstood what you mean?

 

[Grey Roger]

So... as for good spots to take pics... I can't just spawn a greenscreen, so I'll need some ideas, I suppose I COULD just rely on either lasso select, or if I'm feeling daring enough, select by color, though that might fail on me the worst...

Before you put in too much effort, use TX Convertor to look at "face_47.tga.tx", which you should find in the "128" folder. For some reason, at least in my (European) version of the stock game, it's only in 128x128 resolution, there are no equivalents in the "256" or "64" folders.

However, someone made 256x256 and 64x64 versions for the Build Mod. The attached file contains the whole lot.

The only special English soldier I can think of in the stock game is Lieutenant Harris, the one who challenges you in Clement's lighthouse. He uses the officer model, not the basic soldier model, but that might be more appropriate for a character who is to be your officer anyway.

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

Ahhh! Notifications broke! I'm so sorry guys! I was supposed to get emails when there were replies to this!

Lasso select should work, especially if you use it on the 256x265 picture before shrinking it to 128x128 or 64x64. Any extra bits of the background left in, or small bits of the face clipped off, won't show up as much on the lower resolutions.

Or just leave the background there. As you'll have seen from my example, I didn't bother removing the background, I just clipped and resized the picture to show more face and less body at each lower resolution.

There's another option. The Build Mod doesn't have face portraits as such for soldiers. Their interface pictures are just a soldier silhouette on top of a flag. For example:
View attachment 41642

Simple enough

Before you put in too much effort, use TX Convertor to look at "face_47.tga.tx", which you should find in the "128" folder. For some reason, at least in my (European) version of the stock game, it's only in 128x128 resolution, there are no equivalents in the "256" or "64" folders.
View attachment 41644

However, someone made 256x256 and 64x64 versions for the Build Mod. The attached file contains the whole lot.

The only special English soldier I can think of in the stock game is Lieutenant Harris, the one who challenges you in Clement's lighthouse. He uses the officer model, not the basic soldier model, but that might be more appropriate for a character who is to be your officer anyway.

That guy's not EXACTLY what I'm looking for? But pretty close, though the soldier model I intend to use doesn't really have facial hair, his soldier model is called "soldier_eng5", which is why I need to create icons

Any place and angle to take a picture is entirely for you to decide. Some ideas might be to take it in a location close to where the character appears, or a location that has something to do with the character. For example, if you're making an English soldier, perhaps town walls and/or town gates could be visible in the background, or perhaps somewhere outside the governor's residence?

There is a way to enable free camera mode that can help with this but I don't remember how to enable it.

The game does not seem to handle the background for the 128 and 64 pictures itself - the background seems to be part of the picture. You could follow Grey Roger's suggestion and leave the background from the screenshot or do something like how it is in the Build Mod, but if you want the background in the 128 and 64 pictures to be consistent with the others you will have to extract the background from the icons.tga.tx file in RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES and downsize it as appropriate.


I'm not sure that I understand what you mean. Taking Rys Bloom as an example we can see in PROGRAM\Characters\init\Officers.c that his location is "Redmond_port", his location group is "goto", and his locator is "cityzen_1". Checking this in the game we can see that this is indeed the case:
View attachment 41643
He has just walked away from it a little. Had I wanted him to instead appear at "goto_3" next to it I would just change his locator to that. So, when you have found a location and locator where you would like a new character to appear you would have to check the file for that area - such as Redmond.c - as well as these files, all in PROGRAM\Characters\init:

Officers.c
StoryCharacters.c
TempQuestCharacters.c
TempQuestEnemy.c

You'd check them to make sure the locator you have chosen isn't occupied. Say you want someone to appear at "goto_3" in Redmond port, you could search for that locator in the files and see if that location and locator is in use by anyone else. If it isn't then you can use it, if it is then you have to pick another locator.

Does this help anything or have I misunderstood what you mean?

Also simple enough, though what I had in mind is more or less in a tavern... If you want, I can explain my idea behind this unique officer?

Everything seems alright, though I couldn't imagine the process for say creating a NEW locator...

 

[Grey Roger]

Everything seems alright, though I couldn't imagine the process for say creating a NEW locator...

For that, you'll need TOOL:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/Cloud/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/Inez Dias Tool.rar

But before you create a new locator, see what is already there in the tavern. You already know how to make locators visible; do it again, then go into the tavern where you want your soldier and look for a locator near where you want him to be.

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

For that, you'll need TOOL:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/Cloud/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/Inez Dias Tool.rar

But before you create a new locator, see what is already there in the tavern. You already know how to make locators visible; do it again, then go into the tavern where you want your soldier and look for a locator near where you want him to be.

Yeah, I never turned off locators, I have a pretty good idea where I want him standing, the closest marker is goto16 in the tavern, if anything, that's where I want him standing PRECISELY... or close to it, should I consider an alternate standing spot? Or would this still work?

 

[Grey Roger]

If you put him on "goto16", that's exactly where he'll be. If you use:

LAi_SetStayType(CharacterFromID("This Character"));

... he'll stand there rather than wander around, and you should be able to talk to him. (Replace "This Character" with the character's ID, of course!)

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

Aye aye, lemme get TOOL set up, Firefox alerted that the program was a security risk, but I have my doubts... Is this normal?

 

[Grey Roger]

TOOL should be safe enough, it's in use by various modders who want to add locators, including me.

Note that locators aren't in the model file. I don't know which tavern you intend to use, but you should find it somewhere in "RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\inside". For example, the tavern in Redmond is in "RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\inside\Largetavern", the model of the tavern interior is "LT.gm" and the locators are in "LT_L.gm".

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

TOOL should be safe enough, it's in use by various modders who want to add locators, including me.

Note that locators aren't in the model file. I don't know which tavern you intend to use, but you should find it somewhere in "RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\inside". For example, the tavern in Redmond is in "RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\inside\Largetavern", the model of the tavern interior is "LT.gm" and the locators are in "LT_L.gm".

The one in Redmond, not sure how to designate this in the Officers.c file, but I think it's "<island>_tavern"? Where <island> is the island of your choice?

Something tells me I should probably go over my idea on what I intend to do with this idea?

 

[Grey Roger]

The one in Redmond, not sure how to designate this in the Officers.c file, but I think it's "<island>_tavern"? Where <island> is the island of your choice?

To be more precise, it's "<town>_tavern", where <town> is the town of your choice. In the stock game, towns and islands almost all have the same name, with one exception. Greenford is the second town on Oxbay and has its own tavern.

I'd certainly be interested to see what you are planning!

 

[Ender Shadowborne]

To be more precise, it's "<town>_tavern", where <town> is the town of your choice. In the stock game, towns and islands almost all have the same name, with one exception. Greenford is the second town on Oxbay and has its own tavern.

I'd certainly be interested to see what you are planning!

Okay, here's the pitch

The name I have in mind is "Rex Hathaway", not sure what names were like back then, so I just kinda figured that'd work, he's a soldier for the English Navy, he recently got put on leave by the governor because he "asked too many questions", having heard about the relics and his plans in the Incan temple, so the soldier just kinda hangs out at the tavern until he meets me, which he explains what happened, his theories, and things like that, also asking he can join, of course the dialogue would provide options to say no, to which the soldier will remind me that he'll be there if I change my mind, and the way I would set him up, is he'd be an "essential companion" of sorts. inspired off of Fallout, of course the tradeoff here is he should not be set as a captain of any vessel, if I want English soldiers to captain a vessel, I'll probably use other models/the generic officers, just depends really

Hmmm... this does look to be pretty in-depth... of course, what's worse, is that the dialog file seems to call for Dialog.snd options, and I don't see such sound files in the RESOURCE/VOICES or anything folder, so I've hit a bit of a block...

 

[Baste]

If you want your new character to be in a tavern, perhaps the screenshot of him could be taken there? As Grey Roger mentioned if you place him on "goto16" he'll be there. I don't think that locator is ever used by anyone else, so it should be fine to use it.

If you want the 256 picture to be consistent with the pictures for other characters you won't need to add a frame. Only the 128 and 64 pictures have frames in the stock game.

With making him "essential" like in Skyrim and Fallout, do you mean that he shouldn't be able to be killed? That can be done by adding "LAi_SetImmortal(ch, true);" to his code block.

My understanding is that the "Dialog.snd" stuff is for something that was never implemented, so you can safely ignore it and it shouldn't cause any problems.