How to Install and use the PRC Character Creator?

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               So, I've gotten the PRC itself installed(yay for easy installation on that!).  However, when I open up the PRC character creator, there are a TON of files in there that I just don't know where to extract to, and I can't find a help guide that tells me where to put them.  It's obviously not as easy as running the Character Creator.exe file, as that didn't do anything, so I'm guessing I need to install it somewhere, but I have no idea where. Any help would be MUCH appreciated!  Thanks all '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AzurDraak]

               You WILL be wanting to visit the PRC forum and not-quite-up-to-date manual at nwnprc.com .

If you used .exe version of PRC, the character creator should have been installed automatically.
My setup has Neverwinter/nwn/PRCPack/cc_1.8_WIN/ which includes 6 files; a .jar (the actual program), a .exe launcher, a batch file for settings, and 3 .dll's. I have a desktop link to the .exe .
If you have "a ton of files" then I suspect you have the ConvoCC. This is intended for PW builders and generally is of no use for players.

When you first launch the character creator {optimism} you will need to select "settings" to associate the PRC haks and tlk. The manual lists the minimum haks needed.

Relax. First steps first. Your headaches have only just begun.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               Yeah, it has 6 files, the ton of files was inside the .jar one(CC.jar).  I used the setup.exe for the PRC itself.  What do I do with the CC_1.8 files?  Where do I put them?  I tried to run the .exe launcher and nothing happened. I've taken all of them out of the .rar file and put them on my desktop.  I am very confuzzled, I've never tried to install any mods before except World of Caenyr hakpaks and those were very easy(their site told me exactly where to put everything).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AzurDraak]

               The character creator is a Java based program. If you do not already have the Java runtime environment (JRE) installed, you will need to download it (free) from java.com or any of several sites.

Extracting the cc.rar yields a cc folder. Place the entire folder within your Neverwinter/nwn directory. Now create a desktop shortcut to cc.exe . Done.

For organization, I have a PRCPack subfolder, as shown above, which contains the cc folder and moduleupdater and PRCuninstaller.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               Ahh, I may not have Java, as I reformatted my computer a few months ago. I'll have to download it ^^ Thanks for all thehelp!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               Ok, so, I installed Java, and then It still wouldn't work. But I was click on the the Character Creator.exe file(all it did was make a sound). So I double clicked the CC.jar file, and that opened up the Character Creator. However, it has none of the PRC stuff inside it >< Still the same regular crappy races, still the regular crappy classes, feats, spells. So what did I do wrong?

Step by Step I've:

Installed Java
Ran Setup.exe for PRC 3.4
Unzipped CC_1.8 and made it into a CC folder.
Dropped CC folder into Neverwinter/nwn directory
ran CC.jar
Became disappointed

So, what have I done wrong?

Edit: Also, I do have some Persistent World Haks installed, including a 2da file.  I mention that because I was just randomly looking at the Manual installation guide for the PRC, and it mentions that if you have another 2da file from another HAK that it might be messing things up.  Problem is, is it talks about combining them, and I have NO idea how to do that. I opened one up with notepad and it was massively long.  Wouldn't know how to combine that at all.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Starwulf99, 03 juin 2011 - 02:56 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               Ok, so now I'm even more confuzzled. I managed to get the new options(mostly) to show up.  However, alongside the new races, I have a bunch of lines of text that appear to be taken directly from ye olde NWN, literally line after line of spoken conversation where I assume the various races should be. The same goes for classes, which is kinda annoying, because I really want to play my Duskblade ><.

I basically realized that I had to use the settings option and initiate the various PRC haks to get the new options. Unfortunately, something obviously went wrong as, I mentioned, I'm getting lines of text in places of classes and races.  Is it because I tried to open the HAK files earlier with notepad and now all the .hak files have a symbol of notepad next to them?

Edit: Annnndddd, nevermind actually. A litle bit of common sense + a little bit more exploration revealed that I needed to use the custom TLK file. It's working now '> thank you for your patience and the help. Your responses were pretty damn helpful, and just being able to type up my questions and frustrations helped me figure it all out '>

2nd Edit: Ok, so I got my character created, and I loaded up Neverwinter Nights, and went to Premade characters. It imported him as a level 1 barbarian with ability scores that belong to an Deity or hell, AO himself, instead of a Duskblade with high Intelligence, great Dex, good Str, Ok CHR and CON, and crappy WIS. On top of that, when I tried to load it regardless, it gave me some odd error, and wouldn't let it. So, what happens now? I'm about to go hit the sack, so I won't be able to figure this one out for a while, and would be nice if I could get some help on it '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Starwulf99, 03 juin 2011 - 08:19 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Aleron]

               I haven't got to this part in my own installations, but from the sound you have the creator working right. The issue you have now is you have to install the PRC to the modules where you want to use it. Basically you have all the files on your computer but you haven't actually installed them to any modules so the module you load looks at that character file and goes, "WTF! I don't know what the hell a duskblade is. Quick make it the first thing that comes to mind...uhhhh barbarian!".

Now I can't give perfect instructions here but there should be a file that comes along with the PRC that you can run to install it to any module automatically (or try to, assuming as you said there are no major 2da clashes). Alex Warren might be able to give you better details on that.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AzurDraak]

                Yay. You have a PRC character. And you are correct, the character info will not display properly until it is imported into a PRC compatable module. Do not attempt to import into a noncompatable module. Do not attempt to customize or edit using the Bioware character creator.

This might be good time for a personal disclaimer. The PRC has gone through many versions over the years. My current version appears to be 3.4beta (a long story not worth telling) and thus details may vary. Furthemore I am mostly speaking from memory, not the most reliable source.

So, on to step 2......what Aleron said.
You now need to examine the moduleupdater.exe . This program will install haks into modules using instruction sets called hif files. At this time you probably have only 2 hif files in your hak folder; PRCPack.hif and PRC_oc_fix.hif.
When you installed the PRC onto your computer it should have created a shortcut to the updater. Double-clicking the shortcut will launch the updater program preconfigured to install the PRCPack into any module selected from a list which includes all modules in your modules and nwm folders. 
I recommend that you also create your own shortcut to the updater.exe . Double-clicking this shortcut will launch the updater not preconfigured. Instead it will offer a list of all your hifs to choose from. This will be especially useful later.

So then, you launch the updater and choose to install the PRC into the OC. The first thing that will happen is that  the program will automatically create a backup of the module. (NOTE: each chapter of the OC is actually a separate module; thus the entire OC is a series of 7 modules) The program will then proceed to do its thing. Before finalizing, it will show a list of resources that will be overwritten. Press Okay. ( I mean, what choice do we really have? I suppose if we were experienced scripters we could try to resolve the issues.  ) When the moduleupdater is done you have Neverwinter Nights OC with PRC installed. Unfortunately you're not done.

The OC has several quests, scripts and other situations that are class specific. More to the point they are specific for the original base classes. If you are not one of those classes, it will break your game. To remedy the situation, the PRC group made the oc_fix.
So then, you launch the updater again and choose to install the oc_fix into the OC. The program proceeds the same as before.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! If you run the updater a second time on the same module then the new auto-backup will overwrite the previous one. As a result you will have a backup of the OC with PRC, but no backup of the original OC! It is your responsibility to manage backups between installations so that you don't lose modules.

Note: I have seen posts suggesting that the updater can/will install both  the PRC and the oc_fix in a single pass. I haven't experienced this but further inquiry might be desired.

At this stage you should now have the OC with PRC and oc_fix installed. Unless I have forgotten something, you are ready to experience the game with the mind boggling multitude of overpowered races and classes... and the frustrating bugs.

Later you will want to install the PRC into modules that already have haks, such as CEP (cringe). 
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               lol, sigh, apparently I now need .net framework v2.whatever. So, I guess that's the first thing that needs to be done ^^
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               Hmm, there are 3 different 2.0 Frameworks available. An x86 version(the smallest), a v64(medium) and an ia64(largest). I have no idea which one I need. I'm running Windows XP(32bit), SP3. Any ideas?

edit:  n/m, almighty google has the answer '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Starwulf99, 03 juin 2011 - 07:04 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               So, how do I know if the OC_Fix has installed? where does it install to?

Edit: Ok, so everything is up and running. I have the PRC_OCFIX installed(it's in the erf folder). However, playing my duskblade, It wont let me complete the training for the prelude >< I've gone to all the trainers, and none of them say I'm the right fit >< Am I going to have to complete the prelude with a normal character and then load my Duskblade into the 1st chapter? if so, Imma start out at level 1 instead of level 3, which while not to bad, will make things a bit more difficult I guess.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Starwulf99, 03 juin 2011 - 09:32 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_AzurDraak]

                Okay, let's try this again.

The prc_ocfix.erf is in your erf folder and the prc_ocfix.hif is in your hak folder. This means the ocfix is installed ... on your computer. In other words, it is available for use. To actually use the ocfix it must be installed ... into a module. Specifically, it must be installed into the official campaigns (TheOC, SoU and/or HotU). It should have no effect if installed into any community made module.

You can install the ocfix into the OC using the moduleupdater. The difference between installing the ocfix and installing the PRCPack is that, for the ocfix, you cannot start the moduleupdater using the shortcut created during the PRC installation. You must start the updater either directly from the updater.exe or from a shortcut to the .exe that you have created yourself. When you start the updater this way, you should see a list of items to install (PRCPack & prc_ocfix).  Select the ocfix as the item to install and the OC as the module to update.

REMINDER: Manage your backups carefully! In your current situation the OC refers to the OC+PRC and the backup refers to the original OC. After installing the ocfix the OC will refer to the OC+PRC+ocfix and the backup will refer to the OC+PRC. The original OC will not exist unless you take steps to preserve it.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Starwulf99]

               Ahhhh.....see, I was wondering how in the world I was supposed to be able to choose to install the ocfix when I had no option to pick what I wanted to install. Had no idea I had to go directly to the folder to run the program and not just use the shortcut. Once again, thanks for the advice and that very crucial bit of information '>

edit: Sigh, well, at least it's properly installed now! But, doesn't do anything to solve my Duskblade being able to get past the Guard at the start of the Prelude chapter, since apparently I'm not fit for ANY of the tests in there :-(.  Ahh well, guess I'm playing chapter 1 at level 1 instead of level 3.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Starwulf99, 04 juin 2011 - 07:11 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_AzurDraak]

               I just whipped up a Duskblade and completed the combat training with no problem.

Did you talk to the instructor?
Did you talk to both of his assistants?
Did you talk to the instructor again?