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Author notes
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File credits
Panczo from 4programmers.net - for help with creating installer LadyAlekto - for detailed explanations how work heat exchangers, heat banks, melee, DFA, and Precision Stike conjunction with scatter-type weapons. And also for basics about mods; XTRMNTR2K - for closed betatesing, providing various custom mechs and equipment for tests, and enlightening me about modders' needs, as well as some hits for GUI. Ark Evensong - for closed betatesing, valuable notes how to improve user's experience at new mech dialog, bugtracking, and heat/distance calulation formulas for jump jets. Amechwarrior - for closed betatesting, explaining custom flashpoint designers' needs, and providing some missing data .jsons as well as explaining how fixed equipment is stored. CptMoore - for few hints for GUI improvements. HBS_Eck - for valuable hints about how Battletech the game works internally, and suggestion for better names in GUI. Denadan - for consideration about integrating Mech Engineer into Mech Designer, and exact formula for calculation total C-Bills cost of a mech. MXMach - for explaining basics about modding. Whole Battletech forum community - various hints and feedback in my topics regarding Mech Designer.
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Changelogs
Version 0.80
Implemented Main => Settings; currently it contains option to set default save locations for new designs, designs exported to .json, and screenshots
Application window size and placement, and main toolbar position is preserved between sessions
Main toolbar can be entirely hidden by Main => Hide toolbar, and also has keyboard shortcut CTRL + T
Recover Tonnage dialog no longer checks head on "Front" button press
Corrected size of checkboxes in Recover Tonnage dialog, they no longer jump and resize when the font is changed to/from bold
Moved ammo in Add New Equipment dialog to separate tab, so now there are Weapons, Equipment and Ammo. Changed mouse forward/back navigation accordingly.
Fixed bug which resulted in doubled entries in [Recent Files] section of setup.ini
Improved installation process - now if you install newer version in the same folder user's settings in setup.ini like default save paths, advanced mode, recent designs, window geometry and tool bar state are preserved
COIL-L and COIL-M again work with Optimized Capacitor, as intended. The capacitor increases both damage and heat output
Version 0.79.1
Fixed application crash when 'Save' option was used
Installer now checks box 'Fixes for known .json data syntax errors' by default
Added new label Total Armor to mech design window
Labels Jump Jets and Jump Jets Heat has been merged into one
Added summary info [ alpha, total armor, jump jets quantity] to mech design window title, and menu 'Windows' in menu bar
Documentation update
Version 0.79
Added buttons for switching to other mech locations, and button to clear to add new equipment dialog in floating mode
Added context menu to main work area. The menu contains the same options as the main toolbar.
Corrected z-order of add new equipment dialog in floating mode - now it always shows properly over other windows.
Added missing equipment information messagebox during using options "Load mech" and "Reload".
Fixed bug in add new equipment dialog - on Windows 10 close buttons didn't had intended, red color.
Improved drawing blue frame around inventory for which add new equipment dialog is called - now the frame is not covered by items.
Added option to fill inventory with the same item by holding CTRL and clicking an item in add new equipment dialog.
Update for the manual - better description of the add new equipment dialog, and hint that main desk now has context menu.
Fixed duplicated LB-2X ammo in add new equipment dialog bug.
Fixed display bug in current tonnage label for 100t mechs.
Version 0.78.3
Added data files for the DLC mechs introduced in 1.9 path - Javelin 10A, Raven 3X, Crab 27b, Phoenix Hawk 1b, Cataphract 0X, Rifleman 4D, and Cyclops 10HQ. You need to chose each mech/equipment packs to get them all.
Altered the dialog for setting TAG/NARC multiplier - now it shows how many of them may be stacked, and prevents to set more than allowed.
Added support for new quirk - Prototype TSM +50% move, and data file for it in Urban Warfare pack.
Updated all mech/equipment packs to newest versions. WARNING! It's highly recommended to reinstall all previously chosen packs!
Version 0.78.2
Added support for internal engine double heatsinks
Bugfixes for .json data files messed up by HBS - traditionally CombatGameConstants.json, and new ones like Optimized Capacitors, Prototype Hatchet, both Lance Command modules, Battle Computer, and Battlemater 1GB mech. Choose "Fixes for known .json data errors" install option.
Version 0.78.1
Added missing icons for Mortars and System equipment groups
Version 0.78
Added mechs and equipment from Heavy Metal expansion; you need to choose appropriate option in installer.
New equipment categories - Systems for mech quirks, and Mortars.
Mech design window has been altered, and now contains in addition to old stuff:
Indicator for TAG/NARC multiplier. Just click button to set/clear it.
Slider to set Evasion Chevrons used to calculate damage and heat for COILs.
Mech walk and sprint distance in hexes. Fractional part means how likely a mech will reach next full hex due to terrain relief, or bias movement. WARNING! You have to install Flashpoint and Urban Warfare packs again to get newly added movement data files for mechs from these expansions! If a movedef file is missing the values will be -1.
Enemy Damage Reduction spin box. It has context menu for convenient setting of usual values.
DFA damage info has been moved into separate tab.
'Environment' combo box now has effectiveness values shown on drop-down list.
Label 'Heatsinks effectiveness' has been removed, information about environmental influence of cooling is merged into cooling value label.
New mech dialog has reversed order of displayed hardpoints to better match what is seen in newly created mech design window.
New mech dialog will get information about mech max walk/sprint speed, in hexes.
New mech dialog got new sorting option - by walk speed.
Equipment tooltip widget now shows effects of quirks, thermal exchangers, TAG/NARC multiplier etc. for damage/heat values of weapons.
Jump range label now displays text "N/A" if there are no jump jets equipped on mech.
Changed formulas for calculating heat, jump heat, and jump distance - now they are more accurate, and consistent with data shown in game logs. In short, thermal exchangers now lowers heat better, and jumps generate 1 heat more.
New component for installation - "Fixes for known .json data syntax errors", here will be places all .json data files messed up by HBS and corrected by me. If you see message box "Unsuccessful parsing JSON file: <filename here, then offset and error message>" run the installer again, and select the bugfix component. Currently it contains just CombatGameConstants.json, let me know about other errors. Original files are backed up by renaming to '<filename>.json.backup'.
Version 0.77
tags editor, started from context menu of tags text edit, and actualization for the manual about it.
recent designs list, which contains up to 20 lastly loaded/saved designs, both in .mechDesign and .json format. -
integration with Jaimie Wolf's savegame editor 1.70 or newer - thanks to it you can inject mechs created in Mech Designer directly into Battletech game. WARNING! Old .mechDesign saves are incompatible with this feature, you need to load and re-save them.
added correctness check while loading mech design.
corrected clipped at the top hardpoints icons on Windows 10.
Version 0.76.3
Fixed bug in "Export" function - fixed equipment (hatchet, battle computer, EW) was incorrectly duplicated in a location of the mech.
Version 0.76.2
Added possibility to enable/disable equipment by CTRL + left mouse button in addition to usual middle mouse button click.
Corrected user's manual accordingly to above.
Version 0.76.1
Fixed bug introduced in v0.76 - inability to manually edit ID in "Tags and Description".
Version 0.76
Changed license for commercial use of the Mech Designer (is no longer free).
Added donation link to the main window of the application.
Added button in "Tags and Description" which allows to set mech part cost as percentage of total mech cost. If set to X%, the mech part cost is updated automatically when total cost is changed.
Redesigned New Mech dialog, now allows to select and create several new mechs simultaneously. Check documentation for details.
Completely overhauled look of Free Tonnage dialog, its functionality remained same.
"Unit tags" in "Tags and Description" no longer warp words, instead shows horizontal scroll bar. Also, its width has been slightly increased.
Added information about minimum, optimum and maximum range of a weapon both in add new equipment window and equipment tooltip.
Added new installation option - Example mechs designs. These are put into <MD install dir>\Example designs, and contain few designs for new players for easier learning how to create own ones.
Improved documentation: mentioned about possibility to switch to floating mode for new equipment window, and updated chapter about New Mech dialog.
Fixed bug about asterisk not being cleared when a mech design was saved in .json format.
Fixed bug about incorrect positioning of Free Tonnage dialog when "Tags and Description" was expanded.
Version 0.75
Added asterisk * in the mech design window title and Main Menu > Windows which marks a loadout has been changed but not saved
Improved installation proces; now the installers edits setup.ini, and fills jsonDataPath key which results the application is immediately ready to work, without need to navigate to Battletech.exe second time
Added association of .mechDesign files with the application, so you can open them with shell commands like mouse double click, or shell context menu. NOTE: This works with mechdef.json files too, though you need to use context menu "Open with..." then choose Mech Designer
Version 0.74
NOTE setup.ini got new entry costAlignmentThreshold=10000 in [Genera] section, so if you save aside your setup.ini then ensure to add it, otherwise cost calculation won't work properly
added Manufacturer name to add new equipment dialog, and context menu for switching weapons variants
added tooltip for all inventory stuff, shown on mouse hover under "Ammunition stock and consumption". It contains up to 3 lines:
mech cost calculator. The field "Mech Cost" in "Tags and Description" now reflects changes made to loadout, and displays current value accordingly, rounding up to full 10k alignment. WARNING! Old saves (both *.mechDesign and *.json) have to be reloaded, then have any item dragged and dropped withing the same location in order to trigger cost calculation.
What is Mech Designer It is standalone, desktop application for creating, sharing and analyzing loadouts of mechs. It supports core game .json data, and to some degree content created by modders if it does not have non-standard keys in .json data files, and the files are placed in standard locations. Although the application is very intuitive to use it's recommended to read three pages size manual, as some nice features are unlikely to be discovered on someone's own.
Requirements 1) Installed Battletech game, and optionally Battletech DLC packs. Well, in fact the application needs only data files of the game. 2) Windows family operating system (should support all, even Win 98. Was developed on Windows 7, tested on Windows 10, don't know how about versions in between)
Installation Download the file, unrar, then run it. The installer will guide you through the rest of the installation process. Mech packs are required if you wish to use mechs and equipment added in DLCs Flashpoint, Urban Warfare and Heavy Metal whose data are not placed in usual \Data folder. Attention! As HBS no longer is actively developing and bugfixing Battletech it is recommended during installation to check the component "Fixes for known .json data syntax errors". It is recommended to not uninstall previous version of Mech Desginer, and install newer one in the same folder as before - this way user settings like recent files, advanced mode, default save locations etc. are preserved.
Features See the wideo and screenshot tab.
Cost and license The program is free of charge for non-commercial use (see license), though voluntary donations are welcomed For commercial use contact me for making an agreement.
Final note As it's in beta stage don't be surprised there might be some bugs, and missing features - like "Settings" in main menu. Don't hesitate to report them. If you like the tool, or have an idea for an improvement leave feedback in forum tab.
