Editing The Database: Using NPC/Locked Costume Pieces

[Kyriani]

I am by no means an expert in this stuff. I mostly just stumble my way into inadvertent success.

First I downloaded a program called sqlite browser. You can find it here http://sqlitebrowser.org/

Fire up the program and open the database found at: %APPDATA%\Paragon Chat\Database

You cannot edit the db when ANY part of paragon chat is open. Even just having the xmpp login thing open will disallow it.

Once you have the database open you'll need to switch the "browse data" tab and use the dropdown to select costume parts.

Here's the tricky part... Make sure you export your costume file from the tailor and then you need to open your costume file (using notepad is easy enough) with your costume that uses npc bits and find the equivalent rows in the database and replace the info in each column with the info for the npc piece instead. Once you make your changes make sure you "write" to the database.

With enough trial and error you should be able to do it. I took me a few tries but my Kyri costume looks like this now!

[Kyriani]

Some people are still having trouble editing costumes using my instructions... and I take full blame for that. I'm bad at this stuff and worse at explaining. If someone more tech savvy then myself could add to this topic with better instructions that would be greatly appreciated >_>

[Phocks]

I was thinking of doing a guide myself for the db edits, but there's still a ton I've got no clue about. A quick guide for the curious about my process, which might be totally inefficient!


Some NPCs have parts that aren't available even in the devmode editor. To get at these:


1. Find the NPC's model name, and set yourself to that NPC using the /benpc command. The benpc popmenu works as well, though it doesn't contain everything.
2. Use the /accesslevel 9 command.
3. Use the /costume_save <name> command. This outputs a file to either your data folder (or your piggs folder, if you don't have a data folder) in your Icon install.
4. Now you have a... sort of, costume file. It doesn't read properly in Icon, but you can manually copy/paste the appropriate fields.
5. Geometry, fx (not always applicable), texture1, texture2 (not always applicable), and the first two numerical color values are the main ones to look out for. The rest seem to be for display.


Maybe there's an easier or faster way to do it, but I'm not aware of it! Hopefully folks have some fun and don't break things too much, though.

[Aggelakis]

Please note if you abuse this, we will take it away from everybody, and you will be That Guy. No one likes That Guy.

If someone asks you to go back to a reasonable size, please do so or leave the vicinity.

[FloatingFatMan]

Please note if you abuse this, we will take it away from everybody, and you will be That Guy. No one likes That Guy.

If someone asks you to go back to a reasonable size, please do so or leave the vicinity.

I'm certainly not going to take it to silly levels.. I figure 12-15 feet to be a reasonable limit.. Large, but can still get through doors etc and don't take up all the space.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

I'm certainly not going to take it to silly levels.. I figure 12-15 feet to be a reasonable limit.. Large, but can still get through doors etc and don't take up all the space.

Agge was referring to height i think.

[FloatingFatMan]

Agge was referring to height i think.

So was I... Or did you think I was talking about characters with 15 actual feet?

[Pengy]

Yay! Got my Rocket Boots back! hope people can see me

So was I... Or did you think I was talking about characters with 15 actual feet?

If you were saying Josuke's head looks like a foot that might end badly.

[FloatingFatMan]

If you were saying Josuke's head looks like a foot that might end badly.

I would never ever ever say anything that.... nice.

[Kyriani]

I just used this method to access parts either locked out due to paywall or because they are npc parts. I would hope that's primarily all anyone would use it for... certainly not to disrupt others enjoyment of paragon chat >_>

[Eoraptor]

Part of the reason for the invisibility bug is people using costume parts that aren't hashing properly between the client on the user's computer and the PC server. So please stop posting about this.

[Shadeknight]

Using Ascension stuff, for example, won't cause invisibility. I believe its just NPC stuff that is?

Code has more info on that.

[Codewalker]

The invisibility bug is not caused by using any specific costume part. Even hacked-in NPC parts are not a direct cause. It's a non-deterministic occurrence; there is no logical pattern to find.

All known causes are fixed as of 0.965. The last one was a flaw in the base64 encoder causing it to sometimes return inconsistent encodings. That one can affect both sender and receiver, so everyone needs to update.

If you're running 0.965 (check the window title) and someone also running 0.965 cannot see you, then please report it, but only if you both have the updated version. I'll probably try to meet a couple people experiencing it somewhere so that I can get a trace of the costume data you're sending.

[Kyriani]

So then there's nothing wrong with editing the DB to use costume parts? That's a relief... I'd hate for my poking and prodding to cause anyone issues >_>

[Halloween]

So then there's nothing wrong with editing the DB to use costume parts? That's a relief... I'd hate for my poking and prodding to cause anyone issues >_>

How does the coloring format work in SQLite? My colors listed for each of my costume pieces are in a different format entirely (##, ##, ##) in Notepad. Also, are you editing your costume parts in any particular order (i.e. sort by region/geom/bodyset), and does the costume info in Notepad follow any specific order respectively? BTW, by "export your costume file from the tailor" do you mean to simply save the costume, or am I missing something?

Edit: I'm beginning to understand why this appeared to be so overwhelming - All of our costume slots are unlocked by default and are reflected within SQLite. Filtering costumes by number will alleviate this.

[Leandro]

I personally prefer SQLite Studio: http://sqlitestudio.pl/?act=download

For the color, take the 3 numbers; they are red, green and blue values. Multiply blue by 65536 and green by 256 and add them together. So for example, white would be 255,255,255 = 255*65536 + 255*256 + 255 = 16777215.

[Kassandros]

This is probably a newbie question, but I'm trying to see if I can get my old costume part working again - Draconic Wings. Is it possible to get Draconic Wings by editing the database? How do I look through what parts are available? Is that doable in the game somehow or do I need to look through the database?

Since Draconic Wings weren't available, I used demon wings when I went into the game. But when I visited a tailor (the one on Mercy Island),  it said my costume file was invalid. And even Demon Wings weren't available in the game.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on? I'm just trying to figure out how to get my old costume back, not break the game.

Thanks!

[Kyriani]

This is probably a newbie question, but I'm trying to see if I can get my old costume part working again - Draconic Wings. Is it possible to get Draconic Wings by editing the database? How do I look through what parts are available? Is that doable in the game somehow or do I need to look through the database?

Since Draconic Wings weren't available, I used demon wings when I went into the game. But when I visited a tailor (the one on Mercy Island),  it said my costume file was invalid. And even Demon Wings weren't available in the game.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on? I'm just trying to figure out how to get my old costume back, not break the game.

Thanks!

it is possible but I am bad at explaining the how.

My instructions in the original post are the best I can offer. You need a program that can read and edit the database... you need your original costume file (with the pieces you want) as a reference so you know what to copy and paste into the database to replace what is currently there. I've also found that the costume you're looking to alter needs to have "something" in the slot you want to alter. For example...



The "belt cape" I am using here uses the standard cape slot. The costume itself has no "back cape" so I didnt have one when I original made the character for Paragon Chat. When I wanted to edit the DB to add the belt cape, I found I needed to go back and first add a regular back cape to the character in Paragon Chat so the slot would show up in the database for me to edit. I also had to copy other things from the original costume file for that slot to make it all show up correctly.

In your case you'd need to make sure the costume you're editing in the database already had wings of some sort. Then you'd edit the database and replace whatever is listed for the wings with whatever its called in your costume file. You might also have to copy whatever is listed as the textures for your dragon wings and replace whatever is listed for the textures of your placeholder wings to make it all work right.

Like I said I am bad at explaining this in a way that easy for the layman to understand... I mostly just fiddle with stuff and figure it out via trial and error.

[Gunnarsvard]

Where does one find NPC parts?

[Kyriani]

Where does one find NPC parts?

make a costume using Icon's NPC mode and use the npc parts you want. Save that costume and then you can open the costume file with notepad and see the references to them.