To Character Create or not to Character Create

Okay... Because I was very bored I decided to do a little testing on the CC and the Irda race. Turns out in their infinite wisdom that the programmers for the CC made the Irda base phenotype half-orc. Now, why they did this is beyond me when it says in the manual, and I quote, "Irda, also known as high ogres, retain the natural grace and beauty bestowed upon them as one of the first races created on Krynn. They split from their ogre ancestors long ago, taking up residence on a faraway island and only paying visits in secrecy to the mainland of Ansalon. They were cast out into the world when Chaos was reborn, destroying their island in the process. Physically they are tall and slender, moving with a grace and delicacy that even elves envy. Mentally they are aloof and arrogant, typically considering the other races as squabbling children. They prefer isolation as well, even among their own kind."

So... how the FUCK they decided the half-orc pheno was the right one for them is beyond me. having said that this means there are only a few options to get around this.

a) Elara removes whatever restriction that ties a race to a certain phenotype and counts on all of us behaving like adults and not abusing the privelege. (this by far is my choice)

b) I go back to the old way of doing things. That means choosing a race that has the human/half-elf pheno already tied to it, and using the disguise heads for the shapechanging ability.(This is my second choice. Maybe with a little luck I can find a race with the right pheno that also has shapechanging abilities)

c) Elara or some other DM turns on/off debug whenever I log in so I can SetAppearance. (by far my least favorite choice and I'm sure Elara's too)

Thoughts?



*** After further testing I came up with a pretty decent alternative to removing the phenotype lock if Elara doesn't want to do that. It's using the Changeling race as well as some of the disguise heads, mainly because the Changeling race's shapechanging abilities aren't as good as the Irda. I'd just need Lara to adjust my stats for the Irda race as the changeling race doesn't have any adjustments.***

A little explaination of how phenotypes work.

Phenotypes are just a body shape. CEP basically overwrites the "base" phenotypes and replaces them with dynamic models. All well and good.

PRC, however, creates new races, and is trying to point them at the "old" base phenotypes, which no longer exist. And they are confuzzled. The merge hak, and tweaks I've put into the server-side hif, are a quick resolution to the problem but I had to adjust some switches in how the PRC works.

A) removing the restrictions is an all or nothing proposition. It doesn't just affect PC's, it affects NPC's. Basically,EVERY NPC in the mod would get screwed up. This isn't just a matter of trust, it's a technical problem created by the CEP and PRC refusing to play nice with each other until they are savagely beaten. It doesn't help I'm using the very latest versions of both haks with no heavily tested merge files.

B) I can attempt to repoint the Irda entries in the TLK file to the correct phenotype. That means I have to edit that fucking TLK file again, redo all my hak pointers again, recompile the fucking MODULE again ... ugh. I would rather not do that unless I absolutely, positively have to.

C) Using the SetAppearance Hak isn't that bad a choice. I plan to add a magical mirror script that will allow you to pick whatever CEP head and skin colors you want int he next few days. THAT should solve all problems.

CEP and PRC require a bit of work to make happy, but it's worth it.

I created 4 different test modules with 4 different versions of the PRC and no CEP. Three of the mods came back with the half-orc pheno and one came back with bad strrf character. I'm pretty sure that PRC actually intended for the half-orc pheno to be used. It's just stupid.

Whatever works best for you is fine. One thing you may not know on that SetAppearance is that it doesn't save. I tried choosing that character that I saved after using SetAppearance in one of my test mods and it looked the same as it did before using SetAppearance. That means that SetAppearance is something that would have to be done each time I logged in. Not that big of a deal I suppose, but I imagined it'd get on your nerves more than you seem to be saying it would.

Also, I love both CEP and PRC and am willing to put up with quite a bit of bullshit to keep them. Like I said if neccessary I can use the Changeling race and work with that.

Is it not easier to simply edit the base appearance of his .bic file using Leto?

Last I checked, Leto has some serious issues with PRC. If there is a work around I would love to see it, use it, touch it taste it....

Also, it has been a very long time since I used anything like CC. Anyone care to share the setup configuration needed?