I need to either reproduce the error myself, consistently, so that I can track down the source of the error, or sometimes a log message or crash dump file can help.

Here are some things that might help me track it down:

* Before starting the game, launch the Windows Task Manager and keep it running.

*When the game next crashes, do not answer or click the Windows message that the game stopped working, but instead, go to the Task Manager, find Maelstrom.exe, right-click and select "Create dump file".  It will create a file and present a message where the file is located; find that file and send it to me.

*Also send me the system.log, compile.log and error.log (if it exists).

*Also send me a recent save game file from this same session.

*If the game just stops, with no Windows Error Message, and you can't create a dump file, launch the Windows Event Viewer and copy/paste the error details from there.  It is not as helpful as a dump file, but might give a clue.

My email is chezjfrey@hotmail.com

Thanks, and I will see if I can figure it out from the provided files.

All of our current tasks, including the battle damage/health bars are now scaled.

I did apply the rescaling to COAS, GOF 1.2, GOF 2.0, GOF 2.5 and ERAS 2.  I have not yet done POTC or CT, though I will probably do them soon.

Awhile back, I did merge together some of the XBOX controller code that I found into both the ERAS scripts and the Maelstrom Engine.  I did some brief testing and if you are playing ERAS, and it detects an XBOX controller, on the options page, you can toggle an option to use the controller.  However, it is only partially supported right now, in a "testing" phase.  I wanted the ERAS original dev and my collaborator, known as MK to test it, but he has not yet done so.  Right now, if the XBOX controller option is enabled, only some of the Sea commands are mapped and so far, they look like they work; I wanted MK to decide what controller buttons/triggers should map to the available Land, Sea, WorldMap commands.  So right now, it only partially works.  If you want to take charge of making those decisions, that would be great...there are just too many available commands, so only a smaller subset of the controller buttons/triggers can be used and the rest of them would still have to remain on the keyboard.  For instance, the "hotkeys" for player loading balls/grapes/knippels/bombs are 1,2,3,4 and all fleet ships loading the same are 5,6,7,8, plus all the navigation, plus all the sail commands, launching battle interface menu, telescope/spyglass, camera movement/rotation, etc....just too many for the few controller buttons.  The way I envision this can happen is only if keyboard, mouse and controller are used together, with the controller being mapped to the most common controls.  So that is how the current dev for XBOX controllers works right now where it can respond to the keyboard, mouse and XBOX inputs all at the same time.  Not sure if this is desirable, so it remains a tentative development until I get feedback from someone that tries it and suggests/recommends modifications to make it workable.

Edit to add:  It does not work with PS4 controllers (they have completely different input)...I downloaded an opensource C++ library for converting PS4 input to act like XBOX input, because the original engine was designed only for XBOX, but I have not yet tried it or figured out how to incorporate it yet.

As for DirectX upgrades...I wanted to port to DX11 at the least, but I am not a graphics programmer; I know C++, but I do business integration/accounting type programming.  When I first started this, I read through upgrade instructions for porting DX8 to DX9 and it was relatively simple because DX8 and DX9 are so similar that you didn't really need much understanding of the graphic principles.  However, when DX10 was introduced, they removed "flexible vertex format" (FVF) idea from their library and also removed "vertex lock/update".  The engine heavily uses both of those concepts and they would have to all be changed to a newer method and that requires understanding better how it all works and also requires writing individual shaders for all the current parts that use FVF "pipeline" during the replacement; I don't understand enough about the graphics to do this and I also don't have the time necessary because I do this solo and have a regular job.  So it is very unlikely I will ever be able to upgrade past DX9 by myself.

At this point, it might be best if you start engaging on Discord because it is a little easier for me to respond because the Itch forum format does not always notify me of new replies and it also not a very intuitive format for keeping track of current discussions...I saw your name briefly over there, but you want AWOL when I was about to PM you :)

Update:  All is fixed except Land battle damage/healthbar.

Sea date is moved to avoid truncation.
World map labels/icons are scaled now.
World map upper right wind gauge and food/rum display now scaled.

I will proceed to track down the damage/health code.

I did notice the one point you brought up with the upper right on the World Map and I have already addressed that one.  It required a modification to the Maelstrom Engine so it will now accept a "resizing factor" for that part.  You won't be able to see that until I update Itch with a new engine and there is one additional small change to the worldmap.c that will then solve that problem, when combined with the updated Maelstrom.

I suspect the other points might require similar engine modifications as I don't believe any of these things were meant to scale like we want.  I will further investigate the battle damage and health bar and World Map location names.

I also agree that sometimes the concatenated string for the date/time is sometimes too long, so we should probably move that H position.

The reason I chose the comparison method is so that we can alleviate a user need to adjust this scaling, if we find a good baseline measurement.  However, I will probably still add an option for people that still might want a different result; I found during this process that I actually prefer things a little smaller and it would be nice to still allow some sort of manual tweaking, without touching script code.

Since the dialog size is in a .ini file, this is going to be a little trickier and might also require some magic inside the engine to handle as well, but I haven't yet settled on a good way to deal with that yet, because it's handled so differently than these relatively easy changes we've been working on, but I will keep it on my list to figure out.

Thanks for your help and input about suitable measurements.

We probably duplicated some work here, LOL.  I did something similar for the Land, Sea and WorldMap and if you want to try the files, they are here: https://mega.nz/file/j1EXzYhC#l_msNecCG42iah5cHdLK5wDIEBauMoxbu2w8CuUwY-M

However, given you were not satisfied with 1080, my version will still be too small, but I centralized the number for the ratio calculation, so it only needs to be changed in one spot.

Near the top of the BattleInterface.c file:

#define BI_COMPARE_HEIGHT 1080.0

Change that number to maybe 800.0 or 900.0?  Let me know which number you think looks better and I will probably just use your preference in the upcoming update.  Later, I will add an option to allow adjustment on the options screen.

After reviewing your screenshots and description I tried myself.  Since I do not have a monitor that size, I changed the threshold to 540 instead of 1080 for experiment and I see that the resizing work we did is certainly incomplete; it only changes the size of the character icons (land UI), but does not reposition some of the menu elements (which you noticed and circled the icon on the right and modified the left menu portion in your second screenshot) or resize other necessary fonts.  So I will make some changes so that this will be more automatic, across land/sea/worldmap UI, without need for script modifications by a user.

Thank you for the kind words.  I understand the skepticism, because we do seem to be relatively unknown for this work, but we do have a fair number of satisfied Maelstrom users, but they are somewhat "quiet" on the internet.

Fortunately, we have done some work in ERAS to automatically scale the UI for just the elements you refer, but looking at the code, I now see that we only resize them smaller for resolutions less than 1080 height, so that the full amount will fit inside the smaller screen.  We don't do the reverse of that and make them larger for screen heights larger than 1080, but rather keep them at a "maximum" size of their original sizes.  I agree that we should enable them to go both ways and that is a simple thing to do since we already have the code built into the ERAS scripts to resize them; we just have to eliminate the restriction that allows them to go bigger than defined.

If you would like to try it yourself, prior to an update, there are 3 files you can alter in ERAS Program\battle_interface folder:

BattleInterface.c (Sea)
LandInterface.c (Land)
WmInterface.c (World Map)

In each of those files, search for all instances of this code:

if(fHtRatio < 0.99) {

To enable it to always resize, no matter if the screen height is smaller or larger than 1080, just change all of them to always true, as an experiment:

if(true) { //if(fHtRatio < 0.99) {

The // means to ignore the rest of the line, so we leave the original code there in case you don't like the result, you can see what the script code used to be and revert back to its original form if you like.  If you would like to try this and report back that it resized properly, I will change ERAS to always resize.  I can also apply this change to COAS and GOF 1.2 as well, but I don't believe any resizing exists in those mods yet.

Translations take considerable work, but as you note, much of the dialog, menu, quest logs have already been done in COAS, so copying those pieces to ERAS is relatively simple.  Though, we have changed/added some dialogs to some of the original files that will not be accounted for in COAS and would have to be carefully monitored in the dialog text .h files because they contain a size number at the top that has to match ERAS, not COAS.  I believe the main menu was borrowed from Caribbean Tales for GOF/ERAS, so we can take those textures for the menu selections from CT (CT's RESOURCE\Textures\MainMenu\French).  The most work then would be translating the Hero descriptions, Items (cargo and weapons) and Ship descriptions (RESOURCE\INI\texts\...\  ItemsDescribe.txt, HeroDescribe.txt, ShipsDescribe.txt), because those are completely different than COAS.

However, we can't do this ourselves, because none of us speak/read/write French.  For a better understanding of the work involved, we just had a player (known to us as BinaryKommando) fully translate ERAS into Portuguese and gave us his resources/changes to distribute.  You are welcome to Discord and you can ask him any questions you may have about his experience performing a full translation on his own and I'm sure he can offer plenty of guidance or things to look for:  https://discord.gg/5S7sr5q

I have never played GOF 2 or 2.5.  I think there are probably some bugs with those mods (from what I've read on the internet), but I have left them mostly as original because frankly, they stripped out most of the best developments from 1.2, so they aren't really worth playing or devoting work, in my opinion; GOF 1.2 is the better among 1.2, 2.0 and 2.5 GOF titles, and from my own gameplay, can confirm most of the major quests work fine.

That said, if I remember correctly, you don't get arrested until you go around the corner, closer to Morgan's residence.  Try walking around that corner to his house.

There is no random loot for dueling.  The other NPC captains that you can either insult, join for missions, are the same group of characters that you can select when you start a new game.  If you don't select them to play yourself, they are still out in the Caribbean, taking "missions" themselves, and show up in various ports during their travels, giving opportunity to either team up, or as you discovered, simply dispatch in a duel.  If you read the short bio for the characters, some are famous and notable, and others are not.  Their starting gold, weapons and ships typically match their "success" level and is noted in their character descriptions.  The loot you saw when you killed them, is the same loot you would have started with as that particular character, so it is not a random prize for the duel itself.  Some of them were very famous historical figures, so they would have been wealthy from the start during this time period.  For a few examples from the ERAS bios:

Henry Avery took the greatest single prize in history & he was never caught. Dubbed as the "Arch Pirate" & "King of Pirates"...

Gold: 600,000 Pieces of Eight
Equipment: Excellent equipment and very valuable items
Ship: Captured Mughul of India's treasure ship 74gun man-o-war "Ganj-i-sawai"
Level: 14

 Michiel de Ruyter is one of the greatest commanders of history...

Gold: 80,000 Pieces of Eight
Equipment: Good blade and valuable items
Ship: 92gun Dutch 1st Rate Man-o-War/Flagship of Dutch Confederate Fleet "De Zeven Provincien"
Level: 16

Blas Miguel...is famous as being the lesser of the two Corsican brothers.

Gold: 3,000 Pieces of Eight
Equipment: Basic equipment only
Ship: 16gun Barque-Longue "Un-named"
Level: 1

Which game? (ERAS, GOF 1.2, GOF 2.0, GOF 2.5?).  Also, I just tried changing the option in each one of those games I listed in an existing saved-game and the weights of all materials on my ship changed.  Procedure was Options, Mod Options, click Realistic Weights option, click Accept, click OK.  When checking F2, Ship screen, everything in the ship's cargo changed weight.  So where are you not seeing the weight change?

The quick answer is find the path to the Maelstrom.exe you want to run on your machine (where did you put it?). Find the ERAS path for the Program/RESOURCE folder (where did you put it?). Then modify a Windows Shortcut with the Target = the path to the Maelstrom.exe you want, and the Start in = the path to ERAS stuff.

Use the shortcut to launch the game.

That link?  Not really.

Looking at the list of topics, they are stale and outdated.

How to adjust your 3rd Person Ship Camera is now moot because we've added sliders in the Options to adjust FOV both at sea and on land.
The Guide to Current Quest functionality is moot, because all of the deficiencies it lists are long fixed.
The extended mooring in Port Control is now moot, because we've changed it to be unlimited in ERAS.
The Improved GOF Crosshair is moot, because we've added both a different crosshair and actual direct aiming, instead of manually figuring the arc by experiment in first person, if you possess certain gunner items.

Much of the rest in that sub-forum is how to modify certain textures and such, that don't apply to actual gameplay/advice.

For quests, ERAS adheres to most of the COAS guides for those, and a good site for that is:  https://sites.google.com/site/skodacoas/home
See the links for Important Quests, Nation Quest-lines, Random Quests for guidance/walkthroughs

For general advice, I'm uncertain what exists.  You can always ask people on our Discord:  https://discord.gg/5S7sr5q

Our website ERAS topics:  https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/forum/gof-historical-eras-module-2-download-di...

Some of our COAS (City of Abandoned Ships) advice/topics, which applies to much of ERAS:  https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/forum/age-pirates-game-forum/

This last one includes tips for sword fighting, quests (linked mostly to that skodarap material), tips for how to play starting out new, etc.

I believe MK had been working on a more thorough guide, but I'm not sure his progress or what state it is in; I will contact him about this to see where that stands.

I believe you will not need to change anything if you use the Itch client to install Maelstrom to C:\Maelstrom and install ERAS 2 to C:\Maelstrom\games (you will have to create the games directory first).  If you do that, the sample shortcut Maelstrom ERAS 2 (in directory Itch will create for the Maelstrom engine, C:\Maelstrom\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine), will have a Target:  C:\Maelstrom\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine\DirectX9_32bit\Maelstrom.exe and a Start in: C:\Maelstrom\games\gentlemen-of-fortune-historical-eras-module-2.  If you want to run 64 bit, just change the shortcut Target to:  C:\Maelstrom\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine\DirectX9_64bit\Maelstrom.exe.  Double check your drive to make sure those are the valid locations where you installed everything.  There is also a sample Config shortcut for ERAS (every flavor of the mods, COAS, GOF, etc. will need their own), Maelstrom ERAS 2 Config, the Target is a little different, with a path to Config.exe and a quoted path to the mod you want to configure, Target:  C:\Maelstrom\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine\DirectX9_32bit\Config.exe "..\\..\\games\gentlemen-of-fortune-historical-eras-module-2"  The double dots work if you put the games directory in the suggested spot, but will also work if you change the quoted part to the full path on your machine as Target:  

C:\Maelstrom\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine\DirectX9_64bit\Config.exe "C:\Maelstrom\games\gentlemen-of-fortune-historical-eras-module-2."

The key is just make sure you know where Maelstrom.exe on your machine is (3 different types, DirectX8 32 bit, DirectX9 32 bit, DirectX9 64 bit) and where you put the ERAS 2 files.  If you know the paths, copy/paste those paths to the Target and Start in of a shortcut and launch with that shortcut.

Maelstrom is a rewrite of the engine or .exe executable that runs all the same games that you used to have to purchase separately, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Caribbean Tales, City of Abandoned Ships. Those 3 games evolved from the same engine, but in order to make them backward compatible, and to also use some of the newer features added in the rewrite, the scripts did require some changes to make them all work, so you can't use the scripts from the original cd; we went through and kept those games identical to their original, but now made to work on the one engine.  We also corrected many bugs while doing so.

ERAS is a mod based on City of Abandoned ships.  Technically, GOF was the original COAS mod that ERAS then started from GOF 1.2.  If you use Maelstrom, you can play all the Sea Dogs derived games on the page you see listed on the Maelstrom page:  POTC, CT, COAS, GOF, ERAS and you do not need any of the GoG or Steam versions...none of them.  Maelstrom will drive the game, instead of those older engines.  It's also 64 bit capable , which the originals or the ones from GoG or Steam are not.

None of the standard or stock versions of the game work with Maelstrom.  If you want to play City of Abandoned ships, download the Lost Ships City from the Itch link on the Maelstrom page; it is exactly the same as COAS, but works with Maelstrom.

Willkid's method will work, but it does require any updates to Maelstrom.exe to be copied over manually by you, to those directories every time.  To allow Itch to update the engine, without any copying to the other folders, if you set up the shortcuts, then you will not need to do that every time it is updated.  See if this response helps you:  https://itch.io/t/769489/instalation

You cannot launch Maelstrom.exe by iteself, you must use a shortcut where the "Start in" property points to the ERAS mod.  This way, you can play several different mods, like COAS, GOF, etc., with the same Maelstrom.exe.

Now that you know the path to the 64 bit Maelstrom, go back to that shortcut (in the directory above, which looks to be C:\Gry\Maelstorm\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine), right-click the ERAS shortcut and change the Target to:  C:\Gry\Maelstorm\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine\DirectX9_64bit\Maelstrom.exe

Then change the Start in to the path where you put the ERAS files.  Click OK, then use that shortcut to launch the game.

Navigate to that same folder with the "non-working lnk" you mention.  You should see 3 folders named:  DirectX8_32bit, DirectX9_32bit, DirectX9_64bit.  The Maelstrom.exe is inside each one of those folders, one runs DX8, the other two run DX9, but either 32 bit or 64 bit.  Right-click the .lnk to set the Properties.  In the Target, put the full path on your computer the Maelstrom.exe you want to run from any of those 3 folders.

The Start in for that .lnk is the path to the ERAS 2 files, wherever you put them on your computer.  Click OK, then double-click/launch the .lnk shortcut.

So far, the updates have been save compatible for about two years back.  There is a method to synch up the save data for objects and things that have been added or need modification during the save-load process, so we've been able to keep old saves compatible for a long time, despite many content additions.

The 64 bit version is now fixed for this situation and uploaded to Itch.  Please try the latest version and thank you for the help getting this fixed.

Yes, I found the same thing and 32 bit does not crash, but 64 does crash.  I will compare the 32 bit and 64 bit to figure out the problem.

Perfect!  Thanks for the save.  I got it and also got a crash, just as you described.  I will now be able to track down the reason and will get back to you when it's figured out and fixed.  I will let you know.

Which game are you playing...COAS, ERAS, GOF 1.2...?  And can you also send me a save where you meet the pirate, but have not yet accepted the mission?  Email: chezjfrey@hotmail.com

Well this explains your error, if start.ini file is empty.  I don't know why your Itch download is corrupted or why it fails, but claims the ERAS project is updated and complete.  The only thing I can suggest is click the Settings for ERAS in the Itch client, then the Manage button, then the Re-install button then wait for it to complete.  After completion, then open the start.ini to see it was properly updated.  If it still fails to properly update the start.ini file maybe contact their support if it continually doesn't work.

Are you launching Maelstrom.exe or Config.exe?  That message should only appear if Config.exe does not understand the current, working directory.  But if you are launching Maelstrom and you see that, I might have an idea about the reason.  Open the start.ini file with a text editor like notepad and make sure the firstlaunch setting is zero.  Do a search in the file to find firstlaunch and it should be this:

firstlaunch = 0

If it is equal 1, then Maelstrom.exe will launch Config.exe instead of the game and maybe that is why it can't find the correct directories.

Never mind about the save file.  I figured it out as just an item name problem.  It will be fixed.

This error is trying to launch the config.exe.  Where are you launching config.exe from?  Itch client, or double-click from that directory you showed the screenshot?  Are you trying to launch the game?  Because I don't see the game ever presents that error in your screenshot...only config.exe shows that specific error.

Can you send me a save game from that same town?  I want to investigate.  Email chezjfrey@hotmail.com

That error is shown when you launch Config.exe and either the files are missing, or the language.ini is not updated for a list of languages.  Since your directory looks correct, I wonder if the language.ini file is not updated?  If you navigate to RESOURCE\INI\texts and open language.ini, does it look like this, with the [ConfigList] section at the bottom?

[COMMON]
defaultLanguage = Russian
;defaultLanguage = russian
;defaultLanguage = french
;defaultLanguage = german
;defaultLanguage = dutch
;defaultLanguage = spanish
;defaultLanguage = italian

strings = common.ini
GlobalFile = globals.txt

[DIRECTORY]
English = english
Spanish = spanish
German = german
French = french
Russian = russian
Italian = italian
Dutch = dutch

[FONTS]
English = fonts_eng.ini
Spanish = fonts.ini
German = fonts.ini
French = fonts.ini
Italian = fonts.ini
Russian = fonts_rus.ini
Dutch = fonts.ini

[ConfigList]
cfgLang = Russian

I think the muskets should be fixed now.

The original COAS did not allow selecting the cannon charge for companions.  But, it also did not have the hotkey 6, 7, 8, 9 either (I borrowed that from GOF).  So it makes sense to also add the commands for cannon charge selection, so that is now added too.

I just updated it again.  My worldmap workaround requires that the worlmap.island and the island.id match and that one did not match.  I've corrected it and Falaise De Fleur works now.

You are probably the only one to try it so far, because this was never reported and I have never played this specific game.  There is a significant difference to how the old engine and new handle worldmap, so had to craft workarounds; it should be fixed now in the update just now uploaded.

This is a copy of City of Abandoned Ships, so not really a mod.  But it does contain many fixes for bugs we've discovered.  I did not know there is anything wrong with the sails for the Flying Dutchman, can you describe what the problem is?

Sorry for the delay...my day job slowed me down for response.  Glad you got it sorted.  If you are having trouble registering at the site, that is common.  Our host software for that site does not often work for new registrations.  Send me an email to chezjfrey@hotmail.com with the email address you used and they have a way I can manually activate you.

First, New Horizons is not fully supported.  It is offered because the web site devoted to New Horizons development always claimed they wanted New Horizons to run on the newer engine.  We provided that upgrade for them, and figured they would then enthusiastically finish the few remaining inconsistencies themselves.  An example is that they need to redo their sky textures to match the new engine format.  We placed a single set for an example, but now every hour is the exact same sky, instead of a changing one throughout the day/night.  We did not want to presume they would want the same skies as another, unrelated mod, like ERAS.  They also need to figure how they want the new HUD laid out, because the new engine handles those differently.  That site has never done any of this, have done no playthrough testing, and do not appear interested in what they said they wanted.  The one person that did engage in the project, we have not heard from in over a year.

However, that one person from their site did perform some playthrough for awhile, did discover some problems that we fixed, and also made some changes and as far as we know, it should work for the most part.

If you are having trouble, I need to know what exactly is not working?  The first thing to do is find the example shortcut in the Maelstrom installation folder: "Maelstrom New Horizons"  and edit the properties for Target and Start In paths.  There is a document, MaelstromSetup.pdf, and page 3 shows an example with screenshots.  The basics are right-click the Maelstrom New Horizons shortcut, select Properties.  You should see a Shortcut tab where the Target should be the exact path on your machine to the Maelstrom.exe version you want to run.

Example Target:  C:\ThisIsTheFolderIPutMaelstrom\gentlemen-of-fortune-maelstrom-engine\DirectX9_64bit\Maelstrom.exe

Just below that, change the Start in: value to the FOLDER where you put the New Horizons stuff (i.e. where you see the start.ini file, the PROGRAM and RESOURCE folders.

Example Start in:  C:\ThisIsTheFolderIPutMods\games\new-horizons

An easy to make sure these paths are correct is to use Windows file explorer, go to the folders, then at the top of the file explorer, highlight the whole path, Ctrl-C to copy, then Ctrl-V inside the Properties box to make sure no typos.

My fault...a recent engine change apparently introduced in incompatibility with the start conditions for the older mod type New Game script logic.  I did not think to check that and I only checked that the older ones would still launch and did not check further.  I located the problem for New Game and just uploaded a fix to the Maelstrom Engine.

Thank you for bringing the problem to my attention.  Download the latest Maelstrom update and this problem should be resolved now.

The decision to flee or engage is not part of the engine, but rather due to the scripting within a particular mod.  In order for me to determine whether there is a problem, or if by mod design, the next time you think the opponents are fleeing wrongly, take a save at sea and send it to me at chezjfrey@hotmail.com.  Also indicate what game:  COAS, ERAS, GOF 1.2, etc.

I figured out the problem and uploaded the fix in today's update.  Thanks for the save file and help to identify the problem.

Email chezjfrey@hotmail.com

Do you have a save game from the "boarding save" created when you had destroyed the fort and landed your troops?  If you send me that save file, I will troubleshoot the Residence from there.