15.0.0-beta.6

Highlights

• New configuration app for easier setup
• Engine updated to pa15.0.0-beta.6+4.
• Gameplay and balance improvements: storms less frequent; world map speed-up capped at 5x; world map compass enabled.
• New visuals and effects: optional blood effects; improved rain texture on world map.
• Quest and story enhancements: church protection and cargo quests get smart dialogue shortcuts; treasure quest generation rewritten and polished; more maps added (Maltese crypt).
• Shipyard improvements: shipyard ships now have names; Vanderdecken availability logic fixed.
• Stability and tooling: call stack tracing for scripts; crash fix when opening map in worldmap mode; better default preferences; distribution now includes config.exe and 7za.exe for diagnostics.
• Savegame/versioning: savegame version bumped, savegame size significantly reduced

---

New features

• Optional blood effects with an internal toggle (ENABLE_BLOOD_EFFECTS).
• World map compass enabled by default (#246).
• Dialogue shortcuts:
  • Church protection quest if you already have the jewelry (adds translations for the shortcut).
  • Cargo quests if you already have the requested goods.
• Location mapping:
  • Show a map of the current location when available.
  • Added a map for the Maltese crypt.
• Storyline changes:
  • “Gold-Bug” and “Hoist the Colours” storylines moved out of beta status.

Gameplay, balance, and UX tweaks

• Storm frequency lowered for a less punishing experience.
• World map speed-up limited to 5x to reduce bugs and instability.
• Shipyards now assign names to ships.
• Treasure quest overhaul: rewritten generation logic, increased scam risk slightly, fixed missing red X marks on treasure maps, and tuned skill/chance parameters.
• Correct label in goods transfer interface for “take all of one good” (#258).
• Ship availability logic for Vanderdecken corrected.
• Auto-equip clock and compass when skipping the tutorial.

Engine, performance, and stability

• Engine upgrades to pa15.0.0-beta.6+4, with several fixes and improvements.
• Added TraceScriptStack to dump call stacks from scripts for easier debugging.
• Fixed crash when attempting to open the map while in world map mode.
• Walk data converted to .ini files; significantly reducing save game size
• Sail emblems disabled for the time being (stability/compatibility).

Assets, audio, and visuals

• World map: new rain texture.
• Audio improvements:
  • Replaced cannon_fire sounds with higher-quality versions.
  • Replaced grass step sound with a higher-quality sample.
• UI/text cleanup: fixed missing button text in options; typos and grammar fixes; small syntax cleanups.

Installer, packaging, and configuration

• Published engine.ini now includes interface and warning comments for clarity.
• Distribution now bundles:
  • config.exe (configuration app).
  • 7za.exe (for log uploading/diagnostics)

Save compatibility and migrations

• Savegame version updated; requires a new game.
• Introduced a global Migration object to track migration state across updates.

Fixes

• Turner Shipyard fight softlock fixed.
• Mings dialogue issues resolved.
• Pedro dialogue freeze/stuck dialogue fixed.
• Duplicate vsync value removed from engine.ini and general INI comment cleanups.
• World map compass enabled and working (#246).
• Various storyline and quest fixes (Claire Larrouse restriction at sea, Oxbay mine sea, shipyard name fixes).
• Multiple localization improvements.
• Options menu button label visibility fixed.
• Removed duplicate map item checks and obsolete code paths.

Developer and modding notes

• Added comments to published engine.ini to clarify interface settings.
• Added call stack tracing helper (TraceScriptStack).

Contributors (since 15.0.0-beta.5)

• Hammie
• tntscreed
• Anthony Lapenok
• Peter Norton
• Meowsandstuff
• AkrimalS
• LipsarJ

15.0.0-beta.4

• Improved Russian translation
• Added option for showing ship status bars
• Added talk-to-self feature, that allows you to skip time
• Fixed tooltips
• Fixed map nation icons
• Fixed main menu not showing when dying on Cozumel
• Fixed bug storyline selection menu
• Fixed indian village bug in Jack Sparrow storyline
• Fixed bug in Bartolomeu storyline when rescuing Soares
• Fixed bugs for Woodes Rogers storyline
• Fixed missing textures
• Refactored building dialog code for easier development
• [engine] Fixed engine not working on Windows 11
• [engine] Fixed crash when creating new game
• [engine] Fixed visual bug in dialog view
• [engine] Exposed interface screen size settings outside of compatibility mode
• [engine] Added offset attribute to Sky entities to allow offsetting the skybox vertically
• [engine] Implemented WIP in-game editor, enabled with a new --editor parameter added to engine.exe

15.0.0-beta.3

• Re-enabled extra storylines by default
• #199 Added Night Craft quest
• #201 Added new credits screen
• Enabled running the game using the itch.io sandbox mode
• Moved logs files back to the game directory by default
• Fixes and improvements for the Russian translation
• #197 Fixed icons in trading interface when using Polish translation
• Fixed font rendering issue

15.0.0-beta.2

• #187 Fixed getting stuck in dialog when there are no valid replies
• #189 Fixed camera getting stuck after boarding
• Fixed the engine crashing when no changing the attribute of an invalid entity

15.0.0-beta.1

Fixes

• Fixed attack animation not triggering correctly in Hoist the Colours quests
• Improvements and fixes for the Russian translation
• Added ship lights to Black Pearl
• Enabled use of the free camera on land
• Updated sand stepping sound
• Re-added missing DMC quest scripts
• Added missing icon for spyglass distance indicator
• Fixed description of required items for viewing your position on the map
• #83 Reduced minimum crew required for firing cannons
• #181 Fix spelling of São Jorge and Conceição
• #182 Fixed clouds not showing on the world map

Modding

• Exposed basic Lighter functionality to scripts:

// New Lighter messages:
// sl "LoadPreset" <preset id>
// sl "SavePreset" <preset id>
// sll "Process" <trace shadows?> <smooth shadows?>
// s "SaveLight"

SendMessage(&Lighter, "sl", "LoadPreset", 1);
SendMessage(&Lighter, "sll", "Process", 1, 1);
SendMessage(&Lighter, "s", "SaveLight");

15.0.0-alpha.21

• Reduced chance of interrupting the active animation when a character gets hit
• Added coast foam
• Replaced all fonts with higher resolution ones
• Fixed attack key not being configurable
• Fixed some storyline variables not being loaded correctly
• Fix missing text in debug menu
• #46 Fix dialog becoming disabled during early tutorial
• #64 Fixed autorun toggle message being inverted
• #69 Fixed characters freezing when getting shot
• #153 Fixed date resetting when re-initializing
• #167 Fixed UI getting stuck when saving while having the command menu open

15.0.0-alpha.20

• New modules system (see https://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/modular-modding-support-for-bnh.34314/)
• Moved untested storylines to optional "extra_storylines" module
• Added new logo to the main menu and loading screens
• Flags will now dynamically change in sailing view
• Updated Russian translation
• Fixed issue in "Help the lady" quest
• Fixed an engine issue that was causing savegames to get corrupted
• #152 Loclighter activation key is now rebindable in scripts

15.0.0-alpha.17

• Included everything from the latest Build 14 patch (031023)
• Re-enabled engine crash reporting
• Added engine support for loading binary Bmfont files
• Added engine support for loading toml config files
• #125 Updated dialog name font to support lowercase Cyrillic characters
• #132 Added missing locators to Santiago town center
• #144 Fixed missing sound when switching dialog options
• #147 Fixed broken dialog for Emiliano de Guzmán
• #149 Removed MSVC redist requirement from itch manifest

15.0.0-alpha.16

• #82 Fixed triangle sails stretching to ridiculous degrees
• #134 Fixed location not reloading when activating level in Woodes Rogers storyline
• #138 Fixed quest book text for 'Down and out in quest'
• #141 Fixed an issue that could cause the controls to get locked when loading a save game
• #143 Fixed forest attack event not triggering correctly
• Added improved ball splash sound effects
• Replaced several interface sounds with enhanced versions

15.0.0-alpha.15

• #47 Replaced first loading screen with new art
• #69 Fixed characters freezing when shot
• #101 Fixed mismatched ship icons in sea view
• #126 Fixed crash when dialog has no links
• #127 Fixed missing worldmap label
• #129 #130 Fixed dialog not exiting in Devlin Opera
• Removed old logo from loading screens
• Disabled intro and credits videos
• Attempted to add configure action to itch.io manifest