Updating Flagset Presets (4.3.0)

Now that the flagsets have changed and new settings have been introduced, the presets that the program installs with need to be updated. I'll be including a direct translation from 4.2.7 to 4.3.0, but I'll also be including changes that I think would be better or more useful for the beginner flagset. I have thoughts on the three additional flagset presets, as well, but they're more rooted in my own biased playstyle and what I personally enjoy, so I'll leave any adjustments in Ellendar's hands.

Beginner

Direct Translation: RAhN6EAABAViWVRLtBcZB+3mLEqBLnjLBJWA

Proposed Changes: RChN6EAABAViWVRLtBcbi+3mLCqCLviyAAWA

Additions: +Starting Shield Spell - Life spell may not be affordable at early Magic levels, whereas Shield always is. +No Duplicate Rooms (By Layout) - Keep palace layouts simple +Generators Always Match - The alternative is not beginner friendly. +High Enemy Experience Drops - Help new players level faster. +Include Pbag Caves in Item Shuffle - Put everything in logic to help learn cave layouts. +Shuffle Drop Frequency - It's a randomizer, after all. +Randomize Drops - See above comment. +Standardize Drops - No idea why this is disabled, ever.

Subtractions: -Shuffle Pbag Amounts - This setting allows pbags to roll to low, useless values. Standard pbag values are easier to understand, and high enemy experience will offset the loss of meme-sized 700- and 1000-point pbags.

Adjustments: -Dash +Combined Fire - Combined Fire adds much more utility, while Dash just gets new runners killed.

Further Considerations: Community rooms contain several rooms that are not beginner friendly, but if they're not included then Reconstructed Vanilla creates nightmarish labyrinths for newer runners. So, if community rooms were to be removed from the pool, then Vanilla Shuffled palace layouts should be used instead.

Please review the following flagsets, as they don't exactly translate due to new flags being introduced or adjusted, or the fact that I may have simply made a mistake.

Standard

RAAN6AAFesXtWVRLtagax+2cs5w@sunyAAsA

Max Rando

hEAjMsAFesXtWVRLtVdZQ+2csmv@sukyAAsA

Random%

hEAK0sALirpUe5RLvbgZQ+2c4YX@4X4yAASA

This is a bit of a nightmare. We updated the flagsets to be customizable, but that means even when you update to a new version, it's going to keep your old flagsets saved whether the flags are updated or not. There isn't currently a good solution to triggering people's saved flags to update when they update, or even to port between what they have and new flagsets. The best I can do is update the defaults that load when you have a brand new fresh install, which I should probably do, but doesn't help much.

A few things come to mind...

If we had more control over the installation process, there could just be a checkbox that offers to restore/update the flagsets that are default. People would just be able to re-run the installer to revert to default flagsets.
There could be a button on the last tab that just restores the app to its default state, including those default flagsets (which would be stored internally somewhere to restore from).

I got down a rabbit hole with this and came out with a decent, but not perfect system.

The state of the custom buttons is now stored as simple json string types instead of a bunch of StringCollection nonsense that requires specific support
The settings for custom mappings are now all actually based off the settings and not modifications in the generated code, so you can properly generate them and they work. This should cut down on errors whenever we make a new setting.
Updated the defaults on the settings to the ones mirai describes here.
Updated the custom button loading so if the config is not valid json (because it's still the old format) or has flags that don't properly parse (because they are old flags). The button reverts to the default setting. In an ideal future world, this attempts to convert the flags first, but that day is not today.

Originally, I said that I wasn't going to do anything with the Standard, Max Rando, and Random% flagsets, other than directly translate them from a previous version, but I've changed my mind because, as I had mentioned, the direct translations aren't complete with all of the additional options that have been added since 4.2.X, and these flagsets really need to be updated before 4.3 sees a full release. With that said, I've spent the last few hours combing over this information in an attempt to ensure its accuracy, but you should probably check my work, if for no reason other than to fix the inaccuracies within the current presets.

Standard

My mindset when approaching the standard preset was that these flags should be the next step up from the beginner preset to help learn the randomizer, but should also create a solid base for players of all skill levels to enjoy. Historically, the standard preset was a tournament flagset, but tournaments will always take liberties for the spirit of competition, which may not reflect a flagset that would be considered a general standard.

Updated Flagset: RAAN6AAFeqXtWVRstSgax+2csjw@suiyAAWA Note: Tooltip will need to be updated, as it states that it's from the 2023 Standard tournament.

Additions: +Shuffled Vanilla Locations Show Actual Terrain - This flag was not properly carried over when the biome options were expanded and needed to be enabled.

Subtractions: -Shuffle which Location(s) are Hidden - I feel the the standard expectation is that Three-Eye Rock would be a palace and that the forest tile would be New Kasuto.

Adjustments: Boss Rooms Exit to Palace - This was set to 50/50 (now un-checked), since the standard behavior of a boss room is to exit outside. Swap the locations of upstab and downstab - Was 50/50; now un-checked. Shuffle Pbag Amounts - Was set to 50/50 (now un-checked), because the standard denominations of pbags are 50/100/200/500.

Further Considerations: 1) The Fire Spell option was set to Random, but I've set this to back to Link with Random Spell because it would be the setting that a player would be coming from if they first started with the beginner preset. Losing combined Fire for either A) a static Dash spell that they may thoroughly dislike, or B) regular Fire that would leave them wondering what it's combined with, could easily be too much of a change for them. However, if we had a true 50/50 Dash/Combined Fire option, I would vote for that because it would be a nice gradual change to experience and learn from.

2) Mix Large and Small Enemies is set to 50/50 - Most of the time 50/50 flags lead to non-standard behavior because it will keep flip-flopping logic that can be difficult to read, but this flag's different. If we treat Standard as the next step after Beginner, at least in the preset flagsets, then I would say that the 50/50 flag on this should stay.

3) Enable Helpful Hints, Enable Spell Item Hints, and Enable Town Name Hints were all set to 50/50, but I would say that the standard, at least as of the last few years, was to enable these across the board. Repeating what I said above, a 50/50 flag in any of these three will create a flip-flop in what the player expects as standard.

Max Rando

With the introduction of 50/50 tri-state flags and the birth of Random%, what defines Max Rando has become blurred. In 4.0.4, the tooltip on the Max Rando preset reads, "If it can be randomized, it is.", and what separated Max Rando from Standard was fairly easy to understand back then. Nowadays, "if it can be randomized, it is", more so defines Random%, and because of that, I don't really know what flags to specify for this preset. So, I'm just going to convert the old 2023 Max Rando tournament flagset from 4.0.4 over to 4.3, which is slightly different than what the current preset button assigns.

Old 4.0.4 Max Rando Flagset: iyAqh$j#g7@$ZqTBT!BhOA!0P@@A Updated Flagset: hEAjMsAFerXtWVRstVdZQ+2csmv@sukyAAWA Note: Tooltip can stay the same.

Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14r2WD2EIjcZ0QB6mNWOSWzwQ3MCvYpvUxw37lG7tacY/edit

Random%

Going by the tooltip of, "Is it randomized? Who knows?", do we just want to tri-state every flag that can be? If so...

Updated Flagset: hEAK0sAListUe5RtWbgZQ+2c4YX@4X4yAAsA Note: Tooltip can stay the same.

+Shuffled Vanilla Locations Show Actual Terrain - Wasn't carried over from before; now enabled. Shuffle which Location(s) are Hidden - Was enabled; now 50/50. Restrict Connection Cave Shuffle - Was enabled; now 50/50. Great Palace Style - Reconstructed (Random Length) - Was originally set to "Short." Include Vanilla Rooms - Was enabled; now 50/50. Enable Helpful Hints - Was enabled; now 50/50. Enable Spell Item Hints - Was disabled; now 50/50. Enable Town Name Hints - Was enabled; now 50/50.

Just to clarify, the distinction between Max Rando and random% is that random% has a bunch of stuff set to 50/50 and max rando has a bunch of stuff set to "yes random". At least historically that has been the case. People can call anything whatever they want, and also even in Z1R, there's some stuff you can set to 50/50 that we just stopped using in Random% because people don't like it.

Anyway I updated the default flags based on your suggestions.

Ellendar / Z2Randomizer