BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Systems => A Time of War => Topic started by: peterbehere on 06 September 2011, 20:09:22
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Greetings AToW fans! Although A Time of War has not been out for very long - in comparison to MW 3rd Generation and such - a character creator program is available for the awesome price of free!
Battletech Character Creator (BTCC) is currently at version 0.7.28 as of TODAY. It includes an easy to follow wizard that takes you through each stage of character creation OR just click cancel to manually create. Most of the bugs have been cleared up, but it's still a work in progress. That's where YOU come in! We need your input to make this program smooth.
I've been working with bearchick - the programmer - since pretty much the beginning of btcc. Although he speaks pretty good English, you will notice several small grammatical errors. Please create and respond to the www.bthub.net/forum in order to give input for this handy tool.
Thanks All!
And don't forget to check out my post on "Gaming Over Skype!"
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Fantastic... this will make getting new players involved so much easier by cutting out the math for them. Thanks!
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I'll never understand why such programs are not seen by developers as more important to the overall playability of the game...
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could we get a download link though?
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http://bthub.net/download/battletech-character-creator-2/
I love it, while there are a few issues. This program is coming along great.
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Hi peterbehere i've been playing around with this designer.......got your site in my faves [rockon]
Though i don't play the rpg aspect of BattleTech (yet) this is really cool
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The RPG aspect of Battletech is not a new concept to me, but I've never gotten into it until AToW - which definitely rules over Total Warfare in character creation - in my opinion.
I definitely think this creator will attract new players. I have two friends who are more interested as a result.
By the way, don't forget to check out my post on Gaming Over Skype! I'd like to put my Heroscape hex tiles and my 1000+ collection of miniatures for BT to use!
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I was checking it out, when I got to stage 3 there was not a way for me to enter my field skills basic, adv, and special. Was I doing something wrong? I also noticed that there is no way to enter in a higher starting xp than the 4k. Are those functions currently being worked in?
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First of all, what character starts with more than 4,000 XP?
Second, for choosing a School in Stage 3 you must follow the steps in the attached picture (follow the numbers).
ALSO you can repeat Stage 3 with an additional school by selecting another school after completing the first school - before you click NEXT!
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??? Uh, all of them since they went final with AToW. 4,000 may have been from the beta.
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Oh Crap! There it is on page 49. Thanks for that tip (and for making me look like a moron in the process) [tickedoff]
I'll let bearhchik know right away so he can fix this in next version. :)
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Is there an option for us to set our own Starting XP Pool? Our groups uses a 5,500 starting XP?
EDIT: I have posted to the BTHUB forums. I will start giving this program over the next few days.
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Thanks!
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Bookmarked O0
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Is there another way to download your file? That website is scarying my security profile.
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I also noticed that there is no way to enter in a higher starting xp than the 4k.
I think the program withdraws the 850xp for universal right off the bat. Then it defaults to Federated Suns that has a cost of 150xp; so it looks like you're starting at 4,000xp instead of 5,000.
At least that's what I thought when I was going through it...
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Is there another way to download your file? That website is scarying my security profile.
http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,8289.msg235935.html#msg235935
This is a post I did to show the security of the forum and the download site according to AVG.
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Is there an option for us to set our own Starting XP Pool? Our groups uses a 5,500 starting XP?
EDIT: I have posted to the BTHUB forums. I will start giving this program over the next few days.
Good point! I will discuss this with bearchik the programmer. There should also be a way to keep track of overall XP gained throughout game-play. This is a good idea.
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Not a bad little program, overall.
Would like to see some clarification in the addition/subtraction of XP for character optimization (I only figured it out by accident), and some more notes on which is Clan gear and not.
Maybe an option for Stage 4 for those of us who want to take another path or two depending on how much XP we have left.
Also there's nothing in here currently for aging (ToW pg 332-333).
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Is there a way to not select a step 4 Real Life module and simply move on from there?
Also I take it there's no points only version?
Picking more than one interest was confusing for a second, I didn't realise I had a second choice and thought the program didn't accept my first one.
I didn't see 'Mech as a piloting skill.
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Attributes take a LONG time to add points to. Having an option to raise them by a level (+/- 100 point increments) would be a helpful option.
Also, any "forced" requirements such as mins in Attributes should probably be automatically spent to put them at required levels. It takes away the requirement to manually do what is an inevitable expenditure.
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I can't install it
The Error I get is
Error opening file for writing:
C:\Program Files (x86)\BtCC\btnchrcreator.exe
I am running Vista Home Premium 32-bit
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try installing it somewhere besides Program Files
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As I mentioned in the other thread, I ended up having to install it on a flash drive. It seems to work fine from there.
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I can't install it
The Error I get is
Error opening file for writing:
C:\Program Files (x86)\BtCC\btnchrcreator.exe
I am running Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Odd, I've only seen "Program Files (x86)" on 64-bit builds of Windows. In any case I got the same message on my Win7 box. Even though I have local admin rights to my account I still needed to right-click and select "Install as Administrator" to get the app to install.
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Not a bad little program, overall.
Would like to see some clarification in the addition/subtraction of XP for character optimization (I only figured it out by accident), and some more notes on which is Clan gear and not.
Maybe an option for Stage 4 for those of us who want to take another path or two depending on how much XP we have left.
Also there's nothing in here currently for aging (ToW pg 332-333).
sweeper -
1. Adding and deleting XP clarification is in the works for the next version. I'll consider the part about Clan gear VS non.
2. You CAN take another Stage 4 path by simply clicking another one from the list. See image attached. Once you finish step 6, just repeat step 1 again BEFORE you click NEXT.
3. Aging is still in the works too.
Thanks for the post!
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Is there a way to not select a step 4 Real Life module and simply move on from there?
Also I take it there's no points only version?
Picking more than one interest was confusing for a second, I didn't realise I had a second choice and thought the program didn't accept my first one.
I didn't see 'Mech as a piloting skill.
Atlas -
1. To skip stage 4 simple click FINISH before you select a "Choose Your Life."
2. Points only version is available by clicking CANCEL at the start and thus closing the wizard all the way.
3. Piloting/`Mech is unavailable (bug is going to be fixed) in wizard but when you finish the wizard - or choose points only by clicking CANCEL - you will find Piloting/'Mech in the skills list.
Thanks for the post!
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I don't know how to better put it, but the program is awesome.
Just one minor thing... I seem to run into some error with the attribute XPs...
Everytime I do more than 1 or 2 Stage 4 paths, the XPs attached to STR end up being down to 100,
no matter what I do...
I'll try to reproduce the error again, if needed, but maybe I'm not the only one to notice...
Edit: I should add that I tried to build a Ghost Bear Advanced Elemental warrior, for which 100 XP on STR in fact IS a little weird. :)
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Odd, I've only seen "Program Files (x86)" on 64-bit builds of Windows. In any case I got the same message on my Win7 box. Even though I have local admin rights to my account I still needed to right-click and select "Install as Administrator" to get the app to install.
sorry it is the 64bit
I got it to install. I disabled my firewall/anti-virus software and made sure I was running as administrator.
It probably wasn't running as administrator.My anti-virus really didn't like the program either.
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I see the web site has been scanned OK by Norton. That should alleviate at least some of the issues people were having with downloads... O0
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I was just getting "are you sure you want to do this" messages.
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I think I'm getting the hang of it.
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Hey Top, Please let me know when you do, so you can teach me :D. Seriously.
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I need to make a new character for my AToW group. Was going to make it with the BTCC then add the extra 500 points my group uses. After about 20min I grabbed a legal pad and a couple pencils.
The program needs to be a lot more user friendly. I was going to make a Yakov Smirnoff "in Soviet Russian the program uses you" joke but feel it might be in bad taste ;D
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I was having issues as there aren't many instructions, but once you figure out how the program works it's a lot more linear with out the errors. Though there are still a few, I find mostly when I go back a step. Perhaps a walk through from the designer would be helpful, as the boxes seem to have to be clicked in a specific order at Stage 3.
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I was unable to install the program. I'll wait until the next few revisions go, and I think it's a great idea!
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I was unable to install the program. I'll wait until the next few revisions go, and I think it's a great idea!
Make sure you are running the install as Administrator. Right click the install .exe and pick "Run Administrator"
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:o Wow! Just one week later and a new version is already out! Check out BTCC v0.7.32.
Game Master Tables printable
Starting XP can be set
You can use manual editing XP in all tables now (no more holding down arrow buttons)
Other small fixes
bthub.net
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One observation: I was trying to build a Solaris VII MechWarrior but after taking Solaris Internship in Stage 3 the Solaris VII Games path did not appear in Stage 4. Has this path not been added yet, or is there a prerequisite which I failed to notice?
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Some additional feedback:
Once I get to optimization/point buy I still cannot just type XP values into the attribute boxes.
Still no way for me to implement my own affiliations, modules, and fields.
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Tagged to follow.
Great program.
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Still no way for me to implement my own affiliations, modules, and fields.
Affiliations can be added by editing the affilitation.dat file in the resources file using notepad. Just add your's to the list and save.
Creating custom modules and fields are a novel concept. It is not applicable in the rules for AToW, but maybe we can implement this in the near future.
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While I can add the text for them there seems to be no ability to add the sub affiliations or the XP distributions for module build.
It shouldn't be too hard as long as the XP adds up for modules. Fields could be a little trickier since point buy gives a different rebate than module build. To clarify it is the same 20% but module only counts the 30 you get from Stage 3 while point buy has no such limitation.
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Definitely has a lot of potential and should be very useful when I've put more time into it. Definitely beats the hell out of using an excel spread sheet.
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Definitely has a lot of potential and should be very useful when I've put more time into it. Definitely beats the hell out of using an excel spread sheet.
For creating individual characters, sure. But when generating stats for an entire unit, I find a spreadsheet much easier (copy/paste FTW).
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having a problem, when I select the Solaris IIV Module it sends my DEX to the negatives!
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Also noticed that when you get to the balancing stage, you can only add or subtract ten points at a time, which can be a pain in the neck when you have a talent skill with an extra five points in it.
Craig
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Also noticed that when you get to the balancing stage, you can only add or subtract ten points at a time, which can be a pain in the neck when you have a talent skill with an extra five points in it.
Craig
Try double clicking on the name or the skill to add 1 point at a time
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building a character from the Marian Hegemony, and I can only choose slave for my stage one?
Needs an option to go around things like that.
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I believe you need to select the Citizenship trait for that. Assuming that's possible at stage one using this program... haven't tried it yet.
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I believe you need to select the Citizenship trait for that. Assuming that's possible at stage one using this program... haven't tried it yet.
It seems not to... at least I couldn't find a way to enter the trait... which currently makes it impossible to create anything else than slaves in the MH.
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Issues I have been running into:
1) When I go to add points into skills with subskills, the program automatically creates a new skill block.
Meaning, if I go to put points into Gunnery/'Mech, it creates a SECOND skill entry for Gunnery/'Mech.
2) You cannot select supskills after life-modules for Art and Interest during the post life module stage.
3) When taking Officer Candidate School and moving on to Tour of Duty, the Field Skills selection does
not allow the Basic Training Field skills to be selected among my military field skills boosts.
4) Major Periphery Nation: Magistracy of Canopus: it does not put the points into the art skills.
5) If I take a second Stage 4 Life Module, there seem to be practically random heavy deductions to my
attributes. Example: When I was making an NPC who had Tour of Duty followed up by Guerrilla Insurgent,
the character got hit for -250 to Dex and -135 to Edge.
6) There is no way to, if you realize you made a mistake on a stage, go back and change it.
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Hawt Diggity, this looks useful!! 8)
I'll check back in and play with it when I get around to trying to GM AToW next.
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I noticed there seems to be a bug in the wizard where the levels of training do not properly enable for any stage 3 other than technical college
additionally ~90% of stage 4 does not appear to be active in the wizard as well
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Any interest in putting the source out in a git project and letting some other people pitch in?
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I noticed there seems to be a bug in the wizard where the levels of training do not properly enable for any stage 3 other than technical college
additionally ~90% of stage 4 does not appear to be active in the wizard as well
Do you have the most recent version? You have to spend the flexible and more first, then click the little arrow. It works fine for me
on 0.8.7
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I can't install it either...I have a Mac. :-[
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I can't install it either...I have a Mac. :-[
There's your problem! To fix that, I recommend getting a Windows Based Machine(or using a Windows Emulator on your
iPuter)
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There's your problem! To fix that, I recommend getting a Windows Based Machine(or using a Windows Emulator on your
iPuter)
Heh... *I* wouldn't say that's the problem! But of course I'm a Mac user. :)
The program's developed in Qt, which is cross-platform(http://qt.nokia.com/products (http://qt.nokia.com/products)). So it should be possible to provide a Mac binary. Alternatively, the dev could open source the project and release the code so we can download and compile for our preferred platform. This would also allow people to contribute to the project.
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Would love to see this in a git repository so we can open source it. Also, you are missing Born Merc Brat as a Stage 1 choice. It pairs very nicely with Merc Brat as a level 2.
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Source code is here now: https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator
Born Mercenary Brat is in, you have to choose Independant - Mercenary as your starting affiliation, however.
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Heh... *I* wouldn't say that's the problem! But of course I'm a Mac user. :)
The program's developed in Qt, which is cross-platform(http://qt.nokia.com/products (http://qt.nokia.com/products)). So it should be possible to provide a Mac binary. Alternatively, the dev could open source the project and release the code so we can download and compile for our preferred platform. This would also allow people to contribute to the project.
I also would like a Mac version. I have been considering a house rule where you are not robbed xp for repeating stage 4 modules, can this program do that as an option?
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How hard is it to dl and install all of this program?
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How hard is it to dl and install all of this program?
Not hard at all...though, I recommend creating a folder on your desktop for it...if you install to its default in program
files, it doesn't like that..
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Nifty program. O0
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I asked about this back in September, but it still appears to be an issue. I'm trying to build a Solaris VII MechWarrior, but cannot choose the Stage 4 Life Module Solaris VII Games even though I have chosen the Stage 3 module Solaris Insider. Am I missing anything which would prevent my choosing the Stage 4 module I want for this character?
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Your problem is Solaris Insider is a stage 4 and is not a PR for your chosen stage 4. Try Solaris Stable Internship instead of insider.
"Prerequisites: Must have taken Solaris Stable Internship, Tour
of Duty or any module that incorporates MechWarrior, Cavalry or
Battle Armor training."
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I've noticed the website seems to have snuck off into the Internet somewhere without leaving a forward address. Anyone else have that problem?
Craig
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I've noticed the website seems to have snuck off into the Internet somewhere without leaving a forward address. Anyone else have that problem?
Craig
*hmms* Says connection to the server was reset..does not mean it is not there...I see that with stuff that is having server issues...
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Your problem is Solaris Insider is a stage 4 and is not a PR for your chosen stage 4. Try Solaris Stable Internship instead of insider.
"Prerequisites: Must have taken Solaris Stable Internship, Tour
of Duty or any module that incorporates MechWarrior, Cavalry or
Battle Armor training."
I did use Solaris Internship; I just typed the wrong one. It's still not giving me the option for Solaris Games.
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I have Win7 and it doesnt even downlaod it for me.
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I ran it under Windows 7, so I don't think it's a Windows issue.
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I can't seem to get the link posted above on the first page to work. Google Chrome can't find it.
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I can't seem to get the link posted above on the first page to work. Google Chrome can't find it.
Yeah..I am having the same problem...I wonder if anyone can contact the guy in charge of it..
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Anything yet?? **Hearing crickets chirp ain't a good thing**
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Btech hub link doesn't work
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Btech hub link doesn't work
We have noticed this...unfortunately, I do not think anyone has contact info for bearchik over there to find out what happened...
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Think someone could host a copy just to make sure it doesn't get lost?
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How long has this been off line and what are the chances to get it back?
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How long has this been off line and what are the chances to get it back?
It has been offline, about 3 weeks now. Do not know the chances of it going back up, though...does anyone have
a way to contact the person who was working on the program?
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In that case, can someone PLEASE host a mirrored copy
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Here is a link to the source files on GThub but I don't have a clue how to compile it. Perhaps someone around here will know how to do something with them. I believe you can contact Bearchik through the site.
https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator
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Anyone have the zip on their computers and would be willing to upload it to a file sharing site just incase?
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Marking for reference.
For those of you who have used it, how would you rate it?
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I like it but it needs more work. Still has some weird bugs and it would be nice to have not just the ATOW characters but some of the ones from the Era guides and reports.
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my issue was the version I used had several of the stage 3-stage 4 things did not seem to be implemented correctly
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Aye, last time I used it, when I entered traits and stats during lifepaths, they wouldn't be there when I reached the finishing stage, but the skills always worked.
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Well, the site appears to be back up...With luck, this means bearchik will be having a new build up soon.
Seems that there are issues with their server. They have it back up, and are planning to get a new one.
Info(not much) here:
http://bthub.net/forum/index.php/topic,174.0.html
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I cannot get the program to install on my computer.
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I got it to install.
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There's some problems with skills printing on the character record sheet. So far MedTech, Prestidigitation, and Technician do not print the links, target number, or the code next to the target number.
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There's some problems with skills printing on the character record sheet. So far MedTech, Prestidigitation, and Technician do not print the links, target number, or the code next to the target number.
We also have not heard from the coder over there in a while...they had some issues with their servers, so...it might
be a bit before we see a new update. Also, bearchik is not on our forums, so he does not see the bug posts we make
here.
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We also have not heard from the coder over there in a while...they had some issues with their servers, so...it might
be a bit before we see a new update. Also, bearchik is not on our forums, so he does not see the bug posts we make
here.
I know, was posting it here in the hopes that someone would convey the information to the programmer. I'm not going to make an all new account for their forums.
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I think I know, but just to be sure. How does one give a character multiple life modules in the builder such as tour of duty?
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*bump*
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please can some one uplad a copyof this program on the net so the rest of us can enjoy its use to? :'( :'(
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Hello there, I'm the new guy. I've been trying to load the page on the other end of this link ( http://bthub.net/download/battletech-character-creator-2/ ) and getting nothing. Is the page gone? Can I access the character creator anywhere else?
-C
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>.>
<.<
hello?
If this one is not working, is there another at this point?
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or can some one make one please ..... :'(
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Okay fellow RP'ers, I've found it! After poking around on Bearchik's github page, I found a link he posted up in a conversation there that leads to the final version of the program he's compiled. I've got it downloading now, just in case the link goes dead at some point. Even if it's a "dead" project at the moment, it deserves to be preserved.
https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator/issues/2 (https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator/issues/2)
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Okay fellow RP'ers, I've found it! After poking around on Bearchik's github page, I found a link he posted up in a conversation there that leads to the final version of the program he's compiled. I've got it downloading now, just in case the link goes dead at some point. Even if it's a "dead" project at the moment, it deserves to be preserved.
https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator/issues/2 (https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator/issues/2)
I tried downloading the file but all I got was a spamware runaround.
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I got it no problem.
Though it is still riddled with more problems than I care for.
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This is a really nice app that honestly would make the system unplayable for me if it wasn't around. Because character creation in this system is HORRIBLE.
I just really wish that the project was being continued.
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I was hoping for a character creator, and found this...which isn't going to be finished :(
Ah, well.
And because I wanted an actual download (as did someone else):
Seen at: https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator/issues/2
"Oh, You want compiled version my program? You can download It from http://depositfiles.com/files/i6ntickdw
Sorry, but development this program has stopped. Actual version is 0.8.9.
If You programmer, You can use my source code from github for non commercial use." - bearchik
~S
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What all do y'all find deficient in this tool? What bugs have you found in the recent release?
There's always the possibility of splitting it off, you know?
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the last version I worked on didn't have all the lifepaths implimented, and there were some really wierd issues trying to do stage 4, and finalizing charactors, granted this was around 6 months ago or more