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question about fixing the xbox camera, & an introduction

A

AgentofEvil

Landlubber
Although I am primarialy a console gamer, I recently picked up the PC version of PotC when I got SMP, because it was cheap, and I was _hoping_ that I might find Bethesda/Akella had released a patch or two for the PC to fix some of the games bugs (In the hopes that I could later port to the xbox version.) Although I could find no such thing, I stumbled onto this site a few days ago, and I am blown away by all that you have done with this game!

I've got a modded xbox, and am no stranger to console game modding (I've played around with Halo/Fable/Morrowind/KotOR mods, and am a regluar contributor to the Dead or Alive series modding/skinning scene) but PotC modding is totally new to me <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I'm hoping you'll permit me to port some of your mods to the Xbox version, and I'm really hoping I can bend the ears of some of the experienced modders around here as I attempt some `xbox-specific` mods!

I've been lurking for a few days, and I scrolled through this whole section, but was unable to find anything like what I would most like to "fix" on the xbox version; the annoying camera `lock-on` whenever you run too close to a door. While I am sure it's helpful when you're playing on PC; it is perhaps the single most annoying thing in the game when playing on xbox...

Has a mod of this sort already been created for the PC version? If not, would one of you be kind enough to point me in the general direction of the file(s), or ideally the sections in said files that I need to edit?

Thank you very much in advance <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
You are most welcome here, Agent of Evil, if you don't act as such here <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /> <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" /> (sorry for that, had to beat Sir Christopher for a pun <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" /> Though his would surely have been better <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> )

You are also most welcome to transfer any mod that i have written to the Xbox. I am always happy if someone takes up my ideas and turns them into his own mods. Feel free to change anything you don't like <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Yes, we have disabled that viewshift in connection the Vice City mod, cause I found it a great disadvantage that if you enter a hostile location the camera locks on you instead of showing you the enemies lurking for you.
Though others prefered the old version, so Catilina put a toggleswitch for that into the latest Buildsettings.h

I'll look up the details and post them here. Though I have no idea about Xbox modding.
 
Excellent! Thanks CouchcaptainCharles! Despite the moniker, I assure you I (mostly) try to spread good karma wherever I go <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

I can't describe how happy I am that you guys have already hacked the camera; although I was steeling myself to jump in with both feet, I am so new to PotC modding that at this point I am far more comfortable porting someone else's edits...

And no worries on the xbox end; I have xbox modding well in hand (I modded my xbox about two years ago, and started modding xbox games not long after that) PotC seems to be especially easy though, because the PC and Xbox versions are nearly identical, and it seems the community here has done most of the hard work already!
 
<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hi.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":gday" border="0" alt="hi.gif" /> <b>AgentofEvil, </b>and welcome aboard! Have an ale! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/beer2.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":beer" border="0" alt="beer2.gif" />

I haven't done a LOT of modding, but you are welcome to my little fixes and stuff - I figure once it's part of the public release, it's public domain... One thing tho, if you make any money off of this, be sure to cut me in for a slice, okay? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="xD:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

It will be good to have someone working on an XBox port, that is something we have not had around here, to my recollection. There have been people asking about it, but they don't usually stick around - or if they do, they make the switch to the PC for the mods...

So welcome, dig in and have fun. We're here to help if ya get stuck with something... Or if ya just want to share another round. <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" /> <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" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Thanks for pointing me in the correct direction CouchcaptainCharles! I was able to find the PC edits elsewhere in the forum, and although the changes are slightly different for the xbox version, I had success!

For other xbox owners that are interested in this mod, it's really simple;

open up Programcharacterscharacters_events.c and comment out (add // at the beginning of each line) lines `89-98`, and lines `149-151`. Save & replace the file on your xbox, and you're good to go! Also, before playing with the mod, be sure to clear out your cache drives (x,y,z.)

Admins, Can I post my modified xbox characters_events.c? Or would a patch be preferable? (Although a patch would add layers of complication for the end user, it would also mean I wasn't posting entire game files on the site, what is your policy on this? On some of the other xbox game modding forums I am a member of posting game files is frowned upon, so we post patches only...)
 
Thanks for the warm welcome Catalina! I suspect I'll be seeking your advice quite a bit; to be honest I am more of a skinner than a modder. Since there hasn't been much done to the xbox version though, it seems like I'll have to wear both hats (at least until some other xboxers join in on the fun)
 
Post away, AoE! We're not that fussy here... Only about software piracy are we adamant; we are pirates but we do not pirate software... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Welcome aboard, AoE <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hi.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":gday" border="0" alt="hi.gif" />
 
Thanks Inez; it seems like you all have built a very warm community here <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

One more question for the admins, how do I get uploader rights? Or am I just missing something (it wouldn't be the first time...)?
 
Howdy, and welcome!

There should be stickied in the main modding forum the PA! FTP thread, with UN/PW details (IIRC it's <a href="ftp://files@piratesahoy.net:piratesahoy@ftp.piratesahoy.net" target="_blank">ftp://files@piratesahoy.net:piratesahoy@f...piratesahoy.net</a> ).

I echo CCC and Cat; sure, anything I've done you're more'n welcome to use however you like. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
(And give a holler if you want help with any of it).

I would think other than the console (which you need `ALT-TAB` and a keyboard to really use well), every other thing in the build should be portable.
Oh, the new keys added might make life difficult, but if you need it we can probably write a way around that that uses pairs of button presses...
 
Check here for the FTP details:

<a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net/ftopic978.php" target="_blank">http://forum.piratesahoy.net/ftopic978.php</a>

Sorry, I would have posted that before, but I thought you were going to post a link to your own server. <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" />

A suggestion, make a folder for XBox and put your files in there, so as to keep things a bit more organized. <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" />
 
Thanks for the info <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

To be honest Nathan, although I've installed build12 on my PC, I have yet to actually try it because I've been so excited about fixing the camera on the xbox. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />

I think porting the entire thing will be quite a task, so I am going to nickel & dime it for a bit, until I am more comfortable with the files, etc (although ideally we'll eventually get all of these great PC mods working on the xbox as well)

And no worries Catalina; I'd like to keep the files here for a few reasons; piratesahoy seems to be a haven for Pirate game mods, I want to make sure that the orignal modders always get the credit they're due (on that note, who should I credit for the camera hack? Was it CouchcaptainCharles or someone else?), and I don't haver a permanent server "home" so anywhere I posted the files wouldn't be as permanent as posting them here. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-AgentofEvil`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AgentofEvil)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Thanks for pointing me in the correct direction CouchcaptainCharles! I was able to find the PC edits elsewhere in the forum, and although the changes are slightly different for the xbox version, I had success!
[/quote]
Wow, that was fast work. Congrats. Great to hear that you can convert PC mods to the Xbox.

Maybe you can help us with something we haven't managed so far: I'd like to fight in First Person View, either by preventing the program from switching to shoulderview when you draw your blade, or by reducing the distance between camera and playercharacter during shoulderview. Have you come across any code related to this?
 
Funny you should mention that CCC, I noticed the `first-person` mode on the PC version, which the Xbox version lacks entirely, and that went to the top of the list of things I want to mod the xbox version to do(given the choice between a 3rd or 1st person camera, I always find 1st perferable.) I can't promise anything, but if/when I figure out how to implement `first-person` on xbox, I'll also (hopefully) locate the code we'll need to edit to implement `first-person` during fighting on the PC <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
Thanks, and much success <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
That's CCC's work, yes.

Regarding 1p mode:
Hmm. the only way I can see with a little bit of digging to force always 1p mode is to manually place the camera a few cm behind the character's head every tenth of a second, but that would be jumpy.
 
Do you happen to know if and where the distance between player and "shoulderview" camera is defined in the code?
 
NB: take this with a grain of salt, my research was by no means exhaustive. I just looked at locations_camera.c
-=-=-
Nope. The camera is just set (via sendmessage) to type 1 (LOCCAMERA_FOLLOW).
Now, AICamera (_sea_ mode camera) has oodles of tweaks. But locational camera no.

However, you can I think set the camera to a given position and lock in at a given angle, good for quest cutscenes.

-=-=-
And yes, I too am a great fan of 1p view and would love to see an always 1p mod.
Darn.

Well, I guess we ought to see what the slowdown is on running a camera update function 30 times per second.
 
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