So it seems to me that the two character generators that are used by almost all of us are 1) Chummer Character Generator and 2) Upgraded Character Generator

Correct me if I am wrong here, those two seem to be the ones that are still updated and actively developed, whereas all the other projects (DaisyBox's SR4CG / sr4cg0_4_0_0, chinagreenelvis generator, Daegann's Character Generator, Skitz Inc / Nightwalker450 SR4 Char Sheet - did I miss any - UCG old excel forks aside?) have been abandoned or have never reached the richness level of the 1) and 2).

If this is correct, I would like to hear from those who looked at both of the above - what made you chose one over the other? I am starting a new SR group and would like to recommend one for my group, but which one? CCG or UCG? Both seem highly developed. What is missing in one that is not in the other? Which is friendlier/has a better UI and why? (This may also help the developers of those chargens improve them further)

Started with DK's Character Generator, but then migrated over to Chummer because of file sizes and its easier use of handling a character that's progressed beyond just being created. I use Chummer to track the progression through the chapters of a story I'm writing of all of the characters, and one of the main characters has accumulated just over 17MB in career files (one for each chapter, latest is only 1.21MB); trying to accomplish the same in DK's would result in easily more than 100MB after the compression to an XLSX format (about half the size of the older XLS) for just one character. All of Cummer's character files for all chapters is roughly 46.2MB.

Chummer also has an open ended way of handling gear (all of it) and their mods, including commlinks (and I do mean commlinks, as in you can have multiple) and running software. If you have any players that are going to have packrat characters then this one is the one you want, and notes can be added to just about everything. If you're somewhat savvy with XML then adding custom gear (or other content) will be very easy to do. It also generates a karma/nuyen log that handles all the ups & downs of both, and in Career mode (for gameplay) it can also track the damage the character and vehicles have sustained, and awakened/emerged characters can also create files to help track their spirits/sprites.

Chummer is also its own program, with no special installation required. DK's requires the user to have access to Excel.

If Chummer has a drawback is that the program slowly begins to choke on heavily progressed character files. A bit of patience, though, and it's able to churn right through it all. My main story character has near 90 entries in the karma log, and I'm approaching 300 entries in the nuyen; he's also got over a dozen vehicles/drones.

I use Herolab's SR4a character generator. Both as a GM and as a player. The combat tracker for HL is a very nice feature to resolve initiative and/damage.

http://wolflair.com/index.php?context=hero...;page=shadowrun

They are the only actually licensed character generator that I am aware of.

I used DK's Excel based chargen a while ago... then chummer, and moved to HL as it was released, having the opportunity to do some of the development work for HL on SR4a was a good experience for me as well.

Has HL fixed their issue with cyber armor? Last I read, their ruling was that cyber armor was not applied unless it was a called shot to that particular cyberlimb.

And I think the past issue on sensors got resolved, but as I don't use that program I honestly can't say for certain. (ref. this thread)

All hail Chummer !!!

and while that may be wrong, it's easily handled with the adjustments that you can slap onto characters

That said, I stuck a cyber arm on a character in HL with 2 pips of armor, and then stuck an armored jacket on the character and the armor went to 10/8

Doh, I forgot about HL, but it was not even mentioned in our sticky threads about SR software. Good think I've the other category; make sure to note if you use HL or something else so we can get a good picture of what is being used.

Oh, and please do compare the HL to other popular generator. I think I used HL a little few years ago for GURPS, it was ok, but from what I recall of it chummer - which I've been using for just 2 days - already seems more user friendly.

I voted other because the only one I've ever used was NSCRG