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Costume Renaming Tool

raphaeldisantoraphaeldisanto Posts: 7 Arc User
edited January 2015 in Costumes and Concepts
Hello, Champions!

So, many moons ago, a kind and talented user who went by the name of Avengaline created a tool that allowed you to rename your costumes so that they appeared in the tailor's "Load Costume" list with somewhat more clarity than the big list of useless "Costume_Raphael_diSanto_Hellborn_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_348284840" items that show by default.

Avengaline vanished from the game and the forums and the tool fell into disrepair and the download links vanished from the world.

Back in 2010, I got sick of having hundreds of saved costumes that I couldn't easily identify and created a replacement.

I'd necro that thread, but since it's now in the pre-Perfect World archived forum dump o' obscurity, I can't. So I made a new thread, because I actually just updated this.

I'll cut and paste the stuff from that thread into here because the same caveats and disclaimers apply:

Like Avengaline, I am also allergic to documentation, so there isn't any in the program. Things to note:


  1. Backing up your current costumes is highly recommended. In fact, the very first thing the application will do will be to ask you if you want to back up your costumes. You should say 'Yes' to this. The COCRT backs up costumes to a 'COCRT' folder under your main Champions Online folder (Yes, it finds this stuff from the registry, so it won't ask you where your Champs folder is, unless you have a b0rked Champs install)
  2. In cryptic's world, each costume has 2 names - The account name, and the costume name itself. This application allows to you edit both, and you can call them whatever you want. Be aware - It doesn't matter what name you put in the account name, all players of Champions Online on that computer will have access to that costume (character gender specificity still applies, of course). Personally, I like to put the character name in the account name box, and the name of the costume in the other box. You can use both boxes, or just one. Neither this program nor Champions Online will care.
  3. The weird number at the end of each costume file name is the date, and that shows up inside the Costume Load screen within the Tailor. Or at least, it's Cryptic's version of the date. Big thanks to derangement for helping me figure out what relationship that number had to an actual unix timestamp. The COCRT gives you the option of removing the date, if you want. If you do this, you can't add it back in. I personally don't find the dates at all useful, so I remove them, mostly.
  4. There's a checkbox labelled "Copy Filename from In-Game Name". This checkbox basically means that the filename on your computer that the costume is saved under will reflect the name that it shows up in within the tailor. You don't have to check this box if you have a different naming convention for your files than your costumes. However, be aware that if you don't check this box, and you also choose to lose the date from the end of the filename, you will end up overwriting files, as in the standard Cryptic design, the date is the only way Cryptic differentiates between two costumes for the same character. If you don't check this box, there's a box available for you to manually specify the filename for the costume.
  5. The program allows you to filter by gender (Male/Female/Both) and server (Live/Test). No, you can't look at BOTH Live and Test at the same time. At some point in the future, if I get really bored, I'll add a function to copy costumes between Live and Test, but for now, you're still stuck doing that by hand.
  6. I didn't put any fancy gamma viewing options in like Avengaline. It'll load the file when you click on the costume in the list, that's about it.
  7. You can back up your files as often as you want, but be aware - The back up process erases all previously backed-up costumes, so if you want a rolling archive, you'll have to manage that yourself.

Usual disclaimer: Provided as-is, without warranty, don't blame me if your PC explodes, or your dog dies, blah blah blah.

Here's a screenshot of what it now looks like:

2014-08-22_100840.png

And you can get the app itself from the same location as before:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/costumerename/

It's written in C#/.NET, so you'll need the .NET 4.0 framework. If you don't already have this, you can grab it from M$ at this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851

Yes, it's Windows only, but so is Champs.

If you have an earlier version, you'll have to uninstall it before installing this version or you'll end up with two versions. The tool isn't clever enough to update itself in place, sorry.

Any questions, bug reports, etc, post 'em here, send me a PM, shoot me a tell in-game (@raphaeldisanto), smoke signals, carrier pigeon, whatever works.

Enjoy!

Current version: 0.9a

changelog

0.8a
- Added dialog window for when the application can't find your CO install folder automatically.
- Changed the names of some UI elements to more accurately reflect the Cryptic naming scheme.

0.9a
- Added text filter to costume list (filters in real time as you type)
- Added file date to costume list (reads the last-updated timestamp on the file itself, not the date in the filename)
- Added sorting to costume list (Just click on a column header)
- Changed the color of some UI elements to make them clearer
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Post edited by raphaeldisanto on

Comments

  • morigosamorigosa Posts: 710 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Awesome. Will have to try this out as soon as I get a chance. Much appreciated.
  • vladculvladcul Posts: 23 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    \o/ Huzzah Raph! \o/
  • chaoswolf820chaoswolf820 Posts: 734 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Very very useful indeed. Many thanks.
  • jerax1011jerax1011 Posts: 966 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    My costuming addiction thanks you! I'll be testing this out as soon as I can get back in game!!
    EU5doX8.jpg
    @Aleatha1011 in CO | Keeper of the Cheesecake since Nov. 2011| Bunni BOT is on PRIMUS! | Come check out my deviantart page!
  • leihngweileihngwei Posts: 164 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    I easily spend about half of my time in the creator/tailor, so this app is a must have for me. I often encourage others to use this app, to help streamline their filing system.

    PS: I've started saving just the costume names from the creator, then add the character and costume name with the COCRT. It'll save some characters when loading the file ingame. You'll see what I mean when you get to the naming the costume slot part.
  • vinxbrvinxbr Posts: 161 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Uhm, interesting app, even i not having a lot of costumes, as most of people in here, sometimes i get confused with all my costumes having the same name, and so i need to try one by one till find what i want. hehe i will try to instal it thank you :D By the way, why we still dont have something like this in game?
  • raphaeldisantoraphaeldisanto Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    I have no idea why it isn't already in the game, heh. Just one more text entry box to mess with in the tailor UI, I suppose.

    I'm glad you guys are finding it useful. Might I ask - Is anyone here using Windows 8? I had heard reports that it wouldn't work on 8...
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • kaiserin#0958 kaiserin Posts: 3,172 Cryptic Developer
    edited September 2014
    Thanks for this. Deserves a sticky.
  • yvonnedyvonned Posts: 147 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    you said it yourself, you had a ton of costume files you wanted to rename. Why not add a mass file rename feature to the program? Could even have a few options for that feature: Change in-game name to file name, change file name to in-game name, change in-game and file name to <whatever>, Serial number feature, etc.

    While I haven't used C#.net specifically, I might be able to learn enough about the language to make suggestions that could spark ideas on how to implement such features.

    I would have sent a PM, but all I get is your ARC page and there's nothing there that allows PMs. <shrugs> I did send a friend request though.

    Honestly, going through a couple of thousand files (yes thousand) one at a time takes forever.
  • knupxx0r#3091 knupxx0r Posts: 1 Arc User
    Too bad i heard about this program too late xD just started champs and love the customization! I thought if id change my costumes in the folder would be enough to change it ingame too...but i was wrong -.- lost my costumes so far..... Nice app, deffinitly wil use this app
  • raphaeldisantoraphaeldisanto Posts: 7 Arc User
    Hey y'all. I'm (mostly) back and looking to take suggestions here. (Starting with the one from yvonned above)

    Any other ideas, throw 'em my way!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • n8mcdn8mcd Posts: 332 Arc User
    The costume renaming tool is not working. It launches to the toolbar, but it does not open a window.

    I believe Microsoft updated their .NET Framework recently, as a bunch of old .NET framework entries were invalid on my last registry sweep. My .NET install is current, I am on a Win10 machine.

    I am using the latest (2014) version of the costume renaming tool.
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