POTCO Graphic Options

[Dr. Zeppers]

As of 1/30/2009 a new "Graphic Options" button has been added to the Pirates Online launcher. This helps to set the option appropriate for your system, which the game has not done that well at autodetecting in the past. Previously (and still in some cases) players have had to manually edit their "game_options.txt" file to set this properly.

Here is a small guide to making these settings with the newest release (as of 1/09) of Pirates Online game software.

When you first start Pirates Online, you are presented with the login screen (ie Launcher).
On the lower right hand side of the login screen is the "Graphic Options" button, as reflected here:
potco_login_graphicoptions.jpg

This pops up a box allowing you to select one of three options:

"Open GL" "DirectX8" and "DirectX9" (See image below). "Open GL" is the default. If this is what is set, and your having problems, I would recommend trying "DirectX9" first, as it is the most commonly supported today. "DirectX8" may prove to work better for some older systems, and may have better performance on some newer ones. Once set here, the game should launch using the graphics api of your choice.

potco_login_graphicoptions_select.jpg

To manually set the Graphics API:

You will need to create/edit the "game_api.txt" file located in the PiratesOnline directory if you have ever saved settings in the Options Panel.

1) Go to Start | Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer.
2) Navigate to C:\Program Files\Disney\Disney Online\PiratesOnline.
3) Double click on game_api.txt to open it (usually in notepad), if the file does not exist, start and then exit the launcher, it should create one automatically. If not refer to the "Old" instructions at the bottom of this guide, they may be helpful.
4) This file will have only one word/option in it, the graphics API that is set for the game.
Change it to one of the following (without the quotes):

For Open Gl: "pandagl" (If you simply delete the game_api.txt file, it will default to this)
For DirectX 8: "pandadx8"
For DirectX 9: "pandadx9"
For DirectX 10: "pandadx10" <-- Some Vista users have reported this has helped them, not sure how well its supported.

5) Save the file start launcher, login and launch game.


To manually set the Graphics API the old way - (Old Method)
(Thanks to Sarah for recently reposting these instructions which I embellished a little)
Note: If you do this, and do not edit the game_api.txt file, it will be recreated as pandagl and reset the game_options.txt file API setting. (Unless you somehow still have a dated launcher).

You will need to edit the "game_options.txt" file located in the PiratesOnline directory if you have ever saved settings in the Options Panel.

1) Go to Start | Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer.
2) Navigate to C:\Program Files\Disney\Disney Online\PiratesOnline.
3) Double click on game_options.txt.
4) Make sure "state" has "working" on the line directly below it. If you see "attempted_working" change it to "working."
5) Under "api", please change the text from "default" to:

For Open Gl: "pandagl"
For DirectX 8: "pandadx8"
For DirectX 9: "pandadx9"
For DirectX 10: "pandadx10" <-- Some Vista users have reported this has helped them, not sure how well its supported.

6) Save the file then launch the game.

If you don't have this file on your computer, you will need to create one in the PiratesOnline directory.

1) Go to Start | Run.
2) Type "Notepad" in the Open input box then click OK.
3) Add the following text precisely as you see it below:

state
working
api
pandadx9

4) Click File | Save As
5) Name the file "game_options.txt"
6) Save the file to C:\Program Files\Disney\Disney Online\PiratesOnline then launch the game.

These settings changes will instruct Pirates Online to only use DirectX 9 as the graphic API.

To force options other than DirectX 9 as the above example gives, replace "pandadx9" with:

For Open Gl: "pandagl"
For DirectX 8: "pandadx8"
For DirectX 9: "pandadx9"
For DirectX 10: "pandadx10" <-- Some Vista users have reported this has helped.