Help with scripts

[fierop]

Awesome.

Thanks again for the assistance.

I am getting quite a bit accomplished with this and I believe it will make for a more satisfying experience for my gamers. There are about 6 of us in our group and we all own Hero Lab. It has made character creation less of a chore and gives the GM the ability to view the various PC's sheets without having to decipher each player's notes.

Job well done.

[fierop]

Okay...more help...please?

I now have a Trait....Dermal Plating. It is available, say, from d4 - d8...so a total of three die steps.

At d4 the PC gets Inherent Armor at d4
At d6 the PC gets Inherent Armor at d6
and finally a d8 the PC gets Inherent Armor at d8.

I have bootstrap set up to assign asInhAr at d4 and FreeDie 2. No problem. So how can I get each die level assigned its equivalent bootstrap settings?

)

PFiero

[fierop]

Any tips on how to bootstrap an Attribute Step for improving an Attribute when a Trait is added?

[Mathias]

For Dermal plating - is it just Inherent armor, renamed, or does it have other things? If it is just a renaming, why bother bootstrapping it?

Having one thing control the free level of another thing during play wasn't something I was able to work out - the free cost needs to be incorporated into the trait rating before the trait rating is finalized, but you can't assign the free cost to the inherent armor until the trait rating of dermal plating is finalized.

You'll need three separate assets for dermal plating d4, d6, and d8. To see how I've done that sort of thing elsewhere, check the three versions of the Animate trait from Demon Hunters - they should be near the top of the assets list.

[Mathias]

Originally Posted by fierop

Any tips on how to bootstrap an Attribute Step for improving an Attribute when a Trait is added?

The animate asset is again where you're going to start. The first question is, do you consider this bonus to be a permanent bonus, affecting the XP cost for the trait, or is it an in-play bonus, added after everything else? I'll be writing the sample code as if it's an in-play bonus. Replace the trtInPlay references with trtBonus to switch it to a permanent bonus.

In the second eval script for animate d12, you'll find this:

 
      ~add our trait rating to our strength
      hero.child[attrStr].field[trtArray].arrayvalue[field[trtBonus].value] +=1

Since you want an in-play attribute step, rather than an additional die, use field[trtInPlay] instead of field[trtArray].

 
~+1 strength step:
hero.child[attrStr].field[trtInPlay].value += 1

Use the same timing as the script on the Animate asset, Traits/5000.

[fierop]

I kind of went with the Dermal Plating "ranks" if you will. There just didn't seem to be a good way to do what I was thinking.

As for the Attribute step I will dig into the Animate script to see what I can figure out.

What I had been doing was using bootstrap to adjust adjAttr. Why are you using trtInPlay? What is the difference between them?

Sorry if I don't seem to be getting this but I am having some difficulties determining which contexts to use when.

Thanks.

PFiero

[Mathias]

Could you tell me more about how Dermal Plating works, or just copy its description from whatever source you got it from?

What is adjAttr? There isn't an adjAttr field.

Could you elaborate on what sort of context problems you're having?

[fierop]

Dermal plating basically fit into the category you mentioned earlier in that it is just a form of Inherent Armor. I set it up as various levels so that issue is resolved.

I got the Attribute adjustment working as well by using the script sample you posted. That is for a Bio-Tech Augmentation that offers enhancements to the various attributes.

The context issues I think has to do with me trying to do things with the In-Play adjustments piece of HL and right clicking on various fields. I don't recall where I found it earlier. What I'm referring to for the most part is finding, for instance, what field or object to use when writing a script. A current example is as follows: I have a Bio-Tech base matrix that is set up as a Top Holder. When players purchase a Bio-Tech object, for example Adrenaline Pump. The pre-req for that is the Bio-Tech base matrix and I have that set up. But I also want the Adrenaline Pump to be automatically held by the base matrix. So, how would I find the field in the Adrenaline Pump that would define what holds it or if it even being held? The .pdf document I have indicates that there is a holdlimit tag expression that allows you to define what object can hold another. I don't know how to find out what fields or object IDs would be used in that kind of script.

This may seem a bit expansive but I'm finding it hard to do anything but duplicate existing scripts because there is no real map showing how things relate and though the .pdf document describes what some scripts do it doesn't give any real examples of how to use them. Sorry but I want to do so much with HL and I think some of the things I want to do are possible but just out of my reach and I hate to bog you down with all these questions.

PFiero

[Mathias]

I'm afraid that it would take quite a long time to do a thorough map of everything in the data files. We have numerous data files, and only three programmers. I'm responsible for the d20, Pathfinder, Cortex, and Call of Cthulhu games in Hero Lab. Rob and Colen each have their Hero Lab games, plus improving the core program, plus working on Army Builder and Card Vault.

If we were to take the time to properly describe every piece of the data files and every option someone could make use of, it would take a considerable chunk of time that we've decided could be better used adding more content and new game systems.

So, rather than answering every possible question in documentation, we help people through the specific problems they're having on this forum. Searching through the forums becomes a form of documentation, since a person can look up the answers we gave the previous person. Also, most existing things in the files can be opened in the editor and studied there, so if you can think of something that already exists that does something similar to what you want to do, you can look at it, to see how it does that task.

Sorry for the digression. In answer to your specific question, the holding mechanism is only accessible to users while editing a character. You can't set up a piece of gear to automatically be held. The holdlimit script restricts the type of things that can be held. For example, if you added a new gear category for your bio-tech, and placed all your biotech in that category, then add a piece of that gear to your hero, look at its tags, and figure out which one represents that category (I think it would be something like GearCat.BioTech), you'd put "GearCat.BioTech" in the holdlimit for your base matrix. That way, the user can't accidently move their pistol into the base matrix.

Unless there can be multiple base matrixes (and it matters which matrix an item is in), why even bother with the container mechanisms? If all biotech must go in the base matrix, why not assume that it's already there once added to the character, and skip the step of containing it?

[fierop]

Point taken for the container mechanism. I think I was trying to find a way to restrict quantities of objects but am seeing that some things are just better left up the human to deal with. No worries.

I am seeing a bit more clearly where cost versus return can be an issue with putting together a "data dictionary" for each system.

I have tried to do some digging into various existing objects to see what those scripts and items look like. There is just a lot of them and not knowing exactly which ones do what makes it a daunting task to find one with examples. I may look at putting together a list of the various items, traits, and skills to see if I can establish a list of which ones have things like pre-req scripts, eval scripts, and so forth.

I just kinda felt like I was taking away from your time in having you answer questions that may be fairly basic but I think I've got a better clue now.

I'll continue to post here.

Thanks.

PJ