New Beginnings

New Beginnings adds port and boat selection or randomization to Sailwind's new-game menu. Choose both, randomize either one, or roll the dice on both. You can also adjust your starting money, reputation and equipment before setting sail.

Install

Mod managers

Install New Beginnings through r2modman or Thunderstore Mod Manager, then launch Sailwind through your manager. Dependencies are installed automatically.

Manual installation

1. Install BepInEx 5 in your Sailwind game folder, following its installation instructions.
2. Download and extract the New Beginnings ZIP. Copy its BepInEx/plugins/NewBeginnings folder into BepInEx/plugins in your Sailwind folder.
3. Launch Sailwind normally.

How it works

Choose a port and boat, or randomize one or both, then press Continue to start a new game. Island and boat exclusions and the shipyard settings are in the Spawn tab under Starting options.

The starting options menu allows you to adjust your money, reputation, and equipment. The money menu allows you to multiply your starting cash, with overrides to set a specific amount of each currency as well. For reputation, you can select your starting region reputation level, or set specific levels for each region. Items that fit are packed into crates near your spawn instead of being placed directly on the ground.

Ports added by other mods are discovered automatically. When added ports are detected, Mod ports includes them in Random Port, or you can select one manually.

Starting supplies and mooring

With standard supplies enabled, your starting port determines the regional supplies, which are packed into crates on the ground nearby, with larger supplies placed beside them. If Sailwind Difficulty is installed, its selected difficulty determines those supplies.

Starting mooring lines receive up to 1 metre of extra slack on every boat, and large boats start 1 metre farther out from the dock to give them more space. HMS Leopard gets 3 metres of extra distance to allow for its size. Every starting boat receives one hull repair about eight seconds after it is ready, including boats kept at their original berth, to clear any startup damage.

Configuration

The new-game menu saves choices, exclusions and starting options in BepInEx/config/com.skeptic043.sailwind.newbeginnings.cfg. After launching once, settings can also be changed in that file or in game using the BepInEx 5 version of BepInEx Configuration Manager.

Compatibility and limitations

Large starting loadouts can take longer to place. Small ports may not have enough clear ground for all your crates and barrels, so supplies may fail to appear if you attempt to spawn with large amounts of items. Reduce your selection or choose a larger port if this happens.

For the starting options menu, automatic mod equipment detection looks for small tools that can go into crates. It can find items from untested mods, but cannot guarantee automatic inclusion of every mod item. Equipment in the following mods is tested working and compatible:

• SailwindClimate
• Windicators
• Propeller
• Realistic-Skies
• KemyNavigationTools
• Sailwind-Radio

Port and boat selection has been tested with Scrambled Seas: NANDbrew Edition, Sailwind Difficulty, and SaveSlotsPlus. The following mods that add boats have also been tested with port and boat selection:

• HMS Leopard
• Happy Bay Boat
• Clipper
• Sh'ba
• Paraw
• Old Chronian
• Dinghies
• Age of Exploration

Boats from other mods that aren't on this list are sorted into Small, Medium or Large by hull size when possible so they can come up in random boat selection. Any that can't be measured stay available for manual selection.

Each original vanilla port has been tested with at least one large boat, but this does not mean every hull fits every port, particularly HMS Leopard. Large ships can take a moment to settle, and some ports don't have enough room for them. Use Island Exclusions to leave cramped ports out of random starts, exclude particular boats, or disable the Large size pool.

Ports with limited room for large ship spawns include (but are not limited to):

• Sage Hills
• Mirage Mountain
• Aestra Abbey
• Old Ankh Town

HMS Leopard is especially large and can struggle at ports that work for other large ships. She has grounded at Neverdin on spawn in my testing and may be difficult to free there. She also ships without default sails. Because of this, on a new start with an unfitted Leopard, New Beginnings adds one stock medium lateen to its central main mast.

Known issues

• HMS Leopard's starter sail can briefly flash fully deployed when unfurling, then return to its actual reefing position.

AI Use

AI was used to write all of the code in this project. The original concept, design direction, testing, debugging, and release decisions are my own. If you prefer not to use mods developed with AI assistance, I understand and respect that choice.

Issues and links

Report an issue with your mod version and BepInEx/LogOutput.log.

Source code · Release notes · MIT License · Support on Ko-fi · skeptic043

Release notes

Version 1.5.1

Added

• Automatic starting-location discovery for mod ports.
• A Mod ports checkbox as one of the options for Random Port pool checkboxes when mod locations are detected.
• A Use shipyard berth option that starts the game with the selected boat at the port's shipyard berth. It applies to manual and random starts and is disabled by default.
• A Spawn tab in Starting options menu that contains boat/island exclusions, shipyard settings and a Secret islands toggle. Existing settings carry over.
• Fort Juniper is an added starting location when Old Chronian is installed. Fort Juniper also qualifies for Shipyard ports only spawning.
• Bottleneck Isle is an added starting location when Better Ports is installed.
• Boat authors can register the player-facing name used in the boat selector and exclusion list using the new boat author API.
• Port authors can supply optional dock, berth, shore, mooring and shipyard details for an automatically discovered native port using the new port author API.

Changed

• Shipyard ports only uses detected shipyards instead of a fixed list of vanilla ports.
• Exclusions and shipyard settings can be edited from the new Spawn tab without enabling random selection first. Port controls, Spawn labels and menu messages have also been rearranged for readability.
• Starting supplies favor the space nearest the player and suitable crates can begin in short stacks up to 3 items high.
• Starting mooring lines receive up to one metre of extra slack on every boat (down from 3).
• Siren Song can now be used with any boat.

Version 1.2.3

Added

• The Santa Maria is now recognized as a medium boat.

Changed

• Boats from mods that New Beginnings doesn't already know are now sorted into Small, Medium or Large by hull size when possible, so they join the matching Random Boat pool and the exclusion list instead of being manual selection only.
• FFL Paraw is now labeled Paraw in the boat selector and exclusion list.

Fixed

• The log no longer shows a false "catalog has no usable start" warning at every launch.
• Changes made in Configuration Manager now apply while the game is running instead of being overwritten by the new-game menu.

Version 1.2.2

Added

• A Shipyard ports only option for Random Port. It limits starts to Gold Rock City, Dragon Cliffs, Fort Aestrin and Kicia Bay within the checked regions.

Changed

• The Baghlah is now labeled Baghlah (Bigbuq) in the boat selector and exclusion list.

Fixed

• Normal regional starter maps now pack into supply crates instead of being left on the ground.

Version 1.2.1

Changed

• Boats starting at their original port now keep their existing berth, moorings and anchor when available instead of being moved to the port's recovery location. This change includes mod boats that use the game's native mooring setup.

Fixed

• Fixed fishing rods selected as starting equipment failing to cast.

Version 1.2.0

Added

• A Standard supplies toggle in the equipment menu.
• Box of wall hooks, Box of salmon, Box of oranges, Barrel of water, Barrel of rum and Single cheese in the equipment menu. Each box of wall hooks contains 12 hooks for hanging items on walls.

Changed

• Replaced equipment checkboxes with quantity controls.
• Replaced the single lantern candle with Box of candles.
• Adjusted the equipment menu spacing to keep labels and controls separate while retaining ten items per page.

Fixed

• Restored missing Kemy Navigation Tools items in the equipment menu.
• Addressed a crate-allocation error that could prevent selected equipment from being placed.

Known issues

• Large starting loadouts can cause the game to hitch and take longer to place. Small ports may not have enough clear ground for all your crates and barrels, so supplies may fail to appear. Try fewer items or a larger port if this happens.

Version 1.1.0

New

Starting Options:

• A starting-money multiplier from 0x to 100x, with optional custom amounts for each of the four currencies.
• A starting-region reputation slider and separate overrides for all three regions.
• A paged equipment checklist that adds one of each selected item alongside your normal supplies.
• Automatic discovery of eligible small mod equipment items.

Changed

• Eligible starting supplies and selected equipment are packed into crates beside the player.

Version 1.0.1

Fixed

• Fixed an error that prevented starting a new game on Sailwind’s stable branch.
• Fixed incompatibility with Save Slots Plus.
• Improved handling of incompatible boat entries so other valid starts remain available.

Changed

• Moved Continue and Back slightly lower when Save Slots Plus is installed to leave more room for its save-name field.
• Added startup error handling to keep unexpected compatibility failures from leaving the new-game menu blocked.

Version 1.0.0

New Beginnings adds port and boat selection to Sailwind's new-game menu. Choose both, randomize either one, or roll the dice on both.

Added

• Independent Random Port and Random Boat options, with regional port pools and boat size filters.
• Separate island and boat exclusion lists that let you prevent starting with specific boats or at certain ports.
• Starter supplies placed near the player, with the selected region and difficulty reflected in the supplies you receive.
• Extra mooring slack and clearance for larger ships at spawn to avoid issues, followed by one hull repair after the boat settles.
• A stock medium lateen starter sail for an unfitted HMS Leopard.

Known issues

• HMS Leopard's attached lateen starter sail can briefly flash fully deployed when unfurling before returning to its actual state.