Feedback from a new player

[eXquiSiT]

Hi,
I have been plaing AOP long time ago and now I was searching for another adventure, than i found this mod and LOL that hit beyond any expectation. Really nice game, I like it a lot. Thanks a lot for the time and dedication developing such a great game.
Here some bugs and exploits I found:

-You can cheat on dice game in the tavern like if u don't like your row you can remove your bet before your opponents row.
-With thief's knife you can rob a guard for very vast musket(150 - 350 dmg) gun and that feels like a cheat.
-Also With a stone you can smite a guard kill him with no resistance and take his musket.
-There are variety of items that improve your stats but most of them does not include that information in the item description (like Sapphire - +1 Commerce) I have to find out which of my loot I can sell and which I have to keep and that is a long boring process of quick save and load.
- There is a unmarked dungeon in Speightstown in left from the port door but looks like a house and if get your self near that house u enter instantly and u cant get back in town, Instead you are teleported in the beach
- Like a lot bow and arrows for my officers but when they shot an arrow after that they start to fight with arrow (0 dmg) instead with a sword
-switching locations is a very cheap way to avoid military raids, I just switch my location back before they get to me.


I started as a merchant, and the shops UI is very unpleasant, it takes a lot to time sliding items to find what u need. For example in AOP in merchants UI there is a drop down list of stocks and items you can scroll like the whole list of items for a second.

I like a lot the book system, plaing the game and gaining knowledge at the same time instead reading the wiki is fun.

There are a lot of game tips but its hard to read them when my game loading time is too short, maybe display them in the console or in a book(I haven't read all the books), and the console text is very small size and also unnoticeable color. Also would be nice to include the current location (name of the town, place) in the top of the screen among the date and time.

Apart form that the game is a wonderfull and I am going to play a lot.
Thanks again and see you soon

 

[Grey Roger]

Welcome aboard and thanks for the feedback!

-With thief's knife you can rob a guard for very vast musket(150 - 350 dmg) gun and that feels like a cheat.
-Also With a stone you can smite a guard kill him with no resistance and take his musket.

Which version are you playing? @Pieter Boelen, wasn't this fixed? I thought guards were toughened up so that you could not steal their weapons so easily?

-There are variety of items that improve your stats but most of them does not include that information in the item description (like Sapphire - +1 Commerce) I have to find out which of my loot I can sell and which I have to keep and that is a long boring process of quick save and load.

That's because there is a setting in "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h", "ITEM_REALISM", which can be set to disable the bonuses on those items to make the game a bit more challenging. You'll still get bonuses from books and items such as compasses, and they're the ones which do show their bonuses in their descriptions.

- There is a unmarked dungeon in Speightstown in left from the port door but looks like a house and if get your self near that house u enter instantly and u cant get back in town, Instead you are teleported in the beach

It's not the house itself; there's a trap near it which drops you into the dungeon. You can also get into the same dungeon through a different house near the shipyard, or by jumping off the pier and swimming round the corner. Be careful, because one of the side passages in that dungeon leads you to the Maltese crypt, and you'll have a very difficult time finding your way out of there!

- Like a lot bow and arrows for my officers but when they shot an arrow after that they start to fight with arrow (0 dmg) instead with a sword
-switching locations is a very cheap way to avoid military raids, I just switch my location back before they get to me.

This is a necessary side effect of the way bows and arrows work. To show the arrow, it has to be classed as a blade because the bow is your ranged weapon. So the first melee attack will be with the arrow. After that you should switch to a sword. Indians also start by trying to hit you with an arrow, then they switch to a tomahawk.

I started as a merchant, and the shops UI is very unpleasant, it takes a lot to time sliding items to find what u need. For example in AOP in merchants UI there is a drop down list of stocks and items you can scroll like the whole list of items for a second.

Remember that this is still essentially "Pirates of the Caribbean", the game which was produced before "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales". It's not surprising that the interface of the later game appears more polished.

 

[eXquiSiT]

Welcome aboard and thanks for the feedback!

Which version are you playing? @Pieter Boelen, wasn't this fixed? I thought guards were toughened up so that you could not steal their weapons so easily?

Build 14 May 2018 I think this is the official, the stable one or
am I wrong, should I start new game with better version ???

That's because there is a setting in "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h", "ITEM_REALISM", which can be set to disable the bonuses on those items to make the game a bit more challenging. You'll still get bonuses from books and items such as compasses, and they're the ones which do show their bonuses in their descriptions.

I understand that, but when "ITEM_REALISM" = 0 would be nice to get an info which items are usefull.
So I investigated the game files, took a look at PROGRAM/Items/InitItems.c and than I edited
Resource/INI/Texts/English/ItemDescribe.txt. Now I can see what Dimonds, Metals and Idols bonuses,
if ITEM_REALISM = 1 I'm still going to see the info, but not getting this bonuses. Maybe It's better to be like for example the Rubby:

itmname_jewelry3 {Ruby}
itmdescr_jewelry3
{
A precious stone the color of the blood. (+1 Melee when ITEM_REALISM = 0)
}

It's not the house itself; there's a trap near it which drops you into the dungeon. You can also get into the same dungeon through a different house near the shipyard, or by jumping off the pier and swimming round the corner. Be careful, because one of the side passages in that dungeon leads you to the Maltese crypt, and you'll have a very difficult time finding your way out of there!

Does Maltese crypt have a map for selling, I didn't found one. But I have two different maps named Cozumel temple map. and one them looks like Maltese crypt (how do you know it is called Maltese crypt by the way?), Bridge Town dungeon I found more challenging without a map so i had to draw one -> Imgur that was a lot of exploration .

This is a necessary side effect of the way bows and arrows work. To show the arrow, it has to be classed as a blade because the bow is your ranged weapon. So the first melee attack will be with the arrow. After that you should switch to a sword. Indians also start by trying to hit you with an arrow, then they switch to a tomahawk.

It would be better if someone could make the arrow and the bow together as one animation, classed as one ranged weapon and another arrows aside classed as ammo but it is still fine.

Thanks for the answers

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I have been plaing AOP long time ago and now I was searching for another adventure, than i found this mod and LOL that hit beyond any expectation. Really nice game, I like it a lot. Thanks a lot for the time and dedication developing such a great game.

Ahoy there and welcome aboard!
I'm glad you enjoy our work. And thank you for taking the take to give us your feedback.

Which version are you playing? @Pieter Boelen, wasn't this fixed? I thought guards were toughened up so that you could not steal their weapons so easily?

Didn't somebody else recently report being able to rob merchants without penalty as well?
I'm a bit confused on that, because indeed I did make some changes.
But I do have a very faint memory that perhaps we ended up making those "tough guards with soldier reinforcements" apply only on higher difficulty levels?
We'd have to check the code to be sure, because it's been so long ago that I don't remember.

That's because there is a setting in "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h", "ITEM_REALISM", which can be set to disable the bonuses on those items to make the game a bit more challenging. You'll still get bonuses from books and items such as compasses, and they're the ones which do show their bonuses in their descriptions.

On Arcade Game Mode, these items do show their skill modifiers; it is only hidden on Realistic.
It is possible to switch the game to Arcade and use the top of InternalSettings.h to make the game a bit more realistic exclusively in the areas you want.

This is a necessary side effect of the way bows and arrows work. To show the arrow, it has to be classed as a blade because the bow is your ranged weapon. So the first melee attack will be with the arrow. After that you should switch to a sword. Indians also start by trying to hit you with an arrow, then they switch to a tomahawk.

@Jack Rackham, can you confirm that is indeed how you designed that to work?

Remember that this is still essentially "Pirates of the Caribbean", the game which was produced before "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales". It's not surprising that the interface of the later game appears more polished.

The mod introduces at least Category Tabs for the Items Trade interface. Before we did that, it was even worse.
Indeed it could all be better still, but we've got no developer around anymore to rework the interfaces.

There are a lot of game tips but its hard to read them when my game loading time is too short, maybe display them in the console or in a book(I haven't read all the books)

Your computer is too good for the tips!

You could read through them all in one go using the http://www.piratesahoy.net/cloud/repository/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/TX Convertor.zip program.
They're textures and you can view them with this. @Grey Roger, could you look up which folder they're in? I think there was a RESOURCE\Textures\Tips, but again, it's been long ago and I don't quite remember...

the console text is very small size and also unnoticeable color

Do you mean the on-screen display log messages with that? That used to be bigger (too big), so we sized it down.
Somewhere in... PROGRAM\BATTLE_INTERFACE\LogInterface.c, I think?

Also would be nice to include the current location (name of the town, place) in the top of the screen among the date and time.

One easy way to get that information when you need it is to go into the Save menu.
I've occasionally (ab)used it for that purpose too.

Build 14 May 2018 I think this is the official, the stable one or
am I wrong, should I start new game with better version ???

You may want to consider updating to this version: Mod Release - Build 14 Beta [Last Update: 17 May 2019]
I don't think it fixes any of the specific issues you mention, but it does contain a lot of cool new updates for you to enjoy.

Does Maltese crypt have a map for selling, I didn't found one. But I have two different maps named Cozumel temple map. and one them looks like Maltese crypt (how do you know it is called Maltese crypt by the way?), Bridge Town dungeon I found more challenging without a map so i had to draw one -> Imgur that was a lot of exploration .

Indeed the Maltese Knight Abbey reuses the same location models as the Cozumel Temple.

@Grey Roger: How about adding that new map into the game too?
As an Easter Egg or such?

It would be better if someone could make the arrow and the bow together as one animation, classed as one ranged weapon and another arrows aside classed as ammo but it is still fine.

Those special weapons technically abuse some of the base game engine functionality in reeeaaally creative ways.
For me, that always means two things: It doesn't work perfectly, but it's a miracle it even works as well as it does.
The same goes for a lot of the other mod functionality. The BuildingSet is the best example.

 

[Jack Rackham]

@Jack Rackham, can you confirm that is indeed how you designed that to work?

I have to check how it really works before I answer that. I remember though that there's a situation when after 1 hit
with the bladearrow it changes to something better. Tomahawk for the indians, not sure for other characters.

 

[Grey Roger]

You could read through them all in one go using the http://www.piratesahoy.net/cloud/repository/Tools/Modeling+Texturing/TX Convertor.zip program.
They're textures and you can view them with this. @Grey Roger, could you look up which folder they're in? I think there was a RESOURCE\Textures\Tips, but again, it's been long ago and I don't quite remember...

Your memory is fine. "RESOURCE\Textures\Tips" is indeed where they are to be found. Though I'm not sure that they're all worth reading. "tips_0003.tga.tx":

Hire officers for your party that have different skills than your character.  If you have a high Sailing skill, hire a boatswain with high Melee and Grappling skills."

Probably not the best example; Melee isn't transferrable, so if your Melee skill is low then that boatswain won't prevent you from being skewered.

@Grey Roger: How about adding that new map into the game too?
As an Easter Egg or such?

OK, watch this:

By the Power Of Rum! Arr!

The map is now in the game and you don't even need to download it! But let's make things a little tougher for the player. The map of Bridgetown dungeon is labelled "S.town Dungeon" in the drawing, so the one in the game is called "mapRedmond_Dungeon.tga.tx".

 

[Jack Rackham]

@Jack Rackham, can you confirm that is indeed how you designed that to work?

Yes. Player + officers + officertypes (guess it's crewmembers) switch to their best blade after one "bladehit" with an arrow, npc:s to a tomahawk.
Both categories switch back to arrows when firing again.
Both categories switch to blade/tomahawk when out of arrows.

If no tomahawk they are given that.
If no blade they use fists (which is a blade). If not even fists they are given that.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Your memory is fine. "RESOURCE\Textures\Tips" is indeed where they are to be found.

Thanks! My memory keeps amazing me.
I feel like it's dodgy these days, but apparently... not so much.

Probably not the best example; Melee isn't transferrable, so if your Melee skill is low then that boatswain won't prevent you from being skewered.

Are they all sourced from the stock game? Or did we add some new ones with the mod?
Either way, it was years ago so no wonder that some stuff is outdated.
You might want to remove all the ones that are really just plain wrong these days.

By the Power Of Rum! Arr!

The map is now in the game and you don't even need to download it! But let's make things a little tougher for the player. The map of Bridgetown dungeon is labelled "S.town Dungeon" in the drawing, so the one in the game is called "mapRedmond_Dungeon.tga.tx".

Ah... Of course we swapped out those town names. Probably nobody bothered to update them on (at least some of) those maps.

Yes. Player + officers + officertypes (guess it's crewmembers) switch to their best blade after one "bladehit" with an arrow, npc:s to a tomahawk.
Both categories switch back to arrows when firing again.
Both categories switch to blade/tomahawk when out of arrows.

If no tomahawk they are given that.
If no blade they use fists (which is a blade). If not even fists they are given that.

Thanks! Sounds like a perfect explanation.

 

[eXquiSiT]

You may want to consider updating to this version: Mod Release - Build 14 Beta [Last Update: 17 May 2019]
I don't think it fixes any of the specific issues you mention, but it does contain a lot of cool new updates for you to enjoy.

I'am gong to update my game, I guess that "post_25May_updates.zip" is just pure copy-> paste, after I make new clear install + wizard install with Build 14 beta 4.0 Part2 Contents Archive file

thanks for the information and see you soon !

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Welcome aboard, @eXquiSiT, and winds to your back!!!

I guess that "post_25May_updates.zip" is just pure copy-> paste

Correct!

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, just copy the whole lot into place. Windows should ask if you want to merge the "PROGRAM" and "RESOURCE" folders; you do want to do that. The folders in the update are structured the same as those of the game installation so Windows should then copy all the subfolders and files into their correct places.

 

[eXquiSiT]

Since I use a lot gun powder and bullets,
I would like to make the gun powder and the bullets always first in the items lists -> exactly like the way the gold works. The gold is allays the 1st think in item lists. That could save me some time while exchanging and buying bullets
Could you advice me which dev tool i need and where possibly should i look into the game files ?

Thanks

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

I am not sure about the files, but about the tools check this thread: New Horizons Modding | PiratesAhoy!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Since I use a lot gun powder and bullets,
I would like to make the gun powder and the bullets always first in the items lists -> exactly like the way the gold works. The gold is allays the 1st think in item lists. That could save me some time while exchanging and buying bullets
Could you advice me which dev tool i need and where possibly should i look into the game files ?

How much programming do you know?
You only need Notepad (or Notepad++) and some of this might help: Tutorial - Modding Tips & Tricks
The relevant file is PROGRAM\INTERFACE\items.c .

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

The relevant file is PROGRAM\INTERFACE\items.c .

Then my suspicions were correct, i didn't answer that question since i wasn't sure and i don't want to give false information.

 

[Grey Roger]

Another thought: hire a gunner. He gives you free ammunition when you board your ship, and when he does, the ammo moves to the end of the inventory.

If you're exchanging equipment with another character, you can zip to the end of the inventory in no time. Just point at the next item to the right of the one currently being checked, then hold down the mouse button. For some reason, it doesn't scroll as quickly when you're buying equipment. But then, why are you buying ammunition when the gunner is going to give it to you for free?

 

[eXquiSiT]

Hello,
I made a video for you
I have the latest version installed (you can verify in the beginning in the video) - Realistic Game Mode,
and this is how I farm Muskets as level 3 character without any penalties.

I can confirm that poison daggers wont work on them but they are still vulnerable to stones.
If I don't have stones I can farm this soldier in the house with no reputation loses or any resistance after I leave the house.

That's it for now, more videos incoming !

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Maybe, guards should be made more resistant to stones as well?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Look up 'SoldierReinforcements' using Trick #3 from here:
Tutorial - Modding Tips & Tricks

 

[eXquiSiT]

Hello,
There is a new video I made

Here, you can see how I get a lot of jewelry without penalty or resistance.

Regards