The Costume Creator is in dire need of an update

Please note: I'm not very good at organizing my thoughts and putting them on paper. This isn't going to be a freakin' thesis like some people would write, and I can guarentee I'm going to come off as some snarky a-hole. Well that's because I am a snarky a-hole, but I would appreciate if you took it seriously.

To summarize the issue at hand: In the six years I've played this game, the costume creator has received almost as little attention as base construction, if not less. In such time, I have seen it undergo two superficial changes (which admittedly did streamline the process a bit) and one, ONE, change to the fundamental system: Relocating tails to their own section separate from belts.

The following is a list of things I believe have been in need of changes for a very, VERY long time. The costume creator is one of if not the biggest draw to CoX for many players, enticed by it's freedom and flexibility. Said costume creator is also a frustration to some veterans such as myself (don't give me an attitude if your opinion differs, because I know someone will) for it's utterly boneheaded limitations. It's a "one more inch" issue, if the costume creator just had that tiny extra bit of choice, it would be flawless.

1) Split up the Detail 1 parts under the head section. I've been irritated by this for years, and I've made multiple posts on the matter. There are items in this section which are located at the eye level and at forehead level, for example glasses and horns, which would have exactly zero clipping if they were used simultaneously. Why, then, can't we have three sections? Upper Head, Mid Head, Lower Head. I can't be the only one who's always dreamed of a devil-horned greaser in aviator shades with a fat cigar.

2) Robotic Arms are arbitrarily limited, asymmetrical costumes are treated like the black plague. Again, for some reason there are limits where they make no sense. Why have the Robotic Arm sections never been updated with new parts, despite the myriad of robotic parts added to the game? Why in the flaming pits of Hell can't we have a robotic LEFT arm? Why are they even limited to robotic parts in the first place, why not just open the floodgates and allow total asymmetrical arm customization?

3) Trenchcoats. Why does this need it's own section? To needlessly prevent the combination of a trenchcoat and back items? Is there a good reason why you can't mix trenchcoats and wings? Would the universe implode?

4) Auras make no donkey-boffing sense. Some of them allow certain combinations that others don't. A few allow asymmetry (le gasp) and most don't allow that perfect combination of effects you wanted. Here's an idea: Why not just let us pick whether or not we want to have an aura in a certain location, instead of giving us random combinations of fist-eye-body-hair? And if you really want to shake things up, let us customize each aura location completely independent of the others, so you could for example have pink lightning coming out of your eyes and lime green sludge dripping from your fists. Choose which auras you want in combat and which you don't, allow trails auras with regular auras, there is a freaking legion of options that are being totally ignored for no good reason beyond "We said no."

In closing, I love the costume creator. I really do. It is my favorite part of the game, and that is why it infuriates me beyond reason to see so much wasted potential and pointless limitation. I think that after six years of seeing very little change, it's time to take a serious look at what can be done to make the costume creator new again.

I'd love to have say demon horns and sunglasses. The NPC Hard Case is like this if I recall.

As for arms, http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=279344

What I really REALLY want what you mentioned is the Detail 1 category being split up for more combinations on the head.

Personally, I would like to have the Jester 2 (Jester collar) detail be a Shoulder option and open up detail 2 for making a bearded jester.

Not an expert on the CC but the reason why you can't have most of what you are asking for is that there aren't enough anchor points available to support more details applied to the same point (hence why no trench coats with back options).

As for the asymmetrical stuff, Positron stated in a recent coffee talk that the amount of memory space those options take are astronomical and therefore they're not only frowned upon, as they are also undesirable.

:< That's a shame.

Meh, I don't have that much of an issue with the CC. I'd prefer to keep getting new costume parts every issue instead. I change my costume an averge of what seems like 8 times a day. I need MOAR!!!!

@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

I've been wanting some way to have proportions be different for the costume so if I change them I can easily apply the changes to all other costume slots.

When it comes to Robotic Arms, I bugged David endlessly when he still posted, as did a few other people. Our argument was that Robotic Arms should simply be "custom" arms, instead, and allow for monster arms, rock arms, crystal arms and just bigger or smaller human arms. As of the Fire and Ice costume set, this is actually true. One of the custom arms now allows for a crystal right arm. It was explained that we couldn't get the crystal option on the other Robotic arms sections because of how the model was created - because it's transparent, won't work to just crop it, I understand. Either way, they've clearly acknowledged that we can have more than just robotic arms under Robotic Arms.

Trenchcoats limit wings and backpacks because they limit the entire Back section, and they limit the entire back section because players aren't allowed to have multiple cape rigs. BABs ran a test with a large number of player characters and found graphical perfomance decreased significantly when players went from one cape rig to two. As per BABs' last musings, the costume creator seems incapable of blocking specific items, just entire categories, so we lose Back items in general if we use a Trenchcoat. Why it's in its own section is so you can recolour its coat tail separately, something that I REALLY wish the tuxedo could do, as well. I'm sick and tired of having to pick a cape and change colours there, then apply those to the whole costume AND THEN go back to my trenchcoat if I want to alter its coat tail interior.

Multiple auras was cited as a problem of performance similar to multiple cape rigs, though I assume this one is less straightforward. It appears to me that the problem with multiple auras is stacking these auras on top of each other, say having three types of glowing eyes active at the same time. This does not seem to pose a problem, however, if we split auras down to their component parts and limit each aura "location" down to just one type, which is what current auras accomplish in a very slapdash manner. The problem of "anchor points" also does exist, but I strongly suspect this is not an issue for auras, who seem to be mounted to points already in use by other costume items. And, yes, the engine is perfectly capable of mounting multiple pieces to the same point. That's what created Thessalia's bowtana back in the day. It might involve UI work, though, and our art team reacts to UI work with about the same enthusiasm as a vampire hissing at a cross. Even AFTER they made a brand new UI which doesn't seem to have implemented any innovations but retained all the old limitations.

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My own personal pie-in-the-sky desire for the costume creator is for us to have better physique sliders. Our face sliders are... Reasonable, but our physique sliders are just terrible, especially for women. Shoulders just pull the shoulder blades apart without expanding the chest, there's no way to gain bigger arms without gaining ginormous thighs, we have no control over the thickness of our waists, just the basic width and so much more. If face sliders can control the X, Y and Z of every aspect affected, why can't body sliders do the same? What if I want a wider chest that doesn't look like I stuffed a balloon under my skin? Or any control over a female character's actual chest, as opposed to her breasts?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.