EZ Hero 3.4 released, EZ Hero 3.5 in progress

[hoss20]

Okay, Alex, here are some observations on what is going on in the Batch Send to Dat issue along with a couple of general things with the tool that may or not be related:

- In the tool, any hero with an Active Defense power set to Absorb has the Block Type showing as Deflect. Changing this back to Absorb and saving the file does not change the setting. When I reopen the power, it will show Deflect. There is also no Pass Through option which appears in-game.
- When trying to use Send to Text with any hero with an Active Defense power set to Absorb, I receive the error message, "Run-time error '424' Object required" and the tool crashes.
- When viewing a successful Send to Text on other heroes, I notice that some of the details are incorrect (ie; All Power Levels increase by 1, High Accuracy becomes Extreme; a setting that doesn't exist in FFVTTR, Defense Power Levels increase regardless of their Success Rating; some even go as high as 6, etc.).

Batch Send to Dat

- My new Built-in heroes with 2 names (Captain America, Green Lantern, etc.) correctly have the Edit and Delete buttons grayed out, but those with one word names still have those button available.
- Heroes with an Active Defense of Absorb have their Material Type changed to Metal regardless of their original material. This is shown in-game and in FFEdit.
- When heroes are viewed in Edit mode, the material shows correctly, but View mode shows Metal.
- Some heroes with the Attribute of FF Active Defense have their material showing as Blank and a weight of 0. All resistances become Defenseless. The script for this attribute calls for Built-in Absorb defenses to be created.
- Individual Send to Dat appears to work except that hero weights are doubled when checked in View mode.

I created new heroes both in-game and with the Hero Tool to test the Active Defense-Absorb issue and the same issues occurred in the Hero Tool and in-game after going through Batch Send to Dat.

[yell0w_lantern]

Feature request for 3.5, Alex.

Ability to set the hidden energy costs (such as trace, minor, and extreme) for powers .

[spydermann93]

Ok. Not sure if this is a bug or not.

I tried using this with one of my hero files. The hero file had "300 percenter", "Cloak of Shadows", and "DeCloak" set with "low" ep. But when i opened the hero file with EZ Hero, it had the ep set at "none". So i try editing it using EZ Hero, correcting the "none" to "low" ep for all 3 powers and saved the hero file. When i open the hero file in the game though, the ep changed to "medium". Changed it back to "low", checked with EZ Hero again, and it's once again back to "none".

The logic behind this problem (I believe), is that in-game, the lowest value is "Low" (except if the power is defined in FFEdit, but this tool is made for custom characters, not built-in) while the lowest energy cost in the tool is "None".  Therefore (by "In-game Value" = "Hero Tool Value"), "Low" = "None", "Medium" = "Low", and "High" = "Medium".

Can't believe that I didn't think to test that during beta

[Murdock]

Ok. Not sure if this is a bug or not.

I tried using this with one of my hero files. The hero file had "300 percenter", "Cloak of Shadows", and "DeCloak" set with "low" ep. But when i opened the hero file with EZ Hero, it had the ep set at "none". So i try editing it using EZ Hero, correcting the "none" to "low" ep for all 3 powers and saved the hero file. When i open the hero file in the game though, the ep changed to "medium". Changed it back to "low", checked with EZ Hero again, and it's once again back to "none".

The logic behind this problem (I believe), is that in-game, the lowest value is "Low" (except if the power is defined in FFEdit, but this tool is made for custom characters, not built-in) while the lowest energy cost in the tool is "None".  Therefore (by "In-game Value" = "Hero Tool Value"), "Low" = "None", "Medium" = "Low", and "High" = "Medium".

I actually used a custom character for this....and i had no problems with Medium or High, "Medium" was still "Medium" and "High" was still "High".

[abenavides]

Murdock
- sounds like a bug, I'll check it out. Since FF and FFv3R have different scales , my logic for adjusting must be off somewhere.

Yellow Lantern
- are you saying to allow "trace", etc. on powers in FFv3R? Not sure it's possible. I'd have to double-check the code, but I think that basically the values correspond to different things in the games. That is, I store a "1" in the field and in FF, it's "trace", but in FFv3R it's "low". I'll check.

hoss20
Lots of good stuff, will check it all out, but some questions:
- Send to Text seems to have various issues, I will likely have to completely rewrite that module in a future version. (it's using older code I didn't change this time around)
- Re: Absorb/Deflect and Passthrough are you doing FFv3R hero files ? (or FF?) - just so I know where to look.
- Edit/Delete button grayed out - sorry, do you mean buttons in FFEDIT? not sure how ezhero would control that, but I'll take a look if that's what you mean
- Edit/View and Metal - again, this is FFEDIT right?
- FF Active defense - to ezhero , "FF Active defense" is just words in a field. There's not special code to do anything else with it. Are you saying you want it do more?
- I'll check my notes, but the weight doubled may have to do with materials. (I think there's multipliers built into the game that change the "mass" value that you pass to the DATs. If I can get a list of what the multipliers are, I could change it so the Send to DAT screen, just tells you what it will be in-game.

1 thing that can screw up send to dat is having ffedit open at the same time you're using it. it sometimes prevents certain updates.

[spydermann93]

Ok. Not sure if this is a bug or not.

I tried using this with one of my hero files. The hero file had "300 percenter", "Cloak of Shadows", and "DeCloak" set with "low" ep. But when i opened the hero file with EZ Hero, it had the ep set at "none". So i try editing it using EZ Hero, correcting the "none" to "low" ep for all 3 powers and saved the hero file. When i open the hero file in the game though, the ep changed to "medium". Changed it back to "low", checked with EZ Hero again, and it's once again back to "none".

The logic behind this problem (I believe), is that in-game, the lowest value is "Low" (except if the power is defined in FFEdit, but this tool is made for custom characters, not built-in) while the lowest energy cost in the tool is "None".  Therefore (by "In-game Value" = "Hero Tool Value"), "Low" = "None", "Medium" = "Low", and "High" = "Medium".

I actually used a custom character for this....and i had no problems with Medium or High, "Medium" was still "Medium" and "High" was still "High".

I was just thinking about energy in terms of what FFEdit can do, but your second statement threw my hypothesis out the window

Yellow Lantern
- are you saying to allow "trace", etc. on powers in FFv3R? Not sure it's possible. I'd have to double-check the code, but I think that basically the values correspond to different things in the games. That is, I store a "1" in the field and in FF, it's "trace", but in FFv3R it's "low". I'll check.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that the other energy types are available, but there are a few issues.

1. I think that if you have a power with, let's say, "Trace" and you modify that power in-game, it will set itself to "Low" or "None" (I forget which).
2. If the energy level sticks with the power, your character will still use the power once if the power costs anything above "None"  (which is stupid and I miss being able to do that from the old game ).
3. I haven't tested this, but I don't think it will allow a character to use "Extreme" powers as the game doesn't let players use powers beyond their current energy state.

Most of this is from improperly converted hero files from ; I've never actually tried setting such values to powers from the hero tool.

[hoss20]

I'm sorry I didn't clarify better. I am using FFVTTR exclusively. All of the Batch Send to Dat issues I described in my previous post are seen in-game.

When performing the Batch Send to Dat, I am still receiving the earlier error message when trying to open FFVTTR. I am able to resave the Characters.dat in FFEdit, which then allows me to open the game. The material change to Metal is seen in-game where described, as well as in the Templates tab in FFEdit.

The grayed out buttons are also occurring in-game. I was only mentioning this because, I believe Built-in's are supposed to have the Edit and Delete buttons grayed out. At least that's the case with Alchemiss, Minuteman, etc.

Regarding the FF Active Defense attribute; there is no problem in EZHero. The issue I noted is seen in-game after performing the Batch Send to Dat. I just thought it was more than a coincidence that this attribute was built around setting up an Active Defense-Absorb defense in FFEdit and all of the hero files I was having trouble with possessed an Active Defense-Absorb power.

[spydermann93]

The grayed out buttons are also occurring in-game. I was only mentioning this because, I believe Built-in's are supposed to have the Edit and Delete buttons grayed out. At least that's the case with Alchemiss, Minuteman, etc.

If you have any custom characters with the same name as the character's strings.txt name, the Edit/Delete button will not be grayed out as the game sees the Built-in character and the custom character as the same.

For example, "Captain America"'s builtin might be "captain_america" and you might have a custom character called "captain_america", but since you refer to the built-in "captain_america" as "Captain America", the built-in and custom character are two different entities in the game's eyes.

Now, if you had "Flash"'s built-in as "flash", and you had a custom character called "flash", then they would be considered the same as case does not matter.  So, for Flash, the Edit/Delete button will be highlighted as if "Flash" were a custom character, not a built-in.

[abenavides]

Thanks spydermann93, that's useful to know.

I have noticed strange things when I have hero files with same name as built-ins. This could explain it.

[yell0w_lantern]

Yes, that is a good possibility with the identical names.  I seem to recall having some problems that led to my policy of archiving hero files I have already sent to DAT.

In regard to the energy costs, here is the way to set them in the conosle.

0 None

1 Trace

2 Minor

3 Very Low

4 Low

5 Medium

6 High

7 Very High

8 Extreme

Code:

Code Select Expand

from datfiles import *
MyPower = Campaign_ReadPowers()['electank Stunner']
MyPower['EPCost'] = 2
Campaign_RewritePowers(ChangePowers=[MyPower],ForceRead=1)
loadPowers()

Yes, you can lose the non-standard cost if you modify the power but I'm not sure if it only happens when you try to change the cost or any part of the power at a later date.
To use powers with a cost greater than high would require a larger number of energy points.  This can be accomplished with the 'max energy points' and 'energy points' template flags for built-ins or with attributes such as 'battery' and 'energy tanks' for custom characters.  I do not think that the 'overspend with risk of stun' flag needs to e checked in ffx3 control center but I may be wrong.

[abenavides]

OK< I think I see what you mean YL - you'd like to be able to set FFv3R hero files to use the old FF EP costs that are missing : "Trace", "Minor", "Very Low", "Very High" and "Extreme".  That's actually quite easy for me to do - it's actually less code than what I have now.
I did it on a test file and it doesn't crash (good) and seems to show the right number of pts affected.

This will also fix the problem Murdock reported.

Let me know if that's what you meant, YL.
I will look for some way to note it on the screen that the EP value you picked won't show up with that name in-game but should be OK.

[yell0w_lantern]

Yes, sir. That is exactly what I meant. 

[abenavides]

I've now made this change for all power types in both games and it seems to be working ok.
As I did this, it was interesting to see that FF didn't allow "None" for Special powers and FFv3R didn't for Special and Area(?)
Well, now you can !

I've also changed the text in the list to say "(FF") next to certain items, just so you can easily see which ones are "FF-only" (just in case).

Looking at the ActiveD-absorb issues next.

[yell0w_lantern]

When I delete a power, the slot reads, "<none>" but then I cannot seem to replace that with a new power.  Is there some way around this?

[abenavides]

Select the <none> power and then click the "down" button until it "slides" right off the list.

You can then add a new power the normal way.

Forget why I had to make it work this way (but I can revisit in a future version)

[abenavides]

Have fixed most (if not all) of the bugs, but was just thinking about the weight text boxes in the Send to DAT screens.

Are they really needed? Shouldn't the send To DAT just use the weights that you've input in the hero files?
Right now, if you use the batch send to dat - all the heroes would end up with the same weight.

If I go with the values in the hero files, I think it would be more useful.

[spydermann93]

Yeah, I'd say get rid of the weight box in the transfer dialog box.

There really isn't a need to be redundant

[abenavides]

OK think it's all good now.
- fixed Absorb defense bug (Pass through also)
there was actually a lot of bad code in here and in Passive D. All redone.

- fixed weight issue
was happening because ffedit is in KG (not LBS). I've added code to convert everything to KG (and take material into account) before writing to DAT

- fixed issue with material being Metal in DAT
weird one, happened in batch dat mode only because of a typo

- I'm going to have to totally redo send to text eventually , for now I've put a warning msg on it when you use it. I just want to get this version out there quickly as there are some things that need fixing right away like the actived and weight issues.

- The issue with specials not showing right EP cost is fixed also

- as previously mentioned, it now allows all EP costs in ffv3r (for every power type)

I'm sending to the same 3 testers. Hope they don't mind.

[Murdock]

I haven't tried the send to dat function yet. What/when is it used for and how do you use it? Is it used only when you change the weight of a hero file?

[spydermann93]

I'm sending to the same 3 testers. Hope they don't mind.

Not at all

[Cyber Burn]

I'm sending to the same 3 testers. Hope they don't mind.

Not at all

Ditto!

[abenavides]

thx guys.


Murdock, info on ezhero is on my site:
http://alexff.com/goodies_ezhero.php

[Murdock]

Thanks. Just found it myself a little while ago.

[Cyber Burn]

I've got to say Alex, that in all the years that I've been playing FF/FFvt3R, I have never used the "Send to Text" tool on EZ Hero, I never had a reason to, but it is really helpful for keeping track of the Mod FX that I'm doing.

The only discrepancy that I've found so far, is with the weight. In-game, the weight for a "Flesh" type character is coming up as 170, but in EZ Hero, it comes up as 168. I also had a "Metal" character come up as the same weights.

But this is just regular Hero Files, I have not done the "Send to Dat" yet.

[abenavides]

Yes, that discrepancy has to do with rounding precision.
Basically all weights are stored in hero files as 2 hex bytes and there's a formula to convert it to lbs and vice-versa.

The formula uses the KG to LBS ratio (2.20462262 lbs per kg)
and it also has logarithms in it.

I forgot who worked out originally. I think I got it from MIC_Rulz many years ago. (I think all the hero editors use the same formula)

Anyway, the formula is not precise and it's always a bit off. I'm happy to adjust it, but I haven't been able to get it any closer.

If anyone's mathematically inclined, I'd be happy to post the whole formula in case someone wants to give it a shot.

[Cyber Burn]

That sounds extremely...complex, way above my level of mathematics skills.

I just wasn't sure if this was a bug that needed to be addressed or not, but it sounds like everything is under control, so I'm good.

I'm still going through the existing Hero Files that I have for  (Which is not many), but so far, I haven't noticed anything coming up wrong them.

I will say though, that I created a Hero using EZ Hero for  , and then tried to use it in Benton's "Marvel Adventures" Mod (The current Beta version), but the game crashed. I don't know if it was an issue with EZ Hero, or with the Mod.

[spydermann93]

I will say though, that I created a Hero using EZ Hero for  , and then tried to use it in Benton's "Marvel Adventures" Mod (The current Beta version), but the game crashed. I don't know if it was an issue with EZ Hero, or with the Mod.

There are a few things that could be wrong, here.

1. The mesh that you're trying to use has not been properly converted to be used in
2. The path that you specified for the mesh is not being recognized when you try and view the character (though the character should just not show up; the game shouldn't crash)
3. The mod was improperly installed (although, if this were the case, you wouldn't be able to launch the mod, or you'd just get the standard menu)

Does the game only crash when you click on the character, or does the mod crash in other places?

[Cyber Burn]

1. The Mesh I used was Renegade's "Captain_America_TV_REN" which is a FFvt3R exclusive Mesh. His only power was an Active Defense, using Minute Man's Vigilance Shield as an FX.

2. The Character did show up in the Character Creator. But the game crashed when loading him into the Rumble Room.

3. The Mod otherwise seems to load fine, the only other issue I had with it loading was with the Glacier (?) Map.

The game only crashed when I attempted to use that Character/Hero File. I've since deleted him and recreated him using the Mod, and have not had any issues since.

[abenavides]

if you have the bad hero file still - you can send it to me.

Better still - send it and the good one you've recreated and I can try to scan for differences.

[hoss20]

I haven't had a chance to view anything in depth yet, but after perusing a few hero files; everything looks good so far. I did have a question about the installation, however. At the end of the installation, I was prompted that I needed to restart Windows to complete the install. This did not occur during installations of 3.4 that we were testing, so I was just wondering if you were using different programming tools, updating the registry differently, etc.

I'll be checking the batch Send to Dat soon. I imagine since you've addressed the hero files not being read properly (ie; Active Defense-Absorb) that everything will go smoothly.