Marvel Mods

HeroSelect by Norrin Radd RELEASE V1.6

This program has a graphical user interface and allows you to choose which characters/mods you want to play with.
For instructions please see the pdf file contained in the download. I have tried to make the instructions as clear as possible in the pdf, and will not repeat them all in this thread. If you have any questions please ask.

*Note* You may need to install Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 or higher

See a screenshot of the program below
(http://xs217.xs.to/xs217/07294/HeroSelect.JPG.xs.jpg) (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs217&d=07294&f=HeroSelect.JPG)

Version 1.6 *compiler included* New!
Download Here (http://www.marvelmods.com/ftp_users/NorrinR/programs/HeroSelect_V1.6.rar)

Version 1.4 *international language support*
Download Here (http://www.marvelmods.com/ftp_users/NorrinR/programs/HeroSelect_V1.4.rar)

Version 1.2 *new pdf* *default team = 27 characters* (includes Character Select V1.4)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gh84e6
(for users of V1.0, just replace Characterselect.exe and the pdf file)
Notes for V1.2
Colossus and Moonknight playable (PS values inserted)
Default team is now 27 characters so you will need to add at least 2 characters before you can use it
There was a small problem for the default team wouldn't also go in their default menu locations, this is fixed.

Big thanks to:
BliZZ for the menu locations, and Bane1 for testing purposes

Removed from first post:
Character Select by Norrin Radd RELEASE V1.0

For user guide instructions see the help_file.txt in the zip. To run, just double-click. Make sure to set up your cfg files first! Once they are setup, there should not be any need to change anything, only add new mod information. Hope you enjoy!

Version 1.0
http://www.momoshare.com/file.php?file=878ef20b078f5bf0a25f03a89e043248

For enquiries, you can reply to this thread or start a new one named 'Character Select Help' or something similar.

Note: you will need nba2kstuff's (non-gui) xmlb-compiler v2.2 (http://www.nba2kstuff.org/mua/)
Note: you won't always be able to choose the location the characters show up in the menu, especially if there are more than 27 entries in herostat.cfg
Note: Put this line:
c:\\Program Files\\Activision\\Marvel - Ultimate Alliance\\data\\
or your directory for the herostat.engb file as THE FIRST LINE of the herostat.cfg file


======= Using Character Select =======
Adding new character:

What you need:
Unzipped Character Select files (make sure all the files are in the same
folder).
xmlb-compile.exe (from http://www.nba2kstuff.org/mua/) in your c:\windows
directory.
Make sure you backed up your herostat.engb file.

1. Open herostat.cfg with notepad or another text editor. Make sure the first
line of the file points to the directory of your herostat.engb file. If not,
change it using the same format it is in (with the \\).

2. Add the new character name (NO SPACES!) to the end of the list that is there
now (lines 2-28 in the version that came zipped) but BEFORE endoffile.

3. Go to the end of the file, it looks like:

Quotetalent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = fightstyle_default ;
      }

   }

endoffile
   stats {
   autospend = support ;
   isteam = true ;
   name = team_character ;
   skin = 0002 ;
   xpexempt = true ;
   }

EOF

4. Add the same character's name written at the start of the file here
(NEWCHARACTERNAME):

Quotetalent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = fightstyle_default ;
      }

   }

endoffile
   stats {
   autospend = support ;
   isteam = true ;
   name = team_character ;
   skin = 0002 ;
   xpexempt = true ;
   }

NEWCHARACTERNAME                    <-- the new character's name

EOF

5. Add the character's herostat entry (provided by the modder) directly after
the name:

Quoteisteam = true ;
   name = team_character ;
   skin = 0002 ;
   xpexempt = true ;
   }

NEWCHARACTERNAME
   stats {                         <-- NEWCHARACTERNAME's herostat entry
   ailevel = 1 ;
   autospend = bruiser ;
....
....
      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = fightstyle_default ;
      }

   }

EOF

6. Close and save the file and now run Characterselect.exe
7. Type 'c' to change the herostat.
8. Enter the amount of characters you want on your team.
9. Choose your team yourself, randomly, or use the default team.
10. Choosing yourself:
   Type the name of the characters you want, one character at a time using
   the same names that are in your herostat.cfg file.
Choosing random team:
   Enter a random number seed (ex: 1,50, or 1110) so that your team won't
   be the same every time, or so if you like your random team from last
   time, just use the same seed.
Choosing default team:
   This chooses characters on lines 3-27 (25 characters in all) in
   herostat.cfg. Note that it chooses 25 characters no matter what number
   you chose originally.
11. After compilation, you can read the lines that say Decompiling: ... and
Compilng: ... to check for errors. If there are no errors, your new
herostat.engb is built using the characters you wanted.
12. Type 'q' then enter to quit Characterselect.exe
13. Run game and have fun.


Original first post moved here:
I have created a program which can replace the files so you can choose which character you want in the game.

So far, the program can do this:
before you start MUA, or XML2, you start the program, basically type in which character skins you want to replace which characters in the game. So far I only programmed it for skins, but it can basically be made to do anything from replace huds and mannequins to edit entries in files.
Also, since you can swap skins during run-time, you can alt-tab out of the game, use the program to swap skins, then jump back in.

Why, you might ask, would you want a program like this. Well, i'm lazy, and i can't remember everyone's skin number. this way, if i want hulk's 3rd skin to replace wolverine's first skin, i just type in hulk3 and wolverine1 (i made it so you can name the skins yourself). this way all you have to do is remember the name of the character, and it will replace the files for you. there is a file that you just need to fill once that has the igb # and the name of the character (you can choose both of these)

i am welcome to any suggestions people may have. also i will need some guinney pigs to try it out on different machines, i'm not used to programming in windows, so i hope it works for everyone. i will release it very soon.

Also note that this program could be theoretically used for any type of file copying you want to do.
End of original first post.

How i see people using it (at the present state it is in):
you can make a backup folder which contains all the igbs in your actors folder.
you have another folder which contains all other hero/villain skins you have.
you just overwrite your hero/villain skins over the ones in the actors folder (since you made backups, its safe).
this is an easy way to test new skins, or just check one out if you havent seen it in a while.

like i said, i am open to suggestions on how to improve it so we can just have a complete character select before the game starts.
edit: if i'm the only one that wants this, then i will just tailor it to my wants/needs.

Hmmm... interesting idea! :)
How about a program for character selection that modifies the herostat file?

Say you have a configuration text file (like the cfg file from NBA2KStuff) that stores a library of herostat entries of characters already installed in MUA. When we add/install a new character to the game, we can add new herostat entries to this text file. We still need to add all the files ourselves. Before we start the game, we can use the program to select the characters we want, then a new herostat file will be generated accordingly.

How does this sound?

EDIT: Are you writing this program in C++?

How about a "revert to default" button/function that would copy the original skin back to its original name/location?

revert to default should be easy, i can try to put it in, thanks for the suggestion (as long as everything is backed up)

edit: yes c++
and i can try the herostat stuff, it will just need to be explained to me a bit better, since so far, i mostly just change the skins to play the game, but if it is just a text file, definately it is easy

one thing i was wondering, was if we can use the command line version of nba2kstuff's stuff, then i think we can decompile, edit, then recompile things, in the character select program

Quote from: Norrin Radd on July 08, 2007, 02:41AM
one thing i was wondering, was if we can use the command line version of nba2kstuff's stuff, then i think we can decompile, edit, then recompile things, in the character select program

Yes, in this case, you don't need to worry about hexadecimal -> ascii! :)

EDIT: I am not familiar with C++, but I know a bit of Java though...

Well, if the programme can copy files to and from "actors" to replace skins, then it should be able to copy different herostats to the data directory.
What might be nice would be if you have a herostat that for instance replaced a bunch of the default MUA characters with Avengers (like my Mod did), if the perogramme could copy the "avengers" herostat over the default one in data, and also copy over the necessary skins/meshes at the same time. Sort of like a "batch" operation.
Or maybe if you could have a list of skins you could select for if you wanted to replace more than one at a time.
Might that be do-able?

anything about moving files is doable,
anything with editing files (as long as we can edit them using text editor is doable)
editing binaries is doable, but i havent done it before,

all i need to know is the basics of what to edit, and what to put where, (the specifics)

and yes, we can make it copy several files "at once" so if you want to use gambit, then you can move his huds, his wallpaper, skin, etc. to the right folders at once

i was also thinking about making it possible to view all the skins from the program, so before you play, in case you forgot what the skin looks like, you can just take a look at the picture. that means that every skin would need an associated picture, which means someone would have to take a lot of screen shots. as of right now, i can only open pictures from the program with paint, but it opens mspaint automatically, but this is not the best viewer, ill have to figure something out.

Edit: IrfanView also works, looks much nicer.
I can make it so you can choose your own preferred picture viewer.

i added the capability for default overwriting, for both xml2 and mua. there are so many default skins i didn't put them in the files the program looks for them in. whoever wants this option will have to add all the skin names to the files. i added quite a few for mua, but then i got pretty bored. this also means i didnt test it.

can someone try this test program on their computer for me please, its just says press a key then Enter, i just want to see if it works on other machines, i havent programmed much in windows, so i'm not sure about the compatability

to run the program just double click on the executable, then press a key and enter (if everything goes well)
http://www.momoshare.com/file.php?file=6b7e008309cfb6ec9f2b1259d7d20265

thanks

It runs, I type in something, press enter and it exits.
(It doesnt seem to like just the space key alone, ignores it).
Does that sound right?

perfect, thanks
do you want the version that the program is at now, or do you want to wait till i look at the herostat, which i'll look at next

(since the test program worked, the actually program hopefully works)

I'll wait for now.
I'm too busy to give it the attention it deserves, at least for the next day or two, but look forward to trying it out, it could develop into a VERY handy utility.

ok, i am able to decompile edit and compile the herostat file by running xmlb-compile from my program. i havent set anything up to edit it correctly though because i have never changed it before, so i'm not sure what is suppose to go where. but basically i should be able to do whatever i want with it.

Quote from: iammingy on July 08, 2007, 02:25AM
How about a program for character selection that modifies the herostat file?
Say you have a configuration text file (like the cfg file from NBA2KStuff) that stores a library of herostat entries of characters already installed in MUA. When we add/install a new character to the game, we can add new herostat entries to this text file. We still need to add all the files ourselves. Before we start the game, we can use the program to select the characters we want, then a new herostat file will be generated accordingly.
How does this sound?

this is doable, all i need to do is put the info in a cfg file, like you said and pull it out for the characters that are being used.
edit: i will read the idiot's guide for herostat info, should be helpfull

now that i've read the idiots guide i think it will be pretty easy to make this hero_stat editing to work

edit: the only thing i would need to change is the menulocation entry, is this correct?
and does the actual order in the herostat file matter?

one more question, are the first (defaultman) and last (see below) entries necessary in the herostat file?
last entry:
   stats {
   autospend = support ;
   isteam = true ;
   name = team_character ;
   skin = 0002 ;
   xpexempt = true ;
   }

Order shouldn't matter in the herostats, I think.

Let me explain how the text file should work a little bit:

Like the cfg file in SkinnerUI, you need a way to orgainze the herostat library. For example:

QuoteXMLB characters {
     stats {
            //defaultman
     }
[[[[ #Juggernaut_BliZZ#
     stats {
            //content of herostat
            menulocation = X ;
     }
]]]]
[[[[ #Ms_Marvel_MUA#
     stats {
            //content of herostat
            menulocation = X ;
     }
]]]]
[[[[ #Name-of-character_author#
     stats {
            //content of herostat N
            menulocation = X ;
     }
]]]]
[[[[ #Omega_Red_cvc#
     stats {
            //content of herostat
            menulocation = 18 ;
     }
[[[[ #Psylocke_Burning Rage#
     stats {
            //content of herostat
            menulocation = X ;
     }
]]]]
   stats {
          //team_character
   }
}
<<<<END>>>> //indicates the end of the library//

Here,

#X# defines the name of the herosat (character and author)
[[[[X]]]] defines the start and end of herostat for each character; anything between #'s will not be included
menulocation = X ; means the character can be placed anywhere (no limitations)
menulocation = integer ; means the character has preference to be placed at the specifed location


You can make a user interface that display the list of characters in the library like this with a check box beside each character:

[ ] Juggernaut_BliZZ
[ ] Ms_Marvel_MUA
[ ] Omega_Red_cvc
[ ] Name-of-character_author
[ ] Psylocke_Burning Rage

Check all of them will generate a herostat of 5 characters.


EDIT: I know this is doable in Java, so it should also be doable in C++. :D The only thing you have to solve is to execute xmlb-compile.exe in your program.

sorry, no gui (not yet anyway)
so i can just keep all the menulocations = X, and that would be ok? or do you suggest putting a value

you can let them stay as X, if the use has a really strong preference, then they can change them themselves... but conflicts may arise....

GUI can be ignored, it was just a suggestion. :) You can just list them with numbers:

1. Juggernaut_BliZZ
2. Ms_Marvel_MUA
3. Omega_Red_cvc
4. Name-of-character_author
5. Psylocke_Burning Rage

Thanks.

and there can only be 27 entries, or 26 people plus the team one?

quote"
EDIT: I know this is doable in Java, so it should also be doable in C++.  The only thing you have to solve is to execute xmlb-compile.exe in your program.
"
yes, it is possible in visual c++, but i am not familiar with windows c++ or visual c++. Getting xmlb-compile to compile is pretty simple in c++.

I think it's 27 for the herostat... I hope someone can confirm it for you.
The library can be infinitely long though.

EDIT: Don't worry about it. :)

cool, ill get to work.
thanks

i just successfully changed the herostat file using my program.
it was funny, i picked to have 4 people, and i used a feature i made that picks random characters, and when i started the game, it was sandman and 3 tigras (there was really only one tigra on my team, but when the game starts i guess you need to have 4 characters or something). it was pretty funny. it ended up randomly selecting tigra, sandman, ms marvel, and spiderwoman.

Features of the program so far:
- Copy over skins using names (instead of numbers) to know which skin is which
   --> this is so that it is easy to test new skins and see them in the game quickly
- ability to load pictures of each skin (if the user has them) (type in a skin name and see the picture)
   --> so if you want to see what a skin looks like if you dont remember, you can. its also possible that people may want to release their mods with a screen shot so it can be seen by others. This also makes it easier to see pictures than searching through the forum.
- replace all default files (only skins so far)
  --> in case your game crashes and you want the original configuration
- maybe the most attractive feature: no need to edit the herostat file!, all you need to do is say who you want on your team (you will still need to have the code that the herostat requires, but u can change the herostat file on the fly!
   --> makes it easier for newbs, and everyone else to add the characters they want in the game, without having to replace files or edit files.
- also added was a randomizer where you can pick the amount of characters you want and it picks characters for you team randomly
   --> just for fun, because sometimes you want something different

To do:
- allow for copying of huds and other things
- edit the help_me file before release

I will release soon so you can test and tell me about all the bugs.
new feature ideas are very much welcome!!!

It sounds great, Norrin Radd. :)
Thank you for taking my advice for that herostat stuff!!!

thanks for the advice in the first place, since i usually only replace skins directly i don't know too much about the other modding methods, and to make this program worth it for everyone, i will try to take the suggestions as they come

this release post moved to first post
http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=732.msg13466#msg13466

Lol, it works!
Of course the first thing I did was to try the herostat editing, without thinking. I added one random character and ran the game, and there was only Wolverine in it. Then I remembered I hadn't backed up my herostat, lol, like a nidjit. Luckily I keep the .xml versions handy so I got one back from that.
But the utility works!
I'll play a bit more later, but it looks good.
Thanks Norrin Radd.

This looks like an awesome Utility!  I will test soon myself, but my gaming machine took a dump on me.  I know we all can appreciate this...  I call Main Page link! Main Page link!   

I'll test this for you when I get a chance, but some confirmation first:

25 Characters + 1 Extra character+ 1 character taking defaultman'sslot + the Team Character = the herostats we use. Team Character should be left as is, the game doesn't like that being messed around with.

Quote from: BliZZ on July 09, 2007, 11:51AM
I'll test this for you when I get a chance, but some confirmation first:

25 Characters + 1 Extra character+ 1 character taking defaultman'sslot + the Team Character = the herostats we use. Team Character should be left as is, the game doesn't like that being messed around with.

where do the two extra characters go in the hero select menu?
and, the way i have it set up now, defaultman isnt put in the herostat, unless he is chosen randomly
and only entries for the characters you select are put in the herostat

Yeah, I didn't mean that, I just meant to leave the team_character alone :)

One goes at "26". The other is variable: right now it goes at 97-99, with the DLC it'll go at 91-96, one of those slots.

Quote from: BliZZ on July 09, 2007, 12:15PM
One goes at "26". The other is variable: right now it goes at 97-99, with the DLC it'll go at 91-96, one of those slots.

sorry, can you make it a bit clearer what you mean .
also, as of now, the team_character is always put as the last entry, and is the one from the default mua game

edit: ok, i think i know what you mean, sorry, you just mean where they go
I just hope that all 27 will show up in the menu
edit: if someone can confirm that they got 27 characters using the program it would be great, i think i tried 27 before, but it may not have compiled, i think i tried 26 and it worked.
--> confirmed 27 characters works

i fixed up the program a bit and released version 0.3, see the first post for more info

i updated the program again, i will not update a new version for a while, unless i get feedback that there are some bugs.

If I understood, it is basically a program to exchange and place in a reserve skins and characters to don't just erase some for new characters and then lose important things?

what it can do is:
1. change skins (you wont erase any as long as you have backups)
2. lets you choose which character you want in the game without you having to change the herostat, you just need to download the mod files and add some lines in a file so you can pick that character whenever you want. this makes it easier to pick your team instead of always having to edit the herostat file before you play

edit: (i see that you posted some information in a different post Spidermanfan, so this might answer your question)
this program does not let you have more than 27 characters in a game if thats what you want to know, you will still be limited to that number, but lets say you download mods from this site so you have 40 characters, before you start, you can easily choose which 27 you want. If you already know how to edit the herostat file and you like to choose characters that way, you dont really need this program.

i just tried using the program with 27 characters and it worked, but only when i defined the menuslot (for the two added characters over top of the default ones and moonknight and colossus) as 26 or 99 (i didnt try 98 or 97) but it didnt work when i set menuslot = XX or AA,
so i guess i will fix the program for the next version so that it sets all character slots from 1 to 26 then 99 instead of leaving them as XX, unless someone can explain why they dont show up in the hero select menu when i set the menu location as XX or AA

If you are saying that setting XX or AA to active characters doesn't work, then it's "normal". I think the game only recognizes numbers.

ok thanks,
i thought it would work from my previous discussions, i will definately have to fix it!

also, i may work on VB to get a ui working for it, if people are interested in this, please let me know, or i may not pursue it due to lack of interest,
but i will fix the menulocation thing for sure.

I am interested! :D

i fixed the menulocation problem and now this program can handle 27 characters.

Keep up the good work.
If not many people seem interested, I think thats just because they dont grasp what you are doing yet.

ok, so trying to do a graphic interface is worth it then?

Quote from: Norrin Radd on July 14, 2007, 05:56PM
ok, so trying to do a graphic interface is worth it then?

Yes, very much so.
Please.

I've been a lurker here for a good while now, but I thought I'd finally sign up and let you know this is a great tool, especially for lazy people like me, I could never be bothered to go through and customize my herostat before a game, but this makes it a lot quicker and easier, I'm definitely interested in a GUI version though, so I hope the coding goes well, and thanks!

thanks for the response MyronJ906, i hope to get it ready for release within the next week or so

Any time, oh and also, did you at some point say this was supposed to work for XML2 as well?  I think I remember reading something earlier in the thread about it, and if so, do you simply change the contents of the .cfg's to reflect the XML2 files/directories?

i think it will be easy to change the program for it to work for xml2, but i havent set it up since i dont have the game or know what the herostat.engb is suppose to look like, or if there even is a herostat at all. i ordered the game twice, but once i received the wrong item in the mail, and i am waiting for my second copy. once i know more about the herostat format and the max amount of characters and such i can release a character selector for xml2.
edit: just received my pc copy of xml2 today

Hero Select (graphical version of Character Select) is complete, and works, with the same team building functions as Character Select (default team, random team, custom team) except you need to choose the menu locations during custom character selection option.

I just need to write the instructions/tutorial then i will release it (probably 10-11ish pm eastern)

Edit: sorry for the delay, i am still writing the readme file
it should be ready within 1 hr from this edit

Excellent!
Thanks.

HeroSelect, the graphical counterpart to CharacterSelect has now been released. Please see the pdf in the zip file for instructions.

One important note is that you will NEED to overwrite your mlm_team_back.igb and team_back.xmlb files before you can use either HeroSelect and CharacterSelect. They use certain menu locations that are not compatible with the psp menulocations. The files you need to overwrite them with are included in the release files.

Enjoy!

Thanks, Norrin Radd!!! :thumbsup2:

EDIT: Very professional stuff! The readme comes in PDF format... :D

Awesome, awesome, awesome. :thumbsup2:

EDIT: Dude, this is SO on the money for the DLC :bowdown1:

Quote from: iammingy on July 18, 2007, 09:22PM
Thanks, Norrin Radd!!! :thumbsup2:

EDIT: Very professional stuff! The readme comes in PDF format... :D

Quote from: BliZZ on July 18, 2007, 09:26PM
Awesome, awesome, awesome. :thumbsup2:

EDIT: Dude, this is SO on the money for the DLC :bowdown1:

Thanks for the support!

OK... I have a question. :shy:

In the help file, you said:

After Addition:
…
thing
thor
msmarvel
wolverine
endoffile
blackwidow <- Black Widow added

So, any new characters must be added after "endoffile" for this part but before "endoffile" and "EOF" in actual the herostat entry.  Am I correct?

I can read, but I just want to confirm this. :runaway:

There are so many little details like this that i just say to do one way, so that everyone will do it this way. or else i would have to say: you can place them here or there, ect.

this is a good question however because it affects Default character selection. For default selection, it takes the characters from lines 2-28 iirc, so if you want for example black widow to be default, instead of captain america, replace his name with hers, and add captain america's name somewhere out of the first 2-28 lines, but somewhere on the list

Quote from: iammingy on July 18, 2007, 09:39PM
So, any new characters must be added after "endoffile" for this part but before "endoffile" and "EOF" in actual the herostat entry.  Am I correct?

sorry i didnt fully read what you said.
ALL entries must be included before the EOF line, and before the team entry (endoffile) (i think they can be after the team entry, but put them before to be safe)

edit:
so for the first part of your question, the names can be placed anywhere on the name list (as long as they are before endoffile)

please let me know if this is unclear

Edit: see the new pdf for instructions on name placing. You need to place it BEFORE endoffile, because the last character on the list will not work, so leave endoffile as the last one.

Thanks, that last part answered my question. :)

I've run across a problem. If I select "default" or "random", Black Panther (or whoever was first for random, in my case Ghost Rider) shows up in menulocation 1, while everyone else ends up in menulocation 0. Any Idea why this would be?

you mean when you check the herostat.engb?

edit:
Chocolate egg, i see there is a problem. it has to do with the changes i made to Character Selector,
i'll take a look right away
edit:
i know exactly why its doing that, i will update it shortly

edit: i just fixed it, i'll upload the new version, so you guys and anyone else who downloaded it will have to redownload it. I will mark it *patched* once it is uploaded.

thanks blizz for pointing this out!

edit: done (all you really need to replace is Characterselect.exe, for those of you who downloaded the un-patched version)
Just to be clear, the patch fixes the program so Default team and Random team work correctly from HeroSelect.

if anyone else encounters other problems, please let me know.

A quick note to everyone using HeroSelect:
You can verify if you have added a character successfully if you do the following:
After you click on the Accept team button, go to the directory of your herostat.engb
There you will find herostat.xml, this file was created by CharacterSelect after you clicked on Accept Team. Open this file with Notepad (or similar editing program) and look at all the entries. If you are concerned about their menulocations you can check those too.
Look to see if all the characters you checked are in your herostat.xml, or if it was random or a default team you can also check if the right amount of chacters are there.

This is the easiest way to check if all the steps were done correctly.

Love the new GUI.  Haven't found any problems yet, but if I do I'll let you know.

thanks, but there is one problem

you need to put the character name before endoffile name on the list at the beginning of herostat.cfg so it looks like:

wolverine
blackwidow
endoffile

msmarvel
   stat{
...


I always added the characters names before 'endoffile' so i never had any problems, but in the pdf i said to do it the other way, so i am updating the pdf
(this is also true for CharacterSelect)

edit:
Just updated the program with the new pdf (i also removed toxin, psp, and other characters from the selection menu)

This is a great utility. Thanks for this. Everyone should be using this so you can change your team on the fly.

Quote from: Bane1 on July 19, 2007, 10:51AM
This is a great utility. Thanks for this. Everyone should be using this so you can change your team on the fly.

thanks, and i'm glad you got it to work!

I must be doing something wrong.
I can get the "default" option to work, but can't get "select" or "random" to include my new characters.
I think I've edited them into herostat.cfg, and into character_list.cfg, and entered them in the GUI correctly.
But I must be doing something wrong....
if it helps I could post the herostat and character_list here.
I wish I could get this to work, because it's exceptionally awesome...

you dont need to touch character_list.cfg (edit: character_list.cfg is for changing skins with CharacterSelect)

edit: but yes, you can post what you have, i will check it

edit:
did you read the latest instructions?, you cant put the characters name after 'endoffile'. this will make the last character not work!

edit:
if the random option doesnt select your new characters, then it is not a GUI configuration problem, it has to do with herostat.cfg because using random does not check the GUI list, it ONLY checks herostat.cfg

Quote from: Norrin Radd on July 19, 2007, 11:45AM
you dont need to touch character_list.cfg

edit: but yes, you can post what you have, i will check it

edit:
did you read the latest instructions?, you cant put the characters name after 'endoffile'. this will make the last character not work!

edit:
if the random option doesnt select your new characters, then it is not a GUI configuration problem, it has to do with herostat.cfg because using random does not check the GUI list, it ONLY checks herostat.cfg

Yep, I read the instructions (though obviously still got confused about character_list.)
Oddly, the herostat.xml shows my selected characters, but in game I just get the defaults...
I'll play around, because clearly its an error on my part...
Thanks for the help, if I get stuck I'll come running back..

i think i know what your problem is.
you may not have put the xmlb-compile.exe in c:\windows

Why do i think this:
Because if everyone is in your .xml file, then HeroSelect (and CharacterSelect) worked properly. This also means you configured your files correctly. If they dont show up in game its because your herostat.engb wasnt compiled.
(if the HeroSelect sees that it couldnt decompile the herostat.engb file, it will create a NEW file called herostat.xml and edit that file)
If the compiling/decompiling wasnt a success, unfortunately there is no easy way to tell unless you run the non-GUI CharacterSelect, change characters from there, and then watch for error messages.

Nope, it's in there, from way back when NBA2Kstuff released it.
I took out all but two characters and it worked OK, so theres an error in one of my files, that'll teach me to bulk-add all my NPCstat>27 characters in one go....
I'll add them two at a time till I find the culprit (because I did look but saw nothing that looked like it wouldnt compile).
Thanks again for the help, and for a GREAT utility.

no problem, and i'm glad you like it, i just want it to work for everyone,
once you get it to work once, then adding new characters later should be easier (at least you then have confidence that the program works).

Just a note to everyone who uses HeroSelect V1.0, if you want to play with Colossus and Moonknight you will need to change their CG values to PS in herostat.cfg

Dagflabbit. Rather than every character appearing in slot "0", ONLY one character shows up (in their correct slot, though).

Using "Default":
(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6798/untitled1jn3.jpg)

Using "Random":
(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1340/untitled2pd7.jpg)

(I only fixed the Iceman/daredevil glitches, shrunk Cage/Colossus, got rid of Moony/Colossus' hidden problem and added Hulk)

so you have problems for random AND default?
can you let me know what is in your herostat.xml after you select "Accept Team"
i never use default or random, so i'm not too sure of the problems

Edit:
also, if you edit the herostat manually, and add characters not including spiderman, wolverine, captain america, and thor, you will get your hulk problem as well (or something similar, but i'm sure you know more about that than me), but this shouldnt happen for the default team using my program

edit:
did you change some of the lines from 2-28 (the default characters)? i am wondering why only iceman worked because he's not the first guy. if what happens is the first guy loads then the rest dont, there could be problems with the cfg file setup

edit:
note that i did try using random and default before, and i checked the herostat.xml to make sure everything was cool, and it looked good

edit:
how many characters did you pick for random?

XMLB characters {
   stats {
   ailevel = 1 ;
   autospend = bruiser ;
   body = 7 ;
   canthrowally = true ;
   characteranims = 170_Hulk ;
   characteranimsclass = humanoid_large ;
   charactername = Hulk ;
   ignoreboundsscaling = true ;
   level = 1 ;
   menulocation = 26 ;
   mind = 4 ;
   name = Hulk ;
   playable = true ;
   powerstyle = ps_hulk ;
   scale_factor = 1 ;
   scriptlevel = 3 ;
   skin = 17003 ;
   skin_01_name = Classic ;
   skin_02 = 02 ;
   skin_02_name = Original ;
   skin_03 = 01 ;
   skin_03_name = Planet Hulk ;
   skin_04 = 04 ;
   skin_04_name = Joe Fixit ;
   sounddir = hulk_m ;
   strength = 12 ;
   team = hero ;
   textureicon = 7 ;
      Race {
      name = Mutant ;
      }

      Race {
      name = XMen ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = hulk_power1 ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = healing_factor ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = no_grab ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = fightstyle_default ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = might ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = block ;
      }

      talent {
      level = 1 ;
      name = melee_moves ;
      }

   }

   stats {
   autospend = support ;
   isteam = true ;
   name = team_character ;
   skin = 0002 ;
   xpexempt = true ;
   }

}

^ Contents of my herostat

Sorry, those must have been both random, cause default works now :shy:

Anyway, Panther shows up in slot 26 for default and Blade in 96. Any way to change it so "default"'ll read Hulk in 26 and those 2 in their proper slots? I added Hulk right after Wolvy and before "endoffile", is it set up to read 27 or only 25 for default?

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1613/untitled1xm6.jpg

it only reads 25 for default, but i can change it, its just some people may complain if they only have 25 characters, mind you i dont know why they would be using the program anyway.

about the menulocation for default, it depends on where they are in the list, ill think about it a little more.

so:
1. if you want default to be 27 let me know (i will then change it for everyone though)
2. if random works for you, please let me know as i'm not clear now if it works for you, i assume you just had the random number of characters set to 1 though (see the 'Characters' up/down button in the random options menu) 
3. i will get back to you on the black panther/blade/hulk location situation

1. That'd be nice, so I can revert to my "default team" for the save games. An easy way to set it up would be to tell people to add their choices for default right after Wolvy with slots 26/96 as their menulocations.

2. I am an idiot. Shoot me now :runaway:



Yeah, that was the "problem" :rofl:

3. Thanks.

good, so the program works, why dont people have confidence in it?! Just joking, haha.

Ok, i will change the default to 27 characters, change the pdf, and find out what is going on with the default menulocations. I will only be able to start looking at it tonight.

edit:
@blizz:  :soapbox: you get nice screenshots

um, blizz can you check what your menulocations are for black panther and blade in herostat.cfg, because it works fine for me, i got them in locations 4 and 20 respectively when i chose default

edit:
hm, it seems random at where the spots are chosen for those first two characters,
so dont bother checking your .cfg
i'll figure it out

edit:
Fixed!, this should also fix the menulocations for random selection, so their 'preferred' location will be whatever is written down in the their menulocation line in herostat.cfg. I will up the default characters to 27 and release it soon.

thanks for pointing this out BliZZ

They appear to fill the 2 unfilled spots (in my case 26/96)


So just expanding the default to 27 should probably fix it.

EDIT: nvmind, I see you fixed it.... :laugh:

fixed and released.

by the way, if lets say your 2 last default characters have the menulocation XX (literally) or any other spot that is already taken, then the 26th default character will fill spot 26 and the 27th will fill spot 96.

if however some of your default team members have conflicting menu locations, it is ok, but they will obviously be mixed around because more than one of them cant have the same location

edit:
if the menulocation spot is already taken for a character, it starts from 1 to 26 then 96 to find the next open one, then takes it

OK, I've added about six "custom" characters (from my npc27 Mod), but my problem is this:
I can never add more than two of them at a time "in game".
Individually, or as mixed pairs they can be "selected", but if I try to select 3,4,5 or more of my "custom" characters, two appear, and the slots that he rest of them have been selected to get filled by a "custom defaultman" (ie one of my customs who now seems to be defaultman).
Have I misunderstood?
I should be able to replace more than just two characters at a time, right?
I'm guessing that I'm screwing something up myself again, but I thought I'd check....

I am no expert but you should be able to add as many customs as you want. I believe I added 6 or so and when I select them as a team they all show up. I have not tried characters from the NPC27 mod yet though I don't see why that would be a problem. I have Rhino, Shocker, Gladiator, Enchantress and all PSP characters chosen at the select screen and they work. I know that does not help you just letting you know it is possible.

Quote from: Bane1 on July 23, 2007, 04:36PM
I am no expert but you should be able to add as many customs as you want. I believe I added 6 or so and when I select them as a team they all show up. I have not tried characters from the NPC27 mod yet though I don't see why that would be a problem. I have Rhino, Shocker, Gladiator, Enchantress and all PSP characters chosen at the select screen and they work. I know that does not help you just letting you know it is possible.

Thanks, I figured I must be messing it up myself again :ugh:
Back to square one for me, methinks...

can you look at your herostat.xml and your herostat.cfg, look at the entries of your new characters, then could you tell me what the differences are?

you can definetely use however many you want, which is more than 2, but obviously less than 28

edit:
basically you can try to manually add your characters using xmlb-compile and see if they work (i mean using 3 or 4 of them), if they do work, then its probably a .cfg or adding characters correctly into the gui problem

edit:
if you want to test whether it is a gui problem, put these characters as one of the default ones, then select default and accept team and check out your herostat.xml

edit:
if you cant figure out what's wrong then just show me the herostat.cfg

Quote from: Norrin Radd on July 23, 2007, 04:48PM
can you look at your herostat.xml and your herostat.cfg, look at the entries of your new characters, then could you tell me what the differences are?

you can definetely use however many you want, which is more than 2, but obviously less than 28

edit:
basically you can try to manually add your characters using xmlb-compile and see if they work (i mean using 3 or 4 of them), if they do work, then its probably a .cfg or adding characters correctly into the gui problem

edit:
if you want to test whether it is a gui problem, put these characters as one of the default ones, then select default and accept team and check out your herostat.xml

edit:
if you cant figure out what's wrong then just show me the herostat.cfg

I couldn't see any difference twixt herostat.cfg and herostat.xml (but I AM tired, so I'll look again tomorrow.)
Thanks.
It's probably just me being lazy, I should just add one, test, add one, test etc etc etc.
That's what I'll do tomorrow.

if you upload them i can check them

Magnifico! Default team works perfectly, and changing around which characters are in which slot works like a charm.

Using Default:
(http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/179/untitled2tc8.jpg)

For the record, I've got a damn long character list and I haven't run into any problems (except with random, which I haven't re-tried yet)

This is my list of characters, and they all seem to work fine:
defaultman
hawkeye
blackpanther
blade
captainamerica
daredevil
deadpool
doctorstrange
elektra
colossus
iceman
invisiblewoman
ghostrider
humantorch
lukecage
silversurfer
ironman
moonknight
mrfantastic
spiderman
spiderwoman
storm
thing
thor
msmarvel
wolverine
hulk
captainmarvel
nickfury
cyclops
nightcrawler
doctordoom
magneto
venom
sabretooth
blackwidow
ronin
archangel
avalanche
beast
bishop
cable
gambit
jubilee
juggernaut
mystique
phoenix
psylocke
pyro
quicksilver
rogue
scarletwitch
sunfire
endoffile

Now I've gotta check out some Avenger character mods.....

sweet BliZZ, thanks for the confirmation!  :highfive:
also, glad it works for you  :thumbsup:

edit:
what a beautiful picture too, although it would be nice if we could have more than 27

I know, even with 30 I would feel more content. (Cyclops, Iron Fist, Namor) Meh, that damned char limit! :soapbox:

off topic:
where did you get the xmen herostats, i downloaded some mods but it didnt come with the herostat (eg. gambit),  :bawling:

edit:
nevermind, i found some on the Main Page on How to install mod, but there are only a few there, anyways theres gambit and cable, so i should be ok

If you go to the first post of the Converted X-Men Legends Characters thread that's where BliZZ posts all the herostats.

thanks

Sweet! You have just made life easier for the PC users of MUA.

OK, I'm still having problems.
Just to check some stuff.
Does the order of the names in the first part of herostat.cfg have to correspond exactly to the order of the names in the latter section (where all the powerstyles etc are defined)?

Does every entry in herostat.cfg HAVE to have an entry made in the "add character" section of the Heroselect GUI? Would the herostat still compile if there are herostat.cfg characters who havent been set up in the GUI?

Do the "menulocation =" lines in the herostat.cfg definitions matter? IE if I add a custom character to herostat.cfg who has the same "menulocation =" as an existing "default" character is that a problem?

Is it very sensitive to extra lines between entries? I noticed once that I had left an extra line between "}" and the "endoffile" entry, and it wouldnt compile till it was removed.

Could there be any entries that wouldn't throw a "regular" compilation of herostat (I usually use the XMLBCUI to compile/decompile my herostats/npcstats) but might cause it not to compile from within HeroSelect?

Is it possible to change the default path for the "launch MUA" field?
Is it possible that having a non-standard install location for MUA (ie "c:\Marvel - Ultimate Alliance\") could cause a problem.

Sorry for the bombardment of questions but I'm still unable to get the thing to work for me properly (ie with more that 2 custom characters at a time), despite trying all sorts of entries, some from working NPCstats, some from working herostats, and various combinations of characters.

1. I believe the order of the first part DOES NOT matter, since you should be able to mix around your default team with no troubles

2. All entries in herostat.cfg DO NOT need to be added to the gui. If they arent added they can be chosen randomly, or by default, just not by selection.

3. The menulocations dont matter. I have some that say 'AA' and 'XX' and I have some that are doubles and most likely triples and it works. (if there are doubles, the program will look for the next available slot)

4. yes line spacing is important, because lines with no information on them (blank lines) are sometimes troublesome to deal with

5. i'm not extremely clear on what you are saying here, but if the entry (or whole herostat.xml) wont compile when you do it manually, then it wont work when you use the program.

6. if your game is located in another folder you will need to change the entry on the gui, but this doesnt affect anything about the herostat compilation. the only thing this will affect is whether when you click Launch MUA it will run or not.
BUT if your herostat is located in a different directory than what is indicated in herostat.cfg you will need to change that, using the exact same format as what came with the original zip file

edit:
but it sounds like you can get it to work, for some characters anyway, so #6 is not your problem (if you can get it to work sometimes).

Thanks.
By some careful trial and error I have finally gotten FOUR customs to show up.
Clearly many of my entries have enough wrong in them to upset compilation.

ok, if you think you may get compilation errors, do this:
put the characters you think are f'ed in the default team location. (spots 2-29 if you have the latest version, 2-27 if not)
double click on Characterselect.exe
press 'c' then enter
pick 27 characters
then choose the default option (i think its 3)
then you will see compilation details,
it will say if there are errors
then type 'q' and enter to exit

good luck

Congratulations on your ascension to Marvel Modder, Norrin.

I have a strange problem. It seems sometimes when you select a team that team does not show up. The team you chose previous to that sticks around. Grant you after a couple times I can get it to work and I can always check my engb file to make sure. Just a strange problem, the same as the one I emailed you about. Nothing I can't work through just strange.

you may have to wait a while before you load the game. When you select the team with the Accept Team button it takes a while for the program to load the team (especially if you have many on your list as i saw you did).

this happened to me once, when i clicked Accept Team and then load MUA my old team was there. When i reloaded the program and repicked the team, i went a lot slower after hitting Accept Team and it worked.

Just out of curiousity how long did you wait? Right now the only thing that seems to be working is random, well I haven't tried default. Select team seems to do nothing now. Somehow it finally worked the other day. Random works every time. After picking my team and hitting accfept I wait 30 seconds then open the engb file with nbastuff utility and the 3 random characters are still there not the 27 I have chosen.

i'm not sure, since you say it works sometimes, i cant deduce the problem. if random works, then the only thing i could think that is wrong is your gui teamates, you may need to remove them all (remove character) and then re add them all to the list (not redo the cfg list, just the Heroselect program list). This may be the problem, because the teamates list in the gui is not affected for random team.

Well I did what you said and it worked. Thanks. :applause: I don't know why I have all these crazy problems. I know I inputed alot of characters real quick and that is when the problems started. Maybe that was what caused it.

Norrin Radd I took a look at your program and it looks great My Q, is does it matter how many char I have or is there a limit because I have so many and it looks great I want to use it.


EDIT:thank you sir.

use as many as you want, you'll have a pretty long list but it should be all good

(also, if you add them all at once just do it slowly to make sure you get everything right)

edit:
no problem, and good luck

hey norrin its me again, i just wanted to let you know that i replaced luke cage with psylocke and i am still having the problem where all four players are psylocke. the hero stat is fine, it has everyone there, nothing wrong, i erased luke and put in psy with the right menulocation but still same results i tried using hero select and same thing only this time it was four colossus who could not attack what did i do wrong?(thank you so much for all your help You should get promoted or something)

1. can you upload your herostat.engb (using for example http://www.momoshare.com/) and post the link here. i can take a look at it tonight to see if everything is ok.
2. also, are you loading a save game or always starting a new game
3. does it still only crash when you are at the hero selection menu?

here's the link
http://www.momoshare.com/file.php?file=1cb33425d208794deebc6116f6dd87ee

i just checked the file, it looks good (except that colossus and moonknight may not be completely playable because they have platform_hidden = CG instead of platform_hidden = PS)
so a couple of things to check:
1. i see that you sent herostat.noel.engb, make sure that you rename it to herostat.engb before you use it.
2. make sure you have installed the psylocke mod as the instructions in the mod say
3. make sure you start a new game, from the beginning

WAIT! i think i found the problem... give me one minute...

it works! for some reason there was a hidden hero stat file in my data folder, i tried looking for it but nothing. when i went to edit the one i already had it appeared in the folder so i erased it and now it works fine. but how do i fix the mk and col problem?(your wicked helpful thank you so much!)

to fix the mk colossus problem, decompile your working herostat file, then find the lines:
platform_hidden = CG
which will be located in Colossus and Moonknight entries. Change the CG part to PS for both of them.
then recompile it

OR
if you are using the latest version of Heroselect (found on the first post of this thread), then you wont have this problem because i changed the entries to PS already in the herostat.cfg file (a file that the heroselect program uses, see the pdf for more info)

Glad you got it to work finally, congrats!

i fixed it i just used hero select and it works perfectly no problems what so ever. man what a journey! just to add psylocke. great character it would be cool to have her use the elektra running animation. Thank you so much for all your help you, have been a great representation of the people on this site! MARVEL MODS IS AWESOME!

thanks, and again, i am glad to see you got it to work, if you have any questions later regarding Heroselect feel free to ask.  :thumbsup:

hey norrin, any suggestion on a good mod to add to my game? who do you think is a good character?

hm, i like the venom one by dark_mark (i like how the tongue moves)
i also sometimes play with the Dazzler mod (by Tetragene) and the new Mysterio and Vision mods by idrinkdrpepper were pretty cool too. after that maybe hawkeye (with the skins/meshes by tommyboy) and magneto (by dark_mark)

edit:
also, i am looking forward to the she-hulk mod

in my heroselect list i have many of the mods available here, but usually i just test things and dont really play the full game, so im not really sure which mods are the best ones to have on your team for the full game

thank you!

Did you ever get around to an XML2 version of HeroSelect?
That would also be a nice utility to have.

i didnt yet, but i could work on it soon if people are interested. since i have the pc game now it should also be easier for me to test, so if i get at least five people that want it for xml2 then i will spend some time on it (so 4 more people). i dont have access to my other computer now, but i can take a look at it when i get back (in a few days).

i would love to see one too :)

You can add me to the list of people that'd like an XML2 version

even though there doesnt appear to be much interest in an xml2 version, i have decided that i will work on an xml2 version when i have time. I will post xml2 information in a new thread when i get started. hopefully i will be able to work on it within the week

Excellent news, thank you.
And I still think people just dont know what they are missing...HeroSelect is essential to my MUA experience.

thanks for the support tommyboy, since i saw you were releasing new meshes i decided that i should at least try to do something for you, even if it is a small gesture

the link for V1.2 isnt working for me, could someone post it again

i can repost it in around 8 hours from now

could someone post it now cos i really need it and cant wait 8 hours plz.

Uh, the link works fine for me.

1.2 still works. You don't want to try 1.0 because 1.2 is better than 1.0.... :P

i'm not sure if people are still looking at this but can anyone help

I downloaded the hjeroselect 1.2

followed all the instructions...
I.E. added the characters to the proper locations in the game folders...
Added the character information to the Hero.cfg file
Added them to the program itself.

My problem is I set my team... and say set this, and it pops up a dos screen saying decompiling herostat then hangs there for over half an hour...

As a note when i close the dos window and try loading the game... i get the same crew that i had before i tried hero select.

if it is trying to decompile the herostat, and the window hangs there, it is probably looking either for xmlbcompile (did you put it in c:/windows?) or it is maybe looking for the location of your herostat.engb (did you change the folder name in herostat.cfg to point to the correct one?)

ok... i'm getting upset at this.

I followed the link in the PDF... downloaded version 2.2 without UI *like it said*

Took everything in the folder and crammed it in c:\windows.

made sure it was pointed in the correct direction *didn't change the directory so c:\\program files\\activision\\Marvel - Ultimate alliance\\Data is correct.

and it still hangs...

And it all but locks my computer up until I close the dos window.

Could it be that your CFG file was not defined correctly? May be it's missing "EOF" or something?

iammingy is right, it might be hanging because it is looking for something in the cfg file, but it cant find it.

for example, i was able to make the program hang at exactly the same spot you are talking about. How did i do it: I removed the name 'deadpool' from the cfg file, then in HeroSelect i chose Deadpool only, then when i went to Accept Team, it hung up at exactly the same part you are talking about: Decompiling c:....herostat.engb

here is what the entry looked like when i removed deadpool's name:

Quote
      Multipart {
      health = 0 ;
      hideskin = baton_r_hand_segment ;
      nonmenuonly = true ;
      }

   }

   stats {
   autospend = bruiser_light ;
   body = 7 ;
   characteranims = 17_deadpool ;
   charactername = Deadpool ;
   level = 1 ;

This is what it SHOULD look like:

Quote
      Multipart {
      health = 0 ;
      hideskin = baton_r_hand_segment ;
      nonmenuonly = true ;
      }

   }

deadpool
   stats {
   autospend = bruiser_light ;
   body = 7 ;
   characteranims = 17_deadpool ;
   charactername = Deadpool ;
   level = 1 ;

So you could check all your entries to make sure the names are defined, both at the top of the file and right before the stat{ entries.
hope that helps

Does spacing have any problems to it... like do i need X number spaces between EoF and the last file registration?

Scratch that... i fixed the problem...

I had put an entry in *black widow* but hadn't added her to the registration, the name list at the top of the file, or to heroselect. Its all good now... thanks for the help people.

good stuff :thumbsup:

let me get this straight this program insstals characters without xmlbui wright?

not exactly, you need to install the mods by downloading the files that modders give you, then you copy the herostat part of the new character you downloaded and put it in a file included with this program. Then when you open the program you can pick which characters you want, without using xmlbcompile yourself (so you dont have to open xmlbui at all), the program uses xmlbcompile in the background so you need to have xmlbcompile program in c:\windows

hey norrin. i have an idea,can you say what would you do if you where me and you where installing dark mark's venom with it and you say exactly what are you doing step by step.                                                                                  ps: i read the readmy and i didnt get so thats the reason i ma sayng this

1.download and unzip HeroSelect
2.download xmlbcompile (i say which version in the pdf), and put it in c:/windows
3. open herostat.cfg, put the name 'venom' right after somebody else's name at the top of the file where it has everyone's name
4. go down the file a bit, right after a character's stat{..} entry do this:

Quote}

venom
   stat{
.
.
.
   }

otherguy
   stat{
.

5. save the file and double click on HeroSelect
6. pick the option to select your team
7. go to where you can add a character, click on 'Add character'
8. Type 'Venom' in the first text box
9. type 'venom' in the second text box
10. click 'Accept' in the Character Configuration box
11. pick you team and their menu locations from the list
12. when done click 'Accept Team' and then 'Launch MUA'

because some people are having trouble with the configuration files, what i will do is upload versions of herostat.cfg and herolist.hero that contain several mods
these versions aren't up to date and dont contain each mod on this site, but i will update the versions as i install more mods. So if you use it and see that you have a newer version of the herostat entry then just replace the one in the file with your own. This will hopefully make it easier for new users. I also hope i dont make any modders upset by releasing some of their herostat entries. Modders, if you dont want your herostat entries released please let me know and i will remove them ASAP.

I will post these files in the first post

edit:
look under "Update files for Version 1.2"

Features that would make HeroSelect even better (IMO):
* Possibility to mix standard or select with random (first select a couple of heroes/take the standard ones, THEN fill the remaining spots with random characters).

* Possibility to set a preferred position for each of the characters. So when selecting random chars each one is placed on a defined spot if it isn't already taken. Would ease the "hide small chars behind large ones" to a certain degree.
Note: I am not sure if this is already in effect (it seems to be for the official chars at least) it isn't documented at least.

Quote from: Sidewinder on November 08, 2007, 07:15AM
* Possibility to set a preferred position for each of the characters. So when selecting random chars each one is placed on a defined spot if it isn't already taken. Would ease the "hide small chars behind large ones" to a certain degree.
Note: I am not sure if this is already in effect (it seems to be for the official chars at least) it isn't documented at least.

This is taken into affect if you use a random or default team, if you specify their locations in the cfg file and none conflict they will go to that spot. If you pick your team by selecting each one, then you have to pick the menulocation at the same time, so this isnt taken into account then

thank you for the suggestions

Norrin Radd I can't execute your program in my pc. I follow every step you wrote in the pdf file but it did't work. The same problem happens with the xmlbcui 2.2 when I tried this. Without this program your's program can't work ?

you mean when you double click on it, you cant get the program to open?
which program do you use now to add the characters

when i double click the .exe pop-up a box saying it can't open the program. Currently I use xmlbcui 1.0

hm, if it wont even open the .exe im not sure what i can do to help, sorry

ok thanks it think the problem is my pc

@Sasquatch: Can you post the exact error message. You need a fairly new Microsoft .NET package for the program to run IIRC.

@Norrin Radd: Some more stuff to improve HeroSelect:
* A possibility to permanently alter the path to the MUA executible
* A function that checks the herostat.cfg for errors
I also think that there might be an error in the parser somewhere. I had the following error:

Characters: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H
*Selecting A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H did NOT work (kept the old herostat.engb, passvalues had the heros in there however.
*Selecting A,B,C,D,E,F works(!)
*Selecting C,D,E,F,G,H works(!)
*Selecting H,G,F,E,D,C,B,A works
*Selecting A,B,X,C,D,E,F,Y,G,H also worked.
Now generally I'd assume that there is a problem with my herostat.cfg, but the errors above are strange.

ic, i have not run into this problem before, but if you want me to look at it you can pass me your herostat.cfg file. I am not sure i will be making any changes/improvements to the existing program however (besides if i find an error with your situation) due to lack of time and motivation, but thank you for the suggestions.

I traced the problem back to xmlb-compile.
The herostat.xml is created, but not the herostat.engb.
In one particular test case I traced it back to an error (the 'stat' part of a character was at the start of the line instead of having three blanks in front of it) in my herostat. Interestingly sometimes this still compiles.

I'd offer to improve heroselect myself, but I don't have a compiler for c++ that already uses .NET (my Microsoft Visual Studio is like 10 years old...)

Hi!
I´ve just tried heroselect and I think that it's great. But isn't there a way to change the program for xml2? Or to which thread should I go with this question?

Thanks, there is a separate version for XML2 (its called HeroselectXML2), see this thread http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=1010.0 (i just updated the link now for HeroselectXML2 so it should be good)

Hey, I tried using the Random option in Heroselect but the game keeps starting up wit hthe default team? Do I have to have to unlock the characters before this option works?

Hi Suspended Night, if you are using the Random option, make sure you try to change the "random seed" to get a different team each time. For you to have different characters than the original roster you will have to add them in the cfg file. If you have characters locked, using the random option will probably not unlock them so you might want to use the unlock characters cheat

Norrin, does your program save to .itab and .xmlb as well?  That might be causing a problem for some people.

Version 1.4 released (see first post)

Added international language support:
-copies of xmlb, itab, freb, and gerb are made when team is selected. These files are replicas of the engb file compiled.

Quote from: Teancum on March 03, 2008, 12:36PM
Norrin, does your program save to .itab and .xmlb as well?  That might be causing a problem for some people.

Ok, I tried unlocking all the characters and increasing the seeds, still same problem. I'm going to try downloading and adding a few character mods and see if this works, manually. Oh, one more thing, do you know where I could get a tool that'll decompile a heristat.engb file. I'm stuck on this part in following along with the instructions.

http://www.nba2kstuff.org/mua/

If you didn't put that program in c:/windows, then my program wont work

i keep getting this error message once i try to launch the game...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/PacaveliTheDon/problem.jpg)
i did all this:
1. Put a copy of xmlb-compile.exe in c:\windows
2. Pasted the files from the \menus directory located inside the directory where you unzipped HeroSelect to \Activision\Marvel – Ultimate Alliance\ui\menus\
3. Edited herostat.cfg
http://www.mediafire.com/?3wkkz1smm2y (http://www.mediafire.com/?3wkkz1smm2y)

Need Apocalypse mod for MUA - momoshare.com link is not worked!!!

Post in the right topic please.  This topic has nothing at all to do with that mod.

Um, may i ask a question about using heroselect? how do i keep the original locations of the heroes in the and and only replacing the heroes that i want to replace (because if i do it wrong captain america's head is burning instead of ghost rider's and stuff like that) or do i use characterselect?

You can use Heroselect to pick the menu locations of the characters. If you know which locations the original team is in, place them there.

To help you know the locations, use this picture that BliZZ provided. It includes all locations except 26 and 96:
http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=798.msg14484#msg14484

thx man that helps

Hey, I am having a bit of a problem with this...I followed all your directions, put xmlb-compile into my c:/windows folder, the menu copy thing is set up. I'm trying to replace this moon knight guy with cyclops and I seem to be missing character_list.cfg. Because the Characterselect file in my HeroSelect folder has an error, saying character_list.cfg is missing...which it is...Uh, any help would be cool. Thanks in advance.

character_list.cfg is used for a different function and is not needed for swapping characters (this function is not fully included in the newer versions), it is only needed for swapping skins. If you are using the graphical user interface (the menu represented by the picture on the first post of this thread), then you should never get that error. I haven't heard of anyone getting that error before, but if you still have problems, let me know.

Actually, I went through and decompiled herostat.engb and made the switch that way...backing up the original before, of course. It worked fine.

Ok, that really doesn't tell me anything. Unless if what you're trying to say is that you're not going to use this program. Anyways, have fun.

Norrin - I just want to say that this is an incredible program, and has completely revived my interest in MUA. There were so many mods I had never installed that I've now used HeroSelect to check out quickly. It has worked flawlessly from the first install for me. I love randomly selecting 8 characters or so and being forced to build my team from them.

I have one idea. The initial conversations regarding this were related to costumes, and I was thinking: for characters that have  several alternate costumes (such as Wolverine or Iron Man), could you include two herostat entries in the cfg for the same character? You could call it wolverinealt or something, and set up the costumes in the herostat to align with other costumes, like 0305, 0306, 0307, and 0308. Those costumes would be named correctly (Age of Apocalypse, Weapon X, etc.) because those names are defined in the herostat, and would recieve costume bonuses included in the original talent file. Then, when adding the new name to HeroSelect, you just call it Wolverine (Alternate Costumes) or something so you could choose betwen standard costumes and the alternate ones. This would prevent the constant renaming and backing up of igbs and huds to switch costumes in and out.

My questions:

1) A basic one: you would have to set up packages for each of the (for example) 0305-0309 costumes, correct?

2) What would this do the the "random" function? Potentially, the program could select the two "wolverine" herostats, which would then draw on the same animations, mannequin, etc. Will that crash the game? Obviously, you could avoid using random if that's the issue, but it's such a cool function I'd hate to lose it if it could be avoided.

3) Is there some other impediment to this that I'm not seeing?


If this is plausible, I can put together a file with the packages, costumes, and huds along with the alternate herostats as an add-on for those who are interested.

Thanks for your interest Cates, and good idea. You are correct about 1), like you said you could just insert two entries in the cfg for characters with different names. You are also right about the random part, it may select two of the same character in this case. I don't think it will crash the game (but I don't know for sure), I think when two of the same characters are playing at once the icons don't work for one (or both) and maybe the powers don't work, but I don't know if it will crash the game.

What you might end up having to do is "create" another character using renamed copies of the original character, but there might be an easier way (like not using random, like you said).

What you might want to do is have 2 cfg files, one with those extra skin guys, and one without. Then when you are going to use random characters, use the cfg file with no character copies. When you aren't using random, use the one with character copies. If you are going to do this, it will probably be best if you have 2 copies of the program in 2 different folders, or else you would also need to have two copies of the other files the program loads. So you might have /HeroSelect_extraskins/ and /HeroSelect/ or something like that. Anyway, I'm sure you'll think of something.

OK, some interesting (and promising) findings. I added alternate Wolvy and Colossus herostat entries to my HeroSelect cfg. When selecting my team, I first selected only the versions with the alternate costumes with a full roster and, as expected, it worked flawlessly. Wolvy started the game on the S.H.I.E.L.D. carrier in his AoA skin and I was able to select alternate skins with numbers above the standard xx04.

Next, I tried adding both standard wolvy and colossus herostats and the wolvy and colossus herostats with the alternate costumes. The result? Only one of each character showed up in the menu. There were two "vacant" and unselectable slots (named Captain America, as he was in menulocation #1), but otherwise everything worked perfectly. In essence, the game ignored the second, alternate herostats for Wolvy and Colossus and only made 25 characters playable.

Next attempt: I selected the exact same team of 27, except this time I selected the alternate costume versions of Wolvy and Colossus first. The result? Again, only 25 characters were available (two vacant "Cap" slots again), but this time the alternate costume versions of Wolvy and Colossus were the only ones available, not the standard versions.

So, it appears that the game will ignore the second instance of a character name in a herostat file and go with whichever appears 1st. This is good news, as it should mean the random function will still work even if you have multiple "versions" of the same character's herostat entry in the cfg. You just might end up with fewer total characters, as the game apparently won't allow, say, two wolverines to appear for selection. When picking "random," you might get the standard character with no vacant slots, you might get the alternate costumes character with no vacant slot, or depending on the number of "double" herostats HeroSelect pulls in, you could end up with one or more vacant slots. Nevertheless, it appears the game will function normally under any of those circumstances.

I tried a few times to run random in the hopes of getting both wolvys or both Colossuses to load randomly, but it never ocurred before I had to call it a night. Still, I see no reason why randomly picking two Wolvy herostats would be any different than selecting them on purpose.

Nice, thanks for the info.

Norrin - Is there a way to re-organize (i.e., alphabetize) the list of names in the user interface of HeroSelect without deleting them all and typing them back in? The new costumes thing has made me think of this, to get the character and his "alt" next to each other. If this is has been answered before, sorry, I haven't seen it since I've been back.

if its easier for you, you might want to alphabetize the file herolist.hero, which the program reads to know the names. You could either do it manually or write a simple alphabetizing program to alphabetize the names that way

That'll be much easier. I don't need to compile, though, right? Just edit with a text editor and save?

Yes you don't need to compile, it is a text file.

is it possible that this patch/update can be added to ps2? (in some time)

You mean a version of Heroselect for the ps2?

Quote from: Peyo on June 08, 2008, 10:20AM
is it possible that this patch/update can be added to ps2? (in some time)

If someone answers yes to this:
:jumping:

Update comming soon, which will make it so you NO LONGER need xmlb-compile, everything will come packaged

edit:
Released new version 1.6 (see first post). This version DOES NOT REQUIRE xmlb-compile. It comes with my own compiler (NRcompiler). Please let me know of any problems you may have.

I'm getting :
Error input file could not be opened
when I click 'accept team'.

Thanks for letting me know. Would you mind trying this NRcompiler (instead of the one packaged)? Download Here (http://www.marvelmods.com/ftp_users/NorrinR/programs/NRcompiler.exe)
It should indicate the input and output file names right below or on top of the error. I had the same problem you mentioned before but I fixed it on my machine, I'm wondering why it won't work on yours.

Quote from: Norrin Radd on July 12, 2008, 05:01PM
Thanks for letting me know. Would you mind trying this NRcompiler (instead of the one packaged)? Download Here (http://www.marvelmods.com/ftp_users/NorrinR/programs/NRcompiler.exe)
It should indicate the input and output file names right below or on top of the error. I had the same problem you mentioned before but I fixed it on my machine, I'm wondering why it won't work on yours.

Installed it, it appears the compiler 'assumes' a standard install path, ie:
c:\\program files\\activision\\Marvel- ultimate Alliance\\data\\herostat.engb
whereas my game is actually installed on drive G:, and probably not in the registry either, as I have done a clean reinstall of windows without reinstalling the game.
So thats why it's not working for me. For everyone with a standard install it should work fine.

You should be able to change that in the herostat.cfg file (and thanks for trying it out). From c to g drive i mean. The path can be manually edited

Quote from: Norrin Radd on July 12, 2008, 05:17PM
You should be able to change that in the herostat.cfg file (and thanks for trying it out). From c to g drive i mean. The path can be manually edited

Yep, that seemed to work.

ok great to hear  :thumbsup:

As always Norrin great work. I haven't checked this site out for some time. Alot of great mods out there. I noticed that you thanked me for testing this out. I did not feel I helped you out that much but thanks for including me.

Hey Norrin, what did you write this in?  I'm wondering if I could build a XBE (Xbox Executable) version using OpenXDK.  If the code isn't terribly complicated it might be easily portable.

the gui is in ms vb .net, and it uses a separately built exe from c++

Hmm, the frontend is what what would be tough.  I mean non-rendered C++ is just C++, but I don't know how easily VB.net frontends would port.

so if I have the heroselect i won't need to use the characterselect . Right?

right, Heroselect uses Characterselect for you, so you only need to use Heroselect

Hi guys,
I am a java/c# developer and started with MUA a some months ago. Now I am changing all characters =)
Thank you all guys that developed heroselect program!
Where can I find the source code from heroselect?
I want to help to improve this program...

[]s

Marcelo Adamatti

The source code is on my computer. I would prefer if you made your own program. I'm sure you could make one much better, as I do not have much experience with gui programming.

Could you please send me by PM or put in a public share?
Don't be modest, HeroSelect is a great tool!
I just want to understand the process to help the community =)

No offense, but he doesn't know what kind of coder you are.  Perhaps you could share some of your work so he knows he's not tossing code to a n00b.  (If he even wanted to do that, which he doesn't)

So, what can I do to try improve the program? Can someone help?
Could you please register the program in some software license to noone sell/use/etc this program?
or could you please teach me what this program do, to me create a new one?
or could you improve your program to:
   - Just replace some char and not need add all
   - Create groups (x men, avenger, fantastic four, flyer's) to help find chars
   - Put "stats" in separated files (your program doesn't work with additional spaces, and I don't like to put all configs in the same file)
   - Other small changes, like order chars by name, store the "exe" path, don't lock the application in some operations, show better error messages, etc

I don't want to promote myself, but you can find my resume in the web, like my projects, projects that I help, etc.
I just want to help it, to improve this great tool, because I love Marvel and I love MUA!

Tks for any help,

Marcelo Adamatti

A while ago I was working on updating it with the following functions:
-groups: put group names in cfg file after the character name, each character can be in multiple groups. Groups then selectable in heroselect.
-create items (had working): Create items for your selected roster
-choose starting characters (mostly had working): Pick which 4 characters you want to start the game
-different random function: you could choose a certain amount of random characters, then are able to pick the rest manually
-team memory: the last selected team is restored so you can edit it directly
-team bonus (i think i had this working): edit your team bonuses
-exe path: determined by the cfg file (i.e., not hard coded)
and possibly other changes i forget.

If you want i can look at that stuff again to update the program. I am moving this week so i'll be pretty busy this week and next

Do I have another choice? =(
Anyway, I will try to understand the process by myself. I am not moving, I have time...
Tks again and sorry if I tried contribute to improve this tool.

Quote from: adamatti on August 26, 2008, 01:38PM
Do I have another choice? =(

Yes you have another choice, you can make your own program. I don't have to update it, but I am willing if you are interested. I already told you I would prefer if you make your own program than release the source code. You can always ask for help if you don't understand how to do something.

Quote from: adamatti on August 26, 2008, 01:38PM
Tks again and sorry if I tried contribute to improve this tool.

Sounds like a wiseass thing to say

Wow...  Way to come in and act like you own the place dude.  If you're that great of a coder you don't need source code to build something, but rather just some specifications, which the Knowledge Base section provides. 

Basically if you're gonna talk like that you had better be able to back it up.

Hey, "why so serious"? Ok, I created my own program. Not just my own, but a community program. You can access by http://muaopenheroselect.googlecode.com. And I invite you both to help me to improve it!
But I think that your "ego" are greatest that it...

You guys are changing the MUA code, but if the code was "undecompilable"?
There are a lot of guys creating chars and you can download it and change the stats. But your code noone can touch. Could you explain why? Really, I am curious.
Why don't follow the Mugen and RPG maker sample?
"Help the community do'nt hurt" =)

In the "Open Select Hero" you can start the program with a default group selection, select chars based on folder structure, just replace char, see better log messages... And I didn't expend too much time to do that =)
You can check all features here: http://code.google.com/p/muaopenheroselect/wiki/Features
You can send me suggestions if you want.

Thanks for your help =)

Please promote your program elsewhere. This thread is for Heroselect.

I don't see much point in judging my ego. From your comment you obviously don't know me very well.

QuoteThere are a lot of guys creating chars and you can download it and change the stats. But your code noone can touch. Could you explain why? Really, I am curious.

Yes, and I am one of those people creating those characters. I already told you many times that I would prefer you made your own program. I don't see how hard it is to understand that people have preferences.

Dude, please be aware that if you post your work in someone's release thread, you are hijacking it and attempting to turn it into your own discussion thread.

Ok, sorry for that.
Can I create a new thread  about it?

Of course you can.

I just tried downloading and installing the latest version of this, but I'm following along the install directions and I get to:

After you have these items, do the following:
• Paste the files (make sure to backup what you will be overwriting) from the \menus directory located inside the directory where you unzipped HeroSelect to \Activision\Marvel – Ultimate Alliance\ui\menus\ (or similar for your machine).

But there is not any menus directory inside v1.6.  Do I have to use this in conjunction with all previous versions?  If so, is there a new download site for v1.2 and v1 which won't download.

I didn't include the menu files in version 1.6 because i assume that people have the "Official Character mod" which includes those files (I should change this in the pdf)

If you don't have the newest version of the Official characters mod you can get these menu files in V1.4 http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=732.msg13466#msg13466

sorry about that

what excatly does this all mean i no squat about this stuff

was there ever a heroselect created for the X-men legends 2 game?

I posted this in another forum.  Not trying to be a pest but I am still not sure what I am doing wrong...
I have successfully used heroselect on more than one occasion, but I am unable to play with 27 characters.  Spots 26 and 96 never show up for me.

If anyone has a quick solution for me please let me know.  Thanks for your help.

Quote from: Scotimus on October 17, 2008, 12:53PM
was there ever a heroselect created for the X-men legends 2 game?

Yes, http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=1010.msg17840#msg17840

Quote from: jlpx2 on October 17, 2008, 07:25PM
I posted this in another forum.  Not trying to be a pest but I am still not sure what I am doing wrong...
I have successfully used heroselect on more than one occasion, but I am unable to play with 27 characters.  Spots 26 and 96 never show up for me.

If anyone has a quick solution for me please let me know.  Thanks for your help.

Did you install the Official Character mod? It should have the necessary menu files in it to open those slots (an older version of HeroSelect also has those menu files).

I installed the OFFICIAL CHARACTERS - BETA V3 that I found in the Character Mod Catalog thread.  Was this the correct mod to install?  Are there menu files from my game back up that I need to copy over?

Also, I used heroselect today to try a few new characters and some of the characters powers have been removed.  Many of the characters who can fly no longer can.  Some no longer have might.  I noticed Storm has "Healing Factor" listed as one of her powers.  Also, some of the skins that were previously unlocked are locked.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Perhaps I do not have the program installed and running correctly like I thought.

Yes it is correct.

Did you start a new game? Perhaps that is why the characters' full powers are not functioning properly.

I did start a new game using saved stats, but I have done that previously and had no problems with characters losing powers.  Strange...I will probably pick the team again using heroselect and see if the powers return.

Don't use saved stats, use default stats.

Ok I will use default stats from now on.  Thanks for solving that problem.  Any further insight on what I need to do to be able to use 27 characters as opposed to 25?

Did you install the Official Character mod? It should have the necessary menu files in it to open those slots (an older version of HeroSelect also has those menu files).
[/quote]

Just wanted to pass along my thanks.  I was able to get the final 2 character slots open.  I must not have copied the menu files correctly when I originally installed everything.  I copied them again and I can now play with 27 characters.  Thanks again for everyone's help and time in putting these together.

Norrin, i think i have an idea about New HeroSelect, the new HeroSelect will have 5 different Slots on team_back.cfg each 2 left can be useful(95, 96, 26, 91 or 92). I'll show the pics later.

I don't think most players are picky about which spots are open

You means liked this one:
Examples
(http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8867/heroselectho5.jpg) (http://img356.imageshack.us/my.php?image=heroselectho5.jpg)
(http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/heroselectho5.jpg/1/w864.png) (http://g.imageshack.us/img356/heroselectho5.jpg/1/)

You got more slots??? Or this is just a Photoshop manip?

The total number of slots you can choose at once is still 27. Only the placement of those slots can be changed.

Liked team_back file. It can be compiled. It means, which slot would you want to choose after you choose 25 Original Slots + 2 DLC Slots left

Only 5 XBOX 360 DLC Slots would you liked to pick each 2 left:
95: Magneto
96 & 26: Already known it's Venom & Hulk
91: Hawkeye
or
92: Cyclops

Hi there :)

The links for hero select on the first page don't seem to be working, is there any chance someone could upload them again??

Thanks :D

It's got hero select and some other stuff!

http://www.box.net/shared/0m2qjaofh3

Wow! Nice collection of mods :D Although I didn't see heroselect anywhere, unless its called something else :)

Ow, crap! I gave the wrong link!

Here's the correct one! :D

http://www.box.net/shared/mczl81m8s1

Nice! Thanks! :D

I played this game a while ago with the Mods and forgot how awesome they all are :)
So many characters and so little time, well there goes my weekend lol :P

Well, I just got the game like 6 months ago and haven't stop since! My friends say I'm completely addicted to it! :D

Not that I mind, cause the game is awesome, not to mention the great work the modders did!

Anyway, have fun!