Character Planner - Series 4.xx

[Tom.JonesJr]

I am about to start work on the spell window, but as it will be a far amount of programing I want to get your opinions about the design I was thinking of. I have created a mock up using a photo program to show you my idea. Please give me your thoughts. Thank you for giving your time. If I am going to spend all the hours to program this I do want it to be usable.

[Shoemaker]

I am about to start work on the spell window, but as it will be a far amount of programing I want to get your opinions about the design I was thinking of. I have created a mock up using a photo program to show you my idea. Please give me your thoughts. Thank you for giving your time. If I am going to spend all the hours to program this I do want it to be usable.

Seems fine to me. The only thing that I see at first glance is that it's missing some kind of indicator of which spells aren't available at a vendor.

[Tom.JonesJr]

I agree with that, but the current data does not contain this information and would have to be programed in. It would be a nice thing to add in the future and I think it could be shown with a graphic or at least in the text description of the spell. Thinking about it adding it to the text description would not be hard it would just take a little time.

[EllisDee37]

You can have up to 7 spells selected in any given level.

The spells screen was a major PITA for me when I set up my character builder, mainly because I didn't understand what "free spells" were. That was such a hassle to code, and then warlock came along to make things even worse.

Things to be mindful of:

• Cleric cure spells are mandatory. They're auto-granted and can't be changed.
• Warlock pact spells are autogranted by the pact feat. So they won't show up until the feat is chosen, and will change if the pact feat is changed. (in the planner. You can't change them in-game unless you LR.)
• Artificer repair and inflict spells and Druid summon nature's ally spells are free. If a player chooses them, an extra spell slot magically appears out of thin air.

For me, the absolute worst case scenario was if a warlock chose a pact feat, then chose their spells, then removed the pact feat as opposed to changing the pact feat. It took me three different releases to get that logic to work right.

[Tom.JonesJr]

Thank you for the input. The way that DDO Character Planner has been set up is that auto granted spells do not show in the selection area. As for the additional spells (ie Artificer), during the selection of a spell in creation you never get more then 5, but you will have up to 7 that can be prepared. The DDO Character Planner was designed to help select the spells you would take at the time you take a level not the spells you would have prepared. I noticed to day that you have an issues with your planner in that a Wizard or Artificer can take any spell with there spell selection as long as it is below their max spell level. You currently restrict them to only spells from the spell level at the current class level.

[Tom.JonesJr]

EllisDee37, I am sorry I was wrong. I just built a level 7 test case and got to pick 6 spells at level 1. Each additional level I got to pick one additional spell. For Artificer and Wizard the layout will have to be different, but as spell level selected only has to be lower then max spell level it can work.

[EllisDee37]

The DDO Character Planner was designed to help select the spells you would take at the time you take a level not the spells you would have prepared.

Ah, gotcha. Nevermind then, I was talking about prepared spells.

So there won't be a spells screen for clerics, paladins and rangers?

I noticed to day that you have an issues with your planner in that a Wizard or Artificer can take any spell with there spell selection as long as it is below their max spell level. You currently restrict them to only spells from the spell level at the current class level.

My builder's spell screen lets you pick spells prepared, not spells you choose at level-up.

[Tom.JonesJr]

So there won't be a spells screen for clerics, paladins and rangers?

'Yes, that has been the case since before I started programming DDO Character Planner. Clerics, Paladins, and Rangers have all spells added to their lists.

My builder's spell screen lets you pick spells prepared, not spells you choose at level-up.

Two different approaches some times I think I like it your way, but spell selection is a very fluid thing as it sometime changes based on Quest. By Far I think Sorc is the easiest to deal with as it requires a component to change spells.

[Tom.JonesJr]

You can have up to 7 spells selected in any given level.

I have done some more research and it appear that this gets a little more murker. It appears that Arti and Wiz both can learn extra spells on creation based on their Int. They have a base of 2 spells plus + Int mod for Arti and 3 spells + int Mod for Wiz. Lucky enough for me this is already in the program. I just need a good way to display it. So a gnome wiz with max int will be able to learn 9 level 1 spells before they can ever learn a class 2 spell.

[Ron]

I think spells and feats were the hardest thing to code, in terms of mimicking the logic of the game. So many rules and exceptions (and of course this has its roots from the PnP version of the game). That logic had to be changed several times over the course of the lifetime of the program, and ultimately ended up with a lot of "hacks" and shoe-horned code in order to get it to work. That was actually a big motivator for the decision to rebuild v5 of the planner from the ground up. The database we built for that has all those variables directly in it, so the code to get it to work should have been fairly simple (sadly, it never got written).

It was decided early on in the coding of the planner that I didn't care about prepared spells, since that is a fluid and easily changeable variable for most classes. I wanted to help with the "leveling-up" process, which involves selecting available spells (for some classes anyway, others simply get the whole list). What you did in between leveling up (e.g. preparing spells from the available list), I didn't really care much about.

[EllisDee37]

It was decided early on in the coding of the planner that I didn't care about prepared spells, since that is a fluid and easily changeable variable for most classes. I wanted to help with the "leveling-up" process, which involves selecting available spells (for some classes anyway, others simply get the whole list). What you did in between leveling up (e.g. preparing spells from the available list), I didn't really care much about.

I can understand that reasoning. I went the other way.

Sorcerers, Bards and Favored Souls can be ignored, since they behave the same regardless: Spells chosen at level-up ARE their prepared spells, and vice-versa.

So the question comes down to Wizards and Artificers (inscription classes) vs Clerics, Druids, Paladins and Rangers (divine classes). From my perspective, I felt exactly as you do in the reverse for inscription classes: The list of spells you know is fluid and easily changeable via inscription, and thus which spells you pick at level-up don't really matter. Especially since if the player following the build inscribes some spells at any point -- which is highly likely -- the rest of the build spell list to be chosen at level-up can be thrown off. And of course divine classes don't choose spells at all.

For all spellcasters, some spells are better and/or more relevant to some builds than others, so I wanted all bluebar builds to be able to specify key spells worth having.

[Tom.JonesJr]

To the point of inscribing spells. I have taken steps to add Rarity into the program. I have the Datafile all prepped. I just need to add some code for it. Thinking of adding a check box to only show rare spells for Wizard and Artificers. I will incorporate that into the new page and into the current build pages.

[LrdSlvrhnd]

To the point of inscribing spells. I have taken steps to add Rarity into the program. I have the Datafile all prepped. I just need to add some code for it. Thinking of adding a check box to only show rare spells for Wizard and Artificers. I will incorporate that into the new page and into the current build pages.

I encourage the thinking of adding a check box, FWIW *g* If you're going to show spells by those you take, being able to ONLY see the ones you can't purchase from a vendor is a good thing.

[Tom.JonesJr]

Release 4.35.101 is now out with all the new goodies. There was a lot done with this release of DDO. Some of the highlights are:

• Dragonborn
• Race Past Lives
• Race Enhancement updates
• Add checkbox for rare spell for Wizards and Artificers
• Created new Load and Save routines for Windows Vista and Up. Still support the old routinue for XP.
• Racial Enhancement Points

The new release can be fouDDO Character Planner on GitHub

If you find any errors please let me know here or on the GitHub page under issues. Thank you all much and I will see you in Game.

[ebasener]

4.35.101 does not let Dragonborn Pally choose a deity. Prereqs for deity feats do not show dragonborn race as option

[Tom.JonesJr]

Thank you for the bug report, I completely forgot to try that. I have updated the feat file. You can get a current copy from Github under the datafiles section. Just right click the file and save link as then save it to your DataFiles folder. Let me know if there is any other issues that pop up. Data file issues are the easiest to fix.

I have also included a link to the file on the release page.

[ebasener]

thank you for the bug report, i completely forgot to try that. I have updated the feat file. You can get a current copy from github under the datafiles section. Just right click the file and save link as then save it to your datafiles folder. Let me know if there is any other issues that pop up. Data file issues are the easiest to fix.

I have also included a link to the file on the release page.

ty
The file is in the dataFiles folder in the DDOCharPlanner435101 folder but still unable to get it to show deity feats for dragonborn

[Tom.JonesJr]

Verify that it overwrote the old file and did not just add a new file to the folder. You can also verify if you have the correct Feat file by opening it in a txt editor and looking at the feat.
The should look like this:

FEATNAME: Follower of Aureon;
FEATDESCRIPTION: You follow Aureon, member of the Sovereign Host, and use his favored weapon. You are proficient with Quarterstaves and gain +1 to hit with them.;
FEATTAG: Divine;
CLASSLIST: Paladin, Cleric, Favored Soul;
LEVEL: 1, 1, 1;
ACQUIRE: Train, Train, Train;
NEEDSONE: Race Human, Race Elf, Race Halfling, Race Dwarf, Race Warforged, Race Drow, Race Half-Elf, Race Half-Orc, Race Gnome, Race Dragonborn;
LOCK: Favored by Amaunator, Follower of Aureon, Follower of the Lord of Blades, Follower of Olladra, Follower of Onatar, Follower the Blood of Vol, Follower of the Silver Flame, Follower of the Sovereign Host, Follower of the Undying Court, Follower of Vulkoor, Favored by Helm, Favored by Silvanus;
ICON: AureonsInstructionIcon;
VERIFIED: 2016-10-21, in-game;

I put the important part in GREEN. I hope this helps.

[ebasener]

Verify that it overwrote the old file and did not just add a new file to the folder. You can also verify if you have the correct Feat file by opening it in a txt editor and looking at the feat.
The should look like this:



I put the important part in GREEN. I hope this helps.

Sorry, I thought I had it in the right folder. I now have the correct file in the right place and, imagine that, it works as intended.
Thanks for you patience

[Tom.JonesJr]

Sorry, I thought I had it in the right folder. I now have the correct file in the right place and, imagine that, it works as intended.
Thanks for you patience

No problem Glad I could help and thank you for the bug report. I need all the help I can get.