TEST Release Notes - Nov 20 '09
 

Release Notes - November 20, 2009

• OSX clients may not be able to connect.
• Crew members's ships may not be available in the Dinghy's Choose a Ship's panel.
• Ships and Sailing have undergone several improvements. You may see a boost in performance while at sea and slight changes to ship design and sail animations, depending on your graphics settings.
• Jolly Roger has moved on to attacking other islands after Port Royal.
• A new lighting and fog system gives more atmosphere to the environments based on the time of day.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Crew Display to disappear at random times.
• Pirates now get a small Reputation Bonus for reviving a fellow Pirate.
• The Viper's Nest Dagger Skill breaks multiple attunements.
• Your ship will no longer take damage from enemies sailing beyond visual range.
• Less valuable cargo will be dumped to make room for more valuable chests earned from sinking ships.
• The screen no longer flashes red when you get hit by friendly fire.
• Added new Tutorial Loading Screens.
• Fixed several visual issues with a few cut scenes.
• Shortened Captain Barbossa's cut scene.

Please report any issues you encounter using this feedback form.

Ooo! I must check this out. Oddly enough I'm more interested in the aesthetic changes than anything else really.

And things are looking way nice (as Mac has noted below)

Noticeable changes at sea with the ship textures... Also the masts wobble a bit when they're hit with cannon fire. Still wish they'd make the sails burn like it did way back when. Doesn't the sky look just... wow. Much better.


The swells created when a ship sinks are a nice touch too.


Hrm.. Let's not be too obvious now, Big D.

Wow, the new fog system and lightning is awesome. It just seems more... realistic, especially the new atmosphere.

Also, the ships do have some new animations, which also look better. The ships also look just a bit different, but nothing that will upset anyone or make anyone happy. At least, I'm nuetral.

And as a last note, the map is different too. But in a good way. There's more detail for the islands but Isla Perdida is missing. xD Yeah, the map(press M) looks way better. Port Royal got a major chance on the map.

P.S. There's more shadows at sea, and it looks great! It's different depending on the time of the day, just like they said. All I can really say is the game got way better as far as looks and atmosphere.

EDIT: And there's a bug while at sea. All the islands, up close, look horrible when your graphics are high, medium, or low. They need to fix that, and that's all i can think of.

EDIT2:The ships actually look way better. Especially the backs.

The lighting is simply awe-strikingly great looking. Too bad I won't be able to log on on my mac. Looks like my laptop is the only choice for POTCO. Oh well. I participated in what what have been the very first Tortuga invasion ever. They are just like on Port royal, exept Jolly Roger appears near the shipwright.

It's not a full picture, I cropped it for my own purposes (I will grab a full pic after this invasion for proof), but it seems some holiday bows snuck in with this release too... in quite the strange places.

http://www.piratesonlineforums.com/g...esHolidays.png

And for the sake of something more important, the Tortuga Invasion Map
http://www.piratesonlineforums.com/g...ta/500/Map.png

You can start planning those strategies now. ;-)

Player friends work... sorta..



Dig spots are easier to find now too...

lol i only found that one but hopefully there are more around

I really like the less value item drop thing.

Also Mr. Niscadae, are those images in the highest resolution possible?

I currently have my graphic options set at everything highest except for character detail and texture detail (those on medium). compressed textures and aggressive memory conservation are off. Shader Level 3 on. Oh, OpenGL too. Not the best card in the world but it's doing pretty good.

We will definitely need a strategy for these. Small spaces means more people in on small area, and as we all know...

Small areas x Lots of People = Lag thus Lag = Loss of the Bride

I like the, "Pirates now get a small Reputation Bonus for reviving a fellow Pirate." Even though it is a small amount of rep it's still something, and also helps fellow pirates! This will most likely increase the amount of people getting revived.

Sweet, I should have my account back when these updates come out on open.
Though I am a little sad with some of these updates mostly the cargo dumping one, now the chance of getting crates back into port in reduced. :sadmh9: now I'll never get to make a full record of 18 crates from behemoths/juggernauts/colossuses/dreadnaughts. :(

Thanks for all the screenshots, mates!
I would have been there, but lo and behold, they were right about OSX not connecting!
Grrr.....
:sadmh9:

I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume this is on the top of their priority list. I'll be very upset if this is released to open before the problem is resolved.

Player friends don't work so well as SOS has stated. I tried to whisper to one & crew one. Kept getting the message that the pirate was on pirates test...Duh!

I think the same happened with the last test. Did it?

Yeah the last test update (or was it the one before that?) seriously messed up the login for OSX. Thankfully the problem did not transfer to open.

is there anything new about Tortuga invasion, like any new enemies? They said Devil Root, Dragoons, and Soldier wasps would come after us earlier......

and what do you mean by ship and sailing improvements, and the fog and lighting system?

A first in a long time - they actually listed things which may NOT work :) This alone is a big step forward, as now people actually know what to expect in some cases.

I'll have to check it out after todays soccer games :)

my test pirate is a noob, so i'll be able to see just how much they shortened the pistol cutscene...wonder why cutting barbossa was a priority? they got rid of his scene for the adoria's family quest on open too

Looks like the feast is coming back as well

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/a...eenShot003.jpg

Also seen the feast - and I took the ship out without issues.

One thing I did notice though is that there were several ships RIGHT at Toug when you launch (my ship appeared almost on top of a Bulwark and a Farret - which began their attack right away just as I appeared on the ship - I could reach out and touch the bulwark before getting to the helm). I wonder if that is causing some of the crash issues where a players ship when launching is trying to "park" on top of a NPC ship... I'll try to get some more play in later.

The less valuable drop... does 'drop' actually mean just that, or do you get gold for those cargo crates as well? It won't let me sail to figure out.

Well perdida does mean lost in Portugesse.:laughks2: As for the new ship design in Sven N's shots it looks like they have found a way to justify less polygons...I sort of like it.Ill get a better look when it comes to open.

Nice updates only one that stands out to me is

Less valuable cargo will be dumped to make room for more valuable chests earned from sinking ships.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

^Finally!

The cargo fix sounds quite cool!

Hehe, could this be the fixing the BB cut scene not cutting? I'm thinking the shortening the Barbossa's cut scene might just have something to do with the fact that it's been broken for a while. I would go in to get the pistol, an when Barbossa started talking about cursed pirates, my pirate fell into the floor and the sound cut off. It was quite funny, but I guess enough people told them it was broken that they are fixing it, perhaps by cutting that part out?

I also did a Boss Battle, and the Goliath is BEAUTIFUL.
Where would I find a screenshot of any kind now?

Also, there are too many crash sites and things that cause crashing and booting.

For instance, entering the Misty Mire = Boot.
Entering BB with big crew = Disconnect.
There's more, I'm sure, but too many for my to poke around and find them. I'll edit this post to add more crashes that I find.

Another neat little addition with sailing, although they may have moved the islands closer together which many people do not like, they did atleast make them look like more than just plots of land. (All the islands and your sea chart [M] have changed)

Here are just a few examples of the changes.


It's hard to see in the bottom two shots, but the Kingshead main dock is part of the island view, and on Cutthroat you can now see detailed cave entrances, rather than just holes in the island.

Kingshead looks Awesome!!

I do hope they remake it too.

Here's another thing:
I've also seen some ships while on land.

Edit: Eliza Creststeel ( or anyone else ), if you happen to stumble upon this post again, here is the link to my single-picture album of the Goliath on test:
http://www.piratesonlineforums.com/f...pictureid=2783

Good pics Jack.In someways (like polygons perhaps) in seems downgraded, but in others its amazing!Ile d'Etable do Porc looks like something we can use to put fear into the Spanish invaders!Those rocks....

This has actually been in game for a while now, just need to be at a high enough graphic setting, though I believe it's sometimes sporadic.

Anyone have pics of the new map?

Not much i see in this update but anyway it is cool.... I cant wait till it comes to the Live Server. The way things that are being released makes me wonder when a lot of promised, unpromised and hinted updates are coming.
Someone please answer my previous questions in Page 2 and put a picture of the new map....
FAST!

I hope this stuff doesn't hit open soon with all the bugs and glitches some tester have found.

Recently, a player told me that the Boss Battle on test was a lot harder and the Goliath has been TOTALLY REVAMPED and much faster in pursuit of the Pearl. Someone here confirmed the new look, but I'm curious about the Boss Battle being changed at all.

Can anyone get a screenshot?

Hey EC, I do know that the ships are tougher all around in the game now.

Captain Whale

MAC on test
 

Was not able to find a response that answered the question about MAC and OSX. I use a MAC as my second computer and am running the newest OSX operating system. Have had no issues yet with the new updates on test.