random hero files

[bearded]

does anyone have the random hero generator created by furie?  the actual python code.

[Outcast]

This really sounds interesting to me.

Did nobody use this random generator? Anyone know how it actually worked? What particular aspect/details did it cover or randomly generate as with regards to stats,attributes,powers and material type? :huh:

[USAgent]

I dont  have the Random hero generator by Furie, but I do have MicRulz old hero file editor for FF1.  Which randomly picks a mesh/skin from your custom characters folder and makes random abilities, attributes, stats, material type, powers, ect, and names for the characters and powers.   
I used it to make up random powers for some generic Morlocks that some skins were made for.   But it is totally random.  It might give your character stats that range from 1 to 10 and powers that rangle from none to extreme in terms of amount of damage, so you might have some uber characters and some useless ones, or just some useless abilities.

[Outcast]

MicRulz old hero file editor for FF1. So it also picks a mesh and skin plus names for your characters and powers too. I'm assuming it would also randomly pick the FX for each power. How was the character names it generated? Does it have a large database for character names?

But it is totally random.  It might give your character stats that range from 1 to 10 and powers that rangle from none to extreme in terms of amount of damage, so you might have some uber characters and some useless ones, or just some useless abilities.

Yeah, that's usually the problem with generating random characters.

But isn't there a way to sort of prevent that from happening? I mean, you could program or design a random character generator to generate powers that range from low,medium,high at a higher percentage, and give a lesser percentage of generating none,very low,very high, and extreme powers.Right? Then apply the same principle to generating character stats. That way,you would minimize generating uber and useless characters and abilities. Then there is also the problem of keeping track of how much character points the randomly generated hero would cost.How much character points would you think is an ideal balance amount? 10,000? Not to mention the powers, should be ideally connected or related in some way. If not, you would  sometimes get some weird mix of powers for a hero that would not make any sense logically. :doh:

But if you guys could make a random hero generator, how would you try to make things balanced so that it would generate more interesting random characters? None of the uber and useless kinds of characters.

[GogglesPizanno]

I actually was working on a MOD at one point that would generate random heroes at the start of a campaign and then recruit them as the game went along. So that the characters you had access to would be different each time you started a new campaign. The problem was that while I could write the characters to the DAT file, there was no way to reload the character data once changed without restarting the game, so I abandoned it.

But if I remember correctly I had used a combination of power/stat lists to group compatible power types and stats together (like fighter or energy etc...) , and then randomly choose specific ones from within a chosen group. Since it was based on these lists, you could add new custom "Power Sets" by just adding a new list entry.

For stats I used some really dumb simple logic to keep power levels on an balanced plane. Basically I choose a seed value and then assigned values based on like a +/- 2 off the seed. Throw in a random "extreme" value every now and again for variety.

I never refined the process past the testing stages of actually generating a character cause of the DAT writing issue, so I don't know how it would work in the grander scheme of things or if the characters would all come out to "template-y."

[USAgent]

MicRulz old hero file editor for FF1. So it also picks a mesh and skin plus names for your characters and powers too. I'm assuming it would also randomly pick the FX for each power. How was the character names it generated? Does it have a large database for character names?

I was wrong with who's hero editor it was, its Mrbrdo's hero editor. And it seems to have a large data base for the characters and the names of powers, it puts two random words togeather to name the powers and it must have names already put togeather for the characters names. Here are a couple random files I just tried:
[spoiler] [/spoiler]

The names of the powers make no sense with what they acually do, but I still use it and I just tweek the hero files to make sense.

[Epimethee]

I actually was working on a MOD at one point that would generate random heroes at the start of a campaign and then recruit them as the game went along. So that the characters you had access to would be different each time you started a new campaign. The problem was that while I could write the characters to the DAT file, there was no way to reload the character data once changed without restarting the game, so I abandoned it.

Yeah, those internal DAT files created when launching the app are rather frustrating. One workaround would be to use built-ins instead, with loadChar() (which kind of works) and loadPowers(); since the template tab values can't be modified, though, this is a bit limited, but the mesh itself could be changed by replacing the actual mesh file the DAT's template info is pointing to.

[lmalonsof]

I must be stupid because I'm trying to use Mrbrdo editor and all I can't get is an error from Windows. What have you done to make it work properly?

(I'm using it with the original FF with 1.3 patch on Windows Vista)

[USAgent]

I must be stupid because I'm trying to use Mrbrdo editor and all I can't get is an error from Windows. What have you done to make it work properly?

(I'm using it with the original FF with 1.3 patch on Windows Vista)

I havnt done anything special to get it to work, I just downloaded it and it worked.  I use it on FF1 with 1.3 patch and XP

[lmalonsof]

Where do you have it? In the same folder than FF? In the data folder?

[USAgent]

Its in my FreedomForce folder

[GogglesPizanno]

My guess is thats its a Vista issue...

[bearded]

for informational; mrbdos random hero generator is actually furies code.  i was the intermediary between them.  mrbdos incorporated furies code at my request.  i was hoping to get the actual code back, it was written in python.
one workaround for the data changing problem might be to create a program that creates the heroes, sends them to the data file, and then launches ff.

[Epimethee]

one workaround for the data changing problem might be to create a program that creates the heroes, sends them to the data file, and then launches ff.

Actually, the program already exists: M25's Hero File to .DAT Converter.

Note that changing the data in characters.dat and powers.dat directly is already possible – on the fly – through Stumpy's datfiles module.

[Outcast]

MicRulz old hero file editor for FF1. So it also picks a mesh and skin plus names for your characters and powers too. I'm assuming it would also randomly pick the FX for each power. How was the character names it generated? Does it have a large database for character names?

I was wrong with who's hero editor it was, its Mrbrdo's hero editor. And it seems to have a large data base for the characters and the names of powers, it puts two random words togeather to name the powers and it must have names already put togeather for the characters names. Here are a couple random files I just tried:
[spoiler] [/spoiler]

The names of the powers make no sense with what they acually do, but I still use it and I just tweek the hero files to make sense.

Mrbrdo's hero editor looks really thorough with lots of options. Can't say i recognize the names of some of the attributes though. But I'm guessing the names for the attributes are randomly generated as well. Guess i'll have to try it first hand to learn more about it.Thanks for info. ^_^

But if I remember correctly I had used a combination of power/stat lists to group compatible power types and stats together (like fighter or energy etc...) , and then randomly choose specific ones from within a chosen group. Since it was based on these lists, you could add new custom "Power Sets" by just adding a new list entry.

For stats I used some really dumb simple logic to keep power levels on an balanced plane. Basically I choose a seed value and then assigned values based on like a +/- 2 off the seed. Throw in a random "extreme" value every now and again for variety.

A combination of power/stat ,group compatible power types and power sets. Nice idea! So how would you classify/divide the different classes of heroes/villains?  Would the different classes/power types in the game, City of Heroes be a good base to use? (like the 5 different origins and archetypes?) Or do you guys have something different in mind to recommend? :mellow:

[GogglesPizanno]

One thing about Mrbrdo's Hero file editor, is that when you save the hero file, it saves the mesh path as full widows path based on the default Irrational install location of the game (as opposed to a relative path to make the files portable). So if you have the game installed on a different drive or using a different path, you probably will have to open the resulting hero file up in Alex's editor and fix the mesh path, otherwise your heroes will appear in game but have no mesh.

[USAgent]

Can't say i recognize the names of some of the attributes though. But I'm guessing the names for the attributes are randomly generated as well. Guess i'll have to try it first hand to learn more about it.Thanks for info. ^_^

He naming system for the attributes is different than the actual name of the attributes in the game. But when the hero file is saved the attributes are saved fine.  I know guardianp is "Guardian Physical" but the others I cant think of off the top of my head

[Epimethee]

I don't have Mr. Brdo's editor installed on my current comp, but "guardianp" (and presumably the other cryptic ones) are the actual game-engine names of the attributes, as dispalyed in FFEdit. The displayed names are referenced in the strings.txt file; it's just that this editor didn't do the extra step of reading this and doing the conversion.

[Outcast]

So, does Mr Brdo's hero editor work only for  :ff:? or is it compatible with  :ffvstr: as well?

Does it follow any order of installation? Like FFX first or EZFX first and so on?

Is it ok to have both Mr Brdo's hero editor and Alex's EZ hero installed?

[stumpy]

I doubt that it hurts to have both installed, but Alex's EZHero was specifically re-released to accommodate FFvT3R HERO files. My understanding is that FF editors can generally read FFvT3R HERO files, but they won't support the more limited energy system or the new powers introduced with FFvT3R, which can mess up some heroes if you try to make changes to them. I know some people have used MrBrdo's editor to change things like the NIF locations in FF HERO files when converting those files for FFvT3R so that they point to the right FFvT3R locations for meshes.

[Outcast]

I doubt that it hurts to have both installed, but Alex's EZHero was specifically re-released to accommodate FFvT3R HERO files. My understanding is that FF editors can generally read FFvT3R HERO files, but they won't support the more limited energy system or the new powers introduced with FFvT3R, which can mess up some heroes if you try to make changes to them. I know some people have used MrBrdo's editor to change things like the NIF locations in FF HERO files when converting those files for FFvT3R so that they point to the right FFvT3R locations for meshes.

Thanks again Stumpy for pointing that out. :)

[lmalonsof]

Just a quick note to say Goggles was right... mrbdo's tool doesn't work properly in Vista, I tried it under XP SP2 and works fine.