DnCrg SR4 Character Generator (Early Dev), looking for comments, suggestions, help Options

[thewolf]

Update
I have some matrix tab functionality in, but I haven't done as much work on the project as I would have liked. The next release might be in a week or so.

Anyone working on an XSLT for the XML character sheet? That would be nice to have for the next version if possible.

[deek]

I've been slacking on my testing, and that data input I committed to...

I did use the latest build to create some NPCs for my game...didn't run into any problems there. I basically just stay away from magic (I know its in there, I just haven't tested it yet) and commlinks/matrix stuff...which has been sufficient for henchmen and groups of gangers.

I do still need to get on the skills data entry...but I don't know what my time is this week.

[Kairo]

Ditto. I've done twenty or so test NPCs but stayed away from the tabs that weren't completed yet. So far, I've not run into any problems that weren't documented here already.

[thewolf]

Yeah, I think I was following the Path of the Burnout there for a while. Suddenly my magic didn't work, so I switched to BTL's.

Glad the current stuff is working ok. Adept powers and spells should be fine, although some powers don't have the right flags set in the DAT files.

[craigpierce]

[Eleazar]

I have the same story as Kairo but didn't test 20, WOW hats off to you. The one thing I did notice was that some knowledge skills are still showing up in Logic when sorting by attribute; Intuition looks great.

Another minor problem, the Professional Knowledge Skills are not arranged alphabetically, all of the other ones are.

Another minor problem, the Positive and Negative qualities are alphabetically arranged correctly until you get to the end of the list. There you will find a fair share that just got placed after them.

I got an unhandled exception. It happened when I went to add the extendable baton. I set the quantity as 1 and then clicked accessorize. I realize you can't accessorize an extendable baton, but I thought "What the heck, why not". Here is the output:


************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at DnCrg.Form1.button30_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
DnCrg
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/z014763/Desktop/DnCrg_SR4_Cayman_10302006/DnCrg.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
Accessibility
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************

Some more information on the unhandled exception. It happened not because of the item, but because I clicked the accessorize button before I had actually added anything to my gear. Meaning the gear list was completely blank and I clicked accessorize. Maybe you can add a message when the user clicks accessorize that says "You must first add gear to the list to accessorize. Then select the gear to be accesorized and click the accessorize button." Or some sort of mumbo jumbo like that. Also, accesorize doesn't seem to work. What exactly is it supposed to do?

[thewolf]

@Eleazar
1. All the skills I see under Logic when sorting by Attribute are active skills. Examples?
2. A lot of the street magic stuff and extra skills are not alphabetized in the DAT files, hence their lack of a sort order in the program. I'm sure that will be addressed at some point.
3. I should really have the Accessorize button on the Gear tab disabled. It doesn't do anything, but apparently something is there in the code it doesn't like. It's not super essential to most characters, so I haven't worked on it at all.

PS, for future reference, I really only need to see the Exception Text portion of a debug message. The assembly crap doesn't matter for the bugs we're working on.

[Eleazar]

Yep your right on #1. I was reading two of the skills incorrectly, now that I double checked.

[dog_xinu]

I am on vacation this week so if there is grunt work you need done, let me know. I can put things in the .dat files, if you need the file sorted in particular way, let me know. whatever.

Thanks
dog

PS> for the sorting of the dat files, if you tell me on which column you want them sorted, I can write you a simple perl script to do that for you so as the .dat files grow in data, you can keep the sorted appropriately. I am a master of perl-fu so just let me know.

[thewolf]

@dog_xinu
Thanks for the offer of assistance. Actually, I am getting close to another release and I may have you sort a few DAT files before I package it all up.

Also, there are a couple of DAT files that need descriptions updated or typed in. It is a lot of data input, but Spells, Adept Powers, and Matrix Programs are ones that need them. Don't work on anything just yet though, as I am currently updating some of the other fields in those files.

[thewolf]

@dog_xinu
Hey, if you get really bored, I could probably just give you the full DAT file set and you could double check the fields for me. Some of the items don't have the correct flags set for multiple levels, ratings, etc. I was going to check those before releasing again, but if you really want something to do, I can send it to you. Email me if you're interested.

[thewolf]

General Announcement
By the way, for those of you waiting with bated breath for the next dev release, it is coming along nicely. Dominica will fix a few issues and complete a lot of functionality. It will probably be the last pre-dev release as we have pretty much hit base feature-completeness. There are some advanced items still not working, but I want to get as much done before releasing as possible.

Estimate for Dominica - 11/26/06

After it goes out, I would really like your assistance in finding the various UI bugs, bad DAT file data, errata issues, and other problems with the software. Also, a glaring hole right now is the lack of a print/export functionality. I need an XSLT maestro to make a pretty looking character sheet, possibly modeled after existing sheet formats. Again, thanks for the help so far in making this product as cool as it can be.

[thewolf]

11/26/2006
Early Development Release: Dominica

(Dev Site)

Wow, am I glad to get this out. I kinda rushed a bit to release before the weekend, so I wouldn't be surprised if I need to fix a few items and re-release. New with this version is complete Magic and Matrix tab functionality. I hope you like the way the programs and commlinks work. Also, technomancers receive a special "Living Persona" stat section.

The next items on the list:

- Gear and Vehicle Customization
- options.ini functionality (Change BP, allowable sourcebooks, etc)
- Export and print ability
- Some stats on the review tab don't quite work
- Robust character loading/display/saving
- Breakage issues when changing certain values

I really wanted to get the program to this point so it would actually be usable for most people's characters. This should be the last early development release, as the next one will be a real beta version.

Bug reports are welcome, also I appreciate comments/suggestions for enhancing the application at all times.

Enjoy,

[Aes]

Maybe it's just me being stupid, but I can't seem to edit contacts once I've saved them. Is there any way to bring up contact info on a created contact again for editing? Being able to see description/notes would be nice too. As it stands, running a freshly downloaded Dominica, I can't seem to do anything with created contacts other than deleting them.

Also, the positive/negative qualities that come in several degrees (Will to live, high pain tolerance etc) appear to be stacking if I select multiple degrees of the same quality.

[thewolf]

@Aes
You are correct on the contact deal. I haven't added a right-click function to edit the currently selected item on any of the datagrids. That would be a good item to add now since all of the datagrids are there.

On the qualities, I should probably add the other levels of a multi-level quality to its exclusion list. That is, if you have High Pain Tolerance 1, you can't take 2 or 3. You might be able to have more than one Spirit Pact though, I'm not sure. At any rate, that can't be smart. ;)

[KeyMasterOfGozer]

Sorry for my absence, I updated the adeptpowers and qualities dat files with some of the metadata entries that I did not understand before. Some of the 1/0 fields required for program functionality. Anyway, I'm not sure I got them all, but it is at least a little better now. I have played with dominica a bit today, looks very good to me. I haven't hit any problems that weren't fixed by my dat file improvements.

@thewolf
My files are in the usual spot.

[thewolf]

@KeyMasterOfGozer
Roger, I will repackage the source with your updated files probably tomorrow. Thanks for the effort.

[Dantic]

Dominica looks super, thanks for all the hard work.

I found one thing, when selecting scorched TM/Hacker quality, I only got +5 not + 10 BP

[thewolf]

Dantic
I'm glad you like it. Your issue is with the DAT files. I need to get KeyMasterofGozer's changes repackaged with Dominica and reposted to the dev site, which I will probably get done this evening.

[Penta]

I note the caribbean islands theme with the release names...What the heck are you going to use for E or F?:)

[thewolf]

@Penta
If it went that far, I was going to use Easter and Fiji. South Pacific, I know, but a beach is a beach! :smokin:

[Eleazar]

Caught some issues on the data side and one annoyance.

DataSide:
1. Audio Enhancement and Select Sound Filter don't have ratings under gear
2. Some spells are alphabetically sorted and then others are sorted by the order they appear in the book. I understand where some of this is intentional then other parts I don't.
3. Mapsofts, Datasofts, and Tutorsofts have no rating.

Annoyance:
When adding gear the default for the quantity field is blank. Could you please make this 1 instead. It gets rather laborious and monotonous typing in 1 every single time I want to add something. Or, maybe you can have it remember the value once it has been entered rather than clearing the field every single time an item is added. I would go with 1 as the default entry for quantity since it will be the most used. It would be much quicker and easier if it were the case.

Looks like were still waiting on the magical supplies part of gear. I made a magician character and everything looks good. I will do some more testing. Lastly, it looks like the accessorize bug has been fixed. Though I still have no idea what that button is supposed to do.

[thewolf]

General Announcement
Dominica release updated on the dev site with new DAT files. Should solve some quality issues.

Eleazar
I noticed that after I built the last release. That TextBox field should really be a NumericUpDown. Having the default value be 1 and resetting to that after each purchase would probably make the most sense. Looks like I didn't add any magical gear items to the gear list. Really the data files just need some TLC. Also, the accessorize button will eventually allow you to associate gear items with other gear items, i.e. add a silencer to a gun, modify armor with chemical protection, etc.

[Darkraven]

I downloaded the newest beta and I get an application error:
The Application failed to Initialize Properly 0xc0000135.

[thewolf]

@Darkraven
The distribution is in a ZIP file. Make sure you extract all files to a separate folder somewhere. The application will need to have the DAT files in the Data directory right next to the main application. Also, you will need to have the .Net Framework 2.0 Redistributable installed, available from Microsoft:

.Net Framework 2.0 Installer

Double check those items and we can go from there. Screenshots might help too to see the exact dialog box that you are getting.