Entering Stock Heroes

[Duggan]

As per an email I sent out to you, Colen, I've got everything but the Pets section of Mecha and Manga. I could go ahead and add the descriptive text and characters but... the pet feat just doesn't seem to fit in nicely right now. Can't quite put my finger on how to integrate it in so that all of its feats and powers and drawbacks work right.

[fillerbunny_x1]

Originally Posted by Colen

Nathan - We shrink the size of the images before we send out the stock portfolios, so if you're noticing that they're lower quality than normal, that's unfortunately intentional. Just adding the stock heroes that you guys submitted added ~12mb to the Mutants & Masterminds download size - having the full-size images included would only balloon it more.

We're looking at a way to reduce the size of stock portfolios right now, so hopefully we can ameliorate this in a future release of Hero Lab.

Thought that me part of the issue. Unfortunately, it's not a question of bad image quality, but the wrong image altogether. If I find the time, I'll see if I can format the images into smaller files.

[Duggan]

And I have submitted the updates to Colen (or at least I will have when GMail is done chewing on the files). I would post them in something like the YahooGroup, but then I'd be submitting copyrighted material since it's not been locked down or anything. Sorry...

[JDRook]

Originally Posted by Colen

... Just adding the stock heroes that you guys submitted added ~12mb to the Mutants & Masterminds download size - having the full-size images included would only balloon it more.

We're looking at a way to reduce the size of stock portfolios right now, so hopefully we can ameliorate this in a future release of Hero Lab.

I noticed that when I just spread the the portfolios between more files (ie Instant Superheroes from 3 to 5 files and IS: sidekicks from 1 to 2) I got a significant reduction in total size (roughly 60-80% of original). Not sure what causes that, and I haven't experimented too much with it yet, but I'm wondering if there's a ideal size of portfolio package, or even if it might be better to save them all individually and just give each book its own subfolder.

[KevMc]

I looked for the files for the arch-type character in the M&M folder but all I found was the core ones. Where should I look for the added ones?

[Duggan]

I believe that you should find them in the regular data folder. They're a series of .stock files. I believe that they do require the Ultimate Power data package. Theoretically, the Instant Superheroes ones ought not to since they're built via Core rules, but this may also have to do with them rewarding people who buy the additional dataset.

[KevMc]

I do have Ultimate Power. I will check that folder, thank you.

[Colen]

KevMc: Go to the Portfolio menu and choose "Import Stock Hero". That'll show you the list of all the available heroes that you can use.

Even if some characters require the Ultimate Power package, you should still be able to load them - any powers from Ultimate Power just wouldn't be loaded, but the rest of the hero would appear normally.

[jekessler]

Originally Posted by Colen

KevMc: Go to the Portfolio menu and choose "Import Stock Hero". That'll show you the list of all the available heroes that you can use.

Even if some characters require the Ultimate Power package, you should still be able to load them - any powers from Ultimate Power just wouldn't be loaded, but the rest of the hero would appear normally.

When I go to "Import Stock Hero", I get a long list of books to choose from, but inside most of the heroes have 'Missing Source' listed next to them. Even the Core Heroes. And though they do import if selected, I get a popup error with a bunch (25 or so) of 'missing things' listed.

I don't have "Ultimate Powers" package, so is this the expected behavior?

I just updated my Hero Lab today for the first time in several months.

[JDRook]

Originally Posted by Colen

. . . Just adding the stock heroes that you guys submitted added ~12mb to the Mutants & Masterminds download size . . .

We're looking at a way to reduce the size of stock portfolios right now, so hopefully we can ameliorate this in a future release of Hero Lab.

I see with the new 3.5 release most of the archetypes from the books have been covered. As has been demonstrated, however, I'm a big fan of all the other stuff : the supporting characters, the background creatures and creeps, and of course the NPC's. I'm planning to keep entering all of these ancillary characters for each book, much like I've already done with the Core and Agents books, but since size is becoming a consideration, I'm wondering if I should just keep them to myself rather than submitting them.

As a possible compromise, is there a way to break up the updates so that the fixes and improvements are separate from the prefab portfolios, thereby making them an optional download, much like the Hero Images update operates now?