Mod Release Flying Dutchman and cabin from TEHO

[The Nameless Pirate]

@Pieter Boelen had reached out to me a couple of days ago, and resurfaced an idea I had from time to time.
The idea being replacing the cursed Flying Dutchman model in New Horizons, with the one from Sea Dogs: To Each His Own.

The "fal" rope locators have been replaced with simple "rope" locators that are supported in PotC.


In addition I have added the cabin that the ship has in TEHO. So now the cursed ship has a unique cabin, like the Black Pearl does.

(New game needed for this.)

Also the new ship has working stern guns, four of them to be precise.


Download: http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/TNP/FDM1.zip

New download with mine and @Grey Roger's fixes: http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/Grey Roger/FDM.zip

 

[Grey Roger]

Why are there files for Charlestown in "RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\decks\cabin\CabinFDM"?

The ship itself, and its new cabin, do look good on first inspection with "GM Viewer". I'll give it a "test drive", so to speak, and probably make a new interface picture for it.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Must be leftovers. The cabin is very similar to "Cabin01", so most files are from it, except the main model and the windows.

 

[Grey Roger]

I think I can see what has happened. "Cabin01" has some extra locator files: "Cabin01_l_Q2.gm", "Cabin01_l_Q2H_1.gm", "Cabin01_l_Q2H_2.gm". They're used for a custom version of "Cabin01" in the "Woodes Rogers" storyline, and they're the ones which have a locator for Charlestown. "CabinFDM" probably doesn't need those extra locator files, nor the Charlestown files.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Yep.
Do you want me to upload it without those files, or will you just not include them?

Edit: I have removed the leftover files.
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/TNP/FDM1.zip

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

and probably make a new interface picture for it.

If you want to I can make it myself.

Either way I took these screenshots that could be used for it.

 

[Grey Roger]

Edit: I have removed the leftover files.

Thanks! I'll give it a try and see if it complains about anything missing, though I'll be surprised if it does.

About the screenshots: as it's your project, have you any preference which of the three should become the new interface picture? Here they are, clipped to square format, contrast raised and brightness lowered so that the ship shows up better.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

I don't have any particular preference.
Maybe in the first one the ship looks more menacing due to the lower camera angle, so I am slightly leaning towards it.

On the second one more of the ship is visible, and on the third one a twister is present like the current one.

 

[Jack Rackham]

The Charleston files are what you see through the cabin's window's in WoodesRogers quest part 2.
(Queen Anne's Revenge when Blackbeard is blockading Charleston.)

 

[Grey Roger]

The new Flying Dutchman works, to some extent. As expected, it doesn't need the extra files in "CabinFDM". The new colour scheme in the cabin matches Davy Jones and his crew rather well.


The first screenshot is also my favourite because the lightning is directly behind the ship. It's off to the side in the second picture and half of the bolt is lost when the picture is clipped, while the dark part of the sky is a lot lower than in the original interface picture so the sails look the wrong colour. The picture needed a bit more darkening to turn it into a usable interface picture:


Now, about that "to some extent". If you play using that ship, you'll see some "Bad rope" messages in "system.log". Ropes are defined by two locators, a "ropebXX" and a "ropeeXX", where "XX" is a number identifying the rope, and those "Bad rope" messages appear when one of the pair is missing. Two of the mismatched rope locators are for the braces of "rey_c3", and the braces for "rey_a33" go to "rey_b4", which is odd as those braces on other ships (including the uncursed "FlyingDutchman" and the original cursed version) go to the mast. I moved the locators from "rey_b4" onto "mast4" and add a couple more to match those on "rey_c3".

Two more mismatched rope locators are "ropee18" and "ropee19" on the main hull model. They're probably intended to lead to the sail on "rey_a2", which currently has no rope locators on the sail tips so they appear unattached. I can add "ropeb18" and "ropeb19" to "rey_a2", but "ropee18" and "ropee19" are currently on two cannon barrels:

Ideally they should be on the same platforms as "ropee20" and "ropee21". But if I try to change them, "CursedDutchman" gets corrupted, shrinks to about 500K, and beeps and gives error messages in "system.log". This is odd - usually it's safe to add, remove or alter locators, and that problem only happens if the base hull model has items added or removed. Perhaps, @The Nameless Pirate, you could move "ropee18" and "ropee19"?

The fifth "Bad rope" comes from "ropee24" which is on "mast2". I can't get TOOL to read "mast2". Perhaps you can either find a suitable place to put "ropeb24", or remove "ropee24" from "mast2"?

I can't read "mast3" either, and that's the one with the "flag" locators. If the model is from TEHO then it probably has no "penn" locators. That does not cause a problem for the Flying Dutchman when she's alone because her definition in "Ships_init.c" has no flags - and in fact, the original model has no flag locators at all. What I'm not sure about is whether "flag" locators without matching "penn" locators might cause trouble when there are other ships in the area. Could you change "mast3" to either add matching "penn" locators or remove the "flag" locators?

If these locator problems can be ironed out, the new Flying Dutchman can go into the next update.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

I will try to fix these issues.
I can read all of the files on my Windows XP VM with .NET 1.1.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Try using the files attached here.
Along with what you've done there should be no bad ropes.

"ropee18" and "ropee19" have been moved:


The flag locators as well as "ropee24" have been removed.

 

[Grey Roger]

Thanks! I'll add those to what I have at the moment, give the ship a thorough workout, and assuming no further problems arise, I'll upload the whole lot to the FTP site. (It can't go here because the revised "shipsTR.tga.tx" will be far too big, even zipped.)

 

[Grey Roger]

Testing showed no serious problems, though I've commented out the "refShip.model" line as the new ship has different stats from the uncursed "FlyingDutchman" (fewer cannons, differently arranged) and is therefore no longer repaint-compatible.

Should the Flying Dutchman really have stern guns? Is there any evidence of them in any of the ship's appearances in the films? If not, it should be easy enough to remove them. They're built into "CursedDutchman_path.gm", which yet again I can't read in TOOL; you could examine the file, use "Scene editor" to see if the cannons are a separate component, and if so, remove them. Otherwise it would just be a matter of making another version of texture file "deckFDag.tga" with the cannon parts made invisible.

In any case, perhaps the next job would be to make new versions of the texture files with darker hull and brighter gunports. These could then be used for a similar uncursed Flying Dutchman.

Meanwhile, here's the completed new cursed Flying Dutchman, including your fixes for rope and flag locators plus the updated "Ships_init.c" and new interface picture:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/Grey Roger/FDM.zip

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Should the Flying Dutchman really have stern guns? Is there any evidence of them in any of the ship's appearances in the films? If not, it should be easy enough to remove them. They're built into "CursedDutchman_path.gm", which yet again I can't read in TOOL; you could examine the file, use "Scene editor" to see if the cannons are a separate component, and if so, remove them. Otherwise it would just be a matter of making another version of texture file "deckFDag.tga" with the cannon parts made invisible.

I am not sure on this.
However the Black Pearl I think doesn't have them also, yet the model has them.
So I am fine with them staying anyway.

However should it be decided they should be removed it should indeed be easy.

In any case, perhaps the next job would be to make new versions of the texture files with darker hull and brighter gunports. These could then be used for a similar uncursed Flying Dutchman.

Indeed this is where I see it going next.
I remember seeing that @Legendary_Spider had made some progress with this it seems.

Here is progress I made on Friday.

However he hasn't been seen here since 2018.

Meanwhile, here's the completed new cursed Flying Dutchman, including your fixes for rope and flag locators plus the updated "Ships_init.c" and new interface picture:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/Grey Roger/FDM.zip

Thanks!
I will edit the opening post accordingly.

Edit: The stern guns can indeed be easily removed from "CursedDutchman_path" if needed.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Either way I took these screenshots that could be used for it.

The one on the right looks weird.
The one in the middle doesn't have a very imposing camera angle.
So the first it is.

If these locator problems can be ironed out, the new Flying Dutchman can go into the next update.

What I wonder about...
How does this model differ from @ZarethPL's version that we've used for so very long?
Is it really better? Or just different?

For example, does she have triple bow chasers like the film version?
Or just regular ones?

Also, if she's to replace the current version, the 'SubmergeDutchman()' code in PROGRAM\NK.c may need updating.
That one contains gX, gY and gZ coordinates that correspond with the current version of the model.
If the model is swapped out, the particle effects may not line up as they were intended to anymore.

Should the Flying Dutchman really have stern guns? Is there any evidence of them in any of the ship's appearances in the films? If not, it should be easy enough to remove them.

Our Black Pearl (by @bonjourmonami) also has bow chasers that the film version doesn't have.
They were added as "creative license" for gameplay purposes. After all, not having them would be QUUUUIIIITE the disadvantage.

The Dutchman is a different story though...
Since she's already so strongly powered and is the only ship with SIX bow chasers, her having zero stern ones wouldn't be so bad for game balancing.
I like all pro's having a con as well.

Indeed this is where I see it going next.
I remember seeing that @Legendary_Spider had made some progress with this it seems.

He did start on it and still wants to finish, but he needs help.
Help that I don't quite know how to give...

However he hasn't been seen here since 2018.

I'm still in contact with him on Facebook.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

For example, does she have triple bow chasers like the film version?
Or just regular ones?

Yep, she does.

Also, if she's to replace the current version, the 'SubmergeDutchman()' code in PROGRAM\NK.c may need updating.
That one contains gX, gY and gZ coordinates that correspond with the current version of the model.
If the model is swapped out, the particle effects may not line up as they were intended to anymore.

They looked fine to me.
You can check them on this video:

2:04

The Dutchman is a different story though...
Since she's already so strongly powered and is the only ship with SIX bow chasers, her having zero stern ones wouldn't be so bad for game balancing.
I like all pro's having a con as well

If you want they can be easily removed.

He did start on it and still wants to finish, but he needs help.
Help that I don't quite know how to give...

What help?
Perhaps I could help him.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Yep, she does.

Good!
I would hate to lose those...

They looked fine to me.

There's only one person who could accurately judge that: my brother @TechnicJelle.
When I was working on adding the current effects, HE was the one who noticed I "had missed a spot" with the effects.

If you want they can be easily removed.

I just tried our existing one and looks like she doesn't have stern chasers either.
Nobody complained, people still use her, so we might as well add that same disadvantage to the new version too.

What help?
Perhaps I could help him.

Continued in private...

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

There's only one person who could accurately judge that: my brother @TechnicJelle.
When I was working on adding the current effects, HE was the one who noticed I "had missed a spot" with the effects.

Then I would like to hear his opinion!

I just tried our existing one and looks like she doesn't have stern chasers either.
Nobody complained, people still use her, so we might as well add that same disadvantage to the new version too.

Then it shall happen.
Also it should be noted that this model has less guns than before.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Then I would like to hear his opinion!

Me too!
But we should wait with asking.
He is currently heading into his FINAL EXAMS of secondary school; before heading off towards basically the same education that @Armada did before.

Then it shall happen.
Also it should be noted that this model has less guns than before.

Which of the two matches the film version?