GURPS GCA4 Errata

[Alden Loveshade]

If I recall correctly, Armin D. Sykes prefers this stuff be posted here. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

Let me start by saying I love this program. I use it every week, and usually a few times a week. It makes designing magic users MUCH easier. I used to almost dread making mages; now I look forward to it.

But nothing's perfect. Please forgive me if I'm pointing out problems that have already been pointed out.

Analyze Hereditary is the Spell listed by GCA 4.

Analyze Heredity is the prerequisite for Divination Genomancy (GURPS Biotech lists the skill as Analyze Heredity)

Create Chimera has Analyze Hereditary as a prerequisite instead of Analyze Heredity

Divnation Astrology requires Astronomy at 15. But when I added Divination and let the program automatically add Astronomy, it didn't go to Skill 15 but gave Astronomy 15 points.

Retrogression requires Mind-Searching. The spell listed in GCA 4 (and in GURPS Magic) is Mind-Search.

Test Load and Tell Position require Measurement. But Measurement (Knowledge, Magic p. 100) is not in the program (Measurement (Clerical) and Measurement (Ritual) are. Note I have GURPS Magic loaded in my GCA 4).

Minor point: under Science!, metallurgry isn't capitalized.

EDIT: This is in regard to the Test Load and Tell Position note. I just noticed the program will let me add a New Spell for Ritual and Clerical, but not a standard spell. Maybe this is a problem with my version. I temporarily fixed the Measurement problem by renaming Tell Time as Tell Time2, then added Tell Time, then changed Tell Time to Measurement, then reverted Tell Time2 to Tell Time. That will fix one character, but not others unless I do them individually.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

If I recall correctly, Armin D. Sykes prefers this stuff be posted here. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

Yup, this is the right place. Most of these are data file errors, and I'm the guy who handles them. Like Armin, I generally prefer they be posted here.

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Let me start by saying I love this program. I use it every week, and usually a few times a week. It makes designing magic users MUCH easier. I used to almost dread making mages; now I look forward to it.

Glad you enjoy it!

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

But nothing's perfect. Please forgive me if I'm pointing out problems that have already been pointed out.

Most of these either were taken care of or have now been, all for the next set of updates.

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Divnation Astrology requires Astronomy at 15. But when I added Divination and let the program automatically add Astronomy, it didn't go to Skill 15 but gave Astronomy 15 points.

This one I'm going to have to get Armin to take a look at. It looks like GCA is messing up here (as opposed to being an error I can correct in the data files). The needs check seems to work fine once the Divination spell has been added to the character, but when it's initially added GCA is transliterating the =15 to =15pts. Thereafter you can set the Divination level to 15 and GCA correctly recognizes it's looking at level-15 and not 15-points.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

Yup, this is the right place.

Great; I'm in the right place for both of you. Here's another for you:

Transmogrification requires the "Flesh to Shone" spell. Hmm, I think "shone" is a modern slang term for a woman of ill-repute. That must be an interesting spell....

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Transmogrification requires the "Flesh to Shone" spell. Hmm, I think "shone" is a modern slang term for a woman of ill-repute. That must be an interesting spell....

That's not true as of the last Data Update (which was a while ago now). Make sure you're fully updated.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

That's not true as of the last Data Update (which was a while ago now). Make sure you're fully updated.

Weird thing is I ran into some problems with running the program (perhaps because I had tweaked it too much), and reinstalled it and got those updates again just a couple months or so ago. But I'll check--maybe I didn't completely uninstall the old stuff, or didn't completely install the new. I will check.

[Alden Loveshade]

I reinstalled stuff and found

More Errata:

On the Templates for Enchanter - (Fantasy): Ally (Apprentice), Ally (Familiar), Contact (Business), Patron (Wealthy), Signature Gear, Wild Talent (Spells), and Games (Magical Challenges) have the description for "Barnstormer" Biplane

When under Equipment I add "_New Armor" and give its DR, the DR doesn't show up on printing (it says DR 0)

Essential Food is listed as IQ/VH instead of IQ/H

Gift of Tongues requires "3 CA:Language Spoken = 2". It will not accept Languages unless Spoken is taken separately

This isn't really an erratum, but perhaps Money could be added to the Equipment list

Also before I reinstalled the "fixes," spells on my mages showed up fine. After that, I get the same problem I used to get: a bunch of red Ps to the left of many of the spells names (P for prerequisite). When I do a basic Resynchronize, most of the Ps go away but some remain. A second Resynchronize and the rest go away (on some characters it takes three times). If I save the character then close and later reload, the red Ps come back.

Thanks for your help and remember don't kill the messenger! :-D

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

On the Templates for Enchanter - (Fantasy): Ally (Apprentice), Ally (Familiar), Contact (Business), Patron (Wealthy), Signature Gear, Wild Talent (Spells), and Games (Magical Challenges) have the description for "Barnstormer" Biplane

That... appears to be a real bug in GCA itself. This bug isn't specific to that template, but rather affects any template which uses #newitem() to create a new trait for inclusion in the template; if that new trait doesn't include a description GCA is somehow defaulting to the Barnstormer Biplane description. Armin will have to take a look at that.

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

When under Equipment I add "_New Armor" and give its DR, the DR doesn't show up on printing (it says DR 0)

Are you applying the Armor to the Character in the Protection Window (View -> Protection or the Shield icon in the toolbar).

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Essential Food is listed as IQ/VH instead of IQ/H

That's correct; this was errata for the book itself, which there's a fair amount of.

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Gift of Tongues requires "3 CA:Language Spoken = 2". It will not accept Languages unless Spoken is taken separately

Not seeing this at all. Are you fulfilling the Language Prerequisite after adding the spell? If so you'll need to do a Needs Check because sometimes GCA won't see a fulfilled Prerequisite of this type if it's fulfilled after the fact. Look for the Needs entry in the top menu, or right click on the spell and select Needs -> Needs Check All Spells

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Also before I reinstalled the "fixes," spells on my mages showed up fine. After that, I get the same problem I used to get: a bunch of red Ps to the left of many of the spells names (P for prerequisite). When I do a basic Resynchronize, most of the Ps go away but some remain. A second Resynchronize and the rest go away (on some characters it takes three times). If I save the character then close and later reload, the red Ps come back.

A lot of changes were made to Magery and Spells along the way. Without knowing what Prerequisites are supposedly missing it'll be impossible to know what exactly is going on here. Some things to consider:
You said "basic" Resynchronize - are you Resynching Attributes, Advantages, and Spells? All are very important to Spell Prerequisites (yes, even attributes). If you only Resynchronize the automatically selected items then a lot of stuff falls through the cracks.
After Resynching have you tried doing a Needs Check on all Spells? If so, what does it say is missing?

[Alden Loveshade]

Thanks for your detailed and quick response! :-)

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

That... appears to be a real bug in GCA itself. This bug isn't specific to that template, but rather affects any template which uses #newitem() to create a new trait for inclusion in the template; if that new trait doesn't include a description GCA is somehow defaulting to the Barnstormer Biplane description. Armin will have to take a look at that.

All right.

Are you applying the Armor to the Character in the Protection Window (View -> Protection or the Shield icon in the toolbar).

No, I didn't. In order I clicked on p. 2: Spells, Equipment; Equipment; _New Armor; Add; then filled everything in. It asked me to check which areas it covers (head, torso, etc.) and I checked them. That appears to be a legitimate way to do this. As with most programs, there appears to be more than one way to do things. If right now one of those ways doesn't work, perhaps that could be fixed.

That's correct; this was errata for the book itself, which there's a fair amount of.

Ah, thanks.

Not seeing this at all. Are you fulfilling the Language Prerequisite after adding the spell?

No, the language requirements were fulfilled before I even called up the character to change it.

If so you'll need to do a Needs Check because sometimes GCA won't see a fulfilled Prerequisite of this type if it's fulfilled after the fact. Look for the Needs entry in the top menu, or right click on the spell and select Needs -> Needs Check All Spells

A lot of changes were made to Magery and Spells along the way. Without knowing what Prerequisites are supposedly missing it'll be impossible to know what exactly is going on here.

It does it with every mage I've tried, even one with very few spells.

Some things to consider:
You said "basic" Resynchronize - are you Resynching Attributes, Advantages, and Spells?

I did the default Resynchronize with the "automatically selected items"; that is all boxes to the left checked and none to the right. The program warns against doing more than you have to, so that's all I did. For a mage with a few spells, I only have to do this once to get rid of the red Ps; for a mage with many spells, I have to do it two or three times. But I can then save the character, close it, reload the program and call it up five minutes later and the red Ps come back.

All are very important to Spell Prerequisites (yes, even attributes). If you only Resynchronize the automatically selected items then a lot of stuff falls through the cracks.

I just did a Resync with the items on the left and Spells checked. It got rid of the red Ps. I saved the character, then reloaded it. The red Ps came back, which is what they did when I did a basic Resync.

After Resynching have you tried doing a Needs Check on all Spells? If so, what does it say is missing?

I just did Needs, Spells, Check All. It didn't say anything was missing and the red Ps all disappeared. I saved the character, closed it, reloaded the character, and the red Ps came back.

Thanks again for your help!

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

No, I didn't. In order I clicked on p. 2: Spells, Equipment; Equipment; _New Armor; Add; then filled everything in. It asked me to check which areas it covers (head, torso, etc.) and I checked them. That appears to be a legitimate way to do this. As with most programs, there appears to be more than one way to do things. If right now one of those ways doesn't work, perhaps that could be fixed.

No, you're doing it correctly, but adding Armor is a two-step process. First you need to add it to the character (which includes making it from scratch using _New Armor if you wish). The second is telling GCA exactly which pieces of Armor your character is wearing; GCA doesn't assume that your character is currently wear every piece of equipment your character owns since you can buy far more armor than your character can possibly wear, or even Armor items like Horse Barding which your character would never put on (unless you're making a Horse character). Telling GCA which pieces are actually worn is a vital step.

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

The program warns against doing more than you have to, so that's all I did.

Yes, you do want to be careful with that, but when you're having a systemic problem like this it would be a good idea to try Resynching them all; I'm telling you that resynching both Attributes and Spells are vital to getting spells from some older characters working correctly with the new setup. You also either need to Resync Advantages or remove then re-add the Magery/Power Investiture advantage to the character.

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

I just did a Resync with the items on the left and Spells checked. It got rid of the red Ps. I saved the character, then reloaded it. The red Ps came back, which is what they did when I did a basic Resync.

That's odd behavior, but as I asked before have you tried Resyncing Advantages and Attributes in addition to spells? If you're worried that it might do weird stuff to the character simply save it under a different name then try Resynching.

This could also be a weird interaction somewhere else; have you changes any of the settings under the Program Options tab in the Options Window?

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

No, you're doing it correctly, but adding Armor is a two-step process. First you need to add it to the character (which includes making it from scratch using _New Armor if you wish). The second is telling GCA exactly which pieces of Armor your character is wearing; GCA doesn't assume that your character is currently wear every piece of equipment your character owns since you can buy far more armor than your character can possibly wear, or even Armor items like Horse Barding which your character would never put on (unless you're making a Horse character). Telling GCA which pieces are actually worn is a vital step.

Thanks. It worked easier than the way I had been doing it.

I see that option in the shield icon, but not in p. 2 Spells, Equipment. It would be nice if that function was included when starting from p. 2. Otherwise you can do everything you need to do there except that. You then have to know to use the shield icon to finish (maybe you can do it all through p. 2 and I missed it).

That does bring up another question: how do I tell the program what possessions a character is actually carrying? For example, it assumes a mage is carrying around everything she owns at one time. I'm glad I didn't type in the weight of her house....

Yes, you do want to be careful with that, but when you're having a systemic problem like this it would be a good idea to try Resynching them all; I'm telling you that resynching both Attributes and Spells are vital to getting spells from some older characters working correctly with the new setup. You also either need to Resync Advantages or remove then re-add the Magery/Power Investiture advantage to the character.

That's odd behavior, but as I asked before have you tried Resyncing Advantages and Attributes in addition to spells? If you're worried that it might do weird stuff to the character simply save it under a different name then try Resynching.

I followed your suggestion. I saved a Test version of the character (named TEST), then did Resynch for everything. The red Ps disappeared as they usually do. But when I closed the Test character and then called it back up, the red Ps were back like they usually are (but read below).

This could also be a weird interaction somewhere else; have you changes any of the settings under the Program Options tab in the Options Window?

You may have hit the source of the problem. When I went to print or preview, I got the message:

"You currently have some level of calculation disabled in Options. This means many of the values that would be printed are likely incorrect right now. Would you like GCA to recalculate them now, before printing/previewing?" I clicked Yes, but when I called up the character again got the same message.

The only option I remember changing is unclicking "Load a new character on start-up," but that doesn't mean I didn't accidentally change something else. The Current Data Set is default.gds. Is there some way I can return the program to factory default settings?