[Vincent]

Hey, Antiscamp, glad thatI was able to introduce you to the game! I haven’t played GoF in a while, since I’ve been waiting for a bunch of updates to install so I can be totally amazed when I get back to the game again. I might start up the series again soon, though, since I’m working on producing new content for my channel. Also, I’ve renamed my Google/YouTube account to ‘Captain Sparrow’, if anyone still wants to looka t my content.

With all of the new features added, I’m thinking I’ll try to get back into GoF soon, so players can look forward to a new series – and if I can find a video editing software I like, I can hopefully cut out some of the more uninteresting stuff to shorten the videos and make them more appealing to watch.

[Vincent]

Hey, MK, sorry about your dog. Our first dog, Katey, died of cancer as well a few years ago, so I know a bit of what you’re going through. Sorry for your loss, but it’s good that you’ve found something to help you deal with the sadness.

On a brighter note, I do like the new sloop skin. I will admit, though, that it does seem a little hard to notice the colors (though I assume that’s due to the game’s lighting effects, which I’d personally like to see edited a bit to make darker colors easier to see and distinguish), but I also think the Dying Gull had a much heavier amount of ramshackle appearance and weathering effects than the current skin does, IIRC. Below is a link to a video on YouTube that has some very good shots of the Dying Gull from multiple angles, and it rally shows off the appearance of the sloop better than any of the images I’ve found using Google searches are for reference material.

I do love the windows, though. So, my only recommendation would be to add lots more weathering – faded spots, darkened spots, and salt stains. Make it look like a real ‘hunk of junk’, as a famous space wizard once said!

Also, I do agree with Filipe on two of the points he raised. First, I’d like to see storm damaged reduced some – the advantage to this change would be the ability of ships to weather a few storm scenes when necessary, allowing us to sail through large storms without almost guaranteeing our deaths, and allowing us to enjoy the awesome storm effects. It also allows players to involve themselves in epic battles fought in the midst of a storm, which is something that could make a nice change from the regular battles.

Second, if I try to edit the PIRATES stats of a character with a higher starting level to something I like better, the game does not retain the bonus skill levels and reverts them to the level one values. I really feel that this is an issue that needs to be squashed – if I edit the PIRATES stats, the character’s skill levels should change accordingly, but should retain the bonuses calculated by the character’s higher starting level.

Also, just as an aside, two other requests for storms. First, I’d like to see all rain effects edited to make them more noticeable – as it is currently, it can be difficult for me to realize that it’s raining. So, louder/more distinctive sound effects for the rain, but primarily more easily noticeable rain droplets are what I’d like to see. Another thing I would really like to see is for players to be able to sail out of a storm without needing to use the world map – or for the storm to peter out after a while of real-time sailing in it. This would be a big step forward, since one of the things I’d like to see this game accomplish is to make the world map a feature that is completely optional, allowing players the choice to use it if they want, while also being able to completely ignore it if they desire to do so.

[Vincent]

Actually, I have anew project I’d like to do real quick, so if you guys get a moment, I’d prefer if you could answer this question before my last one.

I want to try and find a way to get the sex scene to play a movie clip instead of a sound file and a screen image. I find the current sex sounds alittle awkward, so I’m trying to build a mod that will play a collection of sex scenes from Fable 3. Or from The Witcher 3, if you want something more ‘adult’ and don’t mind the mismatch in the video characters. I have a cousin who’s a pretty good programmer, so I’ll see if I can hit him up in the meantime for some help, if he can spare time from his own projects.

[Vincent]

Nice work, Jeffrey!

As for the sail direction, I was sailing the Snauw at the time, but from what you said, I may just be seeing things that happen correectly and interpreting them incorrectly in my own mind.

[Vincent]

For just five days of effort, you sure got a lot of things done, that’s so awesome! Thanks for taking the time to work on those little QOL features I requested. The sorting of trade catalogs is especially appreciated, and yes, you ARE cool.

I can understand not wanting to make dodging in combat free, it is YOUR guys’ game after all – I don’t mind it as is, honestly, I just figured I’d throw the idea out there for consideration. Personally, I’d really like to see a future update revamp the combat system into something a bit more modern and active – my personal vision would be something a bit like Skyrim’s combat system, but retaining the multiple different attack and defense actions from Eras’ current system. I know that’s going to be a HUGE overhaul, so I certainly don’t expect anything like that any time soon; I just think that the current combat system, while workable, could do with some updates/tweaks; my one major gripe is the difficulty of some combat scenarios during a few of the questlines, which seem to me like they could do with a bit of reworking to make them more in-line with the average difficulty of the rest of the game – they should be challenging of course, but some of them seem just a little OP to me as they currently are.

I can definitely understand why you won’t do some of the things I requested, especially now that you’ve explained what would have to go into those projects to get them done. It does seem like a lot of effort for little overall benefit to the gameplay value. I was also unaware of the immunity of allied characters to player attacks, so that’s nice to know about, thanks for telling me.

Also, any comments on the other ideas I mentioned, but which you didn’t mention as denied or finished? I’d be very interested in hearing about the dev team’s response to them.

[Vincent]

New feature requests I came up with;

– support mice with additional buttons; this would be a big improvement.

– allow players to navigate command menus with the scroll wheel, to make it easier to use without needing to move your hands around between different control areas.

– No contraband goods at pirate ports – this seems a bit odd to me.

– No energy cost for doging in combat – this might help even the playing field and make battles a bit more interesting, since there will be less standing still while trading hits. I have a bigger combat suystem overhaul in mind that will retain the majority of the current system while making the whole thing more interesting, but I need time to work it out and write it up. This is the most basic idea I had to improve combat.

– Treat dead bodies like containers, and use the command/action key to loot them when walking over them. I always found it a bit odd that they worked in a separate system with a separate key control.

– Have dead bodies remain where they fall permanently until a scene transition/loading screen – only after that will they disappear. That way, you have enough time to thoroughly loot all of them, especially after a boarding battle.

– Allow players to sort Trade tab lists alphabetically: The current method of organizing the trade tab’s individual entries does so by the date at which the trade catalogs are first acquired, which leads to a jumbled, hard to navigate mess. Instead, I would like to see the trade catalogs ordered alphabetically, with the option to use the catalog’s corresponding nation, town name, or island name as the primary method of organization. At the very least, if we can’t get the different options, I want the default organization to be done alphabetically by town name. This would be a massive quality of life improvement for the game, and should (hopefully) be relatively simple to implement.

– Better integration of first-person perspective: First person perspective can be an interesting way to play, but needs some refinements to integrate it as a fully featured part of the game. As it is now, it seems more like a curiosity that was tacked onto a third person game just so that the game can claim that it has first person perspective as an option.

First, eliminate head bob from the first person camera, or at least make it optional. For some it’s a cool thing, but for me (and probably many others) it’s rather annoying.

Second, make the view point carry through loading screens; if I activate first person camera, and then enter a store, I want my choice of camera view to carry over between the two scenes, rather than needing to constantly reactivate the perspective I want every time I go through a loading screen.

Third, when using first person camera, the game should not activate the slight zoom out near doors that happens in third person, as this can be rather jarring and just seems very counter-intuitive to the use of a first person perspective.

Fourth, expand the camera angles in first person. In Skyrim, a player in first person could look down at their feet, and a similar camera movement allowance would be much appreciated.

Fifth, make the character’s body/model visible in first person view. Skyrim has few mods that make this happen (since the base game doesn’t do this by default), and it should not be terribly difficult to implement, or at least I hope it isn’t. This also opens up the ability to use first person mode in combat. While third-person view may offer a better view of the player’s surroundings, a fully-integrated first person perspective would allow the player to use it even in combat. This would probably necessitate an indicator that the player has been hit, and a very easy way to accomplish this is to add a blood splatter on the edges of the screen (which will fade away afterwards) every time a player is hit.

– National Indicators for conversations with hero captains: I’ve often had some difficulty determining which nation the hero characters work for when approached with offers in the tavern. While some should be obvious, others are not always as easy. So, I’d like to see some kind of indicator showing which nation the hero captains are working for added to conversations with them. This could be as simple as the captain saying which flag they sail under, but a national emblem like the ones in the new game interface might also be a nice way to do it.

– Make player allies/boarding crew/officers immune to player attacks: Honestly, this is one of my biggest pet peeves, and something I’d like to have fixed in future. Currently, it seems as though it is entirely possible for the player to attack their own officers by mistake – though please correct me if I am wrong on this. What I want is to have the game make a players allied NPCs immune to player attacks. That way, I won’t accidentally hurt my own officers when I don’t intend to do so. The same should also apply to the generic crewmen that make up my boarding force, as it is currently rather difficult for me to tell them apart from the enemy boarders.

– Realistic Prices Option Expanded: We already have a realistic prices option for trade goods, and it’s pretty cool; I’d like to see a new option that will apply realistic price values to everything else in the game as well, from patents to trade licenses, swords to trinkets, officer and crew wages, and ships and ship upgrades. This would probably require a lot of work on Jeffrey’s part to code it all into the system, as well as a heap of effort from Modernknight to provide all the appropriate prices, but I really feel that it would be truly worth it. I don’t really like to play with the current realistic costs option on, because it makes being a merchant very unprofitable, and with the high cost of everything else in the game not changing to fall in line with the more realistic prices, it becomes hard to justify the option, especially with all of the new things we can spend it on that are being added to the game.

– Make Tortuga a pirate shipyard: Tortuga was a main pirate hangout during the buccaneering era, despite being owned by the French. As such, I feel that it would only be appropriate that Tortuga’s shipyard be changed to function as a pirate shipyard that can make upgrades to a players ships.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Vincent.

[Vincent]

Wanted to report a few bugs;

– The sound effects from the opening menu continue to play during the intro/tutorial scene when starting a new game, should probably be fixed.
– Combat music continues to play until a scene transition after defeating rapists.
– The new sail billow direction could maybe use a bit more work to refine it – it works fine currently, but I’ve noticed a few times that the sails seem to switch to the wrong direction when sailing in certain orientations compared to the wind direction.

[Vincent]

So, in the interest of getting answers to my questions from further up, I have decided to ask them one ata time, as recommended by MK. Here’s the first one;

I want to create a special quest officer, and then have my character (Svendsen) start off with him already joined to his party. How would I create this officer and assign him his chosen roles (chief gunner & fighter)? As a side note, I want to use the model for Joshamee Gibbs if possible, so I may ask for further help with that once I finish getting this officer coded.

[Vincent]

Also, I’m still wanting to try my hand at some location modelling – I have a list of scenes I’d like to try recreating in an even better way than they are now. However, I wanted to ask about models, specifically acquiring them. I’ve done some searching on the internet, and I found a site that has a number of tropical plants that would be perfect for jungle scenes, as well as a hat I want to have in the game, a few cool and unique weapons, etc. They can all be acquired for relatively cheap, and they come with a royalty free license, so I was wondering what the devs would think if I chipped in some cash and purchased the models so we could use them in the game, after getting them reviewed for proper compatibility, of course.

Also, I’m quite interested in getting a new, high-quality model for Svendsen (similar quality to the new Helen Tavrel model), and I wanted to know what the devs would say. I’m considewring going to a professional and seeing how much it would cost before saving up and paying for it myself, and I wanted to know if the devs might have some recommendations. As an aside, I’m also considering doing the same for some unique allies and enemies to go along with my planned ‘main story’ questline I’m coming up with for Svendsen.

[Vincent]

Yeah, sorry bout that. That’s some pretty exciting news you’ve shared with us, though, I’m waiting excitedly for the next update to come.

[Vincent]

Nice to hear that you liked the look of the Dying Gull, and especially that you decided to do some similar skins for the sloop and snauw. I was originally going to do one for the snauw, but I just couldn’t figure out how to get the look I wanted… sigh. My only request for those skins is that you not use a white lower hull for them, and simply have the heavily weathered texture extend from gunnel to keel. It would be cool if you could figure out a way to include the Dying Gull style windows – the ones with brown, dust covered panes with some missing, but I won’t complain if it doesn’t happen. Thanks so much for this – Ive figured out how to switch Svendsen’s starting ship to the Snauw, and that new heavily weathered skin you’re doing is the one I’d like it to start with. If you could code that change into the game’s files so I don’t have to do it myself after every update, I’d be a very happy man.

Also, I have a few flags that I custom made, though I haven’t found a way to put them into the game – if you’d like, I can send them to you so you can see if you’d like to include any of them.

[Vincent]

Hey guys, wanted to leave a few comments.

For Orazio, how’s progress on the new Willemstad? I’m very excited for that project in particular, as I plan to make it Svendsen’s main base of operations in a series of personal story quests that I’m dreaming up for him.

To ModernKnight, when can we get the files for the modelling project? I’m excited to try my hand at it.

Also, do you think you could send me the port town models you feel comfortable sharing? I have a few projects dreamed up in my head that I’d like to do – mainly a remodeling of the pirate settlement on Bermuda and a new Tortuga model. I actually have a map showing roughly how I’d like to lay out a new and bigger Tortuga, (I envision extensive wooden dock and lots of wooden structures, mixed with a smattering of stone and brick ones, forming a crescent shaped town along the edge of a sheltered bay, along with a stone fort on a rocky hilltop behind and above the town.) and I’d like to create a new Bermuda that looks a bit like the Nassau from Black Sails – so lots of palm thatched huts, tents, and a few wooden buildings for more prominent residents all built on a large, sandy shore. So anything you can send my way in the form of textures and models for those projects woul;d be really awesome.

[Vincent]

Thanks, MK. I’m trying to make a texture based on the look of the Dying Gull from PotC5. Basically, it’s going to be the characters first ship, so I wanted something that was an old, rotten, leaky tub (“It’s a piece of junk!” to quote a famous movie line…) – but it’s YOURS. So, any advice you could give on how I would go about achieving such a heavily weathered and worn look would be greatly appreciated.

[Vincent]

Jeffrey, could you be just a little more specific about how to make my character start only in Willemstad? Should I use the first method you talked about, or should I try to use the second, and can you give me a bit more information about how to code it in? I’m a complete coding noob, so a lot of the info flies over my head even if I can make out the function of certain parts.

Also, I’d like to make my character start with a custom quest officer, could you give me some details about how this would be done? Like, how do I build/program one?

In regards to the starting quest I want to do, can you give me a brief rundown on the basics of how to set one up? I want to have Svendsen start without a ship in Willemstad and then run a sequence where he finds the aforementioned quest officer and together they get some guys and steal a ship from some smugglers. I’d also like to include a short cutscene at the beginning, so could you explain how I’d do that?

On that note, I have considered wanting to make said ship a semi-unique one – essentially, I want to make it a Snauw with a custom texture and custom stats that are a bit better than average, but how would I define that kind of thing?

Also, I’d like to edit the diplomat reputation/reconciliation, trade license, and letter of marque prices, but can’t seem to find the proper files now, can you define those for me?

I would also like to set brothel prices at a fixed value, but I can’t seem to make it work. Can you help me out? I tried setting a brothel visit at 1000 gold per time, but the game didn’t seem to recognize that value (it was an ongoing game instead of a new one, so that may have something to do with it. Also, is there a way I can edit the price for a tavern room when a proposition is involved? I find it a bit silly that the bartender would charge more than normal, and would like to make the price the same as a full night in the tavern regularly costs.

I would also like to ask how to make my character start with the custom flag perk, and if I can define a specific flag from the list that he will fly from the beginning? I noticed some code in one of the files that may do it, but wanted to check and see if I was right.

Finally, I’m thinking of remodelling some of the existing port towns to match something I like better – if I’m just remodelling an existing scene, then I assume I’ll need to use the Inez tool, is this correct? And what other special considerations might I need to take into account when doing this?

Lots of questions, I know, sorry. But I appreciate any effort you can make to answer them for me.

[Vincent]

Hey, I made a custom flag for my character (Svendsen) and wanted to know if you could put it into the Personal flags selection for mas, as I have no idea how to do so.

Here’s the flag I made;

[Author]

Posts