How is it progressing?

[AJB]

Hi,

I haven't visted in a long while. I was just wondering how POTC Build mod was coming along? Can anyone update me, I'm glad to see the mod seems to be still going strong.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Progress is slow, but there's still some. Most work is being done on this these days: http://forum.piratesahoy.net/index.php/topic/17187-ship-pack-updates/
I intend to make another Patch as soon as that is confirmed finished for now.

 

[Armada]

Ahoy, mate! Always great to see members returning to the forum.

We're currently on Build 14 Beta 1 Patch 5, officially, and soon to have a new patch issued once the latest Ship Pack is finished.
As Pieter said, most of the work has been in the ships department lately, so it's highly recommended that you take a look there. Some of the new work from our modellers really is amazing!

 

[AJB]

Ah fantastic news new ships!, Thankyou for the update

 

[Black Bart]

I'm loving the new islands layout and the maps needed to be bought to see the port locations, it adds a bunch of other stuff to spend your hard earned money on, and is a good 'realism' addition.

I haven't really given Direct Sailing a go yet, but this will probably become my favourite additon, allowing a seemless game world for the patient! I understand i should expect bugs around it?

I can't remember when i was last here to do anything important, but i think build 12 was the latest stable build that was recommended and most of the beta work and coding was going on build 13? It's been that long!!

Also i noticed a post by Pieter in another thread that we currently have no coders here, how did that happen! Were they overworked maybe!?

One last thing, i really want to change the dialogue in the trade shop screen where you only can say 'I'd like to sell the cargo i've brought' to enter the cargo trading section. IF you have no cargo to sell this really jars! So is there an easy one file edit answer to getting this bit of dialogue changed for all trade shops? Or do i have to individually edit all the trade shop locations dialogues?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I haven't really given Direct Sailing a go yet, but this will probably become my favourite additon, allowing a seemless game world for the patient! I understand i should expect bugs around it?

DIrectSail works fine as far as I'm aware. The Save At Sea functionality also helps here.
The only "problem" I'm aware of is that you'll never encounter ship-to-ship fights in DirectSail which you do encounter on the worldmap. But everything else should work, including the weather building up into a storm.

Also i noticed a post by Pieter in another thread that we currently have no coders here, how did that happen! Were they overworked maybe!?

I wished I knew. They just disappeared.

One last thing, i really want to change the dialogue in the trade shop screen where you only can say 'I'd like to sell the cargo i've brought' to enter the cargo trading section. IF you have no cargo to sell this really jars! So is there an easy one file edit answer to getting this bit of dialogue changed for all trade shops? Or do i have to individually edit all the trade shop locations dialogues?

That stuff is repeated in a lot of seperate dialog files, but you might be able to do a "search and replace in all open files" with Notepad++ to quickly sort that one out anyway.

 

[Armada]

Also i noticed a post by Pieter in another thread that we currently have no coders here, how did that happen! Were they overworked maybe!?

I wished I knew. They just disappeared.

Now that's a scary thought in itself. How are we supposed to truly move forward without proper coding support?
Our ultimate goal of porting everything to Storm 2.8 is seeming more and more far-fetched, now.
We're going to need some pretty good ways of attracting new coders, otherwise even just fixing all of Build 14's bugs will be nearly impossible. Well, MORE impossible.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Now that's a scary thought in itself. How are we supposed to truly move forward without proper coding support?
Our ultimate goal of porting everything to Storm 2.8 is seeming more and more far-fetched, now.
We're going to need some pretty good ways of attracting new coders, otherwise even just fixing all of Build 14's bugs will be nearly impossible. Well, MORE impossible.

Exactly what has been bothering me for quite some time now. Progress is slowing down for sure and I already don't know how we're ever going to get things properly finished.
I'm quite losing enthusiasm myself, so I'm not doing much either; just trying to support you guys and I'll still compile the Patches/Betas whenever I can.

 

[Black Bart]

Exactly what has been bothering me for quite some time now. Progress is slowing down for sure and I already don't know how we're ever going to get things properly finished.
I'm quite losing enthusiasm myself, so I'm not doing much either; just trying to support you guys and I'll still compile the Patches/Betas whenever I can.

That's sad to hear! Did they move over to AOP 1+2 etc? PotC is an old game(still the better game on balance i'd sugget, 'easier' to mod etc) but it would be shame to see it fizzle out before it reaches it's potential. You seem so close looking at the changes in this build 14 beta. hmmm i do know a couple of coders, one very experienced but probably not going to be interested as there is no money involved, and another less experienced but maybe more likely to want the experience.....i'll send them both an email, but i think it a longshot - they didn't come through for me with the prospect of actual money and employment making games, so i don't expect too much!!

Still i'm super glad you are around to keep things ticking over Pieter :b: sometimes on a project over a longtime it can get a bit stale, still i think your love of sailing and the games period will always keep you interested, i mean it's not like we have a vast selection of decent age-of-sail 'Pirate' simulations around!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Most coders just went; they've got some on AoP 2, but not of the calibre we need. Pirate_KK is still around sometimes, but he seems far too busy to finish his WIP stuff, which is too bad because we really need that.
And then he also sometimes works on the AoP 2 source code to get that to compile into something that works properly, which is cool but doesn't help us.
And without other proper coders, there's hardly any point in having the source code for AoP 2 at all. Which is too bad, because that is something we've never had for PotC and basically allows us to do all sorts that we can't on PotC.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

That really takes the wind out of my sails. As far as I know there are no other Pirate games worth the name. And to find out that even these are withering......

There is large interest in Piratey things. In a few weeks I will be going to our annual Pirate Festival. Last year over 2,600 people showed up in full period dress. 5 times that number showed up as tourists. Silicon Valley is about an hour's drive away and is full of coders. George Lucas of Star Wars fame lives across the bay. I gotta figure out a way to get the word out around here.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'm sort-of hoping that once we release Patch 6, it'll generate at least some interest. If we can't do it now that a new PotC movie is being released, we can't do it ever.
And if we can't get the interest for ourselves because the game is too old, at least we should point the potential interest towards AoP 2.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Hmm. It looks like it is time to install COAS. If it is reliable it would be a big help. But then I don't want a little bathtub game either. decisions decisions.

I just sent an email to the people putting on our Pirate Festival. Time will tell if they are interested in pirate games.

 

[Armada]

I'm quite losing enthusiasm myself, so I'm not doing much either; just trying to support you guys and I'll still compile the Patches/Betas whenever I can.

If you're losing enthusiasm, then take my advice: play the game a bit more!
Honestly, after testing out several new things related to the ship pack lately, I found myself wanting to keep going, especially once I got into naval battles!
Just that little bit of reassurance every now and then, by reminding yourself about the positive things we have achieved, should be enough to keep the interest there. It works for me.

There is large interest in Piratey things.

The only trouble is, how many pirate enthusiasts also like pirate RPG's? We just don't know.
If there's anything at all you can do help promote the game and the Build Mod, I'm sure it will help in the long run.

I'm sort-of hoping that once we release Patch 6, it'll generate at least some interest. If we can't do it now that a new PotC movie is being released, we can't do it ever.
And if we can't get the interest for ourselves because the game is too old, at least we should point the potential interest towards AoP 2.

That's a very good point. We should aim to be very active around the time of PotC4's release, especially on ModDB.
The only thing that concerns me about that, is the number of people who will come to us asking about the QAR or the On Stranger Tides storyline in our mod.
In truth, that stuff ain't gonna materialise any time soon, so I don't know how we're going to deal with requests like that.

For those who consider PotC as 'getting old', we should reassure them that, even with a half-decent modern computer, this game can still run really well, and it even looks surprisingly graphically pleasing on HD displays.
Sure it's old, but it has aged well. Some things are just too stubborn to die after their average life expectancy, and PotC is one example of that!

 

[ScorpionOwnYa]

I have a question about how you're planning future progress.

Will you release Beta 2? In that case, how many Beta and patches do we have?
Or will you release a full build 14 after this one?

Just want some guidelines!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Build 14 Beta 1 Patch 6 is coming as soon as the Ship Pack work is done.
Then we'll do some cleaning up, release Build 14 Beta 2 Full and then we'll need some testing on that.
Then it'll depend on how many bugs we find and if we can find anyone to fix them.

 

[morgan terror]

directsail is most certainly NOT bugless. it just doesn't have any serious ones, but that seems to count as bugless in this modpack. then again, technically speaking, directsail doesn't have any bugs. it's just sailing in general that has them. one of my favorites has to be swapping ships without swapping their sailing stats.

i would agree that playing the game will make you like it, but the problem is that it will inevitably screw you over sooner or later due to quests intefering with reach other. that's always ruined it for me, and meant the demise of quite a few logbooks. it's just the vast amount of minor annoyances that's bogging it down, but without any coders, what can you do?

 

[Black Bart]

directsail is most certainly NOT bugless. it just doesn't have any serious ones, but that seems to count as bugless in this modpack. then again, technically speaking, directsail doesn't have any bugs. it's just sailing in general that has them. one of my favorites has to be swapping ships without swapping their sailing stats.

i would agree that playing the game will make you like it, but the problem is that it will inevitably screw you over sooner or later due to quests intefering with reach other. that's always ruined it for me, and meant the demise of quite a few logbooks. it's just the vast amount of minor annoyances that's bogging it down, but without any coders, what can you do?

Ahoy matey

So are these bugs due to the new quests that have been added? And how do they interfere with one another, is it from being part of the game overall, or only when you switch from one to another? Is it possible to finish the main quest line still etc? I'm wondering if we could use a warning next to those Quest lines you choose at game start if they have problems etc?

I have, for a while now, been considering learning to program myself, after the problems of finding coders myself, but my powers of maths are very poor. : I even have a bookshelf of books on coding now and i have CodeBlocks IDE installed( also Notepad++, Winmerge etc), even messed around in python for a while to see if i found i loved coding......but that never really happened! Still maybe i could use this as an excuse to get into it more? I'll have to read all the forums on modding code here to see where i need to be!! Ok i'm dreaming a little - i don't know that i have the time being the biggest issue, with work and real life etc. But we can dream right?

There are still some glaring things that i think are holding the build mod back, in terms of getting lots of new interest in it. Ranging from stuff that can break the game(if you are unlucky) to simple graphical things that just look out of place(fixing the ships lighting will be a big help, as the ships are the real stars of the show in this game). But overall, looking at the feature set that works and the amount of game you can get out of PotC+the Build mod, there isn't a pirate/age-of-sail themed game to really compete with it. Maybe AoP2 will get there some time? I know from when we got the source code to Call To Power II, that made a lot more stuff possible, but also opened up a whole level of complexity and difficulty!

So we need new coders as a priority, anyone have good rep on forums where some may lurk? I suggest we get the word out in whatever way we can and keep our fingers crossed. What about all the russian dudes that must be fans of Akella games etc? Does anyone have any contacts with the original people that made Sea dogs/Sea dogs 2 etc?(that was how we got the source code released for Ctp2, and got a bit of help from ex-coders etc).

Currently i'm just a text file editor, and playtester and idea's guy. So we need to find some coder types, lets each scour the seven seas to find some :

 

[Hylie Pistof]

:gday Ahoy mateys!

Every computer is different, and every game I install is different, but I have no problems with direct sail. Except when Isla Mona grabs me and tosses me to the far side of Hispaniola..........

The side quests that seem to mess up the main quest are two that I don't play. Hard labors of an Assassin and Claire LaRousse. You can wait until after talking to Desmond Beltrop to do Claire.

It is quite possible to finish the main quest, but one should go straight through it and avoid most side quests until after it is accomplished.

Coders! Where to find Piratey coders to Shanghai......

 

[morgan terror]

i didn't know that about claire. that explains quite a bit, since i always do her quest as soon as possible. i've never done the main quest first, but that might be a really good way of avoiding all those problems. these problems are caused, i think, by event updates from one quest being writting over those of another, making them interfere with each other. i've also noticed that the stormy start quest plays hell with everything.

a warning for those quests might not work, since you'd only see it after you've started the thing, and then the problem has most likely already occured. i've posted most of the problems i refer to on the bugtracker, by the way.