[Orazio]

I have worked a bit discontinuously on the new Willemstad, restarting after the first few houses when I realized they weren’t historically accurate (as I said a few posts above).
This time I am trying to make it as historically accurate as possible, with the help of the very informative content Modernknight provided in this thread, and some drawings that I found, even though they are dated mostly around the end of 1700, and I am trying to recreate a 1650-1700 Willemstad. Two of these drawings can also be found on MK’s article on Curacao, here.

Illustration 1 | Illustration 2 | Illustration 3

Currently I am working on the blocks that will go on the waterfront, and I have taken inspiration by the first illustration in particular, that shows white houses with wooden galleries. Following MK’s suggestion, this area will be composed almost exclusively of this type of dwellings, while brick houses and more luxurious ones will go behind.
Unfortunately it’s not easy to find accurate representations of how the city would look like in the end of 1600/beginning of 1700, so in this project there is also a touch of my interpretation and improvisation. What do you think?

Full resolution image

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Orazio.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Orazio.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Orazio.

[Orazio]

Related to new locations, I’ve resumed the work on a project that I started months ago, that I had then halted. I wanted to keep it secret, but now I’ve stumbled across a doubt and would like to hear your opinion.

The project is basically a new Willemstad, more accurate than the average anonymous town we have now. It can’t be 100% accurate, because I don’t know exactly how it looked like in the 17th century, but I’m trying to recreate something that gives the feeling of a 17th century Willemstad.
The problem is this however: until now, I’ve been giving buildings different colors, like the modern-day city, where you see a lot of colors in the streets. Doing researches, I’ve then discovered that it was only around the 19th century that the buildings started to be painted; before that, they used to be all white with usually red roofs.

So now I’m wondering, should I be as accurate as I can, making all the buildings white (and so perhaps more boring), or should I keep the peculiar colorful streets of that city, even though in 1600/1700 they were probably anachronistic?

[Orazio]

An update.

I’ve imported two other ships from the M&B package: a chaloupe that is already in the game (but I forgot to update this thread at the time), and a small pinnace I’ve just completed.

Both were slightly improved in their appearance, especially the pinnace. For this one, I modified the masts to add a topsail, as per MK’s request; remade a few things that weren’t good, like the shrouds; added fife rails, gun port lids, a tiller and other minor elements; opened two windows in the stern; and created basic interiors since originally they made the main deck fully accessible but it was also empty.

I sent the new pinnace to MK, so I guess it’ll be included in one of the future updates.

And this is the chaloupe I did few months ago.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Orazio.

[Orazio]

After some time of inactivity, I’ve finally finished a project that I started months ago: the “restoration” of the San Felipe de Barajas fort, a model that MK sent me, which appears in PotC New Horizon Mod.

For its majority the model was done very well, but the way it was textured was horrible, and didn’t do it justice at all. So I decided to fix that, and bring the model to its true potential.

What I’ve done:

• 100% remapped it, so textures are now applied properly;
• Applied new textures, some of which I made, others are existing PotC/ERAS textures;
• Remade some of the minor structures, like the buildings around the fort, sentry towers and boxes, and a bit of vegetation too;
• Made cannons and lamp posts;
• Created the tunnels and entrances to move from one place to another (originally only a portion of the fort was accessible);
• Added soldiers, guarding and patrolling (originally it was empty, no one was there).

I’ve sent the files to Jeffrey, as part of the new content. But here is a collection of images, that shows the before and after so you get an idea of how the restoration went.

[Orazio]

So I went through the process of installing Maya 5.0 again, and here are the steps:

• Install the program.
• Run crack.exe, click on “Create License”; you should get “License.dat was successfully created”.
• I’m not 100% sure, but the crack should create a folder in your C: drive, called ‘flexlm’ with a file called ‘aw’ inside, and that should be the license.
• After this, launch Maya and hopefully you won’t get asked for a key.

If that doesn’t work, crack.exe may not have the permissions to write to the folder it needs to write to.

Now you need to install the export plugins, that are in “Maya Plugins.zip” (at least, I have them there). Simply copy and paste the folders “bin” and “scripts” in your Maya installation folder, merge and overwrite if necessary.
Run Maya 5.0, go to Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager; you will find a list of plugins with checkboxes. Scroll down until you find SD2AniExport.mll and SD2GeoExport.mll, and check both “loaded” and “auto load”; then close the plugin manager.

To ensure they have been installed, go to File > Export Selection (click on the little black box on the right), you will get the “Export Selection Options” window. There is a drop down menu next to “File Type”, see if there are SD2AniExport and SD2GeoExport. If yes, then everything has been done correctly and you’re ready to go.

[Orazio]

Maya 5 is a very old program, I don’t think you will find many tutorials using that version, and its functionalities aren’t as advanced as the more recent softwares.

You’re better off picking a program like Blender (free), or 3DS Max/Maya 2016 onward (you can use these two freely for 3 years if you say you’re a student). Then you practice in one of them, and when you’re done with your model, you export it as an OBJ, import it in Maya 5 and set up everything for the GM conversion (I can explain this process in detail later, right now is not needed).

I don’t know many tutorials, I’ve started reading the documentation of the program I chose (a boring approach), so I could learn the majority of its functions. Then I’ve searched for specific tutorials when I needed something in particular.

The concepts you need to grasp to cover the basics* are the following:

• Polygon meshes (vertices, edges, polygons/triangles and how to manipulate them);
• Face normals;
• Optimization of your models for a game (i.e. don’t use 10.000 vertices or triangles if you can make the same model with 1.000);
• How to correctly smooth your model (in this picture, on the left the unsmoothed model, look how “polygonal” it looks; on the right the correctly smoothed one; in the center, only a small portion of the model is smoothed);
• UVs, UV mapping and texturing.

* At least with regard to modeling for the Storm Engine; since it’s an old engine, techniques like normal mapping and the High Poly to Low Poly workflow, which would be one the bases if you were to model something for modern engines, can be avoided.

[Orazio]

Locations are 3D models in the usual GM format that are added to the game via lines of code. Every location must have its own little piece of code in the appropriate file where the necessary models are specified, along with other properties, for example what other model to load when you open a certain door.

Adding a new location via code is not particularly difficult; the hardest part is to create a new one or to edit an existing one.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, there isn’t an editor that lets you easily modify the terrain and place objects around. Everything must be done inside a 3D modeling program, so a basic knowledge of 3D modeling is required. Basically you create a scene in your favourite program, then use Maya5 (the export plugin only works in that version) to export that scene to a GM file.
About the software, any 3D modeling program will do the job, you can also do everything in Maya5 so you don’t need to export/import your models from one program to the other. Learning 3D modeling requires time and patience; to edit locations you don’t need to be a master though, so the process may be faster.

Another approach, although I’ve neved used it + I don’t really like it, is to use the famous TOOL. It’s probably easier than the first method, but it offers less freedom especially if you want to make a completely new and unique location.
There is a basic editor where you can add objects, I don’t know if you can use the mouse to place them, or if you need to input the right coordinates. Some time ago I found a guide on how to use this method, here: http://www.moddb.com/mods/new-horizons/tutorials/location-remodeling-with-inez-tool

I recommend the first method, taking the time to learn a bit of 3D modeling can be very beneficial, because you can customize the game much more, without the need to always reuse assets that may not be what you really want.

[Orazio]

I haven’t been very active lately, but I’m working on something.
I begun modeling a cabin for the yachts, inspired by the Utrecht Statenjacht replica; I was also converting one of the Mount&Blade ships MK gave me some time ago.

(Direct link, better resolution: http://i.cubeupload.com/SjvgHE.jpg)

However, as I was working on these two, another idea started growing in my mind.
I remember a thread in which MK showed the work-in-progress of a ship that was never finished, the Zeven Provincien. When I first looked at the picture, I thought “that’s a great model, I wonder if I’ll ever be able to make something like that” (at the time I had little to no experience in 3D modeling). So for quite some time I’ve had this idea to build that ship, but never dared as it’s a difficult model and I was sure I couldn’t even get close to that WIP I saw.
So eventually I’ve started it, and this has been the only focus of my work now. It’s challenging (that stern is giving me nightmares), I was especially scared about all those statues and decorations, but after the first few I’ve created I’m getting more confident and I’m sure I’ll finish the model and it will be great!

(Direct link, better resolution: http://i.cubeupload.com/Dpg0qz.jpg)

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Orazio.

[Orazio]

I’m pretty sure Maya 5 is required to run the plugins. I’ve never tested them on newer versions, but I remember reading somewhere that they won’t work.
You will likely do your modeling stuff in another program, then import everything in Maya 5 and export in GM format.

I have Windows 7 64bit, and was able to install Maya without any problem. It was some time ago, so I don’t remember exactly what I did, but I don’t remember getting errors or having to use a VM.

If you have more question on the export process, just ask.

[Orazio]

A more luxurious cabin for yachts you say? I may have the inspiration now! I’ll work on something.
The models you are referring to are Yacht1 and Yacht2 right? Are there any other yachtes?

[Orazio]

Since I’m working on this right now, this is the cabin I’ve made for the small class 7 ships.
Partially used as cargo storage, there’s just a hammock, a chest and a stool (not visible here). It will be finished very soon.

[Orazio]

Great work with those sterns!
That 3D model isn’t very detailed, but you managed to give the illusion of a more detailed and sumptuous stern with a nice texturing work.

[Orazio]

I got a little bit sidetracked from the work on the world map, when I looked at the models to use in some of the new locations and noticed one in particular: a fort (a representation of San Felipe de Barajas Castle), that was very well made, but at the same time very poorly textured and with some detail that could be improved.
I like that model so much that I have decided to spend some time to “fix” it, completely UV re-mapping it so the textures are now applied correctly, improving some of the buildings that were way too simple, adding other details like entrances and cannons, and lastly creating a matching series of tunnels to connect the different parts of the fort. Not finished yet, but I’m almost there.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

TUNNELS WIP

[Orazio]

Yea I know, seeing a low level of interest doesn’t help, especially when for some reason the motivation to work on the game is already low by itself. I took a break in the last few months, I simply didn’t feel like continuing my projects, and this feeling was reinforced by knowing the level of interest around the game.

Anyway, let’s see if I can manage to complete some of the projects that are already started. The fort is done, I only had to add the finishing touches so that was easy. Now I’m working on the little pinnace, making it my n. 1 priority; that should also be fast to finish, just a matter of days.
I haven’t made any progress on the yatch cabin, as I was busy on the Zeven Provincien. Since the first picture I posted here, there has been progress, I was making the stern with all its statues, a real nightmare! By the way, I’ve read that statues used to be painted, so I decided to texture them like that, instead of using just one color, like yellow/gold. Is it correct?
At one point though working on the statues became so tiring that I decided to focus on something else, like the boat. I’ll resume the work on this model when I’ll feel a bit more motivated, so that I can deliver the best results; I want this ship to be the best I can do.

Stern statues work in progress
The ship’s boat

But coming back to the pinnace, I remember you asked to modify the masts to add a topsail, is this what you meant? And should I also add a sail on the bowsprit?

[Orazio]

Slow down, Oldtimer 😀
I’m just creating one single cabin for yachts (though maybe it can be assigned to other small/medium ships as well, I’ll see).
I’m not going to model the interior of an entire ship.

I’m not sure about functional pipes, they probably require a custom animation so you can see your character smoke them. Anyway, it’s not a priority right now.

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