[Daphne Pfister]

These instructions are for the old version, which is attached. See the first post for the new versions and updated instructions.

Here is the subset of only the changed files with the patched already applied, plus the new tab_theme.dat and thing_themes.dat files. Just unzip into the 4e data directory.

To add a new theme.

Pick a go 6 letter id for the them, e.g. PacOut

First launch the editor

Then create the theme features. It's best to create the theme features before the theme itself so that you can bootstrap them easily. Most themes have a level 1, level 5 and level 10 feature.
Click the "New (Blank)" button to start a new feature. Give it an id such as "ftPacOut1". Set Level requirement to 1. The name to the theme name followed by "Starting Feature". If the feature provides a power create the power like normal, but leave the Level Requirement blank and set the power class to "Theme Power". Then add the power to the bootstrap for that feature.
Add the rest of the details about the feature as needed then save the feature. Click the "Test Now!" button so that you can add this feature through the "Choose" buttons for the bootstraps later.

Repeat for the level 5 and level 10 features.

For the theme itself, you can either copy an existing background using New ( Copy ) or create the theme from scratch. Most of the themes will already exists as backgrounds if you used the downloader.

Check the "Is a theme?" check box.

Open the bootstraps window and add the id's for the three theme features there. ( No need for conditions to handle levels, the system will take care of that automatically. ) Assuming that you compiled the data files with the features in them already or used "Test Now!" on each one the name of the feature should appear in the bootstrap list along with the thing id.

Add any other background details as necessary and the save the theme. Again click "Test Now!" to make it easier to add dependencies on this theme to the utility powers.

Next add the optional utility powers. Create these as if they were normal powers, but the Power Class field should be set to "Theme Power". And the Level Requirement to the level, and the Power Type to "Utility Power".

Click the "Pick-reqs" button to add the theme as a requirement to be able to choose the power. Click the add pick requirement button. The "Is Error?" and "Highlight Panel?" should be already checked. So just put the theme id in the field next to the choose button, or you can pick the thing from the choose button if you used the "Test Now!" button.

Save and repeat for each utility power giving them unique ids. Example "pwPacOut2". Then "Test Now!", repeat for each of the available utility powers.

Then just save the data file into a user file and it should be available to characters.

( Hopefully bundling them up like this is okay, since the definitions.dat file listed the 4e system files as public domain. )