BUGS and Fixes

[modernknight1]

THIS IS NOW THE OLD BUG AND FIXES FORUM ARCHIVE: FOR NEW BUG REPORTS PLEASE GO HERE: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/new-bugs-and-fixes-2019-2020-current/

WARNING: DO NOT PUT YOUR DOWNLOAD ON TOP OF ANY OTHER GAME VERSION. IT IS STAND ALONE AND ONCE DL’d AND PUT INTO A NEWLY CREATED EMPTY GAME FOLDER OF YOUR CHOICE THAT YOU HAVE NAMED YOURSELF ON YOUR DESKTOP – ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS TO OPEN THE FOLDER AND PRESS START If you put your download on top of another game or mod, it will mess everything up and you will have to delete everything and start again. MK

Please read the “read me” file in GOF ERAs to get an idea of the bugs that are already there.

Read Me file for GOF ERAs 2

This is a place to post new bugs, problems, or if you have the fix for something to share.

The first bug I am trying to fix is the promotion code that I wrote that adds all of the new titles. Almost have it working right and will post a patch when I do.

I almost have the character index and faces/portraits bug fixed as well. I would say another month or two on this one.

I think fixing that one will automatically fix the occasional crashing on the treasure quests when encountering Spanish ships as its character/officer related. That’s why if you reload a couple of times the officers are randomly generated and you will get a clean load without the unindexed character confusing the game.

MK

• This topic was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by modernknight1.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by modernknight1.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by modernknight1.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by modernknight1.
• This topic was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by modernknight1.
• This topic was modified 5 years ago by modernknight1.

[Devoidbrah]

Heya There Mk, heres Darthtuvok, I gonna report in some “buggs” i encountered; I will also try to make a promotional video and catch some buggs on tape. 😉

Also if youre still interested in the german stuff, hit me up ^^

Current encountered buggs:
-Boarding doesnt work on some occasions, seems like some matches you can board and on other matches the boarding script doesnt function for the player, you can still be boarded though. At mid speed of the game it gets a little bit annoying, but once you have a tier 4 ship you just bomb em to death if the match is “unboardable”, and it doesnt have anything to do with using a ship that one cant handle. I tried it with 6-3rd rates and it seems quite random and i dont know what triggers it.
But on hindsight of the awesomeness of the mod this is just a little bitter drop one swallows.
Haha, i said “swallow”. xD

Cheers and i gonna hit yu up on the media stuff soon. 😀

[modernknight1]

Hey DT,

Thanks for the report! OK so I have some questions and some ideas. I have had boarding problems in my game as well. However, if I keep fighting a bunch and get real close at the proper angle (even if it means I bump up to the ship 6 or 7 times) the boarding icon finally appears.

Regardless, I did do a little rewriting on some of the boarding code. So I need to ask….

– What character are you playing?
– What nationality are you playing?
– What level are you?
– What is your boarding skill?
– Do you have any of my items or books that enhance boarding skill on your character?
– What is your Bosun’s boarding skill and does he have any special items?
– Was this happening earlier in your game or did you notice it start happening at a certain point?

Its important I know these things because I want to tweak the code again and I have two new items for the next patch that effect boarding. SPOILER: One item isn’t totally authentic but I found some historical experiments. Its a blunderbuss that shoots a grappling hook. It will give +30 to boarding ability score.

I want to do a series of static experiments with modified ability stats and distance factors. I want to release the new stuff that’s almost ready so a patch will be coming out in March.

The website is only half open right now so I know some people have had a hard time signing up and I don’t have the PM function fully enabled yet. All this to say that I will PM you on MODDB instead of here and yes I am very interested.

I estimate I will have all functions for the website up and running by next week and the Forums completely open and readable in two weeks. Regardless, I am getting alerts from WordPress that the site is doing really well and getting thousands of looks. I am really surprised. I thought there would be only two or three dozen people coming here everyday – but its hundreds.

This makes me really happy and I plan to do a really good job to keep up the momentum and get fresh content up here. The mod has already been loaded hundreds of times and its only been available a few days. I can’t hardly believe it!

I would love to see more bug reports though and I believe I have the member sign-up problems fixed now.

Thanks again DT!

MK

[Devoidbrah]

Gimme a sec im upploading the pics 😀

[Devoidbrah]

This ship was modified from the pirate port, so thats why the crazy stats^^ At that date is i I think Dec 12th 1665

[Devoidbrah]

About the bug, I noticed it once i switched to a 20 gun frigate, apparently the enemy was mostly boarding me and I thought in the beginnings that the boarding didnt work because my skillset was too low.

But at some point when youre standing 20 meters away from the enemy ship, perfectly aligned, everyones ready to baord, but youre not able to do it, you scratch your head a bit^^

I noticed that boarding probability is higher when your sails are not hoisted, also, theres some ships, that for some reason cannot be boarded at all.
There was 2 hours ago a battle, where 2 frigates from a dutch military convoy were chasing after me so, i started to fight them and one couldnt be boarded, while the one i have now, it was the one i couldnt board, charged at me and i took it, a pretty fine ship she is now 😉

*Offtopic: Seems like edit post, seems to work now. Sorry for clogging up the bugfix thread^^

• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by Devoidbrah.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by Devoidbrah.

[modernknight1]

test post

[Devoidbrah]

ok since everything works now, heres the update:
marchant lugger and ketch of the english, caused a ctd after the transition when you finished boarding the ship and after allocating whether to sink it or take it, no matter what option you choose, it will ctd.
The only option i found that worked was to not board these ships and just destroy em. Im in year 1667 now and boardings are as rare as someone coming to you to ask you for help when youre a shark reputation XD

But somehow this makes the money income pretty stagnant so you really dont end up with trillions of coins.
On other terms, the treasure rewards are way over the top, if you ask me. You will literally spent hours dragging the loot from the cave to the ship, my ship is full of gold and silver and all that stuff. But if you take the gold you trade at the trader and the gold you trade on the streets, it really isnt realistic, and the prices should be lowered, since one just has to run one treasure hunt now and he can feed his man o war for a year and a half. Or am I missing something?

Also i saw now an increase in ctds lately, I dunno whats the reason for it but Im starting to get corrupt saves and ctds when saving, ctds when switching from sea to mapview (though this only happened 2 times overall), but its more of a feeling that ctds are increasing, in the beginning its almost ctd free in comparison.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by Devoidbrah.

[Devoidbrah]

Sadly i dont have the save anymore, darn me for overwriting them all the time. But the next time it happens i gonna upload it to you, and test it myself the 10x times you wanted, instead of just 5 times 😉

[modernknight1]

OK a couple more questions….I have played this version to level34 year1667 with no problems like you describe. The fact that you can board and kill the captain tells me this is something other than the character index problem I thought.

– So what character are you?
– What nation are you?
– What ship are you using?
– What nationality are these ships that are producing the CTD?
– Have you run the debugger and can you get me an error log file to look at?
– Are any of your ships dismasted?
– How many ships do you have in your current fleet/squadron?

I have one thing I want you to try the next time this happens. DO NOT EXCHANGE ANY CARGO with the captured ship and see if it still CTDs. If it doesn’t then I know what the problem is.

The virtual function call is an old problem and usually associated with a violation of boundaries like the ships weight increase from looted cargo causing it to sit too low…even under the water which will cause CTD – or a mast missing causing a loopback that confuses the game.

I have received the criticism on treasures already. I need to tweak the probability factors to make them more rare. However I have so many new things that I want everyone to see them so I don’t want them so rare that you never find them either.

ERAs is still a work in progress. Keep sending me the input DT its very valuable to me. Also data received. Thanks very much. You’re awesome!

MK

• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by modernknight1.

[Devoidbrah]

Its still the same character as above, and he uses the same ship.
Now i think im lvl 25 or so, I bought my character a clean slate and switched from the english to the dutch, and started working for the governor general.

I will most likely to have to switch to a stronger ship, but then the upkeep cost will be so high that i need first to aquire huge sums of money first and foremost. my frigate already feed each month for 50k and i tried it with a crew of 700 men and had to pay 100k, maybe i find a good speedy ship in the next lvls, but i doubt it will reach the speed my dutch frigate has atm, which is 20 max speed.

[Kuroi]

I got my first crash after quite a few hours of gameplay. Someone in the tavern in Willemstad told me about the “Jesus Maria” hauling Mahogany from Willemstad to Port Marigot.
It’s one spanish merchant and the game crashes every time I’m trying to attack it (tried it 6 times). It doesn’t crash when I’m attacking another fleet in the area, I have realistic encounters enabled and my fleet consists of 4 ships.

[modernknight1]

Welcome to the Reef Kuroi!

I am sorry about the crash. However from my perspective I am so glad you are telling me about it – ELATED actually. What you’re telling me is really important. For sometime I have been trying to isolate a crash that happens on treasure quests with Spanish convoys when you take a treasure quest mission to attack the convoys.

I first assumed it was a specific ships causing the crash. So I carefully tested every ship looked at where its names might be corrupted throughout the code. Then I turned to the NPCs aboard. I have always assumed the problem was in the character index and naming as I changed this drastically from vanilla and without documenting everything as I went.

I thought it was with the officers because I made so many changes. However, what you are telling me is that it is a merchant ship you’re going after so there would be no Spanish military officers aboard. This is logical to me because I thought I finally had the Spanish officers correct so that you should be able to encounter and board the Spanish minor-quest ships. SO I need to rename the Spanish civilian NPCs back to vanilla values and this crash problem is solved.

It should have been right in front of me all along. I was looking in the wrong place. I have been trying to fix this problem for months. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it being the civilian NPCs. Thats the solution! THANK YOU.

I will be producing the new patch very soon, because with this information I will finally be able to fix this problem. THANKS!!!

Oh one other thing I need to ask. You didn’t actually ever see the ship right? Its when you tried to go from strategic world-view to sail mode that the crash occurs during the loading screen – right?

MK

• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by modernknight1.

[Kuroi]

Yes the crash occured during the loading screen.I’m glad my information helped you fixing the only real problem I experienced in this mod so far. Keep up the good work!

[sgmret]

MK, I’m having the same kind of problem as Kuroi. My crashes happen when I come off the strategic map during named-pirate ship-battle quests. Have used two different characters, Phips and England, and the same problem happens. Quests with shore-battles work fine. I’m using latest download. When I was using the older version I didn’t have this problem.

[modernknight1]

Thanks very much for the report SGMRET. Welcome!

OK, the fact that it was not happening in the older download is helpful in isolation – and actually partially makes sense. There are two identical utils files that are used in different places. One was updated and one was not.

I do have one other question though.

Does it happen all the time with all nations on these type of missions – OR only against Spanish?

I fixed the Spanish officers and am updating the Spanish civilians. I did rename the English civilians as well so am taking them back to their vanilla naming convention too.

If any of the quests were against French or Dutch and having the same issue, then I am going to have to expand my search to kill the bug. I think I may issue a separate bug fix just for this one bug rather than wait to put it in the patch because I want folks to test it.

Is this the only problem you’ve been having. Have you had any boarding issues?

MK

[sgmret]

The crashes happened with England against the French at Cayman and with
Phips against the Spanish at Fort de France and Charlestown.

Those are the only ones I’ve tried since I downloaded the new version.
Getting Pirate England to a point where I could get these quests took me
about 7 hours. I will blow his quest and see if any others pop up.

I am a real fan of COAS and the work you guys have done with GoF and Era’s.

Thanks for the quick response.

[modernknight1]

Thanks for the compliments. Always great to have fans here. Of course I am completely devoted to this game and obsessed with taking it to the next level where we will far surpass the Build mods. I think we already have in most ways. Once the new locations and quests are in we will outshine them in every way.

OK so the French ay???? Well that narrows it down to one file. I know what’s wrong because if its the French its ALL civilians in the treasure quests. Anyway that’s great because I know what I have to do.

A simple underscore symbol “_” is causing all our problems here. I need to change Citizen_01 etc to just Citezen01 and rename the models without underscores and all will be fixed.

Thanks for the additional input. It really helps.

MK

[Devoidbrah]

Ok since Im kinda addicted to the game nonetheless, I took one of the stock dutch characters and started a shipless playthrough. My aim is to only start using a ship once my personal skillz are pretty good. So basicly i gonna fight in the 3 months in tavern kill, amass as much gold as possible and get rich without sailing for some time. 😉

[sgmret]

Sounds like a pretty simple fix. Glad I could help.

What’s the file name? Can I do this myself? I did follow the instructions to recode the Dutch National Quest. Remember the problem with the different kinds of Battleships?

[modernknight1]

Its not just in one file but several. Also I have to rename a bunch of models to get it to work right as well.

On the Battleships I suppose we could do that here if everyone agrees. Make any 1st rate the equivalent of the Manowars you need to complete quest requirements.

I will put it on the “To DO” list. Its down a little ways though….

MK

[modernknight1]

double post.

Still figuring out all the web master tools….

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by modernknight1.

[sgmret]

Sorry, you made it sound simple enough that any dummy (me) could do it if pointed in the right direction.
As far as the Battleship/Manowar quest goes, I was talking about a problem that existed in GoF 1. As far as I know the Dutch Quest line works fine in ERAS.

[Kuroi]

http://i.want.tf/to/that/OtAxiG7.jpg I got this message a view times in seabattles. I’m not sure what it means and if it’s important in any way since I didn’t notice any other problems so I’ll just post it here.

[modernknight1]

Sorry folks if I made the character index problem seem like something easy to fix.

It has been an ongoing headache that I almost have done. Your clues and input have helped me very much.

Kuroi that error message is another manifestation of the character index problem. Once I have the pirates, officers and citizens renamed to a consistent standard in all the right files, you will never see that message again.

My goal is to have this bug squashed when I post the first patch of the new version in the next month or so.

Thanks for the great input! I love you guys.

MK

[belzeburg]

I have played this mod before. And it`s much better, but still get fail in the logbook about sinking Bluebird. Even if I sunk it. Really want to play Eras

Belzeburg
Don`t want to post dobbel, but not sure if I wrote on the right Place the first time

[Craig Brown]

OK, so maybe I’m an idiot but for some reason the game wont run. I was playing GOF 1.2 so I cut all the files and pasted them to a temp folder then unzipped the Eras mod and put them in my AOP 2 folder and then ran the configuration program to my desired settings and then ran the start program. I get a runtime error??? Please help

[modernknight1]

Hi Craig,

Did you get my e-mail? Did you try what I suggested?

MK

[Craig Brown]

I’m trying to re-download it but it is going really slow.

[Craig Brown]

You where right…It worked. Thank you so much!

[modernknight1]

AWESOME! Enjoy my friend. I really want to hear your opinion! I need your help on a project I’m working on. Also we can talk more – but I would like you to lead up the effort on MOD3 when I have it ready. I have not reskinned a lot of the later Era ships and they could use the famous Craigo touch.

Aaron

[Craig Brown]

The English 96 gun first rater has men climbing up in thin air instead of on the shrouds. Looks like the walk file is messed up, I could fix that if you want?

[Blas de Lezo]

I dont know if i post this in right place.

-When I leave the colony Le francoise with a squadron with 5 or more ships(when I arrived no problem) the ship listed 5(i suppose 6,7,8 in squadron will have the same problem) automatically appers in the other side of island,in middle of martinique french fort.
I know this because when i tried to leave to the worldmap a message appears about that ship is fighting and if you leave the ship left your squadron.
I dont see where is the ship but I know the ship appears near the fort french because the ship is quickly sink.So cant enter in Le francois with 5 ships or more because they’ll never leave the colony.
-English 64 gunner has ilimited cannons,every time i click “remove all or fix all” give me thousands of cannons.

Minor bugs and fixes.
-Please replace “annoying drum sound” in worldmap encounters if you want,i think the drum sounds too loud and disturbing, broke the game atmosfera.
-Mostly Spanish captains have “fake and irreal” names.The hero Blas De Lezo is wrong,you put “BlaZ”

Thanks for your work.

[Craig Brown]

Has anyone else had problems with sound going away in first person sailing mode when you cannon sight is not on screen?

[modernknight1]

@Craiggo: The fmodex sound file that I ended up using is not even from an Akella game. I ripped it open and added to it. It works better than any other fmodex file I have tried. Is this with the no hud mod that its doing this? Usually I only lose sound for a few seconds with the new file.

@nnika (Blas de Lezo) WELCOME to the Reef! Love the name. Did you see he’s a character in the game? Some would say he’s the Spanish Nelson, but I prefer to say that Nelson was the English Blaz de Lezo.

Yes I know about that problem and there is not much you can do about it. I will tell you that one thing that works well for me going in and out of here is to make all my ships furl sails except my own – before I enter the port. When I go to sail mode, I will do the same. Also if you immediately go to world view as soon as you get to sea from the dock that can keep your ships from being damaged when this happens.

Glad you like the mod and thanks for all the great compliments. It makes doing this worthwhile!

I will answer more questions but I need sleep now….

MK

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by modernknight1.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by modernknight1.

[modernknight1]

@nnika (Blas de Lezo)

I read the post again. Thanks for the correction from Blaz to Blas. Some English sources have it spelled with the “Z” and that’s why I made the mistake. I will have that fixed for the patch. Still I think I have a good variety of Spaniard NPCs in the mod.

That cannon bug is easy to fix. I got most of the ships with the problem but there are still a few out there. Thanks I will fix that one.

There are several ports that are not good when you have a large number of ships. One thing that will sometimes work for me also…..

If I stop all my ships at La Francois, and then cheat by transferring myself to the ship under attack at the same time relieving the ship of heavy cargo transferred the the ship I am on and giving the embattled ship as many men and wood/sail as I can, I can sometimes save her by getting her out of danger myself. It often depends on the wind at the time. I don’t know what I can do about this problem. Its obviously a spawning issue and La Francois and French fort on Martinique are not that far apart. I will put it on the list in case there is something we can do about spawn locators in the future.

Thanks again for the input.

MK

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by modernknight1.

[sgmret]

MK, I’m not sure that Le Francois problem is fixable. I’ve had that happen as far back as the original COAS. It also happens at Havana and Puerto Principie and it’s occurred sometimes at Capster or Bat Beaches.

[modernknight1]

@sgmret

I think you’re right. If I could find the program file that governs ship spawning and give it some additional instructions with locator and distance parameters, it might be possible to fix this. However as things stand, I have no idea where that might be in the executables OR source code files.

I would like to fix it though. I will often avoid those areas if I have more than five ships in my squadron. The only way I will go in with eight ships is if I am allied or at least at peace with the local towns where my ships will be scattered to before I go into world sail mode.

MK

[Devoidbrah]

Hooraa!!!
I started a game with one of COAS stock characters (The dutch guy in blue and red)
I am lvl 20 almost, no boarding problems to be had, everything working as it should, Im totally puzzled why the boarding didnt work in my 2 previous playthroughs….

[Streifer]

hello, im having some visual bug when i use a the king’s man o war, at times a big flash of white light from the top of the sail then at times white water lines when my ship moves, i remember this bug back in vanilla also. but i havent played this game for so long i dont remember if there was a fix for it i tried googling it but i cant find any answer

[modernknight1]

Thanks Streifer,

I will have a look and let you know what I find out.

MK

[Tartiflette]

Hello 🙂

First, i want t osay this mod is wonderful, everything i wanted in this game. Really good job

I only have two problems,

First one: i got sound bug when i’m on first person on ships. Ships sound effect (canon, sails, woods, etc..) dont work in first person mode except when i use scope, or when crosshair is visible. When crosshair disapear ships sound related disapear, only sea sounds play. Same with scope. Any idea on how to fix that ? its only do this with the mod.

Second one: I play with John Strong, im at Port Royal and want to go to “fort de france” with smuggler travel as i sold my ship. Everything work fine, except when im entering to the shore where i must take the boat (after payment) the game crash.

Thanks for your answer 🙂

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by Tartiflette.

[modernknight1]

Welcome Tartiflette and thank you for the compliments.

On the first question read this post: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/what-i-am-currently-working-on/#post-732

On the second question. That’s an old bug no one has been able to figure out. It also happens sometimes when you’ve taken a mission to act with another pirate to take treasure from a wrecked convoy.

There is a workaround that usually works 99 percent of the time.

Go back to the save where you are smuggling. Instead of going to the boat and back to your ship when you are done swapping goods, go into the jungle. Then turn around and from the jungle go back to that beach and board your boat. It should not crash now.

MK

[Tartiflette]

Thanks, hope you will cant get something on the sound bug!

About my second problem, i mispelled, i didnt talk about smuggling goods but the option to sails with smuggler , go to another island with them, its that who crash my game while loading to the shore for take the smuggler boat.

[modernknight1]

OK let me make certain that I understand you….

Do you mean when you ask the smuggler to take you somewhere because you don’t have a ship yourself anymore?

If that is the case I did not realize there was a bug. I will look into it. Its on my list to try. Been a long time since I’ve done that.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

MK

[Tartiflette]

Yes its that, my game crash when entering the shore with the smuggler’s ship. 🙂 i was in Port Royal and was going to “Fort de france” with them, then on “shore of portland” it crash.

[Craig Brown]

Did you get it sorted out?

[modernknight1]

Not yet. Just started a new game with all the latest patch content. I’m French. I’m going to do the smuggler thing shortly.

MK

[sgmret]

Hey MK, I don’t know if this qualifies as a bug, but some of my higher level NPC’s don’t use the best armor. For example: uses French Fencing Gloves vice Spanish Breastplate. Also sometimes don’t use the best pistol (uses single-shot instead of Brace of Pistols) when qualified with Cleaver Shot skill. Again don’t know if this is bug or something written into the code to give them more choices based on weight and accuracy. Still playing and loving it. sgmret

[LordOfWar]

I think what I am experiencing is a bug. my ship can hold 379 crew member but when I board a ship and I am sure I don’t get any causalities I discover my crew has decreased to 233. my ship is (Marchand rapide), but this bug happens to most of the ship I used not sure it happens to all of them but I noticed that my crew are decreasing lately when I board a ship. sometimes when a ship surrenders and I board it my crew decrease. I made sure to check my crew number before and after boarding and checked if my crew died by musket volley or not.

[modernknight1]

@SGMRET Glad you’re enjoying the mod. Yeah I know about that bug. I actually put something about it in the original read me file. I am still investigating this. I don’t know why it favors the lighter weight item like the fencing gloves. I think in the vanilla game the lighter it was the more protective as well. I need to rewrite some logic somewhere.

@Waleed I am aware of this bug as well. I am looking into it. Thanks. I think I may know the solution.

BTW there is a new patch I just posted so be sure to get it.

MK

[0range]

Hey, that is me again. I noticed that the logbook gives an error omitting the location’s destination in store merchant’s quests (Merchant winds I guess). I mean “asked to deliver to Port Orange in .”. And after the “in” it is empty.

So it is essential to remember where to when you receive the merchant’s quest, if you are not familiar with the region map, as in my case. The Logbook won’t help you much since it gives name of the port, not the name of the island.

MK, when you will be fixing that issue, I suggest you might please add the nation’s name of the port of the destination to the merchant’s speech when he gives the job, ex: “british Port Royal”? Please? Because it used to happen that I come to the destination port to deliver the goods and get killed by the ships in the bay because it happened to be a port of an enemy nation 😀

[Edward Teach]

Having the same log book destination issue. I simply get “Deliver 100 pounds of silk from Port Royale in . to St. Martin in .” With periods replacing destination names. Pretty sure I have latest version as well.

[Samir]

Hello, I’m not sure if I have encountered a bug, but I’m getting CDT’s when approaching an enemy ship. I’m playing as Edward Teach. The CDT is happening near Port-au-Prince, after I met a pirate in the tavern who proposed me to join forces. Then at his ship deck (I think his ship is called Letin), he told me about a shipwreck of a French treasure ship, and that we have 10 days to get there and collect the silver. Then I went to sea and I got a message that I was recognized by French ships. One of their ships was approaching me, so I went to meet him. He fires a few shots at me with front cannons, but after I come closer to him, a CDT occurs. It happens every time I load the save game and approach that ship. I tried it 6-7 times, every time the same… Any idea how to fix this, because I cannot sail to the opposite side, since there is French fort and 3-4 French ships. I can provide a save game if needed.

[modernknight1]

@Orange, I am sorry I didn’t see your post about the log book issue. I will look into it. I know sometimes it doesn’t post everything. Between Jeffrey’s fixes and my own I am hoping that a whole lot of issues will be resolved with the release of the upcoming MEGA patch.

@Samir, Yes could you send me your savegame? Also if you activate logging as I describe in the Patches thread that would be helpful too. There are a few ships left with some entry issues and just a few badly indexed characters still running around as well. I almost have all of these fixed but suspect that is what’s happening to you. To keep your game going you may have to run away and blow off this quest.

MK

[truth serum]

BUG Report Follows:

1. Who: Captain Peter Jennings
2. What: game crash during treasure quest against French convoy. My ship: English 38 gun 4th rater. Companion: Pierre le Picard in a Pequena Caravella. My level: 27. Enemy convoy ships: 2 barques, 1 petite barque, 1 pinaza, 1 20 gun Dutch fregatte, 1 French ordere seconde.
3. Where: Turks
4. When: 24 October 1667 2350 hrs
5. Why: unknown

Addl info: reloaded numerous times. Battle goes for about 5 minutes then crashes before I can board.

[modernknight1]

Thanks for the SITREP (repleat with 5 “W’s”) John,

No mistaking your background LOL!

If you look carefully at the Patches thread I give instructions for how to enable loggers. It would be helpful to me if you would do that and reload and play again and then send me the files.

I suspect that this is a character problem with a captain or lieutenant on one of the enemy ships OR its a time problem. I noticed that you said it was 2350 hours. Sometimes there is a glitch that happens at midnight during battles when the time changes to the next day that will crash the game. Haven’t been able to figure out why. Here’s my advice to see if this is the case. At 5 minutes before midnight, go below to your cabin. (don’t worry the battle will still be there when you go back out) Wait for the time to go to 0005 hours and then go back out on deck. This workaround has helped me many times in this situation. See if it works for you.

MK

[truth serum]

MK, Your recommendation worked. Went into the cabin as you suggested and waited till 0005hrs and returned to the fight. No crash. You obviously know this game well. Who woulda thunk that was the issue?
Thank you Sir.

[Samir]

Is this a repeating bug from the old GoF? Cause I just got a CDT after this man spoke to me… I had same issue with GoF 2.1.4…

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by Samir.

[modernknight1]

That has never been a bug so I don’t think so. Can you send an error log? There was only one character import I ever had that problem with and he crashed the game talking to anyone. I couldn’t modify his animation to work correctly and that was the issue. Obviously I didn’t use him in the game.

You are playing as Edward England and I played an entire game as England a short time ago and had no issues. I just started a game as England on Pirate colony and went to talk to Atila and had no issues.

The only reasons I could think of that could be causing this is if you have other quests that are not yet resolved. Have you started/or are you in the middle of any other quests involving characters on Pirate Colony? OR you have been tinkering and implemented some of the edits from the patch page that aren’t yet complete in a comprehensive patch yet.

MK

[Samir]

It’s ok now. Happened only once. I don’t know where is the error log located in the game directory.

[Samir]

Not sure if this is a bug. It came up when the battle started. I didn’t notice any problems in gameplay though, there was just this text up.

[modernknight1]

Samir,

Yes that is a bug. The highest priority bug on my list. It has to do with the Character index and faces. I have been working on it for months. It has got better and better. It used to be that it would come down in an entire string. Now usually you only see a few entries or only one. The game doesn’t like the enemy captain you are going against from the index and/or his face doesn’t match the character or doesn’t exist yet.

MK

[truth serum]

BUG Report Follows:

1. Who: Captain Peter Jennings (Pirate nation)
2. What: game crash during boarding of English Second Rater. My ship: English 58 gun 3rd rater. Fleet: 3 additional 58 gun 3rd raters and 1 38 gun Fourth rater. My level: 29. Enemy squadron ships: 2 96 gun 1st raters, 1 second rater and 1 6th rater.
3. Where: South of Bridgetown.
4. When: 16 April 1668 1920 hrs
5. Why: unknown

Addl info: reloaded numerous times. Every time I try to board the 2nd rater the game crashes during the transition screen.

[modernknight1]

John, Thanks for the report.

I PM’d you about exactly what to do to get the error loggers on. Please send me the files I asked for. Sometimes with enough reloads it will eventually work if it is a character problem because sometimes it will change out the bad character I think??? This game sometimes requires some patience. This is one reason I always save a lot and especially before battles so that a different group of ships/characters is generated.

MK

[Jeffrey]

I will reiterate about enabling logging and sending system.log, compile.log, error.log files upon crashes, as it is very difficult to figure the problems without them because it might be a case we can’t replicate all the variables ourselves.

I would also be willing to review any error files and perhaps even try running from a boarding save file if I can get them.

I will say that it’s been quite a long time I’ve been comfortable playing COAS of any style without a crash. As it stands, in my particular version of ERAS, with my employed alterations, I play with abandon now and can only recall one crash I couldn’t figure out within the last couple weeks, and none for the recent many hours I’ve spent. I attack, fight, board many ships and pretty much cause as much mayhem as possible and I’ve been very stable, so it’s quite possible I’ve already employed some changes that already resolve truth serum’s issue if I can get a peek at it.

[modernknight1]

Jeffrey,

Thanks!

I haven’t yet uploaded the sourcecode. Gonna try tonight. I got really sick the last couple days and have mostly been in bed sleeping. Would you mind if I gave you higher site status – moderator or keymaster? I would love for you to get all of the error reports I have been getting and would like to share them with you easier. I really don’t have the time to look through them while I am trying to get all of these improvements and your fixes put together into one package for everyone.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Sure, I don’t mind…well, as long as it carries no further responsibility on my part to vanquish spammers or keep law-and-order…I’m lazy by nature (my running joke as I’m usually banging code, both work and ‘fun’, to all hours of the night) 😉

But I figure it might be more efficient if you focus on the planned improvements and I can certainly review what I can about reported errors. Undoubtedly many might be due to issues I’ve already discovered, such as those pesky divide-by-zero moments.

[modernknight1]

Great! No other responsibilities required. I take care of the spammers. There are a lot of them too. I have had a lot of outsiders want me to open up the site to adds as well but I really wanted to stay away from that. I don’t feel it would attract more people and would probably annoy some that are here already.

That’s awesome that your game is so stable. It will be so nice to have everyone on the same page. I believe that word of mouth alone will get out there about this once the new patch is out more people will come. Even with my absence sick in bed the last day the site has had some really high traffic days. We had over 260 viewers yesterday and we are at 274 today and the day is not yet over.

I am not a coder by trade. I was always management or senior management regardless of my credentials. I knew enough to know what I was looking at when people wanted me to come look over their shoulder and explain what I wanted done. Plus most of my knowledge was in old FORTRAN. I am a dinosaur. I am pretty good with XML still. I will reiterate that it is so awesome to have you here!

MK

[Jeffrey]

There is a camera location problem on Le Vaisseau Amiral du Roi. I believe this was a similar issue in the GOF SoleyRu, that was corrected by changing the model camera locator; I seem to recall downloading corrected files for that similar issue that fixed that particular ship.

Not entirely relevant, but heck, let’s go storytime 🙂

I was sailing the seas, minding my own business, when a 2-ship Dutch patrol gets pesky. Fine, let’s do this…

Another Day, Another Boarding

Their partner takes flight…good luck outrunning the Dog of War

After eventually dispatching that ship, go back to sea, merely trying to mind my own business, when I get accosted by a 4-ship French patrol. Take a look, and holy smokes! But, in a lapse of good judgment and arrogance, “What the heck, let’s do this.”

Tragic lunacy.

Because what I was dealing with, though I knew better and should have just fled, was Le Vaisseau du Roi 1st rater, Almirante Galeon 2nd rater and two French Capitol Warships 3rd raters…with my Corvette Dog of War, Brig Queen, French Cinquente Tireur, VOC Escort Frigate.

For pirating, I must say I like those VOC Escorts. They have good speed, nice holds, decent crew complement, and good armament, yet remain class 5, so I can usually take a couple into enemy ports with my stealth rating. Though they have no bow chasers, I usually do the chasing and simply swap cargo to them, or have them board ships in the midst of battles. I used to have two of them in my squadron, but unfortunately, that Cinquente tried to board one of my companion ships, lost, and of course my companion opted for the higher rated ship and took command. Sigh. Makes going to enemy port a little rougher with the additional 4th rater and we’ve had a few fort scrapes because of this.

Don’t mess with my companions. The first perks I give them are God of Death, Musket Volley, Quick Reloading and Foresight; they also all have Grappling bonus items, giving 90-100 grappling scores. We pepper with cannon fire from distance, as it closes, switch to chains, then when the enemy ships are near, I switch everyone to grapes and toggle Foresight on, while they go to town. By the time the ships draw near, I command them to board when it’s a lower or equal rating, the opponents are quickly dispatched and sunk…except in those cases like the Cinquente, where the enemy foolishly try to board and now I wind up with a nice ship, but unwanted nonetheless, LOL.

Anyway, employed those tactics as these ships were NOT going to be sunk quickly for sure, even with bombs…though we did employ them at first this time. We got rid of the Almirante, but not before my VOC was sunk. I thankfully was fairly near this, so picked up my companion captain in the lifeboat…phew, back on board! I’m dealing with my own mayhem, lost about half my workable cannons on the Dog of War, rapidly circling and firing grapes everywhere.

I think Corvette is the wrong term…that thing is really a Porsche. It is so fast, I usually circle a ship at either the bow/stern in the same direction the enemy is trying to turn broadside on me. Using the wind direction as my guide, I can usually stay perpendicular to them for half a dozen grape shots with my broadsides before their broadside finally reaches me for one shot; I board them right before they do so 🙂 But in this case, the ships carry too large a crew, and they were all over the place, so no boarding just yet.

So, in the thick of it…bad news. My Cinquente is gone. Frickin’ French Warship boarded the already decimated crew from when the Almirante tried to grapple and lost. But even worse, if I’m to get my companion back, I have to head over there and it’s upwind, and the 1st rater and 2 remaining Warships are pummeling me…Brig Queen is nearly decimated and I instruct to flee. F**** it…let’s go get her…we’ll pick up Morgan in the lifeboat and see if we make it out alive. I make a beeline, straight at the Warship that sunk Morgan’s ship, because they are still situated right where the lifeboat sits. I’m getting broadsided repeatedly by the Vaisseau and a Warship, the other off in the distance, chasing Queen I think.

I reach Morgan, she steps on board and I just keep going…right to board the Warship as I’ve got no chance unless I fight this thing out hand-to-hand. We on the Dog of War are severely outnumbered, but we’ve got the skills! My crew are Seadogs, I perk my fighters with everything I find, they get the bonuses, best weapons, armor, and yeah, it’s a cheat, but I always go for the Tenochtitlan ‘pistol’ and carry that baby. Also, in cases like these, where the enemy vastly outnumbers, the Berserk perk! I get my bearings and run toward the biggest horde of enemy I see, while running, just getting close, I’ve already got the <Enter> key displaying my icons, hovering over Berserk. Run up, click <Enter> to fire up Berserk and <Shift> attack. Sweeping blade that hits everyone near…3 fall immediately :). Step back and boom, boom, boom, boom…4 shots from my ‘pistol’, two more drop and I quickly lunge/pierce the remaining two where they stand, then just start hacking at anyone else.

We win, all my fighters intact, but quite a large hit to my crew. Hilariously, after my skimpy crew slaughtered the Warship’s, the captain just cowered and surrendered upon my cabin entry. Wuss! LOL I swap ships, I need the larger quantity guns because almost none are working on the Dog. They are slow to reload, but the hull of this ship is in very good shape, so I can take some hits from the Vaisseau. I tell the Dog, in which I left only a handful to operate, to get the heck out of here! Head toward the 1st rater and fire grapes when finally ready. I only get about one more swipe at them, but I have noticed a markedly increase in the amount of time it takes for them to fire, so I’m guessing over the course of this, our grape attacks have put a sizable dent in their crew…I’m about to find out.

We board.

Frickin’ mayhem. I’ve already lost crew, and so have they, but this ship carries over 1,000. Same tactics as before, and when all is said and done, my fighters remain standing and 10 of my crew. I transfer command of the 1st rater and continue on with my crew of 10 on the Warship to pursue our last nemesis, the other Warship. This one has now given up chase of the Queen, which is now out of battle range and has turned toward me. I fires at me a couple times, but I’ve gone on the suicide mission of ‘one more time!’ I keep heading toward them, fire once with grapes and know that reload is going to be impossible by the time this ship reaches us. No matter. The other Warship quickly asks to pay in lieu of further attack. I can see why, when such a meager force has taken your entire force down, LOL. But, since I was already sweating this out, I quickly agree. But you know, casually, “Sure, why not?” 😉

Phew.

That first photo of the camera problem shows the aftermath. Yikes. Lost all my lovely Seadog crew. I still have my entire set of officers; was able to pick up my two when we lost our VOC and Cinquente. Now we have a French Warship and Le Vaiseau du Roi…what the heck am I gonna do with those?! They’re not exactly low-profile, LOL

[modernknight1]

Jeffrey,

Wow, Just Wow!!!

I love stories like that! This is one of the reasons I love this game so much. I am going to leave your narrative here, but I am also going to cut and paste it into the “How is your game going” topic. I have meant to write over there myself but have been so busy and so ill.

I have never played with the Vasseau Amiral du Roi myself so I didn’t know it had that bug. Is it everywhere on the ship, or just in certain parts? I was not aware of the fix for the Soleyru either but I have never played with that ship as well. What is the fix? I’d like it in here as part of the patch.

I am a purist on the historical authenticity front but have been criticized for not doing more with the ships speeds and turning rates and as a result our game is too “ARCADEY”. I agree but there is also fun factor to consider and as realistic and authentic as this game is, when you get special ships they should have very SPECIAL attributes so the fact that she moves like a “PORSCHE” to me is just part of the fun. At least its not like other games where everything in the game moves like that.

Speaking of that I saw a conversation over at PA (sorry for mentioning it in advance) where some guy says that some edits you gave him regarding turning slower, cause everything to turn into luggers. I was like WTF! I am wondering if he didn’t start a new game with the edits. Also, if he got the right answer somewhere else why isn’t he sharing it with everyone else there?

I know I’ve said I don’t like folks posting over there, but will someone please ask that knucklehead why he won’t post the correct solution for everyone if he is going to mention it. That really bothers me. Obviously I CAN’T post over there or ask.

Really enjoyed the narrative Jeffrey!

EDIT: I also enjoy the VOC Escort Frigatte as well for the same reasons. There is a reason why I added some very capable class 5 ships to the mix. My thoughts were that a lot of these mass produced ships would be easy to handle by more inexperienced captains. I think they bring a lot of game play balance.

MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

Heh, just noticed that post you mentioned. I know why…or can at least surmise, that he caused a syntax error in the function, so it’s a run-time fail and all generated ships are now a default because it can’t execute the proper property settings for other ship types.

I posted a reply.

[Jeffrey]

In the 3rd person, the camera is super high up, and you can’t see anything near you, or the hull of your ship. The Soleil in GOF suffered similarly and people complained about it. The model files were changed for that ship, with different masts or camera locators…or something as I’m not versed on that sort of thing. Most links are dead, but I still have it in my FireFox download history and it keeps the link I got it from (thanks, Firefox 🙂 )

I got that ship’s fix here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/n2xswazcejh35de/SoleilRoyal1.7z

Don’t ask me how I found that, because today’s googling didn’t help me at all…maybe my google kung fu was better those months ago and I’m weak now? LOL

It’s different, but not knowing the specifics of these things, maybe with the proper software tools to open/view, it will become evident what they did to perhaps change Le Vaisseau? I don’t know.

[Jeffrey]

“There is a reason why I added some very capable class 5 ships to the mix. My thoughts were that a lot of these mass produced ships would be easy to handle by more inexperienced captains. I think they bring a lot of game play balance.”

When I first captured a VOC Escort, I saw the crew capability, hold, hull numbers, cannons and 5th rate and thought, “What the?” But that’s as far as I took it…jumped on it. Perfect for my endeavors! Who am I to question such good fortune?! 🙂 I love them for now…not as much as I do that Dog of War, but it’s a bit small for hold and being class 3 is a bit burdensome for porting, but that’s a tough one to put away; that thing is special for sure. Too bad that Mechanic couldn’t make me two 😉

[Jeffrey]

I had to do it…and it was both a fault of mine and what I suspected.

The .35 for the 35% the PA! member was looking for indeed caused a run-time error. This was probably also why I was having trouble with those GUN_ constants I was using that forced me to muck with the order of the calc in order to circumvent the errors I got using those; the number has to be preceded by a zero: 0.35

I posted my finding.

[modernknight1]

Thanks Jeffrey!

MK

[Jeffrey]

Bear with me…I’m gonna whine some.

I am so tired of whatever means this game uses to parse/compile the C code. It constantly complains about missing ) parentheses. There are other quirks that aggravate. But I know what I’m doing when it comes to coding, I know when the syntax and () match. Yet, perfectly good code ‘breaks’ inside this game. Ugh! For example, I get error.log files for this.

This broke:
nMin = GUN_MIN_WT * stf(refItm.dmg_min);

Yet, this is fine:
nMin = stf(refItm.dmg_min) * GUN_MIN_WT;

WTF?

These broke due to bad parens:
bGunCheck = (n < 2) || bShootistCheck || bClever;
bShootistCheck = (n < 4) && bShootist;
bCirassCheck = (refItm.id == “cirass6”) || (refItm.id == “cirass12”) || (refItm.id == “cirass13”);

Tell me those parentheses don’t ‘match’ as the error log told me.

Yet take them out, and it’s fine:

bGunCheck = n < 2 || bShootistCheck || bClever;
bShootistCheck = n < 4 && bShootist;
bCirassCheck = refItm.id == “cirass6” || refItm.id == “cirass12” || refItm.id == “cirass13”;

Sure, in these cases the logic works the same, but I like adding them for clarity of ‘what goes together’, which is a good thing to do in code.

I had a formula that absolutely required a parenthetical group to calc correctly, but I couldn’t do it…no way to get around it with one simple line, which was all that normally would suffice.

Instead, after much launch, run, error, quit, review error, rework calc by ‘guessing’ what the parser doesn’t like, repeat over and over through trial/error, I finally arrive at a version that doesn’t error, yet SHOULD have worked all along. Tedious, time-consuming and frustrating. So now, my simple, one-line formula requires several variables and chopped into multiple lines to remove all parenthesis and weird complaints about the ‘order’ of where a constant had to go…before/after some arbitrary who-knows-what like in the case of that GUN_MIN_WT. So I end up with 3 extra vars and this:

curGunValue = sti(refItm.chargeQ) * GUN_SPEED_BASE / sti(refItm.chargespeed);
curGunValue = curGunValue * sti(refItm.accuracy) / 100.0;
nMin = stf(refItm.dmg_min) * GUN_MIN_WT;
nMax = stf(refItm.dmg_max) * GUN_MAX_WT;
nTemp = nMax – nMin;
nTemp = nTemp / 2;
nTemp = nMin + nTemp;
curGunValue = curGunValue * nTemp;

I should have been able to do this without the nMin, nMax and nTemp at all, but it wouldn’t let me…presumably because it doesn’t like parens in some spots and the aforementioned weirdness of having certain ‘stuff’ after the preprocessor constants GUN_MIN_WT and GUN_MAX_WT.

Yet, sometimes, it has no problem at all with parentheses, as I’ve seen plenty of code that contains a parenthetical group that don’t cause problem. What gives?

[modernknight1]

Whining is perfectly OK concerning the STORM engine Jeffrey. I have heard a LOT of really capable people bash the crap out of it in the past. The one guy we were hoping would help port POTC over to COAS/GOF over at PA! gave up on it after a few months for very similar reasons to what you are complaining about. As a mid level coder flunky who learned from awesome guys that worked for me and would take the time out to show me stuff, I have given up on things I was trying to do many times. Often I would simply blame it on myself, but I think sometimes it was the engine at fault and I don’t have the skills you do to come up with alternative ways of doing things. More often than not I would copy phrases and statements from other games that I thought might work. This is why you will sometimes find garbage code laying around. However, sometimes it worked!

So looking at what you are doing…..Are you trying to modify the super fast machine gun fire problem that we have with small size guns? It would be awesome if you could fix that. People have been complaining about that forever. What I have come to realize (because I could never fire them that fast as a beginning RPC) is that mainly when that occurs the enemy captain is a much higher level and has good cannon skills. So I started looking at ways I could limit enemy NPC captain gunnery skills. Never had any luck with that.

MK

[Jeffrey]

What you see is the decision value for each considered pistol we were talking about.

I could certainly poke around and look for cannon fire stuff. See what I think about it.

[Jeffrey]

LOL, but I will say, yesterday I was ready to wring necks. I literally had to relaunch 20 times only to receive log errors, to eventually creatively rework and wind up with 8 new lines of code and 3 new variables to get something workable, that should have only taken one line and one variable, but just couldn’t because spurious reasons given about syntax that any other C compiler finds acceptable.

So far, most of what I’ve done in this game has involved one or two simple line changes, so no big problem with it. I can imagine that writing something more involved, from scratch could potentially be a nightmare. You could put all this code into something like Eclipse, then make a simple do-nothing stub for those external functions like GetAttributeN, that are not defined in this code, but needed for reference within Eclipse for compiling. Write something up, syntactically perfect according to Eclipse syntax checker, port the files in the game directory and have the actual game blow up at you about all the problems, that really should not be. That’s harsh because everything else would tell you that your C syntax is perfect.

I only find ways around it by experimentation and crossed fingers…I never say die and never relinquish 🙂

[modernknight1]

OK duhh… I just glanced at it a little better now and saw the “shootist” bits in there. I initially just saw GUN_SPEED_BASE and got excited. Yeah that would be great if you could take a look at that.

MK

[Jeffrey]

I think it’s a combination of reload rate and NPC skill levels. Before going into the skill levels assigned (CalculateAppropriateSkills in GeneratorUtilite.c I believe), try this in CANNONS\Cannons_init.c first:

Scroll to end and just before the last brace }, after the property setting for the last cannon, insert this:

//Testing
for(int jj=0;jj<CANNON_TYPES_QUANTITY;jj++){
Cannon[jj].ReloadTime = stf(Cannon[jj].ReloadTime) * 2.0;
}

Then either a new game, or go to mod options and reinit. This will put the lowest caliber cannons very near the reload time of the original game, yet the largest caliber will be roughly what 16-20 pounders were in the original. Tell me what you think.

[modernknight1]

I like that never say die and never relinquish attitude. AWESOME! Most of the time I am the same way. I am obsessive about this game also and there is not a better one out there presently that does everything this one does in the way it does it. Even though there is a lot of spaghetti code in there, the game design itself is pretty darn good.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Oh my goodness! You know that zero before a fraction? My GUN_MIN_WT and GUN_MAX_WT were exactly that; numbers like .75 and .5. I just changed them to be 0.75 and 0.5 and put everything back into one long formula, without the extra lines and variables, but also with the parentheses it would need. Worked without error. That was the problem with that situation all along, but had nothing to do with parens. But of course it worked the way I showed, by splitting it all up WITHOUT the preceding zero too. Bizarre, but hey, lesson learned.

[Jeffrey]

Another error cropped up in my sailing of the sea…

RUNTIME ERROR – file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 662
missed attribute: speed
RUNTIME ERROR – file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 662
no rAP data
RUNTIME ERROR – file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 662
missed attribute: speed
RUNTIME ERROR – file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 662
no rAP data

The line in particular is attempting to access Track2.Speed.

Found two ships without Track2.Speed in Ships_init.c, a property every other ship has value for.

ShipsTypes[SHIP_SOLEILROYAL]
ShipsTypes[SHIP_SOLEYRU]

//Next 3 lines only serve as typical ship def example
refShip.Track2.ZStart = -0.15;
refShip.Track2.LifeTime = 10.5;
refShip.Track2.Width = “16.0, 18.0”;
//Missing Track2.Speed here. All other ships have this property, and all but a scant few have this exact: refShip.Track2.Speed = “0.15, 0.25”;

[Jeffrey]

…I’m tellin’ ya, after my recent episode, the French are after me!

[Galleon]

HA! The Frenchies are always after me. I play Spaniard always, but I prefer hunting and killing Englishmen and sending their dear ships to the bottom.

[Blas de Lezo]

Yes,these “gabachos” want me dead too. Bounty Hunters are coming for my head.

I usually play as pirate but this new game as Spanish.
And I love hunting and killing English and Pirates(they are the same thing) this must be national sport in Golden Era. 🙂

[Jeffrey]

3 mb worth of weather errors, these were the most repeated in the file:

RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 899
invalid index -1 [size:35]
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 899
function ‘Whr_UpdateWeatherHour’ stack error
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 107
invalid index -1 [size:35]
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 107
invalid array index
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 107
function ‘GetCurrentWeather’ stack error
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 622
uninitialized aref
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 622
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrUtils.c; line: 3
uninitialized aref
RUNTIME ERROR – file: weather\WhrUtils.c; line: 3

Program\Weather\WhrWeather.c

aref GetCurrentWeather()
{
//Fix for when iCurWeatherNum = -1…borrowed from function Whr_LoadNextWeather(int nPlus)
if (iCurWeatherNum < 0)
iCurWeatherNum = iTotalNumWeathers – 1;
//End fix
aref arWeather;
makearef(arWeather,Weathers[iCurWeatherNum]);
return arWeather;
}

[modernknight1]

Love hearing about you Spanish Imperial Pirate hunters! You should have a crack at a narrative in How’s Your Game Going?

AWESOME find on the weather problem Jeffrey! Thanks again. Every little problem I can update for the patch as I close it up makes it all the better!

MK

[Jeffrey]

I found the weather problem very strange as I’d never seen it before. But after a session, I like to look for an error.log file. Lately, I don’t see one, or it’s very small with only a bad reference within Seadogs.c about the interface, which I suspect is from the game ending anyway and am not too concerned about it.

It was very surprising to see a 3 mb file the other day; it was full of that bad weather index, though I never noticed anything strange in-game. I can’t really debug the how/why a -1 index was being passed around, but that other function I refer to simply changes it to the last index if less than zero, so I did the same within GetCurrenWeather.

How do you want to go about taking a look at the cirass and gun changes I worked out? If you have a game going, pass an officer currently wearing a cuirass, a pair of Fencing Gloves or Cavalier Boots…I think once you witness that, it will make you want to make that change 🙂

[modernknight1]

Oh I fully intend to implement your changes regardless Jeffrey. I will still do as we discussed personally and only give items I want to give to officers. The fact that they no longer favor the light armor items over better protection is a huge improvement IMHO!

I am still doing too much editing to get a good game going yet. I am just doing these little test games that go 10 to 15 minutes to test stuff.

SOON I will actually be able to play….WHICH IS MY PRIME MOVING FACTOR in doing all of this work!!!

MK

[Orazio]

I have encountered a ship with wrong sailorpoints: the DutchFrigate1 (you can start the game as Cornelis Evertsen to test it).
I don’t know if Modernknight has already fixed it in the upcoming patch, but here is the right sailorpoints file:
DutchFrigate1.ini

[modernknight1]

Nice! Thanks for this. Will include in the patch and credit you. Where did you get it? Did you make it yourself (I haven’t had the time)? Or did you find it in one of the GIC downloads, because I could never find it in any of their stuff for that ships the Leardi is the original name for the ship.

MK

[Orazio]

No, I just made it from scratch. I couldn’t stand the sailors flying and going through walls 😀

I’ve also found a ship with a wrong path for the first person camera, so you can actually “walk” outside of the ship.
I’m trying to create a new correct path and import it in game, I will post it here if I will be successful.

[Orazio]

Ok, here it is. It’s the Galeon_h211, to test it start a new game with Laurens de Graaf.
The correct path file: Galen_h211_path.gm

[modernknight1]

Wow another one fixed! Thanks!!! Another one that needs a good sailorpoints file is the English 64 gunner, (Kris Wood’s Centurion), I have built my own for it but there is some kind of corruption in my converter and it causes the game to run extremely slow and glitchy if you run into one of those ships or are using one. So I simply found one that was not too bad to get by with for now.

MK

[Orazio]

I guess you are referring to the Centurion1 ship. Here is the sailorpoints file I made: Centurion1.ini
I haven’t noticed any glitch or performance issue with this file… check if it works for you.

[Orazio]

I post this here because I don’t know where else to post it…

I wonder if it is possible to have better flags on the ships: I’ve noticed that some of the flags are really indiscernible, the texture looks so stretched that it’s impossible to discern the drawing in it.

This screenshot explains what I mean:

Is there something that can be done? Like higher resolution textures?

[Jeffrey]

OK, it took awhile, but I was finally able to improve my rep enough to get the store owner in Puerto Principe to talk to me about the Blue Bird; I had to be delicate about things with my officer loyalty, so it took much longer to arrange this. Anyway, after returning to Bermudes, I found the Blue Bird quest is indeed broken and will not recognize you boarding/capturing/sinking the Blue Bird, but rather claims it got away no matter what, as a previous poster mentioned.

I found the problem and resolved it, but you have to play from a save before going to sea and engaging in battle with the Blue Bird. Find the following lines and change the reaction_functions.c code like so:

pchar.quest.BlueBird_DieHard1.win_condition.l1 = “ExitFromLocation”;
pchar.quest.BlueBird_DieHard1.win_condition.l1.location = “Bermudes”;
pchar.quest.BlueBird_DieHard1.win_condition.l2 = “NotBording”; //Insert this line as it is missing
pchar.quest.BlueBird_DieHard1.function = “BlueBird_DieHard”;
Pchar.quest.BlueBird_DieHard2.win_condition.l1 = “MapEnter”;
pchar.quest.BlueBird_DieHard2.function = “BlueBird_DieHard”;

[Jeffrey]

I encountered a bug when retrieving a ship from the port controller, past the original 3 allotted. Add this to Common_Portman.c, after the case “ShipStockManBack_3”:

//Fix add
case “ShipStockManBack_4”:
NPChar.ShipToStoreIdx = sti(NPChar.Temp.ShipToStoreId4);
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT_BASE[175];
Link.l1 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[176];
Link.l1.go = “ShipStockManBack”;
Link.l2 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[177];
Link.l2.go = “exit”;
break;

case “ShipStockManBack_5”:
NPChar.ShipToStoreIdx = sti(NPChar.Temp.ShipToStoreId5);
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT_BASE[178];
Link.l1 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[179];
Link.l1.go = “ShipStockManBack”;
Link.l2 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[180];
Link.l2.go = “exit”;
break;

case “ShipStockManBack_6”:
NPChar.ShipToStoreIdx = sti(NPChar.Temp.ShipToStoreId6);
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT_BASE[181];
Link.l1 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[182];
Link.l1.go = “ShipStockManBack”;
Link.l2 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[183];
Link.l2.go = “exit”;
break;

case “ShipStockManBack_7”:
NPChar.ShipToStoreIdx = sti(NPChar.Temp.ShipToStoreId7);
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT_BASE[175];
Link.l1 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[176];
Link.l1.go = “ShipStockManBack”;
Link.l2 = DLG_TEXT_BASE[177];
Link.l2.go = “exit”;
break;
//End add

[Jeffrey]

During the Ascold quest, when you encounter Leif, the model was changed and you are switched to pose as Leif, instead of the Native American, but there is a bug; you can shoot, but can’t sword attack…not much a problem as the skeleton ‘friends’ do the job. The ‘good news’ is that when you eventually go back to fight him, he still can’t attack you either! The system log shows the problem as animation errors and I’m not familiar with correcting these:

Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_3”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_3”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set fight attack hit action: “hit_attack_3”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight fire hit action: “hit_fire”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_3”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set block(parry) action: “parry_4”
Character animation: not set fight blockbreak action: “block_break”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fight blockbreak action: “block_break”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set feint action: “attack_feint_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set feint action: “attack_feint_4”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_3”
Character animation: not set feint action: “attack_feint_2”
Character animation: not set fight attack hit action: “hit_attack_3”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_3”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fight blockbreak action: “block_break”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_2”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_3”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_3”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_2”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_3”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fast attack action: “attack_fast_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_3”
Character animation: not set break attack action: “attack_break_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_2”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_3”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_3”
Character animation: not set fight idle “fight stand_8” action
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_4”
Character animation: not set force attack action: “attack_force_1”
Character animation: not set idle action: “idle_11”

[Jeffrey]

It just now caught my eye, but the waitress in the Curacao tavern shows a blank for her name in any dialog with her. The Program\characters\init\Curacao.c shows that the .name and .lastname are run through the xiDStr function:

ch.name = xiDStr(“Anneke”);
ch.lastname = xiDStr(“Van Tassel”);

These values were changed from GOF and from what I can tell, that xiDStr function draws from values in the RESOURCE\INI\texts\russion\dialogsource.txt, so those new values need to be added. They were originally:

Tanneken {Tanneken}
Clemence {Clemence}

So either need to replace or add:

Anneke {Anneke}
Van Tassel {Van Tassel}

Not a big deal…everything works, but a blank shows above any text dialog. This appears to be needed from the very start of the game as adding them subsequent does not alter things without doing a full character reinit, which I did not do.

[Jeffrey]

Bug fix.

Errors:

RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 921
invalid index 19 [size:19]
RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 921
invalid array index
RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 921
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 923
invalid index 19 [size:19]
RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 923
invalid array index
RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 943
invalid index 19 [size:19]
RUNTIME ERROR – file: Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 943

Loc_ai\LAi_utilites.c; line: 921

Change
num = rand(19);
to
num = rand(18);

That will select a random number index between 0 and 18, which will properly fit the array size of 19.

[Jeffrey]

Couple text fixes:

RESOURCE\INI\texts\russian\questbook\quests_texts.txt

Change:

#QUEST Hol_Line_2_TakeFoodCuraçao
to
#QUEST Hol_Line_2_TakeFoodCuracao

#QUEST Hol_Line_10_SpaAttackCuraçao
to
#QUEST Hol_Line_10_SpaAttackCuracao

[Jeffrey]

During the Dutch questline, when encountering the English squadron at Orange, there is a faceid/model problem that breaks the game. Change Program\Quests\quests_reaction.c:

From
case “DefenceOrange_FightNearJamaica”:

case 1:
ShipType = SHIP_MORDAUNT;
Model = “off_Bcapeng_1”;
Rank = 23;
Blade = “blade33”;
break;

To

case “DefenceOrange_FightNearJamaica”:

case 1:
ShipType = SHIP_MORDAUNT;
Model = “off_eng_1”;
Rank = 23;
Blade = “blade33”;
break;

The problem arises if one attempts to board the ship with the erroneous officer. Once in the captain’s cabin, there is no captain to fight and you can’t exit; the above change will rectify the problem.

[Jeffrey]

Again with the Dutch questline. Ever since the AoP, there is some ambiguity in the log entry, so change RESOURCE\INI\texts\russian\questbook\quests_texts.txt:

From
#QUEST Hol_Line_9_TakeThreeShips
Four Ships-of the-Line
#TEXT 1
My new mission is an odd one. As is well known, Holland has a problem launching big vessels, so now I am to capture four first-class ships-of-the-line, bring them to the port of Curaçao, and hand them over to the Dutch Navy. This should take some doing.
#TEXT 2
Stuyvesant has received @<QtyTook> vessels.
That makes @<QtyElse> ships, so far.
#TEXT 3
That does it for Stuyvesant’s mission. The required ships-of-the-line are all presented to the Dutch Republic.

To

#QUEST Hol_Line_9_TakeThreeShips
Four Man-o-war
#TEXT 1
My new mission is an odd one. As is well known, Holland has a problem launching big vessels, so now I am to capture four first-class man-o-war, bring them to the port of Curaçao, and hand them over to the Dutch Navy. This should take some doing.
#TEXT 2
Stuyvesant has received @<QtyTook> vessels.
That makes @<QtyElse> ships, so far.
#TEXT 3
That does it for Stuyvesant’s mission. The required man-o-war are all presented to the Dutch Republic.

The governor logic specifies SHIP_MANOWAR, so this way the log makes it clear that the ship is not a LINESHIP, but must be a man-o-war.

Also, in AoP, there is only one man-o-war ship so the SHIP_MANOWAR works, but in GOF and ERAS, there are several that are comparable, so to be fair to the player, the Program\DIALOGS\russian\Governor\hol_Governor.c should also be changed to allow for comparable ships to satisfy the requirement. Change:

case “TakeThreeShips_toAbordage”:
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT_GUB[89];
tempQty = 0;
for (i=1; i<=COMPANION_MAX; i++)
{
chComp = GetCompanionIndex(pchar,i);
if(chComp != -1)
{
sld = GetCharacter(chComp);
iShip = sti(sld.ship.type);
iBaseType = sti(RealShips[iShip].basetype);
if (iBaseType == SHIP_MANOWAR
|| iBaseType == SHIP_ZEVENPROVINCIEN
|| iBaseType == SHIP_MANOWAR_FAST
|| iBaseType == SHIP_TRINITY
|| iBaseType == SHIP_SOLEILROYAL
|| iBaseType == SHIP_SANFELIPE
|| iBaseType == SHIP_SOLEYRU) //Changed this line to include all comparable man-o-war ships

Though this forum is specifically targeted to ERAS, if anyone is interested in changing their GOF, the above line should also change, but with the following types, in a similar fashion to above: SHIP_MANOWAR, SHIP_INTREPIDE, SHIP_ENDEAVOUR, SHIP_MANOWAR_FAST, SHIP_BATTLEMANOWAR, SHIP_MANOW50_GUB, SHIP_VICTORY, SHIP_SOLEYRU, SHIP_SANFELIPE, SHIP_SOLEILROYAL

As an aside, while defending de Graf in the fight at Cartagena, I boarded one of the enemy ships just fine, fought/defeated the captain, but when closing out the screen with the ship transfer, no matter if I sink it or retain it, the game crashes. However, there is no error in any log file, so I’m unsure what the problem is at the moment. I kept a save and can continue to look, but to proceed for the moment, I simply reloaded from the boarding save and opted to simply send them all to the bottom via cannon-fire…that worked without problem.

[Jeffrey]

Interesting. Taking the suggestion to another poster about the ship/transfer crashes, I went to that save from defending de Graf in the Dutch questline task. I boarded the ship and did not transfer any goods. The game does not crash. I experimented by reloading again, but this time appoint an officer to the ship, again transfer no goods or crew (appointment and transfer of any goods already determined to crash), and again no crash. However, since the ships are so close, if I appoint a captain, then immediately select ship-transfer and transfer, then remove officer to sink, there is also no crash. Since I can’t see any relevant error in the logs, I don’t know exactly what’s wrong, but this method allows a workaround in the event of a crash; keeping boarding save option on allows one to redo and employ the workaround for problem ship board/transfers.

My ship is a French Deux Pont and the enemy ship is an Export Warship.

[Jeffrey]

I found some further Ascold/Azzy replacements I had missed (these appear from the original AoP game).

Program\Text\Dialogs\Userer\Charles_Userer.h

Change Ozzie to Azzy (just to maintain consistency with my other changes…if Ozzie is preferred then one needs to seek out the Azzy references and change those…the original game dialogs jump around between the two). These are not in any order of the file, but serve to identify:

“Ozzie sent me. He said you should have something ready for me?”,
“Listen, I need to find Ozzie.”,
“No, nothing… Listen, what kind of business is it you got with Ozzie? Just curious…”,
“You’re lookin’ for Ozzie? Bad idea. I already done told you it’ll complicate that breathing habit of yours.”,
“Sir, curiosity is not a becoming trait around here. Unless you plan on becoming a corpse, that is. Especially if the man you’re prodding is Ozzie. Now, if that’s all you need, I do have work to do…”,

Change Ozzie to Azzy

“Azzy sent me. He said you should have something ready for me?”,
“Listen, I need to find Azzy.”,
“You’re lookin’ for Azzy? Bad idea. I already done told you it’ll complicate that breathing habit of yours.”,
“No, nothing… Listen, what kind of business is it you got with Azzy? Just curious…”,
“Sir, curiosity is not a becoming trait around here. Unless you plan on becoming a corpse, that is. Especially if the man you’re prodding is Azzy. Now, if that’s all you need, I do have work to do…”,

Program\Quests\quests_reaction.c contains the following logic to create officers for the Curacao (and the later Marigo) attack:

case “SpaAttackCuracao_Battle”:

Model = “off_spa_1”;
Model = “off_spa_2”;
Model = “off_spa_3”;
Model = “off_spa_4”;
Model = “off_spa_5”;
Model = “off_spa_6”;

However these same models need a faceid to avoid some spyglass and other errors during any ship transfer in the log files. So add them in Programs\characters\characters_face.c:

…
case “off_spa_1”: rCharacter.FaceId = 73; break;
case “off_spa_2”: rCharacter.FaceId = 74; break;
//Added following
case “off_spa_3”: rCharacter.FaceId = 73; break;
case “off_spa_4”: rCharacter.FaceId = 74; break;
case “off_spa_5”: rCharacter.FaceId = 73; break;
case “off_spa_6”: rCharacter.FaceId = 74; break;
//End add
…

Note that I wasn’t sure what exact face to use, so I just replicated off_spa_1 and off_spa_2 for the missing officers for now.

[Jeffrey]

Here’s a nice fix…

Ever since GOF introduced the skill books, they never show up with the traders/store. I found out why. The functions rely on the item.id, but for the books, the TakeNItems function was being passed the item.name. Change the relevant portion of the file Program\scripts\utils.c, by removing all instances of itmname_book so it looks like the following (e.g. TakeNItems(ch,”itmname_bookleader_1″, 1) becomes TakeNItems(ch,”bookleader_1″, 1)):

//books

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookleader_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookBible_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booklight_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookfencing_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookheavy_1″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookleader_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booklight_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookfencing_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookheavy_2″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookleader_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booklight_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookfencing_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookheavy_3″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookpistols_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookluck_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookstealth_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booknavigation_1″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookpistols_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookluck_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookstealth_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booknavigation_2″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookpistols_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookluck_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookstealth_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booknavigation_3″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookaccurate_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookcannon_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookgrapple_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookdefend_1″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookaccurate_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookcannon_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookgrapple_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookdefend_2″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookaccurate_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookcannon_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookgrapple_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookdefend_3″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookrepairs_1″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookmoney_1″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookrepairs_2″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookmoney_2″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookrepairs_3″, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookmoney_3″, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookwrestling”, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”booklgtweapman”, 1);}

irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookmedweapman”, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookheavweapman”, 1);}
irand = rand(19);
if (irand == 2) {TakeNItems(ch,”bookcrunch_3″, 1);}

The same can be done for GOF, but don’t use the above code as it contains an extra…just do a manual replace of all itmname_book prefixes.

[modernknight1]

Very fine work Jeffrey! Having the books at the traders is something I have wanted forever. Good catches on the questline improvements. I had already fixed the bad officer for the Fort Orange part of the Dutch questline aboard the Mordaunts for the upcoming patch. The Van Tassel deal is some left over stuff I was working on for a new questline involving Jessica Jayontz and the Curacao bar maid. I am also working on a new questline for another character who is the governor of curacao’s daughter which is almost identical to the Isabella quest with different characters. So imagine being able to get married twice or marry the Dutch girl instead of the Spanish one. Long way from being done but the basics are in place.

I have been very busy. I became very ill and burnt out. I have been modding some for Mount and Blade stuff and doing some actual real world work. I am on my way to Aruba and Curacao tomorrow FOR REAL – not in the game – for real! Hoping to get some inspiration from walking the beaches and exploring all the historic sites. I will be gone for the next two weeks. The cruise ends in Turks. I will take pictures. When I get back I will start the final work on finishing up the patch.

I will tell you that some recent discoveries have really got me down and rethinking everything with my continuing work on ERAS. I have been wondering if it might pay just to wait a little longer to see where some of these other things go and if they might share with us or collaborate or we could promote their efforts in English as PA! really doesn’t care about assisting with any flavor of COAS or Sea Dogs: TEHO modding. I was hoping some members here might contact these people to see if they might like to share some stuff with us. I have no way to contact them at the present. Some new ships and stuff would really go a long way into recharging my batteries and my interest in working hard again on this and getting a truly amazing new version of ERAS finished. I have done a couple of new ships myself and one is pretty darned good and I think will be popular – but its nothing compared with the other stuff others are doing. Some REALLY AMAZING new things here. Should I even continue with my work on the new islands now considering??? Here’s some links:

http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/problem-with-model-in-maya.26695/

http://forums.corsairs-harbour.ru/showthread.php?t=5295

MK

[Galleon]

Have a wonderful time MK. Looking forward to the new patch. Just played through the kapp kronstad 1.2.4 mod again. We should try to import the fort. It is not near as good as eras but has some good things. You should try it a little. Your Spanish is not as bad as you think. I believe you could play it. You should look at what the idiot people at pirates ahoy are posting the last day. But maybe not until you return eh? I will try to contact these other people as you ask. I have memberships. Good journeys to you my friend.

[Steve]

MK,
New here. But I downloaded the mod and played it as Flint. When walking on his starting ship, the Walrus, I start in the cabin rather than the poopdeck and when I exit the cabin instead of going on the weatherdeck, I end up below decks in the water. It seems as though the walk path is one level lower than it should be. The steps are in the same place as I walk up/down into/out of the cabin from he same spot as the steps.
Pez

[Orazio]

You are right. The current path file seems somehow corrupted, I only see one polygon.
I will make a new one soon.

[Jeffrey]

I hope this is OK to post…

I zipped up my current adjustments to the ERAS download I have and posted to the ‘net for download here: https://mega.nz/#!7wcHXAyS!ikcAqmHgxF65FaO246BibrdP5tUQ_NJb_RD_tDlOYYw

These are merely the fixed files I have mentioned (dialog problems, errors, quest breaks, etc.) and don’t alter the original ERAS except for a few things that ModernKnight seemed to agree to in the forum discussion:

Orazio’s two new walk files are there.
Orazio’s Galleon model fix.
Orazio’s cool new image for equipment screen.
My loyalty tweak that allows for a more devoted officer becoming more likely to ignore things they don’t like and not have it affect their loyalty. For instance, a Hero officer that is devoted will be more likely to not have a loyalty decrease when you throw a captain overboard. However, they still have a chance to not like this act and will still sometimes suffer a loyalty decrease and next time will be a little less likely to ignore, until eventually their loyalty becomes bad enough they will almost never ignore acts they don’t like…and vice versa with a Shark when doing good things.
My cuirass tweaks for giving the ability to equip a girdle, fencing gloves, cavalier boots without a cuirass perk (same goes for officers who will automatically equip them if they don’t have the perk).
My cuirass/gun tweaks for officers using better logic to always select the better cuirass or better gun based on equipment specs.
A pirate nation character can get the Blue Bird quest if able to sneak into another nation’s port and talk to the store owner of the town.
A vertical scroll bar added to the F10 other-hero status screen.
Resurrected officers (using Jade Skull) from that other hero list no longer show as dead on the status screen.
Skill books become available in store and from traders.
Added the hot-key options from GOF 1.2 to have officers follow, charge, hold using G for follow, H for hold, C for charge.
Added the hot-key options from GOF 1.2 for fleet loading balls using 5, grape shot using 6, knipples using 7 and bombs using 8.

Unzip and copy/overwrite existing files. If worried, make a copy of the entire ERAS fileset on your computer before copying.

Also, given that there were a couple ship/item and array-size problems I resolved , you will probably have to reinitialize the item/ship arrays to avoid a crash upon save (I think the mod options screen has a reinit feature, but I note it is not really functional in ERAS). Enable debugger in the engine.ini file by turning on the debugger. Open engine.ini in the root of the ERAS directory with a text editor like notepad.exe and change the following if set to = 0:

debugwindow = 1
debuginfo = 1
Find _mod_on_off.h in the Program folder and with a text editor change the following if set as “Off”
#define MOD_BETTATESTMODE “On”

Launch and load a saved game and hit F11. You should see the debug window and I added the ship/item inits to the F1 option…click that F1 button (the first button in the list and you should see it also added some Gold to your main character), then click the top right X in the corner (NOT the OK button up there!). Resave your game.

With the new hot key command additions, you will probably find after you load a save that no key/mouse commands work on your character and you will have to hit the ESC key to bring up the menu, select Options, the Restore Defaults for the commands. They should then work and just resave your game.

That should do it. Hope you are able to keep playing your existing games (I believe I was able to during my debugging/fixing efforts), but if not, you may have to start a new game because of the array-sizing issues I encountered/fixed…but I don’t think you will have to if you go through that F1 exercise in the debugger.

[Jeffrey]

Ugh…I removed the .zip file from their server before now discovering two things:

The link to the new file, even with the same name, is now different.
I can no longer edit my previous post here to replace the old link with the new link.

I added Orazio’s latest file and the new link is: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

This will work better for future because it’s now a link to the folder the file resides and will not have to change if the file is updated.

[Orazio]

Thanks for this patch, Jeffrey! I see it as a “preview” of the mega patch MK is working on.

About his words, I have never tried other mods except for GoF, so sometimes I don’t fully understand what he means when he talks about other people doing better and similar.
What do other mods have more than ERAS? New gameplay features? New ships (but we have hundreds!)? New locations?
Help me understand, since I think ERAS is really good, so I am quite surprised when MK says such things.

[Orazio]

This is the new correct path file for Flint’s ship, the Walrus: Download
It has to be copied in RESOURCE\MODELS\Ships\TheBlackPearl1\ overwriting the existing one.
It may be necessary to moor and then go back to the ship to have the path file correctly update.

[Jeffrey]

Some enemy ships in my spyglass did not show a type, so I boarded them. The description allowed me to determine they were a FR_SuperiorWarship1 and 30GunFrigate missing in common.ini. For lack of a better name-type, I simply added the following:

string = 30GunFrigate,”30 Gun Fregate”
string = 30GunFrigateGen,”30 Gun Frigate”
string = 30GunFrigateAcc,”30 Gun Frigate”
string = 30GunFrigateDat,”30 Gun Frigate”

string = FR_SuperiorWarship1,”French Superior Warship”
string = FR_SuperiorWarship1Gen,”French Superior Warship”
string = FR_SuperiorWarship1Acc,”French Superior Warship”
string = FR_SuperiorWarship1Dat,”French Superior Warship”

We can change this if they should be something better, but for now, I replaced the .zip in my latest link to the download folder with the new common.ini inside.

[Jeffrey]

Another missing ship in common.ini

string = Sophie,”Sophie”
string = SophieGen,”Sophie”
string = SophieAcc,”Sophie”
string = SophieDat,”Sophie”

Updated .zip file in my download link.

[Jeffrey]

A few more fixes.

From system.log
Can’t load texture resource\textures\WEATHER\SKIES\BLUE3\SKY_FR.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture resource\textures\WEATHER\SKIES\BLUE3\SKY_LF.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture resource\textures\WEATHER\SKIES\BLUE3\SKY_BK.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture resource\textures\WEATHER\SKIES\BLUE3\SKY_RT.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture resource\textures\WEATHER\SKIES\BLUE3\SKY_UP.TGA.tx

Program\Weather\init\Day.c

Change
Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\Blue3\”;

To

Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\14\”;

Change
Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\Clouds1\”;

To

Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\16\”;

Change
Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\Overcast3\”;

To

Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\17\”;

Change
Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\Overcast3\”;

To

Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\18\”;

There are no Blue3, Clouds1, Overcast3 folders with textures in RESOURCE\Textures\WEATHER\SKIES.

Also since AoP there is a similar problem in Program\Weather\init\Special.c

Change
Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\Twilight1\”;

To
Weathers[n].Sky.Dir = “weather\skies\07\”;

Later found this in system.log:

resource\models\characters\girl_23.gm: can’t open geometry file
Character model ‘characters\girl_23’ not loaded

Problem is here: Program\scripts\utils.c

if(iSex == MAN)
{
sBody = “citiz”;
iNumber = rand(40)+1;
}
else
{
sBody = “girl”;
iNumber = rand(22)+1;
}

In RESOURCE\MODELS\Characters, the highest is Girl_22.gm, so change to:

if(iSex == MAN)
{
sBody = “citiz”;
iNumber = rand(40)+1;
}
else
{
sBody = “girl”;
iNumber = rand(21)+1;
}

I suspect this last one will resolve the occasional empty trader kiosk as the nonexistent model might probably be assigned as a trader and that is why there is sometimes an empty one.

Files updated in the .zip at my download link.

[Jeffrey]

Though I’ve done the Enchanted City quest several times, I just now noticed in the quest log texts that the second entry intended to be written for the player in this quest, is never coded anywhere and has been missing ever since the original AoP COAS. I put it where it belongs, in Program\DIALOGS\russian\Tavern\Maracaibo_Tavern.c:

case “MCTavernMar_2”:
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT_TV[15];
link.l1 = DLG_TEXT_TV[16];
link.l1.go = “exit”;
pchar.questTemp.MC = “toDesMoines”;
AddQuestRecord(“MagicCity”, “2”); //Fix add
break;

Download .zip at https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg includes updated fix.

[Jeffrey]

OK, since I tried a few things on Impossible difficulty (as seen here: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/eras-2-gameplay-on-impossible-difficulty/), I then tried Captain, and there are a few things that are completely unbalanced and I’m having a hard time understanding the logic/thinking that went into the approach. A sort of bug in COAS if you ask me.

For instance, when meeting the tavern waitress and the player is confronted by a robber — the player doesn’t stand a chance. Even at Captain difficulty (MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE = 5), the player is dead within seconds. The NPC, can kill you with one overhead, which is OK…need to be alert, parry/dodge, or quickly interrupt that swing with a thrust/swing. But, pistol shots are uninterruptible, and the NPC is many levels ahead of the Hero, so have many more hit points and many perks, and inflicts far more damage. As such, the NPC often just pulls a pistol, which you can’t stop and can’t kill them fast enough to mitigate, and they fire multiple shots at you. Dead. Against that one guy, at Captain difficulty, after many many reloads, I have not been able to defeat this robber…ever…it’s always the pistol shots which I can’t stop.

I looked at the code and I see now that even at a modest difficulty, why this is so.

The robber is created with this code, in function void WaitressFack_Enter:

iTemp = sti(pchar.rank) + rand(MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE);
FantomMakeCoolFighter(sld, iTemp, 80, 80, “topor2”, “pistol6”, 50);

That second parameter, iTemp is the rank the NPC will get and in a worst case scenario, it will be the player’s rank plus 5 in the case of Captain difficulty. Assuming I am level 5, the NPC will be a level 10 in worst case.

The 3rd and 4th parameters are the NPC’s fencing and pistol abilities = 80.

So in a case of my level 5 character, with my couple +10 bonus items that boost my fencing/pistol score to roughly 30 and my meager 70 or so hit points, I can be fighting a level 10 character, with 80 skill in fencing/pistols, the NPC will have some multiple of my max HP, and has .SuperShooter perk, along with Energaiser, SwordplayProfessional, AdvancedDefense, CriticalHit and Sliding, with 6 potions. The topor2 does min. 35.0 and 120.0…which is fine. Some good player skill and potions can keep you alive. But the NPC pistol6 makes this fight impossible. The NPC gets 2 shots, with the SuperShooter perk and the min. 35, max. 110, and once they draw, you can’t interrupt and if the first shot doesn’t kill you outright, they will immediately finish you off with a second shot.

So be it…you just don’t engage in this fight until you reach level 20+. Then maybe you can survive.

Which brings me to the Emerald City shore fight. That one is likely impossible at Captain, and even more crazy at difficulty levels beyond that. The Emerald City shore fight uses MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE to determine how many of these same fighters are against you. I have been able to fend off similar fights against 3 NPCs in the ‘defeat smuggler’ quests given by mayors, but only with my own fighters to help me (which usually have similar abilities as the NPC, so they can occupy the NPCs while I hack away at one). I can also survive multiple attackers in a boarding action, but those fighters, while still getting a difficulty bump, are not created from the ‘coolfighter’ function, but more aligned with a normal/random skill/perk selection and my fighters can help me. But in the Emerald City shore fight, the game eliminates your fighters from helping you and they are the ‘coolfighters’. So in the case of Captain level MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE = 5, I have to solo against 5 of them…while surrounded on all sides with no choke point. Even running to that opening in the wrecked ship, the opening is large enough that they can still surround me. I die within seconds because as fast as I draw a weapon and attack, at minimum, 2 or 3 of them immediately draw pistols and shoot me dead. At difficulty level 5, they are as high as level 10 against my level 5 and there are 5 of them with skills and HP way beyond my own, at difficulty level 7, there would be 7 NPCs at level 12 against my level 5 solo self, and at difficulty level 10, there would be 10 against 1, with the NPCs at level 15.

There is no way you can avoid 3-5 of them immediately taking a pistol out, doing at minimum 35 * (difficulty level) damage to you with that pistol. Presuming difficulty 5, that would be 3 of them doing instantaneous 3 * 35 = 105 HP damage to me and I have a max of roughly 70. If I were level 15, I might have more than 105 HP, but then they would all just take a second shot…so I would have to be maybe level 30? Probably even higher than that is required. But even then, after taking the first volley of shots, if I survived, I’m near dead, haven’t killed any of them because all 5 of them have way more HP than me and they will reload in less than 20 seconds (remember their SuperShooter perk also allows faster reload), and several of them will shoot me again before I can regenerate via potion and/or kill them due to their massive HP scores.

I don’t see how that Emerald City shore fight is possible. And for what? Wait until level 40, donned with the best cuirass and all the fighting perks, take them all on, then eventually you might end up with a class 4 brig? What’s the point?

[Jeffrey]

Speaking of difficulty level, while poking around looking at things, I found that the current game’s level is supposed to display on the Statistic tab, but doesn’t because ever since AoP COAS, that line is passing a font name that doesn’t exist.

In Questbook.c, change:

CreateString(true, “LevelComplexity”, XI_ConvertString(“m_Complexity”) + ” : ” + GetLevelComplexity(MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE), “INTERFACE_SMALL”, COLOR_NORMAL, 440, 334, SCRIPT_ALIGN_CENTER, 1);

To

CreateString(true, “LevelComplexity”, XI_ConvertString(“m_Complexity”) + ” : ” + GetLevelComplexity(MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE), “interface_ultrasmall”, COLOR_NORMAL, 440, 334, SCRIPT_ALIGN_CENTER, 1.0);

Updated at: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Jeffrey]

This difficulty thing got my curiosity going…since I’d never thought to try it out, I did some experimenting, with dismal results considering the two places I tried it: Tavern robber and Emerald City shore. I concocted some code to replicate both the tavern and the Emerald shore scenarios by copying the code, but placing it in a loop that first modifies the difficulty levels, then calls the proper NPC functions.

Code to produce trace output:

Trace(“My.rank = ” + pchar.rank + ” My.hp = ” + sti(pchar.chr_ai.hp) + ” My.Skill.Fencing = ” + pchar.Skill.FencingLight + ” My.Skill.Pistol = ” + pchar.Skill.Pistol);
for(int j=1; j<11; j++){
MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE = j;
int iTemp = sti(pchar.rank) + rand(MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE);
sld = GetCharacter(NPC_GenerateCharacter(“BerglarWairessQuest”, “officer_”+(rand(19)+1), “man”, “man”, iTemp, PIRATE, -1, true));
FantomMakeCoolFighter(sld, iTemp, 80, 80, “topor2”, “pistol6”, 50);
Trace(“Difficulty Level = ” + j);
Trace(“Tavern robber sld.rank = ” + sld.rank + ” sld.hp = ” + sti(sld.chr_ai.hp) + ” sld.Skill.Fencing = ” + sld.Skill.Fencing + ” sld.Skill.Pistol = ” + sld.Skill.Pistol);
for (i=1; i<=MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE; i++) {
sld = GetCharacter(NPC_GenerateCharacter(“ShoreGuard”+i, “officer_”+(i+10), “man”, “man”, 20, PIRATE, 0, true));
FantomMakeCoolFighter(sld, 20, 70, 70, “topor2”, “pistol3”, 50);

Trace(“Emerald City shore fighter #” + (i) + ” sld.rank = ” + sld.rank + ” sld.hp = ” + sti(sld.chr_ai.hp) + ” sld.Skill.Fencing = ” + sld.Skill.Fencing + ” sld.Skill.Pistol = ” + sld.Skill.Pistol);
}
}

Here are the results:
My.rank = 7 My.hp = 98 My.Skill.Fencing = 37 My.Skill.Pistol = 29
Difficulty Level = 1
Tavern robber sld.rank = 5 sld.hp = 115 sld.Skill.Fencing = 48 sld.Skill.Pistol = 48
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 12 sld.hp = 198 sld.Skill.Fencing = 42 sld.Skill.Pistol = 42
Difficulty Level = 2
Tavern robber sld.rank = 6 sld.hp = 114 sld.Skill.Fencing = 60 sld.Skill.Pistol = 60
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 15 sld.hp = 205 sld.Skill.Fencing = 53 sld.Skill.Pistol = 53
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 15 sld.hp = 178 sld.Skill.Fencing = 53 sld.Skill.Pistol = 53
Difficulty Level = 3
Tavern robber sld.rank = 8 sld.hp = 123 sld.Skill.Fencing = 68 sld.Skill.Pistol = 68
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 17 sld.hp = 239 sld.Skill.Fencing = 60 sld.Skill.Pistol = 60
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 17 sld.hp = 179 sld.Skill.Fencing = 60 sld.Skill.Pistol = 60
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 17 sld.hp = 175 sld.Skill.Fencing = 60 sld.Skill.Pistol = 60
Difficulty Level = 4
Tavern robber sld.rank = 6 sld.hp = 109 sld.Skill.Fencing = 72 sld.Skill.Pistol = 72
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 18 sld.hp = 235 sld.Skill.Fencing = 63 sld.Skill.Pistol = 63
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 18 sld.hp = 201 sld.Skill.Fencing = 63 sld.Skill.Pistol = 63
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 18 sld.hp = 162 sld.Skill.Fencing = 63 sld.Skill.Pistol = 63
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 18 sld.hp = 197 sld.Skill.Fencing = 63 sld.Skill.Pistol = 63
Difficulty Level = 5
Tavern robber sld.rank = 7 sld.hp = 118 sld.Skill.Fencing = 76 sld.Skill.Pistol = 76
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 19 sld.hp = 245 sld.Skill.Fencing = 67 sld.Skill.Pistol = 67
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 19 sld.hp = 169 sld.Skill.Fencing = 67 sld.Skill.Pistol = 67
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 19 sld.hp = 208 sld.Skill.Fencing = 67 sld.Skill.Pistol = 67
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 19 sld.hp = 160 sld.Skill.Fencing = 67 sld.Skill.Pistol = 67
Emerald City shore fighter #5 sld.rank = 19 sld.hp = 218 sld.Skill.Fencing = 67 sld.Skill.Pistol = 67
Difficulty Level = 6
Tavern robber sld.rank = 10 sld.hp = 147 sld.Skill.Fencing = 80 sld.Skill.Pistol = 80
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 20 sld.hp = 158 sld.Skill.Fencing = 70 sld.Skill.Pistol = 70
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 20 sld.hp = 170 sld.Skill.Fencing = 70 sld.Skill.Pistol = 70
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 20 sld.hp = 226 sld.Skill.Fencing = 70 sld.Skill.Pistol = 70
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 20 sld.hp = 244 sld.Skill.Fencing = 70 sld.Skill.Pistol = 70
Emerald City shore fighter #5 sld.rank = 20 sld.hp = 168 sld.Skill.Fencing = 70 sld.Skill.Pistol = 70
Emerald City shore fighter #6 sld.rank = 20 sld.hp = 194 sld.Skill.Fencing = 70 sld.Skill.Pistol = 70
Difficulty Level = 7
Tavern robber sld.rank = 8 sld.hp = 115 sld.Skill.Fencing = 88 sld.Skill.Pistol = 88
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 179 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 205 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 202 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 171 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Emerald City shore fighter #5 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 274 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Emerald City shore fighter #6 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 295 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Emerald City shore fighter #7 sld.rank = 22 sld.hp = 161 sld.Skill.Fencing = 77 sld.Skill.Pistol = 77
Difficulty Level = 8
Tavern robber sld.rank = 13 sld.hp = 138 sld.Skill.Fencing = 96 sld.Skill.Pistol = 96
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 240 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 182 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 184 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 200 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #5 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 182 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #6 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 161 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #7 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 166 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Emerald City shore fighter #8 sld.rank = 24 sld.hp = 214 sld.Skill.Fencing = 84 sld.Skill.Pistol = 84
Difficulty Level = 9
Tavern robber sld.rank = 9 sld.hp = 157 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 177 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 172 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 250 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 246 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #5 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 193 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #6 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 209 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #7 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 192 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #8 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 235 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Emerald City shore fighter #9 sld.rank = 26 sld.hp = 232 sld.Skill.Fencing = 91 sld.Skill.Pistol = 91
Difficulty Level = 10
Tavern robber sld.rank = 14 sld.hp = 178 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #1 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 283 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #2 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 269 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #3 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 275 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #4 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 200 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #5 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 208 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #6 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 253 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #7 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 183 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #8 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 247 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #9 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 187 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100
Emerald City shore fighter #10 sld.rank = 30 sld.hp = 229 sld.Skill.Fencing = 100 sld.Skill.Pistol = 100

Note that in the robber scenario, even at level 5, where the skills are not too dissimilar, that NPC gets the SuperShooter with a powerful double-shot pistol and usually shoots me dead within the first few seconds because I have meager ability, don’t yet have enough perk points at level 7, and can’t kill him fast enough.

However, in the Emerald shore, there are multiple attackers that surround you (one NPC for each difficulty level setting), with no place to choke them single-file, so there is absolutely no way to survive above level 4 or so…at level 3, I was able to run/dodge, turn/shoot as my pistol reloaded. I got shot a time or two, sometimes dead, but a couple times only near death and I could potion revive, but they sometimes missed and once they ran out of their own health potions and their health got low, I’d also take a swing or two, then dodge again…it’s impossible to parry against 3 opponents surrounding you because they often swing at different times and only one overhead hit is needed to kill you. Eventually whittled them down, then could stand and fight. The time or two I survived at setting 3, I ran out of potions, nearly died myself, but succeeded a couple times. But died often, with many reloads/reattempts. Level 5 is impossible for a level 7 solo character. They shoot you dead within 2 seconds, or all take swings and you can’t block them all as you’re surrounded and they time/execute their attacks differently so you can’t both parry/block and they only need one or two hits to kill you. Whereas my overhead on a single, isolated attacker takes more than 4 hits to kill them.

But as you can see, at difficulty 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, you would be solo against 5-10 level 10+ opponents, all with SuperShooter and 200 HP…and no cover. They surround you and shoot you dead within seconds. If you try to run either for cover that doesn’t exist, or to bide time, with any more than 3 or so, they will shoot you dead…I tried anything I could think of to survive and failed many times.

At least in the Ascold Spanish Temple Raid, Panama Raid, Narwhal fight you have help against superior forces. In the Spanish Temple raid, you can also jump in/out (which I have done) to escape/recover and then try again…any you have killed remain dead. Also, in the Tenochtitlan, you do the fights piecemeal against 3 at a time, with some cover opportunity. The Casper fight is insane, but there is a way to first whittle a few down with no fight at all and there are also a couple choke points where pistol fire is blocked by the NPC in front of you, not able to hit you.

I don’t think for this part of the very beginning of a quest, that offers very little reward, it is worth so much adversity at the very start in any other setting other than the first couple difficulty settings. I’m thinking of halving the number of opponents:

Setting:#Opponents
1:1
2:1
3:2
4:2
5:3
6:3…etc.

And also if the difficulty setting is above 3, adding your officers to the fight. I’ve already coded this and experimented and at difficulty 5, against 3 opponents that still have the rank/skills shown, is still very hard at level 5. My fighters are quickly killed by pistols and usually so am I, but I’ve been able to succeed a time or two. Again, that’s at setting 5. At my level 7, Impossible difficulty is still such even against just 5 level 30 opponents. I’m also sure that even with capable fighters, with a change to 5 opponents for the Impossible setting, where they will be level 30, skills at 100, and many hit points, it will be just as ‘impossible’ as the setting implies.

My reasoning for this particular Emerald City quest is that it’s fairly mediocre and my thinking is that a low-level character should be able to pass this beginning part of it, even at mid-range difficulty settings. I think adding your officer help above difficulty 3, although still very likely to die, offers at least some chance of passing…at average to very difficult setting, it will still be very difficult to pass even if the player is high rank and skilled, with good officers. Unless someone can show me/convince me a level 8-10 character can survive this fight. I’m pretty good at fighting in this game and I couldn’t do it at level 7, difficulty 5.

The Tavern robber can stay the same. It’s impossible to win for a low-level character…so either pay the money, or just stop messing around with the waitresses! LOL

[Jeffrey]

Ascold fix. There has been a longstanding bug since AoP, where the body-switch in the Ascold quest makes your fighter officers disappear forever. I have been meaning to fix this and just got around to it. I don’t have an old save for that part, but the code snippet was tested in the debugger and works to simply remove the officer from the position, rather than vanish.

LeifEricson.c fix

This was the original AoP/GOF/ERAS code (same in all):

for (i=1; i<=3; i++)
{
 	string officers = "Fellows.Passengers.Officers."+"id"+i;
 	if(CheckAttribute(pchar, officers))
 	{
		RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, sti(pchar.(officers)));
        }
}

The intent, I’m sure, is so that your fighters don’t join the skeleton siege on the town with you, not to remove them forever. However, simply removing the index vaporizes characters that are only fighters, (if they multitask/jack-of-all-trades and hold another position, you still see them in that other position); they are gone forever. I looked at the screen code to remove an officer from a particular position and there is more that is needed:

for (i=1; i<=3; i++)
            {
                string officers = "Fellows.Passengers.Officers."+"id"+i;
                if(CheckAttribute(pchar, officers))
                {
		     //Fix for officers that are only fighters are gone forever, rather than just removed from position appointment
		     int iOfficer = sti(pchar.(officers));
	   	     if(iOfficer > -1){
			characters[iOfficer].isfree = sti(characters[iOfficer].isfree) - 1;
			if (sti(characters[iOfficer].isfree) <= 0)
			{
				DeleteAttribute(&characters[iOfficer], "isfree");
			}
			RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, iOfficer);
			DeleteAttribute(&characters[iOfficer], "fighter");
		     }
                }
            }

.zip updated: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by Jeffrey.

[Jeffrey]

BTW, I’ve not submitted/included the Emerald City change per difficulty level, as there might be some discussion/disagreement with my reasoning: What follows is my proposal that I have tried at various difficulty settings by simply uncommenting/changing the line at the beginning to change MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE 1-10 and relaunching/retrying my save sitting in the harbor and docking at this particular shore:

void MC_DesMoinesInShore(string qName)
{
//MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE = 5;
	chrDisableReloadToLocation = true;
	LAi_LocationFightDisable(loadedLocation, true);
	LAi_group_Delete("EnemyFight");

    //Mod...halve number of enemies.  Their rank/skills will already outrank Hero and fight is VERY difficult...you will likely die.
    for (i=1; i<=round((MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE + 0.2) / 2); i++)
    {
        sld = GetCharacter(NPC_GenerateCharacter("ShoreGuard"+i, "officer_"+(i+10), "man", "man", 20, PIRATE, 0, true));
        FantomMakeCoolFighter(sld, 20, 70, 70, "topor2", "pistol3", 50);
		sld.dialog.filename = "Quest\MagicCity.c";
		sld.dialog.currentnode = "ShoreGuard";
		sld.BreakTmplAndFightGroup = true; 
		sld.reactionOnFightModeOn = true; 
        LAi_SetActorType(sld);			
        LAi_group_MoveCharacter(sld, "EnemyFight");				
		PlaceCharacter(sld, "goto", "random_free");
		LAi_ActorDialog(sld, pchar, "", -1.0, 0);
    }

    //Mod
    if(MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE > 3){ //Go ahead and allow Hero's fighter officers for difficulty setting > 3...they will be needed and everyone will likely be killed anyway if not high enough level
    for (i=1; i<=3; i++) {
	string officers = "Fellows.Passengers.Officers."+"id"+i;
        if(CheckAttribute(pchar, officers))
        {
  	   int iOfficer = sti(pchar.(officers));	   
	   if(iOfficer > -1){
           sld = GetCharacter(iOfficer);
	   PlaceCharacter(sld, "goto", "random_must_be_near");
	   }
        }		
    }}			
}

[Orazio]

Thank you, Jeffrey, you are doing an outstanding job fixing all these bugs!

[Jeffrey]

Thanks Orazio.

In those ‘other captain’ quests/requests to find some ships, attack/loot and the player immediately teleports to the nearest shore, sometimes the screen goes black and stays that way. If you hit the ESC key, the menu to Resume game pops up and then everything looks fine. This bothered me.

I had a thought that maybe if I could insert code that emulates mooring in that location, that would fix it. I found Sea_LandLoad() in sea.c and tried its method calls before teleportation. I fortunately have a boarding save just at the last ship of one of these quests, and I inserted some of this code in strategic spots and eventually got it to work! I’ve only tested this one particular save, but without it, screen goes black and with my additions, it displays as it should. I will try to test more, but several attempts both ways shows this to work so far…but unknown if anything else might be affected. There also may be a more elegant and simpler way, but so far this resolves what I aimed to fix.

In DoReloadCharacterToLocation of quests.c I added:

//Fix for black screen after immediately teleporting from sea to land at end of other Captain quests.
	//Derived from sea.c:  Sea_LandLoad()
	PauseAllSounds();
	ResetSound();
	LayerFreeze("realize", false);
	LayerFreeze("execute", false);
	if(bSeaActive){
		ReleaseMapEncounters();
		EmptyAllFantomShips();
	}
	//End fix
	return TeleportCharacterFromCurLocationToLocation("fakeReload",idGroup,idLocator);

And in scripts/PSHero.c, I added a line to PGG_Q1LocationLoaded:

//Fix...battle interface stills showing after teleport fix in quests.c:  DoReloadCharacterToLocation
DeleteBattleInterface();
//End fix

Files updated at: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Jeffrey]

To continue on with the difficulty settings…it seems broken. From setting = 4 and above, the NPC fight action/damage is insane and near impossible to endure. I am now level 17, with a Flemish cuirass, nice fast-loading pistol and above-average light weapon. With bonus items, 73 fencing score, 43 pistol score. Against the 3 opponents, solo, in the Isabella arrest, the fight starts with you surrounded, and at my difficulty setting of 5, I’m dead within a few seconds at my character level, usually from multiple pistol shots from at least 2 of the opponents at the same time…yet having good skills and lots of practice in this game, it’s fairly easy for me at difficulty level 1; never even the slightest problem defeating them.

I now see why…looking LAi_fightparams.c, at difficulty level 5, all enemy damage is 100%, but reduced to 50% at setting = 1. From the ‘coolfighter’ function we’ve talked about, their level is very high at setting 5 and their stats are pegged at max 100. They never miss, do terrible damage, and their speed of attacks is very fast…too fast, as if fast-motion. I’ve decided to smooth out the difficulty transition so that each level of difficulty becomes a gradual increase throughout the 10 settings, rather than jump to near-impossible around level 6 for any low-level character against multiple opponents. Don’t worry, level 10 will be exactly the same (well, except for a minor detail in this particular fight where I actually give a small, gradually increasing time-delay to the fight-start to get to the stairs if you’re thinking strategically…you’ll never win at sub-20 character level if surrounded at setting = 7 🙂 ), but level 5 should be doable for an above average player, and level 7 should be doable for a good player if they make no mistakes. I consider myself pretty good, and I can never beat the Isabella arrest crew at difficulty 7.

I made a smoother gradation of the damage throughout the difficulty values, a reduction and gradation of animation/attack speeds for the difficulty setting, and tailored the levels/stats for these particular Isabella fight NPCs to better match the difficulty level, where 1=easy is the same as the original, and difficulty 10 is also the same as it always was, but everything between is more evenly ramped up. So far, I am quite satisfied. At difficulty 5, I die about 50% of the time, but can win. At difficulty 7, I have beaten them two or three times, but died many more than that. At level 8, I’ve come close to beating them a couple times, but have died each time. I find this experience between levels more aligned with how it should be.

It only took a few lines from both LAi_fightparams.c and quests_reaction.c. Some examples of what I did:

//Mod:  Solo fight...slightly reduce enemy rank as they are still higher, but 3 against one
				Rank = sti(pchar.rank)+ round((MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE + 1.1) / 4) + 1;
				sld = GetCharacter(NPC_GenerateCharacter("Soldier_"+i, Model, "man", "man", Rank, sti(colonies[iTemp].nation), 0, true));
				//FantomMakeCoolFighter(sld, Rank, 100, 90, Blade, "pistol5", 200);
				//Mod
				FantomMakeCoolFighter(sld, Rank, (80 + round(4 * MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE / 2)), (70 + round(4 * MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE / 2)), Blade, "pistol5", (140 + round(10 * MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE / 2)));
				sld.City = colonies[iTemp].id;
				sld.CityType = "soldier";
				sld.Dialog.Filename = "Quest\Isabella\BrigCaptain.c";
				sld.dialog.currentnode = "ArrestInHome_2";
				LAi_SetWarriorType(sld);
				if (i != 1) LAi_warrior_DialogEnable(sld, false);
				LAi_group_MoveCharacter(sld, GetNationNameByType(sti(colonies[iTemp].nation)) + "_citizens");
				ChangeCharacterAddressGroup(sld, "SanJuan_houseSp6", "reload", "reload1");
			}
			sld = characterFromID("Soldier_1");
			LAi_SetActorTypeNoGroup(sld);
			//LAi_ActorDialog(sld, pchar, "", 1.5, 0);
			//Mod...give slightly more time...to find cover maybe?
			float nTimeAdd = MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE * 0.13;
			LAi_ActorDialog(sld, pchar, "", (1.5 + nTimeAdd), 0);

From LAi_fightparams.c:

//Mod in both gun/blade damage functions
		//if (MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE < 5 && sti(enemy.index) == GetMainCharacterIndex())
		if (MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE < 10 && sti(enemy.index) == GetMainCharacterIndex())	
		{
			//dmg = dmg * (4.0 + MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE) / 10.0;
			dmg = dmg * (0.45 + MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE * 0.05);
		}

Mod in LAi_NPC_GetAttackWeightFast, LAi_NPC_GetAttackWeightForce, LAi_NPC_GetAttackWeightRound:

//npc_return_tmp = npc_return_tmp * (0.8 + (0.1 * MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE));
	//Boyer mod
	npc_return_tmp = npc_return_tmp * (0.8 + (0.05 * MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE + 0.05));

By putting MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE = 7; and other 1-10 settings into the function before all the NPCs are made in quests_reaction, I have quit the game and reloaded my save to every setting, many times, and think it is much better. If anyone wants to try this particular fight, I could upload these two files, and my save for this game to try yourself…rename your versions of the two files, and change the MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE value in case “Romantic_ArrestInHouse block for any setting you want to try. Exit, save .c file, and relaunch/load game. It’s kind of fun to try the different settings and see the difference. You could also rename my two files, set your files back after trying say level 5, and play the same setting to see the difference between original version, too.

[Jeffrey]

I had almost forgotten that in the beginning, Pearl Village was broken and model[10] = “pirate_11”; through model[27] = “pirate_28”; were stricken out of LAi_utilites.c. Since the models exist in RESOURCE\MODELS\Characters, I took a look and fixed it so that the newer models will show as ModernKnight intended.

The initial model array was not resized from 10 to 28 to accommodate the new entries. Also, the random function was also adjusted. This was tested by going to Pearl Village. Fix is now part of the .zip download.

//Array size fix
//string model[10];
string model[28];

//Added commented section back as model array size now fixed
model[10] = "pirate_11";
model[11] = "pirate_12";
model[12] = "pirate_13";
model[13] = "pirate_14";
model[14] = "pirate_15";
model[15] = "pirate_16";
model[16] = "pirate_17";
model[17] = "pirate_18";
model[18] = "pirate_19";
model[19] = "pirate_20";
model[20] = "pirate_21";
model[21] = "pirate_22";
model[22] = "pirate_23";
model[23] = "pirate_24";
model[24] = "pirate_25";
model[25] = "pirate_26";
model[26] = "pirate_27";
model[27] = "pirate_28";

//iMassive = rand(9);
//Fix so that new models can be reached and new introduced model names can be used
iMassive = rand(27);

[modernknight1]

I have returned from the Dutch West Indies! WOW! Jeffrey you have been busy. Great work! I will simply modify the patch to encompass your additional work. I have no issues with changing the difficulty/level/stats of opponents as you suggest. The ships that you added names for were intentionally left blank because they are not supposed to appear. I did everything possible to make them not appear except take them out completely. I thought their rare appearance in Gentlemen of Luck or smuggler encounters was acceptable. They would be rare unique ships(even if from the wrong timeframe). I plan to change the names you chose slightly. I admit there should be something there rather than just leaving them blank.

As for me, my batteries are recharged! I REALLY needed to get away. I am already halfway done with an illustrated article detailing the history of Curacao and the city of Willemstad – and showcasing Fort Amsterdam, the Fort Kerk(church) and the Maritime Museum there. Lots of pictures and historical discussion! The skies down that way are simply breathtaking! Look for it on the front page shortly. MK

[Jeffrey]

Hey, welcome back. Sounds like you had a marvelous time!

Those ships were indeed encountered during a couple smuggler/Gentlemen of Fortune encounters.

I’ve not uploaded my fighting changes for difficulty level just yet. I’m still gauging things. I’m more satisfied with the Emerald Shore and Isabella Arrest. I’m just about to give Tenochtitlan a try at various difficulties. My gauge being 1 is the same as it always was, 5 I can do most of the time if I don’t screw up, 7 I can do some of the time without any mistakes on my part; practicing the same battle after battle, my fighting skills are becoming quite honed! As it was/is, there was a serious leap around setting 5 in the original game where certain fights, like the Emerald Shore were guaranteed death for a low to mid-level character; setting 5 is supposed to be ‘average/normal’. I just figure in that particular fight being the very beginning, should not be guaranteed death at setting 5 if player is prepared with fighters and such, whereas Panama Raid, Spanish at Temple and such, can still be set up for certain death for low-level. Part of the problem is that in the specific fight (e.g. Emerald, or Isabella arrest) logic itself, there are adjustments to increase the fighter stats parameters, that are then passed to the MakeCoolFighter, which itself again adjusts the stats up for the difficulty level…and the thing is you’re already outnumbered, and they not only make the fighters vastly outranking the player, far more deadly, far more hardy HP, with their own revival potions, more skill perks, then they also increase the number of them; all of this at each setting level above 1, with 5 becoming just as deadly, NPC damage-wise as setting 10 (per the damage code).

As it stands, I am getting killed a couple times here and there at setting 5, which is better than how easy setting 1 can get as the player progresses.

However, I was wrong about adjusting the animation speeds of the NPC (pistol pulls and blade swings appear to be WAY faster than your own); I didn’t actually change that as I first thought now that I’ve reviewed closely; I haven’t been able to ascertain how, or if there is a way to slightly tweak that. The NPCs get insanely fast at higher settings and I’d like to tweak that a little bit and experiment, but I’ve not figured if/how to do that just yet…still looking.

[Jeffrey]

I had an idea…how about changing the perk application to an officer to readjust equipped items based on the new skills? Right now, for instance, giving an officer the Shootist or Clever Shot perk will not have that character seek their held items and equip a different gun if they have a gun better suited to their new capabilities within their item inventory; they will only do so if you trade them something after applying the perk. This could apply to pistol-specific perks, cuirass, even blades if their new energy levels warrant a slightly heavier blade that does more damage.

I have already looked at the code and this would be relatively simple to do.

[Jeffrey]

BTW, in the meantime, I already tried the perk-to-equip feature and it works. However, I discovered a minor flaw in the gun selection portion of my previous equip fix mod; it would work nearly 100% of the time, but I got ‘lucky’ in my perk test and found that a problem could present in the right circumstance, which I was. I had to strike out a return line I had meant to previously, but didn’t. I updated my .zip file for that piece, but have not uploaded this perk-to-equip thing until I hear back.

[modernknight1]

Please do it Jeffrey. Its a great improvement I think. One can always continue doing as we used to in carefully arming our officers with only what we wanted them to have at a given time.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Done. I created a function and call it from SetCharacterPerk. It will apply to ANY officer (not just fighters). Upon grant of any new perk, an officer/companion will scour their item inventory and equip items they hold that fit their capabilities.

I tend to have officers hold items that I will want them to equip later on anyway, to free up my own carried load, so this is nice to eliminate the need to always approach and trade after new perks to get them to equip the items they already hold.

File changed is now in my .zip link and I just added a function to perks.c, and some very slight change to SetCharacterPerk:

//Mod for applying item equip logic after an officer receives new perk
void ApplyItemEquipAfterPerk(ref refCharacter) {

	if(!CheckAttribute(refCharacter, "id")) return;
	//The following is derived from itemstrade.c and itemsbox.c
	//Calls functions in CharacterUtilite.c to apply logic to equip item from refCharacter's inventory
	if (CheckAttribute(refCharacter, "skill.Fencing")) {
		EquipCharacterByItem(refCharacter, FindCharacterItemByGroup(refCharacter,BLADE_ITEM_TYPE));
		EquipCharacterByItem(refCharacter, FindCharacterItemByGroup(refCharacter,CIRASS_ITEM_TYPE));
	}
	if (CheckAttribute(refCharacter, "skill.Pistol") && GetCharacterSkill(refCharacter,"Pistol") > 0.1 )
	{
		EquipCharacterByItem(refCharacter, FindCharacterItemByGroup(refCharacter,GUN_ITEM_TYPE));
	}	

	return;
} 

[Jeffrey]

I found that the Mao Kun map is not giving +15 navigation bonus. Added the following to RPGUtilite.c

// Maokun
skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName, SKILL_SAILING, "Maokun", iLev15Bonus);

[modernknight1]

I didn’t put that map in. It was Officerpuppy’s work. He probably didn’t get it integrated into all the right places and I never bothered checking. Easy to fix though.

MK

EDIT: BTW I saw what Thagarr wrote on PA. Thanks for the excellent post over there. I plugged their web address into that google tool that you provided and it shows PA! as a website that puts malware on your PC. Yet he criticizes us??? WOW! Just wow! Those people just continue to amaze me. Maybe you should ask him what his “Very good reason” is. Because I haven’t got a clue. As I’ve said before, I have never attacked them and wouldn’t even have the ability to do that over this GoDaddy hosted wordpress plug in site. Also I am not and have never data mined. I have no reason to do that so I have no idea what he’s talking about. I am quite comfortable with my 100 percent colonel’s retirement pension and VA disability coming in every month and my part time consulting jobs. I don’t need to take time out to piddle around with their sad asses. He’s either a psycho or just very desperate to smear me and our site at this point. They seem almost dead over there now. Wonder why? With a few more comments like that I will have enough to slap a libel suit on them for defamation and if they continue to give me the ammunition boy will I ever do it to them – LEGALLY!

MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

LOL, the irony and hypocrisy of it all when viewing PA! from google safe browsing report, eh?

I don’t know any of you personally, but just entered both sites intent on maybe trying to help rectify problems, firm up some lacking areas that I found, things I thought could benefit from problems I found and could fix in AoP COAS, GOF 1.2 and ERAS 2. You were receptive. Some of that crowd has been vaguely hostile toward me from the start. Hylie Pistoff, in the Black Knight ERAS 2 Mod thread, accused me of lying and that my claims of remedy ‘are suspect,’ then immediately locked that open thread to cease further response. They at PA! are mostly unreceptive and unwelcoming to me as a new contributor…and it’s starting to grate on me because I’ve done nothing to warrant that treatment — just thought I was offering something helpful.

Your prompt to ask about those ‘really good reasons’ and google’s malware warning about PA! were already on my mind and I’ve been debating about a retort, but am conflicted about churning up even more animosity…just not sure. But trust me, you having no clue what Thagarr is talking about is not surprising, as it is he that has no idea what he’s talking about in this case; he doesn’t even appear to know what data-mining is. It’s not even necessarily a malicious thing, though I’m sure his use of the the term itself is probably meant as a scare tactic to preclude people visiting that evil, ‘other site’ a few of them seem so intent on childishly trashing.

Facebook data mines. Verizon tracks and data mines. Google data mines…especially google. They have the wherewithal to inject IDs/headers and in the case of Verizon, inject IDs into the network traffic of both your request/response; they capture/store everything in huge databases and mine it with sophisticated algorithms for marketing/decision making.

You uploading code to a remote, hosted GoDaddy site are likely not privy to much nefarious activity unless you were providing URL links to off-site malware as download; the claim to be hijacking browsers is ridiculous. I see no such thing here and your ISP host would never allow such code to reside on their servers; their internal virus-scanners would eliminate them.

Anyway, I’ve been mulling a retort, but unsure about the wisdom and frankly, I’m sure it would be a waste of my time…would just turn into a flame war.

[modernknight1]

Agree Jeffrey. I don’t really even let it bother me any more. Better to be the adults here I think. After all we have the high ground here.

MK

[Jeffrey]

This investigation was prompted by two items: Armillary and Spectacles. According to the descriptions, one is supposed to add to Insight and the other Talent of the PIRATE skills:

itmname_Mineral18_1 {Spectacles} (+10 Insight=Perception SPECIAL_P – Exp rate of: Light Fencing, Accuracy, Sailing, Repair, Stealth)
itmname_Mineral10_1 {Armillary} (+10 Intellect=Talent SPECIAL_I – Exp rate of: Rank rate, Leadership, Commerce, Cannons, Sailing, Grappling)

However, nothing in In RPGUtilite.c is set to do this. Also, I notice that the function for adjusting PIRATE values is slightly wrong.

int GetCharacterSPECIALSimple(ref _refCharacter, string skillName)
{
	if (!CheckAttribute(_refCharacter,"SPECIAL."+skillName) )
    {
        return 3;
    }
	int skillN = sti(_refCharacter.SPECIAL.(skillName));
    // Health
    if (sti(_refCharacter.index) == GetMainCharacterIndex() && MOD_SKILL_ENEMY_RATE > 1) // íå õàëÿâà
    {
        skillN = skillN + GetHealthNum(_refCharacter) - 6; // max -5
    }
    // boal ó÷åò âåùåé -->
    /*if (IsCompanion(_refCharacter) || IsOfficer(_refCharacter))
    {
        // áðîíçîâûé êðåñò +1 óäà÷à
    	//skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName, SKILL_SNEAK, "jewelry9", 1);
	
	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillBySculArtefact(_refCharacter, skillName);
    	//  itmname_Coins		{Ìîíåòà àöòåêîâ} (-5 óäà÷à)
    	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName, SKILL_FORTUNE, "Coins", -50);

	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName);
    	//  itmname_Opium		{Ìîíåòà àöòåêîâ} (-1 óäà÷à)
    	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName, SKILL_FORTUNE, "itmname_Opium", -10);

	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName);
    	//  itmname_Mineral3_1		{Ìîíåòà àöòåêîâ} (-1 óäà÷à)
    	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName, SKILL_DEFENCE, "itmname_Mineral3_1", -10);

	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName);
    	//  itmname_blade86		{Ìîíåòà àöòåêîâ} (-1 óäà÷à)
    	skillN = skillN + SetCharacterSkillByItem(_refCharacter, skillName, SKILL_FORTUNE, "itmname_blade86", -30);

    	// íåëüçÿ :(  Èíà÷å ðåêóðñèÿ áåç âûõîäà
    	if (GetItemsWeight(_refCharacter) > GetMaxItemsWeight(_refCharacter))
    	{
  	        skillN -=2;
    	}
    	// boal ó÷åò ïåðåãðóçà 19.01.2004 <--
	} */
	// boal <--
	if (skillN <= 1) skillN = 1;
	if( skillN > SPECIAL_MAX ) skillN = SPECIAL_MAX;

	return skillN;
}

In the function SetCharacterSkillByItem, it does nothing if skillName parameter does not match the very next parameter. Since GetCharacterSPECIALSimple is always called with a constant like SPECIAL_I or SPECIAL_P, that parameter will never match SKILL_SNEAK or SKILL_FORTUNE. That is why the cursed black pearls don’t affect Luck (this is evident in GOF 1.2 as well), the newer addition of Opium doesn’t affect luck in ERAS either, etc. These should be moved to GetCharacterSkillSimple (and in the case of Opium, etc. the .name changed to the .id) so that they work as intended.

Also, if the spectacles and armillary are supposed to boost Talent and Insight, those scores are 1-10, so should probably not +10, but maybe +1? The description and their bonus should then be changed, then added to the function GetCharacterSPECIALSimple. Should I make these changes?

[modernknight1]

Yes please do. I was putting this stuff in at breakneck speed and often in the late hours of the night. I’m surprised you haven’t found more mistakes.

Thanks Jeffrey

MK

[Jeffrey]

Done. Change to RPGUtilite.c and ItemsDescribe.txt to indicate +1 for the two, instead of +10. Files at my link.

I have the spectacles

[Jeffrey]

Well this is unfortunate. I attempted to board an English 5th rater and the game created a boarding save, but hung up during the loading screen…just froze. Since they had struck their colors and were just sitting there, I reloaded and tried boarding with 3 different ships from my squadron and the same thing each time.

I notice the virtual memory of start.exe just continues to climb and after several minutes, the game will just crash. An error.log is NOT created, just some output in both compile.log and system.log. Since I tried different ships, I figure it must be something with the English 5th rater? I don’t recall ever boarding one before, but I would think I had by now? Can’t say for certain. I still have the save, but nothing to tell me what might be going wrong. I had actually boarded a 4th rater just prior, during the same battle, with no issues and really haven’t had this sort of problem.

Not sure what to start investigating.

[modernknight1]

I’m stumped. The English 5th rater is the Unicorn model and I’ve taken it many times and used it as my own ship even, so I don’t know what could be going on?

MK

[Jeffrey]

Yeah, that’s the thing…I don’t think it’s necessarily English 5th raters, but some other variables have converged in this instance. I can almost swear I’ve also boarded them in the past. I just wish I knew how I could somehow glean more information as to what’s happening, give a clue so we can see if there’s a way to somehow fix the situation. That virtual memory just starts spiraling out of control consumption right when I submit a board action.

[Jeffrey]

If you’re curious, and you have a copy of your original ERAS 2 I got from your download link, putting my files over that set, I have just uploaded my save file along with the updates I’ve been playing with and you can try it. Maybe with your experience with this game you can see if the logs tell you anything.

As for me, I just left them adrift and went on my way after a few unsuccessful tries 🙂

https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[modernknight1]

Yes I always keep back up copies of each version on a 1.5 terabyte external drive. I will have a look Jeffrey.

As you’ve said before there are some unexplainable things about how this game works. I am primarily a master of workarounds. Just sailing away is a workaround I’ve used a few times myself.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Employing the ‘sail away’ workaround is not all that bad, considering.

Remember the dreaded ‘Bad Save’ one used to encounter every once in awhile in vanilla and GOF, and even in ERAS, since it derived from them? It used to happen sometimes during F6 Quick Save. It used to happen during the standard save action. It also used to happen sometimes during the boarding save, where the game would act just like this — boarding load screen, wait and wait, then the game crashes, relaunch only to find that the save didn’t ‘take’ and the slot showed that despicable ‘Bad Save’ image. Ugh!

I always held my breath when the game was saving. I also used to employ an anticipatory workaround for this glitch, by selecting save, then clicking at least 3 slots back from where I was (or an empty slot). After that succeeded (or not), the immediately follow-up with an F6 quick save. Now I’ve two for exactly the same game state. If one crashed/bad, then I’m still OK and my most recent is intact, because if it crashed during save, that slot you selected (or the sole quick-save slot) was now corrupted and all was lost.

I’ve not had one in literally two months now. I am so confident now, that I don’t even do my 3 slots over rule anymore (except in cases where I specifically want to preserve a scenario for repeated testing)…or hold my breath during save :). I think it had something to do with some of those erroneous array size vs. max index problems and a few divide-by-zero equations that were found and resolved. That fact alone is one of the most encouraging improvements. One can live with an occasional crash if saving frequently and one can simply resume where left off, but when the save itself crashes and corrupts your latest state and you have to go further back, THAT is aggravating and risks players giving up on the thing entirely!

[modernknight1]

No you have most certainly done some really amazing work here Jeffrey. You’ve enhanced the stability and quality of gameplay markedly. Thank you again.

Working hard to get the rest of the new patch done. Gotta travel again in another week and would like to have it finished by then. After finding that picture of the awesome little English snow in that old Dutch print of Curacao (SEE MY FRONT PAGE STORY ON THE DUTCH WEST INDIES), I wanted to do one more skin for one of the new ships coming out with the patch. There are several more very cool weapons coming with the patch as well.

You might actually be able to help me with something. I have been able to successfully add the additional fighters, but I can’t get their icons on the interface to show up below the already existing three on the upper left of the GUI. I thought the clue would be in how Saint Ashley did it in the 8 ship max mod, but I can’t find the relevant piece of code. I am probably trying too hard and just need to step away from it for a few hours.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Timely…I recently reread some of your goals for this and upon reading the inclusion of additional fighters, since I was recently reviewing that Ascold mistake, and borrowed from it to add fighters back onto the shore (for high difficulty settings to deal with possibly from 5 to 10 enemies solo), I slightly cringed at added fighters feature upon realization that there are many spots where the code to retrieve and handle the fighter officers, ‘they’ simply do a for loop 1-3; apparently due to fighters apparently residing in the first 3 index spots of your officer/companion array.

Example:

for (i=1; i<=3; i++)
{
                string officers = "Fellows.Passengers.Officers."+"id"+i;
                if(CheckAttribute(pchar, officers))
...

This will be problematic as in order to include further fighters, we’d have to find all those spots and change things up. We should probably add a constant too, for MAX_FIGHTERS or something.

I can look at the screen code, but it would be helpful to see what has been done so far, as I’m wondering if fighters will still reside in the first index entries of the officers? If not, it will no longer work to simply loop instead of 1-3, but 1-6, as positions 4, 5 and 6 will have non-fighters and we’d need a different way to loop through all officers and add a way to query about position held in code like shown above. If the added fighters will be in the beginning, 4-6 next to 1-3, current games will definitely be broken because 4, 5, and 6 spots are already taken by Navigator, Gunner, etc.

[Jeffrey]

I did a little bit of poking around RE fighters. Also, I’m not sure if/how the current Passengers.Officers object will support additional properties: Passengers.Officers.id4, Passengers.Officers.id5 Passengers.Officers.id6?

character_all.h

void FillCharactersScroll()
.
.
.
for(int k=1; k<4; k++) //This handles fighters appearing in the scroll.  Notice k only goest to 3
.
.
.

character_all.c

void AcceptAddOfficer()

switch (nCurScrollNum)
		{
			case 1:
				pchar.Fellows.Passengers.navigator = iChar;
			break;

			case 2:
				pchar.Fellows.Passengers.boatswain = iChar;
			break;

			case 3:
				pchar.Fellows.Passengers.cannoner = iChar;
			break;

			case 4:
				pchar.Fellows.Passengers.doctor = iChar;
			break;

			case 5:
				pchar.Fellows.Passengers.treasurer = iChar;
			break;

			case 6:
				pchar.Fellows.Passengers.carpenter = iChar;
			break;
			
			//Cases 7 through 9 are for fighters in the scroll
			case 7:
				SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 1, iChar);
				bNeedFollow = true;
			break;

			case 8:
				SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 2, iChar);
				bNeedFollow = true;
			break;

			case 9:
				SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 3, iChar);
				bNeedFollow = true;
			break;

			//This will need to be extended to handle additional fighters
		}

Character Utilite.c

The following are all for fighters…and will need to be extended to offer more than 3. Then also search all code that calls these functions and see if they do a loop of 1-3 (like Leif dialog does) and change them. Offhand, I suspect itemsbox, store/trade code, etc.

int GetOfficersQuantity(ref _refCharacter)
{
	int idx=0;
	for(int i=1; i<4; i++)
	{
		if( GetOfficersIndex(_refCharacter,i)!=-1 ) idx++;
	}
	return idx;
}
int GetOfficersIndex(ref _refCharacter,int _OfficerNum)
{
	if(_OfficerNum<0) return -1;
	if(_OfficerNum>3) return -1;
	if(_OfficerNum==0)
    {
        if(!CheckAttribute(_refCharacter,"index")) return -1; // boal fix
        return MakeInt(_refCharacter.index);
    }

	string compName = "id"+_OfficerNum;
	if(!CheckAttribute(_refCharacter,"Fellows.Passengers.Officers."+compName)) return -1;
	if(sti(_refCharacter.Fellows.Passengers.Officers.(compName)) < 1)
	{
		return - 1;
	}
	return sti(_refCharacter.Fellows.Passengers.Officers.(compName));
}

int SetOfficersIndex(ref _refCharacter,int _OfficerNum, int _OfficerIdx)
{
	int i;
    if(_OfficerNum == -1)
	{
		for(i=1; i<4; i++)	
		{
			if(GetOfficersIndex(_refCharacter, i) == -1)
			{
				_OfficerNum = i;
				break;
			}
		}
        // fix
        if (_OfficerNum == -1)
        {
            _OfficerNum = 3; // íåò ìåñòà?? äà ïîôèã
        }
	}
	if(_OfficerNum<1) return _OfficerIdx;
	if(_OfficerNum>3) return _OfficerIdx;

	if(_OfficerIdx!=-1)
	{
		for(i=1;i<4;i++)
		{
			if(GetOfficersIndex(_refCharacter,i)==_OfficerIdx) return -1;
		}
		AddPassenger(_refCharacter,GetCharacter(_OfficerIdx),false);
	}

	string compName = "id"+_OfficerNum;
	int retVal = GetOfficersIndex(_refCharacter,_OfficerNum);
	_refCharacter.Fellows.Passengers.Officers.(compName) = _OfficerIdx;
	if(_OfficerIdx>=0)
	{
		LAi_SetOfficerType(GetCharacter(_OfficerIdx));
		Characters[_OfficerIdx].location = _refCharacter.location;
	}
	if(retVal>=0)
	{
		LAi_SetCitizenTypeNoGroup(GetCharacter(retVal));
		Characters[retVal].location = "none";
	}
	Event(EVENT_CHANGE_OFFICERS,"");

	return retVal;
}
bool RemoveOfficersIndex(ref _refCharacter, int _OfficerIdx)
{
	if(_OfficerIdx==-1) return false;
	for(int i=1; i<4; i++)
	{
		if(GetOfficersIndex(_refCharacter,i) == _OfficerIdx)
		{
			SetOfficersIndex(_refCharacter,i,-1);
			return true;
		}
	}
	return false;
}

[Jeffrey]

Ha! Never mind about questioning whether the support for additional ids is there. Looks like they are malleable. Just tried this:

pchar.Fellows.Passengers.Officers.id5 = -5;
Trace(pchar.Fellows.Passengers.Officers.id5);

Totally works without error. So it’s just a matter of changing those things I’ve mentioned and looking for all other related code that might limit to a loop of 1-3. Looks like the save/load screen does some with it too, so it can display the officer set for each game-save slot…things like that.

[modernknight1]

Jeffrey, VERY COOL!

Here’s what I’m working with. I think the solution for getting the icons to show up is in the appropriate interface files for the 8 ship max mod (regarding the GUI location of the icons) That’s the piece I haven’t had time to sort out.

Maybe you can do something with all of this and get it working because I am working on other stuff at the moment and was going to get back to this in a couple of days….

Files List
Playlogic\Age of Pirates 2\Program\INTERFACE\

character_all.c
character_all.h
interface.c
interface.c.bak
interface_utils.c
utilite.c
Vorius_utils.c

1. character_all.c
There are three places I made changes:

First look for:
Code:

case 9:
sHeader = XI_ConvertString(“fighter”);
sText1 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Descr”);
sText2 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Up”);
break;

Copy and add 4 more similar code after that but change the case’s integer…
Code:

// Increase to maximum fighters
case 10:
sHeader = XI_ConvertString(“fighter”);
sText1 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Descr”);
sText2 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Up”);
break;

case 11:
sHeader = XI_ConvertString(“fighter”);
sText1 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Descr”);
sText2 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Up”);
break;

case 12:
sHeader = XI_ConvertString(“fighter”);
sText1 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Descr”);
sText2 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Up”);
break;

case 13:
sHeader = XI_ConvertString(“fighter”);
sText1 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Descr”);
sText2 = XI_ConvertString(“Officer_Up”);
break;
// END, Increase to maximum fighters

Second,
Code:

case 9:
SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 3, iChar);
bNeedFollow = true;
break;

Copy and add 4 more similar code after that but change the case and OfficersIndex’s integers…
Code:

// Increase to maximum fighters
case 10:
SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 4, iChar);
bNeedFollow = true;
break;

case 11:
SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 5, iChar);
bNeedFollow = true;
break;

case 12:
SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 6, iChar);
bNeedFollow = true;
break;

case 13:
SetOfficersIndex(pchar, 7, iChar);
bNeedFollow = true;
break;
// END, Increase to maximum fighters

Third,
Code:

case 9:
RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, GetOfficersIndex(pchar, 3));
break;

Again, copy and add 4 more similar code after that but change the case and OfficersIndex’s integers…
Code:

// Increase to maximum fighters
case 10:
RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, GetOfficersIndex(pchar, 4));
break;

case 11:
RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, GetOfficersIndex(pchar, 5));
break;

case 12:
RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, GetOfficersIndex(pchar, 6));
break;

case 13:
RemoveOfficersIndex(pchar, GetOfficersIndex(pchar, 7));
break;
// END, Increase to maximum fighters

—
2. character_all.h
Go to line 108 (mine GoF’s is here),
Code:

for(int k=1; k<4; k++)

Change the integer 4 to 8,
Code:

for(int k=1; k<8; k++) // Increase to maximum fighters

--
3. interface.c
See strings at line 2177,
Code:

string fighter1, fighter2, fighter3, fighter4, navigator, boatswain, cannoner, doctor, treasurer, carpenter;

Add fighter5, fighter6, fighter7 and fighter8 in the string,
Code:

string fighter1, fighter2, fighter3, fighter4, fighter5, fighter6, fighter7, fighter8, navigator, boatswain, cannoner, doctor, treasurer, carpenter;

Then look //officers pictures below strings above
Code:

// officers pictures
if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,0) < 0 ) { fighter1 = "*"; } else { fighter1 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,0) ); } if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,1) < 0 ) { fighter2 = "*"; } else { fighter2 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,1) ); } if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,2) < 0 ) { fighter3 = "*"; } else { fighter3 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,2) ); } if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,3) < 0 ) { fighter4 = "*"; } else { fighter4 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,3) ); } Copy all codes above, and paste them below fighter4. Make changes to all Index's, fighter's integer like these, Code: // Increase to maximum fighters if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,4) < 0 ) { fighter5 = "*"; } else { fighter5 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,4) ); } if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,5) < 0 ) { fighter6 = "*"; } else { fighter6 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,5) ); } if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,6) < 0 ) { fighter7 = "*"; } else { fighter7 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,6) ); } if( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,7) < 0 ) { fighter8 = "*"; } else { fighter8 = GetFaceGroupName( GetOfficersIndex(pchar,7) ); } Next look for //GetCurLocationName(), Code: //GetCurLocationName() string savedata = label + "@" + fighter1 + "," + fighter2 + "," + fighter3 + "," + fighter4 + "," + Add fighter5, fighter6, fighter7 and fighter8 Code: //GetCurLocationName() string savedata = label + "@" + fighter1 + "," + fighter2 + "," + fighter3 + "," + fighter4 + "," + fighter5 + "," fighter6 + "," fighter7 + "," fighter8 + "," + -- 4. interface.c.bak The changes I made here exactly same as above - file interface.c -- 5. interface.utils.c Look for, Code: case 9: ret = "fighter"; break; Copy and add 4 more similar code after that and change the case's integer... Code: // Increase to maximum fighters case 10: ret = "fighter"; break; case 11: ret = "fighter"; break; case 12: ret = "fighter"; break; case 13: ret = "fighter"; break; // End, Increase to maximum fighters -- 6. utilite.c Find //fighters, Code: //fighters for(n=1; n<4; n++) Change integer 4 to 8, Code: //fighters for(n=1; n<8; n++) // Increase to maximum fighters -- 7. Vorius.utils.c See, Code: for(int i=1; i<4; i++) Also change integer 4 to 8, Code: for(int i=1; i<8; i++) // Increase to maximum fighters,default i<4 -- Note: Every i<8, n<8 and k<8 the default value is 4 EDIT: FOR SOME REASON THE LAST HALF OF THIS POST WONT ALLOW ME TO INSERT SPACES??? MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by modernknight1.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by modernknight1.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

I got everything working but one last bit. They show on the character scroll and you can assign/remove them. They show in trading at store/trading. As it stands, roughly two dozen files were changed:

LandInterface.c
LogInterface.c
CharacterUtilite.c
LSC_Q2Utilite.c
QuestsUtilite.c
RPGUtilite.c
character_all.c
character_all.h
interface_utils.c
itemstrade.c
papermap.c
utilite.c
LAi_boarding.c
LAi_groups.c
LAi_init.c
quests.c
quests_reaction.c
reaction_functions.c
crew.c
duel.c
Cabin.c
Vorius_utils.c
LeifEricson.c

For ease of changing, I added int MAX_NUM_FIGHTERS = 6; to CharacterUtilite.c and now all references that need that number for loops and such now use MAX_NUM_FIGHTERS.

The one part I can’t quite find is to get them actually with you walking around and showing on the land interface icons. There are only 3 with me, though I increased everything else to 6. I’ve looked and looked, but can’t figure out where upon location load, it gets all my fighters; right now it only loads the first 3.

[modernknight1]

I can’t believe how fast you are Jeffrey. It would have taken a day and half for me to get all of that done.

You’re awesome! We are going to figure this out!

MK

[Jeffrey]

I think I got it figured out. In LAi_init.c:

Characters[idx].location = pchar.location;
Characters[idx].location.group = “officers”;
Characters[idx].location.locator = pchar.location.locator + “_” + locIndex;

Makes all the fighters part of the “officers” address group, then assigns them all a reload1_x locator id. I’m betting only reload1_1, reload1_2 and reload1_3 are the only valid locators in every location model. Hence, only the first 3 are loaded.

[modernknight1]

Is there a way we could make up new character reload locators do you think?

Have you see any kind of a directory that assigns X/Y coords by distance from the RPC? I sure haven’t – but haven’t been looking either.

I have noticed in many places when you load or reload it takes a minute for your officers to find you. They will come running from around some corner.

MK

[Jeffrey]

No need. Just did an experiment, where I reuse the same locator ids and it works. I fast-traveled to the dock and they are all just standing near me:

//Mod…in LAi_init.c

int k = locIndex % 3;
if(k==0) k=3;
Characters[idx].location = pchar.location;
Characters[idx].location.group = “officers”;
//Characters[idx].location.locator = pchar.location.locator + “_” + locIndex;
Characters[idx].location.locator = pchar.location.locator + “_” + k;

Now the only thing left is the land interface still doesn’t show beyond 3. Not sure why as I’ve already adjusted that in LandInterface.c:

void BLI_UpdateObjectData()

for(i=0; i<=MAX_NUM_FIGHTERS; i++)

void BLI_UpdateOfficers()
{
	SetOfficerTexture(0);
	SetOfficerTexture(1);
	SetOfficerTexture(2);
	SetOfficerTexture(3);
	//Mod for add'l fighters
	SetOfficerTexture(4);
	SetOfficerTexture(5);
	SetOfficerTexture(6);
	//End mod

	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 0, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture0);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 1, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture1);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 2, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture2);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 3, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture3);
	//Mod for add'l fighters
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 4, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture4);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 5, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture5);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 6, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture6);

[Jeffrey]

Posse! LOL

[modernknight1]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME!!! YOU ARE INDEED DA SUPER CODER MAN EXTRAORDINAIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MK

[modernknight1]

Man that’s like the super hot killer chic posse from HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure if I would wanna run into them or not in a dark alley? I think yes. That would be a good death and maybe they might like me. LOL

If you’ve been watching Black Sails, I knew Anne Bonney was going to totally pone that messenger. She is BRUTAL!!!

MK

[Jeffrey]

LOL.

It’s a quirk of mine…there are just enough females in this game to eventually have my entire officer/companion complement to almost be solely chics. So, every game I tend to strive for that. Suppose I’m a creepy weirdo 😉

I will also say, the hat for Bonney is a great touch 🙂

[Jeffrey]

Hmmm. Might be a constraint in the .dll source, rather than the Program codeset.

Looking at the possibility of the message handler for this:

SendMessage(&objLandInterface, “lls”, MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 6, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture6);

I found the constant MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX in battle_land.cpp:

case MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX:
		{
			int texIdx = message.Long();
			char param[256];
			message.String(sizeof(param)-1,param);
			if(texIdx>=0 && texIdx<4)
			{
				int newTexID = -1;
				if(param[0]) newTexID = rs->TextureCreate(param);
				TEXTURE_RELEASE(rs,m_idIconTexture[texIdx]);
				m_idIconTexture[texIdx] = newTexID;
			}
		}
	break;

Note the if(texIdx>=0 && texIdx<4) line. Does not register any message containing a parameter beyond 3. Might be why the interface does not display further…

[modernknight1]

I expected that. This is why I wanted to use the 8 ship max mod as a guide for how they got 8 ships icons to appear in the interface over the vanilla 5 ship icons.

I believe the answer is there.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Though slightly different, the approach for both is similar, but apparently the battle interface for ships does not have a constraint.

From BattleInterface.c (for ships)

void AddShipToInterface(int charIndex)
.
.
.
for(int i=0; i<COMPANION_MAX; i++)
	{
		if(GetCompanionIndex(pchar,i) == charIndex)
		{
			myShip = true;
		}
	}
.
.
.
SendMessage(&BattleInterface,"llaall",BI_IN_CREATE_SHIP,charIndex,chRef,shipRef,myShip,shipRelation);

From LandInterface.c

void BLI_UpdateOfficers()
{
	SetOfficerTexture(0);
	SetOfficerTexture(1);
	SetOfficerTexture(2);
	SetOfficerTexture(3);
	//Mod for add'l fighters
	SetOfficerTexture(4);
	SetOfficerTexture(5);
	SetOfficerTexture(6);
	//End mod

	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 0, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture0);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 1, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture1);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 2, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture2);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 3, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture3);
	//Mod for add'l fighters
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 4, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture4);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 5, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture5);
	SendMessage(&objLandInterface, "lls", MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, 6, objLandInterface.Parameters.iconTexture6);

I am downloading Visual C++ (I deal with C# for my job), and will try compiling a new .dll and see what happens if I change that .cpp code.

[modernknight1]

Crossing my fingers. Thank you Jeffrey!

MK

[Jeffrey]

Ugh! Might be bit…

Apparently, after installing C++, I have to reapply SP1 to VS, instead of just applying to my new product, it insists on downloading and applying it to ALL of my VS components (C#, VB .NET, Web Dev, Command Prompt, etc.). Taking forever…

[Jeffrey]

A bit of a problem. There are missing files (just a sample, there are more):

1> fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: ‘..\..\START\program\battle_interface\log_msg.h’: No such file or directory
1> battle_mansign.cpp
1> fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: ‘..\START\PROGRAM\NET\net_defines.h’: No such file or directory

There is also some confusion on my part. Battle_interface folder contains a battle_land.cpp file that is 19 kb. Though that is the one that contains the code with a message case for MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, it is not the one included in the project. The one in the actual project is only 4kb, located in a subfolder \land, and it also does not contain a message case for MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX.

I’m not able to proceed until I understand what to do about the dupe files (there are many, they are just located in the root, rather than some subfolders, yet they contain defs/methods that look to be for the same class), which ones I should use?

[modernknight1]

I am aware there are lots of duplicate files. Some are probably my fault even because of all my non documented experimentation with different games files from various sources over time. Sorry.

I don’t know what to recommend. Maybe compare them to a version of vanilla files if you have a pure vanilla version of the game?

MK

[Jeffrey]

No, these are the source for the .dll and such you gave me. I think I’m getting that perhaps there were the originals, then some modifications were made by someone in 2010, and they just moved the originals to the root, so the older files should probably not be used. In any case, I’m still missing the complete set as there are some .h includes that are simply missing. But it’s looking to definitely be a limitation within the battle_interface.dll…from the battle_mansign.cpp:

#define MAX_MAN_QUANTITY	4

for( n=0; n<MAX_MAN_QUANTITY; n++ )
	{
		m_Man[n].pntPos.x = 20.f;
		m_Man[n].pntPos.y = 20.f + (m_pntBackIconSize.y + 10.f) * n;
	}

If you look in LandInterface.c, ‘mansign’ is definitely the object for the fighters:

objLandInterface.ManSign.manstatetexturename	= "battle_interface\ShipState.tga";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manstatecolor			= argb(255,128,128,128);
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manhpuv				= "0.0,0.109,0.5,0.6875";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manhpoffset			= "-32,-13";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manhpiconsize			= "64,74";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manenegryuv			= "0.5,0.109,1.0,0.6875";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manenegryoffset		= "32,-13";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.manenergyiconsize		= "64,74";

	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargetexturename	= "battle_interface\ShipClass.tga";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargecolor			= argb(255,168,168,48);
	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargebackcolor		= argb(255,188,48,48);
	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargeuv			= "0.0,0.0,1.0,1.0";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargeoffset		= "-14,-50";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargeiconsize		= "64,16";
	objLandInterface.ManSign.gunchargeprogress		= "0.0625, 0.219, 0.359, 0.5, 0.641, 0.781, 0.983";

If I could get the missing files for the .dll stuff and compile this, we could change it. Until then, the add’l fighter icons will not show.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! Never mind…I see what you’re saying…the code for the .dll stuff actually does share some .h with the Program source that was provided with the game. I looked and sure enough, there is a net folder, with Net_Defines.h in it under Program\net. It wasn’t with the .dll source, but I can obviously just copy that to my project folder too.

[Jeffrey]

Now all that’s missing is DirectX files such as d3dx8math.inl. The SDK is available from Microsoft, so I’m downloading that now. I think I’m getting closer.

[Jeffrey]

OK, it looks like someone worked to better modularize some of the code. I successfully compiled battle_interface.dll, but it crashes the game, probably because it needs hooks into the EngineCommon someone wrote into this. The runtime error is “Can`t create render service”. Since this was all the newer .cpp files (those duplicates I mentioned), I moved the older ones into the project, which in turn dissociated the EngineCommon reference, and rebuilt with the older files and now I am only missing one piece.

Can you find a file anywhere in your source: common_h\dx8render.h

It is not part of DirectX SDK and I suspect it was written by the game developers to specifically implement/invoke DirectX, so it looks particular to this game source and not actually a common DirectX include. That appears all I’m missing as you’ll note that the error is suspiciously tied to the name of that file.

[modernknight1]

I took a look. I gave you everything I had. I looked at other Storm series offerings like GIC, SOFS and the German MOTCS. Nothing.

If you go into the Common_h\DirectX8 file there is a render.h file at the bottom
Maybe try taking that render.h file and duplicate it and rename the copy dx8render and plopping it into common_h or even leaving another copy in the DirectX8 file.

This wouldn’t be the first time I have found files in the wrong place(s) or misnamed.

One other thing I should mention is that in the module folder there is a DX8render dll file. It is possible that I put a non original dll file there since I used to be so bad at documenting my changes. The COAS one should be dated 2008 and the TEHO one 2012. Just can’t remember if I did that or not.

MK

[Jeffrey]

LOL, you are on the right track. I did exactly that with render.h. Copied it, but had to rename the implemented class name too. After that, those errors disappeared, so it was really just a clone class. However, we are at another impasse.

In the ‘old’ battle_land.cpp, there are some method calls:

m_pCommandMenu->SetMode(0,-1,-1,-1);
m_pCommandMenu->ResetStoredCommand();

However, SetMode and ResetStoredCommand do not appear in any other source file. They aren’t implemented by any class and no other reference. Without the source that defines/implements them, I can’t compile this.

The ‘new’ battle-land.cpp is totally different and doesn’t even process messages for MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX, as sent by LandInterface.c in BLI_UpdateOfficers. Also, if I were to dive in and just try compiling the whole solution with what looks like a newer/revised codeset, I would be copiling all the dlls, and have to replace everything in the modules folder in order to even try it…and it’s highly unlikely, as it seems what I have is a mismatch of old/new code that doesn’t all compile together. As if it was being worked on and not the actual functional release.

They have changed class names, removed/added methods that old files can’t compile…include files are not in the same location as specified in the #define statements and I’ve had to revise. Given that in this particular battle_interface, the new code doesn’t seem to even address the MSG_BATTLE_LAND_SET_ICONTEX messages, I don’t think it’s complete and I can’t even compile the old version as I’m missing methods in the MESSAGE_ICONS class, that apparently used to be there, but I don’t have that code.

[Jeffrey]

But the battle_land.cpp is definitely the limit of the icon display. Bummer as if I had the right code to compile, I’m confident it would work. You can see the limit to display here in the for(int i=0; i<4; i++):

rs->TextureSet(0,m_idShadowTexture);
			rs->DrawBuffer(m_idVBufCommandos, sizeof(BI_COLOR_VERTEX), m_idIBufCommandos, m_nMaxCommandos*4,m_nCommandos*4, 0,m_nCommandos*2, "battle_shadow_Rectangle");
			int iconNum=0;
			for(int i=0; i<4; i++)
			{
				if(iconNum>=m_nCommandos) break;
				if(m_idIconTexture[i]<0) continue;
				rs->TextureSet(0,m_idIconTexture[i]);
				rs->DrawBuffer(m_idVBufCommandos, sizeof(BI_COLOR_VERTEX), m_idIBufCommandos, iconNum*4,4, 0,2, "battle_tex_col_Rectangle");
				iconNum++;
			}

[Jeffrey]

Here is another instance where GetComState is not defined:

CONTROL_STATE cs;
if(m_pCommandMenu->GetComState()>0)

Compiler error: \battle_interface\land\battle_land.cpp(95): error C2039: ‘GetComState’ : is not a member of ‘BICommandList’

GetComState is found in no other file search of the entire codeset, except for the call in battle_land.cpp. Also, m_pCommandMenu was originally defined as a BATTLE_COMMAND object, but that no longer exists in any files either. It appeared to be replaced by BICommandList, as it had some similar methods…but of course GetComState was removed. But since I don’t have the BATTLE_COMMAND source, and only the newer BICommandList, this doesn’t work to compile.

There are other problems just like this…that mismatch and missing stuff.

[modernknight1]

OK damn.

The only person who might have the original files is Pirate KK and he hasn’t been on the PA! forums in forever. I have no way of asking anyone over there to contact him because I am banned over there because I am such bad person for calling a dickhead a “Hitler nutjob” for deleting long posts that I’d spent an hour writing.

I have one other thing I might try. My youngest son has an account on Corsairs Harbor and he knows Russian (went to college for languages and Russian was his primary). I think he has made some friends over there. I can try contacting Joruba and Blackmark studios for help and my son could put a message on C.H. asking if any of the old coders working on the original COAS still have those old code files. (That forum is way more active than PA so maybe we might get something)

Its worth a try.

In the meantime I think we should leave the new fighters in place without the icons. Just because its so cool and people will love it and want it. I am a glass half full person and I believe the solution will present itself sooner than later.

HOOAAAH!!!

Thanks for all you work on it Jeffrey. Once again….YOU ARE AWESOME!

MK

[Jeffrey]

Yeah, it’s so close…I know exactly where the limit lies and if we only had the source for the actual functional release, it would be an easy and quick change. I’ll cross my fingers we can somehow obtain it.

In the meantime, I was actually thinking the same thing. The fighters are there, and you can interact/trade/purchase things for them. The only thing the icons let you know is their health and when it disappears, they are dead 🙂 I don’t think a few missing is entirely a deal-breaker. I will package this up separately, so you can review the individual files/changes, and put it in my folder link.

Also, I had my limit set at 6, but after seeing you were thinking 8, I made a couple slight modification in the case/message statements so that it can be changed by merely changing just one line at the top of CharacterUtilite.c: int MAX_NUM_FIGHTERS = 6;

[Jeffrey]

Oh, one thing I did not do is try to add them to the load game file screen. Since there are only 10 spots (you, 3 fighters, 6 other officers) and no scroll, I opted to skip that because they would not currently fit across the bottom.

That is the code you saw for creating the officer’s pictures in interface.c.

[Jeffrey]

Additional Fighters: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Jeffrey]

Ah, I did not test boarding. There was a bug, but that is now fixed. But if downloaded prior to this message, get the newer one.

[Jeffrey]

Well, well…

Just for grins, I created a C++ project folder and copied over the fresh, unadulterated source for the game I have. It didn’t compile. But the errors were relatively simple (though a bit time consuming 🙂 ) to rectify, without modifying the source code. I was missing some static libraries for FMOD, some references to static libraries to DirectX, and some Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) includes.

I had recently downloaded the SDK for DirectX, so pointed a reference to its needed libraries: d3d8.lib, d3dx8.lib, ddraw.lib, dxguid.lib. My personal version of VS is Express, which doesn’t include MFC, but I have resources and just copied the include/implementation source from a VS Pro instance I have access to, and pointed a reference to them. The FMOD static library, fmodex_vc.lib, was easy enough to find and download.

Just a couple slight problems left. There was a call to GetCPUUsage in FMOD, that my .dll doesn’t support, but looking at the call, they don’t really do anything with the information retrieved after the call, so I commented that one line out. Also, the ‘net’ class instantiation contains several source files that I don’t have in the original source at all:

#include “Script\NetFile.inl”
#include “Script\NetMessage.inl”
#include “Script\NetSocket.inl”
#include “Script\NetInet.inl”

But, all the function calls for these includes are in the class initialization and I don’t really need the internet/online gaming part anyway, so commented out the missing includes and the calls to its online features in the class init. That’s it…two very small, insignificant, and irrelevant changes. After that:

========== Rebuild All: 53 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========

That’s right. Everything compiled. Makes a new start.exe and all new .dlls. Let’s run it…

Crash.

Remember I suspected the game has it’s own compile parser? It does, and it’s been broken. Running in debug mode, the game makes it to this line in Core.cpp:

if(!Compiler.CreateProgram(String)) _THROW(fail to create program);

String contains “seadogs.c”. The first program it tries to run, as expected.

error.log file is created and states:

COMPILE ERROR – file: seadogs.c; line: 308
function SetGlowParams(args:0) doesnt accept 3 arguments

seadogs.c tries to call it like this (which is unchanged from working game): SetGlowParams(1.0, 50, 2);

The error is a lie. The native function SetGlowParams is not defined with zero parameters. It is defined in sdevice.h as this: virtual void SetGLOWParams (float _fBlurBrushSize, long _GlowIntensity, long _GlowPasses);

But OK, just for grins, make it no parms in seadogs.c, save and try again…crash, and again…crash. A sample of things the compiler feature doesn’t like anymore:

COMPILE ERROR – file: Net\Server\Utils.c; line: 7
Duplicate variable name: wOurCharacterID

First lines of Utils.c:

bool NetServer_IsTeam(int wOurCharacterID, int wOtherCharacterID)
{
	return false;
}

bool NetServer_IsCLient(int wOurCharacterID)  //This is line 7 \...so we cant have two functions with the same name parameter?????
{
	if (wOurCharacterID == DST_INVALID) { return false; }
	if (GetAttributesNum(NSClients[wOurCharacterID])) { return true; }
	return false;
}

From further experimentation, the compiler also complains about a duplicate variable i in cases like This:

void function1(){
	int i;
}

void function2(){
	int i;
}

Having similar variable names, scoped to separate functions and procedures is both common and in my mind, necessary, as it would be ridiculous in a large set of code, with many sub routines, to have to keep supplying unique variable names for loops and such. It is also very valid syntax and should not pose errors.

More of the erroneous zero arguments claims with further functions. NMAddByte would what? Add mystery bytes together, or use ESP to just ‘know’ what bytes need to be added…or in the case of _SendMessage…a random thought??? Doesn’t need parameters? LOL

COMPILE ERROR – file: net.c; line: 28
function NMAddByte(args:0) doesnt accept 2 arguments

COMPILE ERROR – file: net\net.c; line: 139
function NetClient_SendMessage(args:0) doesnt accept 2 arguments

So the compile feature to go through the Program source for run-time, is broken. I suspect if that were fixed, there is much more to this source that will be broken as well as it looks like much has been changed/moved. It looks a work-in-progress to me.

[Jeffrey]

Ah, what the heck…curiosity got the best of me, so I’m debugging the parser.

Truncated seadogs.c to this:

native int SetGlowParams(float fBlurBrushSize, int Intensivity, int BlurPasses);

void Main()
{
	SetGlowParams(1.0, 50, 2);
}

Got the same error.log, but with only 6 lines, quick/easy to step through.

In compiler.cpp, get to this line: if(fi.offset == INVALID_FUNC_OFFSET)

This kicks us into the error.

In s_functab.h
#define INVALID_FUNC_OFFSET 0xffffffff

That hex number equals 4294967295

Looking at watchlist:

fi.offset 4294967295 unsigned long

if(fi.offset == INVALID_FUNC_OFFSET)
{
	// external function declared but not compiled yet
	fi.arguments = fi.ext_args;
}

if(fi.arguments != func_args)...goes to error

And see that func_args is 3. This is the number of arguments seadogs.c is trying to use in SetGlowParams. fi.arguments WAS 3, but because fi.offset was equal to INVALID_FUNC_OFFSET, it got set to fi.ext_args, which was zero. So now, fi.arguments = 0 and no longer matches func_args, which is 3, and we get the error.

I need to go to FuncTab.GetFuncX(fi,func_code) as that was a preceding line that populated fi.arguments and fi.ext_args during my debugging steps.

[Jeffrey]

Compiles successfully and runs from source:

Stepping through debug mode, figured out that zero parameter thing was that they are extern now, rather native. Change that in the run-time files in the Program folder and that went away, along with the erroneous duplicate variable thing (probably confused by the other problem and just erroneous parsing after that…). Hit another snag with a bunch of these, throughout many programs:

COMPILE ERROR - file: net\net.c; line: 23
missing ')'

That turned out to be a flaw in the expression.cpp code, which I fixed with a minor, one-line fix.

It runs, but with other issues for now. No sound (doesn’t like my FMOD version), and some function calls are now broken, per system.log and error.log obtained after merely reaching the menu screen (I have not attempted beyond that yet):

System.log

Loading modules (folder: modules\)...
 44 loaded.
Reset...
Initializing CORE...
Creating atoms space: 128
 done
initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8
ERROR: Techniques: Find duplicate technique name: rain
ERROR: in compile shader seaps_atireflect
error:
(1) : (Assembly Error) syntax error

Techniques: 22 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 230 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 180035618 ticks.
Error : You are using old FMOD version 00040805 !

Total logical: 4, Total cores: 2, Total physical: 1
Intel CPU: Yes, SSE: On, HyperThreading: On
RESOURCE\models\mainmenu\AOPBoard.gm: can't open geometry file
Warning! Interface Back Scene: invalid menu model mainmenu\AOPBoard or transform matrix
RESOURCE\models\mainmenu\AOPBoard.gm: can't open geometry file
Warning! Interface Back Scene: invalid menu model mainmenu\AOPBoard or transform matrix
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\CARGO.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
Can't load texture RESOURCE\textures\BORTOUTCORVETTE1.TGA.tx
FMOD_SOUND:createStream error! (74) This subsound is already being used by another sound, you cannot have more than one parent to a sound.  Null out the other parent's entry first. 
fmod_system->createStream(RESOURCE\sounds\music_MainMenu, FMOD_HARDWARE | FMOD_2D | dwMode, 0, &sound)
FMOD:update error! (74) This subsound is already being used by another sound, you cannot have more than one parent to a sound.  Null out the other parent's entry first. 
FMOD:update error! (74) This subsound is already being used by another sound, you cannot have more than one parent to a sound.  Null out the other parent's entry first. 
FMOD:update error! (74) This subsound is already being used by another sound, you cannot have more than one parent to a sound.  Null out the other parent's entry first. 

Error.log

RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 307
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 4132
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 4132
function 'SetTextureForShip' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 634
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 634
process event stack error

Compile.log looks fine

Init encounters complete.
How islands = 26
Init weathers complete. 35 weathers found.
How islands = 26
Çàïîëíåíèå òðóïîâ ñ ïðåäìåòà 243
Antigua: 12
Barbados: 22
Jamaica: 37
Curacao: 46
Guadeloupe: 55
Santiago: 64
PuertoPrincipe: 68
Martinique: 82
Havana: 91
Nevis: 101
PuertoRico: 110
SentMartin: 120
Bermudes: 125
Trinidad: 134
PortPax: 143
SantoDomingo: 153
LaVega: 157
Tortuga: 167
Panama: 175
PortoBello: 184
Cartahena: 193
Caracas: 202
Cumana: 211
SantaCatalina: 220
Beliz: 229
Maracaibo: 238
Story: 247
ÂÑÅÃÎ ÍÏÑ Â ÈÃÐÅ (ñòàòèêîâ) = 247
Version =  mod#2 ver 1. 5. 7  The Golden Age   DEV

Think it’ll run?

[Jeffrey]

A few problems to work through…but a saved game loaded:

Still a bunch of invalid function calls needs resolving…

RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 307
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 4132
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 4132
function 'SetTextureForShip' stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 634
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 634
process event stack error
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\sea.c; line: 1368
Invalid function call
RUNTIME ERROR - file: sea_ai\sea.c; line: 1368
function 'Sea_LoadIsland' stack error

[Jeffrey]

Told ya it was the battle_interface.dll. Increased the MAX_MAN_QUANTITY, recompiled the .dll.

Not sure why they don’t all line up…but my job of proving it was the .dll, is done.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! Downloaded the archived version of 4.44 FMOD Ex API, fixed up the SoundService.cpp a little bit to deal with the inc/lib/dll that came with it, and my sound is back.

[Jeffrey]

There was an issue with no loader screens displaying pictures, as the code had deprecated use of the FADER_PICTURE message, and replaced it with FADER_DATA. But that also uses an object property setting for the image name/path. I liked the idea as it obviates the need for long “lssffllss” type parameters with the corresponding parm list; you would just send “la” and an object with properties, like so:

object aMessage;
aMessage.Value1 = “val1”;
aMessage.Value2 = 2.0;
aMessage.Value3 = 1;
aMessage.Value$ = “val4”;

SendMessage(&reload_fader, “la”,FADER_DATA, aMessage);

No more long strings for 2nd parm, and a bunch of other trailing parms…nice idea. But removing the old method breaks existing FADER_PICTURE messages, so I kept the new method, but also put back the old FADER_PICTURE handling.

Now, back to the fighter icon display…got that resolved too.

[Orazio]

Nice one Jeffrey!

Since you’re dealing with the dlls, I was wondering: is there any chance to get the interface widescreen? I mean the interface you get access to when you click F2, and the options screen, not what you see when you play.

I don’t know if this is understandable, but take a look at this screenshot from SDTEHO, where they solved this “problem” (or better, a heritage from the past): you can clearly see the interface is no longer stretched over the screen, there is like a square that contains all the elements, keeping the ratio to 1:1. On the sides, when it’s not possible to extend this square anymore without stretching, there is simply nothing, just the background.

I once tried to see if I could do anything, but I think (I’m not a programmer, so I’m just guessing) this resides in the dlls, probably XINTERFACE.dll, as I found this line in BaseInterface.c:
CreateEntity(&GameInterface,"xinterface");

[Jeffrey]

I don’t think programming is needed. It looks like that is all done in the character INI file. For demonstration, I changed a few values in RESOURCE\INI\interfaces\character_all.ini to shift some things over:

You can move, resize, change font size, etc. It’s involved, but everything on the screen can be modified in that file. Don’t change names, just the position values: position = 588,78,792,326

Formatted as such: horizontalXstart, verticalYstart, horizontalXend, verticalYstart

To get current screen element sizes, for your own reference while doing so, you would subtract Xend – Xstart and Yend – Ystart.

[Orazio]

Yes, I arrived to that too during my experiments, and realized it’s probably not the way it has been done.

Comparing the ini interface files between ERAS and SDTEHO reveals they are basically the same, just minor changes that don’t involve the position of the major elements in the screen.

And using this method would mean to change ALL the interface files, which are like 40, and I think the changes would be relative to my screen size only, so another one using a different screen resolution might have his interface completely messed up.

That’s why I asked if there was something in the dlls that can fix all “instances” of the interface, from the options to the load/save screen to what appears pressing F2 and so on, in just a single block of code.

[Jeffrey]

Thinking about this more, I realized I was probably wrong in how it was done. I don’t have the benefit of a wider screen to review, but it makes sense it would have to stretch those screens in wide aspect ratios, else the screen would left-align, then a bunch of empty space on the right. I’m guessing you don’t see that in stock AoP, right?

So it must stretch to fit and I’m sure there is a way to find the code that parses the interface .ini screen files, stretch just background element [MAIN_BACK], but then adjust all other x coordinates, whether right/left of center and adjust for different aspect ratios, based on the monitor’s resolution settings, which are available to find, as the config.exe does so.

[Jeffrey]

I think I found it in XInterface. I put a note for myself to investigate:

        memcpy(&m_screenSize,&ScreenSize,sizeof(ScreenSize));
        memcpy(&m_hostRect,&hostRect,sizeof(hostRect));

//TO DO:  Trace this logic to see about keeping background stretched for position = 0,0,800,600, but adjusting
//	  x pos for all other rectangles to NOT stretch other elements.

	// get position
	m_rect = GetIniLongRect(ini1,name1, ini2,name2, "position", m_hostRect);
	int nAbsoluteRectVal = GetIniLong(ini1,name1, ini2,name2, "bAbsoluteRectangle",0);
        GetAbsoluteRect(m_rect,nAbsoluteRectVal);

GetIniLongRect probably gets the coordinates from the “position” values of the INI file, based on a base resolution of 800×600. If you note, all MAIN_BACK are position = 0,0,800,600. I can probably let that GetIniLongRect adjust all positions to expand screen consumption as they normally would for 0,0,800,600, but for all others not matching 0,0,800,600, adjust the x coordinates proportionally based on the screen resolution vs. 800×600.

[modernknight1]

Jeffrey you are the MAN!!!!

YOU DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This really makes my whole week! Thank you!

This is an AMAZING additional capability that players are really going to enjoy. It completely changes the usual mechanics. I can’t wait to go into some of the quest battles where you usually end up alone or maybe with one really good fighter left.

I can see so many new techniques using this. I may keep a core of favored strong fighters but recruit some fodder as well that I don’t care about losing. Caves may just be way too easy now.

Question? When you use your G and H keys for follow and hold, do all of the fighters still follow or hold?

So now after reading your explanations of how you did things it occurred to me that you might be able to assist me in another area that I am having problems with.

As it is now I have to use one set of models (that are all modeled together) for the world map. The only way to modify the world map view is to integrate new island models into the existing islands model. This is what I have been working on.

However it just occurred to me – what if I could somehow tell the game to recognize another set of models next to the existing set of models. OR (like in the case of Pirates of the Caribbean), tell the game to recognize each individual model added in addition to the big island model.

So what I am suggesting is somehow expanding the boundary of the current map playbox and getting the game to see another additional playbox – say to the east with the AOP1/SOFS/POTC archipelago. If this could be done, instead of me having to integrate all of the new colonies into the existing map, we could extend the Leeward antilles so that they are more geographically correct and historically correct.

I already know how to add the colonies with all of the new names, locations and characters. My problem has been when I sail to/from a new island I always end up at another island when I go to world view because the models aren’t integrated, so the only way to get back to the locations again is to go to the first person sea view and then the sail to button to the new location on the interface.

I will eventually be able to integrate these models into the existing island model, but it would just be so much easier if I could get the game to recognize additional map sheets/area with new islands.

I haven’t any clue where to look for that kind of function though as I just barely came up with the idea and need to think about it some more.

MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by modernknight1.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by modernknight1.

[Orazio]

Interesting finding in XINTERFACE. It would be cool if the interface weren’t stretched anymore. It really annoys me!

[Jeffrey]

I am close on this…

It is all within XInterface. Most of it is in a set of code inode.cpp. I made adjustments for any aspect ratio with higher width to length measurements than 800×600. I am using 1360×768, which is just slightly higher, so the shifting is a little slight, but gives me the chance to review the results to make sure they line up. Right now, some of them don’t, but it turns out not everything is run through inode.

Turns out some elements don’t…TABLE is an example, and they were still messed up, so that required running table column widths in xi_table.cpp through my recalculation formula. When I inserted that, most of them turned out OK too, but some don’t, so I need to trace that. Probably a TABLE subset is going through another code routine that needs similar treatment. Pictures and picture borders, slider bars are also not right at the moment, but I will track that down.

But here’s what it looks like now. Granted my shifting is slight, but after I get them lined up, I think it will work for other resolutions as the math will be the same.

Original

Adjusted

[Jeffrey]

…and closer.

Added just 2 lines in xi_table.cpp to call my screen adjusting function in inode. They are now correct. Looks like lines, titles and scroll bars are next. This is definitely doable now.

[Orazio]

Very nice! The difference is subtle since in your screen the stretching effect is little, but I can see now the circle with the flag, on the top left corner of the portrait, looks like a real circle, not an ellipse anymore.

[Jeffrey]

Rock and roll!

Took awhile for the last piece as I found that the red background for the formatted text above things like the character picture was a bit obscure where it was handled…but I found it.

Tomorrow, I will load to one of my kids’ computers as I notice they have widescreen and see how that looks.

[Jeffrey]

Looks like the world map is fairly easily extended. I traced the code in debug mode and found out how. Here is a pic from stock AoP/GOF (the worldmap code is broken in the dev…run-time crash after a short while).

I opened the WorldMap\islands\islands.gm in TOOL, found two labels: Min and Max. Change the X Positions from -1024,1024 to -2048,2048. Apply changes, save. Rename your old file, put the saved version in its place. Voila.

The code looks for those two labels in the locators group name and uses them to constrain the map boundary.

[modernknight1]

Very interesting Jeffrey.

This is indeed the first step to accomplish what I need!

The next step is find out if —- in the extended area could I get the game to recognize a new model? Such as the SOFS islands, AOP1 Caribbean Tales islands or original POTC islands?

If I can find out how to do this I can rapidly import the work I have already done in prepping now colonies into the game with a new Locations\locations_init and other applicable files. (there are actually quite a number of files that have to be modified for new colony inclusion – I have a list)

My real desire is to get the game to recognize other models besides the primary island model.

There is one other issue that could be a problem as well. The map models are all on in one model, but the 1st person view has models broken up into pieces. Some of the pieces have only one model, but others have groups of island models. This is so that when you are sailing that you see the other islands in the distance around you.

This is why in direct sail mode when you cross a boundary and the screen goes black for a moment and you find yourself somewhere else, the view suddenly becomes different (often with no visible island models to be seen). I suppose it doesn’t really matter with the new islands I want to import if you see other islands in the distance or not as long as you see the new island you want to get to.

Thanks for the detective work. It will make my life so much easier if we can import secondary models on the main mapsheet to the base island model. If this can be done I will not have to change the base island model as I have already been attempting. I will still continue my work and eventually change the primary islands model however because I want to fix the floating island problem. The way I got St Kitts to appear on the mapsheet before was with a shoddy coordinate trick that crashes the game as soon as you go out of map view, and the actual island location did not match the map. This is why I would like to put the new models outside of the existing map a little to the east.

Someday I will learn how to incorporate new island models in the main existing model. When that occurs then we will actually be able to have the Dutch ABC islands(Aruba Curacao and Bonaire). I would also like a whole slew of little islands in the Bahamas west of Bermuda all the way to Turks. Some with nothing on them but others with additional pirate colonies. This is my final goal.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Realizing your goal/wish is to have other world maps appended, that will be read and incorporated into the game, I’m going to suggest the opposite, the route you are trying to avoid. Namely, put what you want in the single world map, but an expanded one as mentioned in the Min/Max adjustments that would be needed.

Right now, the game is set up/coded to read from the world map, and scan related island maps in a particular way. As you traverse the map, the game is coded to respond by reading the information from the one. Sure, an attempt can be made to read from several, I’m sure that’s doable, but with that change, there could be many further unforeseen implications that then need to be addressed in other source code to figure things correctly. Also, by making these types of changes, you will invariably introduce your own bugs, that then also need to be addressed. If you stick with, presumably, ‘what already works,’ that is all eliminated; just do it the way it was already designed to do and you don’t introduce further problems.

I think if you follow the naming/design conventions, expand Min/Max, it could work. I suspect that coordinate trick is actually on the right track, but might not have been fully correct. It looks like not only the newisland.gm and newisland_area.gm would need to be crafted, but all surrounding xxx_area.gm that abut the new area would also need their coordinates to be trimmed in order to butt against the new place; I think it can be done and is the better approach.

The good news is that once one is done, and the model files of the new place, along with an adjusted WorldMap\islands\islands.gm file, if it crashes, giving I have source and can run in dev debug mode, we can find out exactly what the game doesn’t like about it…anything missing, things that are wrong, such as overlapping coordinates, or whatever ??? it can’t handle and causes a crash. Make the adjustments in the models to fit the existing code and try again.

With this way, even if this new source compilation doesn’t work out due to performance issues, or other, at least the new maps/models will likely work with the existing, stock compilation if they are crafted to fit what the game expects.

Of course if we have to stick with the stock compilations, we lose the additional fighter display and the screen resolution adjustments 🙁

I still want/hope for the actual source of the released version…that would be a real boon.

[Jeffrey]

Apologize for the delayed response, but I spent considerable time trying to debug a crash during the worldmap tours. ‘Fortunately,’ and I put that in quotes as it’s not really for the company I work for, but there was a power outage for hours…until early this morning, at our central datacenter, that put all work out of commission, so I had nothing else to do but test/debug the game all yesterday, LOL.

Anyway, the problem was within internal_functions.cpp, that processes a constant stream of messages. During worldmap movement, it crashed. Since I’m running debugger, I know exactly what line, and it only occurred during one particular message, with a type VAR_AREFERENCE and a particular class name during a call from an ATTRIBUTES object to its member function, FindAClass. I never did find the ‘right’ way to fix the problem, as it has to do with the insidious nature of C++ pointers. Remember, I don’t know what the original code looks like, or what was changed…the stock program doesn’t have this problem; I have both versions running the same /Programs and /RESOURCES.

In internal_functions.cpp, there is a DATA object that contains a member that is a *pointer to an ATTRIBUTES object: ATTRIBUTES * AttributesClass. In most cases, this member receives the actual pointer, but I suspect that in at least one case, it is getting set to a pointer that merely references the same address. What’s supposed to happen is like this:

dataobject.Attributes = actualPointer

Now actualPointer can dereference the ATTRIBUTES properties/functions in their actual memory:

actualPointer->FindAClass, where FindAClass is the actual memory allocation to do what it’s supposed to. When the ATTRIBUTES object that actualPointer represents destroyed, it becomes zero, and dataobject.Attributes in turn now shows zero, so before dereferencing actualPointer->FindAClass, you can look first:

if (dataobject.Attributes) actualPointer is non-zero and will get actualPointer->FindAClass

If object is gone, ->FindAClass is skipped and all is well.

However, somewhere I suspect dataobject.Attributes is not getting actualPointer, but rather getting assigned another reference, not the actual object pointer that points to the same place…more like:

dataobject.Attributes = refToActualPointer

Now where the ATTRIBUTES object refToActualPointer points to is destroyed, actualPointer is zero, but refToActualPointer stays as it always was…it’s not the actual pointer the ATTRIBUTES class created for it’s own object, but rather another pointer that was created to point to the same thing.

So now, in our crash case, though actualPointer is zero because it was destroyed, refToActualPointer is not, though what it points to no longer exists in memory. So we get:

if (dataobject.Attributes) refToActualPointer is non-zerio, but actualPointer is zero and gone, so you think things are OK, will try to run refToActualPointer->FindAClass and game crashes due to trying to reference invalid memory.

Spent much time, conditional breakpoints (thank Odin for conditional breakpoints, so the hundreds of irrelevant messages can just be skipped and only stop on the one I’m looking for to trace through!) , but so many calls are made, many per second, even with conditional breaks, it was difficult to spot where the problem lies because everywhere I could find that assigns the references looks to be OK, using * references, but obviously, somewhere, in this one case (and it was always the same case, of both type and class name being looked for), it is being assigned wrong. Anyway, not the ‘best’ way, as finding the underlying culprit is the better solution, but for now, a slight hack…since I know exactly what the problem is, and where it always occurs in this particular scenario, I just do an additional test of the dataobject.Attributes memory spot to ensure it’s still valid. I can sail world map freely now, no crashes or unexpected errors in log. I can sail first person fine, engage in battle. Only brief tests so far.

I will also add, overall, not particularly pleased with the performance. With whatever has changed, certain things seemed to have slowed down. For instance, from world map, selecting to engage takes about twice as long to actually load and display sea mode. Cannon fire is gone too. Error: FMOD_SOUND:setPaused error! (11) The specified channel has been reused to play another sound. Still need to figure that out.

I will respond about the world map stuff in the next post.

[Jeffrey]

I think I finally figured out the ‘why’ this bad pointer is happening. The DATA objects are serialized into a variable that is placed in an array to be used as a stack to push/pop off as needed. When that is ‘popped’ by a recent request, it is deserialized into an object that fits the type…in this case a DATA object with a type VAR_REFERENCE, and a member AttributesClass with a pointer to that ATTRIBUTES object. When it is decided, by a message instructing to DeleteAttribute, that this needs to be deallocated, everything works fine, objects are destroyed properly and pointers to the AttributesClass set to zero.

However, when something further down that stack, is later ‘popped’ off, and deserialized, if it’s another DATA object, that had its own, same reference to AttributesClass pointer, it had no way of knowing that the pointer value it stored in that member is now invalid, and neither did the former ATTRIBUTES object that got destroyed know there were other references to be zeroed as they were all in some other DATA array, and serialized into information it would have no way to interpret. So this AttributesClass value is deserialized into a pointer value that is no longer valid as it was destroyed by something earlier.

I feel better now at least having a decent idea why this happened…and it’s probably a slight design oversight. But, this situation is now handled.

[Jeffrey]

Some bad news…to give my tweaks of the character screen a review on widescreen, as I promised Orazio, I copied to one of my kids’ computers that already has stock AoP and GOF and ERAS; all of the stock exe./.dll versions work on their, running Windows 8. Mine is ‘old’…Windows XP Pro. Though this new compilation is fully working on my WinXP machine, shortly after it scans the modules, still in the splash screen showing startup progress, crashes on Windows 8 with a memory ACCESS VIOLATION.

Faulting module name: Rigging.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x56fde31f
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00001e86
Faulting process id: 0x2068
Faulting application start time: 0x01d18bc9bbc57899
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Playlogic\ERAS2Test\START.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Playlogic\ERAS2Test\modules\Rigging.dll

I can get a memory .dmp file, and with the .pdb files formed in Visual Studio build, theoretically I should be able to run the .dmp through the debugger and hopefully find the culprit. So a slight pause on my cannon sound issue (pun intended) and I’ll give that a go.

[Jeffrey]

Good news is that it works in Win8. Finally figured out it’s a permission deal with the Program Folders and doesn’t read the things it needs, creates all kinds of faults within the program as it wasn’t designed to gracefully handle it. Rather than build in all that is required to work as designed with the type of restrictions some of those later Windows system’s, it will work if set to Run as Administrator, or in a subdir of the C: directory; I tried both.

Oddly, in a funny contradiction, the cannon fire sound works under Win8, as opposed to my XP Pro…I’m still going to resolve that.

And Orazio, I’m not going to post a pic of the character screen as I said…turns out that I didn’t pay much attention, and yes their screens are wider, but they are also taller, so the ratio is exactly the same as mine and an example does no good, LOL Somebody else will have to try that when I get this better ready.

[Jeffrey]

OK, a search on the ‘net for some FMOD help and a few tweaks to the sound code and the cannon fire is back for WinXP (music and dialog always worked)…but it was horrible. On a whim, I changed start.ini from useMM = 0 to UseMM = 1 that is MUCH better. So that is fixed.

[Orazio]

I don’t know the code for the interface, but I suppose the standard resolution for the interface with no stretching is 800×600 right? So that is a ratio of 1,33333…

Would it be possible to have the block with the elements have its height equal to the vertical resolution of the screen, and then adjust the width automatically with something like this: width = height * 1,3333

Or it doesn’t work like this?

[Jeffrey]

That’s pretty close to what I do. It’s slightly different in that the game looks at two X coordinates for the left and right, so if an element does not span the entire screen width (like a background image), I adjust each of them from what would be the center, based on a new width calculation. But the trick is that what is sent to the display/rendering functions assumes that 800 width and that is the max it will deal with…what I did is actually fool it by sending a narrower width for resolutions beyond 1.33 and then it will expand it out when it displays it. So, it figure out the ratio and then using the ratio difference, figure a new width, then X left is center – 1/2 and X right is center + 1/2. I’m fairly confident what I’ve got will work, just have no way to demonstrate it myself because all our screens here are roughly 1.37, so it’s very slight change; someone with a different screen with a much higher ratio will have to try it to find out.

I found an issue with boarding a ship that has struck it’s colors…game crashed, so I’ve got to debug that. I’m starting to wonder if this effort is worth the time…since the code I started with had been modified from original, how many more ‘gotchas’ are now present?

[Jeffrey]

Turns out it was just a coincidence about that stricken colors ship boarding. There was a serious flaw in the save feature, where with certain bits of state data, in certain circumstances, the memory location was deleted, but the pointer was returned, causing a memory violation error…but the deletion was a mistake. Nice to find root causes, as it makes for a solid fix. Also, it depended on current state conditions, so was seemingly random when it would happen, as some auto-saves worked fine.

But found another Win 8 anomaly when having more than 5 extra fighters, using the .dmp method of debugging from another machine crash, it’s when writing out the vertical buffer (WriteSquareToVBuf) for the ‘mansigns’ that show fighter status. If there are only 6 (you + 5 fighters), it’s fine, but add one more and crash when reloading the next location where it would display; but only on the Win 8, as the XP works fine. Odd that testing extra ships does not do this (I tried after discovering the problem) and in fact, your command prompts can still invisibly iterate down and issue a command to the hidden ships beyond the bottom. So, I will compare the two approaches between ships/mansigns and change that to a method that clearly works with the ship icons.

After the save issue, I thought this would at least be ready for someone to test, but not just yet…

[Jeffrey]

Kickin’ A on the wild side…found the difference between mansigns and shipicons. In ship icons they are sending the square size to CreateVertexBuffer with a calc of each icon element size. In the case of mansigns, they do the same calc and same call, but when they do the call, they did not use the calced size, but a hardcoded number??? I’m sure an oversight, but sending the calced size that added each element size, it works just like the shipicons now.

So I’m presuming the crash result it was not really a difference in OS, one being more ‘forgiving,’ but rather my screen resolution and allowed that hardcoded version to make enough V buffer space, but the other machine didn’t.

Fixed. Pretty close to letting others give this a try.

[modernknight1]

Thanks for all of your hard work Jeffrey! I myself run Windows 7 so I hope it will be OK on my system once its ready to test.

I hope you will stick around until my part of the mega patch is done. I am about three quarters finished now. Two new ships (although if we go by PA! definitions that’s six new ships because of number of skins. I am almost ready to show them off in screenshots. We are up to 10 new weapons now. Some of these are some just really awesome weapons and I’m giving a couple of them killer stats.

With regards to your observations on the island map. I have been wondering about substituting New Horizons entire map in place of the COAS map. The one thing that would be essential to making this happen is to substitute a place on their map for the City of Abandoned ships to occupy. You see they already took the entire land mass of COAS and added it to their own island model already. The modder Armada was able to merge the models together. So they have already merged all of the COAS locations into New Horizons.

It will take several days of experiments to see if this is possible, but I think it may be worth it and I think I will at least learn from the experiment as well. I’m not sure how happy players will be with a completely new map however? Their map has more locations and very unique locations which is what I want.

When I do a comparison of GOF ERAS to New Horizons, this is what I look at.

– Animations and sword fighting: GOF has NH beat hands down – no contest.
– Fighters: With Jeffrey’s new work we can now control more fighters. This was something that until recently NH had better than us.
– Graphics: GOF has NH clearly beat and with the Germans and Russians integrating/implementing DX9, I believe we will be able to incorporate their work in the future as well.
– Ships: we have hundreds more ships than they do – no contest. We can also control eight ships per RPC, compared to their control of only four.
– Characters: We have more and better historic characters than they do. Plus their character textures are just abysmal.

Locations: New Horizons has more locations and more unique interesting locations.
Quests: COAS has better vanilla quests but NH has more quests over all. If we could get their locations I think we could also import their quests.
Flags: New Horizons has the ability to have personal flags. This is something I have been trying to get for us for sometime.

If we could just get the last three we could have the better mod hands down no contest. I feel like getting the new islands integrated and importing new locations, is the first step to taking GOF ERAS to an entirely new level of game play.

I am considering hiring someone to do this for me. I am going to start asking around to my contacts to see if there is a modeler willing to work for me that could do the trick. It could take me six more months to learn this by myself and I am just too impatient. By hiring a modeler, we can get what we want and I will be able to learn everything I need to directly for myself, making me much more dangerous in the future. I will be able to do so much more for our little community and build and finish some of these ship I have on the drawing board.

Last, Galleon PM’d me that he had made contact with the other modelers and people to get the things I wanted, but has had no contact back yet. My son is contacting his friends as well. I have not contacted Joruba about source code from the Black Mark team yet, but will do that today while I am thinking about it. I wanted to play TEHO more before I contacted him so I could tell him what I think. Maybe I will stop working on stuff today and just play TEHO instead.

I have new stuff ready to go up today and will write up an April message to the community telling all that is happening. Some cool new stuff coming our way soon.

MK

[Jeffrey]

I don’t think it was the different OS; that was my first observation, but probably irrelevant. The real issue looks to be that they run the icon sizes through a function that probably takes into account screen res to figure the buffer size needed. But, then they passed a hardcoded number 25 to a function to size the appropriate buffer size to write them to. They did it correctly in the ship version of the same feature and passed the addition calc, but not the person icons for land. That is why ships worked and people didn’t and it didn’t affect me because the hardcoded number was apparently sufficient for my screen res, but not on the other machine I tried. I changed the person icon to match the ship approach and it’s not a problem now.

[Galleon]

Jeffrey I have a bug with the new fighter mod.

I have only put in the extra fighters mod and not your other work. When I go to the ship of another captain who wishes me to go on a mission with him as soon as you are transported to his deck, you are stuck in the middle of the air above the ship looking at the water. You cannot move or look around.

I did not have my loggers enabled and will enable them now. I thought you might want to know.

For the new fighters mod to work, must it be put on top of your earlier work or can it work with any GOF mod?

[Jeffrey]

Indeed. I actually had that same problem in battle boarding when I first did this and fixed it for that, but missed the same fix for friendly boarding. I found it in sea_ai\cabin.c and that is now fixed; it was the same issue, but a different file that I overlooked that snippet of code in Cabin.c.

You can either download and overwrite them all again, or just extract and find sea_ai\cabin.c and put that new one in its place. The only change exists in that one file. If you want the same thing in GOF 1.2 or AoP vanilla, those other .zip with the corresponding names have my fixes for those games, along with this mod. I only tweaked vanilla a little to add some of the useful screen info about rum/food on ship and that sort of thing, but everything else remains the same…well except for the fighters, but if you don’t want more than 3, it’s simple to open \characters\CharacterUtilite.c and change int MAX_NUM_FIGHTERS = 6; to equal 3 and it will act as it always has. GOF has the fixed Soleil ship and book-in-store/trader fixes too. They also have the Ascold fixes about losing fighters in the Leif cave encounter and the smoothing of difficulty levels from 5 to 10…but 10 is still the same difficulty it always was, but anything above 5 was actually pretty close to the same as 10 in the original approach; I just tried to even out the ramp-up.

But if you only want the fighter changes, you would have to get the GOF1.2 patch file (or AoP COAS), compare the file names in just the AdditionalFighter .zip and copy those files manually from the right patch to your game folders one-by-one. I don’t believe they rely on other changes, but can’t say for 100% certainty. I would not take the AdditionalFighters.zip and copy to GOF or AoP COAS vanilla as sometimes the same filenames actually have other different code embedded. I took the time to find the appropriate spots and made the changes that don’t rely on other mod-specific items that might also be included.

[Jeffrey]

OK, give a try…if you dare 😉

mega:///#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

ERAS2Test.zip

ReadMe.txt has some instructions.

There are a couple personalizations…not really within the gameplay…we’ll see if anyone is observant to catch them.

[Jeffrey]

Ugh! The link didn’t edit properly and my ‘edit’ option is now gone: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Jeffrey]

Vanilla COAS is now available at the link as AoPTest.zip, running in the new .exe/.dll version. You can load existing save games and try them out. GOF 1.2 to follow soon…

[modernknight1]

Congratulations on getting this to work Jeffrey! This is quite an achievement. It is really too bad you weren’t around a couple of years ago before everything went sour. If this had existed then we probably could have got enough of a team together to actually begin porting New Horizons over to GOF. One of Boelen’s excuses for not moving that direction was that KK had run into a snag in getting the source code compiled. And now here you have done it!

I saw your announcement on PA! I truly hope some people comment or acknowledge what you’ve done over there. Because of the admin lack of COAS knowledge or support over there, they have generally been pretty cold towards anything done with COAS the last couple years which is a main reason no one is doing anything with it anymore but independent efforts like we are with ERAs, the Spaniards with the Kap Kronstad 1.2.4 effort which is dead now. The French ACKMOD, and the German MOTCS. All of us used to be on the same team. It would be wonderful if everyone could collaborate again, but I think the game is getting too old now and too many people have lost interest.

It would be wonderful if your hard work here could lead to something greater. If some synergy could be created again and there was a chance of a team being created to port Build 14 atop your newly compiled COAS source, I would completely swallow my pride, apologize for anything people think I have done wrong and move forward as part of a team effort once again – provided bans were removed.

Here’s hoping someone even acknowledges what you’ve done or makes a positive comment about it. If I were to bet on it though I would have to bet against that happening.

MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

Here’s hoping someone even acknowledges what you’ve done or makes a positive comment about it. If I were to bet on it though I would have to bet against that happening.

I debated that post for awhile today…then decided it would be a test.

Based on my recent treatment from both Thagarr and Hylie, I’m also skeptical.

As Jan noted in a prior post of that thread, KK did some good work and I totally understand other things become priorities and also, you alone staring for hours at a snippet of code that doesn’t work, you sometimes just lose sight of the obvious fault; I’ve done it many times. Then you hand it to a fresh set of eyes and boom! They point it out…that was probably the issue with the savegame problem. One small delete, then passing that same pointer back to a function that tries to use it.

Anyway, like I said, a test. If I get the same treatment as before, they can suck it. If I get either of those two to inquire about getting the code, I told them explicitly what the problems are, and they can go back to a copy of the code and figure it out themselves, LOL. However, if the reception is warmer, some attempt to backpedal on their accusations of me, maybe as you say, something can grow.

And man, have you gotten a look at Jan’s team and their result? Rewritten in C# and DirectX 9…holy smokes, that’s an accomplishment!

P.S. Have you tried it yet?

[modernknight1]

Well I hope the test has a positive outcome! My thoughts are that your announcement will simply be ignored.

I tried to download the newest German edition (MOTCS) the other night(I speak German – lived there for 5 years). I played the previous version which was very good.

Jan has it broken up into 6 parts I believe. After I got them all downloaded it said the archives were corrupt. I aim to try again at some point. I would very much like to give it a try. I noticed they had figured out multiple flags. I can’t help but think that this was because they looked at my work and figured it out LOL.

I think Jan and I could get along fine again if I could just get him to accept that 17th century ships were painted or that I would simply say that they were not painted (except with linseed oil) LOL. What a dumb argument really. I wish I had not been so historically adamant or passionate. Its just who I am. My main pet peeve with Jan was that he didn’t like to share what he had done. So even if he starts a dialogue with you, I doubt that he will share his source with you.

As I’ve said before, anyone that wants to take anything from ERAS is totally free to as long as its not for profit. Half of the mod or more is taken from other mods anyway. I think stealing in this case is one of the finest forms of flattery and a complement as well.

As closed hold as I have been on ERAS3, after we contributors play with it a while, I will likely open it up for everyone to download as well. I would bet it will be more popular because it seems that the majority of people like that Napoleonic time-frame and sleek clean ships better. Not me of course, but I still enjoy that period as well.

MK

[Jeffrey]

I meant tried ours yet, silly, LOL

[modernknight1]

Yes I have been playing it. No issues yet. I want to build the next full release off of that version. I also want to still offer the large download, but also a broken up download in 6 pieces like the Germans have done.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Sweet! I have hammered on the \Program .c stuff for awhile, but after compiling the .exe and .dll, I have only tested rudimentary scenarios, like a couple battles, ship boarding, and such…but just a few to make sure it works. I will shortly carve out some time and really engage in some quests again, like I did with the earlier test/debugging I did before, but just haven’t yet.

Definitely looking for feedback about this initial try with the new compilations. I know for certain that red highlight bar on some of the character screens is out there, but that’s a low priority for me right now as I want to make sure the key stuff works.

[Jeffrey]

And GOF1.2Test.zip now available…try loading an existing savegame if anyone’s got GOF 1.2. They work for me.

Hey MK, you notice anything about the START.exe/config.exe version tab of the file properties? Or the upper right of the loading splash screen on launch?

[modernknight1]

Yeah I noticed the cool picture of the Galleon on the Splash screen. That’s cool, because the Germans have Batavia as theirs.

OK so I spoke too soon. I ran your patch files and the fighter added files fine. However when I put in the test patch files, the game won’t start.

Here’s the error file and system file errors:

COMPILE ERROR – file: seadogs.c; line: 75
native function ‘FileExists’ not declared
COMPILE ERROR – file: seadogs.c; line: 75
native function ‘CreateFolder’ not declared
COMPILE ERROR – file: seadogs.c; line: 75
native function ‘CheckFolder’ not declared
COMPILE ERROR – file: seadogs.c; line: 75
native function ‘DeleteFolder’ not declared
COMPILE ERROR – file: seadogs.c; line: 75
native function ‘FindFolders’ not declared
COMPILE ERROR – file: interface\utilite.c; line: 33
native function ‘LanguageGetDefaultLanguage’ not declared

Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
Module [ fmodex.dll ] skipped
interface function not found
58 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8
Techniques: 0 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 0 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 178146 ticks.
Can’t init font INTERFACE_NORMAL
can not init start font: INTERFACE_NORMAL
Can’t load texture C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\PROGRESS.TGA.tx
Progress error!
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\barbados\barbados_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Jamaica\jamaica_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\PuertoRico\PuertoRico_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Cuba1\Cuba1_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Cuba2\Cuba2_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Curacao\Curacao_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Tortuga\Tortuga_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\SentMartin\SentMartin_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Trinidad\Trinidad_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Nevis\Nevis_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Antigua\antigua_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Guadeloupe\Guadeloupe_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Martinique\Martinique_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Hispaniola1\Hispaniola1_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Hispaniola2\Hispaniola2_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Bermudes\Bermudes_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Dominica\Dominica_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Terks\Terks_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Caiman\Caiman_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\PortoBello\PortoBello_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Cartahena\Cartahena_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Maracaibo\Maracaibo_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Caracas\Caracas_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Cumana\Cumana_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\SantaCatalina\SantaCatalina_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\Beliz\Beliz_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\islands\LostShipsCity\LostShipsCity_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
Error: Language ini file not found!
User Rised Exception
xinterface.cpp line 1124

[Jeffrey]

Can’t overwrite either the Fighter or Patch files into the new compilation test. However a couple things:

The ERAS2Test already has everything the Patch has; it’s basically the game as I run it, with everything I’ve done, but with the changes needed to run under new compilation. It also contains EVERY program file, so is complete.

Patch already has the add’l fighters, plus all the other work done, but it only works with existing game, not new compilation.

AdditionalFighters is just for anyone interested in just that piece, but made for existing .exe/.dll only.

Oh, and the detail I was driving at is that the ERAS mod is specifically mentioned at the top of the splash and is also embedded in the versioning information of the .exe itself 🙂 Thought it was a nice touch.

[Jeffrey]

Also, looking at the .gm errors, make sure to review the ReadMe.txt and adjust the paths to point a full path at an existing ERAS RESOURCE folder, INI folders, etc. or copy the whole directory in and use a relative path. I did not supply those on the presumption that people already have them. I only supplied the stuff that was changed in \Programs that will work with a couple of the new declarations that had to change. In fact, those FileExists, CreateFolder, DeleteFolder, etc. are part of those and are in seadogs.c now.

[Orazio]

Jeffrey, I downloaded the ERAS2Test, which I understood is the right choice (?), changed the paths to point to my ERAS2 installation location, and started the game.

However, everytime I try to start a new game the program crashes, with nothing useful in the log files, it only tells me it’s something in dx8.dll.
I think this line appears in the system.log only when it crashes, but I’m not 100% sure:
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method's parameter may have an invalid value

I tried to load one of the savegames, and it worked, but when going to the ship’s cabin it crashed again… is it happening only to me?

And one note, you ship the new files with “texture_degradation = 1” in start.ini. That option renders the textures really blurry and in low resolution. I think it should be 0 at default, then a player may turn it on if he/she has problems with performance.

[Jeffrey]

That texture degradation setting is copied from my original ERAS2 settings and was due to my system’s performance problem when trying to open chests. If your system doesn’t need that, you can certainly change it.

As for the problem, enable crash dumps for your OS.

If newer: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb787181%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

If something like XP that comes with drwtsn32: http://www.makemkv.com/onlinehelp/dump.html Be sure to check symbols and uncheck append file.

If your OS is newer, you can also just keep the game open after the crash, switch to task manager (I just alt-tab to another open window, and right-click lower right corner of Windows task bar for Task Manager), find the START.exe process, right-click and select to create a dump file. After complete, then close the game.

The nice thing about configuring them for auto is that you can change the path to something simple. Though you have to create the folder first, it will not create one if doesn’t exist. Like C:\CrashDumps.

Anyway, get a .dmp file for when the crash occurs, upload it and give me a link. I will see what I can figure out.

[Jeffrey]

I did try both a new game and entering ship cabin on another computer, running Win 8, but could not produce the problem.

I’m betting your graphics card and/or machine is probably better and smarter than the dumb, mediocre machines we have, but our dumb ones work fine, LOL.

If you can get that .dmp file, it might help me figure it out.

[modernknight1]

Sorry Jeffrey,

Here I am pontificating to others to read my “Read me” files before playing ERAS2 and I didn’t read the one you included.

Because of this I cost myself a great deal of time and pain. I ruined the version of ERAS2.1.5.8 that I have been working with. No worries because I back everything up daily. Didn’t lose anything because I have been working on new ships anyway.

However, I had to pull in a fresh back-up from my external last night which took a lot of time. I now have everything in place to try again with 2.1.5.7 with your changes implemented CORRECTLY following the “Read me”.

I was also playing TEHO last night so I can give Joruba and Blackmark a good review. Its easier than I was lead to believe.

I will let you know how it goes in a few hours.

MK

[Jeffrey]

My goal was to make testing it relatively simple, and negate the need for someone to duplicate the large set of RESOURCE files/models/etc. One just needs to extract preserving the file structure into a new folder, and all the \module, \Program and INI stuff it needs resides in its own dir, but then just point a few of those start.ini paths to the other stuff it will need.

One could also make an entire copy of existing ERAS, but then delete the contents of both module and program folders, then copy in the .zip files too. Then edit start.ini to use all shortened, relative paths.

The key is to make sure the modules and programs are the new ones, along with the new start.exe.

[Jeffrey]

Oh, and while you’re at it…you should also enable DUMP files on your machine, or keep it open on a crash and use task manager to create one. If you have a crash, upload and link the .dmp file so I can try to track down the problems. I compiled with debug info, so I can at least get the function symbols and know what function within the .dll is having the problem.

[modernknight1]

OK will do. When we are ready to package this for the new version, we will want to get rid of the pointers and have everything native to that version/download. So I see the current implementation as useful for testing and the patch but eventually when we are satisfied that everything works right, we will transition to the more permanent settings.

MK

[modernknight1]

OK Jeffrey,

I got it sorted out. It was my failure to properly copy a . that kept it from running. (2.1.5.7 vice 2 1.5.7) Anyway I got it running with my latest work and its been working fine for the last hour or more. I did tweak the camera settings back to my liking in AI/Cameras and I also copied an additional path for sound as it was silent when I started.

I love that books are showing up at the vendor stands! That’s awesome. My first crash occurred when I tried to access my current mission in the log. I can’t see a related error in the logs though unless I’m missing something. I don’t see anything INI or GUI related. The following are a list of errors besides the standard bad rope data we are always going to see. I’ve seen most of these before, but I’ve never noticed that fire place error before. Any ideas? MK

From system:
Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
44 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8
ERROR: Techniques: Found duplicate technique name: rain
ERROR: in compile shader seaps_atireflect
error:
(1) : (Assembly Error) syntax error

Techniques: 22 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 230 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 410180339 ticks.
Using FMOD 00044461
Sound initialized ok !!!
FMOD: Speaker mode STEREO
Intel CPU: No, SSE: Off, HyperThreading: Off
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\AMMO\NOTEXTURE.TGA.tx
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Character Teleport Error: Can’t find free place near locator: reload, gate
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\mainmenu\AOPBoard.gm: can’t open geometry file
Warning! Interface Back Scene: invalid menu model mainmenu\AOPBoard or transform matrix
BLADE::Realize -> no find locator “start”, model “Ammo\topor3”
Character animation: not set idle action: “Sit_Dialog2”
Begin pointer = 250237492? end pointer = 0
Ship Boat doesn’t have fire places
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Can’t sound resume -2 !!!! Sound is not playing !!!!
Character animation: not set idle action: “Poklon”

From error:

RUNTIME ERROR – file: locations\locations_loader.c; line: 1007
incorrect argument index

From Compile:

Version = mod#2 ver 1. 5. 7 The Golden Age DEV
Mistake island id into store: id=Panama
Mistake Colony id into store: id=none
No speed rChar.Ship 28GunFrigate1
Init weathers complete. 35 weathers found.
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_459
Main_InitGame
Init encounters complete.
How islands = 26
Init weathers complete. 35 weathers found.
No speed rChar.Ship Frigate_l1
Init weathers complete. 35 weathers found.
LocLoadShips: need (ships_other): 5, but max_num_ships_other: 5
Template dialog: can’t start dialog_1, DialogMain return false!
ItemLogic: showing item at 2.74417, 1.36252, 2.97812
No speed rChar.Ship Galeon_h211
Init weathers complete. 35 weathers found.
LocLoadShips: need (ships_other): 5, but max_num_ships_other: 5
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_463
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_466
Template -> failure for chr.id = GenChar_460
Template dialog: can’t start dialog_1, DialogMain return false!
LocLoadShips: need (ships_other): 5, but max_num_ships_other: 5
LocLoadShips: need (ships_other): 5, but max_num_ships_other: 5
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_463
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_464
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_465
Group_DeleteGroup sGroupID = Sea_Follower01, can’t find group
LocLoadShips: need (ships_other): 5, but max_num_ships_other: 5
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_464
Template 111 -> path not found chr.id = Carrier_465

[Jeffrey]

Go ahead with the camera…fisheye was becoming a bit grating for me, LOL.

Unfortunately, what I’ve noticed with some crashes is that they are often in unexpected and unhandled situations, so you don’t see them in a log because the code wasn’t implementing a check/output to log in case of bad info. This is where the .dmp files will come in handy, because I can load them in the debugger against the .lib/symbols for this release and find the function and .dll where the crash occurs…usually it’s an access memory violation. Hopefully that .dmp file method will help me track it down.

Odd it came when going to char log…not seen that in my test. Though I also have not experienced Orazio’s ship cabin/new game problem either on two different machines I tried.

[Orazio]

The dump file I have is 450 MB and my upload speed is ridiculously low. I managed to compress it to 113 MB, but it’s still a bit big.

I read the content with WinDbg, but I understood you need the file to use with symbols (?), so posting here the content would be of no help, right?

Anyway if you need the file, I’ll try to upload it and will send you a link privately: I don’t know what info on my machine are in there, and don’t like the idea that everybody on the internet can download it.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, I need the file so I can load it in the debug feature within Visual Studio, along with the symbol .lib files used to create the .exe/.dll. Then it will identify the functions where the crash happened.

It’s fine to PM a link, but my understanding is that .dmp files will only contain sensitive information if the app itself contains features where you would input something like a password, or opens/saves documents that might have personal user info. Since this app does no such thing, I don’t think it’s a worry, but better safe than sorry.

[Jeffrey]

Uh oh, Orazio. Turns out there’s a slight issue. That .dmp file is 64 bit, and I guess you have to run a 32 bit task manager to dump the file from a 32 bit process/program for me to get one that is debuggable.

I found this:

32-bit task manager under C:\Windows\SysWOW64\taskmgr.exe. We can use this and select “Create Dump File” for 32-bit process. To confirm we are using 32-bit task manager, check the process name of it. It should be taskmgr.exe *32.

Sorry about that. Open a file explorer, launch START.exe and when it stops, keep AoP running, find C:\Windows\SysWOW64\taskmgr.exe and launch, right-click the START.exe process in the manager and dump from there.

[modernknight1]

OK I have some more errors to report.

The game ran fine for several hours with no more crashes from looking at the log book. I tried to crash it by going in and out numerous times.

So after numerous battles, loot and cargo missions I finally had my next problem when I went into the shipyard at Curacao. The screen turned black. I suspect this is a locations\loader problem with a renamed or missing scene file because I’ve seen this before a lot in the past. Those files are very finicky.

Gonna play some TEHO now a little before bed. There are some errors I’ve never seen before. Also the game is laggy now and it isn’t with my regular version. It took a really long time to load and get out of a storm. I wonder if this could have to do with the new long additional paths to where the files are because I always run my game files right on the desktop? Here are the logs:

error:

RUNTIME ERROR – file: characters\QuestsUtilite.c; line: 1492
missed attribute: validity
RUNTIME ERROR – file: characters\QuestsUtilite.c; line: 1492
null ap
RUNTIME ERROR – file: characters\QuestsUtilite.c; line: 1492
no rAP data
RUNTIME ERROR – file: locations\locations_loader.c; line: 1007
incorrect argument index
RUNTIME ERROR – file: locations\locations_loader.c; line: 1007
Invalid conversation
RUNTIME ERROR – file: locations\locations_loader.c; line: 1007
incorrect argument index

system:

Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
44 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8
ERROR: Techniques: Found duplicate technique name: rain
ERROR: in compile shader seaps_atireflect
error:
(1) : (Assembly Error) syntax error

Techniques: 22 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 230 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 577465936 ticks.
Using FMOD 00044461
Sound initialized ok !!!
FMOD: Speaker mode STEREO
Intel CPU: No, SSE: Off, HyperThreading: Off
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\mainmenu\AOPBoard.gm: can’t open geometry file
Warning! Interface Back Scene: invalid menu model mainmenu\AOPBoard or transform matrix
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\mainmenu\AOPBoard.gm: can’t open geometry file
Warning! Interface Back Scene: invalid menu model mainmenu\AOPBoard or transform matrix
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\Brig_20_Gun1_181\Brig_20_Gun1_181) (rope num = 1018) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 213097084? end pointer = 0
ERROR: SetCurrentBlock: unknown technique <> first character is <(null)>

– skipped bad rope stuff –

Begin pointer = 171540596? end pointer = 0
Ship Boat doesn’t have fire places
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\AMMO\NOTEXTURE.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\AMMO\NOTEXTURE.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\AMMO\NOTEXTURE.TGA.tx
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Can’t sound resume -2 !!!! Sound is not playing !!!!
Character animation: not set idle action: “Poklon”

Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\AMMO\NOTEXTURE.TGA.tx
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
Can’t sound resume -2 !!!! Sound is not playing !!!!
Warning: NPCharacter -> trace node not found
BLADE::Realize -> no find locator “start”, model “Ammo\topor3”

Island Set
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Antigua_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Bermudes_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Barbados_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Beliz_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Cuba1_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Cuba2_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Caiman_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Cumana_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Caracas_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Curacao_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Cartahena_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Dominica_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Guadeloupe_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Hispaniola1_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Hispaniola2_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Jamaica_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Martinique_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Maracaibo_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\SentMartin_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Nevis_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\PuertoRico_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\PortoBello_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Pearl_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Panama_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\SantaCatalina_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Terks_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Tortuga_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Trinidad_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\Tenotchitlan_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\mein_area.gm: can’t open geometry file
World map: can’t load model of island’s area: islands\mein_area
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\mein_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\islands\LostShipsCity_palms.gm: can’t open geometry file
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\WORLDMAP\INTERFACES\EVENTBKG.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\WORLDMAP\INTERFACES\BUTTON.TGA.tx
Fader::Init() -> Fader already created, fade out phase
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
Fader::Init() -> Fader already created, fade out phase
Intel CPU: No, SSE: Off, HyperThreading: Off

– More bad rope data –

method’s parameter may have an invalid value
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
ERROR: SetCurrentBlock: unknown technique <> first character is <(null)>
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
CreateIndexBuffer::CreateIndexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method’s parameter may have an invalid value
ERROR: SetCurrentBlock: unknown technique <> first character is <(null)>
Intel CPU: No, SSE: Off, HyperThreading: Off
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\TORNADO\ITEMS.TGA.tx
Can’t load texture C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\WOODRE1.TGA.tx
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\DutchFrigate1\DutchFrigate1) (rope num = 3) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 419710724
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\DutchFrigate1\DutchFrigate1) (rope num = 4) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
ERROR: SetCurrentBlock: unknown technique <> first character is <(null)>
Ptc(“C:\Users\challenger\Desktop\ERAS2.1.5.8\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\locations\inside\Shipyard03\Shipyard03.ptc”) -> file not found
Can’t loaded patch data file Shipyard03.ptc for npc.
Leak: ‘eras2\xinterface\questfilereader\..\..\common_h\templates\string.h’ line 38, size 16

[Jeffrey]

Don’t know…though I did notice that the worldmap routines look for _palm models and won’t find any. Though not finding any doesn’t affect the game, as it just passes them by, but logs it anyway. As for ‘fireplace’, I’ve seen that before in the stock game and I think it’s really just ‘a place where fire might be’…like in battle boarding. I don’t think a missing fireplace is cause for concern…probably similar to palms where it logs it, but it’s a non-issue. Like I said, I’ve seen it in my working games that don’t crash.

You know what would be really helpful? You have Visual Studio, right? If you have at least version 10, I should make you a debug version. If you don’t have 10, and don’t mind downloading/installing the free VS C++ Express 10, then you will have the debug runtime that comes with it. If I make you a debug version, upon a crash, all the debug info will come back to me in that .dmp file and it will actually take me directly to the source line of the problem.

I chose to upload a ‘release’ with debug info because nobody else will have the debug runtime and they can’t run the game without it. The .dmp files will still tell me the .dll and the actual function within, and you can somewhat determine where the problem might be, but it’s still kind of a guessing game as the debug steps are actually within the assembly code. But with a full debug version, I can get down to the line of source with a .dmp file (I think).

I have been delayed responding because I was very near getting a full compile with Dx9. I have that now…doesn’t work, but I really wasn’t holding my breath on that one, LOL. I followed instructions for migrating as close as I could, but full info on that is a bit scarce and I really don’t know anything about DirectX programming. I came close enough to compile the whole thing, but now it’s back to stepping through and figuring out where it’s going wrong.

Get me those .dmp files! And let me know if you want a full debug version as that would speed things along. As for now, I need to download Orazio’s and see what I can figure out. Sorry for the delay, but Dx9 was intriguing me and I wanted to see if my attempt would be perfect and miraculous enough to just work…first time…LOL

Nope 😉

[Jeffrey]

Game loads now. Mangled though. Not sure why, but some Dx9 function calls fail in places where supposedly no code change was needed. There are some programs that didn’t require change at all according to migration notes. Oh well. Getting closer.

Notice the dx9 references in ProcExplorer 🙂

[modernknight1]

Simply FANTASTIC Jeffrey! I have FULL confidence that you will figure it out! I announced a little about it on the front page news for the April update.

Keep up the GREAT WORK!!!

I am making some great progress myself so this is exciting. I just wish I didn’t have to travel now. Not gonna let it set me back…

MK

[Jeffrey]

I think I already know the major problem; the asm part of of the .sha files can no longer be assembled. In Dx8, the declarations were apparently not fully implemented yet, but in Dx9, they are and some declarations are required in the asm portion of the code read in to assemble. But those .sha files do not declare the registers and the ‘assemble shaders’ call fails. There was no change made to that piece of the code on my part, so it’s not something I erroneously converted. I think all that’s required to fix that part is update the .sha files to meet the spec. I will see if simply adding the register declarations fixes it.

But, I need to stop and divert to debugging from that .dmp Orazio provided, LOL Gonna go try for a steelhead (or two) in a short while and be back later…

[modernknight1]

I will run whatever you need me to Jeffrey. I wanted to run performance tonight so I turned off all loggers. It still sometimes lags on transitions. Also textures disappear when the game becomes bogged down. I noticed item textures disappearing from lists. I think this is why the interior of the shipyard disappeared the other day. I’ve never seen it behave this way before.

whatever you did enabled some additional commands during sailing. I can now tell my whole fleet to load the same ammunition from the 5,6,7,8 keys. My screen shot software is keyed using 8 so it was a big surprise. I have had to change my screenshot hot key. LOL

Ran into a Spanish treasure fleet with NOT ONE ERROR tonight!!! EXCELLENT! No crashes even when going ashore!

I am going to put a seperate version together using your files embedded in my version so that I don’t have the long pointer paths. I just think this may be one of the reasons for the long transitions. I’ve noticed with the log that you shouldn’t access it when you start the game because it will crash. However, transition to a couple of scenes or take on or complete a mission updating the log and it is fine. Each transition only seems to be long the FIRST time. Then the same events after are almost normal.

I also wondered if the bodies(ragdolls) not disappearing now, is contributing to lag during battle scenes. Certainly it is much more convenient for looting.

I hope you caught something! Steelhead eh…native steelhead??? If so you are from my neck of the woods. Nothing tastes better than fresh rainbow trout when you’re camping/backpacking in the mountains of Idaho. Gonna get me some in a month or so myself!

Thanks again for all of the hard work!

MK

[Jeffrey]

First, yeah, I borrowed the hotkey commands for the fleet from GOF and that is actually in my “patch” files for running under the original compilation, too. Thought I had mentioned that, but perhaps not. It also means that upon adopting the new patch files, then loading a game, sometimes the character can’t move at all, and all one has to do is launch the game menu, choose Options, remap to default, then they work again. After that, you should also be able to remap any special mappings you prefer; you only have to do that once and after saving the options ‘stick’. The 5,6,7,8 tell fleet to load balls, grapes, knippels, bombs…in that order. Also, fleet sail away is O, fleet follow is P and fleet lower sails is L. I especially like L when the last ship or two strike their colors and sometimes while I’m sailing to board them, the rest of the fleet tends to wander and sometimes bump into each other, wrecking their own masts and such. P to follow is also nice in cases where I’ve instructed one ship to board an enemy and after success, sometimes the ordered ship just starts to sail away. When I’m busy ‘dealing with stuff’ like ships bombarding me, it’s quick to hotkey, rather than navigate the icon menu for the one ship.

Anyway, performance…yeah, I noticed it grinds in some places, but that’s nothing I did, but inherited in the code we got. The only changes I made were a very small fix in the logic that parses the Program .c files of the game where it didn’t recognize the parameters for extern/native functions in some cases, rewrote the config interface as all the resource files were gone (the logic remained with us), put back the message number for fader transition screens that was taken away (just put the message number back in the handler and call the same function as the new number KK added) and the gamesave fix. That’s about it, so the rest is what we got. It will take some investigation, maybe add some logging, to find out what/why it’s doing what it’s doing in those situations. I can’t imagine the paths contribute to that as they are all still local on the machine, from the resident drive just like always…it’s not like they’re retrieving from a remote machine across a network or something. But it’s worth a try to experiment since it’s easy to do. I just don’t have the available disk space to make the 8+ copies I’ve got going for the stock AoP, GOF, ERAS, the patch versions, and now debug, release new compilations, and now a couple Dx9 experiments going, LOL

Did not notice the ragdolls no longer disappear. I think in my /Program code, I doubled the time from 1 minute to 2? But if they are not disappearing at all, that may be a change in the new compilation…perhaps the message was deprecated (like that fader transition screen message number was replaced, but I put it back and just call the same feature as the new number KK added).

Steelhead is a bit of an obsession…they are crafty. Hence not a single story of success from yesterday; typical day of steelheading, LOL If you are Idaho, then we are neighbors…Oregon here.

[modernknight1]

Love Oregon. When I was stationed at Fort Lewis early in my career I used to drive through all the time going back and forth from home to my unit on leave or four day passes. I broke down on the way home one time in those high desert mountains early in the morning (my wife was getting ready to have a child). It had been raining and those steep hills looked like velvet. I had had two blow outs and only one spare and it was a Sunday. Walked for miles until I got picked up by an old guy in a flatbed truck. He gave me a ride down to the next town which was still around 10 miles more. Then he opened up the only little tire store in town that he owned and fixed my two blowouts – and then he ran me back to my car. I have never forgotten that act of kindness and I have helped so many stranded people out myself over the years because of that kind old Oregon man.

Steelhead can most certainly be elusive. I have run into places in the higher country where they stocked the lakes with Rainbow that run up the surrounding streams and creeks that are smaller than your average steelhead and dummer too. I’ve caught my limit before in an hour. The steelhead off the Columbia and Snake rivers are indeed some slippery fellows. I remember I was with my grandpa in a boat on the Snake and we were lure fishing while the kids fished with bait. We swore the same fish was hiding under our own boat and carefully eating the bait off of the kid’s hooks. Never could get him even when we moved. Smart damn fish and big too. Love fish stories.

Interestingly I think the lag problem is not in your new code but in the new fighters patch. I played my test version 8 with only the fighters added and even in small battles with ships that have no bad data – bad lag. When I went back to version 7 without the new fighter patch and many more ships and much more action happening in the saves – no lag at all. Now that I know where to investigate gonna start the loggers when I get to my destination (traveling) and try unraveling this mystery.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Nice. I don’t think much has changed…sure, there are more people these days than ‘back in the day’, but here’s a story from only a few months ago:

A buddy and I scheduled a trip to a river near the coast, to of course, target some winter steelhead. I drove to his house, parked my rig, and we headed out there in the early morning (still dark) in his pickup truck. We were traversing the fairly low coastal mountain range, when we hit a patch of black ice. The tail end started to swing around, he spun the wheel into the skid, but overcorrected, the tail spun around the other way, then we started to pirouette. We slid off the road, into an embankment that we struck while sideways, which then pitched the truck into a rollover. Odd sensation of ‘time slows down’ as we tick over, stuff flying everywhere, hurling our body weight against the tension of seatbelts as we spin upside down…we came to rest sideways, driver door facing the ground. We had to stand on the ground, through the driver window and crawl out the window on the passenger side. Good times, LOL.

So, we’re now stuck on the relatively unused highway over the coastal mountains. Fortunately, we hadn’t gone far enough to get out of cell range, but while standing there assessing the situation, damage, etc (it was totaled, BTW). A very large, newer, extended cab pickup truck passes, slows down, U turns, and parks on the other side of the road. An older couple (husband/wife), probably in their early 60s, gets out and walks across to us. In a short conversation, they insist that we don’t pay for towing, that we use their AAA. But in order to do that, they call, and then will have to wait with us for the tow driver to arrive as a member has to be present (and also at least a passenger, so she lied about traveling with us) and provide info; it’s going to be at least an hour wait.

So even though they were traveling that morning to scout some hunting areas and do some fishing themselves, they will sit with us. They invited us to sit in the back seat of the extended cab, where it’s warmer. They shared their coffee with us and we chatted about all things steelhead when they found out where we were headed. He had some great stories about a particular area when he found out I actually knew some of the more ‘secret’ spots along the river were were headed to (I’ve done much exploring to find unpressured water 🙂 ). Might be a little odd for some people to picture us strangers, sitting together sharing coffee while the ‘hosts’ are sitting up front with their two long rifles propped up in their lap (they had to make room in the back for us), but this IS Oregon after all…nothing strange about that 🙂 So they blew a good portion of their morning, forgoing their own plans, just to help us out.

[Orazio]

Ehy Jeffrey, did you find anything useful in my dump file?

[Jeffrey]

Well, I ran the file in debug mode and found the function in the render .dll where the mishap occurs. It’s FontLoad, and a subsequent waitforobject call that crashed. Unfortunately, since I can’t replicate the problem, I don’t exactly know why this would occur, so I’m a bit stuck in figuring a resolution for it at the moment.

[modernknight1]

That is a great story! Yeah my story occurred in the late 80s before cell phones existed. Nowadays I can simply call my insurance hotline and I get free towing. I should also add that the old guy didn’t charge me thing. When I said “what do I owe you?” He replied, “Not a damn thing son – you just get home safe now.”

The northwest is just so awesome. I have been back to Ft Lewis a lot over the years and the area around Seattle and Tacoma have changed a lot and have had a lot of outsiders coming in. Fortunately Idaho still only has just over a million people in the whole state and has the largest tracts of contiguous primitive areas, parks, wilderness areas and mountains in the entire United States with the exception of Alaska. It just snowed again yesterday! The local ski resorts could stay open later into May this year, but they aren’t allowed to.

My plans changed so I am going to be going on several trips in the next few weeks. So I flew on this first one without the desktop. So I am away from my working area for a week. I do have my laptops and my 2 terrabyte external so I have a lot to work on in the evenings still. Haven’t had any breakthroughs yet but working.

MK

[Orazio]

I think I found an unpleasant bug, which is not game-breaking, rather immersion-breaking.

It seems that inside ships (cabins and decks) the lighting files are not read/loaded from approximately 12:00 to 19:00. This means that light during those hours is very unnatural, far too bright without any relation with the corresponding time of the day.

I tried to understand if this is true for other locations like taverns and shops, but that wasn’t very clear. I need to check better.

I don’t have a GoF (without ERAS) version installed to see if it’s a problem of ERAS only or it was inherited from GoF.
One thing I discovered is that GoF broke part of the loclighter tool, which is used to generate the different light conditions for locations, so I think this bug may be related to that…

Can somebody confirm this trying to enter a ship cabin from 12 to 19 and see how the light is? Does it look natural or is it very very bright and not convincing? (Try to look first at 18 – no proper lighting – then at 19 – proper lighting- to see the difference)

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Orazio.

[Orazio]

Ok I think I fixed the no light bug.

Light information is in the .col files, which are numbered after the time of the day (6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and so on). For hours from 12 to 19, the game – instead of looking for col files ‘day12’ to ‘day19’ – was looking for col files ‘day1’, ‘day2’, ‘day3’ and ‘day4’, that do not exist (1 a.m. is ‘night1’ and so on), hence the unnatural lighting.

The issue was in ‘Weather\init\Day.c’, with wrong entries for those hours. I don’t know if MK or others edited those values for some specific reason, but putting them back to default fixed the bug. I’ll run some more test to be sure, then I’ll post here the correct Day.c file.

[Jeffrey]

I may have edited those wrong, I’d have to check. But I remember I found that there were entries that didn’t exist (like you did) and may have inadvertently adjusted them to what they ‘should be’ and messed it up the same way it was already messed up, LOL.

Also, I think the fontload crash was misleading. I’ve taken further look and I think (but not yet sure as I’m unable to reproduce the problem myself just yet) that some spawned process thread gets started with a null pointer and the WaitForMultipleObject fails with a crash because of it…that has nothing to do with the fontload function but that just happened to be the current thing running when the WaitFor failed. I have found that WaitForMultipleObject can often work for a 32 bit machine, but fail/crash in a 64 bit machine because 64 bit is more stringent in its data requirements/what it considers valid, whereas a 32 bit machine will sometimes ignore. I actually have a 64 bit machine here in the house, so hopefully I can recreate and narrow things down further.

[Orazio]

I post the correct Day.c file.
I found out that in mine there were other wrong entries for the sky textures to use in certain hours, causing the white sky bug. I fixed them.
However, looking at the Day.c file in Jeffrey’s recompiled version (ERAS2Test), the wrong entries for the sky were already fixed.

Anyway, this Day.c makes use of the correct col files (for the lighting) for hours from 12 to 18.
To be copied in ‘ERAS_installation_directory\Program\Weather\init’.

Day.c

[Jeffrey]

Ah, good. If it’s correct in the ERAS2Test files, I most likely included the same corrections in ERAS2.Patch as well. ERAS2.Patch being strictly files to be used for fixing various issues with the standard game compilation.

[modernknight1]

Thanks for the sky work Orazio. This was something created as a defect by myself because I had imported weather and sky box files from other mods and a couple of sky boxes were hand made by yours truly. This is something I was working on in the patch. I planned to import some new skyboxes in place of the missing skies. I had assumed the problem was with empty folders not defective c. file. I was leaving this as the last thing to do on my list, but now I will simply add some substitutions or some additional code to randomize the hourly skies. Nice work! You’re AWESOME!

MK

[Orazio]

I was taking a look at the files in Models\Locations\decks\deckLowVSMedium and deckLowVSBig (the boarding scenes) and noticed something really strange: many of the .col files have their name truncated, even missing the ‘col’ extension.

Obviously the game doesn’t know what to do with such files, as they’re useless without the proper name and extension: I think this is the cause of some of the weird lighting during boarding. I’m renaming them the correct way to see if things get fixed…

[Orazio]

Yes, those .col files were clearly messed up! In each one of the boarding scenes: deckLowVSBig, deckLowVSMedium and deckMediumVSBig.

I renamed them, and also deleted some that weren’t necessary; tested some boarding, and the lighting was ok, I didn’t see anything weird, so I think this is a problem less.

Later I’ll upload the right files and post a link here.

[Orazio]

As I said, the right .col files for the three boarding scenes: DOWNLOAD

[Orazio]

I was testing boardings using Jeffrey’s patch (ERAS.Patch.zip), and I noticed light is still strange in some occasions, even though I renamed the col files.

When I reloaded the save using the “default” Program folder (the one downloaded with the entire mod, plus MK’s 1.5.7 patch), the light seemed normal again.

Looking at .col files in GM Viewer reveals that the light is indeed right, yet I don’t understand why sometimes the model is not lit properly…

[Orazio]

mmm I’m not sure it’s Jeffrey’s patch… I keep seeing light anomalies also without his patch.
The strange thing is that the .col files are ok if I look at the them in GM Viewer.
I’m pretty confused right now…

[Jeffrey]

I had a work project obligation that sucked much of my time, but I was able to complete and ready for beta testing one day before deadline. As such, I should be able to resume carving out a bit of personal time for this. Apologize for the unforeseen hiatus, but duty called 🙂

I want to try recreating Orazio’s error on one of my kids’ 64 bit machines. I think I will install VS and run debug mode, hoping for similar error to isolate to the actual code line.

Am also sending a PM to MK about DX9…that endeavor may need to be indefinitely postponed as I have no real knowledge of DirectX and its interfaces, so while I know some of what needs to change (because the code compiles, but the display result is bad/not working), I don’t know how/where to do it as it requires experience/knowledge of actual DirectX techniques and I am blind to those.

[Jeffrey]

“I want to try recreating Orazio’s error on one of my kids’ 64 bit machines. I think I will install VS and run debug mode, hoping for similar error to isolate to the actual code line.”

Orazio, got VS installed, along with the full source, on one of them yesterday. I will proceed to play around and try to recreate your issue while in debug mode to isolate the exact code-line causing the problem as your dump file only grants me a general idea of the problematic function and I could not easily identify the exact problem within the function code.

[Jeffrey]

Orazio, since this error in your .dmp file occurs in the load font function, what do you show in start.ini for this value?

startFontIniFile = fonts.ini

[Orazio]

I have exactly that same line… so is it an issue regarding fonts?

[Orazio]

Ok, problem solved… I was using the RESOURCE\INI folder from my original installation of ERAS, not the one provided with ERAS2Test.

Apparently the files in the two folders are somehow different, causing the crash when starting a new game…

Thinking about it, it was something I should’ve tested much earlier. Sorry Jeffrey if I caused you any trouble installing VS in other computers etc.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Orazio.

[Jeffrey]

No worries. This is good news.

I will compare the two and try to find what is likely a missing file so that the download will work on its own. But for now, a good workaround in a problem like this is to do as you did and copy/replace Resource from the original fileset.

Thanks.

[Jeffrey]

LOL, wait a minute. I read that backwards the first time. You were using the original INI versions, then copied over the download version, which worked for you. So I am good and don’t need to look for differences. I thought it was the other way around for a moment.

[0range]

Hey, MK! I logged in just to salute you and cheer you up! By the way, I am playing rarely for the reason I have not mastered the blade fight. I know, it is a total shame, but it is true. My play style in modern days is ironman style, I mean, I try to avoid save-load tampering… Are you planning any updates for the manual fighting mechanism?

[Jeffrey]

Orazio’s lighting/Day.c fixes are now in ERAS.Patch.zip: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Samir]

I have found a bug in Eras 2 MOD in a random quest from Tavern (a random pirate approaches you and gives you a proposition to visit his ship). I visited his ship, he told me about his offer (about a caravan who has moored near Saint John’s, at Cape Boon). I sail there with the pirate captain, but when I land on Cape Boon, the battle doesn’t start. I have done this quest many, many times on the original GOF 1.2 and it rarely happened that the soldiers are missing on the island. I think there is a bug in Eras 2 MOD, because I have met more than 7 pirates in the tavern so far, and every time I missed the bounty because the soldiers were missing…
In GOF 1.2 the bug used to happen when in the quest log it was written: “has moored some-close to X location (for instance Havana). When the correct location of the island was given, for instance: “A caravan carrying gold has moored at the Trinidad and Tobago Lighthouse…” then I always encountered soldiers after landing to certain location. So far, I’ve met about 7 pirates and I had to fail all of them because there was no one on the island when I landed…

[Jeffrey]

The only time there is a battle on shore is when they are ‘stranded’ awaiting pickup. If they are ‘moored somewhere nearby’ they are on their ships, somewhere in the vicinity and you have to find them. And they are not always within eyesight of the specified location.

If you get on deck, in first person, and very slowly scan the horizon in all directions with a spyglass, even if you can’t see them, their ship icons will display and you can start heading that direction.

[Samir]

Sorry, my bad. I haven’t checked for ships really… So it means: if the pirate offers me to attack the caravan belonging to England, and I’m playing as English, they will turn hostile on me? Because when you do a land fight, you don’t lose reputation with certain nation on this quest…

[Jeffrey]

Hehe, yes they will turn hostile. I believe that your relation takes a slight hit if you actually kill an English guard (in the case you present), but not quite as badly as when you fire upon their ship. Also, if you stand back and let everyone else kill them, nothing happens to your relation 🙂

Actually, if you have other ships in your fleet, if you never fire, and your companions sink/board them, nothing happens to your relation either.

When presented with an offer in the tavern, I often ‘cheat’ and save right there. Go to the ship, and if it’s a nation I don’t want to tangle with, I revert because of the problem you mention…you never know when it’s going to be a friendly nation. Or you can turn it down and fight out the disagreement with the pirate when he gets angry…you know, just for fun.

[Samir]

Thanks! You know, it is an important quest for me because it brings you a lot of gold… 😀

[Jeffrey]

Yes, gold, silver or slaves, usually.

In fact, that was one of the things I fixed in the game. Turns out there was an error in the AI for NPC captains traveling around on their own ‘quests’. They are assigned their own travels, and that’s why you encounter them in various spots. The problem was that you soon stop running into them…ever. At first, I thought it was because of level discrepancy.

While they have to be within a few levels of your own character for them to approach you, the actual code error would sometimes cause them to ‘miss’ their quest deadline/stop date, and when that happens, they are doomed to never complete it because it was set to = date, instead of >= date to check completion. And if they never complete their mission, they are not eligible to approach you and you would never see them in taverns again if that happened for them. Eventually, it happens to just about all of them.

So with the fix, you will have many more opportunities…plus, there are more NPC characters in ERAS anyway. LOL, but another side-effect I found is that now you get many more declines in the store, because the shopkeep is busy with another customer.

Win some, lose some 😉

[Samir]

I noticed this little bug in the Pirate quest in tavern (the one that asks you to visit him onboard). Every dialog with the pirate has this bug, where you, instead of asking him: “And your name is?” or “And you might be?” or “And your name, sir?” or something like that, we have a wrong question saying: “My name is.” After that, the pirate captain presents himself. Jeffrey, can you have a look into this?

[Jeffrey]

You know, I think I may have noticed this as well in the past and in what must have been sheer laziness, never bothered to correct…LOL Yes, that should be easy enough to find/fix. I’ll look into it.

[Samir]

Thanks, Jeffrey! 🙂

Also, I noticed a small performance drop when I was at Basse-Terre in 3D sailing mode. When I turned the camera towards the sky, I noticed that fps would run low and camera spinning wasn’t smooth. Could Orazio maybe have a look at that? I think the cloud textures need to be optimized, the same way as the goods icons in the shops. I think they aren’t resized properly.

[Orazio]

Yes, the sky textures are not compressed, and maybe they can also be scaled down. However I don’t remember any lag looking at the sky.
Should I compress them?

[Jeffrey]

I would be curious to see if compressing, without any reduction in image quality/resolution, would fare.

While counter-intuitive, it might actually be faster. While the game would certainly have to decompress them itself, which takes time, it might be that the loading from disk to memory would be quicker due to reduced size, but the cycles needed for decompression, once in memory would be much faster than the time time it would have taken to load-from-disk the uncompressed file. I/O from disk is much slower than what the CPU/GPU would need to decompress once it has the needed bytes from the disk.

My bet is this might gain some speed.

[Jeffrey]

That dialog is corrected now. It affects all versions since the original, as far as I can tell. I’ve uploaded the fix in all 3 of my patch .zips.

[Samir]

Does it require a new game?

[Jeffrey]

No new game. If the Program\DIALOGS\russian\PGG_dialog.c is copied over, the next time you have this conversation, it should not have that trailing “. . my name is <blank>”. Your name is already stated earlier in the prior sentence, and that last part was both duplicate and did not actually add your name to the end anyway, so I removed it.

[Samir]

Possible bug… After boarding a ship, this is where I’m taken when I kill all enemies’ crew at the deck. Instead of taking me to the Captain’s quarters, I get this sea animation and the game is stuck there. I can only open Main menu. I can provide Save game if needed.

This is the ship that I boarded.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Samir.

[Orazio]

I know what that is. You are using Jeffrey’s patch/files with a previous save game, right?

If I recall correctly, he included my new cabin for caravels. When using an old save, you must reinit the boarding locations or else you will get this bug. Can you post the content of this file: Program\console.c? I don’t know if he included the necessary code to reinit the boarding locations.

[Samir]

That’s right. But I also uninstalled the game and reinstalled just with the MK’s 1.5.7 patch (that’s the original game I started, I added the Jeffrey’s patch later), and I still got that bug without Jeffrey’s patch.
Here’s the link for my console.c file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ca9nll30dq4vyfe/console.c?dl=0

[Orazio]

Mmmm this may have mixed things up! Anyway, reinstall Jeffrey’s patch and then do the following.

The console.c is correct. I guess you didn’t add new locations on your own, so all you have to do is press F4 after loading your save. You should read ‘operation successful’.

Also, to be sure, check that ‘#define MAX_LOCATIONS’ in Program\globals.c is equal to or greater than 703.

[Samir]

I didn’t edit anything in console.c
I didn’t edit anything except applying the Patch.
I tried pressing F4 and I got the message “operations successfull”.
I changed the #define MAX_LOCATIONS to 703. It was 702.

Now, when I board the same ship, instantly after pressing the “Board” icon, I get a CTD saying: AOP2 has stopped working…

[Orazio]

Strange, never happened to me during testing. Usually I just had the empty scene with only water. Do you have logging enabled? You should post the logs here.

[Samir]

Yep, it now happens to every ship I board… CTD…

How do I enable logging?

[Orazio]

engini.ini, in the directory were the game executable is, find these lines and make sure they are like this:
tracefilesoff = 0
debuginfo = 1

Then, after the game crashes, you should see 3 files in the game directory: compile, error and system. Post them here.

[Samir]

Ok, I enabled it. Here are the .log files:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rt2d1jdve1cddz9/AAAvfZSFrjmpIbpKpSqT594Ta?dl=0

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Samir.

[Jeffrey]

Error log shows an item array problem, which is something my patch resizes to be correct. Try changing your console.c to this:

#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
	#include "Locations\init\boarding.c"
	
	InitItems();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
	int n = 631; // If you have "vanilla" ERAS2 v1.5.7 don't change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in compile.log (see README)
	
	n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

Load a game. Run the console, then save the game to a slot. Then try to play it. If further problems, post a new set of log files.

[Orazio]

Mmmm try to put the number in #define MAX_LOCATIONS back to 702.
I tried to replicate your problem, and when I changed that number to 703 the CTDs started.

And putting back 702, the boarding didn’t crash anymore. Actually 702 is right, it was my mistake to make you change it.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Orazio.

[Orazio]

It seems that changing the MAX_LOCATIONS in an existing game causes crashes when boarding a ship…

I never experienced this when I tested the new cabins, but probably I always started the test games with the updated MAX_LOCATIONS number, so I didn’t need to change it after the start.

But at this point I wonder why boardings didn’t crash when Samir applied Jeffrey’s patch, that takes the MAX_LOCATIONS from 700 (patch 1.5.7) to 702…

[Jeffrey]

Not entirely sure, but it might be beneficial to reinit both the boarding locations and the remaining locations too. Also, that size should definitely be 702. But if playing a game from where it was defined as 700, I think they all need to be reinitialized.

If the prior fixes don’t rectify. Load game, run this console.c, then save, reload that same save game, then try playing:

#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"
#include "Locations\locations_init.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
	#include "Locations\init\boarding.c"
	
	InitItems();
        InitLocations();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
	int n = 631; // If you have "vanilla" ERAS2 v1.5.7 don't change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in compile.log (see README)
	
	n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

[Orazio]

If you reinit all the locations, I see that LocationInitBoarding(n) is called at the end of InitLocations(); so there is no need to call it again, and also to have that 631. And “Locations\init\boarding.c” is included in InitLocations().

The console.c should be like the following I think, right? Just to avoid unnecessary things.

#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"
#include "Locations\locations_init.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
	
	InitItems();
        InitLocations();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

[Jeffrey]

LOL, yes getting coached by Orazio now. You are correct.

Run Orazio’s version as the call to boarding set is redundant in my post. Of course it won’t hurt either way as it will just do the same thing twice.

Maybe I need more of my morning coffee… 😉

[Jeffrey]

Now, with all that said, it is sometimes not always possible for a previous save-game to work with new code. Particularly if there is a new setting/variable inserted into _mod_on_off.h (I have found any new setting placed there is impossible to get a prior game to work…only new games).

I have tried to make sure most of my work doesn’t require any new game, but I’ve done quite a bit and don’t always remember if I’m working with an ‘old’ save-game or a new one, because at this point, all my save-games work with my stuff and don’t have a problem, so I could just be working with always compatible formats at this point and not know it.

Anyway, if the problem persists, I do have some debugging/coding skill and worst case, post a link to a save game (I will need the name of the profile name too, as the folder name has to match that exactly), and I can load/save myself and see if I can get it to work. After that, if it works, I can repost the newly saved game and you can have it back, but in a condition that should work for you. My game files match exactly the ERAS + ERAS.Patch.zip, so any game I can play should work with that setup.

[Orazio]

No, even after a reinit of all the locations, the boarding crashed with MAX_LOCATIONS = 703.
This is not really a problem now, but it means that if new locations will be added, a new game is required, even after a reinit…

[Jeffrey]

OK, with these 4 arrays, I can’t find a way to resize them and play a previous save game: Locations, Characters, Islands, Colonies. A new game must be started to avoid problems. Items, Ships, etc. are OK if a reinit is called and it’s because of where they are defined/stored…in .c code not of global scope.

The Locations, Characters, etc. are defined in globals.c and they can’t be resized.

However, given we have the source code of the game, there is something that might work. I can create a resize function that is accessible from a call in the Program .c code (like console.c). It would serve to resize an array, but after the call, the array would be empty of data and a reinit would have to be called. For instance, in console.c, it would look something like this:

int NewSize = MAX_LOCATIONS;
ResizeArray(Locations, NewSize);
InitLocations();

[Jeffrey]

That’s interesting and I may have to see if there’s a way around that. I don’t see why the array can’t be resized, as I was able to do it with both ships and items because they were wrong and I thought a reinit allowed me to use a previous game, as long as it was resaved after a new init call for both.

But if Samir started with 700, then resizing to 702 would be the same problem you describe with your test of 702 to 703. And thus may never work with a prior game.

[Orazio]

If I understood correctly, he started with the patch 1.5.7, that has a max locations of 700.

Then he applied your patch, that includes my modified globals.c with two more locations (one cabin for “peace” and one cabin for boarding), taking the max locations to 702. And his game didn’t crash! He only had the empty scene with only water.

So why going from 702 to 703 (just for testing) now is crashing the game when a boarding happens? I can’t understand! Unless maybe his globals.c was somehow already modified when he started his game?

[Jeffrey]

OK, if it didn’t crash, but he gets that empty water scene, we can probably figure that out and it might be fixable given enough error logs (the first already showed an items problem).

But yeah, I’m not sure about the next thing you mention about again increasing location array and might spend some time trying myself. Like you say, it isn’t a problem now, but seems like it should not happen after reinitializing the locations.

[Orazio]

I started another game with max_locations = 705. Tested a boarding and everything was ok.

Changed the max_locations to 707, reloaded the save and the boarding crashed.

In the error.log there is this:

RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 867
invalid index 705 [size:705]
RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 867
invalid index 706 [size:705]
RUNTIME ERROR - file: seadogs.c; line: 867
invalid index 705 [size:705]

where 705 is clearly the previous value of max_locations (in Samir’s log was 702) and on line 867 I see the end of the OnSave() function… it may be a clue?

[Jeffrey]

Hey, this is great…you’re already doing the work for me! LOL

Did you reinit locations after you loaded the save game? Do that, then resave, load that save, then try?

That OnSave is exactly where I would expect the problem, because I’ve seen it before. The game is saved with 705, but the game also stores an identical array somewhere in the .exe/.dll memory for the loaded-from-save info, and one for the loaded-from-init and when it tries to iterate both, one has space for 705 and the other has space for 707, but when it loops through to do its work, it will try to get the array index all the way to 707, but it can’t do that with the one that only has 705 slots. But, if you reinit, resave, reload, theoretically they will now be identical and not have that problem.

[Jeffrey]

Not really important, but just in case to clear things up, when I say to 707, it’s really MAX_LOCATIONS minus 1, as the arrays are indexed with a zero-based first element. That’s why the error is invalid index 705 for [size:705]. A 705 slot array can only be referenced with indices 0 to 704. In this case, because you set a new one for 707, it’s trying to get to 705 and 706, but in the array it set aside from the save-data, with 705 slots, while trying to do some sort of work against the newly initialized array that is size 707.

[Jeffrey]

Also, that boarding to an empty water scene is familiar to me and happened during my work on the additional fighter mod. So it’s possible the patch files are not fully copied over. That same problem during that fighter work was due to some things that needed to be changed in loc_ai\LAi_boarding.c, if I remember correctly. All the corrected files are part of the patch.zip, so it may be a case of ensuring everything was copied to the right place.

To be sure, we need to get rid of that item error I saw in the error.log about the items, by calling the items init and trying again and see what happens.

[Jeffrey]

Also, for making sure the items, ships and locations array is correct (try to ignore Orazio’s and my back/forth about increasing MAX_LOCATIONS…it’s hypothetical and future-related), I unfortunately missed an extern reference for items for the example reinit I was trying to post for that item error.log first posted today. Use this in console.c:

#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"
#include "Locations\locations_init.c"

extern int InitItems();

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	InitItems();
        InitLocations();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
	//int n = 631; // If you have "vanilla" ERAS2 v1.5.7 don't change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in compile.log (see README)
	
	//n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

[Samir]

Sorry, my friends… I was away whole day…
When I downloaded Eras 2 MOD, I got the main .zip file of the MOD, which is about 9GB heavy, then I applied the 1.5.7 patch also provided by MK. But after a while of playing, I saw that Jeffrey has made his tweaks in a file called ErasPatch.zip. I applied Jeffrey’s patch, and continued to play the game. I didn’t experience any issue and I didn’t press F4 to reinit because I didn’t know that it’s possible. I also applied Orazio’s alternative Main Menu, alternative items menu and vanilla resolution mod, because I was having fisheye effect with the original engine.ini. I also applied the optimized items textures by Orazio, and Jeffrey’s Loading backgrounds that he made for me, so there aren’t any of those real backgrounds taken by camera, which I hate so much 😀

In my opinion, all these Mods should be put into the original Eras. Orazio’s items menu is amazing! And the optimized items should be also in the Mod…

Now let’s get back to what happened with the boarding. I can’t recall if I boarded any other ships after I applied Jeffrey’s patch. Maybe I have. Can’t remember. The sea animation appears when I click to go to the enemy captain’s cabin. I didn’t edit anything in the console.c and in globals.c. How did the game work with the max locations changed to 702 from 700 (which I didn’t know), I have no idea…

[Samir]

Ok, so I have tested it. I changed these lines into console.c as Orazio suggested:

Participant
If you reinit all the locations, I see that LocationInitBoarding(n) is called at the end of InitLocations(); so there is no need to call it again, and also to have that 631. And “Locations\init\boarding.c” is included in InitLocations().

The console.c should be like the following I think, right? Just to avoid unnecessary things.

#include “ITEMS\initItems.c”
#include “Locations\locations_init.c”

void ExecuteConsole()
{
#include “Ships\Ships_init.c”

InitItems();
InitLocations();
InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins – is it really needed?

// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

Log_SetStringToLog(“Operation successful!”);
}

I reverted max locations to 702. Then I pressed F4 to reinit. It fixed the CTD, but didn’t fix the boarding issue with the Caravel. Again, sea animation… Maybe I need to start a new game?

[Jeffrey]

Put that code from the post right above your last one (my latest one), into console.c, load the game, press F4, then resave to a new slot. Then exit and load that last saved game. If that doesn’t work and you still see the sea, I think we’ll be able to fix it. Look at the error.log and post what it says.

Last error log you posted mentioned an item problem and I think the item init fails without the extern reference, so we may still not have reinitialized them.

[Samir]

Ok, this is what fixed the issue:

#include “Ships\Ships_init.c”
#include “ITEMS\initItems.c”
#include “Locations\locations_init.c”

extern int InitItems();

void ExecuteConsole()
{
InitItems();
InitLocations();
InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins – is it really needed?

// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
//int n = 631; // If you have “vanilla” ERAS2 v1.5.7 don’t change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in compile.log (see README)

//n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models

// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

Log_SetStringToLog(“Operation successful!”);
}

You were right, max locations wasn’t the problem. After I executed this in console, I was able to board the Caravel, and I was moved to captain’s cabin to fight him without problems. Thanks for helping me, I’m glad I won’t need to start a new game… 😀

[Jeffrey]

Great. Sorry for the trouble…a little too quick posting the code and when I tried it myself, that’s when I noticed the missing extern. So I caused a little of the confusion and trouble by being a bit complacent and sloppy. I blame it on the fact it was morning for me then, in Pacific Time and I had not chugged enough coffee. LOL

[Samir]

Lol, don’t blame yourself! You and Orazio are keeping this forum alive… :/ Too bad, I can now see the potential of the Storm engine 2.8. I was told a while ago by a guy from PA! that PoTC engine (I think it’s 2.0) is better for modding. I don’t see any obstacle with 2.8 engine. Console works the same way as the one on New Horizons…

[Samir]

Interesting, I’ve lost all the items from my ship’s chest after doing the reinit. I guess that was the items issue from the error.log?

[Jeffrey]

Possibly, but if you can remember what most of them were, we can find their IDs add them to your character and then you can just put them back. Make a list.

[Orazio]

Jeffrey:
OK, with these 4 arrays, I can’t find a way to resize them and play a previous save game: Locations, Characters, Islands, Colonies. A new game must be started to avoid problems. Items, Ships, etc. are OK if a reinit is called and it’s because of where they are defined/stored…in .c code not of global scope.

The Locations, Characters, etc. are defined in globals.c and they can’t be resized.

However, given we have the source code of the game, there is something that might work. I can create a resize function that is accessible from a call in the Program .c code (like console.c). It would serve to resize an array, but after the call, the array would be empty of data and a reinit would have to be called. For instance, in console.c, it would look something like this:

int NewSize = MAX_LOCATIONS;
ResizeArray(Locations, NewSize);
InitLocations();

So this means the game will always crash when MAX_LOCATIONS, MAX_ISLANDS, MAX_COLONIES and MAX_CHARACTERS in globals.c are changed and an old save is used?

In this case I think it’s worth to try that other solution you proposed: it will make the mod more future-proof. We don’t know if new locations will be added, but if they will, at least a new game won’t be required, which is something I’m sure many players will appreciate.

To Samir: glad everything is working now!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Orazio.

[Jeffrey]

So I was looking into how to get those 4 arrays resized. The problem is that the .c code you see is actually just a small subset of c-like language. They only support some basic things and it’s made to look like C code, but really isn’t. Those ‘object’ arrays are a class type they call ENTITY and they don’t really store it as an array, but in this thing called a DATA class they made, with a chain of pointers to each element and attribute hashed up into a table-like structure.

Anyway, while looking for ways to do this, in their subset of function commands they support, what do I find? SetArraySize. It’s not used anywhere in the Program code and is undocumented, not showing in _doc_script\syntax.txt. And it works! Set your MAX_LOCATIONS to 705 in globals.c and load a game. Run this in a console:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
int x = GetArraySize(&Locations);
Log_SetStringToLog(“Num Locations = ” + x);
SetArraySize(&Locations, MAX_LOCATIONS);
x = GetArraySize(&Locations);
//InitLocations();
Log_SetStringToLog(“New Locations = ” + x);
}

It will first show 702, because even though you set MAX_LOCATIONS to 705, when the save-game loads, it counts what that game had and sets that as the array quantity instead. But then it will add 3 more, and that is the second output you will see. The other nice thing is that unlike real-life resizing arrays, it doesn’t reset the entire array to blanks. I looked at how it does this and all it does is chain 3 more element pointers and preserves what already existed in the Locations ENTITY.

However, there is a glitch, if you try to save, it will crash with a bad save. I will commence finding out why. But, the good news is that I don’t have to figure out that function part because it’s already built in.

[Jeffrey]

The resize now works in the new compilations. It was one small issue with object attribute read that failed. I fixed this and you can now change MAX_LOCATIONS, load an old game, then run something like this:

#include "locations\locations_init.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	int x = GetArraySize(&Locations);
	Log_SetStringToLog("Num Locations = " + x);
	SetArraySize(&Locations, MAX_LOCATIONS);
	x = GetArraySize(&Locations);
	InitLocations();
	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful! " + x);
}

You will see the original Num Locations = 702, then Operation successful! 705. Save that game, reload it and run again and you will see it was saved as 705:

Num Locations = 705
Operation successful! 705

I’ve not continued playing or further testing, but no more crash and the init for all the locations can run without error.

[Orazio]

I tested the resize in the newest DX8 and DX9 versions.

In the DX9 game it worked, and no crash when boarding. In the DX8 game I couldn’t really test it, because when speeding time to quickly get to boarding the game kept crashing, usually when pressing R to reset the time speed to 1x.

I got this in the error.log:

RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Missed array index
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Invalid function argument
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1217
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
integer function return UNKNOWN value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 716
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Invalid function argument
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1217
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
integer function return UNKNOWN value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 716
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Invalid function argument
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1217
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
integer function return UNKNOWN value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 716
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Invalid function argument
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1217
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
integer function return UNKNOWN value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 716
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1215
Invalid function argument
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1217
Using reference variable without initializing
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
Unknown data type
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 1250
integer function return UNKNOWN value
RUNTIME ERROR - file: weather\WhrWeather.c; line: 716
Unknown data type

Another thing. In both the DX8 (ERAS2Test) and DX9 (ERAS2TestDX9) versions sometimes I still seem to have performance issues… It doesn’t always happen, in some occasions it’s just 4/5 fps less, which is acceptable, in other occasions much more, around 50% less.
I haven’t really been playing recently, so my tests are very quick and maybe not accurate, but today I noticed this.

And in the DX9 version I saw that the loading image when you die is missing, there is just a black screen.

[Jeffrey]

In both versions, I did not crash. However, I did try running the console to resize, stayed in-game and continued playing and I would get a crash if I tried changing time elapse faster/slower. But if I run the resize, save the game, exit to menu and reload that same game, I do not crash.

I still get those weather errors in the log, but that is because for whatever reason, the location init appears to blank the loadedLocation, but does not reset it and the saved-state is missing that because of the resize/init. Since that’s what gets loaded from the save-game data…a ‘nothing’ for that piece of data, it causes those weather errors when it tries to reference loadedLocation. Doesn’t seem to cause much issue, I could still board a ship. And, as soon as you do something like that, or anything else that resets your loadedLocation, those errors stop producing in the log.

I will look into the death image on DX9. I would think it’s the same as the transition screens, but there must be something different about them that is causing trouble in 9.

[Samir]

I had a bunch of items in my ship’s chest., one armor that gives 25% defense, and another one that gives 12% defense. The most important for me are the ones that you get when you start the game with Edward Teach:

Brace of flintlock dags
Brace of English captain’s dags
Hurricane (got it through a nautical quiz)

Other ones were not too important for me. I moved the pistols to the chest because I can’t equipt them right now, I don’t have that skill yet.

[Jeffrey]

Make a new console.c (maybe rename the other one to keep it around). Put this in it:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	GiveItem2Character(pchar, "cirass3");
	GiveItem2Character(pchar, "cirass8");
	GiveItem2Character(pchar, "blade24");
	GiveItem2Character(pchar, "pistol26");
	GiveItem2Character(pchar, "pistol24");
	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

Perhaps go to your ship’s cabin before executing this, in case you become overloaded and slow to a crawl 🙂 That way you can just dump them into the chest.

[Samir]

Another bug. I killed a bunch of bandits in the jungles near Panama. After that, I got +1 for personal abilities. I used that point on advanced defense, and after I closed the Character menu, camera changed to first person. I was unable to move. I was only able to rotate the camera 360 degrees. I cannot switch the camera to 3rd person. I can open the F2 menu and the Main menu, but cannot move at all. I needed that point on advanced defense because I’m currently doing the Austin quest, and I need as much defense as possible for the last killer. I haven’t tried using the point on other abilities, will try it now. I don’t know if the bug is related to me applying the Jeffrey’s patch, without starting a new game…

Screenshots:

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Samir.

[Jeffrey]

Do you still have error logs enabled? In problems like that, there is almost always something written. I personally have not had issue assigning a skill point, but the problem may be particular to what you were doing at that moment.

[Samir]

Here are the .log files:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3g6loe54gtg5syp/Compile.zip?dl=0

[Jeffrey]

This is terrible. I ask to reinit items, and find with your error that I missed putting an important file into the Patch…since the very beginning; it is missing items\items.h, which is the most important part for that reinit because it specifies the item and randitems size. Sorry.

Get the new patch, that now contains items/items.h. Run that console to reinit items after loading your game, save that game to a new, empty slot, then try reloading it. I apologize for my oversight and you just got bad luck when the randitems came back with item 248 as the ‘random item’, which is one too big for the array size and is a bug I found quite awhile ago, fixed back in December, but like I said, forgot to add it to my .zip.

[Samir]

I re-applied the patch, but now I got another problem: I get a CTD whenever I try to save the game. Also, I got a Bad Save on that spot. So, basically, I’m unable to save the game now. Maybe I should restart the game? This is becoming too buggy, and I don’t want to waste your time :/

[Jeffrey]

I’m starting to suspect that none of the object arrays can be resized without just starting a new game. Not just Locations, Islands, but maybe even ships and items. I almost swear I was able to get away with it by a reinit for ships and items, but maybe I didn’t and all my games were started after I fixed them.

So unfortunately, you may just have to start another one. The only good news is that with the patch and the corrected sizes, that problem you encountered would not happen again. Also, now that I’ve found that a resize is a direct function already built into the game, but still causes a save-crash, I’m going to step through that and find why. It may very well be something that can be avoided, but it will only be accomplished in the self-compiled versions if it becomes possible. Just for fun, and in anticipation of that, maybe keep this game around and that can be an experiment if I figure it out.

[Samir]

Ok, I will keep the savegames. Anytime you need them, I can upload them for you. Thanks for being very helpful! And sorry for the trouble… Now that I have installed your patch over the 1.5.7 patch by MK, do I need to change anything or I can just start a new game? Do I need to press F4, or the reinit is done by only starting a new game?

[Jeffrey]

No need to do anything other than start.

[Jeffrey]

Death image for DX9 version is fixed and uploaded.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! I may have just made this game smarter. That resize thing…would be nice for the user to not have to know how to reinit. Would be nice if a change could be made to locations, ships, stores, islands and old save games still work, eh? Maybe they can!

After the OnLoad event, that is when the save-game info is read in and the arrays are actually reverted back to what they were during that specific game. So when the program tries to iterate to those array-size constants (e.g. MAX_LOCATIONS), it fails because the old game didn’t have that many. So I wrote OnLoadReinit.c, containing onLoadReInit(), that compares all the array sizes in the data, to the constant that it ‘should’ be. If they are different, the data is resized and reinitialized. I then #included it in the main program, seadogs.c. Then in the OnLoad()method in seadogs.c, put a call to onLoadReInit() at the very beginning. I then opened globals.c and changed MAX_LOCATIONS, MAX_ISLANDS, and MAX_COLONIES. Loaded an old game, takes a slight bit longer to load as it resized and reinited the arrays I changed, but it loaded, then I tried saving and all was fine. No crashes, no critical errors in the log. Now the game is saved with the array data of the correct size and the next time you load it, it doesn’t run the resizing and reinit of those changed arrays because the saved-state sizes match the new constants.

Here is my function:

void onLoadReInit()
{
	bool reinit;
	reinit = false;
	int nCannonSize = GetArraySize(&Cannon);
	int nGoodsSize = GetArraySize(&Goods);
	int nEncounterSize = GetArraySize(&EncountersTypes);
	int nSailSize = GetArraySize(&SailsColors);
	int nItemSize = GetArraySize(&Items);
	int nStoreSize = GetArraySize(&Stores);
	int nShipSize = GetArraySize(&ShipsTypes);
	int nWeatherSize = GetArraySize(&Weathers);
	int nLocationsSize = GetArraySize(&Locations);
	int nIslandsSize = GetArraySize(&Islands);
	int nColonySize = GetArraySize(&Colonies);

	Trace("Reinitializing");

	if(nCannonSize != CANNON_TYPES_QUANTITY){
		SetArraySize(&Cannon,CANNON_TYPES_QUANTITY)
		CannonsInit();
	}
	if(nGoodsSize != GOODS_QUANTITY){
		SetArraySize(&Goods,GOODS_QUANTITY);
		if(LoadSegment("store\initGoods.c"))
		{
			InitGoods();
			UnloadSegment("store\initGoods.c");
		}
	}
	if(nEncounterSize != MAX_ENCOUNTER_TYPES){
		reinit = true;
		SetArraySize(&EncountersTypes,MAX_ENCOUNTER_TYPES);
		EncountersInit();
	}
	if(nSailSize != SAILS_COLOR_QUANTITY){
		SetArraySize(&SailsColors,SAILS_COLOR_QUANTITY);
		if(LoadSegment("Ships\Sails_Init.c"))
		{
			InitSailsColors();
			UnloadSegment("Ships\Sails_Init.c");
		}
	}
	if (nItemSize != ITEMS_QUANTITY){
		SetArraySize(&Items,ITEMS_QUANTITY);
		if(LoadSegment("items\initItems.c"))
		{
			InitItems();
			UnloadSegment("items\initItems.c");
		}
	}		
	if(nShipSize  != SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT){
		reinit = true;	
		SetArraySize(&ShipsTypes, SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT);
		ShipsInit();
	}
	if(nWeatherSize != MAX_WEATHERS){
		SetArraySize(&Weathers,MAX_WEATHERS);
		WeatherInit();
	}
	if(nIslandsSize != MAX_ISLANDS){
		reinit = true;
		SetArraySize(&Islands,MAX_ISLANDS);
		IslandsInit();
		if(LoadSegment("WorldMap\worldmap_init.c"))
		{
			wdmInitWorldMap();
			UnloadSegment("WorldMap\worldmap_init.c");
		}
	}
	if(nLocationsSize != MAX_LOCATIONS){
		reinit = true;
		SetArraySize(&Locations,MAX_LOCATIONS);
		LocationInit();
	}	
	if(nColonySize != MAX_COLONIES){
		reinit = true;
		SetArraySize(&Colonies,MAX_COLONIES);
		ColoniesInit();
		CreateColonyCommanders();
		SetGovenourToCity(ENGLAND, "PortRoyal");
		SetGovenourToCity(SPAIN, "Havana");
		SetGovenourToCity(FRANCE, "Tortuga");
		SetGovenourToCity(HOLLAND, "Villemstad");
	}
	if(nStoreSize != STORE_QUANTITY){
		SetArraySize(&stores,STORE_QUANTITY);
		if(LoadSegment("store\initStore.c"))
		{
			InitStores();
			UnloadSegment("store\initStore.c");
		}
	}
	if(reinit){
		if(LoadSegment("characters\Characters_tables.c"))
		{
			InitCharactersTables();
			UnloadSegment("characters\Characters_tables.c");
		}
		ClearAllFantomShips();		
		if(LoadSegment("nations\nations_init.c"))
		{
			InitNations();
			UnloadSegment("nations\nation_init.c");
		}
		if(LoadSegment("INTERFACE\perks\perks_init.c"))
		{
			extrnInitPerks();
			UnloadSegment("INTERFACE\perks\perks_init.c");
		}
	}
	return;
}

void ClearAllFantomShips()
{
	int  i;
	ref  chr;
	for (i = 0; i < REAL_SHIPS_QUANTITY; i++)
	{
        DeleteAttribute(&RealShips[i], "lock");
	}
	RealShips[sti(Characters[BOAT_CHARACTER].ship.type)].lock = true;
	for (i = 0; i < MAX_CHARACTERS; i++)
	{
        chr = &Characters[i];
        if (CheckAttribute(chr, "ship.type") && chr.ship.type != SHIP_NOTUSED)
        {
            RealShips[sti(chr.ship.type)].lock = true;
        }
		if (CheckAttribute(chr, "shipyard"))
		{
		    RemoveShipFromShipyard(chr);
		}
	}
	for (i = FANTOM_CHARACTERS; i < TOTAL_CHARACTERS; i++)
	{
        chr = &Characters[i];
        if (CheckAttribute(chr, "ship.type") && chr.ship.type != SHIP_NOTUSED)
        {
            RealShips[sti(chr.ship.type)].lock = true;
        }
	}
	for (i = 0; i < REAL_SHIPS_QUANTITY; i++)
	{
        if (!CheckAttribute(&RealShips[i], "lock") && !CheckAttribute(&RealShips[i], "StoreShip"))
        {
			DeleteAttribute(&RealShips[i], "");
		}
	}
}

void RemoveShipFromShipyard(ref NPChar)
{
        aref   arDest, arImt;
		string sAttr;
		int    iNum, i, iShip;
		makearef(arDest, NPChar.shipyard);
		iNum = GetAttributesNum(arDest);
		for (i = 0; i < iNum; i++)
		{
	    	arImt = GetAttributeN(arDest, i);
	    	iShip = sti(arImt.Type);
	    	DeleteAttribute(&RealShips[iShip], "StoreShip");
	    }
        DeleteAttribute(NPChar, "shipyard");
}

[Orazio]

Nice one! If I finish the cabin I’m making, I’ll try this method instead of manually executing the console.

[Samir]

These are awesome news, Jeffrey! Keep up the good work!

[Jeffrey]

You should try this with that Ed Teach game you were having trouble with, that probably had the wrong number of Locations. Download ResizeTest.zip and put the seadogs.c and OnReloadReinit.c in the Programs folder. Load that game, then immediately save it in an empty file slot and see if it saves without error. If no problem, then reload the game and resume playing.

The nice thing about this change is that any game that already matches the correct sizes, nothing happens, because it will skip all the resizing/reinit if it already matches. The difference here being that by placing this reinit right after the save data loads, but before some other stuff happens and the rest of the interface logic comes into play, it seems to work out better.

[Samir]

Jeffrey, I have noticed, after applying your patch, when I press numbers 1,2,3, or 4 in naval combat, the icon of the ammunition doesn’t change, only I hear the sound telling “load the cannonballs” for instance, and the cannons start recharging, but the icon stays the same. For example, if I had cannonballs installed, and I press number 3 for chain shots, the icon doesn’t change… But when I press enter and change it via icons, then it works…

I have tested it twice to see if that’s the problem with MK’s 1.5.7 patch, but there it works correctly…

P.S. This is completely irrelevant bug, it doesn’t affect my gameplay, but just wanted to let you know about it.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Samir.

[Jeffrey]

I have noticed after switching to a game with those new controls, an older save doesn’t always work quite right. But after resetting options, it works and will stay with that game if you save it. Try this:

Esc to menu, click options and ‘Restore Default Settings’ for controls, back to the game. See if they work. If they do, after you save that game, you should not have to do this again if you load that save.

Let me know if that works.

[Samir]

I tried what you suggested. It didn’t work…

[Jeffrey]

I just verified it works properly in my version, so I suspect you are missing a file or something somewhere. I made this mistake similarly with that .h file and I think I need to make a change in how I deal with giving this out.

I tried to make the patch .zips as small as possible and when I code something, try to remember to copy just those same changed files from my working directory to a patch folder that I zip and upload. But if I miss a file I changed, because sometimes a change is required in several to get something working the way we want, well, stuff won’t work for you.

So new plan. I know it works in my working folder, so now I am copying ALL FILES from that Program directory into the patch. Probably should have done that to begin with. So download the new one and it should have every Program file I use in my game.

See if that fixes it.

[Samir]

Again, not working, even though I applied your newly uploaded Patch… This is weird. I mean, it works when you change it using ENTER, and selecting the proper icon for the ammunition, but when I press numbers, it doesn’t work… this is weird. I don’t think I’m missing any of your files, maybe some other file is missing…

[Jeffrey]

Well this is no good. I remember having the same problem a long time ago, but I can’t remember what was wrong or how I finally fixed it. If it’s not in a program file (you now have everything I use and mine doesn’t do that anymore), I don’t remember what it was.

I will keep thinking and hopefully I will remember what it was.

[Jeffrey]

I recently discovered that our compiled source does not play most of the music in AoP COAS. This doesn’t affect GOF 1.2 or ERAS because the music files being used were almost all changed in those mods to something different than what stock played (though I notice the files still exist in the directory, they weren’t used). Weird, because many of the GOF and ERAS music files still use the .ogg format and the error in AoP is that FMOD claims the file or audio format is unsupported.

I am using a different version of FMOD (slightly newer) than the original, so I looked at streamSound method causing the error…nothing wrong. Also, like I stated earlier, weird that some .ogg files work in GOF and ERAS, and even the main theme for the AoP menu worked and it is also .ogg, but every other tune that’s supposed to play while you’re sailing, in town, etc. didn’t play.

Just for grins, I took all the AoP .ogg file and using VLC media, converted them all from .ogg, to .ogg. Yep, you read that right, converted to the exact same format. I notice the resultant files are very slightly different sizes in bytes. But then like magic, they all now work in our AoP test versions. Probably something in the .ogg meta info that has changed since the ‘old days’ and the newer FMOD doesn’t recognize it (though VLC and other media players are able to figure it out and play them…I tried and they played in several) So I have changed the AoP test .zips to now include the sound files (the .zip are unfortunately much larger). You can no longer point them at the same RESOURCE/Sounds folder of your original game in start.ini. While it was just music song files that were affected (shorter sounds use playSound, which didn’t seem to have this same problem), we can’t just point to one place for the music and another for the rest of the sounds, so to ease testing, I bundled them all up and now you unzip, get the RESOURCE/Sounds folder in the same directory as the other test files and change start.ini to point ‘locally’ if you weren’t already using a whole exact copy of everything in your ‘test’ directory:

sound path = RESOURCE\sounds

[modernknight1]

The sounds have always been screwy in the AOP games. The 2.1.5.7 uses an FMOD file that isn’t even from AOP. I took it from VCO and modified some of its parameters with a special tool. It worked better than the others and that’s why I used it.

Question for you guys and I apologize if I missed this and you talked about it in the last few months….

I am playing with several different versions, however, the baseline version I am building the MEGAPATCH off of has only had a few of Jeffrey’s changes integrated native (no pointers). In my test game I just found the Brig Queen. I didn’t realize how messed up Danielle Shepherd’s eyes were. I thought I had already fixed her animation as I had the others Danielle variants. I also realized that she is a really old model with a really crappy texture and has no portrait picture.

Did one of you already fix this? Because if not, I want to add a fix to my patch tonight in the way of a new and improved character with proper portrait.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Did one of you already fix this? Because if not, I want to add a fix to my patch tonight in the way of a new and improved character with proper portrait.

Um, no…modeling is outside my scope of knowledge 🙂

So when I catch her and recruit her, I just keep her as captain of her own ship (she’s got the stats for it) so I don’t have to look at her crazy eyes 😉

[Jeffrey]

Oh, hey, while you’re at it…the Danielle Shepherd face is the same as one of the Pirate women crew (the one with the fancy garb), so even if you’re doing a whole new Danielle, want to go ahead and fix that face? Of course I usually see them lying dead on the deck, so maybe the screwy eyes works in that situation… 😉

[modernknight1]

“so I don’t have to look at her crazy eyes” LMAO!!!

OK, sure will. Too easy. Its just an incorrect animation file. I can’t believe I allowed such an old model to slip through the cracks. Her texture is horrible. The new one will be HOT.

MK

[Samir]

Any idea how to fix this camera? With this ship, it looks awkward, even when I zoom in, it’s not right… The screenshot is with the max zoom out. I use the vanilla cameras mod. My screen resolution is 1600×900. I tried various values in AiCameras.c, but I just can’t find the right one…

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Samir.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Samir.

[modernknight1]

That’s one of the reasons I made my camera modifications. It doesn’t look like that when I play with it because I can zoom out further and have a larger view playbox. With vanilla camera settings the only way to fix that is to modify the ship model itself which has what is called the high camera bug. I think it can be fixed with tool rather than in Maya. You simply have to change the center point of the camera center view coordinate. Based on where that coordinate is and what model part its attached to sometimes ships have to be modified in Maya. Usually their tafferel flagpole and mast models have to be broken up into smaller bits and then reimported.

If we only had more modelers around here. SIGH

MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by modernknight1.

[Orazio]

That ship should be the Felipe1. I looked at it, and the flagpole attached to the hull is what is causing that camera behavior, as MK said.

I think the only way to fix it is to modify the model and re-export it. There is a ‘camera’ locator, that can be edited using TOOL, but that is for the first person view on deck.

Anyway, I wanted to see if I could fix it, and I managed to do it. The process was very tedious though!
Download the new models and copy them in RESOURCE\MODELS\Ships\Felipe1 and tell me if everything works correctly. Make a backup of Felipe1.gm first.

DOWNLOAD

[Samir]

Working perfectly! You are genious! I was about to change that ship just because of bad camera. You made my day! Thank you very much!

[Galleon]

Wonderful work Orazio! Thank you! The galleons are my favorite and Apostel Felipe is one of the best ones. I play with my own camera settings that combine MK’s with closer normal zoom. The game is different on every monitor one uses, so I have changed it several times. This is a most welcome addition because I sail with flotas of the Felipe somewhat often.

MK I like the new Miss Daniella Sheppard!

[Jeffrey]

Nice fix.

That looks to be from GOF 1.2…I see the same ship files for the Felipe1. I have now added Orazio’s to my GOF and ERAS .zip files. Also, Samir, unrelated, but that dialog fix for PGG_dialog.c I had made about the ‘my name is .’…I found a mistake I made in that and corrected it. I ran into an error for that in a recent game log, so wanted to let you know that it was slightly wrong. The corrected Program\DIALOGS\russian\PGG_dialog.c has also been included.

[Samir]

I will apply the patch now.

[Samir]

Orazio, friend. Could you have a look at this ship also? Its called VOC Escort Frigate. It also has bad camera angle… Sorry for bothering you :/ I captured that ship and took it for myself because it has 36 guns. I gave Felipe1 to my officer.

[Orazio]

Ok VOC Escort done. Copy the fixed models in RESOURCE\MODELS\Ships\VOCEscort1.
DOWNLOAD

That ship would also need a new sailorpoints file, but I can’t do it right now…

[Samir]

Amazing! Thank you very much! 🙂

[modernknight1]

Introducing the new and improved Captain Danielle Shepard. What do you think of her? MK

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

Looks nice. Will take some getting used to not having googly eyes around any more 😉

[Jeffrey]

Found a bug in the ERAS2 source compilations. If anyone is trying/testing this and the .zip doesn’t have today’s 6/15/2016 date (or later as the case may be), download it again. I discovered a bug and was just able to fix it about an hour ago.

I had just boarded a ship,and instructed one of my companions to board a different ship. After about a minute, the game crashed. Since I have autosave on for boarding, I went back, did the same thing and it crashed again. This is a good thing, because now I could run the game in debug mode from source, from that same save and when it crashed, the debugger points me to the exact line of code causing the crash.

I spent some time and found that what is called an ENTITY, for one of the AI ships, was sometimes a NULL and caused the crash. I don’t know why it was sometimes a NULL, but I experimented by causing the game to skip over the game-crash line and just return from the AI function, without doing the AI decision logic for that ship. Then it crashed on a different line, for a similar reason. I kept telling the game to skip over the parts it had trouble with that missing ENTITY, skipping the decision for that ship…over and over until it didn’t crash. The good news is that in this experiment, the next time the decision loops, which are very fast loops, the next time that ENTITY was OK, but then another time it wasn’t…it was intermittent. What happened is that visually, you can’t tell there is a problem and things go as you would expect while skipping the sometimes-missing ENTITY. I considered this OK and a success, so that’s now the new compile.

Finding the root reason why the ENTITY was sometimes missing was proving near impossible, because it could actually be in the Program .c code we can change in the game, or somewhere an error in the thousands of lines of source code in the .exe or .dlls. I couldn’t find it for the time being, and this skipping method was a reasonable way around it considering it didn’t affect the outcome because the ships ultimately did what they were supposed to do because sometimes during those very fast decision loops, the ENTITY and decision were made as expected. I just want this to become stable before trying to redesign some of this game decision making logic in a faster and more solid way.

[modernknight1]

EXCELLENT Jeffrey!

I believe this NULL Entity problem is part of the same issue I have been running down forever. The LOGS would never tell me exactly why the character captain faults were happening in boarding or why sometimes you couldn’t auto engage cannon and would have to go to 1st person view and manually aim and shoot. When this happens the error message always comes up

“ERROR: Incorrect Index for a character! Wrong index is -1”

I would be willing to bet money that you’ve finally tracked down the root cause of this elusive bugaboo that has hidden from me for years now. I have scrubbed and fixed the character index until I am numb – fixing naming, fixing numbers, fixing faces/portraits. NOTHING would work. It seems better but I have continued to suspect it has something to do with the numbers of NPCs available for selection going against some hard coded value somewhere that I cannot find.

Can’t wait to try this. Almost ready to start a new game with a bunch of new changes I’ve made in the mega patch.

THANKS!!! You’re awesome!

MK

[Jeffrey]

Well, I wouldn’t get too excited because those problems will probably still exist. That’s also why it was so difficult to track down, and I eventually compromised; I think the problem is in an error of the Program/.c definitions/creations of the ship.

What I found in this actual crash, is that when a ‘situation update’ goes a certain way, as the cycles for situational updates go through a very fast loop, is that ENTITY is invalid, which causes things like ->GetPos would be pointed to an invalid ENTITY memory object, causing a memory violation and crash. But a loop or two later, it’s a valid object again, but then invalid a loop or two later. Since the loops are very fast, I just use a try/test and if it fails, ignore a situational update for that one loop, skipping a potential crash. Since the loops are so fast for the updates, another will come along very soon and so to the eye and experience watching the AI ship still sail, still fire, you can’t tell.

So the root cause is not really fixed, but we avoid an all-out crash. I’ve not had this happen for a very long time and feel fortunate I had a save so near this type of problem I could repeat until I got enough coded to get past it without a crash. It’s a stopgap solution to a deeper problem, but that root cause will be difficult to track down given it’s probably a definition problem that might lie outside the source .dll, but in the Program .c source? I can’t say for certain just yet, but at least the game plays ‘normally’ during this issue now.

[modernknight1]

Is it in the ERAS2Test Zip Jeffrey? The ERAS2 Patch is still dated 6/14/2016

MK

[Jeffrey]

Noticed I didn’t quite answer the question. Yes, it’s the ERAS2Test (and GOF/AoP), both 8 and 9. The problem was in the source. This is also why I don’t think it will help the INDEX -1 issue, because that is a problem in the Program .c code. I just prevent a game-crash that I encountered during a particular situation.

The Patch is now also dated 6/15, but that’s just because I added the VOCEscort camera fix Orazio provided.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! I think you just missed by a few minutes. It looks like it was still uploading (it got caught behind the much larger AoP (they now contain all the recources, because I had to redo the .ogg). But it’s there now…the 6/15 ERAS2Test looks to be there.

[Samir]

Has anyone had this problem? It happens when you turn the camera at certain angle. Never happened to me before. It’s daytime btw.

[modernknight1]

Yes I am aware of this. It is fairly rare and only happens at sea. I think it may have something to do with the sun texture. It only happens at certain times of day when the light begins to dim into evening. Also as Samir said it only happens on one side of the ship at a certain angle. The reason I think its the sun is that usually that’s the direction the blackout comes from. Its not at all game breaking and all you have to do is rotate your mouse out of it – or your view out of it. When you go to world view and come back to sailing mode again its always gone.

I’ve noted it but haven’t had the time to really experiment with it yet. Much more important dragons to slay as far as this mod is concerned than that little one.

Keep pointing out the gliches/problems though. Its always helpful and appreciated!!!

MK

[Jeffrey]

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the camera go black during day at a certain angle before.

I have seen a case where at a certain night time hour, everything goes black and it’s impossible to see in town. I think it was back when I was mostly playing GOF 1.2. I had only seen it a couple times, and it was before I started looking into code to fix things, and I haven’t seen it since, so I wonder if what you’re seeing is the same issue? Strange yours is in day, because I remember it was night when I had the problem of not being able to see, so at least it made a little bit of sense at the time…night=dark. Would be nice to pinpoint what it might be, but I don’t know what it is.

[Samir]

I also agree with MK. It’s not a big deal. The chances to get this glitch are extremely low. I was surprised when it happened because I’ve played Eras Mod a lot, and this was the first time it happened.

[Jeffrey]

<sigh>

Yet again, the DX8 and DX9 compilations will need to be re-downloaded if you are using them. I found a save-game crash! Been a long time for me. But I fixed it and it’s available.

I also found a glitch in the sea-speak that is very minor, but an error was logged for outside array boundary of ‘rumors’. It was an error from the GOF 1 code that became the base for ERAS as well. That fix is both in the DX8/9, as well as the patch.zips.

[Jeffrey]

Frustration! But finally resolved.

I thought the save-game was solved, but turns out that it was because I was running a debug compile. Every time I compiled for release to upload, apparently the fix wasn’t working the same. I mostly test the debug builds because a crash .dmp directs to the exact source line of the problem. Just yesterday, I was playing a Release build and discovered that the release compiles were not reacting the same as the debug build and I just found out why. It’s a complex subject, but if interested, this post has a good overview: http://members.gamedev.net/sicrane/articles/exception.html

In short, the article sums up the reason here:

catch (…) handles SEH exceptions, a SEH exception will cause stack unwind, but will not trigger a rethrow clean up catch block. In the following example, if f() raises a SEH exception, the_object will be destroyed, but the catch (…) block won’t execute.

So my method to ‘catch’ the problem looked like this:

try {
    A the_object;
    f();
  } catch (...) {
    // clean up stuff
  }

And as the article explains, when a certain type of error in f(); that cannot be captured by C++, like an access violation (similar to how I deal with it), the ‘catch’ doesn’t execute as it should if the exception is an access violation, because that is considered a ‘hardware’ exception, vs. a software exception and C++ catch blocks are not supposed to handle them, so my fix would not occur. In a debug compile, the compiler inserts code to make it work for debugging purposes, but a Release build strips that out.

What was needed is to explicitly insert a Structured Exception Handler, that is not removed by a Release build:

SEH Example:

__try {
    // stuff
  }
__except (eps = GetExceptionInformation(), EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER) {
    // handler
  }

So finally, the Release versions should really, this time, eliminate the save-game problem. New DX8 and DX9 builds have been uploaded.

[Samir]

Jeffrey, I beg you, put your Mega link in your signature, so every time you write a post, we can access your Mega links. Sometimes it is bigger frustration for me finding a post where you have put the links, then overwritting the files 😀

[Jeffrey]

Sure thing. I found no sig feature for my account, but will just copy/paste one in every post.

I feel pretty stupid not realizing the Release version was not executing the same as the Debug version. They are both compiled from the same source and I would play the Debug, thinking the Release would execute similarly. All along the save feature has been perfect in debug and I was shocked to finally find that there were still occasional crashes in the Release version. After playing it for an hour the other day, it crashed at least 2 times…yikes! I had a save from just moments before the crash, and if I reloaded, I could get it to crash within a short time, so perfect for testing. But, now that I’m aware, found out why the difference from that most excellent article, and have now gotten the Release to execute like Debug. With that save game I could always crash, and the article, I was able to work out the issue and test the Release save-games thoroughly. I have played the Release version everyone else gets for many hours these last two days and it’s as stable as I have been experiencing with my Debug…not a single crash.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Samir]

I stopped receiving the Treasure quest from radnom captains in tavern. I have been playing a new game for 3 days now, and I have been receiving this quest regularly. For some reason, the captains now aren’t appearing in tavern when I enter… What it might be?

[Jeffrey]

There was a problem, since vanilla COAS, where the NPC captains would eventually disappear from the game. That should be fixed, but there are still some legitimate reasons why they don’t approach.

1. There may be no captains in your current town. You can check this with F10. Though with ERAS, it is far more likely they WILL be in your town, because there are many more than vanilla.

2. There are some random elements and some scores that determine whether they approach. I’ve not tracked how it gets incremented/decremented, but there is a ‘PGG relation’ score that you must pass. That also has a random element, and even if your relation to them is high/good, you might not pass the random check. There is also a random element (I think it’s 1 out of 3), that they might not be in the tavern, even if they are in town, so you can’t meet them. But, you can keep entering/exiting the tavern and they usually appear if they are in town. Then, even if in the tavern, there is also a random element that they won’t approach you. But, if they are sitting there, you can approach them and ask about some sort of deal/conversation. Then there is a random element that they might have something for you to join, or they’ll brush you off…”Hey, we’re drinking with friends here…” That sort of thing.

Since the fix for them all eventually disappearing, I’ve not found any further problems with this facet of the game, and captains persist, are encountered, and still either approach, or at least show up in the tavern. So I think you may just be hitting an ‘unlucky’ streak in them not approaching. But again, if you see one, you can approach them instead.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Devoidbrah]

I got a problem with the resolution. It was fine before i used the config file and previously it had been in full screen. But now regardless what i do I have 2 fat squares to the left and right and that not what i would call full screen. Any fix? or could someone upload the working resolution files? Cuz i cant seem to find which files are resposnible for that irk.

[Jeffrey]

This should do it:

In engine.ini (or start.ini), change screen_x to your computers width setting and screen_y to your height. Make sure the values you change do not have a semicolon ; in front of them. Save file.

screen_x = 1366
screen_y = 768

[Samir]

Orazio, could you please fix this ship’s camera? It’s a English 38 gun 4th rater. I don’t know how it’s called in MODELS folder…

[Orazio]

From what I could tell, that ship should be the Mordaunt38nb1. There are at least other two which are very similar, so I hope I picked the right one.

Besides the flagpole, I also had to separate the small boat on the deck from the rest of the model, because exporting everything in a single GM file made the model impossible to open in TOOL (though still working in game), and I wanted the keep the possibility of editing the model in TOOL, if for whatever reason it will be needed in future.

— DOWNLOAD —

[Samir]

That’s the one. Thank you!

[Jeffrey]

OK, so those ‘random’ crashes of the game. They are not so random.

The first major culprit was in battle_interface and that had to do with a particular vertex buffer that the memory was directly manipulated beyond its allocated space, then when a pointer to that memory dereferenced, crash. That was identified (even an old PA! thread had someone actually disassemble and identify the exact memory release call causing the crash) and fixed; they hacked around it by skipping the memory release and now causing a memory leak, we just allocate the proper space and the memory release can execute without fail.

The most common, major crash culprit is how object attributes are handled. Attributes are things seen in the /Program/.c code like pchar.tempQuest — tempQuest would be an attribute. They can be added, removed at will and can actually be anything desired by the person writing the .c part of the game. How they are handled on the ‘back end’ is just a bad design in the game, but they are the cause for most crashes: save-game crashes, ‘random’ crashes on Worldmap, ‘random’ crashes changing map-to-sea mode changes, pre-boarding crashes, and many others. The bad design stems from the fact that the ‘object’ is stored in memory, but it is a pointer to that memory that is placed on an array stack that when that ‘object’ is needed again, it’s looked up in the array, then that pointer retrieved and used to access pointers to each of its attributes, then those pointers are used to dereference the values. However, the problem is that the execution stack from the .c code of the game can do things like this:

Function A can create an attribute X and assign it.
Function A does a few more things, then calls Function B.
Function B does some stuff, but then removes attribute X from the object.
Function B returns control back to Function A
Function A then tries to refer to attribute X, but it is gone (which is fine…if it’s gone/NULL, then that attribute no longer applies and means to do/not do something).

However, the problem lies in the back end that when that Attribute was removed, the memory space for the attribute was deallocated, but any other reference somewhere on the program call stack (in this case, Function A’s statement, after the call to Function B, that refers to X, is still waiting on the stack, still contains that pointer to X’s memory, that is now deallocated by Function B. The actual attribute is gone, deallocated, but any program calls in the .c are in a different array than attributes, and just have pointers to them, but they are now bad. Which is OK, but the problem is that in C++, you can’t test that very well for things like memory access violations. In some cases, if that memory is not being re-used by something else, a C++ try/catch would work and pass it by. However, once something else requests some memory, and the OS gives it the memory space an attribute once had, an attribute that by chance still has a pointer reference to it stored on the call stack, when that stack step occurs, that pointer is used to try accessing memory that belongs to something else, and that is when you will crash with an access violation. Bad design to store pointers to something that might go away when you’re technically expecting them all to be valid, but you provide a normal/accepted way to remove them at will in the .c portion of the game. This approach to their Attributes/call stack is too complicated/time-intensive to sit down and rewrite at the moment, but with the SEH method (outside the C++ exception handling that can’t deal with access violations), we can get around and actually test for the violation and skip that attribute because we know it’s been removed earlier in the call stack.

So there is at least one more common crash…post-boarding. This is a boarding crash where autosave works, saves the game, but then the game crashes right after. However, you can then load the autosave and everything is fine again. It doesn’t happen often, but often enough I’m familiar with the type of crash and I’ve been making notes of the crash.dmp and what do you know….over the last few weeks, I’ve encountered this bug 3 times and all 3 occur in the same geometry function. This is good news. I think it’s similar to the battle_interface in that an array of vertex buffers might be directly manipulated from a memory pointer and as a result, sometimes gets manipulated past its allocated space. Since I know for certain that type of crash is consistent, and always in this same spot, I will probably be able to fix this.

Once done, I think that will take care of the most common ‘random’ crashes I’ve seen in the original game. Cross your fingers this is the last of them and we can get it fixed 🙂

[Devoidbrah]

Thanks for the info on the resizing! Really helped me out there 😀
I started logging my adventures, like a captains log. I will make a thread about em as soon as I have completed one whole year 😀

Keep up the great work Jeff! Your a godsent to ERAS! 😀

[Samir]

Jeffrey, I also noticed that all Storm engines have problem with memory. It sometimes causes the game to crash, in large battles especially. I was wondering, since I accidentally came up on this thread, have you tried this Large Adress Aware patch? Read the last post from this thread:
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/are-there-any-mods-that-can-improve-game-performance.25086/

Maybe you are already using it. Maybe it’s already implemented in Eras 2 MOD. If it isn’t, I would like to give it a try…

[Jeffrey]

Samir, I’ve also come across that large address post, but my machine doesn’t have more than 2gb memory, so it’s a moot point since I believe it only applies to 2+ gb. I’ve not been able to try it…in fact, I think I may have even downloaded it but seem to remember it telling me the app doesn’t support my meager memory.

Anyway, quick update. I’ve been desperately trying to replicate my rare boarding error mentioned in my last post, but after encountering the problem twice in one day, adding some additional log messages in the source code program, I’ve been unable to replicate it since. But…while trying my darndest to break things, I have had some other crashes and issues that I rarely see and was able to both recreate them and fix them in the process.

My approach is a bit different than Jan’s; he wants to approach the source and the Programs/.c files as a whole, study and eliminate problems in the .c files that often cause the back-end source to hiccup. While that is an ideal goal, with some problems, it takes a very long time to track down root causes in the .c and the problems I’ve found along my way, are either very minor, or irrelevant within context of either the moment or scheme of the game. I would also rather the .exe was more resilient and able to cope with some problems introduced in the .c code without crashing. Notably, the one I recently fixed involved an AI character trying to determine a runaway route, at the very instant of being boarded the NPC wishes to flee, but can’t flee anyway because the game has simultaneously initiated a boarding action. The problem is that in the midst of the messages/decision tree, the character index vanishes for a short time (due to somewhere in the .c temporarily losing the scope of that character object) while some of the decision messages are still being passed around and a game-crash occurs. But the boarding action is happening no matter what, so in that case, I just skip the now-bad pointers for the character making that ‘getaway route’ decision because it doesn’t matter anymore. It would be best to ensure that the character index sticks around until it’s appropriate, but that’s a difficult endeavor to find the .c code problem because there is no step-by-step debug for that part of the code and sometimes the functions being called are sometimes ‘invisible’ because they are not direct calls, but ‘event messages’ and handlers, while in the interim, we can keep playing since the ultimate ‘getaway path’ decision is meaningless since the ship is to be boarded within a split second and I found exactly where that problem occurs in the step-by-step of the back end source. So my thinking is just skip that problem, log it in a file so we know it’s happening and track down the root of the problem later if we wish.

Similarly, in the last few days, I found a problem with a certain flag motion, and upon DoMove, it can crash the game in certain instances. I skip that problem, but since the DoMoves happen many times per second, I can’t notice while watching a flag in the wind. I found the same thing with waterrings, so I skip the bad data for those. Same thing with ropes and sails during sink_effect, so I skip them.

And tangentially related, in the Program/.c code, I had implemented a fix for when the player is transported to shore after sinking/keeping the last quest ship on a Pirate NPC quest to loot some moored ships. I found that if your squadron is greater than the vanilla 5, if you are near enemy territory and there is not enough room to enable fast-travel to the shore you are to be transported to, the game freezes black at the teleport to shore. I found a better way to resolve both that and the prior issue I had attempted before.

In all, in the last few days, I slightly tweaked about 30 of the .exe/.dll source files to gain more resilience in things that make little difference if they go wrong, so that they stop hard crashing the game (I had a couple great saves that with enough time and proper pounding, I could repeat some of these problems over and over until I couldn’t make them happen any more 🙂 ). One thing of note…there is a more troublesome flag too. Now that I prevented the game crash for that one, I do notice that sometimes the texture gets spanned across the display in either a strange flicker, or a long flat plane into the distance. It’s pretty rare, and disconcerting, but I’m not yet sure why that particular flag is a problem, or whether it’s a model, texture, definition problem. It’s when the MSG_FLAG_TO_NEWHOST message happens, the flags get changed over and if it’s a problem one, it can go wonky. Used to crash, now it just looks bad. Should definitely fix the source of that one, but I haven’t identified it.

Also found some missing fort fire/smoke .xps files (I made copies from similarly named ones that are already there), a couple text fixes, a couple other Program/.c code fixes. I’ve not yet uploaded any of this, as I want to do more testing to ensure things are OK. I’ll let you all know.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! Solved the strange flag issue…I introduced the problem when fixing the DoMove thing. In my change, during the case of MSG_FLAG_TO_NEWHOST message, I accidentally popped the same message twice, which then disrupts the order for all other processed messages, as each message type has a very specific number of parameters. When you pop them off, the message stack lessens, and when I popped the same message of twice, then all other subsequent message ‘pops’ get the wrong information.

oldModelID = message.EntityID();
oldModelID = message.EntityID();
newModelID = message.EntityID();

Notice I get the oldModelID twice. That’s wrong. I was moving the code to handle an error better and inadvertently duplicated that line. Fixed that and everything is very solid now. I want to do some more testing, but should be able to upload both new source compilations and some Patch.zips as well, for things that were applicable to the original .exe/.dll set.

[Samir]

Awesome! Did you upload these fixes on your Mega account?

[Jeffrey]

Not yet uploaded. I finally encountered the boarding bug I was looking for. Funny stuff…

I know I got it because I found the same errors I have been waiting for. They are ugly:

User Rised Exception
memory_service.cpp line 137
_X_NO_MEM
Invalid model: C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\Ammo\blade24.gm
CreateVertexBuffer::CreateVertexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method's parameter may have an invalid value
User Rised Exception
memory_service.cpp line 137
_X_NO_MEM
Invalid model: C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\Ammo\topor1.gm
User Rised Exception
memory_service.cpp line 137
_X_NO_MEM
Invalid model: C:\Program Files\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\Ammo\topor1.gm
CreateVertexBuffer::CreateVertexBuffer: The method call is invalid For example, a method's parameter may have an invalid value
...etc.

Then I see some of my logs for my attempt to circumvent the problem:

MODELR::Realize: GeometyService->GetAnimationVBDesc
MODELR::Realize: GeometyService->GetAnimationVBDesc
MODELR::Realize: GeometyService->GetAnimationVBDesc
TIVBufferManager.cpp line 76
"TIVBufferManager::LockBuffers error"

No crash…great. But wait, there’s more! I get on board and I’m fighting ghosts…literally. The entire crew I’m fighting is invisible. I can see the health bars, but the characters are completely invisible. You can even strike them and kill them. As do your crew…which are also invisible. LOL Hilarious!

I know why they’re invisible, because if the LockBuffers, fails, and I skip it, it will not draw. But the real problem is this:

memory_service.cpp line 137
_X_NO_MEM

That precedes every “Invalid model” error and I already know the model files for those objects are fine. The _X_NO_MEM error is because a memory allocation for a malloc statement fails. malloc is a funny thing. It requests memory, but that memory being asked for has to be contiguous blocks. What happens during runtime is that if memory is allocated, then another space is allocated, and a few more, but then one of them is freed, the space it consumed is surrounded by memory that is not available and if another malloc request comes in, but is too large to fit that spot, another must be found. But, as time goes on, the memory spaces can become deeply fragmented…especially if you also have a ‘memory leak’ where a memory pointer was nulled, but the memory itself was neglected to be freed; that memory can never be used because you ‘lost track’ of it in your program, but that spot effectively shoots a hole in what could have been a large contiguous block if it had been freed properly. As leaks propagate, that further fragments available memory space.

That above malloc fail is due to heavily fragmented memory, because I had plenty of free memory on the heap, but I couldn’t use it for the space I needed because it was undoubtedly too fragmented to find a spot big enough for those particular requests, which were probably 1-2 mb large. This also explains why it takes me so long in a single game session to replicate this problem…you need a lot of time, and some ‘luck’ that your memory becomes fragmented with small enough free spots to kick off the error.

So, this is too big a thing to strike the root. That malloc is used everywhere memory is requested. To write a whole slew of memory management techniques and fully incorporate into this legacy code is a huge ordeal. But, I did some research and I think we can mitigate some of the problem. A guy named David Lea rewrote the malloc and related functions in C that apparently do a much better job of finding memory spots and tucking everything into a tighter packed set, and also has a nice side effect of a better/faster algorithm for it than the stock malloc issued with MS Visual C. It’s been time-tested, people have used it with ‘shipped’ code, and I believe it is also a part of the touted glib. http://g.oswego.edu/dl/html/malloc.html

So, I downloaded his free source and with the nice preprocessor feature of having the compiler essentially ‘rename’ any of the related malloc calls to dlmalloc, free to dlfree, realloc to dlrealloc, etc., it’s now part of my compile. It runs fine and I’d like to do some good testing to see if it lengthens my time play without error.

I’ll keep you posted.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Orazio]

I’ve recently noticed that, when in a land location near the sea, like a city or a shore, the ships in the water don’t move at all: they are not influenced by the motion of the waves, as if they were attached to the seabed with pillars.

In the vanilla game this doesn’t happen. So I compared some files, and found out what is causing this. In ERAS there are some values regarding the sea that were probably added/modified as an experiment, since they seem to do nothing, but as a side effect they cause the ships in cities/shores to stand completely still.

The sea in these locations however is so calm that the ship movement is barely noticeable; it’s a bit more evident looking at the little boat on the pier used to go ashore. I was trying to get bigger waves to have ships move a little bit more, but I wasn’t very succesfull and was already spending too much time for this..

So, to fix this little bug open Program\Locations\locations_loader.c, find these lines:

Sea.MaxSeaHeight = -0.1;
NSWeather.WindSpeed = 7.5;
Sea.fMaxSpeedZ = 3.9;
Sea.MinSeaHeight = -4.0;
Sea.MaxWaveHeigh = 50.5;
Sea.MinWaveHeigh = -2.5;

and change them to this:

Sea.MaxSeaHeight = 0.6;
//NSWeather.WindSpeed = 7.5;
//Sea.fMaxSpeedZ = 3.9;
//Sea.MinSeaHeight = -4.0;
//Sea.MaxWaveHeigh = 50.5;
//Sea.MinWaveHeigh = -2.5;

What this does is raise the sea level a bit (I suppose with -0.1 the sea level was below the ships locators, thus preventing them to move). In the vanilla game is 0.5; I didn’t check every city/shore, so if the sea level turns out to be too high, replace that with 0.5. The other lines seem to do nothing, I put extreme values and nothing happened; in the vanilla game they aren’t even present.

[Jeffrey]

Good catch Orazio. I incorporated that location change into my files and yes the boat sways now, as do the ships in the harbor if you watch them closely, relative to a town building (being further out in the harbor makes the movement very slight, but it is there).

I still want to test my new compiles a bit more, but they so far appear to be behaving as well as expected.

[Schiavonna]

posts: #626 & #831

“Has anyone else had problems with sound going away in first person sailing mode when you cannon sight is not on screen?”

Has this ever been rooted out and fixed? It really disrupts my game to the point of switching off sometimes. Would love if it could get finally resolved. I have tried various fmodex files from the COAS mods, more-recent external ones that work with the game but dont fix this. I’ve tried putting the fmodex in windows/system32 (and SysWOW64 that has been suggested for 64bit users). I’ve scowered around sound_alias.ini and sound.c and stopped short of opening the SOUND.dll and SoundService.dll’s. WHAT IS CAUSING THIS? Is it only a 64bit issue or is it universal to all ERAS players? Is fmodex the culprit? And why is it related to the crosshair and direction it is pointing?

Fixing this would make my Month!

[Jeffrey]

First, have you tried our compiled source? It is the source code from Akella, fixed up and recompiled. Memory leaks have been eliminated. Some former crash scenarios are now sidestepped. It also uses a newer FMODEX, and I recently figured out many of the issues concerning disappearing sounds.

Try either ERAS2Test.zip for the DirectX 8 version, or ERAS2TestDX9.zip for the DirectX 9 version.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Short of trying our version of the source, if you want to continue using the original game, one thing I found that contributes to sounds going silent, is the priority. That is specified in RESOURCE\INI\aliases\sound_alias.ini. Do a search/replace for ‘prior = 10’ (no quotes) and replace with prior = 65. All the sail sounds were prior = 10, with lower numbers meaning higher priority to FMOD, yet all guns and such were prior = 60. So when FMOD ran out of ability to mix a large number of sound channels (each cannon would get it’s own channel), they go ‘virtual’ which means silent, because they were considered a low priority to even the lower volume sails.

But seriously, I’ve played many hours on our source and continue to work on it…as recent as today. Download them and try them. Read the instructions…you will put them into their own directory and point at the RESOURCE directory of the original game. So you will still have both.

[Jeffrey]

Second…for the save games. Find Programs/console.c and make sure it looks like below. Copy over those old save games into the DX9 SAVE folder, load one, hit F4, then save to a new blank spot, then see if you can load it.

Let’s see if that works.

#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
#include "Locations\init\boarding.c"
#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	SetArraySize(&Items,ITEMS_QUANTITY);
	SetArraySize(&ShipsTypes,SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT);
	InitItems();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
	int n = 631; // If you have "vanilla" ERAS2 v1.5.7 don't change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in compile.log (see README)
	
	n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

[Schiavonna]

Okay – first I tried again with the sound_alias.ini but to no avail. I’ve screws around with it before months ago trying to figure this out, changing all the variables – priorities, distance, etc and nothing changes the bug. ALL SOUND CUTS (- bar the ambient sea ogg/wav file) incl. cannons, sails up and the ship_water_lugger/frigate/corvette, etc. I’ve given up here because it’s not this .ini thats causing this. The problem is tied directly with the first-person crosshair/reticule. As soon as that is not visable – i.e. not in the cannons arc….silence. While testing to see if any changes were happening, I used the John Berry character who starts with a sail boat. It has zero cannons…and therefore there is no sound at all: no waves lapping, no sails unfurling… -? I do not understand how COAS vanilla and the GOF mods do not have this problem, but ERAS does…-??

Part two: I tried your source compile. I copied my ERAS 2 game over from an external HD (so, got a backup of my original- no worries). Then installed the dx9 version in separate folder and followed the start.ini instructions to the letter, triple checked its pointing to correct places, and alls fine. Then I extracted the ERAS.Patch over my original ERAS install (which was fully working apart from the sailing sound problem). I did the dx9 components update included with the patch. All fine so far…brace yourself!

I started a game using your Jacquotte char and….the water is completely transparent (!) as in in NO textures. Jumped to the world map and noticed the clouds have gone purple (!) – it’s very cool but not sure that was the intended effect? Reloaded, Same again – textureless water and purple clouds on the world map. Picked a fight in a harbour to test cannons/sounds in first-person: Cannons work great – no cut-out whether crosshair is visable or not. Noticed there was still no “boat ploughing through the waves” sound (ship_water_lugger, etc)… – ?

And I tried the debug F11 then F1 reinit as suggested in the Patch notes to get save games working. I didnt get the usual “…was successful” text when usually executing F11 commands…then CTD. Tried other saves from my original ERAS install, same result and now have a cluster of bad saves. LOL!

Any enlightenment?

system.log

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Schiavonna.

[Jeffrey]

I did not change most of the shaders (because I don’t know much about them), but did change a couple of them for errors about .Fog that I researched because of similar errors after moving from DX8 to DX9. But you’ll note that almost all of the files are the same as before…dated 2006.

First, let’s make sure of a few things.

start.ini still has
techniques_directory = modules\techniques

The modules/techniques folder is from the ERAS2TestDX9.zip. I’m thinking the one you’re pointed to might not be because I note your log contains “ERROR: Techniques: Found duplicate technique name: rain” I removed the duplicate and it does not exist in the .zip. In fact, to double-check, I overwrote my DX9 with the .zip and just tried it to make sure and I don’t get that message in my .log.

If that doesn’t fix the shader errors, we could compare what version of DX9 your computer is running vs. what works on my machines. Download Process Explorer: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer

Launch both the Process Explorer and the game, select near the top menu bar under Process is a small icon/button for either View handles/View dlls (when you hover over it a tooltip shows). Choose DLL. There should be a list in the lower pane of all loaded .dll. Find START.exe, which is usually a sub under explorer.exe and click on it. Scroll the .dlls of the START.exe process until you see d3d9.dll and d3dx9_43.dll. Right click both of them and select Properties and note the version number for each one. I’m wondering if perhaps the version is different?

As a last resort, you can try ERAS2Test.zip, which is the DirectX 8 version. It still contains any fixes I’ve made, and uses the newer FMOD…identical to the DX9 one in every way except where needed to conform to DX8.

[Schiavonna]

system.log

Sorry – forgot to put decrption key in previous link

[Schiavonna]

My start.ini has:
<cue drumroll>

techniques_directory = C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\modules\techniques

:- which is my original ERAS game, not the Compiled Source separate folder (which is “C:\Games\Compiled Source ERAS” – which you’ll spot in log files).

I’ll amend that line back to “techniques_directory = modules\techniques” and give it a go and get back to you.

BTW – it’s a little ambiguous in your readme for the ERAS2TestDX9.zip – it suggests changing that line to point at original folder, but I notice there is an “if necessary” bracketed in the prefacing paragraph. I changed all the listed lines without thinking. You might wont to amend that readme for morons such as myself 😉

Anyway, cheers again and I’ll let you now how this develops:)

[Jeffrey]

Well, looking closer at my changed files vs. your errors, I am optimistic that will solve the problem because I now see that the shader names with your errors, match the .sha files I changed to eliminate similar compile errors when I converted to DX9.

I agree that I should change the readme. I figured out I mentioned the (if needed) part because I don’t include the techniques in the DX8 download and one would have to point at the original folder. That is too complicated. I should just include the techniques folder in the DX8 version and do away with that part so a person only has to point at RESOURCE and SOUNDS. The technique files for DX8 will be redundant, but they don’t consume much space anyway.

Thanks for both your patience and suggestion to make this simpler.

[Jeffrey]

Also, I have another thing for you to try for reclaiming your old saves. I accidentally replied to the wrong post for that one, so just mentioning it is somewhere a little further up toward your first post in this thread. Don’t want you to miss it.

Give that console.c change a try with the SetArraySize additions to see if that renders your old saves usable again.

[Schiavonna]

Houston – we have lift off! Reverting back to “techniques_directory = modules\techniques” fixed the graphical errors. Yay! (I’ll miss those psychedelic purple clouds though)

Did the process explorer just for the hell of it (and maybe your peace of mind):

d3d9.dll version: 6.1.7601.17514

d3dx9_43.dll version: 9.24.952.3111

Still can’t get the F11/F1 command to work on my old saves, but no big deal. Getting this error message after attempting saving if you are interested:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: START.exe_Akella ENGINE
Application Version: 3.1.0.0
Application Timestamp: 57d9ea85
Fault Module Name: START.exe
Fault Module Version: 3.1.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 57d9ea85
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 000497b2
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

[Jeffrey]

Whoah, post too quick as I just had a thought.

Are you copying the same named folder into SAVE for those old games? I remember that it is essential that an old save is still inside a folder of the same name it was in…that is the profile name. If it’s different, that causes problems. So if you have SAVE\OldProfile\game1 – save, you have to copy or create the OldProfile subdirectory into the new place and put game1 – save inside that.

Also, that console.c change for the new try is not F11/click F1….this is different, copy that code above to Programs/console.c, launch, load the game, hit F4 and save.

[Jeffrey]

Hey, those are the exact same versions mine shows 🙂

So you get a crash when trying the array resize? Wow. Unfortunately, I have never seen that. Also, I might have actually fixed those arrays in my own ERAS source before any of my own game-saves, so I can’t trace what the problem might be. Every time I do it, it just shows success and I can save/load at will, but that might be because it’s resizing to the exact same size every time because my codeset was always correct. I no longer have the ‘original’ ERAS and haven’t in a long time. Really reluctant to download the whole thing and try to figure it out…but I might. Gonna have to mull on whether I want to take that plunge…it’s a huge download!

[Schiavonna]

Okay – found your “old save” post and tried it: first it didnt work – realised I had missed a “}” at the end. So rectified that: still not working. Get the f4 “success” message, but it CTDs seconds after attempting saving, whether fresh save on blank spot or quicksave…

BTW – in system.log, this error:
“C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\models\mainmenu\AOPBoard.gm: can’t open geometry file
Warning! Interface Back Scene: invalid menu model mainmenu\AOPBoard or transform matrix”

Remedied that by copying “AOPBoard.gm” from a GOF install. Maybe bundle it in with the patch? Just trying to do something for you since your helping me so much!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Schiavonna.

[Schiavonna]

Whoah, post too quick as I just had a thought.

Are you copying the same named folder into SAVE for those old games? I remember that it is essential that an old save is still inside a folder of the same name it was in…that is the profile name. If it’s different, that causes problems. So if you have SAVE\OldProfile\game1 – save, you have to copy or create the OldProfile subdirectory into the new place and put game1 – save inside that.

Also, that console.c change for the new try is not F11/click F1….this is different, copy that code above to Programs/console.c, launch, load the game, hit F4 and save.

I think i might know what it is – I’m just lump copying my Profiles over with the saves inside: including the OPTIONS-! Would that be whats screwing it up?

EDIT: removing ‘options’ from the profile didnt work either 🙁

Plus: I’m only using the F4 command now and the original Profile names with the saves inside have been copied over since you suggested it.

If tonight I go through and compare what I had changed in the original ERAS install and compare it with the patch and try and work out if something got overwritten…maybe this is whats causing the incompatibility?

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Schiavonna.

[Jeffrey]

It’s possible if the Patch is not the last copy of files to overwrite the existing ERAS. That is definitely important.

But, I also know that the Patch itself will introduce an incompatibility with old save. I thought I was able to remedy that in my own games. But, I also don’t remember all the arrays I resized. A good method to track this down might be to .zip up a couple of your old saves and give me a link. I can then try to debug and track down the culprit and come up with the definitive way to correct it. I would then make sure to put the resolution into my code package.

I just don’t have the original codeset any longer, and this is something I did before participating and posting my code fixes up, so can’t recall all the details.

Also, don’t worry about that AOPBoard.gm missing. It doesn’t hurt anything and I assume ModernKnight did that on purpose as it prevents that GOF billboard from plastering over the ship on the main menu. Cleaner look.

[Jeffrey]

You know, in the meantime…I seem to remember someone mentioning that the number of locations has changed from the beginning and that might be it. No harm in trying to resize a bunch of them. Try this in console.c:

#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
#include "Locations\init\boarding.c"
#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"
#include "Locations\locations_init.c"
#include "STORE\initGoods.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{
	SetArraySize(&Items,ITEMS_QUANTITY);
	SetArraySize(&ShipsTypes,SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT);
	SetArraySize(&Locations,MAX_LOCATIONS);
        SetArraySize(&Goods,GOODS_QUANTITY);
	InitGoods();
	InitLocations();
	InitItems();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
	int n = 631; // If you have "vanilla" ERAS2 v1.5.7 don't change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in compile.log (see README)
	
	n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

[Schiavonna]

Gonna have to mull on whether I want to take that plunge…it’s a huge download

Tell me about it ! My harddrives is about 35GM smaller after today! But dont sweat it. Let me mull over it and try and find all the differences between my lightly-modded ERAS original install and your patch and we’ll see whats what. For example: Would a modded Resource/HeroDescribe.txt throw a spanner in the works?

Dont do anything drastic – like install 400+ 2048×2048.tga.tx files (!) to get access to original files for the sake of me. Your harddrive will never forgive you…lol!

[Schiavonna]

old savesOkay, here’s 3 saves (zipped) with their original profile folders for you to examine.

Just to clarify. Your patch was the last thing I overwrote the org ERAS install with. I have modded ONE thing since: pictures.ini – to include 2 officers I had introduced previously – that uses models and textures from ERAS already, and that change consisted of adding FACE_169 and FACE_186 to the ini. Haven’t touched anything else.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Schiavonna.

[Jeffrey]

Guess what? I got it! It was the random items. This will work in Programs/console.c, hit F4, wait and confirm the message upper right of screen, then save. Worked for me.

#include "Ships\Ships_init.c"
#include "Locations\init\boarding.c"
#include "ITEMS\initItems.c"
#include "Locations\locations_init.c"
#include "STORE\initGoods.c"

void ExecuteConsole()
{

	SetArraySize(&Items,ITEMS_QUANTITY);
	SetArraySize(&ShipsTypes,SHIP_TYPES_QUANTITY_WITH_FORT);
	SetArraySize(&Locations,MAX_LOCATIONS);
	SetArraySize(&RandItems, RANDITEMS_QUANTITY);
	SetArraySize(&randItemModels,MAX_LOADED_RANDITEMS);
        SetArraySize(&Goods,GOODS_QUANTITY);
	InitRandItems();
	InitGoods();
	InitLocations();
	InitItems();
	InitShips(); // Updates ships to have the new cabins - is it really needed?
	
	// This number is needed to reinit only boarding locations, avoiding unnecessary reinit of all locations
	int n = 631; // If you have "vanilla" ERAS2 v1.5.7 don't change this number, if you added new locations on your own put the number you find in 

compile.log (see README)
	
	n = LocationInitBoarding(n); // Updates locations to include the new cabins models
	
	// Uncomment the next line only if your current ship got the new cabins; you must use the name the ship has in the code (for example SHIP_BRIG3)
	//pchar.Ship.Type = GenerateShip(name_of_your_ship, true);

	Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful!");
}

[Jeffrey]

Keep in mind it will only work on that one save and if you happen to go backward to a different previous save, this would need to be done for that one too; each of the old saves you have, if you were to reload them.

[Schiavonna]

Can you spot the error in what you pasted? And Im sure you didnt write it that way originally – it’s pure copy/pasting mistranslation 😉

So it didnt work originally… and now it does…and hence forth I proclaim you a genius, sir!

Thank you so much for going to this effort on my behalf. Im elated with this and have been delving into your compiled source build with glee. Books from traders, 3+ fighters, MUCH IMPROVED SOUND (no more choppy cannons/sails – yay!), lovely ground textures – but did notice some of the beaches have gone a bit…green (Broken washbasin looked really wierd) – hope there is separate texture for the beaches that can get fixed. Apart from that – Im blown away. This is turning into something quite special indeed!

And I’m absolutely over the moon the saves work again!

(I thought you might like this, judging from your save games and “chick posee” in the thread. Just by way of saying thanks – and if you dont like it, I’ll not be offended):

Jaquotte reskins and things

[Jeffrey]

LOL, maybe to the untrained eye it’s no different…during debugging your save game trouble, I found I was missing this:

SetArraySize(&RandItems, RANDITEMS_QUANTITY);
SetArraySize(&randItemModels,MAX_LOADED_RANDITEMS);
InitRandItems();

Those two arrays were resized and crashed the saves.

I applied your Jaquotte to check it out. Nice work.

I too have noticed the green on things like the dock, but truth be told, I know very little about DirectX and I’m near positive it has to do with the shaders. I was forced to figure a few things out with those scalar errors, but when I got past those, well now we’ve got that green tint in some areas. It’s a bit on my low-priority scale. One thing that is vastly improved is those occasional crash-on-save errors that used to happen. That has existed forever…http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/saving-game-errors.27916/

Those save crashes (well, except when you have array problems from the patch fix, lol) are pretty much gone.

We’ll eventually get this shipshape.

[Schiavonna]

Oh! Those crash-on-saving errors…used to strike me with fear and has lead to much cursing in the past! Well done for nipping that in the bud. The green tint is no big deal for me – very minor and dont blame you for putting it bottom of the list. Sorry I can’t help with Directx – know next to nothing of it’s nuances.

Out of interest, what’s the diference between RANDITEMS_QUANTITY & MAX_LOADED_RANDITEMS -?

If you’re playing with jacquotte (whom I always mispell!) in future – let me know how the provided animations are going – if you notice any difference using the “sidestep” while fighting. I’ve been looking alot at the .ani files lately and could do with some feedback.

(And theres a few more things uploaded to that previous link – the Charlotte de Berry interface change I really like – makes her more “coy”. There’s backups in the files too if you want to revert back to originals)

[Jeffrey]

The RandItems array, set at RANDITEMS_QUANTITY (249 places by the way), is the array space set aside where all the items that can be randomly encountered (weapons, books, armor, etc. that you might find on a body or in a chest). A function goes through and randomly selects out of that array. It was one number too short at 248, but there is a place in the code where it creates one for 248 and that would cause a problem because an array index count starts at zero and if the size is 248, you can only set up to 247…zero to 247 is 248 spots. Since the code tries to create one for 248, it needs to be size 249.

The other MAX_LOADED_RANDITEMS is the array space set aside for the actual set of things within each individual chest or on a body in randItemModels. For whatever reason (a flaw in the original code), it was set at 248 RANDITEMS_QUANTITY in your save, but it should be 10 MAX_LOADED_RANDITEMS, that is the number of items that should be within the chest/bodyloot container.

[Schiavonna]

Hehe! Engine limitation indeed!

[Jeffrey]

I had forgotten that at one time, I had made this game load thing ‘smarter’ in the sense that for every game load, it would compare the array sizes and resize if needed, so no game-save crashes like we were just dealing with. Now that we have identified random items as missing, I added those to that feature. Also, I discovered that I never incorporated that into AoP COAS or GOF, though it isn’t really needed as no resizing had ever been done. But, hey, why not add it? It does nothing if the sizes are identical. Also discovered that I never copied that feature into our new versions, using the new source, so I just did that.

I’m uploading them all now.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Jeffrey]

I might be close to blowing some minds. Anyone have the entire POTC resource files I can have? I don’t have that game.

There were some changes (and will undoubtedly need more after the main menu) to the New Horizons 14 Program/.c files to load the game. Using our compiled source, I have now gotten it to run all the way to the main menu without a hitch, but nothing shows because I don’t have the models. Check this…

The compile.log

----------------------------------------
Build 14 Beta 4 WIP: 31 Mar 2016
Savegame Compatibility: 14.931
----------------------------------------

Gauging: StartGauging
Gauging: starting init
Gauging: interface
Gauging: Storylines
Gauging: Profiles
Gauging: starting init
==> BuildSettings: Sets to default
==> BuildSettings: New settings applied
Gauging: load build settings
Gauging: periods
InitNations: NATIONS_QUANTITY=6, bGuest1NationExists=0, bGuest2NationExists=0
Gauging: nations
Gauging: preprocessor
Init encounters complete.
Gauging: enc
Gauging: cann
Gauging: goods
Gauging: ships
IslandsInit: 22 islands loaded.
Gauging: islands
Init weathers complete. 0 weathers found.
Gauging: weather
InitSounds (English): created 19 entries.
InitMusic: created 93 entries.
Gauging: Aliases
Gauging: sound
Main_LogoVideo() 0
PauseAllSounds
ResumeAllSounds
Main_LogoVideo() -1
Gauging: initgame start
Gauging: createlayers
Gauging: stores
Gauging: sound
Gauging: delete sea env
Gauging: towns
Number of locations: 788
Gauging: locations
IslandsInit: 22 islands loaded.
Gauging: islands
Gauging: wdmap
Gauging: dialogs
Gauging: teleport
bool CreateParticleEntity()
Gauging: particles
Items initialization complete. Loaded 890 items.
Gauging: items
Gauging: quests
Gauging: sea ai groups
Gauging: questmapenc
Gauging: landenc
==> BuildSettings: Sets to default
==> BuildSettings: New settings applied
Can t key named as: vk_mwheel_up
Can t key named as: vk_mwheel_down
Can t key named as: vk_mwheel_up
Can t key named as: vk_mwheel_down
Can t key named as: vk_mwheel_up
Can t key named as: vk_mwheel_down
Gauging: load options
Gauging: models - Total number of models: 1061
InitSounds (English): created 19 entries.
InitMusic: created 93 entries.
Gauging: Aliases
Gauging: infoshow
Gauging: initgame done
Init character names complete.
SETTING MUSIC: music_main_menu

The system.log

Loading modules (folder: modules\)...
 44 loaded.
Reset...
Initializing CORE...
Creating atoms space: 128
 done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8

Techniques: 7 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 1 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 230089468 ticks.
WARNING! Strings file "dialogsource.txt" not exist/or zero size
RESOURCE\models\islands\FalaiseDeFleur\FalaiseDeFleur_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\redmond\redmond_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\Oxbay\Oxbay_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\Conceicao\Conceicao_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\KhaelRoa\KhaelRoa_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
Using FMOD 00044461
Sound initialized ok !!!
FMOD: Speaker mode STEREO
RESOURCE\models\islands\FalaiseDeFleur\FalaiseDeFleur_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\redmond\redmond_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\Oxbay\Oxbay_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\Conceicao\Conceicao_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\models\islands\KhaelRoa\KhaelRoa_locators.gm: can t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
Can t load texture RESOURCE\textures\INTERFACES\EMPTYBORDER.TGA.tx
DestroyWindow
PostDWindow
System exit and cleanup:
Mem state: User memory: 28  MSSystem: 0  Blocks: 24
Leak: 'STRINGSERVICE\strservice.cpp' line 568, size 0

Think people will freak? LOL

[Jeffrey]

Disregard POTC resource request…I’ve a source and am on it.

[Jeffrey]

Hahaha! This is a riot!

Running under our source:

[Schiavonna]

Could you fix the awkward, rudimentary pre-gaslight player movement while you’ve got the build up and running?

meow!

[Jeffrey]

Bad news…my son just discovered that the Peter Blood prison scene is broken in Windows 8. I confirmed on my other son’s Win 8 machine and it turns out, it’s the video. In fact, I had disabled the opening videos in all my games and if reenabled, all video displays are broken in Win 8. It works in XP, Win7, but not Win8.

I redid all the videos to not use ddraw, like it always has. I’ve never changed any of that code, but apparently compiling in newer Visual Studio introduces some sort of ddraw incompatibility with Win8, as the original game still using ddraw doesn’t cause Win8 an issue. I tried pointing it at the oldest ddraw and amstream libs that I have, but still no go. I changed them to use DirectShow. I tested in on Win XP, Win7, Win8 and they all work now.

But, another problem…after the first video in Peter Blood, where you get transported to the plantation…it just hangs in ERAS; but just that version, as COAS is OK. I don’t recall playing as Blood in ERAS, so probably never encountered it. This remains an issue and I need to look into it.

But I wanted to at least get the video change out, so they are uploading now. Also my son discovered a missing model file in GOF 1.2, so I made a copy of the file it was pretty evident was the intent: deckMediumVSBig_patch.ptc copied and renamed to deckMediumVSBig_pd.ptc. That causes a boarding event to receive the ‘hovering above empty water’ problem. Just in case, I also copied that to the ERAS patch if it happens to have a similar model reference, since a fair amount of it still relies on GOF stuff. Also a further problem in boarding with the additional fighter code in GOF 1.2 (only that one). I had a problem when I first coded that mod, had a few problems, but when I copied the final working code to my repositories, I apparently missed GOF 1.2 (ERAS and COAS were OK).

So still outstanding is the Peter Blood post-video plantation transport. Not yet sure what that is as I’ve spent the last 2 days struggling with the video rewrite in a technique that has many contradicting and non-working ‘samples’ straight from Microsoft LOL.

So all the executables, and some patches to both ERAS and GOF 1.2 are new.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Jeffrey]

Got the Peter Blood thing figured out…but not sure what we want to do about it. I need a conversation with MK for some input about what we might want.

Turns out not an error, per se, but too much information….too many heroes, and too many days in the ‘quest past days’ and a function starts to iterate all the heroes, for every day past, to uprank and spawn AI tasks, that they embark/complete and accumulate experience. I was at 90 days when I hit that part, and trace messages showed it was still processing until I terminate the game. Then I tried a hardcoded 30 days…5 minutes in I terminated. I put in 2 days, and that was just about right for that particular load screen. So what do we want to do about this?

The vanilla has so few heroes, it doesn’t take much time, so that’s why it wasn’t an issue.

[Jeffrey]

Scratch that…this is Peter Blood…in the beginning. I don’t know how our char got 90 days, but since this is right at the start of the game, I just found a function that will set that character attribute to current, so I just call that in the function that launches this part of the Blood quest.

Solved.

[modernknight1]

Hi Jeffrey, I’ve been back a couple days but got real sick after the trip – so have mostly been in bed. Saw you tried to call me. You are doing incredible things my friend! I have been writing a ton of new stuff and will be updating everything on the site the next couple days with new stories, articles and discoveries.

Call anytime tomorrow and I will make sure to have my phone on hand with me.

MK

[Orazio]

I shortly came back to this game, mainly to finish the cabin model, and tried two of Jeffrey’s recompiled versions (ERAS2Test and ERAS2TestDX9). There is a problem with shadow maps, that are being ignored by the game: as you see in the following screenshots, there are no shadows and the textures underneath take a strange color, different from the original. It also happens in towns and open places.

Shadows (original files)

No shadows & unusual color (Jeffrey’s files)

@chezjfrey I don’t know if this gives you a clue, but it seems related to layered textures: the shadows are ‘on top’ of another texture, using a blend mode. Maybe you inadvertently changed something about this in the code?
By the way, you’re doing a nice job!

[Jeffrey]

I’m assuming that is only in DirectX 9 version? I made no changes to the shaders in DirectX 8, because it wasn’t necessary, so I’m presuming they still look the same there?

For DX9, I undoubtedly made a mistake, but that’s because I really don’t know what I’m doing in DirectX shaders. I made changes in order to, at minimum, get past the shader assemble DirectX compile errors for D3DXAssembleShader method, and to present the D3DVERTEXELEMENT9 to create a vertex declaration, which was completely different between DX8 and DX9. Only a handful of the .sha files required me to ‘fix’.

When I first tried DX9, the first thing that presented, was a large number of assembly errors for D3DXAssembleShader. In fact, a recent post and link to the errors can be seen in a recent post from Schiavonna, when he pointed the DX9 version to the techniques folder of the DX8 folder. Those were the same errors I first saw during my conversion.

The first thing I found, was that the .sha files, where the syntax provided to the DirectX D3DXAssembleShader function, is that for DX9, ‘declaration’ types must be specified, whereas they were not required before. Using the comments the original developers put next to variables in the files that were failing as a clue, I added those as best I could figure. Examples:

techniques\effects\GrassEx.sha
VertexShader GrassExVS

decl
{
	stream[0];

        float v0[3];	//Position
	color v1;		//Params
	color v2;		//Offset
	float v5[3];	//Wind direction//float v4[1];	//Vertex alpha		
}

Given those, I added the now required dcl types for the corresponding variables in that same .sha file:

dcl_position v0
dcl_color v1
dcl_color1 v2
dcl_texcoord v5

Then, DX9 is different from DX8 that you also have to prepare the shader declaration differently than how 8 did it with D3DVSD_STREAM() and D3DVSD_END(). I had to replace it with an array definition, trying to match those dcl_ types up above. So in the Grass.cpp, I added:

D3DVERTEXELEMENT9 vertexDeclaration[] = 
	{ 
		{0, 0, D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT3, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_POSITION, 0},
		{0, 3*sizeof(float), D3DDECLTYPE_D3DCOLOR, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_COLOR, 0},
		{0, 3*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_D3DCOLOR, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_COLOR, 1},
		{0, 3*sizeof(float)+2*sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT3, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_TEXCOORD, 0},		
		D3DDECL_END() 
	}; 
	IDirect3DVertexDeclaration9	*decl;
	rs->CreateVertexDeclaration( vertexDeclaration, &decl );

That whole statement is entirely new, and I really don’t know anything about the types and registers, what they do, or how to change them for proper effects, or the assembly asm code in the .sha, if it doesn’t render the effect that was intended. I got it to compile without error, and things looked OK to me on screen, so that was it 🙂

There were several other assembly errors concerning oFog object and that it no longer supported a ‘scalar x’ value, causing a compile error, so I removed oFog.x and found that simply using oFog for those lines in the .sha files, they would then compile.
If anyone has any clues and understanding about how to correct what I had to change in the .sha files, please let me know what to do, or point me in the right direction 🙂

Here is a list of the files I had to change:

shadow\shadow.sha

ZBias = 1;

In DX9, that left what is apparently called ‘artifacts’ where the shadow on the ground is splotchy, completely missing in some areas where it is supposed to fall and you just see the sunlit ground, and as you move around, the shadow flashes constantly appear/reappear. Googling around, I found similar issues for others that were converting to DX9 years ago, and a proposed solution was to use a decimal, and a ‘trick’ supplied in the official DirectX documentation to send a decimal value to SetRenderState, that actually expects an integer value. The suggestion I found to render a decent shadow on the ground was .60. So I changed:

ZBias = 60;

In my .cpp code I divide that by 100 and do the DirectX documented trick to send a decimal:

SetRenderState(State,*(DWORD*)&bias);

I did similarly in effects\maineffects.sha

Blot and Blood
zbias = 2;

Changed to

ZBias = 60;

particles\Psys.sha

decl
  {
   stream[0];

   float v0[3]; // #vRelativePos
   color v1;    // #dwColor
   float v2[2]; // #vTexCoord1
   float v3[2]; // #vTexCoord2
   float v4[1]; // #fAngle   
   float v5[1]; // #fBlend
   float v6[3]; // #vParticlePos
   float v7[1]; // #AddPowerK
  }

I added the now needed dlc_ types as this:

dcl_position v0
dcl_color v1
dcl_texcoord v2
dcl_texcoord1 v3
dcl_tangent v4
dcl_blendweight v5
dcl_texcoord2 v6
dcl_texcoord3 v7

And the .cpp code to create the corresponding declaration sent to DirectX was set up like this:

D3DVERTEXELEMENT9 vertexDeclaration[] = 
	{ 
		{0, 0, D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT3, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_POSITION, 0},
		{0, 3*sizeof(float), D3DDECLTYPE_D3DCOLOR, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_COLOR, 0},
		{0, 3*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT2, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_TEXCOORD, 0},
		{0, 5*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT2, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_TEXCOORD, 1},
		{0, 7*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT1, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_TANGENT, 0},
		{0, 8*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT1, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_BLENDWEIGHT, 0}, 
		{0, 9*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT3, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_TEXCOORD, 2},
		{0, 12*sizeof(float)+sizeof(DWORD), D3DDECLTYPE_FLOAT1, D3DDECLMETHOD_DEFAULT, D3DDECLUSAGE_TEXCOORD, 3},		
		D3DDECL_END() 
	}; 

weather\Caustic_shaders.sha

decl
	{
        stream[0];

        float v0[3];	
        float v1[3];	
	color v10;
        float v3[2];	
    }
dcl_position v0
dcl_fog v1
dcl_color v10
dcl_normal v3
dcl_texcoord v5

//rcp oFog.x, r3.z							; res = 1 / e^(dist * density)
rcp oFog, r3.z							; res = 1 / e^(dist * density)

weather\shaders\ATIShaders.sha

decl
	{
        stream[0];

        float v0[3];	// Position
        float v3[3];	// Normal
        float v5[2];	// Tex coord 0
    }

dcl_position v0
dcl_normal v3
dcl_texcoord v5

weather\shaders\GF3Shaders.sha

decl
	{
        stream[0];

        float v0[3];	// Position
        float v1[3];	// S vector
	color v2;		// diffuse
	color v3;		// specular
        float v4[2];	// Tex coord 1
        float v5[3];	// T vector
    }

dcl_position v0
dcl_texcoord v1
dcl_color v2
dcl_color1 v3
dcl_texcoord1 v4
dcl_texcoord2 v5

Long story…but if anyone knows what needs to be looked at and/or changed, feel free to enlighten me, because I honestly don’t know anything about it. At this point, I read up on the internet what would get me by and know just enough to be dangerous, LOL

[Schiavonna]

Hi guys,

@Jeffrey
I’ve decided to bash my way through a couple of play-throughs using the ERAS2TestDX9 and accumulate some system.log error messages for your future interpretation. Finally had a boarding crash 🙁 And strange things are afoot on the world map – ctd’s and corrupted file paths/names in sys.log for the worldmap/models – ? I’ll upload some logs for you to look at soon. Also: very strange bug thats not letting me type – whether creating a player profile, renaming your ship or speaking to an npc (the npcs that do the LSC_Q2Utilite quests): The first letter I type corrupts into something else – like “@a1” or something similar -??. Somethings borked here…

Give me a day to test and see if there’s any more crashes and I’ll copy the logs and the save game with the crash for you to muse over and ponder 🙂

@ Orazio – finally saw your cabin in-game – it’s superb! Well done.

[Schiavonna]

Okay – here’s some crash logs from ERAS2TestDX9 playthroughs:

—-Crash logs—-

Really would like to know whats behind the worldmap ship models corruption. Solved the crash with console.c ammendment, but dying to know whats causing it…? And suspect it’s linked to in-game the “typing/wrong keys, numerals” bug too as mentioned before. Found out in-game when attempting to donate to a beggar some money – when it came to typing in numeral amount, my keyboard number keys came out with some corrupted “aou*l@%” sort of thing -??

Therefore the beggar now hates me-! Philanthropist of the year 1665 = failed 🙁

[Jeffrey]

Mr. Philanthropist, as a preliminary check to see if the world map geometry fails were possibly related to the string expansion that I certainly fixed (beggar donations, moneylender and new game profile name typing were all similarly broken, and I ascertained they are now fixed), I sailed for a month on the world map, accosting as many ships as I could, dropped in/out of sea mode and then checked my log.

The string issue is not relevant to the world map geometry problem. While I experienced no crashes, as it simply doesn’t load the encounter on the map, skipping the evet, I will track this down regardless.

I note that this weird scrambled name problem is only for some merchant encounters, never war encounter types. Typical errors look like this:

C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\	anish_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\	ench_frigate.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\	tch_bark.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Îitish_galleon.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\,rates_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\	anish_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\	ench_frigate.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\	tch_bark.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Îitish_galleon.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\]tch_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ö.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\]tch_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ö.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\kench_galleon.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\œench_manowar.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\¼.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ÿÿench_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Ú.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Rtch_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Œitish_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ÿÿench_bark.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.

I never crashed though.

[Schiavonna]

Regarding fixing previous save game:

Re-initiating worldmap_init.c in console.c is somewhat of a drastic solution, because it resets start date to 1st january 1665 – ! Using F11 debug “+5 days” (and lots of rum/food from merchant) got me up-to-date

Attempting to bypass the fannying around with debug, I tried adding this to console.c:

#include “WorldMap\worldmap_init.c”

void ExecuteConsole()
{

wdmInitWorldMap();

worldMap.date.hour = 11;
worldMap.date.min = 14;
worldMap.date.sec = 42;
worldMap.date.day = 23; // date before save corrupts
worldMap.date.month = 7; // date before save corrupts
worldMap.date.year = 1665; // date before save corrupts
worldMap.date.hourPerSec = 1.5;

#define STARTGAME_YEAR 1665
#define STARTGAME_MONTH 7
#define STARTGAME_DAY 23

ref pchar = GetMainCharacter();
if (!bSeaActive) ref lcn = &Locations[FindLocation(pchar.location)];
ref ch;
int i;
int limit;

Log_SetStringToLog(“Operation successful!”);
}

* Which worked, but transitioning from worldmap back to sea, the game hangs…probably because I’ve only updated world map and NOT the rest of first person/game world.

Err, I’m out of my depth here…(please excuse pun!)

[Jeffrey]

Oh no, as sad as it is to admit, that keyboard character problem is my doing. I found it was the result of an inadvertent change I had made quite some time ago. I have fixed that.

You will only need JustExecutables.zip

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Let’s see if that is also the culprit for some of those WorldMap .gm model string problems as well. I didn’t trace through all that to verify, but it may be related to the string expansion problem I introduced.

You also have an occasional music problem I see, but that is related to the old, original music files from AoP that I know do not work and I had to update them (same music, just updated the .ogg format to work with the newer FMOD). For the most part, ERAS eliminated them with different .ogg files and the ERAS ones all seemed to work. I did not realize there were still some originals being used. This presents me a dilemma. I may have to put all the music files into each download now. Let me think on that.

In the meantime, since I have actually updated the .ogg files for COAS, they are all available in that download if you want to update. If you copy the entire ERAS sound file into the ERASDX9 RESOURCE directory, then copy the newly downloaded RESOURCE\Sounds\MUSIC directory from the COAS download, over the ERASDX9 directory of the same name, overwriting existing, that will give you working versions of the few music files ERAS is still using from COAS. Then change your sound directory in start.ini to now point at the ERASDX9 local directory, instead of the original ERAS.

sound path = RESOURCE\sounds

[Schiavonna]

Followed your instructions and tried [playing this afternoon. Wow! Just wow! Sound is working flawlessly now, in +6 ships battles too. And I presume because of the new .exes’ and .dlls – there is a very noticable performance boost with no apparent drop in quality. Very nice!

Still got some bugs and crashes for you, of course 😉

I’ll PM you some compile/error/sytem logs of games post .exe/sound fix – Just to let you see whats popping up. It has only crashed a 2/3 times in 3 hours + play and always immediately on loading a save: load/freeze/CTD. Im not worried about that, nor should you be …yet: I think thats a result of me trying to tweak a character .ani file -and the its causing conflict because current character has had their animation listed in heroDescribe changed SINCE the playthrough started.

Anyway, going to play some more and I’ll post logs up if there’s any serious conserns. I’m really enjoying this game right now! It feels much, much fresher with all these changes and improvements 🙂

[Schiavonna]

* Meant to add: Thats the “typing” glitch nipped in the bud too. All working as it should! Ignore my ramblings about worldmap models – I dont know what Im talking about! [You probably guessed!]. I thought because those entries had missing text i.e “__anish.bark” it might be linked. A random guess from an amateur. You’re the coder, dude!

Can I rant and rave about modelling/textures bugs on this thread too btw? I’m running out of coding ones! LOL

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Schiavonna. Reason: mild dyslexic brainfart
• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Schiavonna. Reason: mild dyslexic brainfart

[Jeffrey]

Good to hear.

I’m sure MK won’t mind any raving about models and texture, here or elsewhere in the forum 🙂

As for those screwed up model names in the log, though they aren’t contributing to any malfunction I see, don’t be concerned about mentioning them; they are now driving me crazy.

I found exactly in the source where that message is output, so I compiled in debug-mode, put a breakpoint so the play will stop and Visual Studio will pause things right at that point and I can investigate backward in the call stack to see what’s up. Yet, try as I might, I never, ever hit that point in debug mode. In a regular Release compile, I can do it simply by meeting a merchant on the map, drop to sea, then go back to map; that’s when those specific messages will show up. But they never occur in a debug compile.

Ugh! It’s the elusive and notorious debug vs. release compile issues: It’s an infamous situation: http://www.flounder.com/debug_release.htm

First thing, many of those occur due to uninitialized variables. So I did something I should have done from the beginning — I ran what’s called a static analysis, where a nifty process written by very smart people 🙂 will figure out logic/decision points that can occur and give you notification about where things can go wrong in your code if things are null, variables aren’t initialized, or even variable values might wind up in a position to screw things up because they are outside bounds you account for in your code; there is one built into Visual Studio and other good ones are freely available. I was shocked at the results. I can’t believe Akella would have released product without running something like this and fixing the problems; there were many, many of them. They obviously could not have run such an analysis, given what I saw.

So I spent quite a bit of time fixing up the identified problems in about 60 code files. There is more to do, but the remaining require some thought about how to ensure I don’t screw up the logic problem present…the ones I did were the no-brainers. I was hoping this would solve the model-name problem in WorldMap, but it did nothing for that.

However, I know a bit about what is going on, and I’m not much concerned, though it still bothers me and I intend to do what I can. When you meet a merchant/ship battle/???? in WorldMap, when you drop to sea, the info about the encounter is supposed to be removed once you go back to WorldMap, that is why the ships for the encounter will disappear. However, the string for the modelname is not being ‘deleted’ properly in Release version (only Debug version, due to compiler handling for debug vs. release) and the remnants that remain pass the name-check when entering WorldMap again:

if(_stricmp(type, “Merchant”) == 0 && modelName && modelName[0])

Either modelName and modelName[0] should be null, and they are in Debug, but not Release, so the api->Trace(“WorldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.”); is sent. The reason for the messed up beginning, is that sometimes people will just insert a NULL into the first character position of a string. All strings are NULL terminated, so putting a NULL in the first character, even if the rest is intact, will be read as an empty string. What it looks like, is that a NULL is probably meant to be inserted at the beginning instead of a delete, but for some reason some other weird value winds up there at the beginning, so we see garbage+partial name.

Anyway, I’m not much concerned because those ships are supposed to disappear off the map when you go back to map, but for whatever reason the name remains hanging around in the Release version, so it thinks we need to know about it because it looks like there is supposed to be a valid modelname, so better alert.

So no worries as the end-result is the same that the ships are not loaded on re-entry to WorldMap, as should happen, but still bothers me that the string delete is somehow now handled properly in that particular situation. Still looking into this.

[Schiavonna]

Jeffrey – do you want a 2GB .dmp file from a crash? <rofl!>

I wont be offended if you say no. The last 2 .dmp’s from crashes came in at 1GB, which I thought excessive, This one takes the biscuit though!

These are crashes like I described a few posts back – from initially starting a game and loading last save. They seem to always involve Quicksaves – I haven’t had this problem with ‘hard’ saves.

And…I think it MAYBE is linked to what you are discussing above. The worldmap model encounters may not have adverse effects, yet it is still very scruffy programming. The system log from these crashes I’m having indicates this as last entry:

Warning: NPCharacter <GenChar_437>-> trace node not found
Warning: NPCharacter <GenChar_440>-> trace node not found

Let me explain: I’m going to post something in the “hows your game going?” soon about ‘gameplay’ issues I’m having trouble with. Specifically – the “Over-population” of NPC captains at ports/taverns in-game. Wonderful for variety and ambience, but I am finding it increasingly frustrating to actually obtain crew from bartenders and supplies (ammunition, rum, food, sails, planks – the essentials) from storeowners, because the NPCS are SIPHONING the crew/ traders supplies everytime they are in port! And at over 120+ characters in game, that’s alot of ‘parasites’ draining the resources. Plus the “I’m busy with other clients” message is now the norm rather than the exception when visiting merchant. It especially affects a PIRATE NATION player character, but to a lesser extent it affects other nations as well (you have more options in the form of ports playing a non-pirate aligned character). Its becoming a chore and disrupting the “blaze your own way” style of gameplay quite dramatically, but I’ll save those thoughts for the other thread.

To remedy this, I have started in 2 playthroughs to literally “bump off” these npcs. Load/save till get NPC on crew; sell their ship/supplies; put them in fighters slot; go to dark cave; strip them of bandages and stand them in bottleneck; let skeletons do the rest…rince and repeat with next NPC – !! Drastic but necessary if I want to purchase food/rum/sailcloth again or even on a semi-regular basis. 3 down, 117 to go….

The point is I think it MAY be related to what you are saying about the debug and release discrepancies.

Back to the system log entries above:
Would that be the release code failing to recognise those NPCS are now dead/out of the game?
Or is it just the quicksave not recognising the NPCS spawned ‘in’ previously and failing to write this to the game properly? – Phantoms?

I’m becoming as mythed about this as you! I’ll put the logs up for you: a) the logs from crash b) the logs from next attempt to load – this worked (and those NPC entries listed are now absent from logs – !)

Err…I’ll put up the .dmp file IF you get back to me and request it, but at 2 GBs I’m in no hurry!

—-Quicksave crash on start—-

[Jeffrey]

Well those logs tell me nothing…those NPC trace node not found errors aren’t usually fatal. Just a character that no longer exists trying to be found. But we might be able to figure this out without the .dmp file yet. If these are crashes while loading a save, upload and give me a link to the save. I can run that in debug-mode while loading and see what happens for me.

If that doesn’t work, hang on to the .dmp and we’ll go there next.

[Schiavonna]

Apologies – that quicksave got overwritten. Maybe a blessing as it happened again in another playthrough. This time crashed after playing for over 20+ mins, when speaking to bermuda storeowner. This was immediately after getting NPC (William Besson?) to join crew in tavern. Copied all info from crash & restarted. When I tried to reload the quicksave: it froze, then crashed again.

HowelDavis crash

Will put the .dmp file up too (219mb)

[Jeffrey]

Well, I was able to load that save. Went to the store, bought some stuff, left for sea. While at sea, engaged in several encounters, boarded a few ships, looted, sank some, let some go. No trouble.

I see a couple things in your log that lead me to believe you don’t have some of the matching Program code. Along the way, I have made a few changes, notably in anticipation of a future flag mod, and this error is present in your log:

FLAG::ProcessMessage access violation MSG_FLAG_INIT message.EntityID(), line 190

Means you don’t have the updated Program.c stuff to go with it. No big deal for that one in particular as the only flag that will make that happen is the Fort flag. Anyway, I’m rescinding the JustExecutables for now, so that people stay in synch. That’s probably why I didn’t do that before, LOL. Get the latest download, and copy START.exe, modules, RESOURCE and Programs folder. If you’ve done some stuff in Programs or RESOURCE/INI, just rename those before copying in the new. Let’s see if a fresh set of my standard files will work for you. To verify, I zipped up the exact set I used to play yours and the new download will be the same setup I used to play your save.

But, I’m also wondering if either you don’t have a complete 1.5.7?

Can't load texture C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\SHIPCANNON3.TGA.tx
Can't load texture C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\SHIPCANNON3.TGA.tx
Can't load texture C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\SEAA.TGA.tx
Can't load texture C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\SEA6.TGA.tx
Can't load texture C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\SEA3.TGA.tx
Can't load texture C:\Games\ERAs2 1.5.7\Age of Pirates 2\RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\OUTSIDE\PIRATESHORE1.TGA.tx
CXI_TEXTBUTTON::LoadIni: Can not create the index&vertex buffers

I looked, and all of those files exist in my directories. Permissions issue with that folder perhaps?

For now, download the latest, get it all in synch, then try that save you couldn’t load. I was able to do it just fine and didn’t have any trouble for the duration of my play with it.

[Schiavonna]

Hehe!

No Permissions issue, those files didnt exist in my Eras 1.5.7 install. They ARE in the orignal download, but not my installion folder. Rather than blame the little hamster at the wheels of 7-zip (who’s probably had a heart attack or in a coma after coming into contact with MK’s humungous texture files :p), I think this <ahem> ‘user’ MIGHT have deleted some texture files when installing resized ‘loading’ textures in the past. Figured wrongly that they were now redundant. “Won’t need them anymore, will I?”…he said to himself niavely! Doh!

Just to clarify: When you say “Get the latest download” – I take it, in my case, you mean the “ERAS2TestDX9” and copy the files/folders you listed over the source code folder (to overwrite the majority of the “just executables” stuff) -?

Excuse the confusion and having to walk me through this – My “hamster at the helm” is having a bit of an off-day. That and the bordering of the reply page is throwing me off a bit.

So,

1. I’m copying select files & folders from ERAS2TestDX9 over the ‘source’ folder installion.
2. Making sure no more textures are missing from my original install of Eras 1.5.7 (i.e. comparing 1.5.7 ERAS download + PATCH to my ‘original’ ERAS install folder, and replace anything thats amiss there)

Is that correct?

[Jeffrey]

I think your hamster has the idea. Here’s what I would like to see happen:

Extract again, the RESOURCE from the 1.5.7 original download/patches to your 1.5.7 to ensure everything is there, nothing missing in models, textures, etc.

Download ERAS.Patch.zip and extract the RESOURCE folder from that to the original ERAS 1.5.7 RESOURCE directory. It contains some updated files, mostly done by Orazio. I also decided that the easiest MUSIC fix would be to use the updated .ogg files in the original location (I tested and the updated .ogg work with the old version of the game), so if you do this Patch, you can remove the RESOURCE\sounds from your ERAS2DX9 and point the start.ini to again use the 1.5.7 RESOURCE sounds if you’d like. You can also overwrite the Program folder for 1.5.7 from the Patch too, but if you’re not playing the stock .exe, the Program portion doesn’t matter.

When the above are done, you should have, in the 1.5.7 RESOURCE directory (right-click and view properties), roughly 47,741 files consuming 36.7 gb. I can’t guarantee that’s the exact number, as I might have duped a file or two for my own personal experiments, but it should be very close to that count.

Then get the latest ERAS2TestDX9 download (updated 10/2), extract to the ERASDX9 game folder, the START.exe, modules, RESOURCE and Program folders. The only RESOURCE elements used are INI, which have their own start.ini pointer, separate from the models/textures/sounds, which are still pointed at the original 1.5.7 directory, which is why it’s important those are all complete and intact.

INI pointer in start.ini still using local ERAS2DX9
ini_directory = RESOURCE\INI

Models, textures, sounds, etc., still using 1.5.7
resource_directory = C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE

If you do as described, you would be playing the exact setup I tried with your HowellDavisCorsair save-game, which worked without a problem. I was also able to resave, reload, a couple boarding saves, a couple more quick-saves…many trips in/out of map/sea mode…nothing presented a problem.

[Schiavonna]

The suggestion that it maybe the ‘release’ not recognising that npcs are dead – scratch that! Those npc listings correspond to Moises Vauquelin and Juan Corso NPCS – of whom I am 100% sure I haven’t bumped-off (…yet!).

Regardless, Quicksaves are the work of the devil! (-as are mobile text messages too!)

[Jeffrey]

I just toyed with Orazio’s new cabin interiors: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/mod-additional-interiors-for-ships

I posted similarly in that thread, but will repeat here. In the README.txt, Orazio mentions that after implementing this, a new game is required. Unfortunately, even with the OnLoadReinit.c magic, this turns out to be unavoidable. It’s not the array resizing that causes the crash, as that feature re-synchs the Locations array size just fine. What poses the problem, is the inherent unfound Aref problem that the old save-game has a problem with, causing a crash.

The good news is that in our compiles (either DX8 or DX9), this poses no problem and an old save will resize, reinit all on its own, with no intervention AND you can save/load previous saves without any trouble.

This now poses a dilemma. I would like to add this to the Patch.zip, but if I do, users that download will not be able to use current save-games if they are using the stock Akella .exe/.dll set. But if I don’t, our own DX8 and DX9 compilations, since they don’t contain their own RESOURCE files and rely on the original+Patch, won’t get the benefit of the new cabins either.

Not sure how to handle this.

[Jeffrey]

Some work done. Part of the reason for the lengthy time it’s taken for me to get to this point of using some of these analysis tools is that I am not primarily a C++ developer; the majority of my career has been working with a different programming language, with different tools. But I made some major finds this past week, and I’m quite encouraged by the results.

There has obviously been a longtime problem with heap memory corruption in this game; I have known that for quite some time. Reads/writes to memory locations that are invalid, causing crashes and the like. This can be due to many things…forgetting to initialize memory variables to null before proceeding, iterating too far in arrays…I found one instance where the code sets an array index to -1 and tries to set a value. That will automatically crash because a negative index can never be used. Real life example from the source code:

Colors[RELATION_UNKNOWN] = pAColors->GetAttributeAsDword(”default”);

Colors is an array set to have 4 slots: Colors[4], so valid index values are 0,1,2,3

Guess what RELATION_UKNOWN is? In fact, it’s in code you can see. sea_ai\Script_Defines.h:

#define RELATION_UNKNOWN -1

Seriously? These were professional developers? That will automatically crash the game if that line ever executes.

I discovered and ran a Visual Studio static analysis tool and it directed me to instances of variable use that is uninitialized, variable use where it could have been set to NULL in a previous spot of executing code, without a check to verify it is still valid, array out of bounds (in fact, this tool is what identified that RELATION_UKNOWN problem). Went through 60+ code files and made these corrections. But it still did nothing for the occasional heap corruption crash, did nothing for this weird thing in the log.

C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Œitish_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ÿÿench_bark.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\Îitish_galleon.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\]tch_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ö.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\]tch_sloop.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\ö.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded follow encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\kench_galleon.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\œench_manowar.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.
C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\models\WorldMap\¼.gm: can't open geometry file
WoldMap: not loaded merchant encounter.

A strange thing is those WorldMap errors only occur in a Release compile, not a debug compile, so I could never run through a debugger and find out why, because it would never happen, and you can’t go to source code line for a Release compile, so difficult to pinpoint. There is also an explanation for why the debug compile does not make those crazy character strings for the missing models, but the release compile does. Apparently, a debug compile, for many variable declarations, actually sets aside some extra memory buffer space for debug info purposes, that does not happen when ’Release’ is compiled (different compiler settings). So if something is reading/writing too far in the memory allocation, debug compiles don’t always show a problem due to that buffer space protecting against the weirdness of corruption beyond the allocated space boundaries. But in Release, with that extra buffer space gone, heap memory corrupts and affects all kinds of things, including weird values and outright crashes.

I did some reading, and found there is a debugger utility called gflags, that will set something in the operating system, to trigger a debug-type break for anything that reads/writes beyond allocated boundaries in the heap memory, causing corruption. You can review the function call stack and start narrowing down on the culprits. I’m still pretty green and rudimentary in my usage of it, but I discovered a couple things, corrected them. One in particular was the function to read the options file. It was reading beyond the allocation because the file read failed to insert a null for string termination, then a manipulation would move that part of the memory into another spot, causing heap corruption.

Get this, as soon as I fixed that one part of the options file read, even though completely unrelated to the WorldMap model issue, it fixed that too. Because heap corruption is insidious. If you corrupt a part of the heap, you are messing up the memory pointers for your entire program and you don’t know which part of the memory you are messing up…it could be anything and everything…hence fix heap corruption in option file read, and now you stop stomping on memory pointers for your other, unrelated WorldMap functions!

This gflags is a tool that helps determine where these problems occur in Release builds, because you’ll never find them in Debug builds because they don’t error. Great find and it’s already solved a goodly portion of problems!

I have also decided, with the fixed corruptions, I would try to compile this program with Speed Optimization. This is a compiler setting that rolls the code into faster executing .exe/.dll. I have tried this before, but it was unstable and crashing. Due of course to the aforementioned problems. But now, I have not noticed any problems in my testing, so I’m putting it out there with speed optimization.

So get a new download and let me know how it runs.

ERAS, GOF & AoP COAS Files: https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

I encounter boarding problem (maybe considered as bug), I can’t board enemy which have already struck their sail. I attack this English convoy, 3 merchant ship with 1 ship guarding them. I sunk the guard ship, one merchant surrender and offer me money but I reject, I board them instead and take their captain as captive. I chase the other two, I can’t even board them while chasing even until they surrendered and struck their sail. I load my save again and now I command my second ship to board them but it just standing beside the enemy ship and nothing happened. When the enemy struck their sail I can’t to anything, can’t command another ship to board them. I can’t even go to the world map unless I sail far away from them. I still can attack them with first person mode though

I’m playing with ERAcomplete (from mega folder) + extracted patch 1.5.7 from MK. Maybe I miss some patch to install ?

Edit : my main ship is dutch frigate, my second ship is holland frigate. My enemy is using smaller ship, merchant lugger and fast schooner. The one I succsessfully board are ketch. I forgot the guard ship since I sunk her at the very beginning. In the mod option I set the surrender ocasionally.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham.

[modernknight1]

The straight 1.5.7 has some bugs still without Jeffrey’s new program content. You can download just his new ERAS patches and point it to the resources in 1.5.7. He has instructions. If you want to keep playing that bug will go away after a while. It has something to do with enemy captain level vs your level. As you level up higher this bug will go away. Jeffrey has fixed all of those bugs in his downloads.

Also when the new 1.6.0 version comes out (very soon – I am still putting on finishing touches), all of those things will be fixed because Jeffrey’s code is native to the full mod.

MK

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, I recall similar boarding problems in the beginning. I don’t remember the exact cause, but I’m almost sure I fixed it.

Go here:
https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Download ERAS.Patch.zip and overwrite into existing ERAS. Also, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can also try the the newer compiled sources, either DirectX 8 or the newer DirectX 9. For those, wherever you have ERAS, make a new folder next to it:

C:\My Games
..ERAS
….modules
….Programs
C:\My Games
..ERASDX8 or ERASDX9
….modules
….Programs

Copy either ERAS2Test.zip (this is DirectX 8) or ERAS2TestDX9.zip (this is DirectX 9) into that other folder…all of it. These do not have all the models, textures, sounds, so you need to download my first patch over your existing ERAS, then point in the start.ini toward those RESOURCE files. In the new ERASDX9 folder you made, change two lines in start.ini:

resource_directory = C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE (or wherever the original you have)
sound path = C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\sounds (or wherever the original you have)

The newer compilations contain other game-breaking fixes that I have encountered, that can’t be fixed with just the regular program scripts. It also contains new features like the pennants, ability to see extra fighter icons, and more.

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

ok, thx sir 😀

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

I try the DX 9, it says cannot load library. Maybe I need to changemodule path in the start.ini ? Is it the DX9 folder’s module or the original folder module ?

[Jeffrey]

Yes, it must use its own modules and its own programs. They are supplied. The only thing that is not are the other file resources. So if you have put it in C:\MyGames\ERASDX9 and your other ERAS stuff is in C:\PlayLogic\ERAS, then your start.ini in the ERASDX9 should only change those two lines, the other stays the same. So C:\MyGames\ERASDX9\start.ini should contain these paths:

modules path = modules
program_directory = Program
resource_directory = C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE
ini_directory = RESOURCE\INI
techniques_directory = modules\techniques
sound path = C:\Playlogic\ERAS\RESOURCE\sounds

The above is just the path lines, all the other values in start.ini should also be in the sample start.ini that was supplied in the download.

If you still have problems, you may also have to install the Microsoft C++ Runtime, which is also supplied in the download: vcredist_x86.exe

In some cases, DX9 needs the update too: directx_Jun2010_redist.exe

It should all be there in the download.

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

follow up about “cannot board but can be boarded bug” the other day :

I’ve done MK’s suggestion the other day that if I level up more this bug will go away. But it seems didn’t work. I level up till level 25 but it seems the bug didn’t go away.

But I found some workaround. When I first enter naval battle, if I exchange cargo FIRST then go closer to enemy’s ship, I can board them just fine. But if I go closer to the enemy first, exchange my cargo with my other ship, then get closer to that enemy ship again, I can’t board BUT I still can board another enemy’s ship that I don’t get closer enough into boarding distance before.

And maybe I’ll report another bug. Some boarding location seems broken. I board this light dutch pinnace. When I’m on boarding scene, my character stuck. It can’t move. Some of my boarding party and enemy are also stuck. I try to load the quicksave again, sometimes I’m on the lower deck and can go through walls but can’t go to upper deck. It seems some of my enemy and my boarding party get stuck too in the upper deck.

[modernknight1]

Wow that has never happened to me before Wisnu and I have played this version of the mod a LOT even having characters leveling up to the high 30s. I would recommend waiting for the next version which is coming out very soon. I would say to activate error logging and send us the files, but I really don’t want to keep supporting that old version with our new one just hours/maybe a couple more days away.

MK

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

Sorry I’m a noob 🙁 but I’m ready to learn

How do I activate error log ?

In case I wrong about how to patch this mod. Is this step correct :
– Extract ERAScomplete
– Extract and copy ERAS.patch into directory

do I need to extract and copy of AoP2.patch and GOF1.2.patch ?

[Jeffrey]

No, for ERAS, do not apply Aop or GOF patch downloads, they will mess things up for ERAS. This may remedy the problem, though it will be a lengthy process:

First, you will need 7zip: http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
At my downloads:
https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Get all the ERAS.7z.001-018 files in the ERASComplete folder; put them all in the same place/directory on your computer. After download, right-click ERAS.7z.001 and use the 7-zip/Open archive menu. It should open the entire collection and from there, drag everything from just the Program and RESOURCE file into your matching ERAS folders. That should hopefully correct anything that is missing from either Program script files or RESOURCE files.

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

Thx sir, sorry for being noob 🙁 I’m new at this modding things

[Wisnu Wiradana Sudirham]

So far it works well, thx sir Jeffrey! My boarding problems are fixed 😀

May I ask another question? (sorry I’m asking too many questions 🙁 )

In Bermuda’s shipyard we can upgrade ships, there we can change our sail color. There’s two option, the upper option it’s the sail color, but the lower option seems to be blank (I believe it’s used to be ship’s emblems) and nothing change on my ship’s sail. Or maybe it can only work with a certain ship (like the Spaniard’s red cross)?

I change into colored sail instead of white. But when I repair my sail in the shipyard, it reset into default white color. Do you know how to make it permanent?

[Jeffrey]

Excellent news. Good to hear you are working better.

The colored sails going missing after repair is a known issue since GOF. I’ve seen it, but have not yet fixed. I am sure it can be fixed, but I have not actually done what’s needed to make it permanent.

[Jeffrey]

I fixed this in the upcoming version, but since you asked, I will also give you the fix for keeping the colored sails after repair for the current ERAS version. Also, the second option for emblems has always been broken and I don’t know how to yet correct that. To keep your sail color after repair, find Program/INTERFACE/shipyard.c and copy/paste everything in that file with the following (ERAS):

/// BOAL Верфь
#define sailCostPercent		10
#define hullCostPercent		20

int nCurScrollNum;
ref xi_refCharacter;
ref refNPCShipyard;
int shipIndex;
int iEmblemNum;
int nCurScrollOfficerNum;
bool bShowSails = false;

string CurTable, CurRow;
int iSelected; // курсор в таблице

string sMessageMode, sFrom_sea, sShipId;

float shipCostRate;
bool  bShipyardOnTop, bEmptySlot;

int RepairHull, RepairSail;
int timeHull, timeRig;

void InitInterface_RI(string iniName, ref _shipyarder, int iShowSails)
{
	GameInterface.title = "titleShipyard";

	xi_refCharacter = pchar;

	refNPCShipyard  = _shipyarder;
	SetShipyardStore(refNPCShipyard);

	shipCostRate = stf(refNPCShipyard.ShipCostRate);

	int iTest = FindColony(refNPCShipyard.City); // город магазина
	ref rColony;
	sFrom_sea = "";
	if (iTest != -1)
	{
		rColony = GetColonyByIndex(iTest);
		sFrom_sea = rColony.from_sea; // ветка верфи, в сухопутных верфи нет, значит везде правильная
	}

	if (iShowSails == 1) {
		bShowSails = true;

		SetEventHandler("GetInterfaceTexture", "ScrollGetTexture", 0);
		//SetEventHandler("wndChangeSails", "wndChangeSails", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ChangeSails", "ChangeSails", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ExitSailscolorsMenu", "ExitSailscolorsMenu", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ChangeSelectScrollImage", "ChangeSelectScrollImage", 0);
		// SetEventHandler("ShowUpgradeInfo", "ShowUpgradeInfo", 0);

		SendMessage(&GameInterface,"ls",MSG_INTERFACE_INIT,iniName);

		FillSailsColorScroll();
		FillEmblemesScroll();
		SetChangeSailStartData();
		ShowSailscolorsMenu();
	}
	else
	{

		FillShipsScroll();

		SendMessage(&GameInterface,"ls",MSG_INTERFACE_INIT,iniName);

		SetEventHandler("InterfaceBreak","ProcessExitCancel",0);
		SetEventHandler("exitCancel","ProcessExitCancel",0);
	    SetEventHandler("ievnt_command","ProcessCommandExecute",0);
	    SetEventHandler("frame","ProcessFrame",1);
	    SetEventHandler("confirmShipChangeName","confirmShipChangeName",0);
		SetEventHandler("CheckForRename","CheckForRename",0);
		SetEventHandler("ShowInfoWindow","ShowInfoWindow",0);
		SetEventHandler("MouseRClickUp","HideInfoWindow",0);
		SetEventHandler("TableSelectChange", "TableSelectChange", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ExitMsgMenu", "ExitMsgMenu", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ExitRepairMenu", "ExitRepairMenu", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ShowOtherClick", "ShowOtherClick", 0);
		SetEventHandler("ExitCannonsMenu", "ExitCannonsMenu", 0);
	    SetEventHandler("ExitOfficerMenu","ExitOfficerMenu",0);
		SetEventHandler("acceptaddofficer","AcceptAddOfficer",0);
		SetEventHandler("BuyShipEvent","BuyShipEvent",0);

	    EI_CreateFrame("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE_BORDER",156,40,366,275); // tak from SHIP_BIG_PICTURE
	    EI_CreateHLine("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE_BORDER", 161,246,361,1, 4);
	    EI_CreateFrame("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE_BORDER",20,46,134,161);
	    EI_CreateHLine("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE_BORDER", 8,187,147,1, 4);
	    EI_CreateHLine("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE_BORDER", 8,166,147,1, 4);

	    SetNewGroupPicture("Money_PIC", "ICONS_CHAR", "Money");
	    SetNewGroupPicture("REPAIR_Money_PIC", "ICONS_CHAR", "Money");

	    SetNewGroupPicture("REPAIR_Hull_PIC", "SHIP_STATE_ICONS", "Hull");
	    SetNewGroupPicture("REPAIR_Sails_PIC", "SHIP_STATE_ICONS", "Sails");

	    FillShipyardTable();

		SetCurrentNode("SHIPS_SCROLL");
		bShipyardOnTop = false;
		OnShipScrollChange();
		bEmptySlot = false;
		sMessageMode = "";
		SetButtionsAccess();
		timeHull = 0;
		timeRig = 0;
	}

}

void ProcessExitCancel()
{
    // boal время на ремонт -->
    if (timeRig > 0 || timeHull > 0)
    {
        LAi_Fade("", "");
        bQuestCheckProcessFreeze = true;
    	WaitDate("",0,0,0, 0, makeint( (timeHull/4.0 + timeRig/6.0) * 60.0));
    	RecalculateJumpTable();
    	bQuestCheckProcessFreeze = false;
    	RefreshLandTime();
	}
	IDoExit(RC_INTERFACE_ANY_EXIT);
}

void IDoExit(int exitCode)
{
	if (bShowSails) {

		/////////////////////// PHILIPPE======================>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
		DelEventHandler("GetInterfaceTexture", "ScrollGetTexture");
		DelEventHandler("ChangeSails", "ChangeSails");
		DelEventHandler("ExitSailscolorsMenu", "ExitSailscolorsMenu");
		DelEventHandler("ChangeSelectScrollImage", "ChangeSelectScrollImage");
		/////////////////////=================================<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
	}
		else {

		DelEventHandler("InterfaceBreak","ProcessExitCancel");
		DelEventHandler("exitCancel","ProcessExitCancel");
	    DelEventHandler("ievnt_command","ProcessCommandExecute");
	    DelEventHandler("frame","ProcessFrame");
	    DelEventHandler("confirmShipChangeName","confirmShipChangeName");
		DelEventHandler("CheckForRename","CheckForRename");
		DelEventHandler("ShowInfoWindow","ShowInfoWindow");
		DelEventHandler("MouseRClickUp","HideInfoWindow");
		DelEventHandler("TableSelectChange", "TableSelectChange");
		DelEventHandler("ExitMsgMenu", "ExitMsgMenu");
		DelEventHandler("ShowOtherClick", "ShowOtherClick");
		DelEventHandler("ExitCannonsMenu", "ExitCannonsMenu");
	    DelEventHandler("ExitOfficerMenu","ExitOfficerMenu");
		DelEventHandler("acceptaddofficer","AcceptAddOfficer");
		DelEventHandler("ExitRepairMenu", "ExitRepairMenu");
		DelEventHandler("BuyShipEvent","BuyShipEvent");
	}

	interfaceResultCommand = exitCode;
	if( CheckAttribute(&InterfaceStates,"ReloadMenuExit"))
	{
        DeleteAttribute(&InterfaceStates,"ReloadMenuExit");
		EndCancelInterface(false);
	}
	else
	{
		EndCancelInterface(true);
	}

}
void ProcessCommandExecute()
{
	string comName = GetEventData();
	string nodName = GetEventData();

    switch(nodName)
	{
        case "BUTTON_SELL":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ShowMessageInfo();
			}
		break;

		case "BUTTON_BUY":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ShowMessageInfo();
			}
		break;

		case "MSG_OK":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    MessageOk();
			}
		break;

		case "BUTTON_REPAIR":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ShowRepairMenu();
			}
		break;

		case "REPAIR_LEFT_H":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("hull", -1);
			}
			if (comName=="rclick")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("hull", -5);
			}
		break;

		case "REPAIR_RIGHT_H":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("hull", 1);
			}
			if (comName=="rclick")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("hull", 5);
			}
		break;

		case "REPAIR_LEFT_S":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("sail", -1);
			}
			if (comName=="rclick")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("sail", -5);
			}
		break;

		case "REPAIR_RIGHT_S":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("sail", 1);
			}
			if (comName=="rclick")
			{
			    ClickRepairArror("sail", 5);
			}
		break;

		case "REPAIR_OK":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    RepairOk();
			}
		break;

		case "REPAIR_ALL":
			if (comName=="click" || comName=="activate")
			{
			    RepairAll();
			}
		break;
	}
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void FillShipsScroll()
{
    DeleteAttribute(&GameInterface, "SHIPS_SCROLL");
	nCurScrollNum = -1;
	if(!CheckAttribute(&GameInterface,"SHIPS_SCROLL.current"))
	{
		GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.current = 0;
	}

	string attributeName;
	string shipName;
	int iShipType, cn;
	GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.ImagesGroup.t0 = "BLANK_SHIP2";

	FillShipList("SHIPS_SCROLL.ImagesGroup", xi_refCharacter);
	GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.BadTex1 = 0;
	GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.BadPic1 = "Not Used2";

	int m = 0;
	for(int i = 0; i < COMPANION_MAX; i++)
	{
		cn = GetCompanionIndex(pchar, i);
		if(cn != -1)
		{
			iShipType = sti(characters[cn].ship.type);
			if(iShipType != SHIP_NOTUSED)
			{
				attributeName = "pic" + (m+1);
				iShipType = sti(RealShips[iShipType].basetype);
				shipName = ShipsTypes[iShipType].Name;

				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).character = cn;
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str1 = "#"+ xiStr("Class_") +ShipsTypes[iShipType].Class;
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str4 = shipName;
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str3 = "#" + MakeMoneyShow(GetSellPrice(&characters[cn]), MONEY_SIGN,MONEY_DELIVER);
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).img1 = "ship";
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).tex1 = FindFaceGroupNum("SHIPS_SCROLL.ImagesGroup","SHIPS_"+shipName);
				m++;
			}
			else
			{
				attributeName = "pic" + (m+1);
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).character = cn;
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str1 = "#";
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str2 = "NoneBoat";
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).img1 = "Not Used2";
				GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).tex1 = "BLANK_SHIP2";
				m++;
			}
		}
		else
		{
		    attributeName = "pic" + (m+1);
			GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).character = -1;
			GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str1 = "#";
			GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).str2 = "";
			GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).img1 = "Not Used2";
			GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).tex1 = "BLANK_SHIP2";
			m++;
		}
	}

	GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.ListSize = m;
	//GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.NotUsed = 5 - m + 1;
	GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.NotUsed = 0;
}

void ProcessFrame()
{
	string attributeName;
	int iCharacter;

	string sNode = GetCurrentNode();

    if (sNode == "PASSENGERSLIST" && sti(GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.current)!= nCurScrollOfficerNum)
	{
		nCurScrollOfficerNum = sti(GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.current);
		SetOfficersSkills();
	}
	if(sNode == "SHIPS_SCROLL")
	{
		if (sti(GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.current)!= nCurScrollNum || CurTable != "")
		{
            CurTable = "";
			NullSelectTable("TABLE_SHIPYARD"); // убрать скрол
			bShipyardOnTop = false;

			nCurScrollNum = sti(GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.current);

			attributeName = "pic" + (nCurScrollNum+1);

			iCharacter = sti(GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.(attributeName).character);

			if(iCharacter > 0)
			{
				string sChrId = characters[iCharacter].id;

				xi_refCharacter = characterFromID(sChrId);
				bEmptySlot = false;
				shipIndex= nCurScrollNum+ 1;
				if (shipIndex< 0)
				{
					shipIndex= 0;
				}
				if (sti(xi_refCharacter.ship.type) == SHIP_NOTUSED)
				{
					shipIndex= -1;
				}
				// boal оптимизация скилов -->
			    DelBakSkillAttr(xi_refCharacter);
			    ClearCharacterExpRate(xi_refCharacter);
			    RefreshCharacterSkillExpRate(xi_refCharacter);

			    SetEnergyToCharacter(xi_refCharacter);
			    // boal оптимизация скилов <--
				OnShipScrollChange();
			}
			else
			{
				shipIndex= -1;
				bEmptySlot = true;
			}
			SetButtionsAccess();
		}
	}
}

void FillShipParam(ref _chr)
{
    int iShip = sti(_chr.ship.type);
	if (iShip != SHIP_NOTUSED)
	{
        if (CheckAttribute(_chr, "Ship.Cargo.RecalculateCargoLoad") && sti(_chr.Ship.Cargo.RecalculateCargoLoad))
		{
			RecalculateCargoLoad(_chr);
			_chr.Ship.Cargo.RecalculateCargoLoad = 0;
		}
		ref refBaseShip = GetRealShip(iShip);
		string sShip = refBaseShip.BaseName;
		SetNewPicture("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE", "interfaces\\ships\\" + sShip + ".tga.tx");

		GameInterface.edit_box.str = _chr.ship.name;
		SetFormatedText("SHIP_RANK", refBaseShip.Class);
		SetShipOTHERTable("TABLE_OTHER", _chr);
		SetFormatedText("FRAME_INFO_CAPTION", XI_ConvertString(sShip));
		SetFormatedText("INFO_TEXT", GetConvertStr(sShip, "ShipsDescribe.txt"));
	}
	else
	{
		SetNewPicture("SHIP_BIG_PICTURE", "interfaces\\blank_ship2.tga.tx");
		GameInterface.edit_box.str = XI_Convertstring("NoneBoat");
		SetFormatedText("FRAME_INFO_CAPTION","");
		SetFormatedText("INFO_TEXT","");
	}
	Table_UpdateWindow("TABLE_OTHER");
}

void OnShipScrollChange()
{
	SetNewPicture("MAIN_CHARACTER_PICTURE", "interfaces\portraits\128\face_" + xi_refCharacter.FaceId + ".tga.tx");
	SetFormatedText("HERO_NAME", GetFullName(xi_refCharacter));
	SetFormatedText("HERO_RANK",xi_refCharacter.Rank);
	// нулим все формы, тк корабля может не быть
	SetFormatedText("SHIP_RANK","");
	Table_Clear("TABLE_OTHER", false, true, false);
	//Ship info window
	SetFormatedText("Money_TEXT", MakeMoneyShow(sti(pchar.Money), MONEY_SIGN,MONEY_DELIVER));
    FillShipParam(xi_refCharacter);
}

void confirmShipChangeName()
{
	/*
	if (shipIndex== -1) return;
	xi_refcharacter.ship.name = GameInterface.edit_box.str;
	GameInterface.edit_box.str = xi_refcharacter.ship.name;
	SetCurrentNode("SHIP_INFO_TEXT");   */
}

void CheckForRename()
{
	/*if (GetShipRemovable(xi_refCharacter) == true && shipIndex!= -1)
	{
		SetCurrentNode("EDIT_BOX");
	}    */
}

void ShowInfoWindow()
{
	string sCurrentNode = GetCurrentNode();
	string sHeader, sText1, sText2, sText3, sPicture;
	string sGroup, sGroupPicture;
	int iItem;

	sPicture = "-1";
	string sAttributeName;
	int nChooseNum = -1;
	int iShip;
	ref refBaseShip;

	bool  bShowHint = true;

	ref rChr;
	if (bShipyardOnTop)
	{
	    rChr = refNPCShipyard;
	}
	else
	{
		rChr = xi_refCharacter;
	}
	switch (sCurrentNode)
	{
		case "SHIP_BIG_PICTURE":
			if (shipIndex != -1 || bShipyardOnTop)
			{
			    iShip = sti(rChr.ship.type);
			    refBaseShip = GetRealShip(iShip);
				sHeader = XI_ConvertString(refBaseShip.BaseName);
				sText1 = GetConvertStr(refBaseShip.BaseName, "ShipsDescribe.txt");
			}
			else
			{
				sHeader = XI_Convertstring("NoneBoat");
				sText1  = GetConvertStr("NoneBoat2", "ShipsDescribe.txt");
			}
		break;

		case "SHIPS_SCROLL":
			if (shipIndex != -1)
			{
			    iShip = sti(xi_refCharacter.ship.type);
			    refBaseShip = GetRealShip(iShip);
				sHeader = XI_ConvertString(refBaseShip.BaseName);
				sText1 = GetConvertStr(refBaseShip.BaseName, "ShipsDescribe.txt");
				//sText2 = GetRPGText("shipChoose_hint");
			}
			else
			{
				sHeader = XI_Convertstring("NoneBoat");
				sText1  = GetConvertStr("NoneBoat2", "ShipsDescribe.txt");
			}
		break;

		case "MAIN_CHARACTER_PICTURE":
			// отдельная форма
			bShowHint = false;
			ShowRPGHint();
		break;

		case "TABLE_OTHER":
			sHeader = XI_ConvertString(GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID);
		    sText1  = GetConvertStr(GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID, "ShipsDescribe.txt");
		    if (GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "CannonType" && sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type) != CANNON_TYPE_NONECANNON)
		    {
		    	ref Cannon = GetCannonByType(sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type));
		    	sText2 = xiStr("MSG_Transfer_3") + XI_ConvertString(GetCannonType(sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type)));
		    	sText2 = sText2 + NewStr() + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_4") + XI_ConvertString("caliber" + GetCannonCaliber(sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type)));
		    	sText2 = sText2 + NewStr() + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_5")  + sti(Cannon.FireRange);
		    	sText2 = sText2 + NewStr() + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_6")  + FloatToString(stf(Cannon.DamageMultiply), 1);
		    	sText2 = sText2 + NewStr() + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_7")  + sti(GetCannonReloadTime(Cannon)) + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_8");
		    	sText2 = sText2 + NewStr() + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_9")  + sti(Cannon.Weight) + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_10");

		    	sGroup = "GOODS";
				sGroupPicture = GetCannonType(sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type)) + "_" + GetCannonCaliber(sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type));

				sText3 = xiStr("MSG_SHP_1");
		    }
		    if (GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "Crew" && sti(rChr.ship.type) != SHIP_NOTUSED)
			{
				sText2 = xiStr("MSG_Transfer_11");
				sText2 = sText2 + NewStr() + xiStr("MSG_Transfer_12") + GetMaxCrewQuantity(rChr);
			}
			// процент ремонта
			if (GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "Hull" && sti(rChr.ship.type) != SHIP_NOTUSED)
			{
				sText3 = xiStr("Hull") + ": " + FloatToString(GetHullPercent(rChr), 1)  + " %";
			}
			if (GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "Sails" && sti(rChr.ship.type) != SHIP_NOTUSED)
			{
				sText3 = xiStr("Sails") + ": " + FloatToString(GetSailPercent(rChr), 1) + " %";
			}
			// трюм
			if (GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "Capacity" && sti(rChr.ship.type) != SHIP_NOTUSED)
			{
				sText3 = xiStr("MSG_Transfer_20") + FloatToString((stf(GetCargoLoad(rChr))  /  stf(GetCargoMaxSpace(rChr))) * 100.0, 1)+ " %";
			}
		break;
		case "TABLE_SHIPYARD" :
		    sHeader = XI_Convertstring("Shipyard");
			sText1  = GetConvertStr("Shipyard_hint", "ShipsDescribe.txt");
		break;
	}
	if (bShowHint)
	{
		CreateTooltip("#" + sHeader, sText1, argb(255,255,255,255), sText2, argb(255,255,192,192), sText3, argb(255,192,255,192), "", argb(255,255,255,255), sPicture, sGroup, sGroupPicture, 64, 64);
	}
}

void HideInfoWindow()
{
	CloseTooltip();
	ExitRPGHint();
}

void TableSelectChange()
{
	string sControl = GetEventData();
	iSelected = GetEventData();
    CurTable = sControl;
    CurRow   =  "tr" + (iSelected);
    NullSelectTable("TABLE_OTHER");
    // не тереть скрол на верфи

    // заполнялка
    if (CurTable == "TABLE_SHIPYARD")
	{
        FillShipyardShip(refNPCShipyard, GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).sShipId);
		FillShipParam(refNPCShipyard);
		bShipyardOnTop = true;
		SetButtionsAccess();
	}
}

void ExitRPGHint()
{
	if (sMessageMode == "RPG_Hint")
	{
		XI_WindowShow("RPG_WINDOW", false);
		XI_WindowDisable("RPG_WINDOW", true);
		XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", false);
		sMessageMode = "";
	}
}

void ShowRPGHint()
{
	SetSPECIALMiniTable("RPG_TABLE_SMALLSKILL", xi_refCharacter);
    SetOTHERMiniTable("RPG_TABLE_SMALLOTHER", xi_refCharacter);
    SetFormatedText("RPG_OFFICER_NAME", GetFullName(xi_refCharacter));

	XI_WindowShow("RPG_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("RPG_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", true);
	sMessageMode = "RPG_Hint";
}

void NullSelectTable(string sControl)
{
	if (sControl != CurTable)
	{
	    GameInterface.(sControl).select = 0;
	    Table_UpdateWindow(sControl);
	}
}

void ExitMsgMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("MSG_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MSG_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", false);

	SetCurrentNode("SHIPS_SCROLL");
	sMessageMode = "";
}

void ShowMsgMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("MSG_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("MSG_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", true);

	SetCurrentNode("MSG_CANCEL");
}

void ShowOtherClick()
{
	if (GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "CannonType")
	{
		ShowCannonsMenu();
	}
/*
//Now only access this through pirate shipyard dialog
//=============================>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Philippe
        if (CheckAttribute(&GameInterface, CurTable + "." + CurRow + ".UserData.ID") && GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).UserData.ID == "Sails")
	{
         // Added to pay
           if (sti(pchar.Money) >= 3000)
              {
		wndChangeSails();
              }
	}
//=============================<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
*/
}

void ShowCannonsMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("CANNONS_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("CANNONS_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", true);

	SetCurrentNode("CANNONS_CANCEL");

    DeleteAttribute(&GameInterface, "CANNONS_TABLE.BackUp")
    CannonsMenuRefresh();
}
void CannonsMenuRefresh()
{
	ref rChr;
	if (bShipyardOnTop)
	{
	    rChr = refNPCShipyard;
	}
	else
	{
		rChr = xi_refCharacter;
	}
	int idx = GetCannonGoodsIdxByType(sti(rChr.Ship.Cannons.Type));
	if (idx != -1)
	{
	    SetNewGroupPicture("CANNONS_PIC", "GOODS", Goods[idx].Name);
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_TEXT", XI_ConvertString(Goods[idx].Name));

		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_F", its(GetBortCannonsQty(rChr, "cannonf")));
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_B", its(GetBortCannonsQty(rChr, "cannonb")));
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_R", its(GetBortCannonsQty(rChr, "cannonr")));
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_L", its(GetBortCannonsQty(rChr, "cannonl")));
		/// всего GetCannonsNum(xi_refCharacter)
	}
	else
	{
		SetNewGroupPicture("CANNONS_PIC", "GOODS", "");
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_TEXT", "");
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_F", "0");
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_B", "0");
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_R", "0");
		SetFormatedText("CANNONS_QTY_L", "0");
	}
}
void ExitCannonsMenu()
{
	HideCannonsMenu();
}

void HideCannonsMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("CANNONS_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("CANNONS_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", false);

	SetCurrentNode("TABLE_OTHER");
	sMessageMode = "";
}

////////////// ценообразование

int GetShipPriceByType(int st)
{
	if(st==SHIP_NOTUSED) return 0;
	ref shref = GetRealShip(st);

	return makeint(shipCostRate * sti(shref.Price));
}

int GetBuyPrice(ref _chr)
{
	float nCommerce = GetSummonSkillFromNameToOld(GetMainCharacter(), SKILL_COMMERCE);

    if(CheckOfficersPerk(pchar,"AdvancedCommerce"))	{ nCommerce += 4; }
	else
	{
		if(CheckOfficersPerk(pchar,"BasicCommerce"))	{ nCommerce += 2; }
	}
	//JA 5/6/11 Add relative cannon cost to ship price
	int iShipPrice = GetShipPriceByType(sti(_chr.Ship.Type)) + CannonRelCost(_chr);
	return makeint(iShipPrice + iShipPrice/(nCommerce*10));

}

int GetSellPrice(ref _chr)
{
	int st = GetCharacterShipType(_chr);
	//JA 5/6/11 Add relative cannon cost to ship price

	int price = GetShipPriceByType(st);

	price = makeint(price - 1.5*GetSailRepairCost(st, GetSailDamagePercent(_chr)));
	price = makeint(price - 1.5*GetHullRepairCost(st, GetHullDamagePercent(_chr)));

	ref rRealShip = GetRealShip(st);
	if (sti(rRealShip.Stolen) == true) //проверка на ворованный
	{
		price = makeint(price/3);
	}

	float nCommerce   = GetSummonSkillFromNameToOld(GetMainCharacter(), SKILL_COMMERCE) + 0.001;

	if(CheckOfficersPerk(pchar,"AdvancedCommerce"))	{ nCommerce += 4; }
	else
	{
		if(CheckOfficersPerk(pchar,"BasicCommerce"))	{ nCommerce += 2; }
	}

	price = price - price / (nCommerce*10.5);

	price = price + CannonRelCost(_chr);

	if (price < 0 && sti(_chr.Ship.Type) != SHIP_NOTUSED)
	{
		price = 0;
	}

	return price;
}

int CannonRelCost(ref _chr)
{
	//Get cost of cannons on board compared to stock ship

	int st = GetCharacterShipType(_chr);
	ref rRealShip = GetRealShip(st);
	int iBaseType = sti(rRealShip.basetype);
	ref rBaseShip = &ShipsTypes[iBaseType];
	int iBaseCannonCost = GetCannonsSellCost(sti(rBaseShip.Cannon), sti(rBaseShip.CannonsQuantity));
	int iCurCannonCost =  GetCannonsSellCost(sti(_chr.Ship.Cannons.Type), GetCannonsNum(_chr));

	int iRelCost = iCurCannonCost - iBaseCannonCost;

	return iRelCost;
}

int GetCannonsSellCost(int iCannonType, int iCannonNum)
{
	if (iCannonType == CANNON_TYPE_NONECANNON || iCannonNum == 0) return 0;

	int iCannonGood = GetCannonGoodsIdxByType(iCannonType);
	int iStoreID = FindStore(refNPCShipyard.city)
	ref rStore = &Stores[iStoreID];

	return GetStoreGoodsPrice(rStore, iCannonGood, PRICE_TYPE_SELL, pchar, iCannonNum);
}

void FillShipyardTable()
{
    Table_Clear("TABLE_SHIPYARD", false, true, false);

	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td1.str = xiStr("Ship");
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td1.scale = 0.9;
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td2.str = xiStr("ShipClass");
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td2.scale = 0.9;
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td3.str = xiStr("Cannons");
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td3.scale = 0.9;
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td4.str = xiStr("Capacity");
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td4.scale = 0.9;
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td5.str = xiStr("Cost");
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.hr.td5.scale = 0.9;
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.select = 0;
	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.top = 0;

	aref   arDest, arImt;
	string sAttr;
	int    iNum, i, iShip;
	ref    refBaseShip;
	string sShip;
	string row;

	makearef(arDest, refNPCShipyard.shipyard);
	iNum = GetAttributesNum(arDest);
	for (i = 0; i < iNum; i++)
	{
        row = "tr" + (i+1);

		arImt = GetAttributeN(arDest, i);
		//Log_Info(GetAttributeName(arImt));
		sAttr = GetAttributeName(arImt);
    	FillShipyardShip(refNPCShipyard, sAttr); // скинуть в стандарт корабль из ШипХХ

    	iShip = sti(refNPCShipyard.Ship.Type);
    	refBaseShip = GetRealShip(iShip);
		sShip = refBaseShip.BaseName;
		//
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).sShipId = sAttr;
        GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.icon.texture = "interfaces\ships\" + sShip + ".tga.tx";
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.icon.uv = "0,0,1,1";
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.icon.width = 46;
    	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.icon.height = 46;
    	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.icon.offset = "0, 1";
    	GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.textoffset = "53,0";
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.str = XI_Convertstring(sShip) + "\n\n"+refNPCShipyard.ship.name;
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.align = "left";
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td1.scale = 0.82;
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td2.str = refBaseShip.Class;
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td3.str = sti(refBaseShip.CannonsQuantity);
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td4.str = GetCargoMaxSpace(refNPCShipyard);
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td5.str = GetBuyPrice(refNPCShipyard);
		GameInterface.TABLE_SHIPYARD.(row).td5.color = argb(255,255,228,80);
    }

	Table_UpdateWindow("TABLE_SHIPYARD");
}

void SetButtionsAccess()
{
    SetSelectable("BUTTON_REPAIR", false);
    SetSelectable("BUTTON_SELL", true);
    SetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY", true);

    if (bShipyardOnTop)
    {
        SetSelectable("BUTTON_REPAIR", false);
    	SetSelectable("BUTTON_SELL", false);
    	if (shipIndex == -1)// проверка на цену
    	{
    	    if (GetBuyPrice(refNPCShipyard) > sti(pchar.Money) )
    	    {
    	        SetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY", false);
    	    }
   			if (bEmptySlot && sti(pchar.ship.type) == SHIP_NOTUSED)
   			{ // нельзя купить корабль компаньону, если у ГГ нету
   			    SetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY", false);
   			}
    	}
    	else
    	{
    	    if (GetBuyPrice(refNPCShipyard) > (GetSellPrice(xi_refCharacter) + sti(pchar.Money)) )
    	    {
    	        SetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY", false);
    	    }
    	    if (!GetRemovable(xi_refCharacter) || !GetShipRemovable(xi_refCharacter))
    	    {
    	        SetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY", false);
    	    }
    	}
    }
    else
    {
        SetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY", false);

        if (GetHullPercent(xi_refCharacter) < 100 || GetSailPercent(xi_refCharacter) < 100)
        {
            SetSelectable("BUTTON_REPAIR", true);
        }
        if (shipIndex == -1)
        {
            SetSelectable("BUTTON_SELL", false);
            SetSelectable("BUTTON_REPAIR", false);
        }
        else
        {
            if (!GetRemovable(xi_refCharacter) || !GetShipRemovable(xi_refCharacter))
    	    {
    	        SetSelectable("BUTTON_SELL", false);
    	    }
    	    if (xi_refCharacter.id == pchar.id && GetCompanionQuantity(pchar) > 1)
    	    { // нельзя продать корабль ГГ, если есть еще компаньоны
    	        SetSelectable("BUTTON_SELL", false);
    	    }
		}
    }
}

//////////////// назначение капитана  //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void ShipChangeCaptan()
{
	FillPassengerScroll();
    SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsl",MSG_INTERFACE_SCROLL_CHANGE,"PASSENGERSLIST",-1);
    SetCurrentNode("PASSENGERSLIST");
	ProcessFrame();
	SetOfficersSkills();

	XI_WindowShow("OFFICERS_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("OFFICERS_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", true);
}

void ExitOfficerMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("OFFICERS_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("OFFICERS_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", false);

	SetCurrentNode("SHIPS_SCROLL");
}

void AcceptAddOfficer()
{
	string  attributeName2 = "pic"+(nCurScrollOfficerNum+1);
    ref     sld;

    if (checkAttribute(GameInterface, "PASSENGERSLIST."+attributeName2 + ".character"))
    {
		int iChar = sti(GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.(attributeName2).character);
        // назначение нового кэпа, возможно, если там уже не наш, те или враг или снят
        sld = GetCharacter(iChar);
		DeleteAttribute(sld, "ship");
		sld.ship.Type = SHIP_NOTUSED;

		// снимем пассажира -->
		CheckForReleaseOfficer(iChar);
		RemovePassenger(pchar, sld);
		// снимем пассажира <--
		SetCompanionIndex(pchar, -1, iChar);

		xi_refCharacter = sld;
		DoBuyShip();
	}
	ExitOfficerMenu();
}

void SetOfficersSkills()
{
	string sCharacter = "pic"+(sti(GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.current)+1);
	if (checkAttribute(GameInterface, "PASSENGERSLIST."+sCharacter))
	{
		if (checkAttribute(GameInterface, "PASSENGERSLIST."+sCharacter + ".character"))
		{
			sCharacter = GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.(sCharacter).character;
			ref otherchr = &characters[sti(sCharacter)];
	        SetSPECIALMiniTable("TABLE_SMALLSKILL", otherchr);
	        SetOTHERMiniTable("TABLE_SMALLOTHER", otherchr);
	        SetFormatedText("OFFICER_NAME", GetFullName(otherchr));
	        SetSelectable("ACCEPT_ADD_OFFICER", true);
	        return;
        }
	}
    Table_Clear("TABLE_SMALLSKILL", false, true, true);
    Table_Clear("TABLE_SMALLOTHER", false, true, true);
    SetFormatedText("OFFICER_NAME", "");
    SetSelectable("ACCEPT_ADD_OFFICER", false);
}

void FillPassengerScroll()
{
	int i, howWork;
	string faceName;
	string attributeName;
	int _curCharIdx;
	ref _refCurChar;
	bool  ok;

	DeleteAttribute(&GameInterface, "PASSENGERSLIST");

	nCurScrollOfficerNum = -1;
	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.current = 0;

	int nListSize = GetPassengersQuantity(pchar);
	int nListSizeFree = nListSize;

	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.NotUsed = 6;
	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.ListSize = nListSizeFree + 2;

	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.ImagesGroup.t0 = "EMPTYFACE";

	FillFaceList("PASSENGERSLIST.ImagesGroup", pchar, 2); // passengers

	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.BadTex1 = 0;
	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.BadPic1 = "emptyface";
	int m = 0;
	for(i=0; i<nListSize; i++)
	{
		attributeName = "pic" + (m+1);
		_curCharIdx = GetPassenger(pchar,i);

		if (_curCharIdx!=-1)
		{
			ok = CheckAttribute(&characters[_curCharIdx], "prisoned") && sti(characters[_curCharIdx].prisoned) == true;
			if (!ok && GetRemovable(&characters[_curCharIdx]))
			{
				GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.(attributeName).character = _curCharIdx;
				GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.(attributeName).img1 = GetFacePicName(GetCharacter(_curCharIdx));
				GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.(attributeName).tex1 = FindFaceGroupNum("PASSENGERSLIST.ImagesGroup", "FACE128_"+Characters[_curCharIdx].FaceID);
				m++;
			}
		}
	}
	GameInterface.PASSENGERSLIST.ListSize = m + 2; // не знаю зачем, но для совместимости с 'было'
}
// рефреш скилов офа и ГГ, если офа сняли для компаньона
void DelBakSkill()
{
	DelBakSkillAttr(xi_refCharacter);
    ClearCharacterExpRate(xi_refCharacter);
    RefreshCharacterSkillExpRate(xi_refCharacter);
    SetEnergyToCharacter(xi_refCharacter);

    DelBakSkillAttr(pchar);
    ClearCharacterExpRate(pchar);
    RefreshCharacterSkillExpRate(pchar);
    SetEnergyToCharacter(pchar);
}

void ShowMessageInfo()
{
	bool   bBuy;
	int    iMoney;
	string add = "";

	if (bShipyardOnTop) // на стороне верфи (купить)
    {
        bBuy = true;
		if (shipIndex == -1)// проверка на цену
    	{
    	    iMoney = GetBuyPrice(refNPCShipyard);
    	}
    	else
    	{
            iMoney = GetBuyPrice(refNPCShipyard) - GetSellPrice(xi_refCharacter);
    	}
    }
    else  // продать
    {
        bBuy = false;
        iMoney = GetSellPrice(xi_refCharacter);
    }
	SetFormatedText("MSG_WINDOW_CAPTION", XI_ConvertString("Ship"));

	if (bBuy)
	{
		if (iMoney < 0) add = "-";
		SetFormatedText("MSG_WINDOW_TEXT", xiStr("MSG_SHP_2") + add + FindRussianMoneyString(abs(iMoney)) + "?");
		SetSelectable("MSG_OK", true);
		sMessageMode = "ShipBuy";
	}
	else
	{
	    SetFormatedText("MSG_WINDOW_TEXT", xiStr("MSG_SHP_3") + add + FindRussianMoneyString(abs(iMoney)) + "?");
		SetSelectable("MSG_OK", true);
		sMessageMode = "ShipSell";
	}
	ShowMsgMenu();
}

void MessageOk()
{
	switch (sMessageMode)
	{
	    case "ShipSell" :
	        DoSellShip(true);
	        ExitMsgMenu();
	    break;

	    case "ShipBuy" :
	        DoBuyShipMain();
	    break;
	}
}

void DoSellShip(bool _refresh)
{
	ref chref = xi_refCharacter;
	if (shipIndex != -1 && sti(chref.ship.type) != SHIP_NOTUSED)
	{
		int sellPrice = GetSellPrice(chref);

		AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar, sellPrice);
		AddCharacterExpToSkill(pchar, "Commerce", sellPrice / 1600.0);
		Statistic_AddValue(pchar, "SellShip", 1);

		DeleteAttribute(chref,"ship.sails");
		DeleteAttribute(chref,"ship.blots");
		DeleteAttribute(chref,"ship.masts");

        // в списке на покупку. -->
        AddShip2Shipyard(chref);
        // в списке на покупку. <--
    	chref.ship.type = SHIP_NOTUSED;
    	// снять кэпа -->
    	if (_refresh)
		{
	    	if (sti(chref.index) != GetMainCharacterIndex())
	    	{
				MoveCrewToFleet(chref);
				RemoveCharacterCompanion(pchar, chref);
				AddPassenger(pchar, chref, false);
				DelBakSkill();
				//navy --> Фигвам, а не халява :)
				// Boyer change:  Stop deducting money for companion ship sell
				if (CheckAttribute(chref, "PGGAi") && CheckAttribute(chref, "PGGAi.OwnShip")) //за корабли данные ГГ, деньги ГГ.
				{
					chref.Payment = true;
					DeleteAttribute(chref, "PGGAi.OwnShip")
					Log_Info(xiStr("MSG_Transfer_21"));
					// Remove this to stop deducting
					// AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar, -(sellPrice));
				}
				//navy <--
	    	}
	    	else
	    	{
          		pchar.location.from_sea = ""; // нет корабля в порту
	    	}
    		RefreshShipLists();
    	}
	}
}

void MoveCrewToFleet(ref fromChar)
{
	int i, cn, iFreeCrew, iNewCrew;
	ref rComp;
	iNewCrew = GetCrewQuantity(fromChar);
	if (iNewCrew > 0)
	{
		for(i=0; i<COMPANION_MAX && iNewCrew > 0; i++)
		{
			cn = GetCompanionIndex(GetMainCharacter(),i);
			rComp = GetCharacter(cn);

			if(cn>=0 && GetRemovable(&Characters[cn]) && rComp.id != fromChar.id)
			{
				iNewCrew = MoveCrew(rComp, fromChar, iNewCrew);
			}
		}
	}
}

void RefreshShipLists()
{
    xi_refCharacter = pchar;
	FillShipsScroll();
   	SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsl",MSG_INTERFACE_SCROLL_CHANGE,"SHIPS_SCROLL",-1);
    SetCurrentNode("SHIPS_SCROLL");
	ProcessFrame();

	FillShipyardTable();
	bShipyardOnTop = false;
}

void AddShip2Shipyard(ref _chr)
{
    aref    arTo, arFrom;

	aref   arDest, arImt;
	string sAttr;
	int    iNum, i, iShip;
	ref    refBaseShip;
	string sShip;
	string row;

    iShip = sti(_chr.ship.type);
    RealShips[iShip].StoreShip = true;  // кораль на верфи, трется отдельным методом
    RealShips[iShip].Stolen = 0; // уже не ворованный
	makearef(arDest, refNPCShipyard.shipyard);
	iNum = GetAttributesNum(arDest);
	if (iNum == 0)
	{
	    sAttr = "ship1";
	}
	else
	{
	    arImt = GetAttributeN(arDest, iNum - 1);
	    sAttr = GetAttributeName(arImt) + "2";
	}
	makearef(arTo,   refNPCShipyard.ship);
	makearef(arFrom, _chr.Ship);
	CopyAttributes(arTo, arFrom);
	// нулим экипаж и трюм
	SetCrewQuantity(refNPCShipyard, 0);
	DeleteAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "Ship.Cargo");  //пустой трюм
	SetGoodsInitNull(refNPCShipyard);
    RecalculateCargoLoad(refNPCShipyard);

	FillShipyardShipBack(refNPCShipyard, sAttr);
	// бакапим атрибуты груза и матросов
	DeleteAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "BakCargo");
 	DeleteAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "BakCrew");
 	refNPCShipyard.BakCargo = "";
	makearef(arTo,   refNPCShipyard.BakCargo);
	makearef(arFrom, _chr.Ship.Cargo);
	CopyAttributes(arTo, arFrom);

	refNPCShipyard.BakCrew = "";
	makearef(arTo,   refNPCShipyard.BakCrew);
	makearef(arFrom, _chr.Ship.Crew);
	CopyAttributes(arTo, arFrom);
}

void DoBuyShip()
{
    aref    arTo, arFrom;
	int     iBuyMoney = GetBuyPrice(refNPCShipyard);

 	DeleteAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "BakCargo");
 	DeleteAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "BakCrew");
	DoSellShip(false);
	AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar, -iBuyMoney);

    AddCharacterExpToSkill(pchar, "Commerce", iBuyMoney / 700.0);
    Statistic_AddValue(pchar, "BuyShip", 1);

    FillShipyardShip(refNPCShipyard, sShipId); // то, что покупаем

    makearef(arTo,   xi_refCharacter.ship);
	makearef(arFrom, refNPCShipyard.Ship);
	CopyAttributes(arTo, arFrom);

	DeleteAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "shipyard." + sShipId);

    int iShip = sti(xi_refCharacter.ship.type);
    DeleteAttribute(&RealShips[iShip], "StoreShip"); // можно тереть

	if (CheckAttribute(refNPCShipyard, "BakCargo")) // есть бакап корабля
	{
        DeleteAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "Ship.Cargo");
		DeleteAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "Ship.Crew");

		xi_refCharacter.Ship.Cargo = "";
		makearef(arTo,   xi_refCharacter.Ship.Cargo);
		makearef(arFrom, refNPCShipyard.BakCargo);
		CopyAttributes(arTo, arFrom);

        xi_refCharacter.Ship.Crew = "";
		makearef(arTo,   xi_refCharacter.Ship.Crew);
		makearef(arFrom, refNPCShipyard.BakCrew);
		CopyAttributes(arTo, arFrom);

		AddCharacterCrew(xi_refCharacter, 0); // обрезать перегруз
	    RecalculateCargoLoad(xi_refCharacter);
	}
	if (sti(xi_refCharacter.index) == GetMainCharacterIndex())
	{
  		pchar.location.from_sea = sFrom_sea; // корабль в порту
	}
	DelBakSkill();
	RefreshShipLists();
}

void DoBuyShipMain()
{
	if (CheckAttribute(&GameInterface, CurTable + "." + CurRow + ".sShipId"))
	{
	    sShipId = GameInterface.(CurTable).(CurRow).sShipId;

		if (!bEmptySlot) // был коарбль или ГГ без корабля
		{
		    DoBuyShip();
		    ExitMsgMenu();
		}
		else
		{
		    ExitMsgMenu();
		    ShipChangeCaptan();
		}
	}
}

//////////////////// ремонт ///////////////
void ExitRepairMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("REPAIR_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("REPAIR_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", false);

	SetCurrentNode("SHIPS_SCROLL");
	sMessageMode = "";
}

void ShowRepairMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("REPAIR_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowDisable("REPAIR_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", true);

    SetRepairData();
	SetCurrentNode("REPAIR_CANCEL");
}

void SetRepairData()
{
	RepairSail = 0;
	RepairHull = 0;
 	RepairStatShow();
}

void RepairMoneyShow()
{
    int st = GetCharacterShipType(xi_refCharacter);

	SetFormatedText("REPAIR_WINDOW_TEXT", its(GetSailRepairCost(st, RepairSail) + GetHullRepairCost(st, RepairHull)));
}

void RepairStatShow()
{
    int hp = MakeInt(GetHullPercent(xi_refCharacter));
	int sp = MakeInt(GetSailPercent(xi_refCharacter));

	SetFormatedText("REPAIR_QTY_H", (hp+RepairHull) + "%");
	SetFormatedText("REPAIR_QTY_S", (sp+RepairSail) + "%");
	RepairMoneyShow();
}

void ClickRepairArror(string _type, int add)
{
    int st = GetCharacterShipType(xi_refCharacter);
    int i;
    int hp = MakeInt(GetHullPercent(xi_refCharacter));
	int sp = MakeInt(GetSailPercent(xi_refCharacter));

	if (_type == "hull")
	{
		if (add > 0)
		{
			if (sti(pchar.Money) >= (GetSailRepairCost(st, RepairSail) + GetHullRepairCost(st, RepairHull + add)))
		    {
		        RepairHull = RepairHull + add;
		    }
		    else
		    {
		        i = sti(pchar.Money) - (GetSailRepairCost(st, RepairSail) + GetHullRepairCost(st, RepairHull));
		        i = i / GetHullRepairCost(st, 1); // на сколько хватит
		        RepairHull = RepairHull + i;
		    }
		    if ((RepairHull + hp) > 100)  RepairHull = 100 - hp;
	    }
	    else
	    {
            RepairHull = RepairHull + add;
			if (RepairHull < 0)  RepairHull = 0;
	    }
	}
	else
	{
	    if (add > 0)
		{
			if (sti(pchar.Money) >= (GetSailRepairCost(st, RepairSail+ add) + GetHullRepairCost(st, RepairHull)))
		    {
		        RepairSail = RepairSail + add;
		    }
		    else
		    {
		        i = sti(pchar.Money) - (GetSailRepairCost(st, RepairSail) + GetHullRepairCost(st, RepairHull));
		        i = i / GetSailRepairCost(st, 1); // на сколько хватит
		        RepairSail = RepairSail + i;
		    }
		    if ((RepairSail+sp) > 100)  RepairSail = 100 - sp;
	    }
	    else
	    {
            RepairSail = RepairSail + add;
			if (RepairSail < 0)  RepairSail = 0;
	    }
	}
	RepairStatShow();
}

void RepairOk()
{
    int st = GetCharacterShipType(xi_refCharacter);
    int hp = MakeInt(GetHullPercent(xi_refCharacter));
	int sp = MakeInt(GetSailPercent(xi_refCharacter));
	float ret;

	if (RepairHull > 0)
	{
		timeHull = timeHull + RepairHull * (8-GetCharacterShipClass(xi_refCharacter));
	    AddCharacterExpToSkill(pchar, "Repair", (RepairHull * (7-GetCharacterShipClass(xi_refCharacter)) / 2.5));
		AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar, -GetHullRepairCost(st, RepairHull));

		ret = ProcessHullRepair(xi_refCharacter, stf(RepairHull));
	}
	if (RepairSail > 0)
	{
	  	timeRig = timeRig + RepairSail * (8-GetCharacterShipClass(xi_refCharacter));
	    AddCharacterExpToSkill(pchar, "Repair", (RepairSail * (7-GetCharacterShipClass(xi_refCharacter)) / 3.5));
		AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar,-GetSailRepairCost(st, RepairSail));

		ret = ProcessSailRepair(xi_refCharacter, stf(RepairSail));
	}
	if ((hp + RepairHull) >= 100)
	{
        xi_refCharacter.ship.hp = GetCharacterShipHP(xi_refCharacter);
		DeleteAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "ship.blots");
	}
	if ((sp+RepairSail) >= 100)
	{
		xi_refCharacter.ship.sp = GetCharacterShipSP(xi_refCharacter);
		//Boyer change to retain color/emblem after full repair
        string sEmblem = "none";
        string nColor = 0;

        if(CheckAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "ship.sails.color"))
            nColor = sti(xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.color);
        if(CheckAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "ship.sails.gerald_name"))
            sEmblem = xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.gerald_name;
        //End Boyer change
		DeleteAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "ship.sails");

		//Boyer change to retain color/emblem after repair
        if(sEmblem != "none")
            xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.gerald_name = sEmblem;
        if(nColor != 0)
            xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.color = nColor;
        //End Boyer change

		DeleteAttribute(xi_refCharacter, "ship.masts");
	}
	///
	ExitRepairMenu();
	st = sti(GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.current);
	FillShipsScroll();
	GameInterface.SHIPS_SCROLL.current = st;
	nCurScrollNum = st;
   	SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsl",MSG_INTERFACE_SCROLL_CHANGE,"SHIPS_SCROLL",-1);
	OnShipScrollChange();
	SetButtionsAccess();
}

void RepairAll()
{
    ClickRepairArror("sail", 100);
    ClickRepairArror("hull", 100);
}

int GetSailDamagePercent(ref _chr)
{
	return 100 - MakeInt(GetSailPercent(_chr));
}

int GetHullDamagePercent(ref _chr)
{
	return 100 - MakeInt(GetHullPercent(_chr));
}

int GetSailRepairCost(int shipType, int repairPercent)
{
	int shipPrice = GetShipPriceByType(shipType);
	if(shipPrice<=0) return 0;
	float scost = (shipPrice*sailCostPercent+99.0)/100.0;
	return makeint((scost*repairPercent+99.0)/100.0);
}

int GetHullRepairCost(int shipType,int repairPercent)
{
	int shipPrice = GetShipPriceByType(shipType);
	if(shipPrice<=0) return 0;
	float scost = (shipPrice*hullCostPercent+99.0)/100.0;
	return makeint((scost*repairPercent+99.0)/100.0);
}

void BuyShipEvent()
{
	if (GetSelectable("BUTTON_BUY"))
	{
	    ShowMessageInfo();
	}
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///////// PHILIPPE COULEUR DES VOILES (JA convert to COAS)
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void ChangeSelectScrollImage()
{
	string sNod = GetEventData();
	int nIdx = GetEventData();
	if( sNod=="SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR" || sNod=="SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME" )
	{
		if( sNod=="SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR" ) {
			GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR.current = nIdx;
		} else {
			GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.current = nIdx;
		}
		CheckChangeSailStatus();
	}
}
void FillSailsColorScroll()
{
	// fill colors list
	for (int i = 0; i < SAILS_COLOR_QUANTITY; i++)
	{
		string attrName = "pic" + (i + 1);
		GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR.(attrName).name1 = SailsColors[i].icon;
	}
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR.ListSize = SAILS_COLOR_QUANTITY;
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR.current = 0;

	SendMessage(&GameInterface,"ls",MSG_INTERFACE_REFRESH_SCROLL,"SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR");
	SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsll",MSG_INTERFACE_MSG_TO_NODE,"SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR", 1,1);

}

void FillEmblemesScroll()
{
	EnumerateIcons(GetResourceDirectory() + "textures\ships\gerald", "*.tga.tx", "SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME", 0);
	iEmblemNum = GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.listsize;
	iEmblemNum ++;

	string attrNameTmp = "pic" + (iEmblemNum);
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrNameTmp).name1 = "INTERFACES\Disketa_Empty.tga.tx";
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrNameTmp).FileName = "Disketa_Empty.tga.tx";
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrNameTmp).FileName.Name = "None";
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrNameTmp).FileName.Ext = "tx";

	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.ListSize = iEmblemNum;

	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.current = iEmblemNum;

	SetCurrentNode("SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME");

	SendMessage(&GameInterface,"ls",MSG_INTERFACE_REFRESH_SCROLL,"SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME");
	SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsll",MSG_INTERFACE_MSG_TO_NODE,"SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME", 1,1);
}

int ScrollGetTexture()
{
	string sName = GetEventData();
	int iPicIndex = GetEventData();
	string sScrollID = GetEventData();

	//Boyer change to new function as NFGetFile (NF) functions no longer exist in our source
	int iTexture = GetTexture(sName); //NFGetTexture(sScrollID, sName);

	return iTexture;
}
void CheckChangeSailStatus()
{
	bool bNewValue = true;
	if( CheckAttribute(Xi_refCharacter,"ship.sails.gerald_name") &&
		CheckAttribute(Xi_refCharacter,"ship.sails.color") )
	{
		bNewValue = false;

		int nColor = sti(GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR.current);
		int nEmblem = sti(GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.current);

		string sattr = "pic"+(nEmblem+1);
		if( GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(sattr).name1 != Xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.gerald_name ) {
			bNewValue = true; }
		if( SailsColors[nColor].color != Xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.color ) {
			bNewValue = true; }
	}
	SetSelectable( "CHANGE_SAILS_OK",bNewValue );
}

void SetChangeSailStartData()
{
	int n;

	int nColorIdx = -1;
	int nColor = argb(255,255,255,255);
	if( CheckAttribute(Xi_refCharacter,"ship.sails.color") ) {
		nColor = sti(Xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.color);
		trace("ship.sails.color=" + nColor);
	}
	for(n=0; n < SAILS_COLOR_QUANTITY; n++) {
		trace("SailsColors[n].color=" + SailsColors[n].color);

		if( sti(SailsColors[n].color) == nColor ) {
			nColorIdx = n;
			break;
		}
	}

	int nEmblemeIdx = -1;
	string sEmblemeName = "";
	if( CheckAttribute(Xi_refCharacter,"ship.sails.gerald_name") ) {
		sEmblemeName = Xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.gerald_name;
	}
	trace("sEmblemeName:" + sEmblemeName);

	string stmp;
	nEmblemeIdx = iEmblemNum;
	for(n=0; n<iEmblemNum; n++) {
		stmp = "pic" + (n+1);
		if( !CheckAttribute(&GameInterface,"SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME."+stmp+".name1") ) {break;}

		trace("checking emblem: " + GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(stmp).name1);
		if( GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(stmp).name1 == sEmblemeName ) {
			nEmblemeIdx = n;
			break;
		}
	}

	if( nColorIdx>=0 ) {
		SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsll",MSG_INTERFACE_MSG_TO_NODE,"SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR", 1,nColorIdx);
	}

	trace("nEmblemeIdx:" + nEmblemeIdx);

	if( nEmblemeIdx>=0 ) {
		SendMessage(&GameInterface,"lsll",MSG_INTERFACE_MSG_TO_NODE,"SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME", 1,nEmblemeIdx);
	}

	CheckChangeSailStatus();
}

void ChangeSails()
{
	int nComName = GetEventData();
	string sNodeName = GetEventData();
	if(sNodeName=="CHANGE_SAILS_OK")
	{
		if( nComName==ACTION_ACTIVATE || nComName==ACTION_MOUSECLICK ) {
			int nColorIdx = sti(GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_SAILS_COLOR.current);
			int nGeraldIdx = sti(GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.current);
			if( nColorIdx<0 || nGeraldIdx<0 ) {return;}

			Xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.color = SailsColors[nColorIdx].color;

			string attrName = "pic"+(nGeraldIdx+1);
			Xi_refCharacter.ship.sails.gerald_name = GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrName).name1;

			Log_SetStringToLog("GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrName).name1" + GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrName).name1);

			GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrName).name1;
			int icost = sti(RealShips[sti(Pchar.Ship.Type)].SP) * 30;
			AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar, -icost);

		}
	}
	ExitSailscolorsMenu();
}

void ShowSailscolorsMenu()
{
	XI_WindowShow("CHANGE_SAIL_WINDOW", true);
	XI_WindowShow("MAIN_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("CHANGE_SAIL_WINDOW", false);
	XI_WindowDisable("MAIN_WINDOW", true);

	SetCurrentNode("CHANGE_SAIL_CANCEL");

}

void ExitSailscolorsMenu()
{
	IDoExit(RC_INTERFACE_ANY_EXIT);
}

[Jeffrey]

Ha! I fixed the selection of emblems and also got them to show on sails. That required work on both the back-end for the selection, and some fixing up in the script code. Check it:

[Schiavonna]

Jeffrey – I can’t get your Sails fix to work.

I get thrown out of the dialogue with Shipwright when I try to click on the “change colour of sails” option.

CAN ANYONE ELSE GIVE SOME FEEDBACK ON THIS AND TRY IT OUT? Might just be my bugged game

[Jeffrey]

Sorry, about that. It’s not just you…none of this uploaded yet as my post was just demonstrating the discovery shortly after I made it. I wasn’t even looking to correct it, but when I came across a missing feature I needed for the new version, I discovered the way to get the sails and emblems to work. The new version is coming in a couple days, but it should work in the existing game too. I will let you know when everything is worked out and available as I’m still working through final tests.

[Jeffrey]

Geez, I’m terrible. I misunderstood you to refer to the emblems, which are not available yet. I get it…I posted the code to keep the sail colors after repair and that is what you’re asking about. I posted the new version by mistake, thinking that is for the existing game. That won’t work. This will:
https://mega.nz/#!mslHGIZR!0h8BbcMwSTsvnV_EEHl-czyY0soBnpOAmt798c0W3YQ

Sorry about the trouble.

[Schiavonna]

Thanks again Jeffrey – new file worked a treat. I bypassed the emblem place-holder with changes to the Lines 1553 & 1554 of that new shipyard.c (February 24, 2017 at 4:17 am post)

	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrNameTmp).name1 = "INTERFACES\Disketa_Other.tga.tx";
	GameInterface.SHIP_WINDOW_EMBLEME.(attrNameTmp).FileName = "Disketa_Other.tga.tx";

Then made up new transparent texture called “Disketa_Other.tga.tx” for RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES\…

…and voila! Ugly place-holder icon gone, we now have fully working “repairable” coloured sails – tried and tested! 🙂

Stop apologising – I love testing your builds!

[modernknight1]

WARNING – OFF TOPIC

Schiavona, Just as a short “shout out” – I just got the chance to look through the models you sent me. Most of them are in the game in some form already. One of the mercenaries was just too dark and while I love what you have done with the Jacquotte model, I have stayed away from female models with midriffs exposed in this mod. Its just too cliche and unrealistic in my opinion for this period. But I think she is totally hot and I recommend that you offer your models with pictures to feature them to our community in the User Created Mods section here: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/member-contributed-mods-for-gof-eras/ LINK

I think members and non-members alike will want to download them for their own games.

We will definitely use the reskin you did of the old Blacksmoke James character though. I like that one. Nice job!

Off topic I had a good friend a couple years ago who came up with one of those clever little millennial acronyms. She calls it IJPAL which means “I just peed a little”. She says its only for girls but I disagree.

The reason I bring this up is because I was going to just type this all in a PM – but when I just saw the CAPMD texture you offered I wanted to state for everyone in the community to see that you have provided me with the best laugh I’ve had in the whole new year! My God Man I almost PEED MY PANTS!

For anyone wondering what this could be about, think about the little portrait in your cabin on the wall and envision it changing to portray a person that I openly dislike very much with a certain dictator’s face photo-shopped over his face. I almost lost it!

Thank you mate for the excellent humor and the great laugh. That won’t be going in the game, but I appreciate the sentiment and thought! HILARIOUS!!!!!!

MK

[Stéphane]

just started a new game with the 2.6 and i have this bug with lights :

[Stéphane]

well, i tried changing res to another settings , 1440*900 , 1920*1080 , and game crashed as soon as i land in the docks .. i set back to 2560*1440 and now i have no more lights bugs ……

can’t explain ….

[Jeffrey]

This is interesting because I’ve been running this at 1920*1080.

[Stéphane]

Another thing , any idea how to change UI size for 2560*1440 ? it’s hard to read info on foot or in a ship …

I tried to modify the RESOURCE/INI/interfaces , but i didn’t manage to have an apropriate result

[Jeffrey]

Post up a screen shot and describe what parts of the screen you want resized. That will help pinpoint what needs to be modified for the display you are wanting resized.

[Stéphane]

The UI where you see the ships, nav , wind , and canon balls when you are at see , and when you are at foot , where you see your team, the detail of time/location , and fast travel

[Jeffrey]

OK, find this file, and these lines:

battle_interface/BattleInterface.c

This is the place, date time
BattleInterface.textinfo.Date.scale = 0.9;
BattleInterface.textinfo.Location.scale = 0.9;
BattleInterface.textinfo.Speed.scale = 0.9;
BattleInterface.textinfo.Ammo.scale = 0.9;
BattleInterface.textinfo.Ammo2.scale = 0.9;

These are the ship names/crew number
BattleInterface.ShipIcon.sailorfontscale		= 1.1;
BattleInterface.ShipIcon.shipnamefontscale		= 1.1;

These are the fast command labels
BattleInterface.CommandList.CommandNoteScale = 1.0;

Bump the numbers up slightly, trial/error and find what size you like.

[Stéphane]

thanks a lot, you are a master 🙂

[Stéphane]

It work pretty well for ship interface , but didn’t change the UI for land , i tried to find, but i didn’t manage, sry to ask again 🙂

[Orazio]

Have you tried changing ‘showWindow.aspectRatio’ to 1.0 in Program\INTERFACE\interface.c?
I found this somewhere in SD:TEHO Steam discussions, and it made those UI buttons squared, as they should be. At least at the resolution I play with (1366×768).

[Jeffrey]

Indeeed. Looks like those are all set in battle_interface/LandInterface.c. I suppose that makes sense 🙂

Find these lines and raise the values similarly:

objLandInterface.textinfo.islandname.scale = 0.9;
objLandInterface.textinfo.villagename.scale = 0.9;
objLandInterface.textinfo.locationname.scale = 0.9;
objLandInterface.textinfo.datatext.scale = 0.9;
objLandInterface.CommandList.CommandNoteScale = 1.0;

I decided to raise them myself to 1.5 as part of an update since they are tiny with the new font.

[Anonymous]

First impression: you worked a lot!
Second thought : game crashes at random situations (starting with a new character – Blaze Devlin Pirate level, loading an old game – already lost some playing time because i couldn’t load any of the saves i had – playing with John Strong Commodore level, and some texture failures in jungle – i use Nvidia 950 gtx, 16 gigs of Ram, windows 8.1 )

And finally : thanks again for this game 🙂

[Jeffrey]

Keep in mind that the DirectX 9 version was converted by me, requiring a compile against different DX includes and changes to many types/methods that are no longer supported in a conversion from 8 to 9; there may ultimately be differences that don’t work for different hardware types that I can’t adequately test against because I don’t have access to that hardware here at home; if it works on my machine without fail, I can’t address other types that do have problems because I don’t have an array of machines with different O/S and hardware configurations to further test. If it works for me, I can’t foresee whether it will work for something like Nvidia because I don’t have it myself.

That said, if someone is having a problem like these types of crashes, the DirectX 8 version is virtually unchanged from the original vanilla, save for the crash mitigation I was able to experience and fix from the original game’s longstanding problems, like the memory leaks, battleinterface, geometry, mast fall and sea crash problems; I got those crashes and was able to resolve them in both DX8 and DX9. So if you continue to have crash problems with DX9, where it might be hardware related to some DX9 particularities, try the DirectX 8 version. You can load games saved in our DX9 version with our DX8 version and still try them:
https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

ERAS2.6DX8

Just copy over the .exe and modules .dll and techniques folder.

Also, older save games from ERAS 1.5 will NOT work. I tried several things to somehow get them to work, but the global variable changes, item, location, ship, character and other arrays were expanded and no trick I know worked to get them compatible; I did try though.

[modernknight1]

Well we have noticed a few graphic anomalies in testing, so hopefully you guys will continue to report on what you see so we can get them sorted out.

Thanks for the compliments.

Old saves from previous versions are never going to work with this version. Too much has changed.

Jeffrey and I are already talking about a minor update patch.

MK

[Anonymous]

Another start, a different kind of crash – when i tried to visit a Pirates ship, following his proposal.
I will delete the game and try it at some point later, when i have more time to test – and i will offer more feedback.
GL to you all !

[Jeffrey]

An update is already available for some issues:
https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

Copy them into the game directory, overwriting existing files.

[Stéphane]

Since i installed the update i can’t play in full screen mode, only in window …
Launching game, i only have a black screen and don’t get the menu

[modernknight1]

Stephane, I think this could be because some of Jeffrey’s test game options defaults are already set to his liking when you get the new updates.

I recommend the following: Open your start file and make certain that full screen is set to 0

Also save a copy of your options file and put it somewhere safe before you update. This way if options change, you have your own options file to throw in and override the new one.

If you have an older version of GOF ERAS laying around, take the options file out of that one and overwrite the one you have now.

MK

[Stéphane]

In fact, i checked the start file, full screen was on 0 , changing to 1 resolved the issue 🙂

[modernknight1]

LOL AWESOME! Glad you got it running right for you again!

MK

[Blas de Lezo]

Hi again.

First of all,THANKS for this new version is a great improve.Thanks to everyone make this possible Mk,Jeffrey,Orazio etc I love this mod.

Second,a list of bugs(i think):

-Bodden’s Landing trade markers from store(blue and green) dont show.

-Bodden’s Landing port controller is empty?

-Bodden’s Landing store dont buy slaves.Okay in tavern there is a smuggler but is a little bit hilarious

-In enemy cabin (ships 6 class i dont know in other class occurs the same) the enemy captain sometimes is invisible so you stuck in cabin or you can attack to the “air” and maybe see blood(hit until there is no blood and you can continue)

– In this new version Store is often “busy” and cant trade.Okay no problem,rest in tavern till next day a go to the store again…the problem is sometimes you must do it in bucle a lot of days time after time(record 16 days store says that is “busy” in pirates landing) i dont know if this is normal.

Thanks

[modernknight1]

Hello Blas,

Thanks so much for the bug report.

OK so if you are having problems with crew members disappearing I suspect that your memory page file caps and compatibility are not set to enjoy the mod to its full capacity. These problems will get worse over time if the following isn’t done on your system. This is explained in the Tweaks and Tips topic here: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/tweaks-and-tips/

In Bodden’s landing I wanted a town, but I wanted it to be lawless and without order. So there is no port controller and no priest. Stores will often be busy in numerous places. As you level up, As your trading abilities increase and your reputation goes up, they will be less and less busy. There were many things originally written into the code that were not working properly. When Jeffrey cleaned everything up many things now works as they were originally supposed to. This is the same for navigation. Until you have high capabilities, you will often notice the city icons missing from the “sail to” tab. This is to force you to manually sail into harbors until your abilities are higher.

I didn’t think about the smuggler in a pirate port, we just did it. Think of it that he is there to pick up goods to smuggle to other places. Also he will be available to transport you somewhere if you become marooned without a ship on Caiman which is far more possible now with the maroon mod in place.

I think I know why the blue and green markers on restricted goods don’t show up. I didn’t even think about that. Thanks.

Keep the input coming. Its very much appreciated. Would like to hear from as many people as possible. I hope you like all of the new Spanish flags!

MK

[Blas de Lezo]

Yes, i love the new improvements,you made a little gem about golde age of piracy with a lot of historical and realistic stuff.Seriously,you make a new complete and historical game using the old and buggy storm engine.

I dont play spanish questline yet because i started with “blackbeard” to test the game but now after some captured prizes i cant stop to play with him heheh
but i saw some of the new flags and are amazing and you includes new historical characters like Amaro Pargo.

With this game you are always reading and learning about history in golden age of piracy and the best thing aobut it is that you said you are not finished the mod yet and want to update a minimum one time per year,so i have no words for express my gratitude to everyone who make this mod possible.

About the bugs:
-I have no problem with enemy crew(when i boarding always appear my crew and the enemy) the problem is sometimes with certain class 6 ship the enemy captain is invisible but he is in his cabin.A quick fix for this or solution is “hit the air” until you see blood and do it until you can unlock and advance to the next screen.

[Orazio]

@chezjfrey, here I am with another graphical glitch for you!
I’ve finally downloaded ERAS, so I can test my galleon there, and noticed this:

I think the game engine is rendering both sides of the polygons, while it should only render one, from which normals “emanate”.
In some situations, to create very thin objects like cloth or paper, I cloned the model and inverted its normals, to have the two sides without thickness. Since normally one side isn’t rendered, the fact that the two clones were overlapping caused no issue.
But here both sides of each polygon seem to be rendered, so the two clones are kind of fighting to decide which one should show its texture.

I also noticed a strange shadowing in the ship, but I suspect it’s because of this reason too, as the game engine is probably confused when calculating light by the fact that both sides of each polygons are being rendered.

[Jeffrey]

Can you do me a favor? Go to
https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Download the ERAS2.6DX8.zip Move your START.exe, start.ini and the modules folder to another folder/place for safekeeping, then place the DX8 start.exe, start.ini and modules/techniques in the game folder and run the same test. I want to see if DX8 renders that correctly. I suspect it might be something about the DX8 to DX9 change.

[Jeffrey]

While we’re at it…can you send me the files so I can review/investigate as well?

[Orazio]

If you want to check yourself, take a look at both my cabins. On the table there are maps. They show the same problem, usually the back side wins and can’t see the details of the map, just blank paper.
Also, the bed in nc_cabin2 has those two “curtains” hanging from the pole that supports the bed, they are made of the same model cloned and inverted and they show this issue.

[Orazio]

— mistake: double post —

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Orazio.

[Orazio]

I’m now 99% convinced that the problem is both sides of each polygon being rendered.
This is the space inside the forecastle planking, as you can see the internal faces are being rendered, but they shouldn’t and I should be able to see through them.

One curious thing I noticed is that pressing ESC apparently fixes this, altough the shadows on the ship still look bugged, with the polygons facing down brighter.

[Schiavonna]

Regarding these double/schizophrenic textures: I’ve noticed these issues on the previous dx9 compiled source build too. In my case, I notice it corrects itself immediately if you QUICKSAVE in the game…which isn’t really a solution, just an observation.

I haven’t got time tonight Jeffrey – but I could demonstrate the bug clearer with screenshots tomorrow if you wish

[Schiavonna]

Here’s some short videos demonstrating the glitch. I’m using the French galeon rapide (La_Licorne1), which ALWAYS has this bug.

It seems to use the proper RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\La_Licorne1\Hull1\deck.tga.tx texture, but…

… {same path as above}\desk.tga.tx texture is flickering over the top of it – !!

Link to vids

(KEY: !ryS34e8RaKVp7no1Q8vqRw)

[Jeffrey]

I chose L’Ollannais since he starts with the Licorne. I have confirmed that this flickering happens when first entering sea mode, only with DirectX 9, and also, as you mentioned, will immediately stop doing this when any interface screen is displayed. Quick Save throws up a small interface display, and stops it. F2 character display screens stop it.

The DirectX 8 doesn’t do it at all.

I have yet no idea why they respond differently to the initial render of the ship.

[Orazio]

That’s because the engine is rendering both sides of each polygon.

To define the space on a ship inside which you can move when in first person view, the game uses a path file, that is basically a plane corresponding to the decks with holes for those parts you want collisions, like cannons or bulkheads.
This path file serves just as a guide, so it must be invisible in game. Sometimes an invisible texture is used to hide it; other times it uses a normal texture (like desk.tga.tx for La_Licorne), but it’s reversed, so that the only side rendered is facing downwards and won’t be visible.
But if both sides are rendered, then it will conflict with the actual deck and generate those flickering artifacts.

[Jeffrey]

As my test with the Licorne showed, the same holds true for your new ship. DirectX 9 renders those spots incorrectly at first sea load, but any time an interface display (ESC, F2, quicksave, etc.), it corrects itself.

DirectX 8 renders it correctly.

Same issue, same result.

[Jeffrey]

Ah ha! I think I’ve identified the likely culprit. In DX8, they used a Render State setting D3DRS_ZBIAS, which they removed in DX9 and replaced with either D3DRS_DEPTHBIAS or D3DRS_SLOPESCALEDEPTHBIAS, use of which needs to be determined and figured based on what the render is supposed to achieve. I made a guess as to which setting to use, and a guess at a comparable value. I clearly guessed wrong. I will research to see how to figure this.

[modernknight1]

I believe this issue is still existent on a few ships even in directX8 and I don’t know why. If you look at a few ships like the old light stock galleon and the Spanish Fast Galleon, they both flicker sometimes. In addition, if you look closely at the damage texture “blot.tga” that applies to these ships in combat at certain angles you will notice that they float slightly away from the skin as if in the air rather than on the wood surface.

I’ve also noticed certain items like some character model’s hats and the blankets in Orazio’s cabin bed flicker at certain times. This is only in our DX9 version. I have emailed a friend of mine in the game industry who is an expert on this stuff and I am hoping he will drop by and have a look.

MK

[Jeffrey]

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

OK, try the Update.zip to correct that flickering texture issue on ship’s first load at sea.

[Blas de Lezo]

I think a found 2 bugs but they are from the vanilla game.

Playing as (overrated)Blackbeard with 5 ships,if i leave the port La vega the fifth ship(and i suppose if you have 6,7 and 8 ships too ) appears in Santo Domingo harbor 🙂 so the fort destroy quickly the ship or sometimes damaged badly even you give the order to sail away and you must wait the ship is destroyed or go away to safe zone to continue to navegation map.

So today i started a new gameplay with an amazing historical character,Amaro Pargo which was added in new version by MK.
But in Santo Domingo tavern the quest “pirates proposition” dont work for me.
The pirate captain say to me that meet him in his ship in the near shorewaters,the quest book updated with the name of the ship but i dont know if im doing something wrong but the ship never appears and quickly the mission moved to the completed log quests.
I tried (9 times in my log book) this quest with different captains(when i moved to the tavern other captain talk to me and obtain the same mission again) but with the same result.
I go to the harbor,even move to fort and lighthouse santo domingo but i only see spanish ships.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, those are two problems from the original game that have not been corrected.

1. There are a few ports that if one has 5 or more ships in their squadron, the 5th (or more) ship will wind up in a bad spot (if an enemy of that adjacent port). I know that Le Francois will have that problem where the extra ships will be in Fort-de-France’s harbor. Same problem in Puerto Principe, where the extra ships will go to Santiago’s harbor.

2. I have also noticed the problem with Pirate missions in Santo Domingo and can never find the captain. Usually, in any other place, you can find it in the sail-to feature. However, I recently discovered one by accident when in Santiago. The ship did not show in the sail-to, but for some reason, I decided to direct sail for awhile toward Hispaniola, from Santiago. On my way, I spied a ship on the far horizon with my spyglass and for fun, decided to creep up and attack. But alas, as I got closer, I realized it was the waiting captain, far away from the port. I wonder if the same thing happens in Santo Domingo? Maybe they are put too far away, but are really out there somewhere? I intend to look next time.

[Orazio]

I tried the update.zip and the flickering issue seems to be gone.
However, ships are still being shaded in the wrong way, as if they were upside down: polygons facing up are darkened, while polygons facing down are brightened, like the sunlight was coming from under the ship!
This happens in both the DX9 and DX8 versions. Check these screenshots:

ERAS2

Vanilla game:

Also notice how the ship is darker in the first screenshot: look at the deck under the yellow tent or the main mast to see the difference.

And one last thing, in the update.zip the cursor is appearing even when it shouldn’t, outside of menus and interfaces…

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Orazio.

[Jeffrey]

Wow, I didn’t even notice the cursor. Blind. That is now corrected in the update.zip.

Baby steps.

[Jeffrey]

Don’t ever make me do this again!

I have a working/compiling copy of the original source given me; it didn’t have this issue. So I made another copy of that, then started applying my changes, module by module, compile after each module update, then launch and check the results…until I got the problem you describe. Bizarre…you know what it is? Weather.dll. Of course since I went down the list, and they are alphabetical, it was nearly the last one. This was a tedious and painful process. Ugh!

Anyway, now all that’s left is to compare the source for the various programs I’ve updated in Weather with the original files to see what it might be. I’ll be able to figure it out.

[Jeffrey]

OK, got it.
https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

DX8 is also fixed/uploaded.
https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

ERAS2.6DX8

[Orazio]

Eh eh sorry Jeffrey, but we want this mod to have good graphics, without artifacts or missing features like shadows, don’t we?

I tried the update.zip, and ships are now shaded correctly. Congratulations for fixing another glitch! I knew you would have eventually figured out this one too.
Unfortunately, there is a ‘however’ (two actually, please don’t hate me)!
1. The flickering issue seems to be still present when the ship is moored and you look at her from the city. This is not necessarily as bad as the previous one, but it would be great if we could get rid of all these glitches.
2. Almost every time I start a new game and go to the ship in 3D sailing mode, I get the loading screen, then it gets interrupted by another loading screen and the game restarts! I don’t mean a crash, it just restarts from the very beginning, when you are on the ship and that sailor approaches you…

[Jeffrey]

#1: Using your same ship, that same tent spot, I see it. Unfortunately, I’m still not sure what the cause is. Right now, it looks to be purely a difference somewhere in DX9 handling, vs. DX8, since my code is identical in all respects save the mandated DirectX version differences, but I am unsure where to start looking. Unsure of the root cause, in the meantime I must confess that I have employed a workaround using the knowledge that the interface launch eradicated the phenomenon in our previous scenario. However, that same workaround does not appear to work for sitting on land, watching the ship in port and it very clearly has to do with the constant ‘updates’ that are run many times per second. If you initiate ‘quick save,’ for the instant the message is displayed, you can see it render correctly, then as soon as the display is gone, it reverts to the flicker again. For whatever reason, when in sea 3D mode, once it hits that spot once, it ‘sticks’. I will continue my best to research the hows/whys, but for now this is where we stand on that issue.

#2: I can’t reproduce your problem myself, no matter how many new games I launch. However, it’s possible my interface workaround might have something to do with it, so I placed it far later in the process to see if that helps you. This revision is now available in update.zip.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

[Orazio]

No, it still happens.
This time I was restarting first from Peter Blood’s mansion, but nobody was there, then again from the deck of the ship.
Am I the only one experiencing this when I try to go to my ship?

[Jeffrey]

Orazio, I figured this out. Anyone that has obtained the Update.zip after the ‘fix’ for that flickering ship texture will need the newest download:
https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

That particular change caused the problem with only starting new games. What happens is that the last ‘interface state’ is still set to RC_INTERFACE_DO_NEW_GAME (because after you exit the tutorial deck, and haven’t done anything else, it stays there). If you immediately board your ship, the game starts the sea load, then with my new fix to ‘enter a blank interface’ as a workaround, it calls back InterfaceDoExit and since that RC_INTERFACE_DO_NEW_GAME is still set, restarts again, but is all confused because some stuff is already set up and goes bonkers (Peter Blood empty mansion, or right back to tutorial are the consequence).

In my workaround, I simply added a change to the state, setting to RC_INTERFACE_DO_NOTHING, which both still retains the flicker fix, and solves this problem I added. I never noticed initially because I didn’t start a new game after the workaround fix; it only happens to new games and if one does not do any interface launch and immediately tries to enter ship. Saving a game right then, then reloading also solved the problem because now the interface state is blank on game load. Anyway, all moot because it’s now fixed.

I actually found the problem while debugging the 64-bit version, because I was starting a bunch of new games, consistently got the problem and debugged.

Everyone, get the newest update.zip for this important fix.

[Jeffrey]

New update. Fixes the occasional missing sail-to for some shores/towns. Longstanding bug in the game, that the newer compiler accentuated/exacerbated. Was a problem with ‘undefined behavior’ for a certain un-initialized variable.

DirectX 9 (Update.zip) https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

DirectX 8 (ERAS2.6DX8 folder) https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

[Stéphane]

Some days ago, playing with Ducasse , each time i load my save game with the character in the tavern, i had a black screen immediatly after… so i left the game playing other game … then coming back and reading some post, i run the start.exe with xp3 compatibility ( i m on W10 ) … and … no more crash! , this resolved my black screen problem, i can continue to play …

[Jeffrey]

Yes, it bears repeating. I think MK and I discovered this was essential for his stability (though I didn’t seem to have this problem running the same Win7 he does). We added it to the SetupNotes.txt in the Update.zip, but it can certainly be repeated often for anyone experiencing problems. Set the compatibility to XP. So far, that setting has done well to resolve a number of issues.

Thanks for mentioning that setting worked for you.

[Hraktuus]

First, I want to let you know that my testing is ongoing and I have other minor bugs and nitpicks that will be in my full report. I have been reporting severe bugs directly to MK.

The first was the double barrelled musket bug, where Humphrey Douglas’s musket would just disappear upon completion of the quest. This was a simple fix, though, thanks to an old buho fix for it.

I’m going to explain the fix for anyone that currently has the problem. Note that this will not work on a savegame after you’ve already given him the musket and it has disappeared. Make sure to save before you give him the musket.

The file that needs to be changed is ForAll_dialog.c which is located in Program\DIALOGS\russian\Quest. In the file (which can be opened by a free program like Notepad++), search for DoubleMushket. You will find this:

AddQuestRecord(“SeekDoubleMushket”, “3”);
CloseQuestHeader(“SeekDoubleMushket”);
AddMoneyToCharacter(pchar, -sti(Npchar.quest.OfficerPrice.add));
npchar.model = “MusketeerEnglish_2”;
npchar.model.animation = “mushketer”;
npchar.MusketerDistance = 5;
npchar.greeting = “Gr_questOfficer”;
npchar.Dialog.Filename = “Enc_Officer_dialog.c”;
Pchar.questTemp.HiringOfficerIDX = GetCharacterIndex(Npchar.id);
npchar.OfficerWantToGo.DontGo = true; //не пытаться уйти
npchar.loyality = MAX_LOYALITY;
AddDialogExitQuestFunction(“LandEnc_OfficerHired”);
NextDiag.CurrentNode = NextDiag.TempNode;
NPChar.quest.meeting = true;
DialogExit();

Between npchar.loyality = MAX_LOYALITY; and AddDialogExitQuestFunction(“LandEnc_OfficerHired”); add this line:

LAi_type_warrior_Init(npchar);

Now when you give him the musket he will have it and his bullets and fire it in combat just fine. Thanks for buho for this old fix.

—–

Now, onto the second quest breaking bug that I have not been able to completely fix. This is a major issue in the Kill the Beggars questline. It has to do with the key found in the Keymaster’s house after paying him to make it, and the letter found on Oliver Trust’s desk near the end of the questline. These will appear just time the first time you go to get them, but if you reload a savegame before getting these items (even outside of the house they are in), they will not be there. This means if you die in the fights, you are basically stuck and the quest is broken.

For anyone with this problem, the only way to continue the quest without editing files is to reload a savegame that takes place before the last step of the quest. So you need to save before you talk to the keymaster and pay him to make that key and save before talking to the diplomat in a pirate town to get Oliver Trust’s location. Reloading those saves will ensure the items will appear. Just make sure you don’t die in the fights and save after you get the items. Make sure for all of these saves to save in different slots.

Now, onto why I’m not being able to fix this in the code. Making it so the key always appears is easy, but making it so the letter always appears messes with the descriptions (the way I’m trying to fix it at least). If you look in inititems.c in Program/ITEMS , you will find:

makeref(itm,Items[n]); //ключ для линейки ГПК
itm.id = “keyQuestLSC”;
itm.name = “itmname_keyQuestLSC”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_keyQuestLSC”;
itm.model = “keymiddle”;
itm.picIndex = 15;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_12”;
itm.shown = 0; //сначала ключ невидим
itm.startLocation = “Villemstad_houseSp5”;
itm.startLocator = “item2”;
itm.Weight = 0.0;
itm.price = 0;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

makeref(itm,Items[n]); //письмо для линейки ГПК
itm.id = “letter_LSC”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

For keyQuestLSC, changing it to itm.shown = 1; is enough to get the key to appear, no problem.

It’s not a simple fix for letter_LSC, however, as that item is tied to three items with different descriptions (one letter in the Dutch governer-general’s chest you need the key for, one letter of Oliver Trust’s desk, and one letter in the Fernando Diffindur chest in the City of Abandoned Ships).

Adding the line itm.shown = 1; isn’t enough to fix it as it needs a location and locator, but even adding those doesn’t truly fix the problem.

makeref(itm,Items[n]);
itm.id = “letter_LSC”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.shown = 1;
itm.startLocation = “Marigo_HouseH2”;
itm.startLocator = “item1”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

This will ensure the letter always appears. However, it will have the wrong name and description (the same as the one in the Dutch GG’s chest). The names for the three different letters are itmname_letter_LSC, itmname_letter_LSC_1, and itmname_letter_LSC_2. The descriptions for the three different letters are itmdescr_letter_LSC, itmdescr_letter_LSC_1, and itmdescr_letter_LSC_2. Changing the lines to having one of those names and descriptions changes the those for all of the letters.

I thought I almost had a fix when I edited the items_utilite.c file, changing (_itemId == “letter_LSC”) to (_itemId == “letter_LSC_1”) and changing the itm.id, itm.name, and itm.describe lines in inititems.c to correspond with that, as well as adding the original lines back in above to ensure the letter in the GG’s chest had a separate name and descriptions. Hence it looked like this:

makeref(itm,Items[n]); //письмо для линейки ГПК
itm.id = “letter_LSC”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

makeref(itm,Items[n]);
itm.id = “letter_LSC_1”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC_1”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC_1”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.shown = 1;
itm.startLocation = “Marigo_HouseH2”;
itm.startLocator = “item1”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

This completely fixed the issues with those two items and the quest still worked correctly. However, when I went to the City of Abandoned Ships and looked in the Fernando Diffindur chest, that letter was the same as the letter in the GG’s chest. I’m guessing if I found all of the locators and the like I could just add another set of lines like the above for letter_LSC_2, but the fact is using the unedited file, all of the letters have the right descriptions. I’ve been looking through a lot of files, a lot of which you can find letter_LSC in or other things relating to the quest. I’m guessing there is a file or files having to do with these quests that I’m just not finding. The real problem is I just don’t know where to look to fix this.

[Hraktuus]

Since I thought of added a third set of lines for letter_LSC_2, I gave it a try, and it really seems to have worked, and without locators too.

makeref(itm,Items[n]); //письмо для линейки ГПК
itm.id = “letter_LSC”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

makeref(itm,Items[n]);
itm.id = “letter_LSC_1”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC_1”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC_1”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.shown = 1;
itm.startLocation = “Marigo_HouseH2”;
itm.startLocator = “item1”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

makeref(itm,Items[n]);
itm.id = “letter_LSC_2”;
itm.name = “itmname_letter_LSC_2”;
itm.describe = “itmdescr_letter_LSC_2”;
itm.model = “letter”;
itm.picIndex = 16;
itm.picTexture = “ITEMS_4”;
itm.price = 0;
itm.Weight = 0.1;
itm.ItemType = “QUESTITEMS”;
n++;

It seems all letters are showing up properly with the right names, descriptions, and quest effects. I need to start another test playthrough to be sure. My current test character started in Willemstad, which likely means the letter spawned there at the very beginning of the game. I need to play as a French or Spanish character and do the Kill the Beggars questline again to see if all three letters are how they are supposed to be. If this fix works, then that’s great, but I still have the nagging feeling there is a different way to fix it.

(EDIT: Also this did require changing letter_LSC to letter_LSC_1 in the items_utilite.c file as stated before. This is absolutely necessary so that picking up the letter will trigger the logbook entry.)

Um, just a side note while I’m thinking about it. Boden’s Landing is basically identical to Willemstad, which means the house of the Keymaster is there as well as the same GG’s chest in the governor’s mansion. Funny enough, you can get the key from the keymaster and go all the way to Boden’s Landing, open the chest there, and it will have the same letter as in Willemstad. In fact the chests have the exact same loot as in Willemstad. There’s really no reason for a player to go do this (you only get one key anyways), but it’s something to be noted moving foward when editing Boden’s Landing.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Hraktuus.

[Jeffrey]

Great discoveries and information about resolutions for those old bugs from the original game. Though you mention some nagging thoughts about the side-effect of duplicate letter in Bodden’s Landing, with your first pass at a fix, I am sure with a few tweaks, it can be rectified to both fix the original issue, but also prevent the rather minor side-effect; your input is great.

[Jeffrey]

These will appear just time the first time you go to get them, but if you reload a savegame before getting these items (even outside of the house they are in), they will not be there. This means if you die in the fights, you are basically stuck and the quest is broken.

I think I have a method to fix this. Does anyone happen to have a couple saves, just prior to talking to the diplomat for the Trust letter and/or a save just before talking to the keymaster in Caracao? I want to test this out.

[modernknight1]

Thanks for all of the detective work. BTW Hraktuus in testing the Kill the Beggars and COAS questlines has made it in record time to my knowledge. It is still 1665 in his game and he didn’t use the cheat menu!

MK

[Hraktuus]

Yep! Made it to the CoAS at 20 March 1665 17:50. Mind you it’s on Sailor with the fastest experience gain plus 10 Talent. I made it as easy as possible without cheat. I’d like to do a speed run on impossible.

I changed the item weights to 0.0 as the Oliver Trust letter stays in your inventory upon getting to the CoAS (it’s supposed to disappear, but since it’s listed as letter_LSC_1 and not letter_LSC, it doesn’t). It worked fine, so no 0.1 weight potentially keeping you from picking up that extra gem.

The fix still isn’t perfect. I found on the first swim to the Diffindur the right letter shows up, but on reload and swimming there again the wrong letter shows up. Everything else is working, but that is still a problem. As long as players immediately swim to the Diffindur (this is highly recommended to do upon first reaching CoAS anyways), get the letter, and save the game after, it will still be the right letter. It’s just a pain that it’s still the wrong letter after a reload. I know there has to be a file handling these letters for the quest.

One other oddity to note. It’s not a big deal, and it’s probably unrelated to the letters. Oliver Trust will get up out of his chair and run to the player if the player was in a fight in the jungle with bandits prior to entering Marigot. It doesn’t break the quest, but you can’t talk to him when he does this, thus you miss out on some dialogue. As long as you don’t get in a fight outside the town beforehand, he behaves normally.

[Hraktuus]

Oh well, the fix doesn’t really work. Peter Blood is eating spyglasses now.

I tried, lol. I realize this probably has to do with some sort of item count. For now everyone just needs to be cautious with their savegames as stated earlier.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Hraktuus.

[Hraktuus]

Well, there’s a related bug in the Pirate quest line. When going to get Richard Sawkins’s log, the log doesn’t show up in his room. I’m guessing the ladder for climbing in the back window isn’t showing up either (I’m not finding it anywhere).

I made it so it would appear in the inititems file, which had the side effect of making Peter Blood eat gems now. lol I had to do this for now so I can continue with the playthrough. Loading a previous save wasn’t an option as I had done far too much between the last quest log and going to get Sawkin’s log (like finishing the Austin quest and getting the last of the Teno quest totems).

Anyways, I’m thinking this is going to be a problem with any quest that has items that appear at some point. I wonder why this has become a problem? I never remember this bug in old playthroughs.

[fruitn]

So I have a (pirate) quest about taking the gold from a French fleet. When I take the last ship, it surrenders, I sink it, I get a black screen instead of meeting up on the beach. Could it be that we have moved too far away from said beach?
I get plenty of graphic issues, all non gamebreaking. Mostly light sources suddenly spreading horisontally through the office of governeurs.

Oh how I have missed sailing around playing pirate 🙂
Found me a back of English origin, something about military pay being taken. Sold it for 200k, so was suddenly very easy to get somewhere. Strange thing to loot from a corpse on a pirateship. Is there no difference on the loot table between captains and crew?

One of those pirate propositions was strange. Hailing from the ship called and refered to as the error.

Many times when I gamble in the taverns, I sit in the open without a bench, chair or table.
I do have a few images for some of it and a save for that black screen.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, are you using the updated code? This was a frequent problem that I thought I had fully resolved. The two fixes are to improve the transition to the shore after the last ship and eliminate that black screen freeze up, and also, if there is not enough space on the current shore for all the ships in the squadron, or you are too far away, it should instead now transport you to the ship deck of the other pirate captain to continue the conversation/exchange of loot spoils.

Also, what version are you using of ERAS? 1.5 or 2.6? However, both should be fixed in my update.

[Jeffrey]

Oh, and I see you mentioned that you have a save for that black screen. You can upload/post a link and I will take a look.

[modernknight1]

Welcome fruitn

Thanks for the report. The bug where you sit in the middle of the floor is an old bug native to the original game.

Loot is loot. The table is the same across the board with the exception that higher level characters killed will often have the higher end equipment.

So concerning the black screen. I got one or two of those with the old version and also before applying Jeffrey’s updates to the game.

So three questions for you:

1. Do you have Jeffrey’s updates applied to your game?

2. What beach does this occur at?

3. Do you have an error log you could share with us.

Thanks again for the report!

MK

[chris gardner]

I posted this 14 hours ago but is missing now, was it deleted for some reason? The only way I could find it was going into my “activity” section of my profile. It says I posted it 14 hours ago in the bugs and fixes section, but it’t not here now. I just want to know if the issue is a bug or something up with my installation, I followed the directions to a T:

Hello, I hope this is the right place. I just downloaded the mod and tried playing for the first time. I got to the opening screen, it was stable there. then i went to character selection and upon selecting my character, Abraham Crijnessen, the game crashes. The main thing it said at first was: “Unhandled exception at 0x5419AA00 (SoundService.dll) in START.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0A233FFC.”
This is a Microsoft visual studio debug read out: I hope this works correctly, I don’t want to spam lots of text but im no programmer

'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODSTART.exe'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64ntdll.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64kernel32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64KernelBase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64shlwapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msvcrt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64combase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64ucrtbase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64rpcrt4.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64sspicli.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64cryptbase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64bcryptprimitives.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64sechost.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64gdi32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64gdi32full.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64user32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64win32u.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64comdlg32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64SHCore.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64shell32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64cfgmgr32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64windows.storage.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64powrprof.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64advapi32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64kernel.appcore.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64profapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64version.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsWinSxSx86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.14393.447_none_5507ded2cb4f7f4ccomctl32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64imm32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64guard32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64ole32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64fltLib.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64ntmarta.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64uxtheme.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msctf.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64oleaut32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msvcp_win.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:PROGRA~2RAPTRI~1PlaysTVltc_help32-121661.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64wintrust.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msasn1.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64crypt32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesAnimals.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msvcr110.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesAnimation.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64D3DX9_43.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesArtifact.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesBackgroundShipTask.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesBallsplash.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesBattle_interface.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesblade.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesBlot.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesCameraDialog.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesCollide.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesDialog.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesGameUtils.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesGeometry.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesIsland.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesLighter.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesLocation.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesLocator.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesMast.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesModel.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesNET.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64wsock32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64ws2_32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesParticles.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesPCs_Controls.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesPeoples_on_ship.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesRigging.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSailors.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSCRIPT_LIBRARY.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSea.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msvcp110.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSeaCreatures.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSeaFoam.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSea_ai.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSea_cameras.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSea_operator.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesShadow.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesShip.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSink_effect.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSound.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesSoundService.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODfmodex.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64winmm.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msacm32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64winmmbase.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesTeleport.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesTornado.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesTouch.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesWaterRings.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesWeather.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesWorldMap.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesXInterface.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:GamesAOP2 ERASAOP2 ERAS MODmodulesrendererdx9.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64d3d9.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64dwmapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64aticfx32.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64atiu9pag.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64atiumdag.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64atiumdva.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64clbcatq.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64MMDevAPI.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64devobj.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64propsys.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64wdmaud.drv'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64ksuser.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64avrt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64AudioSes.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64WinTypes.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64msacm32.drv'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64midimap.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64cryptsp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64rsaenh.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64bcrypt.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64imagehlp.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64gpapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64cryptnet.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64IPHLPAPI.DLL'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64winnsi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64nsi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:PROGRA~2RAPTRI~1PlaysTVltc_game32-121661.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64psapi.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64mfplat.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
'START.exe' (Win32): Loaded 'C:WindowsSysWOW64RTWorkQ.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file.
The thread 0x2694 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
Unhandled exception at 0x5419AA00 (SoundService.dll) in START.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0A233FFC.
The thread 0x1ae0 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1db8 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x21e0 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x70 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2480 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x296c has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2924 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1cc8 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1b4 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2988 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x286c has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x814 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2be8 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2e18 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x7f0 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1a08 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1874 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x23ec has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1f40 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1f30 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x23cc has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1334 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2014 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x21d4 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x22c4 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2a4c has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x24dc has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x1d28 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x2c10 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 0x21e8 has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The program '[4968] START.exe' has exited with code 0 (0x0).

As im typing this I just tried again with the same charactore. This time, it didnt crash immiediatly, only when i went through the “lets not do the tutorial” text options, it crashed upon scene loading at the dock location. here is the main thing its saying this time: “Unhandled exception at 0x5419AA00 (SoundService.dll) in START.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0A233FFC.”
I couldn’t figure out how to get that code this time around for the second crash lol.
Did I somehow install incorrectly? I mean I downloaded the mod, its MASSIVE at 36.7 Gb. Do I also need to paste in the original copy of AOP2 COAS to the main directory?
My dxdiag: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rb6n2keu8u6163l/DxDiag.txt?dl=0

[Jeffrey]

I see from your output it is still using fmodex.dll. I recently changed the SoundService to replace fmodex.dll with fmod.dll. First, let’s try the newer update to see if perhaps the newer fmod will work for you. The update is much smaller than the original download, so not as painful a download.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[chris gardner]

Knock on wood, i seem to be able to play now, but rather then apply the update I just re-downloaded the entire file.

Two questions:
1, the file size is just under 49gb. This seems huge; have i done something wrong? the game still works, again knock on wood.

2. How does one apply only an update to the mod, without having to reinstall the whole thing and lose your save file? Do you just down load the “Update” .rar file, unpack it, and when it prompts you, replace the files when you paste it into the directory where the game is installed?

Thank you again MK, Jeffrey and everyone else working on this mod. I had issues with GOF2 in mid career on windows 10 and hopefully this will be a more stable alternative.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, it is huge. But I think I’ve lost that debate with MK, so it is what it is.

To get the recent fixes/updates, yes, just download Update.zip and copy/overwrite everything. Only files needed for latest fixes are in the update, so it is much smaller download.

You should not need to worry about your existing saves, they should stay in your save directory as they won’t be replaced with anything you copy from me.

[chris gardner]

Okay that’s cool, I honestly don’t really care how big it is as long as it’s stable. Thanks for helping me out Jeffrey!

[fruitn]

I downloaded everything the 30th, so I can’t have missed much. Took everything available from the Mega drive.

I am located at Cayman, Shore of Esmeralda with 6 ships in my party.
I tried reloading before accepting the captains request, but I ended with the same result. Albeit with a 4th ship to conquer.

As of late I can’t get to trade with stores. They are all busy with other customers, asking me to come again tomorrow. Maybe I should stay in town long enough to experience tomorrow, for sailing for another port does not help.

Where would I be able to find the logs?
I am running the Sea Dogs from GoG.com, but I don’t believe that matters.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0ByVFn7B9EHSGTGJIay1PRHl1NEE?usp=sharing

The game have crashed a few times on me, quite randomly it seems. A few times the graphics have gone nuts when entering a sea battle. Flags stretch till the horison. The menu buttons are gone, white boxes in their place.

I once entered battle and started a new game, I got 3rd person control of my character and the guy never showed up on deck.

[Jeffrey]

Ah, at Cayman. The problem may be due to the modifications to that island to now include Bodden’s Landing as a similar problem from GOF I had already fixed long ago, but Cayman shores were recently changed and might have caused this issue again. If you can provide me the save file, with the name of the subfolder in your SAVE directory it comes from, I will try to figure out what that is. Since this island was changed, and I’ve never had a Pirate quest for there, it will be quicker if I can use your save to debug.

Also, I found that missing ship name and will be sure to upload when I get these other things resolved.

Hopefully the new FMOD will fix that issue you spoke about the SoundService crash.

[J]

“As of late I can’t get to trade with stores. They are all busy with other customers, asking me to come again tomorrow. Maybe I should stay in town long enough to experience tomorrow, for sailing for another port does not help.”

-Fruitn

I am having the same issue with the trade stores. I have tried waiting in the town overnight, I have traveled to other islands. I get the same response from smugglers also. At least I am not the only one having this issue. I am new to the game so I don’t know if its a bug or my skill lvl. I am also wondering if it has to do with the other captains that travel around? I know that sometimes the inn keeper tells you no sailors because captain john doe just took em all.

Any advice on this issue would be appreciated, I could just be a newbro might not even be A bug I do not know.

[Jeffrey]

That is not really a bug, but a side effect of having so many more NPC ‘heroes’ you are competing with. All the characters you can select at the start of a new game, when you select one of them, all the remaining of that same list get created as ‘heroes’ in the game, and they travel around, taking mayor missions, using smugglers, taking crew, using the store, etc. So when you see them in all the taverns, they are in that city, using resources.

We changed things slightly when if you engage a ‘pirate’ mission and go to meet them on their ship, if you ask about the details, then refuse, if they are of a certain notoriety (which is randomly applied to them at character generation), they will get angry and have their crew attack you. As soon as you get back to your ship, they attack. Before, you could never board them and kill them. If you sunk them, they would respawn elsewhere in the game. With our change, you can now board the ship, kill the captain, and now one less NPC hero to contend with in the game.

Not all of them get mad though. If you refuse and they are ‘good’, they shrug it off and let you go. But, that will reduce their relation to you and from then on, they will never want to do a mission with you, and you will never be able to get rid of them from the game because they will always refuse to deal with you from then on.

If you have trouble getting in the store, just keep spending the night in the same town and check the store once each day. Sometimes you will have to do this up to 5 times. But within 1-5 days is usually enough where you will be able to get in. If you travel to another town, that will just require you to spend 1-5 nights again. Sometimes it takes 6 or 7 tries, but usually within 5 will do the trick. Same goes for no crew in the tavern…spend the night and check each day; you will eventually get the service.

[fruitn]

Seems like I did miss applying the update to the game folder. I noticed the fmod.dll missing.
Though it didn’t help, still getting that black screen when taking the last ship or it surrenders.

[modernknight1]

Your trading problems are totally related to the competition. In my game at level 32 – five of my fellow captain NPCs are dead, four of them work for me and are holding down ships I want to keep in port controllers and another 7 work for me as officers and ship captains. With 16 captain no longer my competition, I get more governor missions and more trading missions.

I plan to update my article on gamesmanship to include getting into character on who you would hire and who you would work with – who you would want to duel with, kill, or basically eliminate based on who they are and their faction.

I have literally killed several of these captains myself. With 15 percent of my opponent NPC captains either eliminated or working for me, things are better and I am in the process of hiring and killing more. MUA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Thanks for bringing up where the black screen was – I thought that’s the only place the problem could be occurring as this is the new colony and we assigned different beaches there. We are looking through the quest files now to see if different beaches are assigned during the collaboration missions.

Keep the input coming mates! Thank you so much! You are truly helping us to fix and make the game better!

MK

[fruitn]

Every once in a while I hear 2 beep noises when entering a seabattle and the graphics go awry. See the Google drive I linked earlier, Beepbeep01 and Beepbeep02.
This particular time it happened when engaging the Gentlemen of Luck near Bridgetown.

[Jeffrey]

Those beeps only occur during a ‘trace’ of the ship vectors to create contour. Either the ship model needs fixing, or the ship needs to be removed from the game. Because when the vectors of the contour don’t work right, it messes up all other vectors for the flags and such, too.

We can identify them if you turn on logging. In start.ini, change these:

tracefiles = 1
tracefilesoff = 0

debuginfo = 1
runtimelog = 1
tracefiles = 1

Next time the Beep happens, check both compile.log and system.log that will be created for each session in the same place start.exe sits, and look for “SHIP: Down trace error, ship xxxxxx or SHIP: Up trace error, ship xxxxxx and post the name of the ship shown that will be in the place of the xxxxxx in my example output.

Also, if you just happened to save at that moment, that is another save file you can send me. If you do that, I also need to know the profile name/subdirectory name of where the save file sits under the SAVE folder.

[Hraktuus]

Alright, I’ve hit a wall in my current game in the second French quest, so it’s time to go ahead and report all bugs I’ve found so far, plus some nitpicks.

BUGS

-Clicking on Options in the escape menu sometimes exits the menu rather than going to the options menu (not a problem lately, but it was a very bothersome problem at the beginning of any of my new games).
-You already know about the stretchy flags and clumped up sails, bug. Trying to load while this is happening will crash the game. Exiting to the map and saving and then restarting the game is best.
-A military squadron caught me on the map, but did not show up in battle. This has only happened once in my current playthrough, but it’s an old bug.
-Humphrey Douglas (the double barrelled musket officer) will sometimes disappear. It only seems to happen when I have more than three fighters. It has happened more than once and it seems to only happen with him. He still shows up in the Characters menu, but there’s no way to get him to show up as a fighter when this bug happens. The only way to reverse this is to reload a save where he is still present.
-Derderangs Oorlogsschip won’t equip front cannons (MK already knows about this one).
-Crash on loading saves that contain a fight with the Flying Dutchman.
-Inexplicable crash on exiting to my ship from a port (has only happened once. I don’t remember which port, unfortunately.).
-Inexplicable crash in my ship cabin (large type in the Deux Pont Battleship).
-When trying to find Bartholomew Sharpe to get the location of pearl divers, I tracked him down to Fort Orange. His ship did not show up at see after I launched from the beach. This quest normally works fine (I already finished it once without problems), and I think this has more to do with Fort Orange just not having a real port. He may have been somewhere around the island or further out to see as well, but I couldn’t fine him anywhere.
-There have been other inexplicable crashes. The longer you play the game without restarting it, the more likely it is to crash. I know that a solution for this is already in the works.
-There was an error after I captured a ship from one of the Easy Pickings quests (it was a big Spanish galleon with gold, so I decided to actually go after it). After capturing it, this message displaying over and over again by the upper right hand corner of the hud:

Error: Group_GetGroupByIndex io oiiu
Error: Group_CheckTask io oiiu

Obviously it was trying to display Russian text, but there’s the error.

See screenshot here for specific text: http://imgur.com/a/Aaals

-There is a recurring bug where one of the rotating sky boxes doesn’t display correctly if you sail long enough into the night.

See screenshots here for examples: http://imgur.com/a/GyJRC

The funniest one by far is the one with the numbers. That’s only happened once.

NITPICKS

-Doctor Maturin in still in the Peter Blood quest (I know MK agrees he needs to be changed).
-Jack Sparrow is still in the Peter Blood quest (this really doesn’t bother me, but I know MK probably wants him replaced).
-Stiofán Ó Siadhail still has Old Argosy Bark rather than a Sloop. Cú is displaying as CŃ. ( ú can be put in by holding ALT and typing 0250 on the numpad.)
-As much as I love music from Hornblower, I hate when the battle track ends with “Visitor’s sir.”
-Hot shot is still called Exploding shot in dialogues and logbook entries.
-Captain Goodley (from the Pirate questline) still uses two different models.
-There are multiple spelling and grammar errors in dialogs and logbook entries. I’ve taken screenshots of many.

NOTE

I am having odd things happen in my current Peter Blood game that don’t seem to be being reversed with reinits, such as Captain Blood eating sapphires and diamonds and shooting people with an Aztec Totem for 100-300 damage. I was able to revert it enough so he wouldn’t eat spyglasses, but reverting to the original files or reiniting with the newest update hasn’t been enough to reverse these oddities. That’s why I’m doing this bug report now since continuing to play that playthrough may produce results that would not normally be seen without the edits I had tried before. I am concerned the French quest bug I ran into may be a real problem, but I cannot say for certain without doing a new playthrough to test it. Hence I am redownloading the mod and waiting for the next update before I continue bug testing (it will be a completely fresh install).

The French quest bug I am mentioning is in the second French quest. After being arrested by the Dutch Governor-General (seriously, this guy seems to give you problems no matter what nation you play for), he takes away all of your items INCLUDING QUEST ITEMS. After you are freed from prison he says he gives you your items back, but they are not appearing in my item menu (yet some items will appear when looting chests and the like). It unequips your letter of marque which gets rid of your rank with the French, and it is impossible to reequip it or any other items you might have (which means Peter Blood reverted to English and the Dutch started attacking him). Only new items can be equipped and used. This means I lost the Diffundur Key and a Partial Map I had on me at the time. Hence, if this is still a bug when I start my new bug testing playthroughs, it is a very serious one.

[Jeffrey]

Also, do you have one of those saves from the fight with the Dutchman, that crashes on load? I’d like that file.

[Hraktuus]

Jeffrey, sorry I didn’t see you asking for those Flying Dutchman saves until just now. I’ve tracked down my Peter Blood saves involving the Flying Dutchman. I didn’t have any with the fight, so I made some new ones (and they still crash for me). Here you go:

https://mega.nz/#F!CBohUazR!gT21GQq-3okVXFmOt5yViA

A description of the save files:

Peter_Blood Hispaniola Cave – This save is about a month before I fought the Dutchman for the first time. Check the treasure chest for some edible sapphires, around 11 million worth of booty, and a fight with skeletons.

Peter_Blood Martinique – Sea 3 – This save is about 2 months after my first fight with the Dutchman where I sank it while it was still immortal. Unfortunately I did not have a save in between this and the last one, but I used this one to create new saves.

Peter_Blood Yucatan – Sea 5 – This save is a year later, just before the final fight with the now mortal Flying Dutchman. Just go out to sea and you can fight her.

Peter_Blood Yucatan – Sea 8 – This save is just after the fight with the mortal Dutchman, with the Flying Dutchman as part of the fleet.

Peter_Blood Martinique – Sea 6 – New save. At sea just before a fight with the immortal Flying Dutchman. Go to sea to fight her.

And now what you really wanted:

Peter_Blood Martinique – Sea 7 – A fight with the immortal Flying Dutchman. Crashes a little while after loading for me.

Peter_Blood Yucatan – Sea 6 – A fight with the mortal Flying Dutchman. Crashes a little while after loading for me.

[Jeffrey]

-Inexplicable crash in my ship cabin (large type in the Deux Pont Battleship).

I may have fixed this. Got a similar crash while in the cabin and it turned out to be a bad pointer in the AI ‘follow’ logic of the fighter NPCs. Might have been your problem too. Found and fixed my particular error.

[fruitn]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByVFn7B9EHSGTGJIay1PRHl1NEE
If you look at the pictures, you’ll see a box of the sky not rendering right. This is happening south of Puerto Rico, during a night sky looking north. There is also a savefile included, Player01 -> Horizon.
This is not the first time I’ve seen it happen.

EDIT: So having sailed manually, the box slowly follows the sky around. From time to time it renders, not always a matching picture to the rest of the sky. Persisting through the day and night.

Also, having sailed from Puerto Rico towards Nevis, the game loads Nevis. When looking north towards Puerto Rico and Hispaniola I have open horizons around. If you load the save Player01 Nevis – Sea I have just entered the waters around Nevis.

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

[fruitn]

If you look at the sails in the pictures named sails, I suddenly got them partially transparent. The save is Player01 – Sails.

EDIT: I included some logs, booted the game up anew and these things have disappeared 🙂

That beside, this page don’t like me editing my posts. See the picture EDIT.

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

[Jeffrey]

First, apologies for my response promptness being a bit slow the last week or so…I’ve been buried with ‘real job’ stuff. They take all the fun away.

Anyway, that sky thing has been bugging me for awhile. Hraktuus also mentioned it and I’ve seen it myself. He also had the case where some random texture file gets put there, and you see fonts and things. I’ve even had a case where it was a very large character face across the sky. So I’ve also had this bad sky thing happen and am aware of it. My problem has been that it is only occasional and is not easily reproducible when I want it, so when it happens to me, I of course am not in debug mode and if I save and try to run that same game in debug mode, it is gone upon game load. So it’s something that happens over a period of time, and I can’t anticipate or generate it when I ‘want to’ so I can’t yet track it down.

So, it’s known to happen, but I have not yet been able to capture that moment during a debug session to investigate the root cause. No known timeline for when I can get that fixed as it requires a bit of ‘luck’ for me to get that state when I’m in a position to investigate runtime variable values and such to help identify where that gets caused…a work in progress so far.

I will check out your log files when I get some time to see if there is anything else I might be able to glean from them about where to look for some of these issues you are having.

[Hraktuus]

The best way to reproduce the sky bug is to start sailing well before sunset and continue sailing into the night. I usually get it right around the time the moon rises. I will test if this is a sure way to reproduce it and if there are any other sure ways. I’ve never seen it happen during the day, even sailing from one island to another (a fully upgraded Arabella makes sailing from island to island practical :p ).

[Hraktuus]

Well, sure enough I tried to reproduce the sky bug in the way I described above, around three different islands even (Tortuga, Nevis, and Trinidad), and I could not reproduce it. It does usually show up during those times for me.

I did notice one odd thing. During sunrise a sky texture can sometimes appear that makes it seem like the sun is rising in the West (clouds with the sun shining through even though the sun is currently rising in the east). Other than that I just noticed the line between texture boxes (but they were the right textures and the line was barely visible). So nothing out of the ordinary.

Anyways, I needed to do another bug report. All of this was done after a clean install of the mod with the latest update applied. I realize another patch is coming very soon, so I may need to retest some of this after that is released to see if it is fixed or not.

-When Peter Blood is encountered in a tavern offering you a quest, his ship’s name will be error. It has no name when traveling to it at sea, and upon capturing it it also appears as error. No doubt this has to do with Peter Blood being assigned no ship due to his questline. However, I remember in previous versions of the mod his ship being named Arabella. Note this did happen near the very beginning of my newest playthrough.

-My player character (Blaze Devlin) disappeared in a tavern and subsequently anywhere else after upgrading his skills. It was determined that the musketoon was the problem as with the new auto equip feature (which I really don’t like, there should be a toggle for it in mod options) it autoequipped the musketoon he had on him after choosing his skills. As he didn’t have the animation for it, he wouldn’t appear. Placing the musketoon in his ship chest solved the problem.

-The Irish Basket Hilt Claymore’s texture does not display correctly.

-You can still successfully ask pirate captains to join you even when your squadron is full.

-I had a very funny bug happen to me. When one of the townsmen came to me with a nautical question, the camera switched to his perspective even after answering the question correctly, following him instead of my player character as he walked. Luckily another townsmen asked me to help him with something, and the camera reverted to my player character. Screenshots included for those curious: http://imgur.com/a/OGkAT

-I had a very texture related weird bug during a fortress assault. A cube of textures appeared around the central staircase and could be walked through. See the screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/pSIMs

-The second French quest is definitely bugged. I wanted roughly the same circumstances as when it happened with Peter Blood, hence I played as Blaze Devlin (who starts as English like Blood) and kept a quest item on me to see if it would disappear (in Blood’s case it was the Diffindur Key, in Devlin’s case it was mummy powder). Right after “one day later” (when the Dutch Governor-General comes to set you free and give your items back) it crashed. I tested this multiple times with different items and determined the mummy powder caused the crash after loading an older save and giving the powder to Ascold. However, after continuing to test it, it is clear the same problem still exists with the second French quest as when I tested it with Blood. All your items except your French letter of marque, gold, and your cuirass will disappear permanently from your inventory, and the items that are still there can only be seen during accessing a chest or trading with an officer. They are not seen in the items menu and cannot be equipped. This also means that the Dutch are hostile to a now English player character. This bug can be gotten around if you ensure you have no quest items on you and give all other items to officers or your ship chest save for a cheap weapon and spyglass. You will have to buy a new French letter of marque and you will lose what rank you had (rank 2), though you’ll be promoted to it again after completing the quest.

[Jeffrey]

Phew, I’m going to have to add to my written list and work through.

I do have a couple responses handy for some of these, though.

Sky looking like two sunrises is attributable to the fact that in the 06 hour skies texture, sky_LF.tga.tx has a section of backlit clouds in the picture. Combine that with the fact that the game inserts a sun, with its own light, and it looks like two sunrises. In order to remove that, the textures will need to be replaced.

Also, that other problem with the night weird texture thing…although I am unable to recreate for debugging, a search through the code and I may have an idea about how that can happen. There is a place where if given the ‘right’ timing, the execute/realize portions of the sky objects may get run before the sky directory attribute given for each ‘hour’ may be assigned; this probably happens when moving from the day.c code to evening.c, or evening.c to night.c. When that happens, it can’t find the proper texture directory, and unfortunately, due to a line in the code where an array object for storing those files already got deleted, before actually checking for that fact, the texture files are ‘lost’ to the execute/realize methods. I have since moved that delete to after checking for that, and also, if that timing snafu happens during the game now, it will just reuse the same set of ‘hourly’ textures as it was currently using. And as a last resort, the directory will be blank and default to the base Textures directory and I placed a copy of an arbitrary set of the 5 sky textures in that base directory. This might solve that problem.

Though Peter Blood gets no ship at the outset, if you choose him to play, he should still get one as an NPC, but it will be a random named one according to the code I see. I can find no obvious reason for an error in that particular character, but may just be a coincidental bug. The NPCs occasionally get a chance to upgrade their ships during the course of their ‘lives’ and there is a check to randomize the name if they don’t already have a ship.name attribute. But that check is dependent on another check that this character may have passed, somehow skipping getting that name assignment. I put a further check for that so all NPC characters with any kind of ship will always check for a name, rather than just in that one place where it had to pass some other ‘upgrade’ checks before deciding to check and give a ship name. Also, I’ve not run this by MK, but I decided from now on the Blood NPC will actually get the Arabella ship type, with the actual Arabella name as well. Seems the right thing to do.

MK already ran the musket problem by me and he is taking care of that.

The other pirates being able to circumvent your squadron limit should be easy enough to fix. Probably a missing/insufficient check for that in the program script during their potential dialog with the PC.

That French quest item bug sounds terrible. I have actually played that before, but not with any quest items, so never encountered that issue. I feel compelled to fix that as soon as possible since not getting the items back clearly destroys completing of any other quests the player is simultaneously working, such as Lost Ships, Mummy Powder, etc., not to mention some sort of foul up to cause a crash as well. I will have to look and see what’s going on.

Do you happen to have any saves that are near, yet prior to this part of the French quest line, so I can maybe just get a head start and play up to that same point with your game?

[Hraktuus]

Yes, I saved multiple times before talking to the Dutch Governor-General as I tested it with different combinations of items. I’ve uploaded a set of saves (only like 14.6 MB) to Google Drive for you here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_TOEvn70s4gR0k3dmZUdW9FaEU

Some of the saves will be before I got rid of the mummy powder, in which case the game crashed when the Governel-General talked to me in the prison. Some of the saves will be after I got rid of the mummy powder, in which case I got the items permanently disappearing bug. If you want some of my Peter Blood saves, I can give those to you as well.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! Very helpful. I used the save while in the moneylender’s shop, since you had the mummy powder there, but had not yet delivered the letter. Oddly, the crash has nothing to do with your items. Not even sure why swapping that out prevented your crash, but more than likely just luck upon reloading and some data changes that altered some behavior in your favor to prevent a crash.

The problem is in an array referred to as character groups. There is a ‘release’ method for when they want to eliminate one and during the transition out of prison, it finds a group to release. When this happens, it locates a matching name, locates the last one of the array, moves that last one to the spot that is being removed, then decrements the array size.

The problem comes up a little later in that the code flip-flops in how it determines the ‘index’. In some cases, it iterates a loop and counts from zero to ??? spot. In others, it uses a stored property, aptly called .index. The crash occurs during a comparison of the ‘found’ index, which in that case happens to be from the .index property. If that number is greater than the array size count, they purposefully Assert and crash the game with no message.

What had happened prior, is that move of the last to a ‘removed’ spot, but since it later borrowed the index from that .index property, when they moved it, they do not change the .index to now refer to its new spot, but still the original, old .index, which is now too high a number for the array size because they didn’t readjust it after the move. The actual problem was there were 27 in the array, the last .index was 26 (array indices start at zero to size minus 1 = 26). During the remove, they got rid of index 25, moved the ‘old’ last one to that 25 index, but did not change .index from 26 to 25 at the same time. Flawed bug, but easy to fix and I’m doing that right now.

Will proceed to check out the missing items after this crucial fix.

[Jeffrey]

Hmm, that fix may have magically fixed the item problem too. Everything previously there, stayed in inventory now.

[Jeffrey]

Fixed the Pirate dialog so you can no longer ask them to join you if your squadron is at max.

[Jeffrey]

That auto-equip thing…I don’t think MK likes it either. That might be one of the debates I won and I think I want to stick with it. They choose in their own self-interest, the most powerful, fastest, accurate weapon (based on some weighted feature importance).

You will have to continue living with that…if I were to introduce an option toggle, the way the game works now, that option value gets stored in the save data and would cause the need to start a whole new game because it shifts all existing data away from where it is expected to be when read back into game load.

[Jeffrey]

Ah, scratch that option thing…I forgot that I introduced two global arrays right from the beginning of this upgrade just for that purpose…to not require a new game if we want new options. I can probably accommodate that.

[Hraktuus]

I’m glad fixing the mummy powder crash led to the fixing the disappearing items in general! I look forward to testing the next patch and proceeding with the French questline.

With the auto-equip, I thought the NPC officers had already done that according to some damage to weight ratio (or for pistols, damage per second). If it was imperfect, I can understand the change. It’s just sometimes annoying as the player character, but it’s only a minor annoyance, so I really don’t mind that much. I wouldn’t mind having an option even if I did have to start a new game for it though (like auto-reload pistols and dynamic v tactical battles). If we reach a version of the mod that isn’t savegame compatible with older versions, then that could be an option added at that point. I’m going to have to start a new Peter Blood game as it is what with the errors I caused! If you can add a toggle that will be great, but there’s no rush.

[Jeffrey]

Going back through some previous stuff…

Error: Group_GetGroupByIndex io oiiu
Error: Group_CheckTask io oiiu

The above log displays are removed

-Stiofán Ó Siadhail still has Old Argosy Bark rather than a Sloop. Cú is displaying as CŃ. ( ú can be put in by holding ALT and typing 0250 on the numpad.)

The ship name is changed to reflect Cú. I see the ship is supposed to be HIND, but MK will have to chime in if that’s incorrect. If HIND is correct, but maybe recently changed (I can’t remember, though I do recall some of the NPCs were later altered), any game started prior to a fix will have that NPC still retain a wrong ship. Though keep in mind, during the course of their lives, they also upgrade their own ships, but retain the name, so it’s possible that NPC started with the correct type, but AI allowed a later change.

-Hot shot is still called Exploding shot in dialogues and logbook entries.

Think I fixed all the exploding to say hot now.

-There are multiple spelling and grammar errors in dialogs and logbook entries. I’ve taken screenshots of many.

Tell me about it…I fix them as I find them, but they continue to be numerous.

[fruitn]

So I have better luck finding the Cereal for sale than a new cat. Can count more than 5 instances of Cereal for sale, 0 cats. I had thought it would be a bit harder finding the cereal per what is written somewhere about it being a secret godlike item (or whatever it was, been a while since I did read it).
So I might try my hand at editing the chances of the cats, but I have no clue as where to start.

[fruitn]

So I have happened upon a french battle xebec while I have taken a corvette from 1 of the npcs. What stirs me, is that no matter how much of the enemy crew I kill before boarding, I loose about 200 men. I have tried pummeling them all the way down to about 20%, dosen’t change the outcome compared to taking them head on fully loaded. I thought it would matter having superior numbers.
The faster I board the ship, the less damage I take from their cannonballs, the more men I have left after the battle.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0ByVFn7B9EHSGTGJIay1PRHl1NEE?usp=sharing
It would be the Player03 – yucatan sea battle.

In shops, I’m now 10 cereals to 0 cats. Just found a cat on the battle xebec.

[Jeffrey]

LOL, yeah, those cats are difficult to find. In my time playing, I’ve only ever found one random when looting a body after boarding. Given the circumstances vs. cereal, it may a good idea to look into the stats for those two items.

But, if you really want cats…and who doesn’t because of the rats, hook up with the female heroes you encounter. Almost every one of them has a cat. I always make them my companions and as a result, my cargo stays preserved against rats.

I will look at your game at some point. It might have something to do with your grappling number perhaps far lower than the enemy PC. I don’t know the calc, but am curious about what you describe for this fight.

[fruitn]

I have found that sailing with battle sails in circles around the battle xebec usually ends with them laying with the front against my broadside while I’m caught up in the wind. As such I seem to have plenty of time to minimize their crew with minimal casualties on my own ship.

Having played around with it some more, I believe it to be a penalty to not having enough weapons onboard for the crew. I lost only about 85 crew when boarding the xebex at around 50% having taken all available weapons from the other ships.
So not having enough weapons incurs a flat penalty?

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by fruitn.

[Jeffrey]

So not having enough weapons incurs a flat penalty?

Yes it does. So not a bug and you figured out the answer. Makes sense, as how would your crew defend themselves if they don’t have weapons? 🙂 You have to make sure there are at least as many weapon count as crew member, or a bunch of them die automatically without the enemy incurring any losses for the matchups. If you have weapons, then the losses are figured based on stats of captain grappling score, crew grappling rank (seadogs are the top and they beat out lesser), crew morale, number of crew vs. enemy forces, etc.

[fruitn]

So in essence that boarding battle does nothing for the outcome of the battle, it merely exists for getting some personal loot? And maybe getting a few fighters killed?

[fruitn]

I can’t see the long post I made just before my reply to the last. Sigh.
So here I go again.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0ByVFn7B9EHSGTGJIay1PRHl1NEE?usp=sharing

Cayman island is having some problems. If I sail to Deserted beach then I am met with cold rock and no mooring. If I use the sail to.. command, then I end up where the map says Shores of Esmeralda. If I use the sail to.. command to get to Shores of Esmeralda I happen a bit further west of the placement on the map. But what is really wrong is the landmass around me. I can accept the landmass to the west (Yucatan) but the whole southern horizon seems to be 1 large landmass all the way to the east. So I sailed eastward as my ship was too heavy and found a passage between the landmass and a small island (to the north of the landmass and more or less due east from Boddens landing). Somewhere on the other side I was teleportet to Guadeloupe island. The player03 – Gold save if you would look at it,

I had a runtime error show up when trying to leave Saint John’s, error logs included.

Havana lighthouse is more or less missing? At least I didn’t see it when I found out where I could moor. In front of a large cliff side. I took a screenshot of it, Lighthouse Havana.

The screenshot named Woman quest shows a word duplicated in the sentence.

I noticed that ship names are written with ‘ at the start, but not at the ending, see the screenshots Shipname. I guess there should be 1 at the ending as well.

[Jeffrey]

I took a look and a couple things to respond:

When you use Sail To for Deserted beach, your squadron is large and the ships get packed together close, so the icon you see is to trade with your companion, but you can still moor if you hit the ‘Enter’ key, then you should see the moor option. I did this with your game sailing to your Gold quest destination, Deserted Beach.

When Bodden’s Landing was added, there is definitely some discrepancy between what you see when you enter World Map, and what you see for surround. That is likely due to some of the tricks MK used to place that location there, and the fact the model and surround was copied from Willemsted.

I suspect that the Havana lighthouse you can’t see is the island model from the sea perspective hasn’t ever had it? That appears a model issue, which is something someone else would have to address as I know very little about that kind of work.

The error for the crash: Direct3D does not have enough display memory to perform the operation

That is likely due to the ‘managed resources’ eventually consuming too much GPU memory that further graphic operations couldn’t be executed. I will look into using EvictManagedResources() when the error is encountered and retry the operation: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb324057 I haven’t yet done this, but will give it a try and if it works, will make the fix.

I’ve seen the dialog with the ‘ in the ship names before. Since you brought it up, I looked around for them and fixed what I could find. Just for kicks, I did the same thing for COAS, GOF 1.2, GOF 2.0 and GOF 2.5, even though I haven’t made them available to anyone just yet.

To add, FMOD released a new update, so I grabbed that. http://www.fmod.org/documentation/#content/generated/common/revision.html

Also, the game now allows for fullscreen mode and task switching/coming back into the game. There are still a couple glitches to work out: The camera gets skewed upon return and you have to reposition it manually back to where you were. If you happen to alt-tab while on the game load screen, your images for your save games are not displayed. You can still select them, and see the name, just blank boxes. If you exit the profile back to the main menu, then back to the load, they reappear. I’ll work to resolve those two minor things. Mostly, I’ve just done some smoke testing of that feature, but after many tries back/forth in different screens, at sea, on land, character screens, dialogs, etc. it appears to work. The major thing is it doesn’t freakin’ crash the game every time. Much, much better than the way it used to be with POTC and COAS.

Unofficially, it’s available for download:
https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

Officially, the rumor is that I will receive new content, and when I fold the into my base, an updated version with extras will be coming shortly.

[fruitn]

“When you use Sail To for Deserted beach, your squadron is large and the ships get packed together close, so the icon you see is to trade with your companion, but you can still moor if you hit the ‘Enter’ key, then you should see the moor option. I did this with your game sailing to your Gold quest destination, Deserted Beach.”
I may not have explained myself good enough. Looking at this screenshot (http://prntscr.com/f38nw7) I have the deserted beach to be at the north eastern tip of the island when sailing around on the map. When I exit to sea I have no possibility to moor around the area. But sailing to the shores of Esmeralda (http://prntscr.com/f38qmr) I happen to make landfall at what is considered deserted beach.

I guess there is nothing to do about the problem with too many ships, and docking at Bodden’s Landing makes sure all ships are together again.

Would you prefer me linking to the screenshots like this or that I upload them to the Google drive?

Is that update safe for existing saves?

[Jeffrey]

Yes, existing saves will work in the update. I’ve figured out how to fix that Cayman/Deserted Beach/Esmerelda problem too. Will have MK test for a bit to check it.

Any way you want to link docs/pics to review is fine by me…whatever is most convenient for you is fine.

[Jeffrey]

OK, good news about Direct3D does not have enough display memory to perform the operation and using the eviction method — it’s safe. I called it before every ‘create’ resource call and it doesn’t ruin anything, just slows things down due to deliberately throwing out every managed resource that is intended to be reused for speed purposes. This is good. So now, every create checks the result and if fails due to that particular error, I evict and retry. Hopefully this will resolve that memory problem.

Also, I received the new content from MK yesterday. I am working it into the game, will test some, then release a new update.

[Jeffrey]

To clarify, calling evict every resource create slows things down, but that was only to test what ill effect it might have and whether anything needs rebuilt. Since it’s ‘managed’ only it doesn’t need rebuilt and has no ill effect other than slowing things when called every single resource call; that is what I wanted to verify. I will not call it every time and it will not slow the game down in the released version that employs this. I will call the create normally, as it always does, but if there is a failure due to insufficient video memory, ONLY THEN I will evict and try again one more time. This way it will not be slow, but in case of first time fail, if eviction can free up space, the game will no longer fail.

[Jeffrey]

I want to update and reiterate, I have a fix for the Cayman Island showing nearby land while at sea and the sail to/mooring for Esmerelda and Deserted Beach problems; those are resolved.

MK also found a bug in the original game, so it is longstanding, where he hired another hero in the tavern and in that same tavern, the other hero was subsequently part of a smuggler rumor, that left his character unable to leave the table after the dialog. I see why that is and intend to fix and run some tests.

The eviction of resources at a certain memory threshold should also fix some issues, and I also believe the occasional sky mess up is resolved.

But, I’ve been swamped with work for the last couple weeks and have not been able to devote much time to this. I will resume shortly, when my work schedule resumes to ‘normal’ in a week or so.

[Mot]

Hey guys,

So I’ve read the stuff about busy merchants/store owners/traders, just so I’m crystal clear on it, is the reason they’re busy all the time a combination of the tremendous number of characters getting around as well as my low trade skill?

Is there any kind of fix for this? maybe some way of reducing character spawn, or removing them from the game until I intend to play them? or some way of making the merchant always available?

I adore the game, GOF ERA is amazing, but I’m not a fan of waiting for a week in towns just to trade my ill-gotten gains (I guess it brings a certain level of realism though) or hire sailors, though usually there’s more sailors after just a day or two, but trading often takes me about a week.

[Jeffrey]

I agree with the number of competitors, the trading/mission in town has become tedious, with too much waiting/repeated overnights. While that is the method the other characters increase in rank/skills, I think reducing the chances for your competitors, or opening up the trading to accommodate both you and them is a good idea.

I have been very occupied with work, but last weekend we ported our system to a new platform, so I should start gaining time to resume work on the game. I already had some game work finished, but not yet tested/approved so haven’t yet uploaded, but I anticipate within the next week or so I can do that and probably also do something about this issue, since I also find it a little frustrating. I don’t think I’ll eliminate all waiting, as ‘that is life,’ but I will reduce it.

[Mot]

When boarding a surrendered ship I lose crew, in this specific instance I lost 100 men (of my 250). I did check and the last post about this bug was from 2 years ago, so not sure if it’s something new or something never resolved.

[Jeffrey]

Somebody sent me a save game yesterday with this surrender/lose crew bug and it was fixed in yesterday’s update. I found it was a bug inherited from GOF 1.2.

[Stéphane]

Have you changed the cave in Cayman isle ?
I have a treasure map (a 2 part one) saying: ” location in a cave, right from a desert beach, in a chest, above a big rock” , so i went in the cave in Cayman isle, but the map don’t activate, and there is no chest above a big rock

[Jeffrey]

Uh oh, that is likely a problem that needs fixed as much of Cayman was changed to borrow things from Curacao and name mismatches resulted, probably breaking the treasure map assignments for that location. I should add that I still know of one quirk that needs resolution when going back/forth between one of the shores where you magically get teleported to outside the town gates when going a certain way.

In other words, some work/fixing still needs to be done there because the addition of the town to that island was a significant work and not entirely perfect just yet. I will note it and try to fix the map problem.

[Jeffrey]

From what I can see in the code, Cayman treasures appear in the Grotto. That grotto was missing from the island. I have fixed that now. If you go to the right outside the gate from Bodden’s Landing, you will enter the grotto.

Though the directions from Deserted Beach in the map are now wrong, your treasure should appear once inside the grotto. Give it a try.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[Stéphane]

I just installed the last update, I load my save game… and I have a bad outcome , each time I talk to another hero (competitor) the dialogue box is empty and game crash

[Stéphane]

I tried with a new game and … i have the same issue

[Stéphane]

haha , i tried going in another town, i this time, no crash but i got this :
https://snag.gy/hCVFmq.jpg

[Stéphane]

Damn, i can’t edit my own message, windows is on top right and can’t apply change …

so , i mean, and this time, no crash but i got this :

[Stéphane]

[Stéphane]

[Jeffrey]

My mistake. I did not upload the correct version of that file. I am uploading a correct one now, but that download is large now, so if you want to correct it yourself instead of waiting for the whole Update.zip for that one file, it’s simple.

Find Program\DIALOGS\russian\PGG_dialog. Open in a text editor and scroll to the bottom. Replace the section with the ‘if’ (it looks very similar, just overwrite the part that looks the same):

if(nRepDiff <= PGG_REP_DIFF)
    {
        nRepDiff = PGG_REP_DIFF;
    }
    else
    {
        nRepDiff = nRepDiff - PGG_REP_DIFF;
        float per = (nRepDiff / 100) * PGG_REP_DIFF;
        nRepDiff = makeint(per);
        if(npcRep > 49 && pcharRep < 49)
            nRepDiff *= -1;
        else {
                if(npcRep < 49 && pcharRep > 49)
                    nRepDiff *= -1;
        }
 }

The only part that changed is that it needed two extra braces { and } toward the bottom ‘else’ part.

[Stéphane]

thanks, that’s works, dialogue initiate correctly

[Stéphane]

Another bug, in technotitlan area , on the right temple, all is ok but each time i try to go to left temple, game crash

[Jeffrey]

I will check this, but don’t think I’ve had a problem there, so it might be specific to your game state. Can you give me a save from that spot in your screen shot so I can try with your character? A link upload or something?

[Stéphane]

I managed to pass this using teleport command, i find the entrance code, but the bug still there, same in underwater temple left zone, i managed to pass the crash zone teleporting inside too .. but i m an idiot, i overwrite the savegame 🙁 …

[Stéphane]

I m an idiot x2 lol , i will go out and save in front of the zone .. but i don’t know how to give it to you .. mail ?

[Jeffrey]

Wow, when you described a crash, I expected when entering the temple, not simply walking toward it. I will have to run this in debug mode to see what the problem is; that will tell me what place in the code is causing the crash and why.

[Jeffrey]

This turned out to be a problem in the geometry collision detection and something about your character model, combined with the modeling for that area, resulting in some memory data going awry and a memory violation; this was the crash and was probably particular to some form of modeling for that specific character that was not accounted for in the geometry code.

I fixed the crash, but this requires the new geometry.dll, so the update needs to be downloaded.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[Stéphane]

you are very reactive, thanks 🙂

[Jeffrey]

Certainly. And thank you too. I really appreciate when you point these things out. In this case, I probably never would have known of this problem because it had never happened to me with the characters I have played in that area. It probably only happens with certain character models and I would have never known about it if you had not given me the feedback and saved game. It really helped.

I hope you never have problems, but if you do and give me the information, I like to fix them so we can all have more fun with the game.

[Stéphane]

I found another bug with a treasure map ( a 2 part one again) , the treasure map from “in a cave, right of the shore of mosquitoes, under the planks in a dead end” , i went to the cave near porto bello ( no cave on the other mosquito going to technotitlan ) and when i go inside the cave, there is no update and no treasure

[modernknight1]

Stephane, Unfortunately there are TWO Shores of Mosquito.

I that’s confusing and I’ve thought for years that this was just shoddy work on the part of the Dev team.

You need to sail north of Santa Catalina and Cape Perlas to find the Shore of Mosquitos with the treasure you are looking for.

MK

[modernknight1]

Stephane, Unfortunately there are TWO Shores of Mosquito.

I know that’s confusing and I’ve thought for years that this was just shoddy work on the part of the Dev team.

You need to sail north of Santa Catalina and Cape Perlas to find the Shore of Mosquitos with the treasure you are looking for.

MK

[Stéphane]

I don’t know if there is a link with the treasure map bug , but something is broken in my game, i can’t find the queen ship from enchanted city quest and can’t find neither the storm to go to the coas .. i have save game if needed, but i don’t know if it can help in this case

[modernknight1]

Stephane the Brig Queen will not appear if your ship isn’t small enough. Usually it must be a small lugger or other class 6 or 7 ship for her to appear. This makes it a hard fight for sure!

Make sure you save to a slot before you venture out for her from Cumana or other town you bought your small ship from. When you get out of view of the harbor – (east of Cumana) go to map view and continue east around the strait between the mainland and Trinidad/Port of Spain.

Most of the time you can find her lingering around south on the mainland coast west from Port of Spain.

She is there, but she is VERY tricky. Keep looking you will find her. She’s worth it! Good hunting mate!

MK

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by modernknight1.

[Stéphane]

I m confused , i know bout the tier 6-7 ship to have, to make the “sea wolf” out (from pirates nation quest), but i didn’t know this about “the Queen” (from the enchanted city quest), i will try …

I primary tough you confused the ships from the 2 quests.. but you are MK, so i will try like you say , but this not will help for the lack of the storm to go to the coas, i spend a long time trying to find it (and i already found it a couple of times in anothers playthroughs) with no way to make it appear… that’s make me thinking about something broken.. and as the game didn’t update for a treasure map , i supposed (but i can be wrong) the game didn’t update neither on enchanted city or coas quest

[Jeffrey]

Give me a save where you are trying to find the COAS and I will see if I can figure out the problem.

[Jeffrey]

Never mind about the save game. I know why. The Islands needed to be reinitialized for the Cayman fix, but there are certain attributes for the Island = LostShipsCity (it’s considered an island) that get reset so you can never find it because when you get the key, it was changed to be ‘visible’, but the Cayman change causing the reset/reinit, resets all the islands, including the LostShipsCity back to how they started.

I will need to fix that so that if the LostShipsCity is eligible for discovery, it remains that way during the Cayman fix changes made during the game-load. I will also need to give you code to run in your console (f4 key) to fix your game.

[Stéphane]

Well , i just found the queen on another playthrough with a tier 3 ship 😉 i guess you make a mistake with the other ship (sea wolf) … by the way, i stop in Guadeloupe , and i just see there is an error, the tavern is named “la vieux canon” is should be : “Le vieux canon” don’t know if you can correct it

[Jeffrey]

I just uploaded the fixes for the Lost Ships City to preserve the Island state even during Island reinit. That will help those that have not yet gotten to your state of the game.

For your current problem, you need to load your game and hit F4, as I put some code in there to set things where they should be for your game. After F4, see if you can then find the island. You should only need to hit that F4 for any save that you load during the time you had the Diffindur key.

There are also a couple other places during your time on the Lost Ships City that required some coding to preserve Island state. I did my best to anticipate and account for them in this fix, but am not able to test. So, let me know if you have any further problems while you are there in LSC.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[Stéphane]

I installed the last update, and loading my previous game and pressing f4 worked, the storm was here .. i will let you know if i see something more …

it remind me something , i think you already know … some ships don’t dismount their canon correctly and you can spam the buton to have infinite canons in cargo hold …

[Gustav von Rauch]

Hi and thanks to all modders involved in this project.

I have downloaded everything from the mega link (as of 22 June 2017- including Update.zip), and extracted all of them and the game works fine.

I just experience one bug so far, when I go to sea, sometimes not all flags on my ship load, it is just white flag (like surrender flag), some may have a texture, some might not.

If I go to map, and then go back to sea, sometimes all will load, or just some of them.

[modernknight1]

Gustav,

Not every mast in the game has flag locators. So some ships will not have a flag or pennant on every mast. Surrender in the game is represented by NO FLAG. In other words a surrendering ship will STRIKE their flags. I am guessing you are playing a French character because one of the historical flags of the French Navy is the Sun King’s Ensign or Royal Jack. That flag is pure white. The idea of using a white flag for surrender had not yet come into being during the 17th century.

EDIT: What ship is it that has no flags on some masts? A screenshot might be helpful.

MK

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jeffrey]

The all white flag is a valid flag for France, so I am going to guess that is the nation you are flying? It is one of the French flags and is a proper texture display.

[Gustav von Rauch]

Silly me… yes both of you are right concerning this and it’s my mistake due to lack of knowledge concerning the subject matter. I am playing a French character indeed, Bernard Desjean.

Also I should have been more clear, it’s not that the flags themselves didn’t load on the masts, but because of the French all-white flag itself I thought it was a bug since it was just a white texture but it’s actually a legitimate flag.

So yes it is not a bug. I am new to COAS in general, been playing the base game for a few weeks now, though I did play POTC back in early 2000s but never the AOP games later.

So after spending time with the base game I decided to try this and been enjoying it so good work all!

[Stéphane]

I just finished coas isle ( and getting out swimming is a real pain in the … !!!) .. there is something wrong with John Workman , look at the skills

[Jeffrey]

Indeed. If I remember correctly, he is supposed to get a 100 score on weapons and such…will take a look. Even after I fix it, we will have to fix yours up with the correct scores in the console.c.

I will get back to you.

[Jeffrey]

Hmmm, looking at the values that are supposed to be set, they might be correct for the character, but are truncated on your display. We should try reducing your font size on that screen to check. If the values turn out to be correct, I may need to adjust that display size for everyone.

[Stéphane]

i tried changing to 1920*1080 but still the same …

[Jeffrey]

I don’t think that will work because the font and the space for that table cell will get reduced the same and it still won’t fit if it really is 3 characters long, like I suspect. We need to make the font for the number smaller. I will adjust those in the program and have you download just the screen code to try and see.

[Jeffrey]

I made the font smaller, so try that and see if there is a 3rd number that was just getting cut off on the character screen display.

https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Program.zip

Put them in the Program/INTERFACE folder

[Stéphane]

fixed ..

[Jeffrey]

OK, great. So the character numbers generated for Workman were fine, but any that were 100 value were just too wide to fit in the spot, so just the display got cut off to look like 10.

[Stéphane]

Damn it .. another bug happen to me … since i came back from coas isle and i take back my ships, any time i moor in a friendly port, i can’t fast travel and if i go somewhere like to the tavern to recruit people, when i go back , i can’t go back in ships, game is doing like ships aren’t in the port, and if i go to the shop , the merchant tell me my ships aren’t here …

[Gustav von Rauch]

I only noticed it now (I knew something looked off) but no foliage (trees) is loading for me when I am at sea on my ship looking at island or at port, it’s exactly like if I turn off foliage entirely in the settings (I tested if it looked the same by running COAS and turning off foliage there).

However there is foliage when I am on land itself, and changing the foliage setting appropriately affects it on land. But the setting doesn’t change at all when at sea, and no matter what I set it on it doesn’t show foliage at all.

I am running Windows 10 (fully updated), my nvidia drivers are the latest, I am running the game in Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibility and as administrator. I installed the directx runtime included with the download too. Running the game with post-processing or safe mode on or off makes no difference, I have put all my game settings on default too.

Here is a screenshot

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Gustav von Rauch.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Gustav von Rauch.

[Jeffrey]

Yep. I never noticed that missing either.

Ran the same test you did, and sure enough…

I have already identified the “why.” During each island model load, an island-specific path is being set for textures, so the ‘grass’ (the junglsprite is considered as grass) lookup is trying to find the passed in file path “Grass\junglesprites” first as fully qualified for the island-specific path, “Textures\Grass\Islands\myislandname\junglesprites”, the second step, when not found is back to the root texture directory, “Textures\junglesprites.” Neither is of course an accurate path for the junglesprites.tga.tx file.

What I need to fix is if the fully qualified for a specific location fails, instead of defaulting to root, investigate for the actual passed in path next (Grass\junglesprites), then finally the default if not found. I will fix and let you know when it’s available.

Will be an easy fix.

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

[Jeffrey]

Still laughing how we have all been oblivious to this missing foliage up to now. Thanks for pointing it out.

A new update is uploading now, should be completed in about 30 minutes, with island foliage back in the game.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[Gustav von Rauch]

No problem! I guess it’s because many haven’t been playing base COAS itself for a while which I suppose is why no one noticed it the difference, I only began playing GOF Eras 2 recently after playing base COAS.

There are two Update.zip files in the mega.nz folder, I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not.

[Jeffrey]

MK sent me a new ship to add, did so, and started a new upload last night. But it was very late, so went to sleep before it finished loading on Mega. I don’t remove the stale one until a new one is complete, but was asleep by then 🙂

If you see two files, just choose the latest one. In this case, both of them already had the foliage correction.

[Stéphane]

Any idea why my ships “disappear” from the port and i can’t go anywhere ? ( ships still here when i press F2 , but i can’t embark or have interaction)

[Jeffrey]

What port? I’ve never seen that happen. Can I get a save for this to check out?

[Stéphane]

Every port where i go … ( i tried teleporting too and same issue , i send you a save game)

[Jeffrey]

It looks like this problem might be due to the telporting you were doing to get around some of your earlier problems. When teleport is used, not all of the variables and attributes needed get set correctly. You will notice that you also can’t fast-travel to the tavern, store, etc.

I think I have a fix for you. Put the code below into console.c:

#include "locations\locations_init.c"
#include "islands\Islands_init.c"
void ExecuteConsole()
{
    PChar.location.from_sea = PChar.location;
    bDisableFastReload = false;
    SetMusic("music_spokplavanie");
    fixReloadLoc();

    Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful! ");
}

void fixReloadLoc()
{
    aref rl, at;
	makearef(rl, chrWaitLocationRef.reload);
	int num = GetAttributesNum(rl);
	Log_SetStringToLog("num = " + num);
	for(int zzz = 0; zzz < num; zzz++)
	{
		at = GetAttributeN(rl, zzz);
		if(at.name == chrWaitReloadLocator)
		{
			if(CheckAttribute(at, "disable")){
                Log_SetStringToLog("Deleting ");
                DeleteAttribute(at, "disable");
            }
		}

	}
}

Load a game from where you are standing in town and walk to the end of the dock, where you would normally see the icon to enter your ship. Hit F4 while standing there. Then walk away from that spot for a ways, then walk back to the same spot at the end of the dock. You should now see the unlocked icon and enter your ship. Enter sea mode and save your game.

I think that will fix it for everywhere else if you don’t teleport anymore. I traveled to a couple different places after that, and it seems to solve the problem

[Stéphane]

I did as you say ( i hope :)) i copied the code in the console in ERAS/program , but when i load the game and i press F4 , nothing happens …

Well , when i was writting this i had an idea … in the console, i had this too :
void ExecuteConsole()
{

pchar.restoreLSCIsland = true;
int n = FindIsland(“LostShipsCity”);
Islands[n].visible = true;
Islands[n].reload_enable = true;
Islands[n].alwaysStorm = true;
Islands[n].MaxSeaHeight = 2.0;
Islands[n].storm = true;
Islands[n].tornado = true;

Log_SetStringToLog(“Operation successful! “);
}

So, i deleted it to have only the other code , and it works, f4 worked, and i can now go into my ships and fast travel in town …

Jeffrey you are a semi-god

[Jeffrey]

Hehehe, thanks.

I should have been a little more clear that yes, you need to replace everything in the console. But you figured it out.

I spent hours trying to figure your problem out, it was tricky, but you are important to me…you bring much needed testing/debugging information to the table, so I need to keep your games working as you progress and keep you happy 🙂

Glad things are fixed for you.

[Stéphane]

There is a little error with the last update , in character selection when you start a game, the Beatrice Devlin portrait is not good, it’s the Blaze Devlin one

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by Stéphane.

[Jeffrey]

I see it. I know how that mistake happened too. I added repmin for that reputation change, but had put a 0 value, later found the minimum is actually 1 and did a mass replace of all {0} to {1}. Turns out, that also changed Beatrice’s face value.

I am uploading now, but I was already in the middle of replacing the base files and might take awhile for that Update.zip in the queue. If you want to manually fix:

Find RESOURCE\INI\texts\russion\HeroDescribe.txt.

Change this line

heroFace_36 {1}

to

heroFace_36 {0}

[Stéphane]

A new bug .. but i don’t know how you can fix it, if i send you my save game this will not help, i explain.

I started a new game, all was ok until the two last fights, the two last ships i boarded, when i go back to sea after capturing or sinking the ship , i can’t escape to map sail mode , there is no UI on the screen, but if i save the game and load it , all come back to normal , here is a screenshot just after capturing

[Jeffrey]

I just started a new game to test another issue, and I will use that game to try and recreate your problem, by finding a set of ships to board and see if this happens to me.

[Stéphane]

A bug with a reputation quest , i was doing a watchman guard duty in church , i had to spend 8 days to logbook update, and it update 2 times, first to say i complete the quest and i have to report , and second time to say i failed for not being at church before midnight ( and i was ) .

[Stéphane]

I loaded a sage game 3 days before completion/failing , and same priest gived me another quest (summon evil), so i have 2 quests pending with the same priest .. don’t know if this can help you to figure out what happened

[Stéphane]

Well , i managed to complete the quest.. first i cleaned the grotto and got the reputation reward .. then for the guard duty , instead of going to church around midnight with no one inside, i spent the day from morning (with losing time dialogue) until the morning to the day after (with priest and citizens inside the church) , then , after 7 am i went out , and my log book update to successfull .. i came back inside the church and priest reward me

[Stéphane]

I think there is something wrong with the pirate quest line .. when Morgan ask you to raid the pearl divers north bay of Turks .. When you reach the area, the ships are here, but you can’t ransack them …
As the boarding option is not available, making them surrender, sunk the ships , or sailing close to them do nothing, they don’t give any pearl and you can only fail the quest

[Jeffrey]

Send me a save from before approaching the Pearl ships and I will take a look.

[Jeffrey]

There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong. I tried several times, and could get pearls every time. However, it is difficult with those ships you have. I prefer something much smaller and faster. The Dog of War (or a similar smaller/fast ship) is my favorite choice for that mission. Make your companions use grape shot (short range) and stay their sails at a distance, so they don’t shoot and sink any.

The problem is those ships are big and too much firepower. If the ships surrender, they will not give you pearls. Also, it is too easy to run them over and sink them in those large, cumbersome ships, and you will not get pearls that way. You have to get right next to them, they will try to steer away, but you still have to be side-by-side, close for a few seconds, then they will give you pearls. It just takes a few seconds of staying very close to them, sides right next to each other. Which is why it is difficult in those ships you have because I ran a few over and sunk them accidentally before they gave up pearls. My best attempt so far with your game is 687 small and 536 big pearls.

If they surrender, use chain shot, from fairly far away (so you don’t sink them) and make them mad/enemy again, then chase them down. Be careful not to sink them.

It can be done.

[Stéphane]

Thanks, i will try again with a smaller ship then, i sunk them often trying to be close, and may be because i was not side by side in the same direction they didn’t give the pearls but good to know i have to be better and it is not a game bug

[megaprime]

Hi this mod is really good and I’ve been following it for a while now but there is a problem now when i want to capture a fort it does not load the loading screen stays and the music plays but thats it. Im playing as Tarnish Greaves has the landing troops ability tried landing with different ships and without companion ships still nothing. I tried to capture San Juan and Santo Domingo.

Also there is another problem it might be only balance related but some ships are simply hilariously op like the royal fortune, I managed to upgrade it to the sky and know its speed is 20 knots AND its faster then as the wind blows in tail wind also some square rigged ships are fastest in full tail wind which is a little odd

Another problem is the other captains who always want you to go raid with them it would not necessarily be a problem but they do it too frequently like i just started the game they immadietly talk to me about that they heard all about me and i should go board a treasure fleet with my coastal bark all day everyday i rejected all of them ofc cause i didnt have the manpower for these expeditions and now when im ready there is no one to go raid with me feelsbadman. I think it would be nice to be these things somewhat level restricted so they dont storm you with pirate mssions right away when you start a game with a sinking dinghy.

I know i mostly sound negative now but i really apreeciate the work you have done with this game also this mod runs better with better graphics on older pc-s than sea dogs TOEHO so nice work there also

[modernknight1]

Thanks for the comments and Welcome Megaprime,

The game is far from perfect, but an awesome experience and we are constantly working to make it better.

As to the Royal Fortune being overpowered, indeed it is especially after upgrade. People are always worshipping the Queen Anne’s Revenge, but Robert’s ship was one of the truly great pirate ships of history. She was the English EIC warship (3rd Rate) Onslow which he captured and modified heavily. One of the truly most heavily armed pirate ships of history. I truly believe he would have been more that a match for that last squadron after him if he hadn’t had such bad luck that morning – I mean – you get killed in one of the first broadsides with a cannon ball, they take out the main mast with a lucky shot on the third salvo and your crew is all drunk as lords from the night before – a pirates life as they say…

She is very much supposed to be OP, but only one of a handful and she is not a commonly found ship either. If you don’t like her, sell her – or don’t upgrade her. There are still a lot of ships in the game that would spank her and plenty of challenges to faced even with her excellent capability. On the downside I usually have some disadvantage with most ships and hold size is hers – although more than the smaller ships for sure.

One thing I like to do when I get all of those offers for piratin at the beginning is actually to take them up on their mission and then not go on the mission. They will follow you around and are great protection while you find crew and take other missions. When you bust time and they get pissed at you and part company usually nothing even happens. They just say mean stuff to you and hate you the rest of the game – which can lead to some interesting tavern duels in the right circumstances later.

MK

[megaprime]

Also i dont know if you guys had boarding problems i know i had with lots of ships like the english pinnace, heavy hooker, and zabra comes to mind
There is a comment from 2015 with a fix it works like a charm now:
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/cant-board-anyone-can-be-boarded.18963/page-3

[megaprime]

Sextant doesnt give the appropriate bonus when given to an officer it gives only 10 not 30 navigation

[megaprime]

nevermind all skill enhancing item when given to officers only give 10

[Stéphane]

Check the mod option , i suppose you have the limited bonus on … if i can give an advice, you will have a better feeling and a better game experience without items or books to buff stats, the only items i keep are cats or rat totem, or items giving a bonus stat in p.i.r.a.t.e.s like the spectacles giving a +1 Insight

[Jeffrey]

I agree with Stéphane, that most likely you have the option to ‘reduce skill bonus’ turned on. I think that the default is to reduce the bonus, so it will limit each item to +10. If you turn on ‘stack’, then you will probably see the true described bonus for each item.

[megaprime]

Regarding the fort capturing bug the system log file looks like this:

Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
44 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8
Techniques: 22 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 229 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 567499167 ticks.
Can’t init font INTERFACE_NORMAL
can not init start font: INTERFACE_NORMAL
Can’t load texture RESOURCE\textures\LOADING\PROGRESS.TGA.tx
Progress error!
RESOURCE\\models\islands\barbados\\barbados_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Jamaica\\jamaica_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\PuertoRico\\PuertoRico_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Cuba1\\Cuba1_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Cuba2\\Cuba2_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Curacao\\Curacao_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Tortuga\\Tortuga_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\SentMartin\\SentMartin_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Trinidad\\Trinidad_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Nevis\\Nevis_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Antigua\\antigua_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Guadeloupe\\Guadeloupe_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Martinique\\Martinique_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Hispaniola1\\Hispaniola1_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Hispaniola2\\Hispaniola2_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Bermudes\\Bermudes_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Dominica\\Dominica_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Terks\\Terks_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Caiman\\Caiman_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\PortoBello\\PortoBello_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Cartahena\\Cartahena_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Maracaibo\\Maracaibo_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Caracas\\Caracas_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Cumana\\Cumana_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\SantaCatalina\\SantaCatalina_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\Beliz\\Beliz_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
RESOURCE\\models\islands\LostShipsCity\LostShipsCity_locators.gm: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
Error: Language ini file not found!
User Rised Exception
xinterface.cpp line 1124

Dunno if it helps or not it just seems strange

[Jeffrey]

Check your start.ini file and make sure these values are pointed to the correct paths, either relative to the directory the game sits:

resource_directory = RESOURCE\
ini_directory = RESOURCE\INI\

Or full path:

resource_directory = E:\ERAS2.6\RESOURCE\
ini_directory = E:\ERAS2.6\RESOURCE\INI\

[Jeffrey]

Also, just to satisfy my curiosity, any particular reason you chose the DirectX 8 version? The standard download is DirectX 9, so you would have had to explicitly find the DX8 version and download that and overwrite. I’m just curious.

I do have all the same bug/crash fixes in both, so they are both fine.

[megaprime]

wow no idea i didnt download any dx 8 version specifically i must have installed the wrong update, when i started playing before i updated it showed dx9 on startup

is there any way to revert it to dx 9 which doesnt involve downloading the whole mod again from mega (takes 3 days)

[megaprime]

nevermind the game simply doesnt give a new system log file, on startup it shows that its in dx 9 but it doesnt write a new log file anyways fort bug still stands i did install the latest update

[Jeffrey]

OK, that makes more sense. We can enable the logs in start.ini. Also, if you want to send me a save file where you are attempting the fort assault, I can look into that.

For enabling logs, in start.ini, change these to what you see here:

tracefiles = 1
tracefilesoff = 0
debuginfo = 1
runtimelog = 1

[megaprime]

How can i send it?

[megaprime]

https://mega.nz/#!mVMz3LaA!kVdZn_idKjWXeg5G8EAlUBNPHBL9Mlfgfj-RENRbD-U

[megaprime]

Let me know if the link works or not

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by megaprime.

[Jeffrey]

I got it. Though I had no trouble attacking the fort. As soon as I load the game, I can hit the spacebar, as the icon to attack the fort is active. Or, I could hit the Enter key, arrow over to the ability icon to attack the fort, and do the same thing. It takes a little while for the loading screen, as it does a boarding save, but I do arrive in the fort and the battle commences.

Perhaps something is missing/corrupt in your files. All of the script code is included in the Update.zip, so you might try just replacing with that so you don’t have to download the entire set.

[megaprime]

Sadly it doesnt want work it doesnt matter how many times i overwrite the files it just dont load the loading icon spins for like 2 seconds it disappears epic music starts and thats it loading screen stays if iI do a right click it straight up crashes

The only 2 files i did modify was the Pshero and the CharacterUtilite file but i did overwrite these with backup also so havent got a clue

[megaprime]

Fuuuck me it does work i just didnt have enough patience this game did troll me really badly it did load for a couple of minutes but it loaded the fort sorry for bothering you with this i need to apply cold water to the burned area right on my face

[Jeffrey]

No worries. I admit, that this loading does take longer than usual, and I don’t know why yours does in this case. Maybe something going on with your particular game-state at that moment. So I can understand thinking something is wrong. But, it eventually gets there!

That battle didn’t go well for me in the few times I tested though…lost the officers, got killed a couple times…LOL

[megaprime]

Yep I just wanted to test it out at that time cuz i remember how glitchy were the fort battles in these sea dogs games tho I somehow like these tough situations really like the fencing in this game well when it does do what i want and not attacks when i want to parry

[Stéphane]

It’s about Beatrice Devlin again 🙂

I meet her in a tavern and i recruit her, but her portrait is the Blaze one … but if i start a new game, the portrait is the good one…
Is it because i did the ” heroFace_36 {1} to heroFace_36 {0}” during a game and it need a new game to apply or there is a way to correct it for my actual game ?

[Jeffrey]

Yes, those portraits get set at the beginning of a new game, so an existing game will still be wrong. You have to run console code to correct an existing game. Replace your console.c code and hit F4:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
    ref ch = characterfromid("PsHero_36");
    ch.FaceId   = 0;
    Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful! " );
}

After you save again, it will stay fixed for that game file.

[Stéphane]

I did it as you say, in game i have a message “operation successful” when i press F4 , but portrait stay as the Blaze one .. i saved, reload, quit game or relaunch but still the same …

[Jeffrey]

Hmmm, I tested that with one of my fighters, and it worked instantly. Send me a save and I’ll check it out.

[Jeffrey]

Whoops. Got your save and found it’s because I had you change Jessika by mistake. Since you might have saved, this will correct both:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
    ref ch = characterfromid("PsHero_35");  //Beatrice
    ch.FaceId   = 0;
    ch = characterfromid("PsHero_36");  //Jessika
    ch.FaceId   = 330;
    Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful! " );
}

In my own test, I didn’t have Beatrice, so just picked one of my other officers for the test and they got the right face, so thought it would work. But my problem for you was to give you the wrong hero id for Beatrice. She is PsHero_35, not PsHero_36.

[Stéphane]

yep this time it worked fine 🙂

[megaprime]

I have met a bug:

When I board an already surrendered ship I lose plenty of crew lets say a ketch with 20 crewmembers kills 300 of my men

[Jeffrey]

I think I have read similar for GOF, but I have not seen this. Do you have the boarding save for that I could look at?

[megaprime]

https://mega.nz/#!XB8yXAJC!XJevm4z5wDVIRP2wDevVje2-_VoMASalqj89_IUZ_Q0

[Jeffrey]

Perfect. Yep, a bug. I lost 242 men after boarding.

I will figure this out.

[Jeffrey]

Surrender boarding bug now fixed.

Looking at AoP2 COAS and GOF 1.2 code, this was a bug inherited from GOF 1.2. Did not exist in COAS.

Uploaded and ready: https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[megaprime]

Thanks that was swift

[Jeffrey]

A long time ago, I had made this game ‘smarter’ and to recognize when certain array sizes, like for ships, locations, etc. get changed (enlarged to accommodate new places/ships), it will reinitialize the arrays and call the Init functions to populate them with base info. Without this, every time new ships are added, locations added, etc. a brand new game would be needed as the old save games become incompatible and crash the application. So the ability to recognize, resize and reinit upon discrepant save games vs. new sizes was a nice feature to allow continued game play for old saves, but with the newer content. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects for this is to sometimes lose or overwrite some current info needed in saved games.

A shorter time ago, I developed a better method for when new locations are added, I only initialize the new places, as we have enough empty location slots to just add them in at the end, thus making the location resize better able to not adversely affect old games.

However, that may not always be the case, and we may need to resize that location array, but someone had pointed out a bug that if a location re-init happens, a player can lose their money/items stored in their ship’s chest. I just figured out a way to keep that from happening if the location array gets resized and re-initialized in the future.

It is not a concern at the moment, but if a location re-init is ever needed in the future, your ship chest contents should be retained. This will be part of any future updates.

[megaprime]

I have run into some strange thing:

I raided Santiago during the sea battle the spyglass identified the fort as a boat and that it has 68 guns always.The fort was full of smoke and had silent guns yet it still showed 68/68 just a minor thing, but when i began the assault it did load now surpisingly fast beacuse it loaded a ship to ship boarding map.
There was no crash or anything its just strange

[Jeffrey]

Ah, yes. I had that on my list to resolve. When we add to the base number of ships like we’ve done in some of the recent updates, the fort descriptions in the spyglasses gets messed up (forts are actually included as a type of ‘ship’ but they are the last of the list, so when others are inserted into the list, it skews the fort references), indicating ‘boat’. I had noticed that myself awhile back and meant to check it out. Thanks for reminding me that I need to implement a correction to forts if ships change.

[megaprime]

On some of the ships I get some flickering not on the entire model just sections of the ship the latest ship I have encountered that is a manowar.Her stern flickers like hell its almost like a driver error (it very might be I have a radeon gpu)

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by megaprime.

[megaprime]

https://mega.nz/#!aIFCAKgJ!AP_m5BKrLQJ7zjUGDKrRprK_U4pRGPiv2y4pwA05o6M

[Jeffrey]

I think that flickering has something to do with the change from DirectX 8 to DirectX 9, actually; the DirectX 8 version does not have this issue. My guess is a slightly different handling of either depth bias or Z bias between the two. I had a similar problem with shadows on the ground when moving to DX9, but got that figured out. However, I’m still not yet quite sure where or how to figure the adjustment in technique/shader calls for some of the models that have this problem.

[megaprime]

In Santiago the plants near the port also has flickering

[megaprime]

Nevermind the grass is fine now

[Jeffrey]

I think the problem with some ships is that they have closely stacked textures, with the underlying ones supposed to be hidden/covered by others. This flicker problem is typically a z-fighting issue. Doing some reading, the depth buffer resolution might be increased in the projection matrix.

Try changing to these values in start.ini and let me know:

NearClipPlane = 0.42
FarClipPlane = 9000.0

[megaprime]

Tried it its the same

[megaprime]

Hey Jeffrey if it isnt too much to ask could you post the fix for the “Fort sexually identifying itself as a 68 gun boat” bug so i can fix it right away when new ships being added

[Jeffrey]

If you have already saved the game with the new ship additions, my fix won’t help because it needs to load an older save game, without the new ships, to do it properly before it adds the new ones. But, I can fix a fort because it has a different type, but if you have any companion ships, they will still be wrong…my new fix can only work going forward if we add more ships later and when loading a save from before the additions, will correct your companions and all other nearby ships too. Sorry I missed this feature before we added them this time, but it will help keep things correct for future additions.

Since forts are special and have a tag I can look for, this should work for just the forts. Edit Programs\console.c and replace with this:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
    int i;

    for (i=0; i<REAL_SHIPS_QUANTITY; i++)
	{
	    if(CheckAttribute(&RealShips[i], "isFort")){
            RealShips[i].BaseType = SHIP_FORT;
	    }
	}
    Log_SetStringToLog("Operation successful! " );
}

Load your save, then press F4.

[megaprime]

I have got a pirate quest from one of the captains that some spanish with silver is waiting on the Shores of Batabano problem is its impossible to land on the beach and also to go to worldmap near it

[megaprime]

Nevermind it works now

[megaprime]

Some ships have problem with their sails like the french armed lugger and the mediterranean brigantine:

The lugers sail acts like the wind blows from the opposite wind direction also:
example: https://mega.nz/#!vQ1CSKSR!ybtacj7ott7y6eowSj8NxV0cSPPOruiu9CUhfBVnP_c

The mediterranean brigantines back sail ( gaff-sail maybe dunno how its in english) also act weird its tries to catch the wind from the opposite direction
I suppose these 2 have the same problem just wanted to let you know

[megaprime]

Another flickering issue:

Bought a Frigatte in Guadalupe its like the texture of the stairs got mad on deck this problem exist when its zoomed out when zoomed in its fine

[megaprime]

Now i tried the fix with the plane and it does work fine now for the frigatte although that fix didnt work for the Manowar ofc the flickering on that did exist only on the stern and not on the deck

[megaprime]

Goleta spanish schooner sails are wrong too her gaff sail has the same problem as the meditterranean brigantine

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by megaprime.

[modernknight1]

There are actually quite a number of ships that were ported into the game with rotational problems with the mizzen spanker/boom and/or lateen yards/sails rotation with the wind direction. Many of them are backwards.

Each one has to be modified in TOOL to change the rotation. It is a time consuming process and someday maybe someone will undertake it because it is very low on my list of things to do right now.

Personal issues and getting new colonies imported are my number one concern right now. Also we are missing some key/critical ships that would have been present in certain nationalities. So getting new ships is also at the top of the list. When the site refreshes (soon) you will see an announcement for a modeling contest with cash awards.

MK

[megaprime]

So how can i change it is TOOL a modeling program i would check it out could you pass me a link?

[modernknight1]

TOOL is not a modeling program, but a model manipulation program. It allows you to cut models up and add new pieces or build a scene or add to a scene in the Storm engine games. I am updating our own tutorials page this morning because in getting you this information I realized that most of the Pirates Ahoy! links are now dead. They obviously don’t care about this stuff any longer. However, we do. So I have loaded all of the appropriate tools into our own database.

Here’s the link to tool:
https://mega.nz/#!qIlGQDbT!MJeEYeob2J_G0lZX2t2aqN1UFb_6rrlJlIdj1btWvSQ

Here’s a guide on how to use the tools.
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/general-guide-to-locators.19016/

Here’s a link to our own tutorials page which I am updating now:

Ship Modeling and Modding Tutorials

MK

[Jeffrey]

Great news!

The occasional texture flickering was specific to DirectX 9 and I guess it’s a change in some default behavior that was different than DirectX 8. After much searching and experimentation, I isolated the cause and I have a version where the flicker is gone! It was due to ‘backfacing’ textures getting blended into the forefront. The addition of one simple line of code fixes the problem.

It also gets rid of the occasional backfacing textures that make some decks show portions of textures that shouldn’t show at all (e.g. BlackPearl1).

I am so happy. I will let everyone know when I get it uploaded.

[Rion]

Hi there!

I download mod a few days ago and it’s great. I remember how fascinated I was when I first got this game. Still I don’t know if this things I found are actualy bugs.

After boarding a ship the hud is missing no matter which ship I swim. I can save at this moment and after loading the hud is back.

And the second one. I know that the busy merchants are part of the game they tell me to come back tomorrow, but I thing im stuck. After sleeping in tavern a whole week and checking every day he says the same, to come back tomorow. That things happen every time I meet busy merchant there is no way that I could trade tomorrow, always the same. Especially this one in Bermudes he is always busy. I played few month (game time) and he is always busy.

I playing as Edward Teach under United Provinces flag.

Sorry for my english…

[David Kueh]

Hi MK, this is David here. I have some problem while playing era.

1. The store owner asking me to come back tomorrow, busy with customer. When i come back tomorrow still the same answer.

2. The shop inventory for Cannon powder, weapon, medicine, cannon ball (hot fix) are always empty in all port.

Really appreciate if you can help me in the above mention issue.

Thank you

Regards,

David

[Schiavonna]

@ Jeffrey – that’s superb news about the texture flickering bug. I noticed it on first play through as Jan Willems, who starts with Armed English Merchantmen/BlackPearl. The dirty fix of quicksaving hasnt been working though, so there’s been a permenant backfacing texture on the deck. Wow! – ONE line of code. Kudos sir 🙂

[Schiavonna]

Quick fix till the ‘Governors’ do something about the trader/barmen reluctance to sell, if this is becoming a real issue for you 🙂

void ExecuteConsole()
{

	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_BALLS,2400)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_GRAPES,800)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_KNIPPELS,650)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_BOMBS,800)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_POWDER,3200)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_FOOD,200)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_RUM,500)
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_MEDICAMENT,400)	
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_SAILCLOTH,150)	
	SetCharacterGoods(Pchar,GOOD_PLANKS,200)

	Log_SetStringToLog("You have new supplies");
}

Put that in console.c (located in ERAS 2.6.7\Program) – overwriting whats in it (BACKUP the original first!). Then hit F4 in game when you need resupplied. This will replace your existing supplies with the new goods, so be careful. You can modify the numbers in the code to whatever you need / suits your current ship.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by Schiavonna.

[David Kueh]

To Schiavonna, thank you for your help. Also there is another problem when i try to recruit Peter Blood, he keep on reject by saying not interested or grow up first. Previously, i used to do reloading until he agree to join but now never happen no matter how many time i reload. As for other heroes no problem can easily recruit after a few reloads. Is this a bug?

Thank You

Regards,

David

[Jeffrey]

If you see the ‘grow up’ dialog, that usually means you are not commanding a ship class within one of Blood’s ship. I believe he starts out with the Arabella, which is a class 3 maybe? So before talking to him, make sure you are commanding a class 4 or better.

If that’s not the case, and you are within one class or better, you may have upset him somehow? Agree to meet and not show? Go on a mission with him and fail? That will reduce their relation to you and if that relation is bad enough, they won’t join you either.

But I’m pretty sure from the dialog you describe, it’s ship class…and not just in your squadron, but the one you are captain. If you have a better one in your squadron, just switch to it before talking.

[David Kueh]

Thanks Jeffrey. Will try out your method.

I currently finish the sharp spy quest and rewarded the Expensive Cuirass (In era mode it is change to different name start with G..). Once i put on the expensive cuirass the weapon and sword that i wear no longer appear physically. (weapon and gun appear in the inventory on the weapon and gun respectively but not physically). When attacking cannot see the sword only see hand punches. Also when wearing the Flemish Cuirass the screen become dark. I playing as Natanainel Hawk.

Also, one the French Mission 2 in Curacao after release from prison all my inventory item all gone except for the Spanish cuirass that i am wearing.( Can only wear France, English and Spanish cuirass).

Hope you can assist me on this. or probably i have to change to new hero.

Thank You

Regards,

David

[Jeffrey]

I have not had these cuirass/weapons problems with other characters, but have not played as Nathaniel, so this might be a problem with that specific character. I will start a game as Nathaniel and give myself those items to see if I get the same problems. If I don’t, I may need you to send me a save. I will notify you about whether I need a save file from you after I try a few things first.

[Rion]

Hi there 🙂

I think that there is a bug with quest “The church and the spirits of the grotto near Tortuga”. I don’t know is that in every church.

Here is some video explaining that.

Video

When I complete the quest I can tell father that I ended it over and over again gaining reputation for that.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Rion.

[Jeffrey]

I remember someone posting/telling me about this bug from COAS, so it’s been around since the beginning.

I took a look and found the problem. I fixed it and will post it in my next update upload. I will notify when I do that.

[chris gardner]

Hello!
There seems to be a problem with my class 2 “fast battleship” i just purchased. I just took it to Bermuda for upgrades, cannon size was not an option, and after I did most of them except for hull reinforcement I decided to strip it of its 4 pounders and put on 32 pounders. Upon trying to strip the guns from the ship, all of them are removed except for the 32 on the port side. These guns are not removed, but rather copied and duplicates are placed in the hold, effectively granting me an unlimited cannons. Its impossible to strip the ship of its cannons on the port side. Is this fixable for my save file?

If there is any other information I can sift through and provide such as a save file, please let me know, I’d really like to get this fixed!

Thank you for your time,
Chris Gardner

[Jeffrey]

There are a few ships with this problem, but there is usually a way to work around it. You will need enough free hold space for the cannons you wish to purchase.

Buy the size you want, then in the cannon change interface screen, you need to click the row of the new size in the lower right of the screen to highlight that option, then Fix All. It should replace those cannons you can’t remove with the new set. If you don’t explicitly highlight the row of the different size, it will just use the default of the size you already have in position.

Until those ships are fixed, I just pretend the ship is magic and provides free money when I’m running low on loot with those infinite cannons I can just sell, LOL

[Jeffrey]

OK, after some review, I suspect those of you still having the locked services after changing to #define PGG_TASK_MITIGATE 110 might be playing higher than difficulty level 1.

I found that I also use the difficulty level of the game (sorry, I forgot about that) to figure the service locks, and higher difficulty levels reduce the mitigation. So if you are playing above the lowest difficulty level, that 110 number still won’t eliminate it entirely. For instance, at 110, but difficulty 5 (halfway), there is still about a 50% chance any hero in town can lock services; and if there are more than one in the same location, that 50% chance is determined for each one, so theoretically, if there are 6 of them in town, 3 have a pretty good chance of locking the service.

To make sure it goes away completely for difficulty 1 through 9, I think changing to this will work:

#define PGG_TASK_MITIGATE 1000

That should make locked services go away for all but Impossible difficulty (10), in which Impossible will still lock services, no matter what.

[Schiavonna]

@ Jeffrey

Thanks for explaining. That sounds a good compromise – the “gluttons for punishment” can just play on ‘impossible’ for realism and lock-outs, the rest can get some respite. I’m sticking at ‘commodore’ level thanks 😉

[modernknight1]

I am actually thinking of making this even more realistic. With the exception of pirate ports, you will have to go to see the port controller first before proceeding to the merchant. In our future cities I think we will have more than one merchant as well. In Spanish cities there will be no option BUT to proceed to the port controller FIRST. In other colonies if your trading abilities are high or maxed or you have an excellent treasurer/purser there is a chance you can proceed to the merchant directly. At the port controller you will ask for a cargo inspection and stamp on you lading documents. He will ask for a fee of 3000 to 5000 to inspect your cargo. If he is too busy you will have to return the following day. No more than three days will ever pass before he sees you though UNLESS you give him more than his fee (in other words a bribe). Then he will stamp your documents having inspected your cargo for official sale.

Then you can proceed to the merchant who might still be busy anyway – JUST to make things even more historically realistic and force people to do other missions than just trade. You can try bribing the merchant as well with an item or some money to sell your cargo – if your luck skills are good then he will take the bribe and you can sell your cargo. LOL

For your reading assignment this evening http://americanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-263

(Karl F. Marx’s books have a much better explanation about the pain of trading and inspections at that time – but alas they aren’t online) MK
SEE Page 130

https://books.google.com/books?id=QSH8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=seville+cadiz+spanish+cargo+inspection+treasure+ship&source=bl&ots=JIlgAfXBTJ&sig=-tpCz5s6XVMhmmGs186sCBR-lyY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRx9GrsK_VAhUmCpoKHQwDApcQ6AEIPzAE#v=onepage&q=seville%20cadiz%20spanish%20cargo%20inspection%20treasure%20ship&f=false

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by modernknight1.

[Filipe]

There’s a bug ( I guess ) where My navigator with old sea dog skill doesn’t avoid the regular encounters, I just can’t avoid those pesky pirates. PS: I don’t have any companions, I have only passengers.

[David Kueh]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me which Hero that can equip body armor on the body slot and the body armor appear externally (showing the hero wearing the armor). I think all the female Heroes body armor don’t appear when equipped. I know only Peter, Diego, Nathaniel Hawk and the rest i am not sure..

Can anyone assist? it will be nice to able to see the hero equipped armor appear.

Thank You

David

[MAdz]

Hi guys, so i noticed a bug when i try to assault a colony, first its aweasome now the battle haha i sink 6 ships b4 take care of the fort. but when i finally could “enter” the fort my game just freeze for ever and i had to close the app.
so i try another colony and same bug.. i tryed 3 times more with cheats and everything and the bug persists. the colony i tryed where cumana and port royal.

[Jeffrey]

I will need a save file to check this out.

First, if you have boarding saves enabled, you should have a save file created when you tried to enter the fort/land troops. Do you get the same hangup/freeze if you load that save then try to ‘board’ the fort again? If you do, send me that save file.

If you don’t freeze there, I want you to destroy a fort, then save BEFORE you try to land/enter. Then, if you crash, send me the save from before you tried to enter, not the actual boarding save (which will also be created).

Upload to a file sharing site, give me the link, or PM me and I will give you my email and you can send it that way.

[Vincent]

Right, wanted to discuss this real quick – I’m hoping it’s already fixed in the new limited release, but it might not have been mentioned before now and I figured it should be brought up.

I’ve played several characters so far – Mary Read, Jessica Layontz, David Martien, Tavish Greaves – and in every game I’ve played, it seems that as soon as I reach a certain level of wealth the merchants of my own nation always say they’re busy and won’t offer to sell me anything. I believe the merchants from other nationalities will still sell to me, and it might be because I’m getting a lot of money at levels 1-4, but this is still a pretty bad bug that needs to be stomped hard.

[Vincent]

Right, guess the issue isn’t quite as serious as I thought it was. I was playing today, and the thought came to me – I had realistic prices set to off, and when I turned it back on, everything worked properly again. Great! Still think this is something that should be looked at, though, even if it can now be afforded a lower priority with an easy ‘fix’ currently usable.

[modernknight1]

Vincent, We have a long priority list. Jeffry gets to stuff as fast as he can. Often a lot of tweaking can be done to mod options to tailor the game to your personal tastes. I’m sure he will take a look at some point.

So I wanted to address Dave’s question above because I just saw it.

On the armor – there are a LOT of characters that do change. I have not made this a priority because I HATE how most of the characters look with the actual breastplate models attached. I much prefer the ones with it as part of the texture. Someday when I have a lot of other priorities fixed I will makes separate skins for all characters with different armors.

For right now though the easiest way to find them is to look in RESOURCE/INI/tects/russian and open the HeroDescribe file in a notpad or wordpad utility. Look at the entries for each character by finding HeroModel_ line. If that line has more than one model listed and some of them say currais then they have breastplates. If they say _mush after a model name it means they can equip a musketoon or musket.

MK

[Schiavonna]

Noticed these 2 ships suffer fron the ‘cannon bug’:

SHIP_FRIGATE_MB (“Frigatta Olandesa”)
&
SHIP_GALEON_SANTIAGO (“Early Spanish Galeon”)

Also – love both these ships but, they’re somewhat OP for their classes. Maybe nudge them up one class each respectively -?

[Capt Qbert]

I can confirm Schiavonna’s bug report, ran into the ‘cannon bug’ last night after purchasing a shiny new Frigatta Olandesa.

Also agree the Early Spanish Galeon does seem a bit OP for class 6, especially if you get one with with 20 pounders. Maybe make this a class 5?

[Jeffrey]

Sad news so far on those two ships; I can’t replicate the problem. If I generate and grant my character either the Santiago or Olandesa, I don’t experience the magic cannons. They continue to work normally, no matter how many times I remove and replace.

Not sure what that’s about.

Also, to another poster above (or maybe the other thread? Can’t remember where it came from but is still an outstanding issue on my list I was to look into), still need to identify the boarding issue from that save game you gave me…

[Schiavonna]

@ Jeffrey

I couldn’t replicate the Olandesa one either on my second try. But try it after a battle, when a few cannons/ culverins have been knocked out. Thats when I experienced the Olandesa bug, post-battle, replacing culverins at the shipwright & upgrading them in the process. Hope that helps

[Schiavonna]

Found “Matchlock Arquebus” in a playthrough. Equipped an officer with it and they wear it gunlinger style – ?! Is this right? Did a test and spawned in mushket and mushket1 via console. Tried equipping officers (that DO have “_mush” models btw)… and nothing – ! Its registering in their inventory but they are not equipping the 2 mushkets (sic) models at all. In fact, they’ll choose a basic pistol over them.

The Arquebus appears, but like i say – they wear it ‘pistol’ style when equipped. Looks kind of…odd! LOL!

Unsure whether you are aware of this 🙂

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Schiavonna.

[modernknight1]

Yeah I know about it. I have thought about making it available in two different configs because muskets are not able to be used by all player characters. This is why I coded it in as a pistol instead of a musket. It does look a little weird, but it is damn effective! I have a Winchester Dogleg 45 Long Colt that I can shoot the same way. It looks like the one in the old 50s Cowboy series “The Rifleman” with Chuck Connors. That’s kind of what inspired me here.

On those two ships I may reconsider the Olandesa because in the upcoming update there are more of her in different nationalities with different capabilities and completely different new skins. However, with the Galleon, I intended it to be the most powerful class 6 ship available. It is old and simple and has the caravel style hull and can be sailed with a small crew. So I wanted it to be available without penalties to beginning players as a powerful ship if one can be taken. I will do as you say and downgrade the guns.

Part of this new update is an overhaul of all ships capabilities across the board to include guns. Thanks for you input guys! Its always great to hear your opinions on this stuff. Helps me to adjust everything. I REALLY value it!

MK

[Schiavonna]

@ Modern Knight of Nee

That’s a really fair assessment. The Early Spanish Galleons is a blast at low level, as is El Zabra. Maybe give it a price-hike for such a good class 6 then- ? But the Olandesa really does feel too powerful for a class 4. Its got better stats and performance then most class 3’s (!), so I am glad you are considering addressing this. I should really keep my mouth shut though, as I’ve really enjoyed ‘lording it up’ in the Caribbean with a pair of them and a flota galleon supply ship!

That arquebus model is beautiful by the way. I was dribbling over the keyboard admiring it LOL. Would love to see it shoulder-slung, but I can put up with the James Caan “Rio Bravo” style in the meantime 😉

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Schiavonna.

[Capt Qbert]

CQ Bug Report #1
Issue: Text Overlap in list of ships
Repro Steps:
1. Need to have a ship with a long name such as ‘Early Spanish Galeon’.
2. Hit F2 and click over and get to the Ships tab
3. Notice for any long ship names, the text overlaps the ‘Class X’ text

Tested on: Windows 10 PC running @ 1600×900* resolution

* I will test again @ 1920×1080 res to see if an issue, but any res lower than 1600×900 will have the issue and probably worse.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Capt Qbert.

[modernknight1]

HA! @ Schiavonna, I am no longer the modern knight who says nee. I am now the Modern Knight who says, Icky Icky Icky Kapang Zoop Boing Neeeewhom. I see that I am not the only Python fan around here. LOL

So I have these other versions done for France and Holland, but I am still considering leaving one as a class 4 because it IS slower and weaker in hit points. I like every ship to have some redeeming quality about it. Some more than others, some less.

I will indeed do as you ask but not for this patch. I will code a version of that arquebuss into the game that will be musket only. It is indeed a beautiful weapon. Ya gotta love the sound effects I picked out for the whopper calibers! I still enjoy that aspect I’ve improved so much. Different death sounds, klings and clangs and gun shots. I have a couple more I am gonna add in the future as fighting background noise.

THANKS for the Bug Report Captain Q. I am sure one of us will be able to fix it. I have noticed it many times, but haven’t bothered to put it on the list. We just need to adjust those to display down one line.

MK

[Capt Qbert]

CQ Bug Report #2

Issue: Missing NPC texture after hitting F9 to re-load game? (aka Blueman group wannabe)

Repro Steps: Not sure how to get this to reproduce as I have only seen it occur twice since I started playing ERAs about 2 months ago so it is not prevalent. Looks like a texture failed to load? See attached screen cap. 🙂

Tested on: Windows 10 PC running @ 1600×900 resolution

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Capt Qbert.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Capt Qbert.

[Maltacus]

With surrendering in mod options set to “surrender occasionally” I initially had little luck when trying to yell at the enemy to strike colours. Later in the game everyone does that, but after answering NO in the dialogue box. I changed the mod options to never surrendering but that didn’t change anything, so this is some bug related to surrendering in itself and not just a mismatch between the dialogue and the calculations of whether or not a ship will surrender to you.

[Capt Qbert]

Hi Jeffrey/MK,

I have been messing around with the battle and land interface.c files in order to get the right hand side text font (such as location/colony name/date/ammo/etc) larger (1.7) and a bit moved to the left (168 IIRC) since when the colony name is long and/or the date is long (such as ‘September’), the text gets cut off on the right side.

FYI….I am playing in 1600×900 mode since in 1920×1080 the text is just too small (yes, I wear glasses). I have only upped the font and changed positions for these 2 areas (top right text in battle and land) and ship names, etc on the left but is there a way to ‘globally’ increase the font size? I understand positioning changes are more complicated as they are handled item by item and positions may need to differ from screen res to screen res if I read earlier posts correctly.

Would you guys be interested in seeing my battle and land interface.c files for 1600×900? I think with a bit more tweaking, those could also be applied for font size/positioning in 1920×1080 res but you guys are the experts. I would be happy to look @ the positioning/font size for other areas of the UI, but would need guidance or a list on what files/lines affect what text/positions/areas in the game.

I’d love to play in 19820×1080 res but font is just too small in parts of the UI for this old pirate. 🙂

Let me know how I can help if not too complicated.

Cheers,
CQ

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Capt Qbert.

[Jeffrey]

Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no global setting for font size. There is a pscale number in font.ini for each font type, but that is a default. That is the size scale that will be used if there is no override scale number specified in the script; it is an either/or proposition. Right now, almost every script that outputs text sets a number to override that default .ini pscale number, so changing the .ini has little-to-no effect since it is either the default if not specified in the program script, OR the value set for font scale in the script.

Of course that means, as you are finding, that if you want a different font size somewhere, you have to go find the program script it is set and change it.

[Capt Qbert]

Yep, I had a feeling that was the case, no worries! I’ll continue to experiment around…it’s kind of like finding treasure when you get it to work the way you want it to so all good!

One last question if you know….where is the code for the scrolling text at top middle…the one that appears and disappears when an update occurs to your log or rats eat your food, etc? I want to make that bigger and last longer too if possible before it fades.

Tnx as always,
CQ

[Jeffrey]

That is the ILogAndActions. Found in battle_interface\LogInterface.c

Settings for the scrolling text in void CreateLogEnvironment()

There you will also find the ActiveActions for sea/land that are the icons for a default action that shows up over there too. Like mooring, a door, go to worldmap, etc. It will also have positioning settings in that same file.

[Capt Qbert]

BTW…I set the font size to 1.8 for all the 1.5 ones, changed the delay to 10 sec and made the text orange…very happy with the results!

Tnx Jeffrey!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Capt Qbert.

[Ross633]

I have a problem with the update. After I overwrote the original folder with the files in the update one, the game crashed.

[Jeffrey]

To ensure I didn’t mismatch anything, I took the time to make a new, empty folder, then put the base .7z files, then overwrite with the Update.zip files. Ran my newly created program set and I had no problem. I don’t know what the problem might be.

You can try getting EngineUpdate.zip:
https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

It contains just the freshest executables/modules.

[Ross633]

I tried the Engine Update and it works like a charme, but out of curiosity in which folder you put your game?

[Jeffrey]

It’s puzzling why you needed to do that, but I’m not going to worry much about it, since it is resolved.

For this test, I created a new, empty folder: E:\ERASTest, on an external, USB drive. Then I extracted ERAS2.6.7z.001-012 (using 7zip) to that new folder. Then, I extracted Update.zip into that same folder, overwriting everything. Then I ran E:\ERASTest\START.exe.

For my regular game testing, I have a C:\MyCOAS folder. Within that folder, I have many versions, in subdirectories: AoP2Test, AoPTestDX9, AoP64, CaribbeanTalesTest, CaribbeanTalesTestDX9, CTSuperMod, Dmitry (a Russian mod), ERAS2.6, ERAS2.6DX8, ERAS2.6×64, GOF1.2Test, GOF1.2TestDX9, GOF2.5SModTestDX9, GOF2TestDX9, GOF64, NH64, POTCNHTestDX9, POTCTest, POTCTestDX9.

Also, since I don’t have enough C: drive space for all the resources for those games, I actually moved the RESOURCE folders for all of those games to my E: drive (4 terabytes) and change the start.ini paths for all the RESOURCE paths to use E:\…path…\RESOURCE.

[Ross633]

I saw the log.txt generated after the update:
It’s full of error

[Ross633]

You are very kind, I asked about the directory because I installed the mod in an external hard drive, and I thought that was the problem, but obviously I was wrong.

[0range]

Hi MK and Jeffrey, and everyone!

I was a little bit away from the topic, but finally I am back.

Could you please kindly mention, what is the way to obtain the freshest version? I understand that there has been a lot of advance since the last time we have saluted here.

There is a base 2.6 game. What else updates should I need to get the freshest? I remember putting some updates but now I am all confusion, I’d better reinstall.

BTW, is there any plan to arm a SVN or something like that, to be able to live sure that the version is the freshest, as well to protect ourselves from that so called dumb factor?

Thanks in advance!

[Jeffrey]

Since last you were here, I shrunk much of the texture sizes. You may want to get a complete new base (might speed performance with the smaller files) and the latest update on top of that.

But, it’s not necessary, as the Update.zip still has everything needed if you still have the original base. Just check the file date for the update at:

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

In the near future, I anticipate putting this on a system that provides a client to automatically update synch just the changed files (executables, resource files and script code).

[TheBlackTowerTK]

Hi everyone,
I have a problem with the Underwater portion of COAS, everytime i dive the texture go missing, there is no sword or gun although i can attack, their no mouse, and all the menus are missing their background, but this is nothing the try problem is when i resurface is all black cant move or fast travel and had to alt+f4 to end the game

Now i use cheat, i alter the max skill cap and max spe points, but never have a problem like that before, help me please.

[Jeffrey]

I would need a save game from some time before the diving so I can take a look. I don’t have any games anywhere near readiness for that quest, so I need you to send me a game with a character already there.

[TheBlackTowerTK]

I can provide that but the idea is you need to alter your files to make them look like mine, again i cheat the game give my self extra stats.

https://mega.nz/#!ZWQVWIqa!GMTOj7WNiZoGMQGzbMDrl8oCYo6XlQTbREdmdkabUv8

The file is alter like the following:
the Character i rise the limit of the skill
the RPGUtilite i change the starting stat along the xp ratio
The INTERFACE i change amount that the right click give for both

Sorry for the trouble i gave you, mimic my cheating put this is how i explore games in my first play

[Jeffrey]

I did find that the underwater scene in Tenochtitlan also has a problem when you exit the water, all the models are messed up when you load the next scene on exit, so that might have something to do with it. I fixed that:

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

EngineUpdate.zip

It was only a problem in the 32 bit DirectX 9 version and the DX8 and the 64 bit did not have the problem…that’s one of the reasons I was able to find it quickly.

I am not sure about what you describe as a problem while in the water, since my Teno save showed underwater OK, it was just when you load the next scene everything was messed up. I will download and look at what’s happening in your save game and try to figure it out.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, try the update. I tried your save and I think that fixed it because it seems to work good now.

[TheBlackTowerTK]

I’m so sorry for your trouble, i did update the Engine, but i did it before the bigger update, i think you must do it vice versa, sorry for wasting your time with this it work like a charm, i believe the Spanish red flag and the English gray flag is also fixed, they were missing texture, but it was not a game braking so i did not mind.

Again thank you and sorry, now going underwater wish me luck.

[Jeffrey]

Oh, no need to apologize. I just fixed the underwater thing after you brought it up. I thought maybe since you had trouble in COAS, and even though I did not yet have your COAS save, I thought that maybe the underwater part of Teno might be a similar problem and I did have a save for that. That’s when I found it was also broken. So that EngineUpdate is brand new from a couple hours ago.

[Dimitar Nikolov]

Hi everyone,
I’m playing AOP GOF since game come out, but never succeed to finish it due to engine.exe crash problems. I did a lot of updates and probably all suggestions from the net, nothing help.
Anyway, now downloading GOFERAS mod2 – I’m rely impressive – great gob, it’s looks very beautiful and what is most important-did’t crash.
I have one small problem and for now no solution. Begging of the game, English flag, first mission from Governor – to find the smugglers (I passed many times before with GOF), after rcving the task, when I try to talk to him in the tavern, always I rcvd answer – “that he has another job for today” or “no business for today”. trying on the each of next tree days – same result. I have a lot of contrabands on board, even I buy from each one in red in the store, but nothing helps. I noticed that before take the task from Governor, the dialog with the smuggler i going well as must be.

Any suggestions pls???

[Jeffrey]

This has been a common complaint. The problem is a side-effect of ‘busy’ services that were built into the original COAS from the other heroes that you can meet in the taverns, join forces if you speak to them (example: Diego, if you are playing as Peter).

In COAS, it hardly ever happened because there are only a few characters, but now that we added many more heroes, they are everywhere and that ‘busy’ code is causing this ‘busy’ service for store, governor missions. I will build an option to disable that into the ‘Mod Options’ but for now, I do have some code that might help. Find Programs\scripts\PSHero.c. Open in a text editor and at the top, change the #define to this:

#define PGG_TASK_MITIGATE 1000

It won’t take effect until you leave the current town you are in. But, if you leave and go to another town, it will hopefully remove the ‘busy’ feature from now on.

[Dimitar Nikolov]

Thanks Jeffrey, I’ll try.
After few restarts/loads, now Governor of Jamaica give me another simple mission to find the spy in the city. I talk to each one on the street and I enter in each house, but can’t find it. Also noticed that after accepting the mission, the normal dialog box (as it was before) is missing – it was something like “Governor ask me to find the spy, can you prove that you are local citizen?” or similar. Now that dialog is missing.

[Jeffrey]

If the dialog for seeking the spy is missing, that is only for the people on the street, and is a hint that the spy is in a house. When searching the houses, and you can’t find the spy, then you need to check all the upstairs rooms, even if there is someone else already in the house on the ground level.

[Vincent]

Just wanted to mention that I was having a discussion with someone who was very interested in the game after watching my youtube let’s play video. Unfortunately, he went back to the original game because the shopkeepers were always busy and crews kept getting stolen by the AI captains – It was literally game breaking for him, since the issue with the shopkeepers caused him to fail missions and he could never find enough crewI see we have a fix for the shopkeepers, does this effect the crewmen going off with other captains as well? And if not, can we get a piece of code for a quick fix and an option to disable that in future releases?

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Vincent.

[Jeffrey]

OK, OK, I give up, LOL

I tweaked the task chances, to a two layer randomness, and shrunk that chance in hopes that we can still get a task snaked by a competitor, but it should be reduced. If still not satisfied, I have now also added a mod option to disable the competition entirely (they still perform tasks, for their own leveling purposes, but will not consume the resources in that process). Let’s see how it goes.

To my understanding of the game mechanic in question, these changes will not take effect until the other heroes cycle out of their current tasks, so it may take leaving your current location and/or waiting a week or so (game time, not play time).

There are also a couple other, unrelated modifications…let’s see if you notice 🙂

Uploading now, may take another 45 minutes or so, at time of this post.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

Update.zip

[Vincent]

yes, give in to the dark side… LOL

In all seriousness, thanks for the fix. I’ll try it out eventually and see what happens for me.

[Vincent]

Wanted to ask a question about a problem I’m having with the config application. Whenever I click the icon to try and start it, the system opens an error window saying that the application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Any way I can fix this?

I believe the problem may originate from the fact that I downloaded GOF on my laptop, then moved it over to my gaming computer – I did this because I didn’t have internet on my gaming system at the time, and it’s pretty noisy – since I have it in my room, I don’t want to download it again because I have to do it overnight and the noise just keeps me awake. This is an issue with using MEGA as our download client.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Jeffrey]

I had never heard of this particular error and had to google it.

Side by Side Configuration Is Incorrect Error in Windows 10 [FIXED]

Hmmm, who knew it was such a prevalent problem, warranting many google hits, LOL.

Anyway, the first thing I would try is to make sure the correct Microsoft C++ runtimes are installed. I provide a copy in the base download, that correlate to the VS version I use for my compile, but if you no longer have them, just let me know and I can provide just those for a download you can try.

[Vincent]

I’ll try the suggested fixes and let you know if I need to try your solution. Thanks for the help.

[Jeffrey]

Yeah, I just provided the link as an example hit, from the many. I don’t think any of the suggestions it gives are relevant to you, since we don’t have an installer that installs/registers the components. That’s why I think trying the C++ runtimes are what I would try for this, because I know we have a dependency there, as it’s tied to the Visual Studio version/source toolkit I use.

[Vincent]

right, I’ll try that. If it doesn’t work, I’ll let you know.

[Vincent]

Well, I tried installing the latest runtime, and it still doesn’t work. So you may need to put your files up as a download I can try. I’ll go from there.

[Jeffrey]

This is the C++ runtime that matches what I compile:

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

vcredist_x86.exe

[Jeffrey]

Not really an update that affects much in the game presently, but since the dawn of this game’s time, large polygon character models used to crash POTC/COAS…no longer.

Typical characters in the game, have roughly 1,500 to 2,000 Verts. This masked character has 10,000+, Ciri, a new model from DeathDaisy at PA!, has just under 15,000. They both work in our engine:

Unrelated, women now read books in church, courtesy of another mod team

Various headgear can be applied, without model alteration (these are just examples, not representative):

Tortuga, while remaining French, is now friendly when a pirate or flying a pirate flag. Port Controller has unlimited ship storing capacity. Some other, small, yet secret additions just to surprise, also coming soon…

[Vincent]

Very nice. Increasing the number of verts used in character models, especially by that much, really helps to make the character models look much nicer – is it possible now that we’ll be seeing many of the original in-game models replaced by newer ones of this higher quality level? That’d be pretty cool if we could do that for future releases.

On the note of headgear, that’s pretty darn neat. Not sure what you’re going to do with that ability, but being able to select different hats/helmets to wear is a pretty cool feature – I’d love to see a replica of Jack Sparrow’s tricorn hat included, can we do that, please?

Really excited to play the new release when it arrives – all the suspense is killing me, especially when I’m getting glimpses of all the awesome new stuff that’s going to be in it!

[Jeffrey]

Don’t know how many we’ll do or get, but DeathDaisy said she might do some more, now that hers works; she had to severely deduct the detail to get her model in New Horizons. I asked her to give me the ‘good’ one to see what’s up and now that it works, we can have that one. I was then informed of the already existing masked guy and of course that one works too.

You’re right, the extra detail is nice. The Ciri’s blousing, cuffs, belt and pouch, collar, arm bands, are all so much nicer in the version we get to use. I believe I got a tricorn in the supplied hats/helmets, so I suppose we could just retexture that one to make it look more like Sparrow’s.

[Maltacus]

The cannon loading times with realistic reloading turned on and off are inverted, so the cannons load slow with realistic reloading turned off and load quickly with realistic reloading turned on.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

after a successful boarding I get stuck on boarding deck if I loot items there. Cant duel captain and/or leave the prize. If I dont loot just press space I get to duel normally.

I have this problem in the Build mod too BTW.

Anyway IMO dueling the enemy captain after a succssful boarding is FAKE challenge and should be discarded as very unrealistic.

Win7 Home 64 bit.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

The game has always been like that, and it’s not real intuitive, but you can enter the cabin. I suppose I can look into changing the behavior. Anyway, here’s what to do:

If you notice, if you loot nobody/nothing, there is an icon in the upper right to indicate the default, fast action is to enter the cabin and space bar activates such. When you loot someone, that default fast action got changed as you approached either one of the ‘closets’ with loot, or a body. However, after completing the looting, that fast action is not reverted back to enter cabin and is now blank, however, if after looting, you left mouse-click, you will enter the cabin. That is how it has always worked in COAS and remained unchanged, but perhaps looking into re-establishing that fast-action to again revert back to ‘enter cabin’ might be a good idea.

If you even more confusion, try playing the game like I described for a long time, then after years of not doing the Peter Blood start, decide to test it, get to the part where you defeat the crew aboard the Cinco Llagas, then try that left mouse click and see nothing happen because in that one case, you have to actually go to the cabin door…took me several minutes before I remembered that, LOL

[Oldtimer]

@Jeffrey

Right, THX. Looting caskets before entering cabin works as per your explanation.

BTW, a fix is sorely needed for the horrible tattered sails on new bought ships. It`s really immersion breaking IMHO. Perhaps making lesser improvements available at ordinary shipyards also?

Yet another thing, storage chests on small ships not having a cabin would be very welcome. I like to play with these but must upgrade because they lack a storage facility.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Vincent]

Still can’t access the config utility on my gaming computer, which is very odd. I’ve installed both the Jun2010 runtime and the DirectX update in the game files, but it just won’t work. I know that it works on my laptop (without the engine updates), but it won’t work on my gaming computer for some reason. I initially copied the downloaded .zip file to my gaming rig, and then tried installing a copy I downloaded on the gaming setup, but neither works, and I don’t know how to fix it. I wondered if it could be windows 10 getting in the way, but I have that on my laptop and it’s not a problem. My only other guess is that the system is limiting the config file’s ability to function because of admin privleges, but it still doesn’t open when I use the ‘run as administrator’ command… so I have no clue how to fix that, but at least my game works, so I’m nor going to really cry about it.

On another note, I’ve noticed a very minor glitch in the game, and that’s why I haven’t mentioned it before. Whenever you want to adjust your game options while playing, sometimes the game won’t let you access the options menu until you’ve saved your game – until then, every time you click on the options tap in the F1 menu, it just closes out (though thankfully it doesn’t seem to affect the game). Easy fix, but figured the issue was worth mentioning now that it’s on my mind.

Another issue I’ve noticed, is when I start a new game. Usually, I edit the options to my liking in the main menu before selecting a character, hoping that the modifications will carry into the game and save me a bunch of work (instead of editing options for each individual game). However, it seems that the edits do not carry over to the gameplay, and I have to edit them all over again. I think I might have found a quick-fix for this, though I don’t recall what it is at the moment, but I figure it’s just another thing that could be fixed in future.

[megaprime]

The config.exe crashing is fixable by looking at the event viewer:

It should show the error message in details and there sould be a version number of the file it has trouble with
I had problem with the visual c redistributable but installing the one with the mod didnt fix it you have to download the version your windows have problem with and it shows it in the event viewer.

[modernknight1]

@ Vincent, You might want to consider getting an optimizer utility. I’ve used a bunch of different ones over the years. NVIDIA themselves used to have a great one. The one I use now is embedded in my paid full AVG suite and is called Turbo mode. If its a good one it will allow you to tune and tailor what things/programs/services will be deactivated during gameplay.

Windows firewall and Windows Defender both have had a habit in the past of interfering and even interrupting (which before Jeffrey’s engine fixes would crash the Storm engine) during your gaming session. If I don’t use Turbo, every now and then I will still get the firewall alert popping up every now and then telling me that the program is asking for permission to conduct this or that process. Years ago on PA! several of the staff members there recommended turning off your firewall when you play. While I won’t go that far, essentially what an optimizer does is just that – but only temporarily while you are gaming. This is one of the reasons I will also play Steam games offline unless they are an MMO. People familiar with POTBS and FLS also remember that they had to deactivate their firewall in order for that game to even work.

@ Old Timer, I actually like the captain fight sequences. Keep in mind that class seven ships will never take you to that cabin. Also keep in mind that if you really spank the attacked ship or have a baddass reputation that when you arrive in the cabin, the captain will often be cowering in a corner and will surrender.

The many different cabin scenes we offer now are awesome and allow you to get additional loot and sometimes take the captain prisoner. There are chances even that he may join you later.

My favorite is in the quests and when you liberate kidnapped people – especially cute stolen wives “MY HERO”, because there is dialogue and a break in the fight even – like in the movies.

I look at the cabin fight as almost an homage to old Hollywood swashbucklers. I am a devotee and have about every pirate movie ever made – even the badly made B rated ones that are almost forgotten now. In so many of these there are cabin fights. I am a sap when it comes to the old movies. This is why ERAS isn’t just historical – it also heavily offers the classic swashbuckling theme throughout as well.

MK

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by modernknight1.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by modernknight1.

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Knight,

its your mod. As long as I dont have to duel a captain(insanely OP, btw) who already SURRENDERED his ship(latest Build mod) I`ll be fine.

THX for a great mod.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Vincent]

Thanks for the advice, MK, I’ll try that. I need to upgrade my AVG to a paid account anyway, so I can use that once I get the cash.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

Don`t know if these are considered fixes but:

– some items have misleading descriptions. Magnifying glass for example is described as if it could improve navigation but does not, perhaps it should. But reviewing this is very time consuming I suspect.

– the cat seems to hunt rodents only when in my pocket. I think he would do even better if let loose aboard. Meaning stowed in a chest or casket in the hold.

– unless I missed something all skill items must be on person to work. It would be nice if some at least worked while in chest. Firstly books and navigational aids. With time it`s lot of weight to drag around.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Vincent]

The cat and some skill items working when placed into the ship’s chest would be great to incorporate if you ask me – it reduces the amount of weight you have to carry around yourself (though the main reason I want that kind of functionality is to keep my inventory more streamlined). Also, why do you have to carry ship skill enhancements all the time, even while you’re exploring on land? I’d prefer to leave items that affect your ship and sailing skills in the ship’s chest (while still getting the benefits), while still needing to carry items that enhance personal skills like leadership and swordfighting to get their benefits.

Also, I would really like to add in the ability to enter your ship’s cabin from the fast travel menu, rather than going to your ship and then entering your cabin – along with a way to travel straight to shore from your cabin when anchored. This would make using the ship cabin’s chest less of a tedious process with fewer loading screens (important for those with slower load times and/or less patience); it makes it more appealing for me to store useful items there and then pick them up only when I need them (such as island maps, spare ammo and health items, extra loot, etc.), therefore cleaning up my regular inventory clutter quite nicely. Plus, it makes access to the cabin’s bed easier, which is a nice alternative if you’re low on money or don’t need/want the benefits of a tavern room (plus, it’s a good way to wait out busy shops and such without being constantly annoyed by the many NPC captains in the tavern).

[Oldtimer]

Hi Vincent,

I disagree abt. books enhancing personal skills. Once read they should, IMO, work from the ship`s chest.

Merry Christmas, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

This sort of change should be doable. I’ll run it by MK and perhaps we can work it into the game where some types of bonus items work while either on-person, or in chest, while others require on-person…depending on their nature (i.e. book vs. ‘charm’…so to speak).

[Vincent]

That’s an interesting idea I hadn’t thought of, Oldtimer, and it certainly makes good sense. After all, I’ve read the book, so why do I have to keep carrying it around just to remember how to use my new skill boost? Items like medals and such should still need to be carried around, but I do agree that it would be very nice to have all skill books enhance your skills from the ship’s chest once you’ve actually read them.

Also, Merry Christmas everyone!

[Jeffrey]

I’ve always thought the requirement to keep bonus items on your person was to force some judiciousness on the player’s part, and if certain bonuses were desired, but weight limit starts to constrain, well, then some sacrifices must be made.

However, I’m not entirely averse to the idea of certain items still empower the bonus from cabin chest. I think I’ll discuss this with MK and see what he thinks.

By the way, a first pass at the update has already gone between MK and myself and he now has a copy for his testing with both mine and his updates folded together. There are some nice things in store with some engine updates, new ships and revamped towns. This is looking to be a nice update.

[megaprime]

After boarding HUD is disappearing, saving and reloading fixes this ,but it always happen.

[Jeffrey]

Well, it’s possible this may have been a problem, but I don’t get this in my game, after several tries. But, I have also been working on in my update, so I may have already fixed it, but I don’t have notes for it, so I don’t know if I fixed it deliberately or my adjustments for the new update fixed it as a side-effect.

I did make a change in boarding so the default action on the enemy deck now appears (this was another wish/complaint, and that may have done it, or maybe it was something different, but in any case, I always get the HUD back for each boarding.

[megaprime]

The config.exe crashing is fixable by looking at the event viewer:

It should show the error message in details and there sould be a version number of the file it has trouble with
I had problem with the visual c redistributable but installing the one with the mod didnt fix it you have to download the version your windows have problem with and it shows it in the event viewer.

I am posting this again in case anybody else has trouble with this

[Jeffrey]

This is interesting. The C redistributable is supposed to be the version that matches the toolset version used to compile in Visual Studio, which is what I provide. I did not know that for some Windows versions, config.exe might still need a different one.

For more information, can you remember which version you had to download and install? I wonder if everyone that has config.exe trouble will find the same version need that you did. If anyone else has this trouble, looks in event viewer, and gets that same one to fix it as you did, then I will add that to my downloads to make it easier.

[megaprime]

Well on my end win 10 was fine my fathers older PC has win 7 and it had this issue

The version required was 9.0.210.22.8

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by megaprime.

[Jeffrey]

Thank you very much. I have Win7, without a problem, but now see that is 2008 redist, which I already have installed so of course I would not have the problem. I think the reason config.exe needs that is due to how it obtains the monitor resolutions, using a ddraw method, which is old/deprecated and is probably compiled with a point to an old library that must also require that old redist on the client running the .exe. At some point, I may update that, but I have not really had much desire to do much work with config.exe, because all it really does is alter a few lines in the start.ini, which can just be done manually if needed.

I downloaded it and will now include that in my package, renamed as vcredist_x86_2008.exe.

[Vincent]

Question for the technologically illiterate one here; how do I access the event viewer? I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Would really help, since I have problems with Config.exe and this might just fix it.

Thanks.

[megaprime]

For win 7
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766401(v=ws.11).aspx

Win10
Near Start button click on find, type: event
should show it

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by megaprime.

[Vincent]

Thanks for the quick response, I’ll do that.

[Vincent]

So, checking the event log, I fixed my issue – turns out all I needed to do was update my Microsoft.NET framework. Below is a link that talks about how to solve the issue, I only needed to perform steps a-c to get config.exe working properly on my computer. In addition, I installed the 2008 C++ runtime, so that might have helped as well, not sure. Figured people would like to know.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/need-assistance-with-troubleshooting-side-by-side/a1e673ca-bad9-43b6-b942-1d997bc2c101?auth=1

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Vincent.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Vincent.

[modernknight1]

Based on your input Jeffrey and I had a long discussion and we are gonna change a bunch of items. I have more new items in the works as well that will modify other skills.

Books: Our plan is that you have to take the time to read them (like in Mount and Blade mods). Based on your intelligence level that will determine how many at a time you can read and how long. Once read, you can put them in your chest and the bonus will be there without having them on your person.

We are doing a complete review of items and will assign some abilities to certain items with none at present. Agree on the Armilary that it is something you can put in the chest for the bonus because you use it only when on the ship. However, items that give you leadership or authority like the medals (Golden Fleece or Dutch Chains of office) will only give you the bonus if they are on your person. Shaving kit though could be left in chest – etc etc…

Very good discussion and thanks for the input. As far as character relationships go for now it is all part of Gamesmanship SEE ARTICLE HERE: https://buccaneersreef.com/?s=gamesmanship

I have been playing as Alonso Ramirez in my test game (new character). I never even approach (or even consider it) any of the English pirates in my game to recruit. I am in character.

However, these historical relationships I mention in the character narratives are there both to educate and will become much more important when we release the DLCs and future quests. WORK IN PROGRESS MATES!!!

MK

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

you probably noticed that that there is no correlation at all between voiced lines and text lines in many(most?) dialogues. Meaning you can be insulted by voice while text is very courteous or v v. Very immersion destroying.

I suppose that rectifying this is not worth the effort but perhaps a toggle to turn off voiced dialogue could be something and easy to do?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Yes, the voiced greetings are simply a stock list of sound files, (the list is usually relevant to the character type), that are randomly selected and have no correlation to the dialog. In fact, that portion of the greeting code has no way of really knowing what is about to be said, so not easily changed.

However, the option you ask for to disable them is simple and I’ve added that feature for the upcoming update.

[Oldtimer]

THX awfully,

Oldtimer

[Jack]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been having an issue with cannon smoke and some of the lighting in buildings that pops up occasionally. It seems to just spaz out everywhere which is more than a little bit annoying.

I’d like to post a couple of pictures that show what I’m talking about, but I’m not sure how the image upload thingy works.

I would appreciate any assistance with this.

Cheers.

[modernknight1]

@ Jack,

That sometimes happens to me, but only if I am running a bunch of other stuff on my computer. If I optimize my machine before game play it never occurs. Also make sure your check you properties in the config file. Right click and then hit the compatibility tab. Select your OS and check boxes as appropriate for graphics. Disconnect from the internet and turn off AV/firewall temporarily while playing if you continue to have issues. If you have a smart video card or an optimizer utility, generally they will do that for you while you play. If you do these things, you will have no more of these graphical flickering issues.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you keep having problems. We will help you tweak your settings.

Oh one other thing – I’ve heard of this happening to people that put the eras files over an old existing GOG copy or other copy of COAS. NEVER DO THAT! GOF ERAS is a standalone game. It runs out of the box, without placing it over anything.

MK

[Jack]

I’ve been closing most things when I play, but that didn’t seem to help.

Could you run through with me what you do with your settings?

[Maltacus]

In the pirate quest line when you hunt Ned Low (funny thing if you play as him too…) you are supposed to get a sloop or lugger to lure him out. But the common sloop doesn’t seem to work, and most luggers don’t either. I haven’t tried all but so far only the French lugger did the trick it seems…

I tried it out directly from Cumana. What happens if you sail to another port first and then back south, will the sea wolf be there still?

[Jeffrey]

I found the problem. As ships have been added, there is a hardcoded ship index for what is supposed to be every ship class 6 or greater, in PiratesLine_q3_loginSeaWolf from reaction_functions.c. It is 22 at the moment, but looking at the ships.h, it should be changed to 76.

I fixed it for the upcoming update.

[Maltacus]

I tried out the fix and it worked fine, many thanks Jeffrey!

But do keep in mind that class 6 vessels, at least now, include things far greater and more terrible than sloops, if you haven’t already reclassified them for the coming update of course. Ol’ Ned doesn’t shy away from sloops now…but neither is he deterred by a Zabra or Bristol merchantman. 🙂

[Maltacus]

Another thing with the sea wolf: if you give it to an officer when you have claimed it – which frankly seemed logical if you were supposed to return it to Alexis – the game thinks it has sunk, no matter if you take it back as flagship later! Now poor Alexis can never get his master work back.

Ned Low had the book “How to not be seen” in his cabin…evidently he should have read it more thoroughly and especially the chapters about not immediately boarding early Spanish galleons…

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Maltacus.

[Jeffrey]

True, the Zabra is certainly dangerous and can handily defeat ol’ Low in that brig. I think in order to better adhere to the difficulty this situation is supposed to present the player, I’ll make a function instead, with a select/case statement for ship type and restrict it to all class 7 and only certain class 6 ships (lugger/sloop…maybe cutter/ketch/yacht) that fit the dialog from the barkeep.

I’ve typically swapped the brig to myself, assigned an officer to the lugger/cutter I was using, but that’s because I know about the need to possess it yourself for the ‘win condition’ to work. I could make it more sophisticated and grant success if retained anywhere in your squadron, including a companion captain.

[Maltacus]

Long live the Zabra! They are so useful.

I’ll make a function instead, with a select/case statement for ship type and restrict it to all class 7 and only certain class 6 ships (lugger/sloop…maybe cutter/ketch/yacht) that fit the dialog from the barkeep.

Yes, please include the other ships of similar size too. That should be included in the journal IMO, a note about what ship types might be useful. I could rewrite that section if you give me a list of the ships.

I could make it more sophisticated and grant success if retained anywhere in your squadron, including a companion captain.

That would be very nice. Now that I know it I’ll probably remember it but you should be able to learn about critical details about the missions from the game alone.

[Jeffrey]

Yep, already with you on the log entry too. The criteria will adhere to the original intent that the crew and cannon number need to be fairly low. The log entry will now tell you exactly the criteria used, which will be a restriction on crew size and cannon number, explicitly written in your log, so you can use that information when looking at ships in the shipyard to use in your quest to lure and find the Sea Wolf.

This has already been done and the last thing I’m looking at is finding the code to update so you get success even if you transfer control of the ship to an officer during the capture process. Also, MK by coincidence, was running this same quest and he found another bug that I want to look into and if I can figure it out in his game fairly quickly, I want to fix that before we post.

Even though these quest bugs are holdovers from the original game (we didn’t update these quests), I at least want to give a little attention to fixing them along with our updated content, if I can.

[Jeffrey]

OK, now that I fixed the Low encounter where if either you, or your companion has the Sea Wolf, the log updates correctly, I just now noticed that the Jackman conversation was wrong too, in that if YOU have the Sea Wolf, he only checks your companions and if they have it… in this case, he offers you reward money for eliminating Low, but that is wrong. He should only offer the monetary reward if neither you, nor your companions have the ship, but if you OR your companions have it, then he should offer the ship as reward, without the money; I’ve fixed that.

The next problem, is the one MK is sending me, and it is another longstanding problem with that quest…in his case, he went to Morgan first, before talking to Jackman, and that messes up both Morgan’s and Jackman’s dialog responses for the respective progression. I remember the Skodarap warnings in the walkthrough to make sure you talk to Jackman first, during the Sea Wolf part and I am going to work through that and see if I can fix it quickly, then we will start packaging a release.

I realize that is not really relevant to our new content, but since we have a couple of you working that quest right now, and I am able to get my hands on MK’s save for debugging this now, I might as well deal with this longstanding issue anyway since it is at hand.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

GoF 2.7 but could be persistent:

– as a pirate I join a battle pirate vs. limey, both are marked as hostile to me and start pursuing me…

Could the pirate be gentleman of luck? Meaning a pirate who attacks everyone, even other pirates if I am not mistaken.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Maltacus]

The normal pirates are always hostile in battles, even if you fly the black yourself. Only gentlemen of luck will pursue you on the strategic map though. As for priorities in th ebattle I have experienced both enemies turning on me as well as focusing on each other.

I don’t remember ever seeing gentlemen of luck in one of the sea battles that you can join.

[Oldtimer]

Well,

more immersion destroying inconsistencies to rectify.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[ians]

Indestructible fort!! take center section at fort amsterdam took over 1000 shots just to get this.I ran out of powder I had over 2500 powder,this is after doing the english quest where i took the 2 ports and forts with no problem!!!

[modernknight1]

@Craiggo, I will have to put a list together of the characters with armor. I am actually working on a bunch more as we speak. I have Alonso Ramirez and Amaro Pargo finished. Jeffrey did some additional magic and was able to figure out how to get multiple animations to work with one character. What that means now is that I can have many different models for the same hero. IT WORKS!!!! Alonso Ramirez has different models with the same face for breastplates, rags and clothes.
I also just finished some more ship skins as well. This grouping of work will go in the very first loyal members PM link for new game content. I should have everything together by tomorrow.

@Ians, NOT all fortresses are equal in this game. Myself I believe the Fort guarding Port Royal to be the toughest in the game. Tortuga is also hell to put out of commission. Actually I don’t think you brought nearly enough fire power to take on Fort Amsterdam. When I take on a really big fort like that I bring at least 3 to 5 second and first rates with AT LEAST 3500 powder or more aboard each ship.

Good luck!

MK

[ians]

Hi I took fort amsterdam,but theres somthing up all the people are still in the streets at the stalls and soldiers are standing around like normal,then the govenors responses are normal ones i put some pictures up to show below..in the end I took for myself the other dutch colony st martin with no problems and the city reset to nomal with pirate soldiers after I put to sea map mode then back again. and I put a crew member as deputy to collect taxes in fort amsterdam curacao the robery scene with the goveners deputy auto appears when you get close,one time the soldiers attacked me in the residence and one time not,when they do attack you cant draw weapons this locks you in the room with no way out..

[Jeffrey]

Do you have a boarding save from when you were about to sack the town after Fort Amsterdam destroyed? That would be helpful to determine the issue. If not, how about a save just prior to your attack and I will destroy it myself to see if I get the same result.

[Maltacus]

I’m having trouble with textures not showing for some ships variations. Do you experience the same or is my download perhaps corrupted?

The Royal Fortune (such a tasteful ship) has the mizzenmast shrouds missing. Whats causing it?

[Jeffrey]

I found the problem with that gray ship in your shots. You can fix it yourself, to save the download trouble. Find \RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\ZwareFregat1\Hull1\ship_wood_09.tga.tx and move the file to \RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\ZwareFregat1. I will correct it in the update, but in the meantime will correct your issue.

I also note that ship is missing sailorspoints and will contact MK about that. Don’t know about the Fortuna. That ship was not part of the last update and hasn’t been modified in quite some time, so is unchanged per the last update.

[Maltacus]

Thanks Jeffrey, I’ll try that.

The gray ship in the third shot is the San Felipe Spanish 1st rate (Primera Tasa Espanola), it had grey textures in 2.6 as well. In that ships folder there is one file called “verziehrung_heck.tga.tx” that is placed in the parent folder and one of the three hull folders. It’s grey and with the spanish coat of arms in the middle, don’t know if it might be part of the cause.

[Jeffrey]

Well that’s unfortunate. I see that problem too. That ship is defined to have 4 hull texture folders, but it only has 3 and the one causing the problems is when the ship randomly gets Hull4 assigned. I will have to talk to MK about that, because I don’t have Hull4 textures for that. For a temporary fix, select any of the other Hull folders in RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\SanFelipe1 (I chose Hull2 for my temp fix), and copy the contents to a new folder: RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\SanFelipe1\Hull4

[Maltacus]

From one thing to another; the brace of beretta snaphaunce short dags (pistol59) is supposed to have 6 shots but only seems to be able to be fired 4 times, as if the game doesn’t allow more than 4 shots no matter how the item is coded. I noted it in a battle but haven’t tested it extensively.

On a side note itsweight of 2,3 is too light, it’s supposed to be 6 dags after all.

[Jeffrey]

I found there is a max setting in the script. Looking at the engine for the sign/charges, it looks like it should support up to 7. I fixed the max constraint in the code and will give myself that gun to test/check it out.

[Jeffrey]

The texture fixes for San Felipe and Dutch Heavy Frigate, gun charges > 4, option screen fixes, and ridding the sometimes jagged sea are complete.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg
ERAS2.8Update.zip

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

sometimes I cannot enter a building or leave town after mooring at Boddon`s Landing. If I moor at a Cayman beach, same thing.
Guards are not hostile, my allegiance seems not to matter either. Last time it happened I was doing Morgans mission.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Strange. I don’t yet know why it happened, but you can fix it with the console. Put this in the console.c, nothing else:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
    chrDisableReloadToLocation = false;
     Log_SetStringToLog("Success");
}

Load the game, while at sea, press F4. You will now be able to enter Bodden’s Landing, or anywhere else that is locked. I will try to figure out where that might have happened in the code, but it may be difficult since the time is long passed.

[Vincent]

Wanted to point out that when I first met Nicholas van Hoorn, he introduced his ship as a “468gun fourth-rater”.

Also, the English fast merchant (used by my character Vincent Svendsen as his starting ship) seems not to have any animated crewmen while other ships do – any reason for that?

No other problems for me so far…

[Jeffrey]

The missing sailors on that ship is my fault in the upload. MK told me to rename the sailorspoints file for that, which I did. But, turns out only in my full version of the game, not in the file set I uploaded for the update. Whoops.

Rename this file:

RESOURCE\MODELS\Ships\SAILORSPOINTS\Merchant1.ini

to

RESOURCE\MODELS\Ships\SAILORSPOINTS\Merchantz1.ini

I will make sure it’s corrected in my next upload.

[Jeffrey]

MK found the 468 gun thing. It will be corrected in the next update.

[Jack]

Hiya,

Just wanted to point out that the 64 gun English third rater has a few texture issues, namely;

– The rigging glows blue when you look at it from a certain angle

– The deck, yardarms and crow’s nests seem to have multiple different textures that look out of place.

Awesome looking ship anyhow.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

addition to my post 5654 above.

I cannot enter/leave any buildings, jungles and beaches on three islands tested after leaving harbour and mooring somewhere else. That applies to one profile I play. On others I had this problem sometimes but it generally disappeared after starting from an earlier save.
I wonder if it is a corrupted save, corrupted install or mine doing the pirate questline in “wrong” order?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Without further information, I can’t say. But, I do know there have been some original bugs in the Pirate quest line before (e.g. Edward Low sinking, then talking to Morgan/Jackman out of order), so your theory is quite plausible.

Send me a save where this is a problem and also tell me the islands you have had this problem of not being able to traverse through the jungle/enter buildings and I can look into it.

[Oldtimer]

@Jeffrey

Sry about having to ask this:

– how do I send attachments here? I do not see any command to attach a file to a PM.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Maltacus]

If you have surrendering enabled and a ship belonging to bounty hunters, gentlemen of luck or the golden fleet surrenders, you still always end up with a boarding battle when you board. I believe the bug is present whether you have”surrender occasionally” or “surrender rarely” chosen. It is very irritating.

[Jeffrey]

Whoever wrote the ‘surrender’ code missed checking for the DontRansackCaptain attribute properly. The Gold Fleet, bounty hunters, and Gentlemen of Luck encounters have that set to true, yet the boarding code does not actually engage a true ‘surrender’ if the captain has that attribute, so there is a fight.

This mismatch should be prevented by not allowing a captain with that attribute to lower the flag and actually surrender at all. I will correct this.

[modernknight1]

Just a couple things…

@Jack, I have that same ship and it doesn’t do that in my game. Just as with the flickering that has been described I think it may be in your hardware or video card settings. If you have a newer SMART video card you can have it analyze the game and change and maximize its settings specifically for our game. What are your specs and I might be able to help you tweak something.

On surrendering, as with so many things in the game – surrender continues to get better over time as its tweaked. Jonathan Aldridge (Belthorne) wrote our original surrender code. I added to it and experimented with it myself quite a lot to get us where we are now and I think Jeffrey continues to revise it. It is still one of my favorite features in the game and very few other games like ours have this feature!

MK

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by modernknight1.

[Jack]

@modernknight1

Here’s what I’ve got:

GTX 970 GPU
16GB RAM
Intel i5-4690 CPU

Also, when I mentioned the spazy smoke textures, you told me to tweak the properties of the .exe file, but I wasn’t entirely sure what you meant.

Thanks in advance.

[modernknight1]

Pretty good specs Jack.

So my question is – do you have a video card installed or are you relying on the on board chipset that was installed in the Intel suite? If you have a separate video card we can probably tailor your computer to play the game with no graphical anomalies. If not I know a couple of tricks that might work to make it more playable with the intel chipset.

Ok so actually what I meant was your config file. Right click on your config file, then press properties, then press compatibility and then select your OS. Windows 7 and the XP svc pack 1 seem to work best playing our game. Even if you have Win 10, try running the config in 7 or XP compatibility mode. This may immediately wipe out all of the graphical issues you are having.

Also Craiggo texted me last night that his cannon sounds have stopped working on the latest update. I haven’t a clue why. They work in my game. I wonder if this could have something to do with the FMOD update.

MK

[Jeffrey]

Seems odd that the newer version would present a problem, considering the revision history from FMOD shows no changes that are relevant to anything the game actually uses. I keep updating it regardless, just to stay current, in case something relevant is updated.

Anyway, a review of the system.log might be helpful, as perhaps one of the sound_alias is incorrect/wrong (depends on what one he has selected?) and in lieu of that, he can download the previous version at (he may need to register for a free account). Unfortunately, I did not retain the previous version myself, so can’t provide a copy:

https://www.fmod.com/download

FMOD Studio API, select that last version 1.10.01
Windows

Install, then where FMOD Studio installs, copy bin\fmod.dll to the game folder, replacing 1.10.2

Or, he can simply try changing start.ini:

UseMM = 1

If the setting is 0, change to 1, or vice-versa.

FWIW, I haven’t had any sound problems either.

[Jack]

@modernknight1

My NVIDIA GTX 970 is the video card, if I’m not mistaken.

[modernknight1]

OMG Jack forgive me. I skimmed through your post so fast I just missed it entirely.

Did you try the config tweak?

Have you tried opening your GTX 970 to see what options are available for it? You should be able to simply right click on your primary monitor screen and see an option to go to your video card menu. It will probably offer you a system analysis option to overclock. You should be able to set the card’s performance variables from there as well. Anisotropic filtering, GL buffering and Anti-aliasing.

Often there will be gaming profile options offered. If this is the case select one like Empire Total War or the like which is similar to our game in performance and appearance options. It may even allow you to select a new profile for the START exe from your gaming folder for ERAS or even to map to it. If that is the case you should select at least a 4X Anti aliasing and select edge detect as well. You can play with the other settings to see if there is application override defaults which allow the stock game configuration to override the card settings in those areas. Tweak and play with these until you get the look and performance you want. I always opt for appearance over performance when given the choice and your machine is capable enough with a DX9 32 bit game that performance will not suffer if you ratchet up appearance over performance.

You will notice the difference immediately with most of the settings. I suspect that once the filters are properly tweaked the odd colors and flashing will be gone for good.

Let me know what you end up setting on that card and what looks best. It may help out others in the future.

MK

[Maltacus]

As a Spanish privateer I was attacked by the gold fleet when engaging to take a look at it! We’re supposed to be on the same side here… And when trying to bribe the idiots they continued attacking after receiving money to cease fire.

[Jeffrey]

The second part of that problem, they attack after accepting the bribe, is part of the other seaspeak flaw I found about the DontRansackCaptain attribute. There is another attribute .AlwaysEnemy that should also be queried, that wasn’t there. For now, I disabled the ability to accept a bribe, or surrender for enemies that are created with those two attributes.

Which brings me to the first point, about the Gold Fleet attacking friendly PC. This is by design, because they are created as .AlwaysEnemy, so even if friendly Spanish, they attack.

We plan to alter that further, so if you are Dutch/Spanish, that fleet does not instantly attack, but only upon whether you provoke with a hostile act in that case. But in the short term, I believe I have corrected the seaspeak/bribe problem, where they should just refuse, because they are intended to fight ’til death, no matter what, with no surrender and they always hate you.

The latest update contains some of the fixes discussed over the last couple weeks. It also contains:

Brand new cabin from Orazio, for the small class 7 ships

Officer loyalty tweak, where if an incompatible officer/companion (with a different alignment than the captain), that decides to overlook some of your bad/good acts, contrary to their alignment, after many times of doing so (they have a random chance, weighted by their loyalty measure), their own alignment will start to tick up/down, as they become ‘influenced’ by their captain. They can still retain their own alignment, if they refuse to overlook, and their loyalty drops instead. So if they steadfast stick to their alignment, loyalty drops, but if they let the action slide, after many times, their alignment will start to shift toward yours. Of course those that already match your alignment, they just continue to appreciate your acts that match and loyalty builds accordingly.

Some ship encounters have been altered for number of possible ships

Services should automatically open up after 4 consecutive, busy days, no matter what. There is still a mod option to turn off competition completely.

Fixed a rare engine crash from a cannon anomaly

Fix some missing textures/char models that were added, but files did not make it into last update.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

ERAS2.8Update.zip

[Craig Brown]

Well I don’t know what to do. The game was working just fine until I installed the latest update and now the config says its side by side configuration is incorrect. The game wont even load. I have a win 7 32 bit system 4 gig ram Nvidia 8600M video. Please help

[Jeffrey]

I think side by side problems are usually caused by VC runtime issues. Try either reinstalling, or uninstall/reinstall of the VC++ runtimes. I loaded the 2 it should need, based on what was used to compile, at:
https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

vcruntime.zip

[Craig Brown]

So thank you for the lighting response Jeffrey. I did as you suggested and one installed correctly and I got an Error 1935 on the other???

[Jeffrey]

Doing a search, it seems error 1935 can have many causes and many solutions.

Try starting the Advanced Installer Service. If that doesn’t work, go to your Control Panel/Programs, note your C++ runtimes, uninstall them all, then you have to download and install them from Microsoft’s site, in order from oldest to newest.

The worst resolution scenario I’ve been able to find that works, is to reinstall Windows, but that seems awfully drastic.

You can also try downloading EngineUpdate.zip, which contains just the executables for the game, before any of the other steps, just to see if perhaps it was just corrupted in your download.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

[Craig Brown]

So the config works now but the game doesn’t load still? followed the above advice with exception of reinstalling windows.

[Jeffrey]

What are the symptoms after you attempt launch? Anything?

Some things to try for troubleshooting:

Is the Buccaneer’s Reef file in the same directory as start.exe?
If the game is in a subdirectory of Program Files or Program Files (x86) set it to Run as Administrator
Make sure the start.exe is set to Compatibility Mode for Win XP (right click/Properties/Compatibility tab…you can also set run as admin there).

Turn on logging in the start.ini by changing these values (search for them and change):

tracefiles = 1
tracefilesoff = 0

[script]
debuginfo = 1
runtimelog = 1
tracefiles = 1

See if the logs (system, error, compile) tell us anything after you try to start. Also, does anything show up in the Windows Event viewer after launch, indicating any sort of problem?

The executables themselves have been compiled against the same toolset and libraries it always has, and as such, didn’t change in a way that would cause these types of problems, but I’m wondering if perhaps a Windows update or some other behind-the-scenes update has now introduced problems for you that we now have to somehow identify.

[Craig Brown]

so here are the windows details:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: START.exe_Maelstrom Engine
Application Version: 3.3.2.5
Application Timestamp: 5a4d8186
Fault Module Name: dx9.dll
Fault Module Version: 3.3.2.5
Fault Module Timestamp: 5a4d8084
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00027169
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Read our privacy statement online:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

Here si the log I think:

Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
Module [ fmodex.dll ] skipped
Interface function not found
59 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 9

[Jeffrey]

First, it looks like you may have the original game, mixed with this one. The fmodex.dll skipped and the 59 loaded lead me to surmise this. Don’t do that.

Remove: start.exe, config.exe, the modules folder and fmodex.dll, and any other .dll files from your game folder, then copy the EngineUpdate.zip stuff back into the game directory. Your .log should show this on launch:

Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
44 loaded.

If it still doesn’t run, the error in dx9.dll might be DirectX problems; it needs a specific version of 9.0c. Download directx_Jun2010_redist.exe from
https://mega.nz/#F!WtMDgRxK!hbeUg86kGLlQAqvWRNwTqg

Create a folder to store the self-extracted files and point there when you run the directx_Jun2010_redist.exe. After extracting, find and run DXSETUP.exe within and it should update your DirectX 9 to the proper version. Try the game again.

[Craig Brown]

That fixed it. Thank you so Much Jeffrey!

[Jeffrey]

Hey, no problem.

For more information, can you tell me what part resolved it? Was it just starting with an empty folder and copying the core files in, without the original game, or did you also have to run DXSETUP to fix it?

[Craig Brown]

Yes it was removing the files and replacing them with the ones you told me to download.

I noticed you guys changed the interface a bit and for some reason I am not seeing the item thumbnails.

[Maltacus]

Having trouble with the water since downloading the last update, I haven’t seen this before. The sky flashes in green occasionally as well, don’t know if it’s connected.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, I enabled sea foam, but there are some hours of the day where the definition values cause that repeating pattern and they look terrible. I still need to figure those hours out and adjust them so they look more random, like some of the other hours that actually turned out quite nice.

In the meantime, you can turn it off. In start.ini, look for this:

[sea]
FoamEnable = 1

If it is not there, add it just before another bracketed block, like this:

[sea]
FoamEnable = 1

[script]
…
…

Then, change the value of the setting to zero

FoamEnable = 0

[Maltacus]

Hope you find a solution soon, because the foam is a very good addition some times. One or two storms were much more real with it, among other things.

[Jeffrey]

I found about 5 weather hour settings that looked bad, played with some other values that look better, without the noticeable pattern. This will be in the next update coming soon and you can try that out, with foam enabled again, to see what you think.

[Maltacus]

I attacked 3 merchants escorted by 1 ship. I took two ships and then offered gold to the two remaining. They became friendly to my ship but continued attacking the two ships I had taken as prizes.

[Craig Brown]

I forget how to attach a screenshot, anyway, the thumbnails fro the items are gone.

[Craig Brown]

So its just the little thumbnails that are missing. Id attach a screenshot but I forget how. The big thumbnails of the items and ships etc. are there but the small ones are just blank.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

beg your pardon but where has the link for water lvl correction gone?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

That link was taken down after it was incorporated into the last update a few weeks ago.

[modernknight1]

Just a couple of things I wanna throw out there.

1). @Maltacus, yeah that bug you mention is not always consistent and Jeffrey and I have talked about it before. It is on the list and is a fix we plan on getting to eventually. It will probably be fixed as a result of some of the new AI work Jeffrey is implementing anyway. It stems from the surrender code and LAi_boarding work that myself, Jonathan Aldridge and Phillipe originally put in place. You see in any given convoy there is a leader. If you had talked to the leader of the convoy and made the deal with him, all of the ships in that squadron would have stopped firing. What Jeffrey and I have been talking about is a possible future dialogue change that if you talk to a captain that is not the squadron/fleet leader they will tell you that they cannot negotiate for their group and to talk to Admiral so and so aboard the flagship (name here).

2). Some of the bugs reported here lately have me confused because I have never had these problems and I play this game probably more than anyone else. A Dev that actually loves playing instead of just working on it eh… I know right…

Anyway I am going to modify the first DL post because I think people get confused and think they have to load our game version on top of something else when it is completely stand alone. If people put the files on top of another game version it will SCREW EVERYTHING up!

Also if when people post bug reports – they could please tell us if they have been modifying files themselves to make the game suit their own tastes – that would be nice. I suspect some of the problems I’ve been seeing lately is because people are changing the game on their own. We cannot help you fix things if you’ve modded content yourself to the point we cannot replicate your problem. We have no problems with people modding content. We encourage modding! But just tell us if you have because that can go a long way in seeing if we can help you or not and it will prevent us from wasting time. Thanks!

MK

[Oldtimer]

Hi,

greaves on some/all(?) armours are put on back to front.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Craig Brown]

So I have not modified anything but am still missing all the small thumbnails of things like items, attributes and anything that has a small picture like the ships in the shipyard interface. And I still don’t know how to put a screenshot on here can someone kindly pint me in the right direction. I did on the old website we developers used to use. I used to work on this game back in the day in fact a good bit of my work is still in this game but I forget which file is responsible for the thumbnails. its been a long time. @Jeffrey, when I used your fix I think it made some things in your latest update not work.

Thanks
Craiggo

[Jeffrey]

To date, you are the only one that has ever had this…

Here’s how they work:

Perks

Program\INTERFACE\character_all.c

These lines set the icon:

GameInterface.TABLE_PERKS.(row).td1.icon.group = icoGroup;
GameInterface.TABLE_PERKS.(row).td1.icon.image = perkName;

The icon.group corresponds to the name used in RESOURCE\INI\interfaces\pictures.ini, such as PERK_ENABLE. In the .ini file:

[PERK_ENABLE]
sTextureName = PERKS\PERK_ENABLE.tga.tx
wTextureWidth = 1024
wTextureHeight = 1024

picture = BasicDefense,0,0,128,128
…
…

There it will find the texture .tga.tx file path, and icon.image = perkName will correspond to the various picture = BasicDefense, for the coordinates of small icon image within the larger .tga.tx file.

Items

Program\INTERFACE\items.c

These lines set the icon:

GameInterface.TABLE_ITEMS.(row).td1.icon.group = arItem.picTexture;
GameInterface.TABLE_ITEMS.(row).td1.icon.image = “itm” + arItem.picIndex;

The icon.group corresponds to the name used in RESOURCE\INI\interfaces\pictures.ini, such as ITEMS_XX. In the .ini file:

[ITEMS_XX]
sTextureName = items1.tga.tx
wTextureWidth = 512
wTextureHeight = 512

picture = itm1,0,0,128,128
…
…

There it will find the texture .tga.tx file path, and icon.group = arItem.picTexture will be derived the the item attributes from item init, will correspond to that ITEMS_XX in .ini, then “itm” + arItem.picIndex (again from the item attributes from init) for the coordinates of small icon image within the larger .tga.tx file.

All the texture paths start in: RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES for root.

[Alan Q. Smithee]

I’m having a hard time getting the latest version to start:

I downloaded the latest version and unzipped it on my E drive (not my main drive but it has more space and I run all my Steam games off it with no issue). This is standalone, no installation of COAS on my machine.

Unzipped the zip within the zip, so now I’m looking at a standard game folder with the executable, module folder, etc.

Ran config.exe but it tells me it can’t find either start.ini (I’m looking right at it) or the options file.

Shrugged that off and ran the game executable itself. The first load was lengthy but it did mention “Loading modules (folder: modules\)… 44 loaded” which as I understand it is good. But when the game itself booted up, the camera was inside a ship model in a weird way and there was nothing else on the screen. Closed that out and tried again, now the .exe crashes every single time.

Ran vcredist_x86_2008.exe as the setupnotes instructs, still crashes… downloaded and ran directx_Jun2010_redist.exe, still crashes.

What am I missing? Thanks

[Jeffrey]

Your config.exe problems gives a clue. I’m betting you don’t have the options file since it is not in the Update but is in the original base install. You didn’t get the full game and without many crucial files, it will crash. It sounds like you just downloaded ERAS2.8Update.zip, but you need to first get the full base set of files. The Update is partial and includes new content, modifications, fixes, etc. First, download and install 7zip if you don’t have it.

At https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg, you need to download:

ERAS2.6.7z.001 through ERAS2.6.7z.012 (all 12 files)

After downloading, right click the first ERAS2.6.7z.001 file, and you should see 7-zip option, with its own menu. Either Open or Extract files. It will take care of all 12 file content and place the extracted files in your game directory. After that, unzip ERAS2.8Update.zip and overwrite into that same directory.

That should do it.

[Alan Q. Smithee]

That was exactly it, as it turns out. It works now, thanks!

[Maltacus]

I lost a character when boarding the blue bird and can’t figure out how. She (Beatrice) was standing in front of her own two musketeers holding off one pirate and with most of her health left, also with good damage reduction in the form of a Spanish cuirass (she had high focus on fighting abilities for her level). Then dead the next moment. As far as I saw the pirate had not made a swing at her. The enemy did not have the musket volley ability.
1. Can the enemy (or you) gain musketeers among the boarding crew even if the captain in question does not have the musket volley ability? If yes, under what circumstances and is there a randomization in this – could it occur once and then not when reloading?
2. Do enemy musketeers require line of sight to shoot at you?
3. Is it intended that the characters inventory should not be able to be opened during a boarding battle?
4. I reloaded just to double check. This time the boarding battle was won by my crew effortlessly compared to the last time. I noticed that the blue bird had one (new) texture when facing her, but reverted to the old blue wood when I had captured her, apart from the reelings which were all white (AFAIK they did not look like that before).
Bugs or not, RIP Beatrice Devlin. “#¤%&*!!! She was really fun to play.

[Craig Brown]

So I have downloaded the mod for the third time thinking that maybe one of the times i had a corrupt file or something but it is the exact same problem. Jeffrey, my game wont load unless I apply the fix you gave me and I think that fix is causing some things to not show up right like the small thumbnails.

[Jeffrey]

You’re gonna hate me, but let’s try four?

I swapped out the 7z files that were 2.6, to the 7z files for 2.8. It will be the same process:

Unpack the ERAS2.8.7z.001-012 files, then put the ERAS2.8Update.zip over that.

https://mega.nz/#F!jl1zjSaC!CdBYterMnYkhdEbQy9rQKg

[Christoph]

I have a note for a ship classification. I captured some time ago an “VOC Escort Firgate”. That thing is classified as class 5. This thing has a hull strength of 8500 , 36 x 28 pounders and storage for almost 4400. I would say it should be classified as “4”?

[Jeffrey]

Nope. Not a bug. I brought that up awhile back with MK, and he said he did that deliberately and it is correct for his intention. That became one of my favorite ships as a pirate because being class 5, helps sneak into ports, and that ship is sturdy, well-armed, quite fast, and good-sized cargo hold.

[modernknight1]

Well I guess I need to take a look at that VOC Escort Frigate again because she was never supposed to get 28 pounders. The largest she was supposed to mount was 16 to 24 pounders. I will edit appropriately. Usually when I’ve seen these ships they usually are rated around 7500 hit points so I think that is a rather exceptional ship. That’s the randomizer at work which is a completely AWESOME cool feature. You never know how good a ships is going to be and sometimes you get a really good one (stats-wise) that is much better than the baseline or average for that ship.

As I have stated before many time, the rating system in the game IS NOT equivalent to a naval rating system of the 18th century. In many cases no codified rating systems even existed yet in the 17th century and when they did – they rarely match up between different nationalities navies.

When I considered certain ships I purposely wanted a little larger or better quality ship to be available in the class below for game balance. However, there is always some disadvantage to using these ships as well. Take the Santiago Galleon for instance which is a class 6 ship but many people thing she should be a 4 or 5. She usually quite slow and her guns are quite small.

There were a lot of factors taken into account with certain ships being relegated to lower classes. A few things I considered were – obsolete designs, mass production of certain types of ship, and ship handling characteristics.

Ships like the VOC Escort ships were very much like the regular Pinasships or Retourships of lower class and armament – they would have been just as easy to handle even if a few more guns were aboard. Same with the Santiago Galleon – a very simple design, easy to handle even with the additional armament and older design.

In addition, my desire has always been to have mixed convoys of small ships with an occasional larger escort ship for balance.

I could go on more about this but I don’t think I need to. I think you get why I made the decisions I did now. Not everyone may agree, but this mod has been an attempt to bring in massive realistic variety. Uniformity in ships and everything being classified and looking the same is a result of the next hundred years after our game period. This is why all the ships in Naval Action look almost identical.

Some people like that kind of neat and clean uniformity. Their players make fun of the decorated ships like the Ingermanland regularly. I find that really sad. A rich pallet full of many colors and a great deal of choices and every encounter different from the last is what I have always strived for in our game version.

MK

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by modernknight1.

[TengMa]

Extract files ERAS2.8.7z.001 through ERAS2.8.7z.012 (all 12 files) content and place the extracted files in C:/Eras2. then unzip ERAS2.8Update.zip and overwrite into that same directory. but it still doesn’t work，after a flash on the game menu, it exits. The system.log is as follows.

Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
44 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 9
Techniques: 24 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 229 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 340781723 ticks.
Using FMOD 00011003
Sound initialized ok !!!
FMOD: Speaker mode STEREO
Total logical: 4, Total cores: 2, Total physical: 1
SSE: On, MultiThreading: On
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 480) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281748652? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 481) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281748652? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 74) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281748652? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 75) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281748652? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 62) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281747908? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 63) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281747908? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 406) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 281757580
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 407) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 281757580
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 404) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 281757580
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 408) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281757580? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 409) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281757580? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 410) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281757580? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 411) (begin group=-1, end group=0)
Begin pointer = 281757580? end pointer = 0
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 412) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 281757580
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 472) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 281752372
Bad rope data for rope: (model=ships\CrimsonBlood1\CrimsonBlood1) (rope num = 473) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 281752372
Unloading
DestroyWindow
PostDWindow
System exit and cleanup:
Mem state: User memory: 0 MSSystem: 0 Blocks: 0

[Jeffrey]

That is not a bug, but a feature. The clue is in the .log file:

Unloading
DestroyWindow
PostDWindow
System exit and cleanup:
Mem state: User memory: 0 MSSystem: 0 Blocks: 0

That shows the game is gracefully exiting, on purpose. It does that if the Buccaneer’s Reef file is not in the same directory as the start.exe, or if it has been altered or renamed. What happens in that case, is that at a random spot in the game loop, if that file is altered or missing, the game will exit.

There are other spots, where if certain identifying information has been removed or altered, it will do the same thing, but I’m not going to say what those elements are.

[TengMa]

Just entering the game menu, the screen flashed, and it crashed. How can I debug now to get a valid log and find out why it crashed?

[modernknight1]

I do declare,

why ever do you suppose someone would do that Jeffrey?

What could their motive be?

hmmmmmmm…

MK

[Filipe]

I’ve noticed that some patches ago the fullscreen tab switch crash was fixed but when I select fullscreen it crashes every time I use tab to switch from the game, so am I missing something?

[Jeffrey]

Well, well…I did some experimenting:

I can task switch while in sea mode.
I can task switch while standing in town.
I can task switch while in a building, such as a tavern.
On the menu pause screen (though I now see that it renders poorly/messed up, but it does not crash).
On the save/load screen.
On a character/ship interface screen.
But, it DOES crash if I am on world map.

So I see that I must have missed something in world map…and now I ask, is that where you are also crashing? At world map? I will try to fix that, and of course also see if I can fix that menu pause screen mess.

[Filipe]

My game only doesn’t crash when Im in town and in a building, everything else crashes even at menu pause it doesn’t even get messed up.I’m using compatibility mode on Windows 7 with admin rights without postprocessing and antialiasing

[Jeffrey]

I tried to do some troubleshooting in the only place my machine’s fullscreen task switching (alt-tab) was not working — in the worldmap. What usually prevents that from working is not releasing all the DirectX resources properly, then rebuilding them. Turns out that was not the case here; all the resources are released and in fact, the log tells me the ‘reset’ is just fine:

Device try to reset
Device reset successfully

If the DirectX resources weren’t properly handled, it would fail on the reset, showing unsuccessful/fail. Also, running in debug mode, it never failed at all, so debug mode was no help figuring out where the problem comes from. After some checking about my debug run vs. my release run, I found one difference: debug did not have WinXP compatibility and release did. So, I experimented and turned off WinXP compatibility. And task-switching worked in worldmap for me. So, turning off compatibility might help that.

However, in my running the game, I do note that there are far fewer problems running compatibility mode than without, so it’s at your own risk. It might be a case where windowed mode is better in compatibility and full-screen is better without? I don’t know, as I normally run this in windowed mode. But you can try it yourself.

Also, I only run this on a Win7 machine, so I don’t know if turning off compatibility in Win8 or Win10 is a good idea because in my limited testing on my son’s Win8, it did not always work well without WinXP selected, but again, that was in windowed mode. But for Win7, it seems OK for this fullscreen problem so far.

[Filipe]

I tested without compatibility mode and it dint changed, still crashing if I’m not inland

[Jeffrey]

Doing some more thinking/reading, I know that a particular statement in the worldmap was giving the error, but no clue why; it was a virtual function call, that was somehow invalid, but no reason could be seen, as the object looked, and should be fine…still in scope and valid from what I could see. Also, it worked in debug, but just not release…and as noted, also worked if release was not in compatibility.

Now, after some reading, I think this offers a hint that we are experiencing what’s known as a “race condition”. It works in debug mode because things are compiled and handled differently in debug builds, that slows things down, and re-orders some things, whereas release builds strip out all that checking/reordering for faster, more efficient code and that is where the “race” comes in…I think access to the virtual function is somehow offloaded into a Windows multi-threaded library and it’s not quite ‘ready’ after the reset in release mode. I wonder if some scoping change for the object posing this problem might remedy that…I might give that a try.

[Jeffrey]

Filipe, check your PM. I was able to fix the only fullscreen crash I could reproduce on my machine (while in worldmap), so let’s check if it works for you.

[Jolie Rouge]

Running on Win7 Home Premium 64bit, compatibility set to XP (SP3)and without admin rights, from a folder on my desktop and it’s running fine.
Where did you install it to? Avoid Program Files or Program Files (x86), Windows has some sort of a protection on these two folders, that could cause problems.

[Filipe]

I’m running on W 10 and the folder is in the desktop

[Filipe]

I’ve got a bug with the most recent patch which makes the scroll only to go up even when scrolling down in any type of text box like char items section.

[Jeffrey]

This was only a problem for 64 bit version, and it was fixed.

[Oldtimer]

ITEMS DISAPPEAR ON START.

Hi all,

very strange bug on starting a new profile:

– put items in inventory, save. Start this save, items gone. There is a somewhat complex workaround involving several reloads.

I`m on Win7 Home Pro 64-bits.

Anyone else seen that?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

SRY all,

it should be: put items in LOCKER onboard.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jolie Rouge]

After updating vanilla ERAS to x64 I can’t switch ammo types when I’m engaged in a battle, it will simply stick to the last type selected.
The moment the battle is over, or when I’m in port it does work.

Tried it with the unpatched game and it’s working as supposed to.
I’ll try it with a new game and see….

[Jeffrey]

I have not been able to reproduce this problem, but I took a look at the engine code responsible for changing that texture and I have an idea what might sometimes cause this; there is a conversion between a longer data type (for 64 bit) and shorter data type and sometimes numerical values can get truncated. I changed them all to the wider, 64 bit types.

I will post a 64 bit update with the next upload, which should be coming shortly, and you can try it out to see if it solves the problem.

[Jolie Rouge]

Nope, a new game is all the same, no switching ammo and sticking with the selected type.
Aside from that it’s great, noticeable reduction in starting and loading time!

[Jeffrey]

Yes, agreed, it is much faster!

It was a huge task to convert, and so far, it appears that it was very successful, with only a couple, minor problems — the scroll (which was fixed) and your charge icon. I’m proud this worked out so well.

Hopefully, I can isolate this little problem you’re having with that icon, but strangely, I’ve not been able to produce this same effect in my battles; it’s strange that it only happens some of the time for you…only in battles. Weird, but I’m hoping my blind stab at a solution somehow works out.

[Maltacus]

The English scout frigate still has blue shrouds (the rope ladders for the masts) when viewed from a certain distance and angle. I remember this was been mentioned before and a theory about it was that it was a problem with the posters video card. I do in any case encounter the same problem and checked the model in the GMviewert ool where the blue is visible as well, so this is something weird with the texture file “ropeU1.tga.tx”. See here:

However, this is easily fixed! As you may know, MK:s new Dunkirker uses the same model as the scout frigate (as hinted in the description of the ship) and also an identical texture file, with the same name even. So, if you have this problem, go to
…\ERAS2.6\RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\Dunkirker1
and copy “ropeU1.tga.tx” into
…\ERAS2.6\RESOURCE\Textures\Ships\Sixtrate1
and overwrite as requested.

I hope it is visible here, with pictures being rescaled when you post them. Anyway, before and after:

[Stefano Zanderighi]

I have the same problem with the rope textures in the english third rater or something like this (not at the game now, I can’t remember the exact name).

[Oldtimer]

PIRATE`S PROPOSITION

Hi all,

this WAD`s for me just the first once. Later proposals end at the target beach.
No enemies no fight/loot, ally ship present but sends no shore party and cannot be contacted by voice or boat. I think this has been reported earlier by another player so it`s probably not my system or install that is to blame.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

It might be a case where they are not at shore, but somewhere off the coast, at sea and you need to find them. I can check this out if you send me a save where the mission/quest is started, but not yet passed, and I will see if I can verify the situation.

[Jeffrey]

I sent you an email, with an attached save. I’ll copy the same explanation below, for others:

The log book shows that the Dutch ships are, “moored somewhere off La Vega”. If it says moored and does not say something like “stranded” on the beach, that means the ships are at sea, nearby and sometimes can be difficult to find.

The best way is to go to the shore in the message, then use the ‘sail to’ command to see if you can see other ships of the nationality you are looking for. But, this does not always work if they are too far away, so you have to sail for a bit in some direction, then check the ‘sail to’ again. If you can’t find them, try a different direction.

When they show up on the “sail to” command, you won’t be able to actually sail to them (you will hear the knock sound, invalid), but if you move your view around, you can often see a big red arrow that shows where they are (up in the sky…look around).

In this case, I attached the game after I sailed to La Vega. I found them and if you start sailing NE direction, you will find them out there.

[coben]

howdy Mk n Jeffrey, yesterday i dload this game, and when i first play. woow this is a dope, now everything was wuzz n faster load, wit a lot of new stuff, thank for this update, ur a rockstar…but if theres a way to change excelent map from blur please master, lead my way to unblur the map..

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

playing with latest 64 ver. I noticed jerky PC movement inside buildings.
After sleeping in tavern the movement is normal there.

Outside everything flows smoothly as per usual.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

after I installed the latest updates I noticed something strange with foam generated by a ship on the move. It is visible as a small ghostly ball when still and after hoisting sail it changes to, well, some kind of moustaches wandering to and fro across the deck.

Anyone else seen that?

Rgds, Oldtimer

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Oldtimer.

[Oldtimer]

STABILITY

For every update the game becomes more unstable for me, little by little. As of now I get CTD:s abt. once/hr. Mostly when trying to save.
It ran very stably when I started playing some months ago. Practically no crashes at all.

Anyone else seen that?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

This is news to me; I thought those had been eradicated, because they never happen for me. I can only debug/fix what I know about and I’ve not heard any problems from anyone until now.

First, since you are using the Loyalty version, I need you to download the latest version I just put up. I did this, because I was tweaking some performance parameters yesterday and in order to debug, I need to preserve my .pdb files for what I have and you need to run the exact same version of the compilation that matches those .pdb. In fact, everyone should do that.

Second, before you start your game, launch Windows Task Manager (if you are running 64 bit, right-click your clock in the lower right, “Start Task Manager”, if running 32 bit game, even on a 64 bit machine, it’s a little trickier because it has to be the 32 bit taskmgr, so find C:\Windows\SysWOW64\taskmgr.exe and run that)…keep it running, because it’s just easier that way if it’s already running when you need to do the following.

Play your game, and when it crashes, do NOT answer or click on the Windows message. Go to Task Manager, find START.exe in the Processes tab, right-click START.exe, select Create Dump File. After it completes, it will pop up a message where it saved the file — send me that .dmp file it created, your system.log, compile.log and error.log (if that exists).

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

I see no link to your latest Loyalty update above. I looked at Loyal members but saw nothing. Sry to be such a bother.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Just use the last link sent…it’s always the same link.

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

been away from home a few days. Back now and played just a little with no crashes.

Hope I`ll have something for you “soon”.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Mr Jeffrey,

I got a crash but cannot create a dumpfile. The message is “Access denied”.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Vincent]

I believe I’ve noticed blue shrouds on the Fast Armed Merchant, the ship Vincent Svendsen starts with. I’ve also noticed blue textures on some of the hatch gratings of the Heavy Dutch Brigantine in a previous game. The latter was mentioned before, but wanted to say so again as a reminder just in case.

[Jeffrey]

I believe the Heavy Dutch Brigantine blue texture should be resolved with the latest update. I also resolved the blue rigging on at least one or two ships so far, and will take a look at the Fast Armed Merchant.

The problem is that the specific textures used, can’t be compressed as much as was done and somehow that draws the blue pixels much too prominent at particular angles/distance and a less compressed texture file fixes the issue.

[Jeffrey]

Blue rigging on Fast Armed Merchant and 64 gun English 3rd Rater (merchantz and crown) are fixed and uploaded for both common and loyal versions. They shared the same texture.

[Vincent]

Nice to know that the dutch ship was fixed, Jeffrey. And I’ve already read an explanation about why the problem occurs, so no worries, I perfectly understand.

Wanted to comment that I fought a night battle just prior to this post that was between the hours of 2300 and 2400. The waves looked rather terrible, and there were a number of graphics glitches. First, a big white square appearewd in the sky, then switched to an image of some kind of painting a few times and then switched back. Then when I boarded the ship, there were sections of the deck that randomly turned blank white on the boarding deck and captain’s cabin. I was recording at the time, so I may be able to get the footage of that particular battle onto youtube so you can get a better idea of what I’m talking about.

[Oldtimer]

I`ve seen that too. Also a vertical border dividing the monitor at the horizon.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[modernknight1]

See and I don’t have any of those issues. I have never seen blue rigging either – not once in thousands of hours of play.

I really think this may be a hardware thing. I run AMD and I know for a fact that people with NVIDIA cards have lots of issues with graphical anomalies with this whole series of pirate games.

MK

[Oldtimer]

I run AMD also and do encounter anomalies.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Loss of movement control.

Hi all,

after installing latest Loyalty update and VC Runtimes for 32 bit I can no longer control my chars direction. Only movement is straight forward.

I run GoF 32 bit on Win7 64 bit.

Rgds,

Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Re loss of movement control.

Installed 64 ver on Win7 64 and movement works.

BUT I cant start config.exe because its “side by side configuration is faulty”. What now?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Movement Control

So, I reinstalled 32 bit and what happens is:

– game works normally until I quit to desktop. Starting after quitting from a save I can only run straight forward. Using keyboard or mouse does not matter. I can jump forward by pressing “s” letter on keyboard. Never seen that before.

Game is unplayable for me as of now. Solutions?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

The side-by-side error is probably because I am now compiling all versions with Visual Studio 2017, instead of 2012. At the Loyalty download link, I added VCRuntimes.zip, so download that file and install the x86 version for the 32 bit, x64 for the 64 bit.

The control problem is because when I enabled jumping, it confuses the existing controls for a saved game. Load the save and the first thing you should do, is either Esc or F1, then options and Restore the default settings (lower right of screen). You will only need to do this if you load a save from before the newest version, and one you resave that game file, you will not need to do this again…only if you load a different save that does not have the controls restored.

Sorry for the trouble, but I want to keep the compilations with more current tools, and I have not yet found a good way around adding a new control without ruining the existing control mapping.

[modernknight1]

Oldtimer,

After you’ve started your game, press escape. Then press the Options tab. Then go to the long tab in the lower right half of the screen which I believe says “Restore the default settings”

OR you can simply delete your options file. The game will create a new one. This is a battle drill we came with years ago when we first built the reinit option in mod options. I have a feeling this is occurring because of the massive amounts of new content in just the Loyalty patch.

No worries because Jeffrey and I are withholding the majority of the new content right now.

MK

[Oldtimer]

@Jeffrey, modernknight1

Your solutions work, THX.

Another thing, I had problems with a magic foam ball in the water in front of ships, mine and AI. Sometimes it followed me on land… Souls ruined by me?
Anyway it seems I nailed it down. If anti-aliasing is unticked in config screen, the balls disappear, 32 and 64 vers. Permanently I hope.
Now, how to use anti-aliasing without the ball reappearing?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Raul]

First of all I don’t know if it’s a bug but the mod config doesn’t save, it always restores itself to the initial one the next time I start the game.

Now I think this is a bug one, weight and cost options of the mod it doesn’t matter if I have it on or off, it doesn’t have any effect on the game (gold will weight 8 be it at on or off for example).

[Jeffrey]

Raul, you bring up a good point about the options. That is a problem from when those options were first introduced in GOF and I have never done anything about it. Now is a good time for me to take care of that.

I will do a few things…

First, I will force a new game to copy the options as they exist if you have changed your defaults. Right now, every new game just uses the options with hardcoded defaults and you have to change them for every new profile you create.

But, the other problem with that is that if you have reset some of those defaults, like good price, or ball damage, they also require a re-init of certain things, that requires a full re-init selections, which is sometimes unwise.

So, the second thing I will do, is if you change good price, ball damage, realistic sailing (some of those re-init options), I will also add a comparison of those particular options from what they were, and if you have changed them on the screen, I will have the game re-init just those pieces for you, so you don’t have to explicitly do a full re-init, but it will just re-init those items you have changed, if that is needed.

I will let you know when I have that ready.

[Jeffrey]

OK, both the common version/update and the Loyalty version have the options fixed:

If the game or mod options are changed at the main menu, starting a new game will now get a copy of those same option values that you set at the general screen, rather than always using the original defaults.

Also fixed, is if you change certain mod options like good price, ball damage during a game, that require some game-init values to redo themselves, it will now correctly reflect those changes by doing a proper re-init of the appropriate tables.

[Oldtimer]

Flags!

They are bungled up, John Julian flies now French colours, de Sotomayor English and so on.

AI ships fly correct colours and the game recognizes my true allegiance in spite of the colours I fly.

Attempt to change flag results in black screen and game not responding so the only remedy is using the task Manager to go back to desktop.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

My error. I’ve added Portugal nation in my game, but accidentally gave you the rigging.ini with definitions that cause your problem. It is just a display problem, that is why you are still recognized with proper nation; because I englarged the flag texture and doubled the rows, but your texture still has 5.

I just uploaded it, but if you want to fix your problem, just find RESOURCE\INI\rigging.ini, open in a text editor and find two lines (one for [FLAGS] and one for [PENNANT]).

Change:

TextureRows = 10

back to 5

TextureRows = 5

for both of them.

[Raul]

Thanks for solving those things. Just wanted to say that :).

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

at least one of the larger xebec types lacks lower hull. Or at least it`s transparent because they do not sink…

Rgds,

Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Combat problem.

Hi all,

lately when going from world map to 3D and sailing towards the enemy the screen goes black and shortly afterwards my ship reappears in correct position but the enemy is gone.

This happens frequently.

Rgds,

Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

I know what this is…

It is a result of the “direct sail” code that was introduced by GOF, that was not in the original game, and how the world map is partitioned into “areas.” Here is a brief explanation:

In the original COAS, there was no direct sail, so if you entered 3D sea mode (from world map), near an island (we will use Cayman in this example), you would see the Cayman Islands and you would be in the “Cayman Area” of the game. Now, if you sailed directly west, you would eventually sail past the Cayman area boundary, but no matter how long you sailed that westerly direction (you could walk away from your computer, while sailing, forever), you will never reach the South American “main” near Cozumel; you will just never get there, never see it in the distance, because the only part of the map that is loaded in any particular sea area, is that one “island area” you are near, surrounded by empty sea; it does not load the entire world. There are some cases, where the island area actually shows some of the nearby islands in the distance, but if you sail to them, they are actually just empty placeholders and you will not be able to see the fort/town.

When GOF incorporated the direct sail script code (found in Program\islands\Islands_loader.c), if you sail west in our example, when you reach the border/boundary of the Cayman Area, it will launch a short transition and reload the scene from the Cayman Area, to the South American “main” area, near Cozumel. This is what allows one to sail in sea mode across the entire world map if one chooses, and actually get transferred to every island area along the way.

When you say this happens to you frequently, you just have really “good luck” by virtue that you are quite often dropping out of world map, into sea mode very near the border of an area, with the enemy squadron just on the other side of that border. You sail toward them, the islands_loader.c code detects you have crossed the border, then launches the transition to the next nearest island area. It does no check for any nearby ships/encounter, so those other ships will disappear. In fact, there have been a couple times during a battle going badly for me, I have used this side effect to my advantage…I tell my squadron to flee and they scatter, while I hightail toward what I think is the shortest distance to the area I’m in. I can’t ever get to worldmap because the ships chasing me are too close, but if I can last long enough to reach the border, I get the transition, the enemy is gone, and my squadron is back with me (from wherever they fled)…magic! LOL. This loophole has saved me a couple times.

Anyway, I suppose we could entertain the idea of closing this loophole, by recording any nearby ships, prior to the area switch, then reinstating their positions after the transition.

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

THX for your explanation. I really appreciate yours doing it. IMO this loophole should be closed.

Rgds.,

Oldtimer

[Maltacus]

I just completed the third mission in the Dutch campaign where you eventually need to rescue an English soldier from the Antigua fort. Entering the prison all my four surviving officers followed me but upon exiting (after taking a prisoner-treasure quest while I was at it) none of the officers follow but the guards are respawned.
.
I can understand if the officers are unappearing because the stair area is too small to create them but in that case the guards should not respawn either (and frankly, we just killed the lot…).
.
Just out of curiosity, what happens if you have conquered the city before talking to Morgan? Will he not be there or his doors locked?

[Jeffrey]

Entering the prison all my four surviving officers followed me but upon exiting (after taking a prisoner-treasure quest while I was at it) none of the officers follow…

I found why. The problem is there are no officer corresponding locators for the emerge from the prison. When you first enter a fort location from the jungle, the PC locator is reload1, and officers get reload1_1, reload1_2 and reload1_3. However, when emerging from the prison, the PC locator for fort emerge is reload2 and there are no reload2_1-reload2_3 locators for the officers, so they don’t spawn there and an error shows in compile.log:

Delete character , error teleportation by location: SentJons_fort on locator: officers::reload2_2
Delete character , error teleportation by location: SentJons_fort on locator: officers::reload2_3
Delete character , error teleportation by location: SentJons_fort on locator: officers::reload2_1

To fix this, the proper locators need to be added to the fort model. I will do this.

[Maltacus]

Thanks for looking it up. One never stops being amazed by all the flaws and unfinished details left by the original game developers.
Where will the officers spawn, in the stair or on the first floor?

[Jeffrey]

In the stair. For the original COAS, with 3 officer limit:

Of course, in ERAS, if you have 6 of them…well, it’ll be a little crowded.

[modernknight1]

QUOTE “Just out of curiosity, what happens if you have conquered the city before talking to Morgan? Will he not be there or his doors locked?”

I don’t know??? Good question.

So I will just say Maltacus that I have never taken Port Royal in all of these years playing the game. If anyone has I would like to know. One time I even made a video which I never released because I was so pissed at Morgan when he comes back after telling me that the Brotherhood is dissolved that I thought, nope – gonna get revenge! I had a squadron of HUGE ships full of ammunition and bombarded the fort until we were either out of ammunition or so damaged that I had to move some ships off out of range of the fort. There are some guns on that fort – especially on the back side of it that I think may be indestructible.

Please if anyone has actually successfully taken Port Royal I would like to hear about it and I would especially like to know how they did it. i.e. tips, pointers, etc…

MK

[zauberberg]

Hey guys. I’ve recently started playing ERAS again. Last time I downloaded I had a problem with a lot of crashes. I’m sure part of that is I’m playing on a Mac through Wine. But this time I installed the new version of ERAS and it’s playing seemingly flawlessly and the game doesn’t seem to crash much at all during sea battles.. except when a ship sinks. That crashes the game every time. So as you can surmise that makes playing the game a challenge lol.

I saw above that there was some issues regarding ship sinking crashes. Is there any potential resolution to these issues?

Thanks

[Jeffrey]

Good news to hear that the old, consistent crashes with Wine are resolved with our newer version. However, that is accidental. I have been able to determine root causes of many of the original game errors/flaws that contributed to crashes in Windows, and subsequently fix them, that probably helped resolve Wine issues at the same time.

But running in Windows now, we don’t suffer from this crash you describe, during ship-sinking events. If that is a remaining issue in Wine, it will be admittedly very difficult for me to find the cause of the problem, because it is not reproducible when running in Windows. I don’t have a Mac, so I can’t debug/troubleshoot that appears to be specific to the Mac/Wine environment.

We could try reviewing the system.log, compile.log and error.log, but traditionally, app crashes are notorious for not always indicating error output in any of the log files.

In any case, turn on logging, then during the next crash in Wine, send me the log files and I will take a look.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

DL-ed the recently added Loyalty files from MEGA, installed and cannot change weapons in my loadout. “Exchange” button does not do anything.

Rgds, Oldtimer

• This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Oldtimer.

[Jeffrey]

Well that’s interesting…the fact you can see that button means that I made a mistake, because nobody is supposed to have that feature yet. It is intended for my next update.

I must have copied a newer .ini file that I’m still working on for that screen into the update files by mistake.

For now, ignore that button because you’re not supposed to have it yet anyway, so it definitely won’t do anything.

[Oldtimer]

@Mr. Jeffrey

Well, as the “exchange” button is the only one I can see/access the problem remains. I cannot change my loadout in the “Items” interface.

THX for your attn.,

Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

I will probably have the update out later today…it will fix this because the code for the whole feature will be implemented for you.

A slew of other updates as well…

[Oldtimer]

Flag change.

When trying to change flag screen goes black and Task Manager says that game stopped responding.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Hmmm, I tried every flag, in both 32 bit and 64 bit, but don’t see a problem.

So I have a few questions:

What version are you playing? 32 bit or 64 bit?

Does this happen every flag change? Just one in particular? Or just a periodic, random problem?

Can you turn on logging and see if there is any relevant message in either system.log, compile.log, error.log?

What Windows OS are you using?

If you can consistently recreate this problem, save the game while at sea and retain the file. Then, change flags to create the problem, but before terminating the program, run a crash dump from taskman. If 64 bit, run the regular taskman. If 32 bit, you have to run Windows\SysWOW64\taskmgr.exe. Then find the Maelstrom.exe process in the ‘Processes’ tab, right-click ‘Create Dump File’. It will display a message where the file is stored. Take note of the file path (you can actually highlight with your mouse the entire path, Ctrl-C to copy and paste into notepad or other text editor so you can find it). Send that file to me, along with save file and the game log files (compile, system, error).

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

Win7 64-bit and 64 bit GoF. Will try your advice but I have not be able to create dump files earlier as per your instructions. He who lives will see how this goes…

THX for your attn.,

Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

FORT COMMANDERS ARE WAR CRIMINALS!

Latest Loyalty ver.

During harbour battle I demanded surrender from 2 enemy ships. They accepted. I boarded one, took it as a prize. Had only one officer so could not take the other but wanted to rob and then release it.
Fort commander sunk it before I arrived to board it… The ship he sunk had a white triangle all the time…

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Yes, that is a longstanding quirk of the surrender code from GOF. Though a ship surrenders to “you”, they will still be fired upon by other ships that were enemies as their relation with other individual members of the same faction or allies of your faction is not altered, so it remains as enemy. This means other ships and forts will often still fire upon them.

I have made a note of this in the past and it is still on my list to look at, though has not been a high priority. Keep in mind, that when this gets changed, although they might be neutral, if they are too close to other enemy ships, sometimes stray shots, intended for that other party, also sink them, because often they surrender because they are super weak; one or two good shots might put them down. That, I can’t do anything about.

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

my experience is that surrender works OK. Thats why I was so surprised when it did not. Anyway, after orders are given to fire on a badly damaged enemy, all guns do not fire at the same time so yes, a surrendering ship might be sunk anyway. Thats just how it is.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Filipe]

Hello there, I’m getting some crashes with the new version that happens in sea mode so here’s a link to the system.log: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qBSOV4hShVvGMVlCsUbwVbytx0–C8Z6

[Jeffrey]

From the log, I see 64 bit and I was informed of an issue just the other day. I found and fixed a bug for 64 bit that caused crashes while at sea, so quite likely your issue is the same. Make sure to get the latest Maelstrom update from 12/1.

[Filipe]

Yes, I tested it for a couple hours and its stable also the new launcher is very good.

[Filipe]

New crash report: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ondAnu0I41kZ-Q4_ywJ1dcDxn8x089zl
this happened when I closed the ship trade GUI.

[Jeffrey]

Did this happen while trading with another ship at sea? I have not yet been able to reproduce this problem, but knowing the actual scenario might help me.

[Filipe]

I just had boarded an enemy ship and captured it then I closed the capture GUI and quickly saved then opened the trade GUI to move some cargo around, some crew and switch ships then when I closed the GUI it crashed.
Link for the save: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19k22cZNsbfHpPwtHjPqJVrlrgCQKLpoF

[Jeffrey]

Perfect. That save and your description enabled me to reproduce the problem, led me straight to it and it is now fixed. Thanks.

Just uploaded the fixed programs to Maelstrom on Itch.

[Filipe]

I tested it some more and seems that it only occurs while swapping ships at sea but when I do it inland it doesn’t happen.

[Filipe]

Another crash report, this time it crashes after taking an enemy ship at the trade GUI again it crashes.
log: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qydoiqL6LC8p2vuj1asNkvfX8oZZ2JZN
save: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AIA3_UEKVO6IPMPmiztarXaDg-DM4T0l

[Filipe]

In regards to that save when I swap to the Spanish Fast Galleon or assign an officer to that ship the game crashes but if I take the cargo and/or just let it sink it remains stable

Edit: I test the ship individually and nothing abnormal happened so maybe it has something to do with the Pirate quest or the valuable cargo fleet because I saw sometimes that the fleet dint had any of the valuable cargo.

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

[Jeffrey]

Yep. I reassigned the ship captain and found the bug. It is a recent bug that I introduced in the case of a ship commander that dies and the engine auto-assigns a new group commander. I fixed it and Maelstrom is updated on Itch. Get the newest update.

Also, do you have a save for that Pirate Proposition (the earlier question you had) after you accepted, but before you completed the mission? I can use that save to investigate how much gold and actually even find how much gold each quest ship has to see if there is a problem.

[Filipe]

Unfortunately, I only have a save after that but in the log book it says ” Our loot was not so grand as we had presumed ” even tho I got away with a profit in that save I didn’t saw the color of gold that presumably was in the fleet, but in the first try as I said I got the loot but dint managed to get away. I’ll try to remake those conditions and send you the save

[Filipe]

Request:

Complete the code for the smuggling event specifically line 50 of smuggler_guards_dialog.c to check for the other 2 fencing skills.

I found it because I was curious on how the code works then realized that having a bad reputation and lvl 80+ (previously I thought it was lvl 8 lol) on the fencing skill was enough to scare the patrol away but I dint knew it was only valid for the medium weapon class so in my end I “fixed it”.

[Jeffrey]

Nice find. So add a check for SKILL_F_LIGHT and SKILL_F_HEAVY. I agree with you, that should be added.

[Filipe]

I found something strange that is possibly a bug, an English Competitor Captain had its ship raided and captured by a pirate but when I attacked that ship this puts a price on my head in the name of England even though its old captain is dead.

Save: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZmRzLE3XHs7Dab0kYQFxzexFwRIhQu29

[Jeffrey]

I think I might have this fixed. Next update release.

[Filipe]

Found some more bugs: Galleon Legero Missing some cannons and the Fifty Gunner Fourth Rater having some invisible additional ladders.

Links:

__ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GSHVc-sKHtSDmH6TrrxSYOdbXrK5gLGo

__ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NMymilDRtRASXIx8Pj9BwM0pd_bEb_G2

__ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ye76dTWzI6i_UNI_1kQHGx1kAQBN0iFa

__ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DYsq0At6AxWEB97Okve9N4PYRSD4EPOY

__ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EEw5GuqePsbnEhDksigj-cbBv85x7HbI

[Jeffrey]

Galleon Legero cannons will be fixed in next update.

However, I checked both the Fifty Gunner and French Fifty and I can’t seem to understand the “invisible additional ladders” you speak of. I looked at all hull textures for both ships and nothing looks wrong to me.

[ians]

Hi all..

My firs report..with the newest version..

When sailing from the french port at martinique under the french flag to the pirate port,on the same island using direct sail.Pirate ships show up as friendly Green..if I go ashore then go to my ship again only one of the ships will turn red enemy..out of a group of say 4-6 pirate ships..distance to said group of ships is not a factor in what single ship in the group turns to enemy,it seems random..sometimes I can even get along side and pirate ship will show up as friendly..I have opened fire on only one of the ships and only one turns to enemy,not the whole group..this can be used over and over until the whole group has been sunk.save below

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Dxv7K069bEfGJrjFxyH3WokcUTq-dhW/view

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

[Jeffrey]

Those ships are the fishing “fleet.” It is not really a fleet, where the entire set of ships are all under one command, but rather, they are all squadrons of one, each under command of only themselves, congregated together; that is why they don’t turn enemy when you fire upon just one of them…the other ships are technically not part of the same group. The idea was to provide ships you could buy fish cheaply, so if you open a dialog, you can trade/buy fish.

Since some of the islands have Pirate ports, the fishing fleets are sometimes Pirates, but they are friendly toward all. I will change that so that that they are only friendly if the main character is a base pirate. That was my original plan, but I see that I missed that and they are always friendly, to everyone.

I might also change it to where they are all one squadron…not sure yet.

[ians]

Some missing textures..

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by ians.

[Jeffrey]

Yep. The problem appears to be the textures in Hull2 for that ship. It is being worked on now. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Filipe]

The Fishing FLeet Prices are bugged, it appears for a ludicrous amount of money for the fish but for other goods its way cheaper.

Save: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1e3cCd_Ti194stBv7hDdOpHxVcQOoaF98

[Jeffrey]

Yep, had that wrong. Should be fixed now.

[Maltacus]

The old and damaged ships that citizens wish to sell are, even att he beginning with low trading skill, cheaper to buy than what the local shipwright will pay for them. Is that intentional? I can see the logic of selling something cheaply in a pirate town with no shipwright and ship market of its own but otherwise one wonders why the lady or gentleman did not sell it there in the first place.
.
Another thing that goes a little too easy in my opinion is finding high level weapons. It is more common than not to run into a chimaera or dussage cutlass or something similar in a tavern or behind a corner in a pirate town. IF people are supposed to be that forgetful (rum getting to their head?) it should be more of the low and middle grade items that appear, they are not comparably unusual to find it would seem.
.
When you raise the sails there is a weird graphical bug that was not present before I think:

.
Speaking of screenshots, is there some way to set the game to not capture so many screenshots at once when you hit F8?

[Jeffrey]

First thing, about that sail glitch…is that 32 bit, or 64? Also, are you using the the latest version that was updated and uploaded to Itch just yesterday? I don’t get that issue in my triangle sails for any ship I have. If you try the newest version and still see it, tell me what version of the engine you are using and what the type of ship you have so I can investigate.

The citizen ship sales are intentionally cheaper, and are only available in certain ports, either Pirate and those historically heavily populated, so that might explain why they aren’t always able to sell the ship on their own. MK came up with the idea and described how it should work, so your question is probably directed better at him if he might want to tweak it some.

There is a random factor for weapons that can be adjusted. Perhaps some of the higher end are still too high? I can run that by MK as well, since he is the determiner of these types of things.

[Jeffrey]

Speaking of screenshots, is there some way to set the game to not capture so many screenshots at once when you hit F8

By the way, next update this will be fixed. Always bothered me too. Now, it will only do 1 shot if you press/hold button. If you release the button, at least one second before it will allow you to get another shot with F8. No more press, accidentally hold for .25 seconds and get 3 to 4 image files, LOL

[Filipe]

Nope, it is still bugged, in the trade GUI the price shows correctly IE: 24 to buy 17 to sell, but when one opens the box to select how much to buy it turns out the fisherman is charging 199 for the barrel and buying for only 49.

[Jeffrey]

Duh…I misunderstood the problem. I fixed the “sell” price on the first screen, thinking that was the part bugged because it was too high. Now I get it…when you click it to actually do the trade, the numbers don’t match. I will fix that.

Thanks for the head’s up.

[Filipe]

That’s my bad as I didn’t explain it well enough …

[Jeffrey]

New update just uploaded and those fish prices should now be fixed.

[Filipe]

Here are some inconsistencies across the line:

The Fishermans are overloading their ships and end up throwing barrels of fish on the ocean.
https://ibb.co/3Chjrvg
https://ibb.co/T2MsRBK
https://ibb.co/f0qpNh5

In Santiago, they’re switching side with pirates whose seem to have recolored their flags.
https://ibb.co/jVvy7CY
https://ibb.co/CmDKWbZ
https://ibb.co/ChXHDPQ

Merchants apparently have the green light when it comes to smuggling, as I think the goods being illegal it should be confiscated.
https://ibb.co/93P4zzt
https://ibb.co/Dwr4R1N
https://ibb.co/8KySQx5

And finally, a random bug that happened after quitting with ESC in the New Game Menu.
https://ibb.co/YPTz7dY

[Maltacus]

I have a comment about the merchant quests. The contraband status does not have to imply the same restrictions as a product being illegal in the modern sense of the word. There were a lot of market-controlling attempts in the Caribbean and you can interpret the contraband status as the local store owner having obtained a monopoly on selling, or as the government not wanting the product sold in the town but not minding it being cenveyed through it. Then there is of course always the possibility of corruption and general unfairness.

[Jeffrey]

Fisherman are not overloaded; those dropped barrels are by design to emulate floating nets in the water and also serve as a “identifier” of sorts to know they are indeed fishing.

The “pirate” fisherman are no longer pirates; that was a recent change due to some confusion and problems with random location on islands with both a pirate and non-pirate colony; sometimes the random colony selection for the island would select pirates to go fishing, but the random selection for the location of their vessels put them right next to non-pirate fort/ships. The change is that if the pirate colony is selected to send fishing boats, they are now not pirate, but a true neutral group, with no flag at all. So technically, they are not pirates now, but a nameless, neutral group.

Based on conversation with MK, we are going with what Maltacus described for Merchant Winds store quests, as it is pretty accurate and legitimate.

I can’t speak to what I presume is a rare, one-off occurrence for that menu screen. I’ve never seen it and without a way to predictable replicate the problem, I don’t think I can sufficiently troubleshoot it.

[modernknight1]

The barrels aren’t a bug. The fishing boats and fleets are my brainchild and Jeffrey has been making it happen. I wanted the barrels to mimic net buoys marking the places where nets are found. Notice that more fish are swimming around the barrels as well. Part of the idea here was not only more realism but also to have easy ships to go after or an easy trading good to make a profit off of as someone just starting out with a weak character. Most people probably think its dumb, but I like it.

MK

[Oldtimer]

Not dumb at all.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[ians]

Well today I took my fighter up to my other fort that is part of my colony Port Royal, had a
dandy morning walk inspecting the cannons that are part of my defences.I must say the cannons are in perfect working order and are so polished that one could see their own reflection. Nonetheless the same can not be said of one of my soldiers as he shot me on the way back to my ship..

[naga5000 slot gacor]

Hello, I have a problem with BotC on Maelstrom, It won’t launch, she gives me an error regarding Xinterface or something…

Here is the Log:

Maelstrom Engine™ 2.8.1 (32 bit)
Loading modules (folder: modules\)…
44 loaded.
Reset…
Initializing CORE…
Creating atoms space: 128
done
Initializing complete
Starting DirectX 8
Techniques: 22 shaders compiled.
Techniques: 234 techniques compiled.
Techniques: compiled by 416595310 ticks.
Can’t init font INTERFACE_NORMAL
can not init start font: interface_normal
Can’t load texture1 E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\textures\progress.tga.tx
Progress error!
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\FalaiseDeFleur\FalaiseDeFleur_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTE:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\IslaMuelle\IslaMuelle_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\Oxbay\Oxbay_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\Conceicao\Conceicao_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\Douwesen\Douwesen_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\QuebradasCostillas\QuebradasCostillas_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
geometry::Can’t open geometry file: E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\models\islands\KhaelRoa\KhaelRoa_locators.gm
E:\POTCItch\RESOURCE\: can’t open geometry file
?void LOCATOR::LocateForI(VDATA * pData)
Error: Language ini file not found!
DestroyWindow
PostDWindow
Object: CORE

Th other games work just fine.

[Jeffrey]

That is my mistake. I accidentally uploaded my personal start.ini file for that game and it contains all the POTC resource in E:\POTCItch. You don’t want that…

Find where the Program and RESOURCE folders for POTC were placed on your machine when you downloaded. Open start.ini in a text editor and change the very first line:

externalResourcePath = E:\POTCItch

Put a semicolon in front of it, like this, and save:

;externalResourcePath = E:\POTCItch

Sorry about that. I will correct that in my next update upload to Itch.

[naga5000 slot gacor]

It’s running! thanks for the heads up!

P.S. the same problem arose on New Horizons, did the same thing, fixed it too.

[Jeffrey]

Hmm, I see that same problem with New Horizons. Whoops.

Anyway, great news it was a simple fix and I’ll be sure to update them on Itch. However, if you have automatic update from Itch, it will overwrite that file again with my screen resolution, so you may need to put it back after it updates. I intend to never update that start.ini so I don’t ruin individual settings like that, but I have to this one time to prevent your same problem for other downloads.

Also, POTC and New Horizons are not fully tested because I have never actually played those games. I tested game start, navigating ships, worldmap, fighting…the basics. I hoped that people at Pirates Ahoy! would take this and use the upgraded engine to work out the rest of the tweaks, but they never have.

COAS, GOF 1.2 and ERAS II I have really tested well, and I am very familiar with those 3, and can provide substantial support for them. And ERAS II is an ongoing project that we are constantly adding to, so will continue to evolve.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy all the titles you can now play with just the one single engine that is definitely less buggy and much improved over the original.

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

Barco Costero seems to have only full sail or furled positions. No battle sails.

Swords from quizzes are described by quest givers as heavy, medium and light. All are medium. Not good for immersion and role playing.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Tartane de Negoce and Small Caravel also have full and furled sail only. Maybe others too. I thought it might affect Class 7 as whole but French Armed Tartane has battle sails.

[Oldtimer]

After installing the latest update the game crashes when I close the ship chest after putting items there.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Matthias]

Hi,

I can verify Oldtimer’s bug. It’s the same here, no matter with which character.

Matthias

[Jeffrey]

This turned out to be a bug for DX9 64 bit, that the 32 bit DX 9 did not have. I fixed it and uploaded to Itch a few minutes ago.

[Matthias]

Hi Jeffrey,

lightning fast as ever. Thanks for the immediate fix! 🙂

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

THX awfully for your PROMPT attn.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Filipe]

The book in the Port Royal shipyard is somewhat transparent:
– https://photos.app.goo.gl/K2iRaTq61XWcNKny6

And we need some Portuguese marines for the pirate captain quests as of yesterday I’ve come across the mission where they supposedly landed, but there was none of them so I couldn’t leave.

[Jeffrey]

“… we need some Portuguese marines for the pirate captain quests as of yesterday I’ve come across the mission where they supposedly landed, but there was none of them so I couldn’t leave.”

Ugh. Since we don’t have any Portuguese colonies, we didn’t create certain soldiers/officer models because they weren’t needed…completely overlooked the fact that they are still needed because the random selection for some of those PGG quests probably requires them and that may have been what was wrong where no characters could be created. I’ll figure out what was missing.

There is something missing in that shipyard model, but I’m not sure what it is…loading the same location in the original COAS has the same problem. I can ask around about how to identify what is wrong in the model.

[Jeffrey]

Ha! Using the model viewer, texture viewer and the Tool program, I narrowed down what I thought was the shipyard problem, then used a Hex Editor to change something and voila! I got the shipyard model fixed.

Not too shabby for a guy with no modeling skills, eh? Weird that nobody noticed this in COAS or GOF.

[Jeffrey]

I was correct that the quest was missing models; Portugal needs soldier models defined and I’ve added them so that quest works now. I tested it and the enemy group now spawns properly.

[Filipe]

woah nice work didn’t expect anything less from the great Jeffrey!

[Oldtimer]

SHIP Crashing

Looks like companion ships crash again while in harbour. They do for me anyway and receive significant dam to rigging.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Dmitry]

Hello. Jeffrey already knows me, my name is Dmitry. I am from Russia. Created an account due to the fact that I have a fix for the problem above. I’m talking about the glass book on the shipyard table. But Jeffrey has not responded to letters for a long time – apparently busy. Download the fix can be on the link below, but besides him there are a lot of resource fixes. Therefore, I attached a file with a description. There will be questions – I will answer.

Link to download fixes: https://mega.nz/#!vxsyFAYI!5_nZmunLXsDinMZ5DgOZWkiIE3HJKvbfu0BF6wtqA5o

[Jeffrey]

Yes, apologies for my email hiatus.

Thank you for that resource update. I downloaded, reviewed the “read me” and that is a large list and I will need to sort through the relevant pieces and fit them into ERAS.

To everyone, Dmitry does collaborate with us and has been very helpful in getting new resources into the game and uncovering features and bugs that have added value to the game. He is legit in his offerings.

[Antiscamp]

I started a new game a couple of days ago and saved it in the first town. Now when I go into the game and want to continue, the controls are screwed up and I can’t move the character correctly. Is this a known problem? Mouse doesn’t move the view either, only up and down.

[Antiscamp]

Here’s the save file if you need it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ypMwQzK0mkL_-TqurEq34S83KFcbRihZ/view?usp=sharing

[Jeffrey]

That is usually a quirk if I add a new control and that sort of thing will happen to an old save when it’s loaded after a new control was introduced (the jumping awhile back is an example). It doesn’t normally happen to a new game that is reloaded and I certainly haven’t added anything recently.

You should be able to load the save, then immediately (before doing anything else) go to menu/options and restore controls to default. Then save. It should fix it.

It is a problem with how the controls are saved to the options file in COAS and I’ve wanted to correct that behavior, but without ruining the current design of the game. The only option I can see right now would be to automatically remap on load, which I can do quite easily, but then if people remap controls, it breaks the control remap the player wanted. Some sort of redesign is probably in order, but it’s a low priority and I still haven’t figured out a good way around it based on how the current game scheme works.

[Antiscamp]

Yeah! I tried it again last night and clicked the Restore Default button and then it worked fine and there’s no problem now either when reloading.

The game has developed since I last played it at the end of last year. I love the addition of the Portugese. When I left Nevis I immediately spotted two Portugese ships too. It was like they were greeting me. Good job!

[Filipe]

I liked the new jump move in this new version that came with a fresh new bug: when the logbook is selected it instantly closes the char menu and you can’t access it anymore as you click it blinks and closes so there’s no way to access the rest of the tabs.

[Jeffrey]

You are the second person to complain about the logbook. I think the Itch upload/download process screwed something up, because some email back/forth with the first person that had this problem, I found that it turned out to be a missing file, but the file exists in the source I told the Itch tool to upload; somehow the .ini file for the log book got removed from the Itch repository that you download. I don’t know why and that appears to be the first time their process screwed up like this. I will try the upload process again to see if it gets corrected.

[Jeffrey]

I just updated Itch again. The file that is missing is: RESOURCE\INI\INTERFACES\questbook.ini

Please update and let me know if that file is still missing or not.

[Antiscamp]

I have the same problem with the logbook. I was recording a video when it happened. I clicked the logbook and the character menu closes and I can’t open it again. I saved, restarted the game and the problem was still there in the save file. Only solution was going back to a previous save.

The problem is present in my video going up to YouTube tomorrow.

There is NO questbook.ini in my Resource/ini/Interfaces folder.

[Antiscamp]

Edit: Itch is downloading right now. Questbook is there now. And game works perfectly again!

[Filipe]

It said that the game was already updated so I selected to manage and switch to the latest version and voilá it is working as intended, thx for the quick fix although strange to be missing that one file …

[Filipe]

This version has some inconsistencies:

First, the logs that generated before a crash, the game just stopped and dint created new ones after its closure it is from some hours before when I launched the game.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ARwBn6pILrbyAjDt8qFsVUUhLemVW7Vb
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1l8jJ8BMIFUVKi-Yl_Zt-8Gk5JVGuVitW

and some visual bugs:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Qko_vbZkZmlLyfTfAmpGkl53xXFkd2Ip
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jjkMXXiRbX2GVaWhYknyy–vL72A4lg8
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VAEMpn66luicseLsNddHJETdyWfjBECe

[Filipe]

Also, some fishing and cluster of ships are docked very far away from the harbour.

[Jeffrey]

I do not ever see that sail problem. I made sure to use 64 bit, like you show, and even gave myself that same ship.

Also, your error log looks terrible and should rarely even be created, and if so, usually very small, with on or two lines. I don’t get what you have at all.

I’m wondering if somehow the Itch provided a corrupted download or something? I don’t know, but I did update some small things today for ERAS, so perhaps update anew to see if it acts better?

But for the sails, even though I’ve never experienced what your pic shows, just in case, there was only one change recently (but it was actually a few months ago), for switching sail billows on certain sails. That ship does not have the required sail type, but based on that behavior, it is the only thing that could possibly affect it. So I looked and there are only two places in my new code that could possibly, maybe contribute. So I added a preventative measure.

I also recently experienced a crash in Location.dll that I’ve never seen before, but apparently some problem code from the original, so I fixed that too.

For the fishing vessels, they don’t always spawn in port. They will select from any ocean locator around the island, including the “quest” locators. That is expected.

For the Pirate proposition/duel issue: First, the NPC hero duels was always code that existed, but was disabled. I simply turned it on and changed the dialog text from “Beta Test” to the famous Star Trek insult. I only tested insofar as to launch the duels. I did not put in time to research whether it affects anything else. But given what you describe, I took a further look and I don’t think a duel actually ruins the other Hero meetup by design. What the problem looks to be is that if you plan to meet outside, there is a timer placed for the duel, and there is also a timer for how long that other captain will remain waiting for you out in port. When you chose to do both, the timer for the other one expired because of the time it took to handle the dueling matter. When he waits and you don’t show, his relation to you takes a small decline, and he will blow you off the next time you speak.

I think if you chose to duel right then and there in the tavern, this probably wouldn’t have happened.

[Filipe]

Something strange is indeed happening, my logs are fixed in last modification date and only change the inside without changing the last modified time as they previously did ( I think ) so that might be one of the reasons the error.log was so huge, maybe it was stacking things up and speaking of Itch the last major update I forget to inform it came with a save with cap’n Blood and some test around the National Pirate quest line in the last mission.

[Jeffrey]

That is weird.

One thing I see in there, that should never happen though, is the compile error:

COMPILE ERROR – file: sea_ai\AIShip.c; line: 3849
No matching ‘)’ in expression

You are playing the exact same code I do (in fact, that is the reason those Blood save games are in there…accidentally left them in my game directory when I was testing someone’s problems and forgot to remove them before I updated Itch) and I don’t get those because there is no compile/syntax problem in AIShip.c.

I wonder if there is a permissions problem on your machine? Try running the game as Administrator, or change the permissions on the folder where ERAS files are to full control for all users? Or both? See if that solves your compile errors; they might be contributing to some of your problems.

I removed the Blood save files so they should get removed on my next update

[Filipe]

Yep, it’s fine now, the error.log got removed from the game folder so I assume it fixed.

[Filipe]

It seems that challenging a captain after being invited by another one makes that the one that invited get pissed off and doesn’t share his glorious intel anymore.

[Oldtimer]

Hi Filipe,

what does that mean? Is it connected to “Pirates Proposition” or something else?

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Filipe]

Yes it is, Ex: I entered the tavern and I’m greeted by a captain willing to make business, I accepted and then move down the tavern when I met another pirate sat down and then challenged him to a duel outside the gates, moving from there the previous cap’n was back in the tavern like he got a reset, that means no more deal. So to my assumption, challenging someone after getting invited somehow overwrites it and resets the Proposition to never occurred but the cap’n remembers me and tells me to F@ck off.

[Oldtimer]

THX for your attn.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Filipe]

Some more things worth noting:

The King’s Man-o-War is missing some cannons:
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=1csV-6ls0hoMY8RV_CbGx-p-5sILs08La

And some captain portraits in the spyglass view are from Beatrice Devlin:
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=1glTURJ58CtMGTizTKIhzlSQ6YJUN-9d9
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=15t0t6c-2wHlOgj6fH1m7OHEX8OePhtmq

Also after sinking a ship in board combat the sail state icon won’t update anymore to battle sails or stopped:
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tlqy5azfV_dC4t3OehOCTmpIOzJuLD4f
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W8riKmej-84WWK9MmfxNtj508VbaH8B9

[Jeffrey]

The King’s Man-o-War is missing some cannons:
– fixed

And some captain portraits in the spyglass view are from Beatrice Devlin:
– fixed

Still looking into the sail state icon…

[Jeffrey]

That sail state icon was horrible. Took me hours to figure out what the actual problem was, then discovered there was no way around it with the existing features of the game’s script capabilities. I had to come up with a new feature to allow the script’s aref to the ship object to get reassigned back properly to allow successful messaging back to the engine; I now know why they left that detail unaddressed because it was not so simple to overcome. That little thing took way longer than I anticipated.

It’s now fixed.

[Filipe]

Another crash:
– Compile.log https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ARwBn6pILrbyAjDt8qFsVUUhLemVW7Vb
– Error.log https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VFVYpRkqbzJ0uwWnhkRXUE0IIqr4YaJV

and apparently the portuguese escort their convoys too well for my liking and this is not the first time, the first time they got a King’s Man-o-war and another class 1 Man-o-war with a heavy frigate just to escort one ship that I can’t remember of.

– https://drive.google.com/open?id=18f_fMOmd6d0r_oyKKLIADA6phawaXVEX
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U6g-kKxBcuXQ02lzs3gGP-3geLiXk4B9

[Filipe]

The context to the crash was having 1000 plus slaves and at the timeline of a proprosal quest, so after the deadline the captain got mad but in the text I saw that the slaves rebelded ( if I’m not mistaken) then the game freezed and crashed.

[Filipe]

I’ve apparently got a ‘random’ crash:
– https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ybOpKPe-QmM6R-K8vcEKOE9GgqeC6s26

[Filipe]

and another file doing the same thing:
.log: – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Wm6T-6BWZHGafEAGMEVbzLPSIUh0-7ZQ

I went out of port to a group of fishers and attacked one of them till the crash.

[Oldtimer]

RE.: MUSKET VOLLEY

Hi all,

this perk is badly designed. You or your Bosun must have God of Death perk before they can take Musket Volley. Thing is that the Chief Gunner also must have GoD to get some other perks. So some skill points get wasted, one way or another.
I suggest that Musket Volley perk is reassigned to Chief Gunner.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Antiscamp]

When landing on the beach between Campeche and Caracas on the Spanish Main, and travelling on foot, I can enter the next cell from the beach, but I cannot go further inland since the two exits from that cell do not work.

Also, while travelling on foot inland, it seems Fighters do not follow into certain cells. It happened to me outside Panama/Puerto Bello, which was a shame, because there was a SPanish military patrol in the area and if I had my boarders with me, we could have beaten them.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Antiscamp.

[megaprime]

Hi,

I fired up the game again after a long time and ran into a buggy quest

This is a pirate propositon quest: Gold from portugal,the one when you have to fight on the beach. The location is Bermuda, Ruin shore
When I land on the shore, there is no fight I think the enemies are not spawning in and my character is simply locked in the beach
I can post the save if you want

Great mod btw still having a ton of fun with it

[megaprime]

https://mega.nz/#!jY1hwATZ!LnLa380l_-SBCIL8-YkDyepPEzFLBij3o8J8jNUOnDA

The save file
Game is in hardcore mode, you have to sail there but its close

[Jeffrey]

Yes, that problem was recently brought up and was fixed April 1. It is in this update: https://chezjfrey.itch.io/gentlemen-of-fortune-historical-eras-module-2/devlog/77022/eras-ii-update

I loaded your save, traveled to Ruin and the soldiers are there now.

Get the update and you should be fine.

[megaprime]

Thank you

[Filipe]

Some more things to look at:

Deputy at Havana rests is arms on air:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ma0dnaALU28dT-Rk0_mBR8_gLZTv4KB-
// I can’t confirm if others are doing the same but I know it isn’t something game-breaking even tho its a small detail.

The Balandra sails aren’t quite right in relation to the wind:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pKrtfhVpyZwOuFMmHBXSvX2FERS3Wksb

And an Error.log and System.log from a recent crash.

Error.log:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dPgJS0c1nUyq1lgB0U15pIT8ig58QBf5

System.log:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dd90UhxpOhX9ZHW5YC0Ajn08DNV9rDT9

[Jeffrey]

That system log helped; the last line specified the exact problem. Doesn’t always do that, but this time told us the problem. That crash issue is fixed and will be in next update.

Balandra sails also corrected.

Thanks.

[Filipe]

I’ve got some more stuff to work on:

The English Pinnace has a different hit-box for the sailors:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=19G9toKEWUbK4f7cB4-boaR3Qw5cqi1B3
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ylRo_qn5W5X_NS4AYqTHSRdA1gCWJSiS

And there should be something wrong with the portuguese, their treasure fleets in PGG quests are always, so far, with reasonably powerful ships taking into account my lvl and ship class, but they still surrendered pretty easily even tho they had numbers and class advantage over me(that was with the occasional surrender setting) AND after all of them surrendered after my request the quest was over without me getting the chance to loot the surrendered ships! (I can provide a save for that matter).

And one more small thing is that if kill the crew on the main deck of a surrendered ship it doesn’t affect the ship crew count if I didn’t kill them anyway, so this open to potentially more loot without having to fight the enemy crew and having the benefit of getting them all as captives.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Filipe.

[megaprime]

occasional surrender is rather easy I had a 600 crew galleon surrender itself to my puny corvette on admiral difficulty with 6 authority
I play mostly on surrender to overwhelming force its more balanced and they still surrender alot

[megaprime]

English 38 gun 5th rater is a class 5 ship despite it having 13k health and 24 pounders
Might be unintentional? I think its op for that class

[megaprime]

The “captive groom of san juan” quest is bugged

I need to rescue a captain, when I kill the enemy captain I immediately get the loot screen and the prisoner appears but cant interact with him ,when I finish with the boarding ,the quest is failed saying I killed the captain whithout speaking with him – but that is a revenge quest no?

The save file of the boarding:
https://mega.nz/#!DY8mWKTQ!ozrtSbuU0qWKhIS4Wyx83O82XUsu9J30FrF0DVaj4t4

[megaprime]

I challanged a french captain to a ship duel,he had a big 3rd rater ship

The poor soul had no ammo and thus did not fire a single time
He had like 300 gunpowder and 0 cannonballs
His ship was full, had all kinds of cargo and 50 small caliber guns for some reason
Is it possible to set a minimum ammunition to captains,maybe based on ship class?
Lets say captains with class 1-3 ships get 3000 gunpowder minimum and 1000 of each shot type (might be low just an example) and smaller ships get fewer ammo so they can carry some cargo

[Filipe]

Are you using the realistic setting for cargo? Maybe the code was done with the Coas default in mind and the ship didn’t have enough space to add the extra ammo, I’ve already seen some weird stuff with this setting on but its not usual as most of the time they seem normal just with less cargo overall.

[megaprime]

yep I play with realistic weights and costs

[megaprime]

The “Marine Francaise Xebec” ship model is glitchy, it has no bottom

[megaprime]

After you meet with the smugglers and get attacked by the patrol,if you only board the ships and not fire at them you lose no relations with the affected nation

[Filipe]

Another random crash:
Error.log:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BPDrGTOCRsQjDYxK4e9y-DasL3a5lhKe

System.log:
— https://drive.google.com/open?id=1x4QB8taLig8vdrUOQ1Yw4drR7mNnmQjc

[Filipe]

Something got really messed up this time.
–The alarm system now is messy, it is not working as intended.
I had some suspicions when I attacked the night watch in a pirate settlement, of course, I did wait to settle things down but the people there didn’t want to do business, so okay, I sailed to another pirate colony and strangely enough everyone there was mad at me, but then again no problemo, tried going to Port Royal after I tried to enter there from the jungle some months prior to this just to get a blueprint, this time I managed to get in from the harbor but the soldiers didn’t want to talk and immediately rushed me so I went to the jungle and waited it to pass and managed to get in without the guards at the gate noticing me because if they did I would be accused of being a spy and not because I wasn’t flying the correct colors, so with all that out of the way, I went to the store, brothel and the tavern, the only one mad at me was the innkeeper even tho the people there were happy to play some cards with me, after that with the bluprint in hands I managed to get back in my ship but this time the fort artilery was firing upon my ship, I did got the blueprints without the naval engineer noticing and got to my ship without the guards noticing too so Idk why the fort attacked.
–After all that, I went to Martinique, and again, I was already being hunted by them, so I got in from the harbor and the same thing happened as in Port Royal, they rushed me without a word but this time the little icon below the char portrait wasn’t glowing red and when I hid it dint mentioned that I was spotted, implying that was not in combat even tho the people there were afraid of me.
And to stack on top of that, the combat music was ON during the entire voyage from Port Royal to Martinique, so I could listen to two tracks at the same time, how delightful.

[Jeffrey]

Sorry I somehow missed this…but Marty just supplied me save with similar problem and I was able to fix this. If you still have this game going (but probably had to abandon due to the relation problems), try the update.

[Oldtimer]

STRANGE ISSUE

After last update I need to click several times on first/only line of a dialogue to activate it. If I choose a line farther down it all WADs. Not a biggie but makes hiring dialogues tedious.
Tested with 2 mice and 1 keyboard.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

It’s a new feature to prevent clicking through a conversation by mistake.

If you accidentally double-click (or multiples beyond) to start a conversation, you would actually start and click the first response without being able to read what happened. Also, sometimes in the midst of a fight, the enemy might start a conversation and if you are clicking an attack, you would blow through the conversation without being able to read it. So, someone asked for a way to prevent that. The delay starts at launch and either times out after a brief wait, or is immediately canceled if you arrow down through any of the responses. That’s why it only affects the first answer.

But, with your problem, I can also see that an experienced player in this game, who knows exactly how to click once, and has most common conversations (like in the tavern/store) memorized and ready to click without reading, now you are delayed and that might be annoying. Difficult to balance this and I’m open to ideas.

However, I did make this configurable and you can turn it off in the RESOURCE\INI\dialog.ini. Find the DialogDelay setting (in milliseconds) line and change it to -1:

DialogDelay = 750

Change to

DialogDelay = -1

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

THX for the explanation. I think, by now, it may be a somewhat useful feature actually. With my very sensitive gaming mouse/s I sometimes activate wrong alternatives. This feature solves this annoyance and may be worth the time increase in some dialogues.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Filipe]

The Polacker’s sail are not fine:

–https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uo7sUkeS_JHBwyyU-NAl65_prDC5yloj
–https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PqMojR5km_PNH_j9HZwRoWu4MAwWHv6y
–https://drive.google.com/open?id=13vsrt8I83LM9nYkK0I-VujW41DAMic_3
–https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CQS7yudbSLlxnmQcKbZ733UDpGbzH38d

[Jeffrey]

This problem will be fixed in the next update.

I once again revamped how square sails are handled to eradicate this problem with some ship models where the square booms are sometimes really connected to a triangle sail portion of the model below it, causing that twist because they want to rotate different directions due to their different sail properties.

Since I can’t change the models for the exceptions and disconnect the two pieces, I altered the engine handling of them so they don’t compete directions.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Jeffrey.

[Oldtimer]

Hi,

Heavy Dutch Brigantine has no chasers but the windrose shows installed chasers though there are not any to shoot with.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Got it figured out. Was a problem with the battle interface display and the fix will be in the next update.

[Marty]

Hi, I’m playing the newest version and I’ve been having an issue where immediately upon docking at certain cities (i.e. immediately as the scene loads) I’m immediately stormed by the guards. This happens in Cartagena and annoyingly in the Bermuda pirate settlement as well. Furthermore I have a small bounty from the Dutch, but there is no option at the diplomat to pay it off and when I bought a trading license and talked to a dutch governor, there was no option to reconcile. Am I missing something here or is this a bug? I have been flying the portuguese flag this entire time. Portugal is peaceful with everyone.

EDIT: Looks like I’m having a similar/identical issue to Filipe

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Marty.

[Jeffrey]

Hmmm, I also see that I somehow missed Filipe’s post.

It seems like there is somehow an AI group that you probably can’t even see in the scene that is still remembered by the game engine and somehow you triggered an alarm against them, somewhere in the game script code. Since there are not really a way to escape or cause the alarm to subside for an AI group that is really not even present, the player can never get rid of it. I don’t know where that happened, but I might be able to figure out the problem if you can send me a game save and I will go to the pirate port, or Cartagena and see what I can figure.

You can send the save game to chezjfrey @ hotmail dot com.

[Marty]

Thanks for the explanation. I just emailed the save file to you. Having a ton of fun so far, by the way! The game has improved a ton since I last played. No more random crashes! Woo!

[Jeffrey]

I got your email and using your save, I traveled to Bermudes and they immediately started a fight upon landing. So, with this save, I was able to troubleshoot the problem and find a solution. I just updated Itch with a fix and now, when I land in Bermudes, no more immediate fight.

Thanks for your help.

[Marty]

Hello again, got another couple of bugs. First one is that I have the quest double musketeer dude in my party, but he won’t actually show up in game. I had him and he was working just fine for a while, but all of the sudden went awol. I’ve tried dismissing and reassigning him to the fighter role a few times, but I’ve had no luck. The second bug is that my 102 gun 1st Rater can only equip 100 guns. No matter what I do, I can’t get the last two guns on there. I have a save available if you’d like me to send it over.

[Jeffrey]

The musketeer problem is something that has been a common problem when the character is granted a different weapon and that specific character’s animation does not cater to anything other than the musket, so it can’t load with a different weapon. ERAS has logic where they choose their own weapon, so I’m wondering if this guy chose a different one, which will cause the same problem. Send me that save.

The 102 gun problem…looking at some things, I think you are talking about the English 102 Gun 1st Rate? I think I see the problem…there are only 100 guns on the model. Will talk to MK about that one.

[Marty]

Alright, I’m back again. This is more of feature than a bug, but it turns out that if you start to do an upgrade at Bermuda, Tortuga, or Boddon’s, and then you turn around and do the same upgrade at whichever other special shipyard, you can do the upgrade three times. For example:
1. Go to Bermuda, begin speed upgrade.
2. Go to Tortuga, begin speed upgrade.
3. Go to Boddon’s, begin speed upgrade.
4. Deliver all supplies to Boddon’s and finish upgrade. Now speed is enhanced.
5. Deliver all supplies to Tortuga and finish upgrade. Speed is further enhanced.
6. Deliver all supplies to Bermuda and finish original upgrade. Speed is enhanced for a third time.

Results of doing all upgrades besides crew and hull:

Seems a bit OP, but I’m having a ton of fun with it.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Marty.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Marty.

[Jeffrey]

LOL, should have kept quiet about it. Live it up now, but since I know about this exploit, it’s going on my “list.”

I thought there were already mechanics in the game to prevent that when we expanded the shipyard capability to 3 locations. But I see now that is only “after” the upgrade is complete; it obviously does not prevent starting them all simultaneously. Clever, but yeah, probably gonna take that out…but until I get around to it, “the mice will play.” 😉

[Filipe]

Wow, I didn’t know about that but I guess if someone is really serious about exploiting it you might as well consider removing backward compatibility for reasons…

[Oldtimer]

Captured ship does not change flag.

Hi all,

harbour battle vs 2 pirates. One struck immediately, the other(a Vanguard, that is a ship type, right?), surrendered to me after boarding. On loot screen it was transformed to a Geleidefregat(!!??) and after being taken by me kept pirate flag on and was still shot at by the fort.

BTW, it looks like enemies, pirates in particular, are suicidal morons again. Only rarely do they sail away from impossible odds, especially forts.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

sry for a mistake:

– the ship that struck early was Royal Fortune Vengeance. Is Vengeance a ship type?
The one that did not change flag after capture was a Geleidefregat all the time.
I apologize for the confusion.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

“…t looks like enemies, pirates in particular, are suicidal morons again. Only rarely do they sail away from impossible odds, especially forts.”

I found some flaws, and I think I have some improvements for this problem. I am sending to MK to test some first, but hopefully this will get better.

As for ships that surrender AFTER you board them, this behavior might not change. The thinking is that if they strike their flag/surrender at sea, during the battle, everyone will honor that. But if they wait until you board, their is no indication to anyone else they surrendered, and for all they know, you just got repelled during your boarding process and they are still enemies for all they know.

Actually, on second thought, I suppose they could raise the indication they are surrendered AFTER you let them go, so I guess they should probably be considered surrendered like the others after all…

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

“But if they wait until you board, their is no indication to anyone else they surrendered, and for all they know, you just got repelled during your boarding process and they are still enemies for all they know.”

The above is a serious design flaw, if captured ships change to victors flag immediately in some instances they should do so in ALL. BTW, to clear up a possible misunderstanding, I did NOT release the said Geleidefregat, it is too valuable for that.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Oldtimer]

Pirates proposition.

An old issue seems back. After accepting to visit the pirates ship, if you talk to someone, there are no enemies/allies at the target location.
His ship is there but no shore party and enemies appear.

Rgds, Oldtimer

[Jeffrey]

Send me a save file after accepting the mission, but before landing at the destination please.

[Oldtimer]

Will do ASAP.

[Jeffrey]

I accepted the mission and the log is that the target “is moored near” Lamont Beach. This means they are at sea, not on the beach. They were not actually within sailto distance, so they don’t appear in that menu, so you have to sail around and look for them. Turns out they were actually south, closer to Shores of Le Martin. The script picks a random sea locator for the island the logbook shore resides, and because it’s random, sometimes it’s a little further away and requires some searching.

[Oldtimer]

Mr. Jeffrey,

thing is that during your visit to pirate`s ship the mission apparently received was in connection with a convoy resupplying somewhere.
The problem appears when the target convoy has foundered in a storm. I don`t know if you can use my save to re-visit the pirate until his mission will be abt. a foundered convoy and check for the problem then.

Rgds, Oldtimer

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Oldtimer.

[Jeffrey]

Unfortunately, the mission is already established when you agree to meet, so that save, every time I go out to the ship from there, it is always the same mission, same place, same cargo, so I don’t get that “foundered in the storm,” which would be targeted on the shore. So I won’t be able to reproduce your problem because it might be specific to the exact shore, or the soldier models for the nation that was selected, or a combination of both. I need a save for that exact mission, if you have one, from before you landed on the short. It can be from after you accepted the mission on the ship, but not yet arrived, or even if you arrived, but had not yet moored at the target shore.

[Oldtimer]

Righty,

I will send you such a save.

THX for your attn.,

Oldtimer

[modernknight1]

THIS FORUM IS NOW CLOSED DUE TO TOO MANY POSTS. FOR THE LATEST BUG REPORTING AND TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN, PLEASE GO HERE: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/new-bugs-and-fixes-2019-2020-current/

MK

[Author]

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