More colors for Behemoth's Crystal Ridgeback?

[BadDragoon]

Can we please get an option to change the color for the Crystal Ridgeback perk or at least add more variety of colors to the TF so we can savescum a result we'd be satisfied with? The default green really clashes with the color theme I'm going for with my character.

 

[Theron]

Fun fact: The original design did call for a variety of Crystal Ridgeback colors. The color was likely hard-coded because making it customizable was considered more of a pain than it was worth. (IIRC, it was coded by Fenoxo, who has the authority to make those kinds of calls.)

 

[XBoxMaster131]

Fun fact: The original design did call for a variety of Crystal Ridgeback colors. The color was likely hard-coded because making it customizable was considered more of a pain than it was worth. (IIRC, it was coded by Fenoxo, who has the authority to make those kinds of calls.)

Wait seriously? Sorry for saying so, but that's kinda bs imo, especially since there's in game behemoths with other color crystals.

 

[razor777]

The color was likely hard-coded because making it customizable was considered more of a pain than it was worth.

Which doesn't make sense when you consider parts involved with other perks(like the hair flower that gives you flower power) can be obtained in a variety of different colors.

How would that not be considered "more of a pain to code then it is worth", but alternate colors for the crystal ridgeback back spikes would?

 

[Theron]

Wait seriously? Sorry for saying so, but that's kinda bs imo, especially since there's in game behemoths with other color crystals.

That's why the original design allowed for the player to choose from a variety of colors.

How would that not be considered "more of a pain to code then it is worth", but alternate colors for the crystal ridgeback back spikes would?

I don't know, I'm speculating. Cerespirin might have been coded by someone else.

 

[XBoxMaster131]

Which doesn't make sense when you consider parts involved with other perks(like the hair flower that gives you flower power) can obtained in a variety of different colors.

Yeah no I'm with you on this one. They've done very unique tfs with variable colors and stuff before, what's so different and difficult about this one?

 

[Wafflesnake]

because it's a perk, not an actual body part or a status effect. status effects like the hair flower have additional fields to denote extra information such as color. the parser system actually has something to look at.

a perk is functionally just a switch, the game sees it as either off or on, no other information.

the question then is why it was chosen to be a perk and not a status effect. i would speculate that it may have to do with the radiation resistance component and how it interacts with the rest of the game's systems. alternatively, it being a status effect may have created too many cases where other things interact with it improperly, something like the immunobooster just removing your spikes (as the immunobooster does remove the hair flower).

therefore, the "more of a pain to code then it is worth" would likely be those cases. there could be any number of reasons that internally they don't want to use status effects for something like this.

on the other hand, vanae markings are a perfectly functional cosmetic status effect. the main difference between the two being vanae markings uses accent color, a parameter stored with Steele's body itself rather than in the status effect. the spikes do not have such a corresponding parameter, unless accent color is reused in which we are back to the problem of limiting customization. vanae markings also do not have any other mechanics to them, while the spikes have the radiation resistance component.

 

[Theron]

because it's a perk, not an actual body part or a status effect. status effects like the hair flower have additional fields to denote extra information such as color. the parser system actually has something to look at.

That's not actually true. Perks also have 4 fields to store data in, though they probably can't be Strings. Dumb4Cum uses 2, Heat/Rut Cycle uses 3. Status Effects have a Minutes Remaining and Icon field, but I don't see anywhere but the Tooltip to store Strings.

You could theoretically have each color correspond to an integer, or possibly store it as a Flag (which can be Strings). I don't know if there's a technical reason one or the other wouldn't work.

 

[Wafflesnake]

That's not actually true. Perks also have 4 fields to store data in, though they probably can't be Strings. Dumb4Cum uses 2, Heat/Rut Cycle uses 3. Status Effects have a Minutes Remaining and Icon field, but I don't see anywhere but the Tooltip to store Strings.

that's what you get for doing a quick and dirty check I guess.

I do think that vanae markings should be the indicator that it should all work. personally I would've done it as the radiation resistance stuff is a perk and the cosmetics as a status effect.

 

[Theron]

Turns out 'Wing Style' and 'Horn Style' Status Effects exist and override the default Wing/Horn colors, respectively. The override color is stored in the tooltip. I don't see any reason there couldn't be a 'Ridgeback Style' status that can override the color, especially since the Perk description doesn't explicitly mention it.

The hard part would be exposing it to the player for change (but would be easy to Save-Edit).

 

[razor777]

Shoot if they're worried about giving it too many color options, then just give it the hair flower color pool.

 

[Jacques00]

Hopefully addressed for the next release.

Looking back at the original doc, while I can't speak for the original coder, my guess would be that it was hard-coded that way mainly because there were too many options and wasn't worth the coding investment to generate a sub-menu for the player to pick the colors from. Also, the colors had both a "base color" and a "glow color", so making two new and separate values for tracking would have been a bit overkill for such a minor perk.

The edit I made should just generate a random color when the perk is created (the original nine colors from the doc, plus the default "emerald"/"green" from the current content). That color will be stored in the perk itself as a numerical index value (in slot value4, the default value is 0 for "emerald"). That value should then be referenced in the color library to determine the base color and glow color for the spikes that appear in the transformation itself and on the appearance screen. At the moment, the colors have an even distribution in the randomization.

Hope this helps.

 

[Theron]

The edit I made should just generate a random color when the perk is created (the original nine colors from the doc, plus the default "emerald"/"green" from the current content). That color will be stored in the perk itself as a numerical index value (in slot value4, the default value is 0 for "emerald").

I believe the core of the compliant/request is not so much a lack of variety itself, but an inability to make the color 'fit' aesthetically with the rest of the character's color scheme.

Instead of fully random, would it be possible to match the spike color to the player's Scale Color if scale color is one of Behemoth Scale Colors? Then random.

Also, the major reason I suggested a "Ridgeback Style" Status Effect similar to "Wing Style" and "Horn Style" was so players could easily make custom colors.

 

[Jacques00]

I believe the core of the compliant/request is not so much a lack of variety itself, but an inability to make the color 'fit' aesthetically with the rest of the character's color scheme.

Instead of fully random, would it be possible to match the spike color to the player's Scale Color if scale color is one of Behemoth Scale Colors? Then random.

As much as I would like to implement an automated matching scheme, I think that would take away some of the control the player can have over the final color (via save scumming) as it would railroad them into just one possible color when the change happens. Keeping short of actually implementing an actual menu option for choosing colors, I think fully randomized would be the best way to go--particularly to match the rest of the randomized color selection throughout the transformation process.

Also, the major reason I suggested a "Ridgeback Style" Status Effect similar to "Wing Style" and "Horn Style" was so players could easily make custom colors.

While I understand the versatility, I wanted to avoid that for this particular perk because, as I mentioned earlier, there are two colors that are mentioned for the perk, so that means I'd need to make two status effects--and by that point, I might as well make them saved character variables instead. The reason why the Wing/Horn Style status effects are the way they are, is that not only do they contain the color string (saved in the status tooltip), but they can also contain other properties, like if the horn/wing has a certain texture (furred/scaled/etc.), so keeping them as cosmetic status effects is fine--messy, but works for what they exist for. Other simplistic cosmetic status effects used in the past had been converted over to character variables (such as scrotumType/scrotumColor) or body part flags (FLAG_UNIBALL), but that is because they are commonly used in numerous description functions, and not for defining the appearance of a potentially niche perk.

 

[XBoxMaster131]

May I ask what values = what colors? Just to save myself the time messing about in the save editor.

 

[Jacques00]

May I ask what values = what colors? Just to save myself the time messing about in the save editor.

index = base color, glow color
0 = "emerald", "green"
1 = "citrine", "orange"
2 = "peridot", "viridian"
3 = "garnet", "vermillion"
4 = "sapphire", "azure"
5 = "amethyst", "indigo"
6 = "ametrine", "purple and yellow"
7 = "azurite", "golden"
8 = "opal", "iridescent"
9 = "onyx", "smoky-white"

Again, the index value should be placed in the value4 of the perk in order to work properly.

 

[XBoxMaster131]

index = base color, glow color
0 = "emerald", "green"
1 = "citrine", "orange"
2 = "peridot", "viridian"
3 = "garnet", "vermillion"
4 = "sapphire", "azure"
5 = "amethyst", "indigo"
6 = "ametrine", "purple and yellow"
7 = "azurite", "golden"
8 = "opal", "iridescent"
9 = "onyx", "smoky-white"

Again, the index value should be placed in the value4 of the perk in order to work properly.

Thanks muchly!