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In the past there have been some questions and confusion as to how Nova handles multiple chär resources, including suspicions of buggy behaviour. I'm going to try to clear this all up and explain exactly how they work.
Rules of chärs:
The key rule of chärs is that they do not work like all other resources which can be overridden by another of the same ID. For chärs, IDs are irrelevant - instead they are overridden by name. If there are two chärs with the same ID but different names, both will be loaded. If there are two chärs with different IDs but the same name, only the first instance from the last file will be loaded.
The 'default' flag relates to the default selection in the popup character list, therefore it is only relevant when the popup list is shown. The default selection will be the lowest ID'd chär with the 'default' flag set, from the last file. This allows any new file to determine the default selection.
chärs whose names start with '.' are 'invisible' and will never appear in the popup character list. This means the 'default' flag has no meaning for these chärs.
The popup character list will only be shown if there is more than one visible chär resource. The odd thing about this is that it will still appear if all visible chärs have the same name, even though it will contain only the chär loaded according to rule #1.
When the popup character list is not shown the chär used will be the single visible chär if it exists, otherwise it will be the first resource from the last file (similar to rule #1).
So, with these rules in mind we can answer two questions about how to use chärs in plugs with default Nova scenario.
Q: How do I override Nova's chär? A: Just add a chär resource to a plug. Name, ID, flags and visibility do not matter, that chär will always be the one used when you create a new pilot.
Q: How do I add new chärs in addition to Nova's chär? A: First you need to copy Nova's chär into your plug and remove the '.' from the name. Then you can add additional chärs and all will appear in the popup character list.
This post has been edited by Guy : 13 February 2009 - 12:12 AM
Bravo, Guy, I applaud your work!
Am I reading you right to assume an invisible chär from a plug-in will replace the stock chär if none others are present, while itself still being replaceable if others are?
Correct. If the stock chär was not invisible then to replace it you would need another chär with the same name, however that would cause the popup list to be shown (with only one item in it).
If I recall right from my own work with Windows Nova, this must be applicable to Macs and not PCs. I believe that when I replaced 128 with a different char resource, it just overwrote the old one, not added a second one, in defiance of your rule #1. I could check that real quick, but I think that's what I did with a couple of plugs I've made for personal use - I just assigned the new ID as 128.