[MOD] Unhide Chargen Options

Adul · June 2016

Version 1.0

The EE 2.0 update brought with it the new practice of hiding unavailable character choices during character creation. This means, for instance, that if you choose the halfling race, in class selection you will only see the 4 classes that are available to you and none of the disabled options, where in previous game versions you could see all the disabled options. As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan of this new behavior. So I made this.

The lazily named Unhide Chargen Options mod restores the original chargen behavior, showing disabled character options to you during character creation. It does not change which options you can choose, only which ones will show up (as in, all of them).

The following previously hidden options are restored:

Classes excluded by your race selection
Kits excluded by your race selection
Alignments excluded by your class/kit selections
Weapon proficiencies excluded by your class/kit selections

Install:

1. Download the zip file from the bottom of this post and unzip it into your override folder

2. Backup your UI.menu file, then open it up for editing

3. First, we'll make the race, class, kit, alignment, and racial enemy list rows a bit narrower so we can fit more options in there.

3a) Search for all instances of "area 0 0 340 44" (without quotes) and replace them with "area 0 0 340 32".

3b) Search for all instances of "rowheight 44" and replace them with "rowheight 32".

4. We need to ensure that the mod maps out all the available character options at the start of the character creation process. Search for the following code segment:

 name 'CHARGEN'
align center center
ignoreesc

Below it, insert the following code:
onOpen "generateAllChargenOptions()"

5. Now we'll make some changes to the class menu to restore the hidden classes. Search for name 'CHARGEN_CLASS'

5a) A few lines below, replace the onopen segment (the whole line) with the following code:

 onopen
"
lastChargenClass = nil
currentChargenClass = nil
if (createCharScreen:GetCurrentStep() == const.STEP_DUALCLASS_CLASS) then
allChargenClasses = chargen.class
allChargenOptionsGenerated = false
end
"

5b) A few lines below, replace
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(chargen.class[rowNumber].name)"with
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(allChargenClasses[rowNumber].name)"
5c) Directly below the label segment that includes the above line, insert:

 label
{
area 0 0 340 32
rectangle 1
rectangle opacity 180
enabled "getClassDisabled(allChargenClasses[rowNumber].id)"
}

5d) Two lines below, replace the action segment (including the two quotation marks and everything between them) with:

 actionUpdate
"
if (allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass] and getClassDisabled(allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].id)) then
currentChargenClass = lastChargenClass
else
lastChargenClass = currentChargenClass
end
if (allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass]) then
createCharScreen:OnClassSelectButtonClick(allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].id)
end
"

5e) Scroll down to
table "chargen.class"and replace it with
table "allChargenClasses"
5f) Scroll down to
text lua "classOrGeneralHelp()"and replace it with
text lua "getClassHelpText()"

6. Now we'll unhide the hidden kits. Scroll down to name 'CHARGEN_KIT'

6a) Insert just below the above line:
onopen "lastChargenKit = currentChargenKit"
6b) A few lines below, replace
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(chargen.kit[rowNumber].name)"with
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits[rowNumber].name)"
6c) Directly below the label segment that includes the above line, insert:

 label
{
area 0 0 340 32
rectangle 1
rectangle opacity 180
enabled "getKitDisabled(allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits[rowNumber].id)"
}

6d) Two lines below, replace the action segment with:

 actionUpdate
"
if (allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits[currentChargenKit] and getKitDisabled(allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits[currentChargenKit].id)) then
currentChargenKit = lastChargenKit
else
lastChargenKit = currentChargenKit
end
if (allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits[currentChargenKit]) then
createCharScreen:OnKitSelectButtonClick(allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits[currentChargenKit].id)
end
"

6e) Scroll down to
table "chargen.kit"and replace it with
table "allChargenClasses[currentChargenClass].kits"
6f) Scroll down to
text lua "kitOrGeneralHelp()"and replace it with
text lua "getKitHelpText()"

7. Now we'll do the same for the alignment menu. Scroll down to name 'CHARGEN_ALIGNMENT'

7a) A few lines below, replace the onopen segment with the following code:

 onopen
"
lastChargenAlignment = nil
currentChargenAlignment = nil
"

7b) A few lines below, replace
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(chargen.alignment[rowNumber].name)"with
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(allChargenAlignments[rowNumber].name)"
7c) Directly below the label segment that includes the above line, insert:

 label
{
area 0 0 340 32
rectangle 1
rectangle opacity 180
enabled "getAlignmentDisabled(allChargenAlignments[rowNumber].id)"
}

7d) Two lines below, replace the action segment with:

 actionUpdate
"
if (allChargenAlignments[currentChargenAlignment] and getAlignmentDisabled(allChargenAlignments[currentChargenAlignment].id)) then
currentChargenAlignment = lastChargenAlignment
else
lastChargenAlignment = currentChargenAlignment
end
if allChargenAlignments[currentChargenAlignment] then
createCharScreen:OnAlignmentSelectButtonClick(allChargenAlignments[currentChargenAlignment].id)
end
"

7e) Scroll down to
table "chargen.alignment"and replace it with
table "allChargenAlignments"
7f) Scroll down to
text lua "alignmentOrGeneralHelp()"and replace it with
text lua "getAlignmentHelpText()"

8. Finally, we need to restore the hidden proficiencies. Search for name 'CHARGEN_PROFICIENCIES'

8a) A few lines below, replace the onopen segment with the following code:

 onopen
"
currentChargenProficiency = nil
currentChargenThiefSkill = nil
ticksPassed = 0
ticksStarting = 0
if (chargen.levelingUp or (createCharScreen:GetCurrentStep() == const.STEP_DUALCLASS_PROFICIENCIES)) then
allChargenProficiencies = chargen.proficiency
allChargenOptionsGenerated = false
profRowDict = nil
else
translateProficiencyRows()
end
"

8b) Scroll down to
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(chargen.proficiency[rowNumber].name)"and replace it with with
text lua "Infinity_FetchString(allChargenProficiencies[rowNumber].name)"
8c) Search for all instances of
chargen.proficiency[rowNumber].valueand replace them with
getTranslatedProficiencyValue(rowNumber)
8d) Scroll down to
frame lua "getPlusFrame(7)"and insert below it
enabled "getTranslatedProficiencyEnabled(rowNumber)"
8e) Scroll down to
frame lua "getMinusFrame(8)"and insert below it
enabled "getTranslatedProficiencyEnabled(rowNumber)"
8f) Search for all instances of
chargen.proficiency[currentChargenProficiency].idand replace them with
getTranslatedProficiencyId(currentChargenProficiency)
8g) Scroll down to
table "chargen.proficiency"and replace it with
table "allChargenProficiencies"
8h) Search for
text lua "proficiencyOrGeneralHelp()"and replace it with
text lua "getProficiencyHelpText()"

9. Just kidding, there's no 9. You're done. Congratulations!

Adul · June 2016

Post reserved for additional info (updates, etc.)

subtledoctor · June 2016

I don't mean for this to sound critical, but... why? What's the difference? Seems like this just introduces more unnecessary scrolling.

EDIT - seriously not being critical. Just want to know more about what motivated you to make this.

Adul · June 2016

@subtledoctor I find Beamdog changing the chargen process to its current form a particularly dreadful design decision for two reasons:

1. It is detrimental to new players learning about the game. A player who is unfamiliar with the options available to them could, for example, pick the halfling race and go through the rest of the character creation process without ever finding out that there are more than 4 classes in the game. Not to mention the unlikeliness of finding out about the dwarven defender kit.

2. It curbs the viability of iterating character design. I often find myself wanting to take a look at all the available classes in the game first, before deciding on what kind of character I want to create. With the 2.0 behavior, looking at all the options in-game is just not possible. (That is, without cycling through all the races and making a mental list of the classes available to each one, which is obviously not very convenient.)

Mr2150 · June 2016

Why not immediately useful, as it's not adding new stuff or changing functionality, what this mod does do is unhide the missing stuff. As a result, I find this mod very interesting for the possibilities it opens up (and had already messaged @Adul about it). Now this information is available what can Adul/others then do with it...

Also the way the mod works, how it collects all the alternatives, is very clever and robust - especially if the user has modded the class/kits in some way.

iavasechui · July 2016

Does the new version not show classes that races cannot get in vanilla even if the player is using a mod that gives more classes to races? If that is the case then this mod is a very useful one indeed.

Rodrian · July 2016

I personally find Adul's #1 reason to be quite important, accurate and doubtlessly worth consideration with the future updates, so I'm gonna' tag @Dee here. .

Dee · July 2016

I'll pass it along. In the meantime, you should be able to add a toggle button that hides/shows the disabled choices. That would let you see the full list if you're curious without forcing you to scroll when you know what you want.

subtledoctor · August 2017

Dee said:
I'll pass it along. In the meantime, you should be able to add a toggle button that hides/shows the disabled choices. That would let you see the full list if you're curious without forcing you to scroll when you know what you want.

Anyone have any idea how to do this? And, importantly, could it be done in Weidu? (I don't understand any of this UI modding stuff, I literally had to have a drink after reading the install instructions in the first post of this thread...

Why doesn't the game already have a toggle button or game option to show/hide this stuff??

lefreut · August 2017

***

subtledoctor · August 2017

lefreut said:
They change how this works in the new UI in 2.0 (probably thinking it was not really important to add an option for this).

I defended Beamdog change earlier in this thread, but that was before I realized this change is not just cosmetic, but actually can cause functional issues in the game, not allowing you to choose proficiencies that should be available to you:
https://support.baldursgate.com/issues/31771

Adul · August 2017

To be fair, I don't think it was ever just a cosmetic change. Removing options from menus that could be available to you is a fairly drastic turn towards a more streamlined and less transparent UI design that does not fit well with the original game in my opinion.

And I did submit a feature request to restore the missing chargen options ages ago, but unfortunately the ticket (not unlike my other feature requests) hasn't seen much activity from the official side:
https://support.baldursgate.com/issues/20614

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