Feature requests for upcoming Fifth edition:
 

I am so glad that Hero lab is going to have a data file out for 5th edition and I have two feature requests that I really hope are put into the datafile. Both of these would be optional rules that are very common house rules and I think they would be relatively easy to program (I have not created datafiles; however I am a software engineer, and from what I've seen I don't think my requests would be hard at all to implement) so without further ado, here are my requests.

1. Have an option to allow Initiation and submersion at character creation. This is pretty simple, just allow a player to purchase initiation or submersion for their mages and technomancers during the original character creation.
2. Allow characters to purchase their priorities. This is a standard house rule, where you give a player 10 priority points, and then they buy their priority levels with those points, Level E would be 0, D = 1, C = 2, B = 3, and A = 4. as long as they use only ten points, they can buy whatever levels however they want. You can then facilitate further house rules by allowing the user to adjust the number of points they have to buy so higher level runners would have more points and lower level would have less.

Thank you for reading this, I have been a long-time user of Hero lab and I can't wait to be able to purchase the datafile for Shadowrun Fifth Edition

We're far enough into the process that I can tell you how you'll be able to implement these house rules, now.

For #1, it'll be pretty simple - normally, you're allowed to keep up to 7 points of karma from character creation for later use. So what you'll do is to add an adjustment on the Permanent Adjustment table on the Personal tab - "Karma reserve allowed", and set that to +6. Then, you can reserve 13 karma for later without getting an error message, and then as soon as you lock your character for advancement, spend them on initiation.

#2 won't be as simple, but it will be workable. There will be adjustments on the Permanent Adjustments table that can affect each of the limits set by the priority system. So, you can apply the A,B,C,D,and E priorities as normal, then calculate how the totals they offer differ from the totals granted by the priorities you would have purchased, and use adjustments to correct the amount allowed in each category.

"Far enough into the process..." you say?

Just how far is far? And are we looking at a Pre december release? Or at least a 2013 release?

And....do you want some help? Free help? from a professional tech writer? Cause....gimme!

lol.

(Seriously though, PM me, I do this kind of thing for a living, might as well put in the firearms section for you or something and save you some time).

I'm sorry, but I'm not certain enough of my answer to give an estimate yet. Too many times in the past, I've failed to estimate well, which has lead to annoyances. I'll get it to you as soon as I can.

That your working on it is enough for me :)

Would love to se a lighter, but still cyberpunk / Noir, color scheme since this will be a new core set.

Fair point.

Maybe more gunmetal grey, or steel, rather than the blue it currently is? Gunmetal Grey with Steel striping would be neat.

Hell, maybe theme it with the current color of choice for the edition. 4th Ed was Green, 4a was blue, this one appears to be dark red or maroon.

Overly dark backgrounds and some patterns can make a product difficult for people with some types of color blindness. testing UIs against a color blindness simulator or having a second theme that can be switched to makes for a better user experience. Its a small group, but a very appreciative group when they are acknowledged.

I agree 100% with this. Please improve the colors of the UI for HL-SR5. Thanks.
I purchased the SR4 add-on for HL but was never able to use it. Was very disappointing.

Thanks for the Update:
Shadowrun 5 for Hero Lab Update