Member Contributed Mods for GOF ERAS

[modernknight1]

Members can post their own downloadable mods and descriptions/instructions here. Modders ensure that you say which versions of COAS and/or GOF that the mod can be used in conjunction with. Please give a narrative stating what the mod does or changes and any germane screenshots to illustrate this. Ensure the inclusion of a link and any necessary encryption keys as well.

MK

• This topic was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by modernknight1.

[Orazio]

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ALTERNATIVE INVENTORY BACKGROUND
—————————————————————

This little mod changes the character background in the inventory screen. Tested in ERAS 2 v1.5.7.

This is the new background:

Download
Download Link

Instructions
– Extract the file from the .rar archive
– Copy and paste it in [your AoP2 installation directory]\RESOURCE\Textures\INTERFACES\ and overwrite the existing file

Extra
In ERAS 2 v1.5.7 there is a floating face portrait in the top right corner of the background. To remove it, edit “items.ini” in RESOURCE\INI\interfaces\ like this (semicolon added):

;[ITEM_5]
;position = 725,110,785,170
;textureName = interfaces\empty_face.tga
;bShowGlowCursor = 0

• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Orazio.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Orazio.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Orazio.

[Jeffrey]

The more I look at this, the more I like it.

This is so aesthetically pleasing. Super job, this is really nice.

[Stéphane]

I really like it too , much better than the ancient one 🙂

[Orazio]

Thanks, I’m glad you guys like it!

[Blas de Lezo]

I like it,thanks for the extra

[modernknight1]

As I commented on the other thread Orazio, nicely done. This will be going in the MEGA PATCH as well.

MK

[Orazio]

——————————————————
ALTERNATIVE MAIN MENU HEADER
——————————————————

I have done a new version of the main menu header. I am not 100% satisfied with it, but at the moment I can’t seem to find a result that fully satisfies me. Any suggestion?

Download
Download Link

Instructions
– Extract the file from the .rar archive
– Copy and paste it in [your AoP2 installation directory]\RESOURCE\Textures\MainMenu\Russian\ and overwrite the existing file

[modernknight1]

Cool!

[Orazio]

I have recently taken an interest in 3D modeling, and spent the last couple of months studying it. Then I decided to start a project with the intent of adding new ships interiors, since I believe the game is really poor on this aspect: so many beautiful ships, yet always the same 2/3 interiors!

My goal is primarily to add new cabins, but in my plans there are also new gun decks, holds, and in general other parts of a ship. I’d also like to create new boarding scenes, if MK knows how to use them in game (I only tested cabins for now, and not in combat).

It’s an ambitious project, considering I am new to 3D modeling and texturing, so I can’t promise anything.

To keep things simple and easy, my first creation is a small cabin that I thought would be suitable for caravels (but I’ll probably use it in other small ships too). Here are some work in progress images:

To MK: I read your thread “request for modeling help”, but I didn’t write anything because at the time I had just started, and could really not help. Even now, I don’t think I can help, I’m still inexperienced and before accepting tasks from other people, I want to be sure I am able to fulfill them.

[Jeffrey]

To MK: I read your thread “request for modeling help”, but I didn’t write anything because at the time I had just started, and could really not help. Even now, I don’t think I can help, I’m still inexperienced and before accepting tasks from other people, I want to be sure I am able to fulfill them.

I read that too, and didn’t respond for the same reason. I downloaded Maya, exported one ship OBJ, imported, took a look and quickly decided that was way outside the scope of my current understanding and abilities…it would take a long time to figure things out!

Well done on your work so far as I’m concerned, as the modeling looks complicated to learn.

[modernknight1]

OH WOW! JUST WOW!!!

That looks GREAT Orazio!

I would love to have some new integrated cabins in ERAS! Its actually one of the things I am working on but using modded cabins that were made for SOFS and TEHO with new textures from some of the Corsairs Harbor modders.

So my plan was instead of making a whole new category of cabins, to simply assign cabins via the ships_init for the additional cabins with the new textures. Its not yet ready for testing because I have other things I am still working on first.

If you finish any of these we can certainly put them in the game. I know how to do it already. I am an expert in fact because of my two year odyssey to figure out how to get lower decks integrated without any help from anybody.

We are still the only English version with this capability.

MK

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

[Orazio]

I must confess that I find texturing harder than modeling. I spent 3 days trying to understand the best way to texture my cabin, doing and redoing things several times without concluding almost anything.

I still have troubles figuring out the proper texture resolution to use and how to arrange them in files: the developers often used a single texture file containing everything that is in the scene, but doing so many textures are very low-res, appearing blurry in game.
On the other hand, I don’t think it is performance wise to use a 2k texture for every object I create.
I’m trying to find a way in the middle, though for me it’s a slow process made up of a lot of trial and error…

This is what I achieved for now, the texture files are a bit messy, but I’ll leave them like this, I can’t focus on perfection while in this stage. Maybe the next cabins will be better.

[Jeffrey]

OK, that looks very nice! You are learning fast.

If it makes you feel any better, it takes me hours to figure the simplest thing in the source code…my C++ skills are weak. I haven’t actually coded anything in that language since college courses, which was over 20 years ago, LOL.

I am a developer, sure, but I have been coding in a language called Progress for most of my work life, with a sprinkling of C# and VB .NET, which are all high-level languages, with many things abstracted for the developer. C++ is a lower-level language, so there are many more lines of code, pointer dereferencing, strict object typing (which in C# are often recast by ‘magic’ in pre-exising class libraries you never have to look at), and I don’t know many of the existing .h include features and conventions.

For instance, it took me several tries to figure out why I couldn’t get a float number when dividing several variables. Turns out an integer in the variable mix negates the answer down to the lowest form of number…had to cast the integer to a float within the equation too.

It’s slow going at the moment.

[modernknight1]

Just looks fantastic Orazio! Keep up the good work. My learning curve has been very steep with Blender and with MAYA. I have learned 90 percent of what I have from watching online tutorials on youtube. Importing and Exporting in other formats and conversion is still an issue with me. Also renaming and assigning locators is still very much a challenge for me. I feel like I am like one of the chimps in a closed glass room that people are experimenting with and I am learning at the speed of a canine. UGGH… I am much better at hands on – watching someone do it who is walking me through the steps until I get it. That’s the way I learn best.

I never learned C in school Jeffrey. I learned basic. During my time in the military I learned Fortran, ADA, and some Kobal. I know I am dating myself but consider that the military uses a lot of old dependable stuff in analytics. Non interpretive models that are strictly mathematical in nature work better in many situations where repeatable outcomes are always desired.

When we converted a model to C I began to learn (a little) from looking over shoulders and really only picked up small bits. The vast majority I’ve learned from C is from this very game and a book I picked up on C+ for Dummies (which is what I am). I’ve dabbled in JAVA a bit as well but noticed that most things you need are already bundled in existing libraries. I never got good at putting the blocks together. I was never a coder, but supervised and worked with many and had a couple of awesome senior coders with me most of the time. I would throw the ideas at them and we would discuss how they could be implemented for hours. We did a lot of groundbreaking stuff though that no one had before.

I have a very real appreciation for what you are accomplishing Jeffrey. I REALLY DO! I bow low to your adeptness and am so glad you chose to help us on this project. So many people are looking at what we are doing right now. The site is just exploding with attention that I have not seen since it first went on line. I just wish we could get some modelers to join us.

MK

[Orazio]

Thanks for the support, usually the beginning is the hardest part.
I wasn’t expecting texturing to be so hard (and also frustrating), but maybe it’s just because I’ve never done it before, while I read really a lot about modeling, so I’m more confident on the latter.

About locators, I did some testing for this interiors project and found out it’s easy to put them in a scene. You just do it in MAYA, positioning them exactly where you want and putting them in the right groups, then you export.
What problems did you encounter?

I don’t know about renaming, since I used the same names I found in other cabins, but I understood some of them have standard names that you can’t change at your will. But on names I have to run more tests…

[Orazio]

It’s slowly progressing… the furniture is almost done, then I’ll add objects around.


Overall, it’s coming out better than I had expected.

[modernknight1]

Looking really awesome Orazio! Any chance this might be done in a week or so? I found two additional ships, so I am delayed another week to week and a half with the patch. I also added more weapons.

So we are up to 4 new ships (12 with skins), Two new firearms and 11 new hand weapons. And possibly your new cabins along with all of the other great stuff (plus Jeffrey’s fixes/enhancements) going in the patch already. People are gonna love one of the new ships! It almost looks like the WASA!

MK

[Orazio]

I can’t really say when it will be complete… My pace is kind of irregular, though I think I will finish it in some weeks, not months.

Anyway I think there is no need to delay the patch release for just one cabin.
I learned how to use it in game, so I will release it with the necessary files already modified to make it appear in the game (I’ll probably write here the modifications, to be sure there is no conflict with other parts of the code). Players will just have to copy and paste.

Now I have a historical question, that you may be able to answer: how important was religion during the time period ERAS is set, especially onboard?
I ask because in some of the original cabins, the developers put crosses with Jesus. Since I’m trying to make new cabins, it would be historically accurate if I put a cross in some of them?

[Steven]

I have been playing for quite a while aop2 and new horizons, and i have seen new horizons import some ships from potbs. I think importing the models from potbs is a great idea, it would help to expand the top tier ship variety. I would love to see the wenden, terror, concorde, the treason or others in game. I think new horizons have the raa and stralsund and others i think this mod has(not really sure about if the models are actually from potbs or custom, but at least the name). I dont know how to mod the game, work with storm engine or anything, im jut a player and i dont know the amount of work behind a ship, which part of coding it or modeling the ship is bigger but i you tell if coding is simple, why not add those 3rd 2nd and 1st rates from potbs? i think its legal—new horizons have already done it.

hope you release that mega patch soon, your already existing work is great, im having a lot of fun. Thanks MK.

PD: why dont you make a transition between decks in boarding like in potc, i recall to each his own does have it, but dont mind your multideck boarding scene its ok, i just like it to be in transitions so it forces you to fight down in the decks…

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

[modernknight1]

Welcome to the Reef Steven!

I am glad you are enjoying the mod and thanks for the compliments.

Yes we have a number of POTBS ships in the mod. The 20 gun Dutch Fregatte is the Postillionen from POTBS. One of our Dutch 2nd raters is the Frederick Willem zu Pferde from POTBS (I was instrumental in importing that ship for PA! and in its conversion BTW – I actually sent the guy doing the conversion work the necessary hardware via mail to accomplish this). The French Ordere Seconde is the Poseidon from POTBS. Also the English 96gun First Rate is the Trinity from POTBS. We have all of the best ships that New Horizons has (hundreds more actually). New Horizons actually took all of those ships from modelers who were importing them for use in GOF at the time. So they actually took them from us not the other way round. They were for use in all PA! efforts so there was no wrong doing involved. One of the reasons I justify my use of everything in our mod is that I worked on those teams and assisted in bringing those models into reality.

A PA member called Noiruru gained the permission from the POTBS people to import those models. The primary modelers responsible for the conversions were Damski and Sea Norris. Damski has been gone for ages but SeaNorris works on Hearts of Oak now and I doubt would be interested in helping us with any further model imports.

The POTBS models are a little smaller and so have to be converted larger in order to work in STORM engine games. Believe me I would love to have those other models. I love the Wenden! In fact the MAIN reason I was banned on PA! was because I had started dialogue with a POTBS modeler about importing the Oliphant. My posts were deleted by one of their former moderators who wanted to use her to help with Hearts of Oak and not on STORM game related efforts. My outburst of anger against that member at deleting those posts and the other moderators taking his side over mine is what got me kicked out.

So believe me I would LOVE to get more POTBS models in the game. I dream of it actually. However, I don’t know any of the modelers and I don’t possess the modeling skills to do the conversions if we could actually get the additional models. Do you know of anyone over at Portalus or any POTBS modelers there? Could we get a dialogue started to import some of the models? If we could just get them, maybe with the help of others I could do the conversions myself? If you can help us that would be awesome!

@Orazio OK thats fine my friend. No rush. It is fine work though and I am looking forward to it in game. So concerning RELIGION: YES it was VERY important at the time. Even pirates were known to pray. Aboard Spanish ships prayer was part of the daily routine both in the morning and the evening. In the very beginning of my story on Piet Heyn I cover the Spanish prayers. French ships would have had a very similar routine. On Dutch and English ships they had morning prayers which was a more brief ceremony if the ship had a chaplain or a religious captain. It was not a mandatory part of a daily routing like on Catholic ships but was still very prevalent.

My thoughts are that you should put a cross on the wall that is NOT a crucifix with the crucified Christ on the cross. This way it would be acceptable on any ship. Catholics used both types of crosses you see, but Protestants (French Huguenot pirates, Englishmen, and Hollanders) would have considered the Crucifix sacrilegious. They considered it an idolatrous icon against God’s commandments about graven images and they also considered Christ to be risen from death after the crucifixion so no longer on the cross which is why they only used the “empty” cross as a symbol of their devotion. The Protestants would likely throw a crucifix overboard – unless it was made of gold or other valuable material of course, in which case they would simply sell it to whomever might purchase it in the next port of call.

One other thing to consider is that sailors and officers alike of that time were VERY superstitious. So they would never have mounted the cross in a place where it could fall or be knocked off the wall. For the cross to fall on the floor might be a sign of their imminent DOOM or that they had done something so bad that God was not willing to forgive them for it. So it should be mounted on a wall where there was no foot traffic to accidentally rub against it.

MK

[Steven]

well i dont know about modelling, i mean nothing about modeling in storm engine, although i have modeled some unturned guns in blender, but i didnt know how to implement them, i modeled a thompson and an mp40 which i think i got very cool and proportionate. if you have the tools, with apropiate tutorials-given by you?- i could help getting the models out(if they can be actually taken out of the downloaded game) and imported into storm engine for you to only code out. But i dont know where i can get the “storm engine modeler”? or whatever its called and i dont know how to use it. Maybe with your help if i can figure out how to do 1, i can make more and depending on the difficulty of it, you can have the mayority of the top tier potbs ships and some traders. Im very determined with this. haha!

And i dont know any one of potbs/portalus staff or modelers, sorry, maybe you just missed im only a player. Potbs IS a good game, but is nearly dead and its the biggest pay to win/paywall i have ever seen in my live, and probably the biggest one of GAME HISTORY, i left because of that. It was painful to be restricted to the 38-44 gun frigates (myrmidon, conquistador,…hercules<—-i would love to see those in aop2) and just the one step higher, the 58 or 60 gun 3rd rates were just no where seen to capture from player or you just have to craft them spending HUGE amounts of time. For the terror, the pirate 1st rate, you had to collect nearly 500 pieces of eight which only drop from chest which are rarely dropped from enemy ships and which are only opened with chests keys which cost real money or (hundresds of thousands)gold. and that is only to buy the cannons, you have to then buy the terror refit which cost, guess what, pieces of eight and theeeen you need to have a wenden.

total it is 200-300€ or a TON of gold and time, chests keys are rare even in the shop.

so you could see why i want to see these ships in aop2.
Im willing to help, i just need some directions, if you could give me.

[modernknight1]

@Steven

I will start a new thread for wanna be modelers. The post will have links to the tools necessary to do the import and conversion work necessary. There are already lots of tutorials so I will post links for those as well.

I could probably help you a little, but I am in learning mode myself. I am looking for a good modeler that I can hire to help us and in the process train me on how to do all of this myself – “hands on”.

When I put the link to the new topic up, I will update this post here: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/ship-modeling-and-modding-tutorials/

MK

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

[Steven]

Just curiosity,is it hard to code a ship? I mean when you want to introduce a ship which one is the biggest part, getting the model or coding it into the Game?
Just to know if, for example, if you are putting 4 new ships in the next patch is because you dont hace any more models or because they are hard to code

[modernknight1]

Well I think personally its very easy to code ships into the game but then I’ve done it literally hundreds of times. There are a lot of steps and many people think it is difficult.

Honestly the modeling part of it is the very hardest. I will give you an example. We have about 5 ships in the mod that are from VCO (Voyage Century Online) and I have reskinned them to look much better. One of the large Dutch VOC merchantmen is a VCO ship and the Spanish Fast Galleon that Laurens DeGraff starts out with is also a VCO ship. One of the new ones I am doing right now which will be a large French warship is also a VCO ship.

Many of the VCO mast models bundle the masts together in parts. So when one of their masts get shot off you will see two masts fall off in the game. Also their locator and numbering scheme is completely different so they have to be exported into MAYA and then renamed to match the STORM engine naming conventions and then reimported. Now some people use the TOOL utility to do this, but I have abandoned a couple of models I was working on (including a really beautiful little Dutch fast frigate) because GM viewer and TOOL both say the models are corrupt and can’t be read. Even MAYA wont open them. So if I ever want to finish those I have to import them into something else that will open them (perhaps blender) and see if I can rename them ect. Its that or build brand new masts in MAYA which I am not good enough yet at doing.

If you are a decent artist then the texturing in Photoshop is the easiest and funnest part of the process. I enjoy that the most and that’s one of the reasons you see so many beautiful and historically correct ships in the mod. I did most of the texture/skin work.

So modeling, texturing, and importing/coding are the 3 steps. The modeling step is by far the most difficult. If we were able to get all of those additional POTBS models. I (or someone else better than me) would have to resize the models and then rename all of the parts. In some cases we may even need to break parts up into smaller pieces to make them work correctly in the game.

There are tutorials on all of this over at Pirates Ahoy! and as I said I am importing the links to those into a new topic so that people can look at them if they want.

MK

[Orazio]

Thanks for the info about religion, very informative and interesting!

[modernknight1]

No problem – glad to do it. I’ve studied that topic extensively over the years. In my twenties I began to search for what my “world view” paradigm was. I read everything from the tracts of Eusebius, Augustine, the Apostolic Fathers, to the Torah and Koran and even eastern philosophy, The Analects, Upanishads, Bagavad Gita, Dhammapada. It all influenced me very much but I finally found what I was looking for in the European philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries. I would say I was more influenced from reading Descarte and Kant than the others (I’ve read them all). As a result my world view is dramatically different than most people.

I also have an appreciation for all beliefs although I think atheists really limit themselves with their restrictive single “set in stone” paradigm, when human science can explain so little about our universe. I think they would be much more intelligent to at least entertain the possibility that “anything is possible” as the agnostics do.

The greatest physicists alive presently say that we understand about 4 percent of matter and our universe and how it behaves. They also now for the most part reject chaos theory. Those who have embraced string theory have come to some amazing conclusions that either the universe itself is an intelligent “multiverse” or that there is an intelligent prime mover behind everything – they say its too perfect to be the result of chaotic random chance. So with that view by the most intelligent men living and the fact that the most intelligent men of the past held basically the same view, who am I to argue. I don’t even remember what I ate for lunch a few days ago.

It would be pretty arrogant of me to pretend I understood how everything works and came to be, when the greatest scientists alive say we only understand 4 percent of the whole thing. There are just way too many things we don’t know and can’t explain to reject the possibility of other planes of existence outside of this one that could contain intelligence far beyond our wildest understanding or imagination.

BTW I posted the Tutorial link above in answer to the ship modding questions: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/ship-modeling-and-modding-tutorials/

MK

[Orazio]

The cabin is almost done. There are still minor things to finish and refine, then I want to do some test about textures in Maya, and finally the lighting files; after that, it will be ready.

This is the day scene (there is some slight variation in the night scene).

[modernknight1]

AWESOME!!! Looks SO good!

MK

[Orazio]

Damn, making the lighting files was a real pain in the a**!!

The tool to make them is kind of primitive, not exactly a joy to work with. And the light has to be manually created to resemble the different hours of the day, one can not simply move a slider to the desired hour and *puff* the light is ready!
I spent many days in this process, restarting over and over again because I wasn’t satisfied. And being a bit of a perfectionist didn’t help…

This is eventually what I came up with, and 90% I’ll leave it as is since making the light has already slowed me down a lot. At this point, I’m almost ready to release it.

[modernknight1]

OMG!!! Those look SO DAMN GOOD Orazio! WOW! Incredible work mate! Now that you know your way around the COL files, you may want to take a look at the lower boarding deck files, because there were some COL files missing when I did the import from GIC 4.2. I did some substitutions, but you will sometimes notice daytime conditions below decks at night.

I have never played with the COL files myself because I am too busy with other things. You are becoming quite the modder and modeler my friend. Thanks for your continuing efforts!

MK

[Anonymous]

:)) i think “being a bit of a perfectionist ” helped a lot. Great job 🙂

[Andig]

The work being done on this game (more of an age of sail simulation now) is amazing. As a long standing player of the game modded with GOF I wish to thank MK, and all others involved. Also, the website is a treasure trove of information. Big Thank you.

[Devoidbrah]

Nice work! I really like it.

[Jeffrey]

Wow! That nightime shot really took my breath away. I am regretting my absence during the time that post was made.

I am impressed.

[Author]

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