Fixed all the things between my last post and this one. 2 were the result of typo fails and the third was me forgetting to upload the star barrage icon. yaay.
In-game, Compassion is listed in the Sorcery tree but does not count as a Sorcery power for purposes of prerequisites. This is probably a bug in CO.
Hmm, I'm not sure there's an easy way to replicate this behavior in HC. Simply including a power in a framework causes it to count as a prerequisite. Unless the devs confirm it as WAI, I'm better off leaving it as is.
Have the devs been made aware of this?
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Aesica, thank you for this. I've been waiting on PowerHouse to get current for quite some time now. Guess real life just won't get out of that person's way at the moment.
After taking a quick look, I noticed 1 very minor flaw and have 1 question.
FLAW: Vindicator Tree, The Rush of Battle. The % sign is in front of the numbers instead of behind them. (Like I said, minor.)
QUESTION: Guardian Tree, Locus. The mouse-over says "25/49" offense and defense for Locus Eruption. Is that not affected by Super Stats? (In other words, should "25/49" be replaced by "n"?)
Hello Aesica, I found a small bug in the munitions powerset. The power Pistol Whipp is using the description of Bullet Beatdown and its respective advantages instead of being another reskin of Brute Strike, quick melee hit with Trauma adv.
Useful Guides about Archetypes and General Gameplay of the Game Click Here
So guys, I've got a bit of a dilemma here. Due to the (somewhat unfortunate) way power data is organized in powerhouse/herocreator, adding the new laser sword framework so that it's grouped properly with the rest of technology will break existing builds that utilize any of the powersets that appear after it sequentially. The alternative would place it after Infernal, which looks really shitty and disorganized but shouldn't break anything.
I'm leaning toward the first option (grouped with technology, but will break other existing builds) because that really is better in the long run so that's probably how I'll proceed, but if anyone feels really strongly about this, you've got from now until I finish to argue your case.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
That is a bit of a dilemma. The one thing I'd suggest is to come up with some way to not have to face this again - because I'd be willing to bet that our current devs won't hesitate to add more frameworks at some later time.
How best to do that, I'm not really sure; I may program for a living, but web development is very much not my thing. Maybe a version number included in the link that allows backwards-compatibility code to redirect to an equivalent new-version (or just goes to an old version of hero creator with a warning sign on it)? Maybe some way to re-map the display order so it doesn't have to exactly match the internal data groupings? Maybe just inserting a bunch of empty groups inbetween categories?
I'd go ahead and format the power selection screen correctly to keep the new powerset section with the rest of its group. Herocreator's still young, so there's hopefully not as many people to get confused by the sudden format change.
I bet there is a way to fix the system without breaking future stuff, though. Powersets in CO are basically in tons of flux right now, so maybe some sort of longer-term solution would be a really good idea.
Probably the quickest and dirtiest fix I could think of is to add some sort of 'position' integer index to each powerset in HeroCreator (assuming that a powerset is an object and not just a freefloating array of powers). So while in data the Lasersword power set would be represented as being after infernal at the end of the list, the powerset display script would instead sort the powersets out by the index defined in their object. Therefore every new section inserted into the game could go at the end of the list (and not break anything) and the powerset selection window in HeroCreator would still show the items in the intended order.
because I'd be willing to bet that our current devs won't hesitate to add more frameworks at some later time.
why wouldn't they hesitate? this is the first new one they've added in YEARS, possibly the first they've added ever (i don't know what was in the game when it first came out) and it isn't even any of the ones people have been screaming for most - i.e. radiation, water, plant/nature
in fact, i have to wonder if maybe the reason for that is because there are a hard-coded number of frameworks they can have - the fact they didn't add the laser sword one until AFTER merging the various magical ones into a single one is very telling
why wouldn't they hesitate? this is the first new one they've added in YEARS, possibly the first they've added ever (i don't know what was in the game when it first came out) and it isn't even any of the ones people have been screaming for most - i.e. radiation, water, plant/nature
in fact, i have to wonder if maybe the reason for that is because there are a hard-coded number of frameworks they can have - the fact they didn't add the laser sword one until AFTER merging the various magical ones into a single one is very telling
This is FAR from the first framework, but I will agree that new frameworks are a bit rare.
Still, it's something we should plan for and try to work around, as well as new powers showing up in existing frameworks (like previously). The big benefit of having this HeroCreator is planning out your build and then bookmarking it so that you can go refer back to it when you make your power selections in CO (and share with others, etc). If we constantly invalidate saved builds, it makes the utility less useful.
That is a bit of a dilemma. The one thing I'd suggest is to come up with some way to not have to face this again - because I'd be willing to bet that our current devs won't hesitate to add more frameworks at some later time.
That's something I'm hoping to do, but there's a lot of old, somewhat arcane code I'll need to be pretty careful with.
To give people an idea of why this happens, the data is currently organized like this: (Note: it's not in xml, it's in hard-coded arrays which...I really want to do away with at some point because it's a pain in the **** to work with)
The order they're in is enumerated as 0, 1, 2, 3 etc based on the order in which they appear both internally and in the client. So [0] is for electricity, [2] for force, [6] for gadgeteering, etc. If I add a new one between 2 and 3, it becomes 3 and bumps everything else up 1 value and everything bumped essentially breaks in existing builds.
The enumeration would instead be [0][0] for electricity, [0][2] for force, and [1][1] for gadgeteering. Adding something to a powerset becomes a lot cleaner that way. [0][5] could be a new energy projector set and it wouldn't break anything in technology onward.
While it may sound trivial to do, it's really not since everything expecting data the old way will need to be updated to take the new format, and that's why I've been putting it off. Hopefully they won't add any new frameworks for awhile, because the data overhaul required to make this thing more future proof is going to be rough.
- - -
That said, the new build is up on aesica.net. I'll add a changelog to the OP and update the github source later tonight. (Some descriptions are still missing but I wanted to post this for people to work with since I suspect there's a lot of respecs going on right now)
PS: When the data overhaul happens, it will probably break builds yet again. That's yet another reason why I've kinda been putting it off.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
in fact, i have to wonder if maybe the reason for that is because there are a hard-coded number of frameworks they can have - the fact they didn't add the laser sword one until AFTER merging the various magical ones into a single one is very telling
Moreso than a coded limitation is likely a UI limitation (not likely since the group and framework selection seems quite dynamic at a glance) or perhaps at the time, the devs weren't comfortable adding powersets, but now they've gained more experience and confidence.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Is there a way you could temporarily host the old build so that we can refer to it when redoing our saved builds?
Awkward. This is where I guess I learn a pretty big lesson with getting better at version control. (Hobbyist programmer vs professional) If anyone has the source download from before today's update, find some way to get it to me and I'll host it.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
The silver lining here is that HC is still in its infancy, many builds are exported into text (which is fine even if the linked build isn't anymore), and powers have been much in flux recently anyways (so we shouldn't be expecting constancy yet anyways).
Hi again Aesica, I have some suggestions to improve Hero Creator:
To improve the description of the new Laser Sword powerset you could add this information to the placeholder
Laser Sword:
Your main weapon is your laser sword, a high-damage close combat weapon capable of a number of attacks. You also have Cybernetic energy weapons and other devices at your disposal to make you a deadly adversary.
*Recommended Characteristics: Intelligence and Endurance *Starting Innate Talent: Tech Savvy *Suggested Skill: Science or Arms *Main Damage Type: Particle Damage *Main Mechanics: Radiation Effects/High energy - High Damage Attacks *Archetypes: The Cybernetic Warrior
Also the power progressions of the Power Armor archetypes have been changed:
The Automaton: Now has Ego/Con/Int as Super Stats Now has its own Innate Characteristic (+10 Ego, +10 Con, +10 Int, +8 Endurance, +5 to all other stats) 1 Wrist Bolter 1 Power Gauntlet** OR Tactical Missiles** 6 Targeting Computer 8 Rocket Punch** OR Binding Shot 11 Concentration 14 Mini Mines OR Particle Mine 17 Chest Beam** 21 Cybernetic Tether OR Energy Wave** 25 Molecular Self Assembly 30 Energy Shield OR Force Shield 35 Nanobot Swarm OR Unbreakable 40 Implosion Engine OR Orbital Cannon
The Invincible: Level 1: Power Bolts Level 1: Dual Wrist Rocket Barrage* OR Concussor Beam** Level 6: Mini-gun** OR Eye Beam** Level 8: Invulnerability Level 11: Micro Munitions OR Chest Laser* Level 14: Concentration Level 17: Reconstruction Circuits OR Energy Wave** Level 21: Energy Shield OR Force Shield Level 25: Overdrive Level 30: Unbreakable Level 35: Shoulder Launcher OR Hand Cannon** Level 40: Fire all Weapons** OR Chest Beam**
*Denotes that it is a new Power: -Dual Wrist Rocket Barrage: is a new Tier 0 toggle version of Tactical Missiles which has the Frenetic Blast like Concussor Beam -Chest Laser: is a new Tier 2 toggle version of Plasma Beam which also has the Melta Cannon advantage -Hand Cannon: is a new Tier 3 toogle version of Shoulder Launcher. It only has access to the Accelerated Metabolism and Challenge! advantages.
**Denotes that the power was modified in the recent Power Armor review: -Power Gauntlet: Just had its own Interrupt effect chance raised and can happen once every 4 seconds. No longer counts as a Hand Slot power -Tactical Missiles: Now has a chance to Knock Down foes. No longer counts as a Hand Slot power -Rocket Punch: Now has a chance to Knock Back foes innately and was changed to an sphere ranged AoE instead of a cylinder with a 100ft reach and 15ft sphere. -Concussor Beam: Range increased to 100ft like Dual Wrist Barrage and can repel foes up to 45ft. Moved to Tier 0 -Chest Beam: No longer counts as a Chest Slot power. -Minigun: The U-238 Rounds advantage was changed to apply the Burn Through debuff if Mini-Gun is mantained for at least half of its duration. -Eye Beam: The power was changed to a cylinder AoE power that no longer takes time to become an area of effect atack from a single target one. Also the 20/20 Fission was changed to work like Minigun's advantage applying Burn through if mantained for at least half of its duration -Energy Wave: Now has access to the Rechage advantage which grants the Restoration HoT. -Fire All Weapons: Now is another shared Technology Tier 4/Ultimate Power with an increased cone to 120 degrees, up from 45 degrees.
***New Ultimate Power for Laser Sword: Meltdown - Unlockable from the Toybox Lock Box +Deals Particle Damage to enemies +Knocks Down up to 10 enemies in a 10ft sphere +Applies a stack of Plasma Burn to all targets inmediately and then 4 more over 5 seconds
Useful Guides about Archetypes and General Gameplay of the Game Click Here
Aesica: My thanks as well! And I feel like a heel for not saying how much I enjoy/love having an up to date character builder. I had just gotten into the habit of "lurking" on the forums every where nowadays that something as simple as THANK YOU seemed to be unnatural.
I'm retired now (medical issues) but I used to be a fair (IMO) programmer. If there is anything I can help with let me know.
PS: Do you want a cat? One just walked in our front door...
The newest version is up. See the changelog for details.
That said, this might be the last major update on this that I do for awhile. The Overdrive nerf has me feeling rather salty, so I think I need to take a break from this game for a few months because I'm just not enjoying it right now.
Thanks for the heads up about that. In the future though, you don't need to do such a detailed writeup since I always pull my data directly from the game's power/AT/etc descriptions to ensure as much accuracy as possible. Not that I don't appreciate it, though!
Aesica: My thanks as well! And I feel like a heel for not saying how much I enjoy/love having an up to date character builder. I had just gotten into the habit of "lurking" on the forums every where nowadays that something as simple as THANK YOU seemed to be unnatural.
I'm retired now (medical issues) but I used to be a fair (IMO) programmer. If there is anything I can help with let me know.
PS: Do you want a cat? One just walked in our front door...
Thanks, and no, I have a cat already and she hates pretty much everyone and everything that isn't me.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
You are doing God's Job for the community, Aesica
Thank you very much!
POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
Thank you very much for the update! There is a small typo in Meltdown's description, it says "Summons a Mechanical Spider" instead of Knocking Down enemies. The effort you make mantaining this valuable tool is that of a real hero(ine)
Useful Guides about Archetypes and General Gameplay of the Game Click Here
Thanks for the update. keep the good work flowing. One thing: The Mystical advantage on Arcane Vitality neither has a tool-tip pop up nor does selecting it apply it (it's unselectable via it's name nor does checking the check box work).
Thank you very much for the update! There is a small typo in Meltdown's description, it says "Summons a Mechanical Spider" instead of Knocking Down enemies. The effort you make mantaining this valuable tool is that of a real hero(ine)
Copy paste strikes again I suppose! I'll fix it when I go to fix the thing below:
Thanks for the update. keep the good work flowing. One thing: The Mystical advantage on Arcane Vitality neither has a tool-tip pop up nor does selecting it apply it (it's unselectable via it's name nor does checking the check box work).
Ooh thanks for the heads up. When that happens, it means I entered the data incorrectly (it's pretty finicky) and it's causing a JS error. It should be fixed within the next 30 min.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Given the actual size of web pages, you can probably permanently host older versions, with the main herocreator.html being a redirect to the current version.
Sadly, not finding older versions of your page on the wayback machine.
All right, so now that my Overdrive-nerf-induced NaCl levels have come down some, I'm probably not going to just walk away from this and leave people hanging. While I may not bother playing the game as much for the time being, I'll keep this going because if nothing else, I'm sharpening my modern-day javascript, ccs, html5, etc skills. Plus I actually -like- programming. It's relaxing.
That said, I wanted to see if I could convert the img tags into css sprites, and it worked. For the most part.
Old:
New:
As you guys can see, the drawback is that now, the dynamic image resizing is gone so everything is shown at full size. Besides the framework monstrosities which need to be toned down, are these power icons too big?
Note: Despite this initial quirk, this change is good overall because it greatly reduces the load time (that annoying expanding-window crap that happens when you first open something is gone) and even better, it reduces the http requests made to my web server for images from well over 600 to just 1.
Given the actual size of web pages, you can probably permanently host older versions, with the main herocreator.html being a redirect to the current version.
Sadly, not finding older versions of your page on the wayback machine.
Nobody at all downloads the stand-alone? I'm disappointed.
That aside, while I get the value of having older versions available, I'm not too keen on actually hosting multiple versions on a permanent basis. Reason being, let's say somebody clicks on an old build somebody else linked. It's still valid today, since all the powers and advantages it uses haven't changed since the newest version, so that person hasn't bothered to update the build. Somebody makes a few changes, shares it and...crap. One of the powers they selected doesn't exist and one of the advantages had its cost changed. It may work fine in the planner (since they're using the older one by accident) but they won't know something's wrong until they try to use it ingame and things don't add up. Point being, it gives people a way to accidentally create invalid builds if they're on the "wrong" version somehow.
That said, the data structure I have in mind would entirely eliminate the need to have multiple versions. The devs can add or remove all the frameworks they want, all the powers and advantages they want, and at the most, all that would happen to an outdated build would be the removal of powers or advantages that no longer exist, or a nasty message saying they've used more advantage points than they are allowed to use.
Assuming I can pull this off, because it's a big job and there's not a lot of comments in the code.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Thanks for all the hard work on this. And doing this even after how you felt after the Overdrive issue. (I have no words for it, I still feel salt about it also.)
I've been trying to get into coding also. . . but need a 25th hour of the day.
As one interested in hobbyist coding, is there any beginner literature that you would recommend?
Not really. I took a few classes, but mostly just taught myself by using google.
Edit: I should add that the literature you use is less important compared to how much you practice. I have 4 years of ECMAScript (as3, javascript) practice from working with flash as well as 2 years of general programming from college classes. Don't expect to be able to do that overnight.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Lol, so OJT is the way. Check. Also, Smoke Bomb under The Blade's AT shows Shuriken's tool tip when selected instead of Smoke Bomb's. Trying to help in anyway possible. Thanks again for all your work.
Lol, so OJT is the way. Check. Also, Smoke Bomb under The Blade's AT shows Shuriken's tool tip when selected instead of Smoke Bomb's. Trying to help in anyway possible. Thanks again for all your work.
That's a pretty old bug that dates back to before I decided to fork the powerhouse. You'll find it happens with all AT powers that can be chosen by the user.
I'd almost forgotten all about it, so thanks for the reminder--I'll make a point to tackle that next for the rather large update I'm currently working on.
Edit: That said, it's fixed in 2.0.0, although there's a lot more that needs to happen before I put 2.0.0 up for people to use, so it's still broken on the website. Thanks again for the reminder. ^^
Post edited by aesica on
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Some of the new travel powers, such as Arcane Flight, could be added. Pretty please!
It's entirely possible I completely overlooked premium travel powers, mainly because I didn't think anyone actually used that portion of the planner. I suppose I can add them in a future version. Indicating how players acquire them might be useful as well.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Was wondering if I could get a little help. I downloaded the planner from Github but when I try to open it I get a blank (black) web page with text that says Link to this build in the left corner with no other content. Any suggestions on how to get it to run?
Thank you.
PS I would note that I am also having the same problem if I try to access it online by the link as well.
Was wondering if I could get a little help. I downloaded the planner from Github but when I try to open it I get a blank (black) web page with text that says Link to this build in the left corner with no other content. Any suggestions on how to get it to run?
Thank you.
PS I would note that I am also having the same problem if I try to access it online by the link as well.
That's odd, just downloaded it to check and it works fine for me. Which browser are you using, and are you using any script blockers?
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
aesica, thanks for getting back to me. Sorry for the delay, I have been away from gaming. I am use IE. The error message I get is that Internet Explorer has blocked this web page from running scripts or activeX controls. I click allow blocked content but it still does not load. I have changed setting that look like they might be problematic to prompt instead of disable, but no luck. I don't want to just enable everything for feat of creating security problems.
aesica, thanks for getting back to me. Sorry for the delay, I have been away from gaming. I am use IE. The error message I get is that Internet Explorer has blocked this web page from running scripts or activeX controls. I click allow blocked content but it still does not load. I have changed setting that look like they might be problematic to prompt instead of disable, but no luck. I don't want to just enable everything for feat of creating security problems.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Aah, that explains it. IE and Edge are overly paranoid about local-side scripts. I think there's a way to get IE to stop doing that, but I don't really know what it is.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Just a quick heads up, I uploaded a beta version to hopefully help people fix their munitions builds or plan new ones. It's not done yet, but it should have most of the power and advantage changes added. Older builds from the previous version may break, but in the final version, that should mostly be fixed.
I like the new layout. It looks nice. One thing I noticed while doing my Soldier, it has Nailed to the Ground costed at 1 point on Concussion Grenade instead of 2. Confirmed it's 2 in game.
Just a quick heads up, I uploaded a beta version to hopefully help people fix their munitions builds or plan new ones. It's not done yet, but it should have most of the power and advantage changes added. Older builds from the previous version may break, but in the final version, that should mostly be fixed.
The newest instance of the beta is up with all of the previously-mentioned issues fixed.
1) If people have builds created pre-patch with munitions powers or martial arts powers, please try them out. They should transfer over into this version without too much of a hiccup (hopefully) aside from the fact that assault rifle will be grayed out if it was taken early on since it's a t3 power now.
PS: You can try them out by copypasting everything after "herocreator.htm" (starting with the ? mark) to the end of the beta url
2) Hopefully the ATs are in order. They should be, but I tend to miss things with them frequently it seems, so keep an eye out.
3) Try out the load/save thing. It's 100% new and seems to work fine, but I want to make sure before I make it a full-fledged feature.
If all goes well, I'll make this the live version sometime tomorrow.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
My pre-patch build converted mostly fine. MD magic'd into BCR and 2gun into Frag nades. All the points, talents, and trees stayed the same.
The load/save thing seems to work. Even shut down the browser for a bit to do other things and came back to load a build just fine. Deleting seems to work OK as well.
The Rockstar Talent seems to have an extra comma.
Edit: The font thing works too. Weeee! Now I need to re-install of of my fancy fonts.
hello aesica I found some bugs:
-Inciendary Grenade doesn't display ranks 2 and 3 nor the power's advantages. I believe this are one that applies the No Quarter debuff
-There is another Brute Strike reskin added to Singl Blade called Swift Strike which deals Single target slashing damage as well stun the target. Same Trauma adv as other similar powers.
Useful Guides about Archetypes and General Gameplay of the Game Click Here
Everything should be fixed. The only thing I'm aware of now is that the icon for showdown is gray and the wrong size. that's something I'll deal with next time I visit the pts.
My pre-patch build converted mostly fine. MD magic'd into BCR and 2gun into Frag nades.
I can't seem to reproduce this. Which data version is the build using? The data version is shown in the v=?? part of the link. It should be 18 (pre-patch). Anything earlier comes from a time when I was still learning the old powerhouse code and had no clue how to properly use the funky version control this thing has. If it's version 18, could you send me the link?
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
All right, the updated version is now live. The github version is still out of date and will remain so until I can figure out how to make the directory structure match what it is now. (The old version is a vomited list of files and a folder for all the icons, the new version sorts files into different folders--one for assets and one for code)
2/25/2017 - Aesica (These changes won't show up right away for the github version)
- Updated powers to reflect the recent munitions and martial arts changes.
- Added The Gunslinger AT and Innate.
- Saved data (user prefs) now uses html5 storage instead of cookies. Browsers that don't support html5 storage (omg it's 2017 please update) will fall back on cookies which only managed to store some of the data in the original Powerhouse. Note that html5 storage is cleaner, more durable, easier to work with, and allows for a larger amount of data to be saved for future enhancements, such as...
- Added the ability to load and save builds. This feature is only available on devices that support html5 storage.
- Updated tooltips for passives, forms, and blocks to provide more useful info.
- Suppressed the google analytics code because I really don't have any interest in using it beyond page access counts.
- Removed the google analytics submission option from the user preferences menu since it's no longer relevant.
- Cleaned up the popup/selection windows, both in terms of aesthetics and internal redundancies.
- Added the option to use any font available on your device (not just the presets) provided you know the name of it.
- Modernized the preset font list by adding fonts commonly installed on windows machines while removing older, lesser-used fonts
- Preset fonts now display in their native typeface for preview purposes.
- Note: I may remove the Lexia font in the future, so if you currently like it and use it, I suggest saving it to your computer so you can continue using it via the newly-added custom font feature.
- Updated icons to use a single image file rather than 640+ different image files for significantly faster loading and better overall performance.
- Updated the help section to cover the newer changes
- Selected font now affects certain tabs that were previously unaffected.
- Moving forward, there will be support (although limited) for keeping older builds up to date as new updates shuffle powers and frameworks around.
- Resetting a role specialization or the mastery no longer also forces the stat specialization to reset.
- Reorganized the file structure to something cleaner
- Skinning a bear should now aggro every bears in a 40 yard radius. It makes sense, you are actually skinning their best friend.
- Squashed several other minor, insignificant bugs that nobody cares about.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
Comments
Have the devs been made aware of this?
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
After taking a quick look, I noticed 1 very minor flaw and have 1 question.
FLAW: Vindicator Tree, The Rush of Battle. The % sign is in front of the numbers instead of behind them. (Like I said, minor.)
QUESTION: Guardian Tree, Locus. The mouse-over says "25/49" offense and defense for Locus Eruption. Is that not affected by Super Stats? (In other words, should "25/49" be replaced by "n"?)
I'm leaning toward the first option (grouped with technology, but will break other existing builds) because that really is better in the long run so that's probably how I'll proceed, but if anyone feels really strongly about this, you've got from now until I finish to argue your case.
How best to do that, I'm not really sure; I may program for a living, but web development is very much not my thing. Maybe a version number included in the link that allows backwards-compatibility code to redirect to an equivalent new-version (or just goes to an old version of hero creator with a warning sign on it)? Maybe some way to re-map the display order so it doesn't have to exactly match the internal data groupings? Maybe just inserting a bunch of empty groups inbetween categories?
I bet there is a way to fix the system without breaking future stuff, though. Powersets in CO are basically in tons of flux right now, so maybe some sort of longer-term solution would be a really good idea.
Probably the quickest and dirtiest fix I could think of is to add some sort of 'position' integer index to each powerset in HeroCreator (assuming that a powerset is an object and not just a freefloating array of powers). So while in data the Lasersword power set would be represented as being after infernal at the end of the list, the powerset display script would instead sort the powersets out by the index defined in their object. Therefore every new section inserted into the game could go at the end of the list (and not break anything) and the powerset selection window in HeroCreator would still show the items in the intended order.
why wouldn't they hesitate? this is the first new one they've added in YEARS, possibly the first they've added ever (i don't know what was in the game when it first came out) and it isn't even any of the ones people have been screaming for most - i.e. radiation, water, plant/nature
in fact, i have to wonder if maybe the reason for that is because there are a hard-coded number of frameworks they can have - the fact they didn't add the laser sword one until AFTER merging the various magical ones into a single one is very telling
Still, it's something we should plan for and try to work around, as well as new powers showing up in existing frameworks (like previously). The big benefit of having this HeroCreator is planning out your build and then bookmarking it so that you can go refer back to it when you make your power selections in CO (and share with others, etc). If we constantly invalidate saved builds, it makes the utility less useful.
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To give people an idea of why this happens, the data is currently organized like this: (Note: it's not in xml, it's in hard-coded arrays which...I really want to do away with at some point because it's a pain in the **** to work with) The order they're in is enumerated as 0, 1, 2, 3 etc based on the order in which they appear both internally and in the client. So [0] is for electricity, [2] for force, [6] for gadgeteering, etc. If I add a new one between 2 and 3, it becomes 3 and bumps everything else up 1 value and everything bumped essentially breaks in existing builds.
How I'd like to do it is this: The enumeration would instead be [0][0] for electricity, [0][2] for force, and [1][1] for gadgeteering. Adding something to a powerset becomes a lot cleaner that way. [0][5] could be a new energy projector set and it wouldn't break anything in technology onward.
While it may sound trivial to do, it's really not since everything expecting data the old way will need to be updated to take the new format, and that's why I've been putting it off. Hopefully they won't add any new frameworks for awhile, because the data overhaul required to make this thing more future proof is going to be rough.
- - -
That said, the new build is up on aesica.net. I'll add a changelog to the OP and update the github source later tonight. (Some descriptions are still missing but I wanted to post this for people to work with since I suspect there's a lot of respecs going on right now)
PS: When the data overhaul happens, it will probably break builds yet again. That's yet another reason why I've kinda been putting it off.
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- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
To improve the description of the new Laser Sword powerset you could add this information to the placeholder
Laser Sword:
Your main weapon is your laser sword, a high-damage close combat weapon capable of a number of attacks. You also have Cybernetic energy weapons and other devices at your disposal to make you a deadly adversary.
*Recommended Characteristics: Intelligence and Endurance
*Starting Innate Talent: Tech Savvy
*Suggested Skill: Science or Arms
*Main Damage Type: Particle Damage
*Main Mechanics: Radiation Effects/High energy - High Damage Attacks
*Archetypes: The Cybernetic Warrior
Also the power progressions of the Power Armor archetypes have been changed:
The Automaton:
Now has Ego/Con/Int as Super Stats
Now has its own Innate Characteristic (+10 Ego, +10 Con, +10 Int, +8 Endurance, +5 to all other stats)
1 Wrist Bolter
1 Power Gauntlet** OR Tactical Missiles**
6 Targeting Computer
8 Rocket Punch** OR Binding Shot
11 Concentration
14 Mini Mines OR Particle Mine
17 Chest Beam**
21 Cybernetic Tether OR Energy Wave**
25 Molecular Self Assembly
30 Energy Shield OR Force Shield
35 Nanobot Swarm OR Unbreakable
40 Implosion Engine OR Orbital Cannon
The Invincible:
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Dual Wrist Rocket Barrage* OR Concussor Beam**
Level 6: Mini-gun** OR Eye Beam**
Level 8: Invulnerability
Level 11: Micro Munitions OR Chest Laser*
Level 14: Concentration
Level 17: Reconstruction Circuits OR Energy Wave**
Level 21: Energy Shield OR Force Shield
Level 25: Overdrive
Level 30: Unbreakable
Level 35: Shoulder Launcher OR Hand Cannon**
Level 40: Fire all Weapons** OR Chest Beam**
*Denotes that it is a new Power:
-Dual Wrist Rocket Barrage: is a new Tier 0 toggle version of Tactical Missiles which has the Frenetic Blast like Concussor Beam
-Chest Laser: is a new Tier 2 toggle version of Plasma Beam which also has the Melta Cannon advantage
-Hand Cannon: is a new Tier 3 toogle version of Shoulder Launcher. It only has access to the Accelerated Metabolism and Challenge! advantages.
**Denotes that the power was modified in the recent Power Armor review:
-Power Gauntlet: Just had its own Interrupt effect chance raised and can happen once every 4 seconds. No longer counts as a Hand Slot power
-Tactical Missiles: Now has a chance to Knock Down foes. No longer counts as a Hand Slot power
-Rocket Punch: Now has a chance to Knock Back foes innately and was changed to an sphere ranged AoE instead of a cylinder with a 100ft reach and 15ft sphere.
-Concussor Beam: Range increased to 100ft like Dual Wrist Barrage and can repel foes up to 45ft. Moved to Tier 0
-Chest Beam: No longer counts as a Chest Slot power.
-Minigun: The U-238 Rounds advantage was changed to apply the Burn Through debuff if Mini-Gun is mantained for at least half of its duration.
-Eye Beam: The power was changed to a cylinder AoE power that no longer takes time to become an area of effect atack from a single target one. Also the 20/20 Fission was changed to work like Minigun's advantage applying Burn through if mantained for at least half of its duration
-Energy Wave: Now has access to the Rechage advantage which grants the Restoration HoT.
-Fire All Weapons: Now is another shared Technology Tier 4/Ultimate Power with an increased cone to 120 degrees, up from 45 degrees.
***New Ultimate Power for Laser Sword:
Meltdown - Unlockable from the Toybox Lock Box
+Deals Particle Damage to enemies
+Knocks Down up to 10 enemies in a 10ft sphere
+Applies a stack of Plasma Burn to all targets inmediately and then 4 more over 5 seconds
I'm retired now (medical issues) but I used to be a fair (IMO) programmer. If there is anything I can help with let me know.
PS: Do you want a cat? One just walked in our front door...
Not anymore
Gold since Christmas 2015
That said, this might be the last major update on this that I do for awhile. The Overdrive nerf has me feeling rather salty, so I think I need to take a break from this game for a few months because I'm just not enjoying it right now.
We'll see though.
Edit: Thanks, and no, I have a cat already and she hates pretty much everyone and everything that isn't me.
Thank you very much!
Sadly, not finding older versions of your page on the wayback machine.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
That said, I wanted to see if I could convert the img tags into css sprites, and it worked. For the most part.
Old:
New:
As you guys can see, the drawback is that now, the dynamic image resizing is gone so everything is shown at full size. Besides the framework monstrosities which need to be toned down, are these power icons too big?
Note: Despite this initial quirk, this change is good overall because it greatly reduces the load time (that annoying expanding-window crap that happens when you first open something is gone) and even better, it reduces the http requests made to my web server for images from well over 600 to just 1. Nobody at all downloads the stand-alone?
That aside, while I get the value of having older versions available, I'm not too keen on actually hosting multiple versions on a permanent basis. Reason being, let's say somebody clicks on an old build somebody else linked. It's still valid today, since all the powers and advantages it uses haven't changed since the newest version, so that person hasn't bothered to update the build. Somebody makes a few changes, shares it and...crap. One of the powers they selected doesn't exist and one of the advantages had its cost changed. It may work fine in the planner (since they're using the older one by accident) but they won't know something's wrong until they try to use it ingame and things don't add up. Point being, it gives people a way to accidentally create invalid builds if they're on the "wrong" version somehow.
That said, the data structure I have in mind would entirely eliminate the need to have multiple versions. The devs can add or remove all the frameworks they want, all the powers and advantages they want, and at the most, all that would happen to an outdated build would be the removal of powers or advantages that no longer exist, or a nasty message saying they've used more advantage points than they are allowed to use.
Assuming I can pull this off, because it's a big job and there's not a lot of comments in the code.
I've been trying to get into coding also. . . but need a 25th hour of the day.
Edit: I should add that the literature you use is less important compared to how much you practice. I have 4 years of ECMAScript (as3, javascript) practice from working with flash as well as 2 years of general programming from college classes. Don't expect to be able to do that overnight.
https://www.codecademy.com/
https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-css
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
I'd almost forgotten all about it, so thanks for the reminder--I'll make a point to tackle that next for the rather large update I'm currently working on.
Edit: That said, it's fixed in 2.0.0, although there's a lot more that needs to happen before I put 2.0.0 up for people to use, so it's still broken on the website. Thanks again for the reminder. ^^
Thank you.
PS I would note that I am also having the same problem if I try to access it online by the link as well.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
http://aesica.net/co/beta/herocreator.htm
If anything outright breaks or doesn't work, let me know please. Have fun.
Thanks so much for your work on this.
Since you asked elsewhere, Gunslinger is Dexterity - Vindicator - Warden
-Sterga
Looks fancy. And you finally have an icon. Yay.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
Also, has anyone had any trouble with the newly-added load/save feature?
1) If people have builds created pre-patch with munitions powers or martial arts powers, please try them out. They should transfer over into this version without too much of a hiccup (hopefully) aside from the fact that assault rifle will be grayed out if it was taken early on since it's a t3 power now.
PS: You can try them out by copypasting everything after "herocreator.htm" (starting with the ? mark) to the end of the beta url
2) Hopefully the ATs are in order. They should be, but I tend to miss things with them frequently it seems, so keep an eye out.
3) Try out the load/save thing. It's 100% new and seems to work fine, but I want to make sure before I make it a full-fledged feature.
If all goes well, I'll make this the live version sometime tomorrow.
The load/save thing seems to work. Even shut down the browser for a bit to do other things and came back to load a build just fine. Deleting seems to work OK as well.
The Rockstar Talent seems to have an extra comma.
Edit: The font thing works too. Weeee! Now I need to re-install of of my fancy fonts.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
-Inciendary Grenade doesn't display ranks 2 and 3 nor the power's advantages. I believe this are one that applies the No Quarter debuff
-There is another Brute Strike reskin added to Singl Blade called Swift Strike which deals Single target slashing damage as well stun the target. Same Trauma adv as other similar powers.
Well. Almost everything...
I can't seem to reproduce this. Which data version is the build using? The data version is shown in the v=?? part of the link. It should be 18 (pre-patch). Anything earlier comes from a time when I was still learning the old powerhouse code and had no clue how to properly use the funky version control this thing has. If it's version 18, could you send me the link?
Here's a quick changelog: