Battletech Character Creator

Modern .NET migration

A new WPF implementation is being developed in src/. It targets .NET 10 and keeps compatibility with existing .btcc character files. The original Qt application remains in the repository as a reference during migration.

This project is based on bearchik's original BattleTech Character Creator. The original Qt application, data, and design provide the foundation for this modern .NET migration.

The new Create flow includes affiliations, early and late childhood, higher education, basic, advanced, and specialist education fields, and all 46 Stage 4 real-life module variants, representing all 24 base modules in the corrected printing. Module effects, choices, prerequisites, repeat restrictions, and module-specific repeat penalties are implemented in the Core library. The wizard supports two ordered careers, including legal repeat modules and career-to-career prerequisites. ComStar and Word of Blake characters also select a full-cost birth affiliation. All 68 corrected Stage 0 sub-affiliation XP packages are included. The legacy equipment, weapon, skill, trait, career, subskill, and description catalogs are imported as structured .NET data for the editor. Optional A Time of War Companion catalog entries are source-tagged and hidden behind an explicit Companion toggle in the equipment and weapon editor tabs. Imported Companion content currently includes vintage armor, First SLDF armor kit entries, archaic, vintage, and advanced personal weapons, fixed-cost advanced implants and cybernetics, extreme prosthetics, and prosthetic enhancements, cosmetic adaptation kits, advanced combat practice equipment, and light support vehicles that fit the current catalog model. Companion expanded trait reference entries are also available behind the Companion toggle.

Rules are verified against A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG, Corrected Third Printing. See docs/RULES_SOURCE.md for the authoritative page map and migration policy. Optional material from A Time of War Companion is tracked in docs/COMPANION_AUDIT.md. Era boundaries are imported from Eras.xlsx; local Era Digest and Era Report references are tracked in docs/ERA_SOURCE_AUDIT.md for era-aware defaults and campaign context. The original Qt application is an implementation reference, not the final authority when it conflicts with the corrected rulebook.

Build the new application with:

dotnet build BattletechCharacterCreator.sln
dotnet run --project src/BattletechCharacterCreator.App

Run the dependency-free migration checks with:

dotnet run --project tests/BattletechCharacterCreator.Tests

The application provides a Life Module character wizard and a detailed character editor for A Time of War.

Interface mockups

These development mockups show the current direction of the .NET interface. Layouts and details may continue to change before the first stable release.

Start screen

Character wizard

Character editor

Development status

The .NET migration is approximately 99% complete. There is not yet a stable release. Automated release checks and installer smoke tests are passing; the next gate is manual preview testing with docs/MANUAL_TEST_PLAN.md.

Completed

• .NET 10 and WPF application foundation
• A Time of War app icon applied to the executable and installer
• First-launch choice window for opening the Character Wizard or Character Editor
• Character wizard from basic information through Stage 4
• Basic information uses year of birth and game year, with age calculated for summaries and exports
• Campaign year infers the matching era from the imported Eras.xlsx chronology
• Era-aware affiliation and sub-affiliation availability filters with visible era notes for Stage 0
• Stage 0 XP accounting applies universal, affiliation, and sub-affiliation module costs together in spent and remaining XP totals
• Wizard stage previews show only selections picked up through the current stage instead of including later default selections
• Stage 1 and Stage 2 wizard choices hide Clan-only childhood modules unless the selected affiliation is Invading Clan or Homeworld Clan
• Era quick-start templates for common campaign eras in the editor
• All affiliations and 68 corrected sub-affiliations
• Life-path effects, prerequisites, repeat rules, and flexible XP allocation
• Stage 1 flexible XP target lists include cataloged Compulsion traits
• Stage 1 flexible XP target lists are restricted to attributes and traits instead of later-stage skill targets
• Flexible XP allocators show only the number of target rows required by the selected module choice
• Wizard character totals remain visible while flexible XP pools still have unallocated or overallocated XP
• Character editor with guided Attribute, Trait, and Skill XP controls
• Searchable equipment and weapon catalogs with visible quantity-aware base-price totals, purchased patch and ammo totals, and unresolved-price counts
• Equipment and weapon catalog filters for faster core and Companion inventory selection
• Selected equipment and weapon detail panels showing source, cost, mass, and combat notes before adding items
• Selected equipment and weapon detail panels show campaign-year era availability warnings for tracked advanced or later-era items
• Inventory status warnings for over-budget, overloaded, manually priced wildcard items, armor patches that need patch pricing, ammo purchases that need ammo cost or mass details, and prosthetic enhancements that need a prosthetic or implant host
• Inventory status warnings for ammo purchases that need reload or power-pack review
• Inventory status warnings for vehicle purchases that need Vehicle or Custom Vehicle trait support
• Optional Companion catalog toggle with source-tagged imported equipment, weapons, implants, cybernetics, prosthetics, prosthetic enhancements, and cosmetic adaptation kits, plus advanced combat practice equipment, light support vehicles, and expanded trait references
• Skill and Trait editor reference panels with source labels and rule notes
• MW3-to-AToW conversion skill targets from the Companion conversion table
• Local Era Digest and Era Report source audit for era-aware behavior
• Legacy .btcc character save and load compatibility
• Official character-sheet PDF preview and export, including purchased patch and ammo inventory details
• Error report generation for unexpected UI failures and recoverable editor operation failures
• Error reports include app version, runtime, process, and launch diagnostics
• Release checks validate diagnostic report versions against the requested release version
• Release checks verify the app project version matches the requested release version
• Release checks verify Windows assembly/file versions match the release version number
• Start-window smoke runs headlessly before WPF startup so automation validates the launch choices without hanging on window construction
• Start-window smoke accepts installed WPF builds where the launch-screen XAML, image, and font are compiled resources instead of loose files
• Inventory smoke runs headlessly against catalog and inventory-rule checks so automation does not hang on editor window construction
• Windows x64 folder publish profile documented in docs/RELEASE.md
• Locally compile-verified per-user NSIS installer script for the .NET publish output
• Installer smoke-test script for install, launch diagnostics, and uninstall verification, including installed-app start-window validation and sheet export
• Full installer install, launch-smoke, and uninstall verification
• Automated release-check script covering tests, start window, app smokes, sheet export output, publish, and self-checking installer dry-run coverage
• Release checks close repo-launched app instances around app smoke, build, and publish steps to prevent stale file locks
• Release checks build the app once before app smoke steps and run those smokes without rebuilding between launches
• Wizard smoke headlessly validates era-aware wizard behavior and a representative character path without the slower exhaustive UI selection sweep
• Preview release packaging script with installer checksum, stale-installer guard, and manifest output
• Preview release package filenames include the packaged build commit
• Preview release notes included in packaged release artifacts
• GitHub-ready preview release draft included in packaged release artifacts
• GitHub release publish helper with package, checksum, manifest, and installer metadata/version/notes validation
• GitHub release publish helper can refresh an existing prerelease's notes and assets with an explicit update flag
• Manual preview test plan in docs/MANUAL_TEST_PLAN.md and generated manual test run logs under artifacts/manual-tests
• Automated tests covering major Inner Sphere, Periphery, ComStar, and Clan paths

Remaining

• Run the manual preview test plan on the installed app
• Continue importing and modeling selected optional mechanics from A Time of War Companion
• Expand era template coverage after manual preview feedback
• Expand deeper reload behavior, deeper patch repair rules, ammunition modifier rules, and deeper vehicle purchasing details
• Continue interface polish and usability testing
• Continue strengthening error handling and recovery
• Complete the final rulebook audit
• Publish the prepared preview release on GitHub after account authentication

License

Only for Non-commercial use. Battletech Character Creator is free software, and is released under the terms of the Creative Commons license version 3 or (at your option) any later version. See https://creativecommons.org/