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Character Editor


Jerakeen

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WARNING: Installing an editor involves modifying your game files. Even if you only install it and never actively use it, your game may change in ways you don't expect or want. These editors are not made or supported by Spiderweb Software. Install at your own risk.

 

Two different Character Editors for Avadon: The Black Fortress

 

Why two? Different players want different things from an editor. They're both designed to be flexible - you can use them as much or as little as you like. The deluxe version will let you build a party of incredible power, while the no-frills version is for those who would just like all classes to have access to lock-picking, and perhaps to have a few extra skill points to play with.

 

There are some things you should know before you begin. First, and most important, the editors are unofficial and not supported by Spiderweb Software. Use them at your own risk!

 

On a related note, always be sure to back up all files before replacing or altering them in any way. This is the simplest way to avoid having to re-download the whole game if a file happens to be corrupted.

 

Once you have an editor installed (see download links and installation instructions below), it's very important that your party be in the starting order before you use it; otherwise skill points will be allocated incorrectly, potentially wrecking your party. This means that when you are in Avadon - the only place where you can see everyone at once - the character avatars should appear on the roster in this order from top to bottom:

 

Your character

Sevilin

Shima

Jenell

Nathalie

 

If you have changed the party order at all, you should switch it back before using the editor. You have to leave Avadon to do this, unfortunately, and it may take several trips if you have changed things much.

 

 

Click to reveal.. (If you need to change the roster order but you find that you can't, read this. Otherwise, skip it.)

 

>\The game won't let you move a character up or down in the roster if (s)he has unspent skill points. Depending on when and to what extent you use the editor, it's possible to end up with skill points you can't spend, due to having reached the cap in all of your trainable skills. If you have also changed the roster order, then you may be unable to change it back.

 

Don't worry, this is fixable. The deluxe editor offers the option to retrain (respec) everyone at once, which will get rid of your extra skill points and allow you to reassign your natural skill points. It will also reset the editor as if you had never used it. You can then switch the order back, and use the editor again as desired.

 

 

Now for the good stuff. What can you do with the editors?

 

The no-frills version lets you:

 

1. Raise your main character's locksmith skill by 4 points--this works for any class. Non-shadowwalkers won't see the skill on the screen, but it will still work.

 

2. Raise any character's first-tier skills (including auxiliaries) by 3 points each. The only exception is Steel Discipline for Shadowwalkers - this skill is just too powerful to risk raising above the 8 limit.

 

3. Retrain any character. Basically the same as retraining with Leala in the Beraza Woods, except that it will also reset the editor, so that the character can use it again if desired.

 

Once installed, access this editor by going upstairs to Redbeard's Tower and talking to any one of the guards there.

 

The deluxe editor also does all of those things, plus you can:

 

4. Raise any character's attributes (DEX, STR, INT, END) by 5 points each up to 3 times.

 

5. Raise second-, third-, and fourth-tier skills for any character by 3 points each up to 2 times.

 

6. Get unlimited potions, scrolls, wands, crystals, runestones and lock-picks.It does not dispense cash per se, but of course you could use it to generate infinite income if you so desire.

 

goodies.jpg

 

7. Get a selection of charms.

 

8. Get "god party" defensive bonuses, making the party near-invulnerable. Among other benefits.

 

9. Get special gear, not available elsewhere in the game. Not "god items", just different.

 

Once installed, access this editor by clicking on the sign in front of Eye Tamaria's house in Goldcrag.

 

 

 

 

TO INSTALL THE EDITOR

 

Click on one of the links below to download the editor of your choice. The two editors are not meant to be used in tandem, though nothing bad will happen if you do. Just be aware that you can't double-dip.

 

No-Frills Avadon Character Editor - When unzipped, this will be one .txt file in a folder. Drag it out of the folder and onto your desktop.

 

Deluxe Avadon Character Editor - When unzipped, this will be two .txt files in a folder. Drag them out of the folder and onto your desktop. You need both to make the deluxe editor work properly.

 

Mac: Next, right-click on the Avadon icon and select "Show Package Contents". Open the Contents folder. First, make a back-up copy of the whole Resources folder, and then drag and drop the new file(s) from your desktop into the original.

 

Windows: Next, open the Avadon files folder. First, make a back-up copy of the whole Scripts folder, and then drag and drop the new file(s) from your desktop into the original.

 

Once installed, you can access the no-frills version by talking to any guard in Redbeard's Tower, and the deluxe version by clicking on the sign in front of Eye Tamaria's house in Goldcrag.

 

Note that when you update or otherwise reinstall the game, the editor scripts will be overwritten. If you want to use the editor again, you will obviously have to reinstall it as well. If you don't want to reinstall the editor, be aware that any saved games that include custom items from the editor will no longer be playable - the game will get locked up looking for items that don't exist in the scripts.

 

FAQ

 

Will this work with any version of the game?

 

 

To the best of my knowledge, it will work with all but the iPad version.

 

It was previously thought that the Mac App Store version of the game could not be modified, but at least one person has reported successfully doing so. You may need to enter the admin password to replace the original files with the editor files.

 

Mac users with the Steam version, if you're having trouble finding the game files, see this post.

 

 

Does a character have to be present to be trained?

 

 

No. That would be especially awkward with the no-frills editor, since you can't bring anyone up to Redbeard's tower with you. With either editor, you can train any character whether present or not. But remember that they must be in the correct order as stated above.

 

 

Can skills be raised above the caps?

 

 

Yes. If you allocate your natural skill points first and then add more with the editor, you can raise your skills above the normal limit of 8 or 4. And bonuses will continue to scale upward, which will let you create extremely powerful characters.

 

 

Why are there limits on how many times I can use the features?

 

 

If a character's attack damage gets too high, it breaks the game.

 

 

My skills are maxed out and now I can't allocate my attribute points.

 

 

That's right. If you can't allocate at least one skill point somewhere, you will be unable to save changes to your attribute points. Fortunately, you can just use the editor to retrain that character or the whole party, re-allocate all your natural points, and then use the editor to raise your skills again, if desired.

 

 

Update: The deluxe version is now improved slightly--call it v1.1, I guess. It is no longer necessary to repeatedly click on the sign if you want to train more than one character.

 

Update: V1.2 -- Gave you the option to train the whole party at once, saving some steps. This option has been removed from later versions, in the interest of simplicity. Also added "god party" defensive bonuses.

 

Update: V1.3 of the deluxe editor and v1.1 of the no-frills version -- Both now offer retraining (credit to IBNobody for the idea), and the deluxe version now dispenses runestones.

 

Update: V1.3.1-- Fixed a minor bug and added the option to retrain the whole party at once, useful if you are unable to change the party order due to having unspent skill points.

 

Update: V1.4 (5/23/11)--Deluxe version had to be nerfed slightly because with some builds it was still possible to trigger "high damage" errors (h/t to Superba). This is what we get for circumventing Jeff's safeguards. If it happens at all with this version, it should be rare. This is the last version that works with downloading a single file. For those who prefer that, it can still be downloaded here.

 

Update: V1.5 (6/6/11)--Added custom items to the deluxe version. This requires downloading a copy of the items script in addition to the dialogue script.

 

Update: V1.5.1 (10/12/11)--Fixed a bug with skill point allocation for the shaman.

 

Update: V1.5.2 (3/3/12)--Updated all files to the game's V1.0.4 versions. I'm unaware of any difference, but did it anyway in case of typo or minor bug fixes.

 

If anyone has issues or questions post them here or contact me at atuinmoves@gmail.com.

Edited by Lilith
added warning
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Originally Posted By: Impudent Strumpet!
I guess you should add that this won't work with the Mac App Store version of the game, Turtle.


I knew I was forgetting something. Done.


Originally Posted By: Soul of Wit
Does the no-frills editor allow you to edit all five potential party members?


Yes. Characters need not be present to be trained, with either version.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Originally Posted By: The Turtle Moves

You may also end up maxing out your skills at or above 8 before reaching the level cap, in which case you will no longer be able to allocate your natural skill points when you level up. This doesn't break anything; you can still allocate attribute points and exit normally. You may notice a message saying you haven't finished training this character; just ignore it.


Sadly, this is not the case (I emailed you about this) - the message will not let you exit and save and changes.
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Oh, sorry, I understood this to mean the opposite:

 

Originally Posted By: GingerGlaahk's email
I increased Intelligence (or any other of the 4 basic skills) but then I could leave the window and save the changes after receiving the message in the bottom line of the screen.

 

Maybe there's a word missing.

 

My own testing indicates that you can save your changes as long as you allocate one skill point. I will edit the original post. Thanks for clarifying.

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Right, so let's say you've used the editor to the max. Depending on when you've done it and how you built your character up to that point, you probably still have room for two points in one or more of the top-tier skills, and possibly in a couple others. If you still have more levels to gain and want the use of those attribute points, just make sure you leave at least one skill below 8, then don't top up that last skill until you're at the level cap. You should be able to allocate all of your accumulated attribute points, then add one point to your last skill, and save.

 

To me, the ideal way to use the editor (for maximum power) would be to take the initial 3 points to first-tier skills, then level up normally, and take both 3-point boosts to all skills only after reaching the level cap, which can happen well before the end of the game. That also allows you to avoid any problems allocating your points.

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@ Turtle

 

Maybe "superpowers" can modify the game, maybe unexpected events are under control? It happened to me with the strong editor, I killed Neray the smuggler in Wretch lands, while she was supposed to flee through the trapdoor. The trapdoor won't open. Perhaps this is not relevant but I had to point it out. Even if the passage under there is blocked this event seems to modify the game, because it is likely the battle in Jereth Deeps with Neray will not take place. Was this event forknown?

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Yes, but the case here is that he had the quest and just killed her too quickly. A perusal of the scripts (in v1.0.3 at least) suggests that he should still be able to claim his reward from Tartam for having killed her, even if the encounter in the Jhereth Deeps never takes place.

 

Edit: Testing confirms this. So Superba, in answer to your question, building powerful characters with the editor can modify this quest line slightly but it won't break it. Killing Neray too early just means you miss out on whatever loot was in her lair in the Jhereth Deeps. And she doesn't drop the smokey greaves in the Wretch lands.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It says 'First, right-click on one of the links below and select "Download Linked File".' but that is not what happens for me. I just get the open file and I am not sure what to do with it. I can copy the information but I don't know the file name to put on it so I can replace the original in Scripts. WW.

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The party had some points missing the first time I tried the light editor, then I checked the strong editor with a new party and it missed to add all points in three categories to Sevilin and Shima (ok for the rest of the party). Having both editors installed may cause the problem? (didn't try to use both of them with the same party).

Sevilin was there, Shima wasn't.

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Having both editors installed should not cause a problem. They use the same flags, so if you use a feature for a character with the no-frills version, you won't be able to use the same feature for the same character again in the full version, but that should not affect a new party and it should not affect features that the no-frills version doesn't offer.

 

Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly, you were not able to do anything at all for Sevilin and Shima with the deluxe editor? With a party that had not used either editor at all?

 

Edit: Did Sevilin and Shima's names just not appear as options, or did you select them and then then nothing happened?

 

And I'm not sure what "had some points missing" means. Some of the extra skill points didn't appear on the skill tree? For who?

 

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The names appeared and I clicked on them and the procedure went on regularly, only the effects were missing.

So the deluxe editor did not work with Shima and Sevilin, and yes again the party did not use the other editor or the deluxe one before.

I used it at first with the first option and points were added to the five characters.

Then I waited to further use the editor the moment I placed all the regular battle points to fill the basic skills (i.g. battle shield level 8, melee training level 8, second wind level 8).

Only after this step I used the deluxe editor to put the 5 points and raise the levels from 8 to 13, but it worked only for the other three characters, not for Shima and Sevilin.

Then I tried the other two points options of the editor, which worked well for the other three characters and again not for the warriors.

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Hm. The 5 points actually go to the basic attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence and endurance), not to your skills. Those you can raise by 3 points at a time. Which would have raised your skills from 8 to 11, if you had chosen that option.

 

Is it possible that you were expecting to see a 5-point increase in skills and did not notice that the attributes had been increased instead?

 

Next question is, going back into the editor afterwards, were you able to select those same options again, with the same (lack of) result? Please try it and see if the options start to disappear (as they should after being used the requisite number of times).

 

I've been unable to reproduce this bug. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

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Sorry, I was wrong writing points in the message not in practice.

The 5 points you correctly talk about are all there for each character as I meant to write. I confirm options disappeared regularly after the requisite number of times and I don't see them now.

 

This is the full example (deluxe editor)

 

Sevelin is now level 18 with

 

strenght 38

Dexterity 28

Intelligence 24

Endurance 25

 

so the first option worked

 

battle shield level 8, melee training level 8, second wind level 8 are due to normal battle points,

 

so second option didn't work

 

Then

 

archery training 5

path of the blade 3

war cry 0

 

third option didn't work.

 

 

On the other side, main character (a sorceress) has a hell of a devastating upgrade :-)

 

level 18

 

strenght 23

dexterity 25

intelligence 39

endurance 24

 

worked

 

firebolt 13

ward mastery 13

daze 13

 

worked

 

lighting wind 7

focus mastery 7

arcane blessing 3

ice storm 5

magical mastery 5

arcane curse 3

searing spray 3

cloud of confusion 3

 

worked (used this option only once)

 

When you say there's no explanation I could reload the original resources folder and try the editor again to see if there is a software problem of some sort in my computer.

What do you think?

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Good idea. And it might be useful if you could also press 't' just before you test it, to open the text area at the bottom of the screen, and then make a note of what (if anything) appears there when you try to train Shima and Sevilin.

 

Edit: Hopefully you have a save from before you used the editor. Otherwise, let me know and I'll give you the SDFs to reset it.

 

 

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I'd appreciate this SDF thing to reset it 'cause my saves are edited or in the last part of the game when you can't get back to Avadon :-) sorry I'm not much into computers.

As a simple alternative I could start a new party.

For now I loaded the original resources folder and dropped the improved version of the Deluxe Editor in it.

Waiting for further instructions :-)

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@ Superba: I PMed you instructions. Let me know how it turns out.

 

@ Glassk: You can respec by pressing shift-d and then typing in 'retrain'. If you do that after using the editor, though, you will lose all the extra points you gained.

 

Lock-picks are nice, though there really are enough in the game for most purposes.

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OK, I finally figured out what was causing Superba's problem. blush

 

I thought I had tested for this, but apparently not.

 

In order for the Editor to assign skill points correctly, your party must be in the starting order (though they don't all have to be present):

 

You

Sevilin

Shima

Jenell

Nathalie

 

I'm looking for a way around this, but for now if you have changed the party order at all, you should put it back before using the editor.

 

I will update the Editor itself to remind users of this.

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Hm, triple post. Oh well.

 

Another new version of the deluxe editor is up. This one provides a shortcut for training the whole party at once, because it can be kind of annoying having to do it one character at a time.

 

It also has a new feature: massive defensive bonuses giving the party near-invulnerability, among other things. It's not possible to do a "god party" because of the limits on damage bonuses, but this is as close as I think you can get.

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The game uses flags to track events.

 

Quote:

sf(99,12,2);

 

sf = set flag.

sf(x_coordinate,y_coordinate,new_value)

 

the first two numbers (99,12) are the grid coordinates of the flag; the third number is the value to set it to.

 

Quote:

inc_flag(98,(gf(99,1)),1);

 

inc_flag = increase flag (as you might expect)

inc_flag(x_coordinate,y_coordinate,how_much)

 

gf = get flag.

gf(x_coordinate,y_coordinate)

 

Instead of changing the value of the flag to a set number, inc_flag changes it by the given amount. This lets you use the flag to, for example, count how many times something has happened.

 

gf returns the value of the given flag (99,1 in this case).

 

In the second example you chose, the flag (99,1) was previously given a value from 0 to 4, depending on which character was selected for training. So the command "gf(99,1)" would return that value--call it a for now--and increase flag 98,a by one. This lets you use the same command to track how many times each character uses that training option.

 

Quote:

alter_stat(gf(99,1),i,5);

 

alter_stat does just what it says.

alter_stat(which_char,which_stat,how_much)

 

gf(99,1) retrieves the character number as explained above. The second value represents which stat. The variable i was defined earlier in the code. Using a variable lets you use a loop to change a bunch of stats in sequence instead of having to use a separate command for each one. The third number (5 in this case) is how much to change it by.

 

I hope that helps. smile

 

Edit: If you're planning on removing some of the restrictions, or otherwise upping the power of the editor, proceed at your own risk, and back up your saved game.

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Where do the coordinates map? For example, how do you know what (99,12) and (99,1) mean?

 

Also, I tried changing the "only 3 uses" limit on the attribute cheat, but it seems like you've forced the limit in the dialog. The while loop appears to be irrelevant?

 

The menu looks awfully complex with this flag coordinate stuff. Is there a way to attach script commands to abilities, so you can create custom items that can be spawned with a menu? avitemschars and avobjsmisc don't give any indication as to where the actual ability effects are stored.

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For my flags, I know what they mean because I placed them. smile

I did a thorough search of the files to make sure they weren't already in use before I used them. Presumably Jeff has notes on what flags he used for what, but since we don't have access to that we have to figure things out from the context.

 

The while loop is quite relevant--it cycles through the four attributes, adding 5 points to each in turn. You're correct that the dialog forces the limit; look at the calls after "condition = " in each node. That node will only appear in dialogue if all of those conditions are true. You can probably figure out how to alter that if you really must.

 

As far as I know, if you want custom items, you'll have to create them in the avitemschars.txt script and then you can use a dialogue menu to give them to your characters, using the call reward_give(item_number).

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A few items...

 

1. You dialog file has some typos that appear to have been corrected in the current dialog file.

 

2. On normal, even the lite version feels like it makes the game too easy. I'm able to one-hit-kill most enemies in the Kva. I can't tell if this is from my basic attack being souped up or what.

 

Instead of giving all Tier 1 skills +3 points (16 points, since the center skill costs 2 points to learn once), why not just set all Tier 1 skills to 2? That gives you 7 points, and it almost cancels out the costs of learning all other skills.

 

3. Why make it Redbeard's tower? Doesn't Avadon proper work?

 

4. Would you consider adding the ability to respec? I tried it myself, but I wasn't getting much luck.

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1. Could you be more specific? I think I'm working from the latest Mac version.

 

2. The game gets much harder as you go. Of course the first part will be very easy with the extra skill points, since it's designed to be pretty easy even without them.

 

I have not had much luck in trying to set skill points to a certain level, as opposed to just adding points. However, I would be open to the idea of offering a lesser option if people want that. I chose the 3 point bump mainly to give players a chance to get some use out of the top-tier abilities.

 

3. Avadon already has the maximum number of dialogue nodes. Adding any more makes the whole thing crash.

 

4. If you mean retraining a character as you can do with Leala in the Beraza Woods, you can accomplish the same thing with the 'retrain' cheat, which you'll find on the cheat list. That's why I didn't bother to look into it.

 

Re-edit: It looks like a character needs to be present to be retrained. Actually, it turns out, no. This seems perfectly doable and probably a good idea, in fact, because I could at the same time reset the flags to let a character use the editor again after retraining.

 

 

If anyone else would like to see a more modest skill point option, or has any other suggestion or request, I'm interested. smile

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I'm running the Windows version. Did we get dialog corrections that weren't ported back to the Mac version?

 

Here's the corrected dialog version. I also added an option to clear your flags. (The respec option you mentioned would be better.)

 

http://pastebin.com/a4gifhdX

 

After playing a bit more, I saw that the +3 didn't hurt as much as I thought.

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OK, yet another new version of the editor is available! grin

 

Both the deluxe and the no-frills versions have been updated this time. The biggest improvement is the ability to retrain with the editor, which will also reset it, allowing you to use it again (note that retraining with Leala or using the shift-d cheat will not have that effect).

 

This obviates the need to be careful about when you use the editor, since nothing is now irrevocable.

 

Credit for the retraining idea goes to IBNobody. Good one.

 

The deluxe editor will also now dispense runestones.

 

I did remove the group training option, because it became too complicated to keep track of who had been trained and retrained.

 

@IBNobody: Sorry, but converting that file into a format I could use seemed like more trouble than it was worth. If anyone notices a typo, maybe they could send me a specific note or screen cap and I'll fix it.

 

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Almost every menu in the editor has a quit option. You should have seen this:

 

menutk.jpg

 

 

When you say the first two options didn't work, you mean they didn't even take you to a new menu?

 

It sounds like your file is corrupted somehow. I just downloaded and installed it again, and it still works for me. Try re-installing it.

 

Has anyone else had this problem?

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I'm trying to decide whether it's worthwhile to add custom items to the editor. Since this would entail changing the avitemschars script, it would require people to download and install two scripts to get the editor to work.

 

Besides, the items available in the game are very good already. And players using the editor are unlikely to need extra bonuses from equipment anyway.

 

The only thing I can think of that's really lacking is something to boost action points. There are only a few such items in the game, and one of them isn't available until right before the end. And you need to have two equipped in order to get an extra action, so their usefulness is limited. I was thinking of something like this:

 

tpot.jpg

 

But that alone is probably not worth adding a file to the editor.

 

Opinions and suggestions would be welcome.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yet another new version of the deluxe editor is now available. crazy

 

This version offers a selection of custom items, and thus requires users to download and install two files in order to make it work. For those who prefer not to do that, I've retained a link to the previous version in the Updates section at the bottom of the OP.

 

These are not "god items", though some of them are slightly more powerful than what you'll find in the game. Mainly they're meant to add a little fun by letting you play with different abilities. The scarabs all have active abilities, so I larded up some other items with passive bonuses to compensate.

 

I saw no need to make complete armor or weapon sets, since these sorts of things are readily available in the game, but I did make a set of top-level missile weapons. And after experimenting with mental attack abilities, I settled on what I think is a good solution: insanely high attack levels in a wand-type artifact rather than a scarab. They'll work more often, and when they don't, you've only wasted 5 AP. (Many creatures are immune to mental attacks no matter what the level, apparently.)

 

picture16au.jpg

 

In the end, I decided not to alter any of the default items, not even lock-picks. Doing so would mean that anyone who has the editor installed is automatically using it every time they play, whether they want to or not. I prefer to let people have the choice.

 

There's still room for 19 more items, and maybe I'll add some eventually, but for right now this is it. Enjoy.

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