Author Archives: Armin

Version 5.0.189 Released

GURPS Character Assistant 5.0.189.0 has been released. Get the updated installer from your Warehouse 23 downloads page.

This update squashes a bug I created by incompletely fixing a different-but-related bug last build..

Note: You get the updated installer by re-downloading GURPS_Character_Assistant.zip from your Warehouse 23 account, and running the gca5setup_5.0.189.release.exe program that it contains. There is no separate update-only installer, you have to download and reinstall the program. It will not overwrite your personal data, it will overwrite your installation of GCA with the new and updated version.

 

I broke a bit again. Ugh. (b188)

b188

I made a mistake when fixing the bug for initializing bonuses of the ‘gains’ type. I only checked one of the two bits that I needed to check, and the less important one at that <ugh>. Unfortunately, that resulted in breaking a different set of bonuses, primarily with modifiers. That is now fixed. I’m sorry about that.

Version 5.0.187 Released

GURPS Character Assistant 5.0.187.0 has been released. Get the updated installer from your Warehouse 23 downloads page.

This update squashes a few bugs and includes some new features, which you can read about in the build notes below if you like.

Note: You get the updated installer by re-downloading GURPS_Character_Assistant.zip from your Warehouse 23 account, and running the gca5setup_5.0.187.release.exe program that it contains. There is no separate update-only installer, you have to download and reinstall the program. It will not overwrite your personal data, it will overwrite your installation of GCA with the new and updated version.

 

A refactored bit (b186)

b186

Re-implemented some of the super-effort stuff I was working on, to better reflect intended usage.

Added IsHidden() function to GCATrait, which returns True if the trait is tagged to be hidden, False if not.

Made a small change in the process used to load characters, which should remove some calculations when assigning child items to their parents. Since there is a full recalculation made once the character is loaded, this should not affect any utility, just decrease loading times a bit for lots of child items.

There was a bug in correctly initializing bonuses loaded from saved characters, when those characters used gains bonuses (“to me from X” style). This bug could cause an issue that resulted in any such bonus causing an endless loop. That is now fixed.

Package Updates

2022 June 8

** Core Supplemental

* GCA Prime Sheet

Improved support for Super-Effort ST, Super-Effort Lifting ST, and Super-Effort Striking ST.

** Spring Bandit Sheet

Improved support for Super-Effort ST, Super-Effort Lifting ST, and Super-Effort Striking ST.

* Core Books

GURPS Supers 4e.gdf

[ATTRIBUTES]
Super-Effort Lifting ST
Super-Effort Basic Lift
Super-Effort One-Handed Lift
Super-Effort Two-Handed Lift
Super-Effort Shove/Knock Over
Super-Effort Carry on Back
Super-Effort Shift Slightly
TK Super-Effort ST
TK Super-Effort Basic Lift
TK Super-Effort Max Lift
TK Super-Effort Shove/Knock Over
TK Super-Effort Shift Slightly
Super-Effort ST
Super-Effort Striking ST
TK Super-Effort Striking ST
added a hideme() tag to handle if they should be hidden or not

[Advantages]
<Attributes>
Super ST
replacetags() removed because the new hideme() tags should handle the intended function

[Modifiers]
<Super ST>
Super ST, +300%
replacetags() removed because the new hideme() tags should handle the intended function

<Striking ST>
Super-Effort, +400%
replacetags() removed because the new hideme() tags should handle the intended function

<Lifting ST>
Super-Effort, +400%
replacetags() removed because the new hideme() tags should handle the intended function

GURPS Powers 4e.gdf

Super-Effort Lifting ST
Super-Effort Basic Lift
Super-Effort One-Handed Lift
Super-Effort Two-Handed Lift
Super-Effort Shove/Knock Over
Super-Effort Carry on Back
Super-Effort Shift Slightly
TK Super-Effort ST
TK Super-Effort Basic Lift
TK Super-Effort Max Lift
TK Super-Effort Shove/Knock Over
TK Super-Effort Shift Slightly
added a hideme() tag to handle if they should be hidden or not

#MergeTags in “AD:Lifting ST”
removed because the new hideme() in each tagged attribute should handle the intended function

#MergeTags in “AD:Telekinesis”
removed some of the targets because the new hideme() in each tagged attribute should handle the intended function

Package Updates

2022 June 7

Core Books

Dungeon Fantasy RPG.gdf

[Languages]
I don’t know if it was an oversight, or somehow the file got reverted at some point and I didn’t notice, but all Languages were still listed as Advantages, even though I’d changed all references to use LA:. So, I moved all languages to Languages, where they belong. Also updated the new language wizards.

 

Package Updates

2022 June 6

Core Supplemental

GCA Prime Sheet

Removed a bunch of obsolete stuff mistakenly left active

Adjusted grid layout a tiny bit to have any assigned row height become the minimum height for that row

Made it so I could turn off the normal lines of a grid by setting the line definitions to Nothing

I noticed that a cell with text padding on was drawing the cell border around the text area, instead of around the cell, so that should be fixed now

Created a new block: Attributes – OCS Style; this is the official character sheet ‘blocky grid’ style, with options to change that style a fair bit

Created a new block: Basics – OCS Style; this is the Basic Lift, Basic Speed, Basic Move, and Damage bit from the official sheet, with options to change it up a bit.

Added EdgeBorders to Grid so that I can print only part of a grid border if I want, although I’m not doing anything with it for now.

Updated the Movement grid to offer GCA-style shading, which is to shade the non-move rows instead of alternate rows

Updated the ‘Block Happy’ preset profile to make use of the two new OCS style blocks.

A bit of trapping (b185)

b185

I added an error trap in the Info Pane code that looks for page numbers so that it change the mouse pointer to a hand over them. A user reported an issue that seemed to be caused by this, and I don’t know why. This trap will avoid crashing GCA in that circumstance, but the pointer won’t get changed to a hand if the error trap is triggered.

I added a new option to never even try changing the pointer to a hand over page numbers.

It’s possible to input illegal (control) characters into various fields in GCA. I’ve created a routine to strip those out during field validation, and I’m integrating it into the data entry fields. There are a lot of those, so I’ve focused on the ones most likely to recieve pasted text. Note that I can’t sanitize RTF boxes the same way, as the RTF control automatically escapes those special characters, so they’ll still be there in some form but hopefully shouldn’t break anything. (These places should be getting cleaned data now: Edit Traits, Advanced Edit, Edit Modes, Add Tag, Gen Info Box, Appearance, Campaign Log.)

I’ve added a check to the AddChild routine of GCATrait, which double checks that the child being added doesn’t have a key matching the parent it’s being asked to be added to. This should never actually be possible through normal operation, but could potentially happen if someone manually edits things in a save file or otherwise alters data externally. So this check should discard the AddChild operation. *NOTE* that this check being triggered likely means other data in the program will be broken!

Some quality of life bits (b184)

b184

Updated the attack selection criteria for the Unified Attack boxes so that hidden traits will be valid selections if Show Hidden is On.

Some minor updates to BBCodeEngine.

Slightly adjusted some of the _bw versions of trait icons due to layer issues.

I’ve made some adjustments to the code that applies sizing logic to the body location boxes on the Protection body image graphic. The boxes now have a smaller minimum height, which should work better for most characters.

Added support for Super-Effort Carry to the Move & Encumbrance boxes.

Added scaling of very large carry weights through ton (t), kiloton (Kt), and megaton (Mt).

Added some scaling for attribute scores over 1M when drawing them to character lists, so they’ll show as M values.

Added to the Edit Traits dialog some features for setting an attribute to appear in the main attribute list or to appear in the Additional Attribute list. (Additional Attribute’s are primarily used with sheets.)

I’ve added Super-Effort Lift as well as the Super-Effort Thr and Super-Effort Sw damages to General Info blocks, when those features are available.

I’ve added a checkbox for Metric next to Character In Play on General Info blocks, to make metric characters easier to use.

* GCA Prime Sheet

This sheet, formerly known as Angry Owl Sheet, is now the GCA Prime Sheet, and will be a new sheet bundled with GCA. Included here for the first time.