Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

My Experience with CK Genetics

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
unmerged(16588)

unmerged(16588)

Eight Cubed Leader
Apr 29, 2003
154
0
Hello Everyone,
I haven't seen any related things posted anywhere, so I thought I would unveil what I have learned so far about the genetic code in CK.

It's a 14-digit sequence that each character has that determines what it looks like. It is broken down so that each set of 2 digits controls one of the 7 elements that make up a character portrait.

Now, I have figured out the order, and to some extent what numbers = what portrait. An example sequence using letters, you have AABBCCDDEEFFGG
It is broken down as follows:

AA - The Head Shape (10 possible)
BB - The Eyes (10 possible)
CC - The Nose (10 possible)
DD - The Mouth (10 possible for women, 14 possible for men)
EE - The Hair (13 possible for women, 16 possible for men)
FF - The Ears (10 possible)
GG - The Clothes (11 possible for women, 16 possible for men)

Now, as far as I have been able to tell, what type of, say, Head you get, is determined by counting from left to right through the different Heads in the testface_heads.bmp (or testface_fem_heads.bmp for women) file in the /gfx/portraits directory, with the first head starting as 0. You count through as many times as the two digit number requires, reaching the end of the vailable heads and then returning to the left of the bmp file (in the case of ones where there are 10 possible, the first head will be 0, 10, 20, etc. and so on... for the ones with available components that are more or less than 10 in number, well, count to say 16 for the male clothes, and then returning to the left would make it 16, then 32, then 48, etc.)

I believe[/i/] that I am correct in this, at least for the portrait element files that have 10 possible selections. The system may be different for the others, so if anyone has a better theory let me know. Also, there are separate files for men and women of 'dark' ancestry, probably the arabs, mongols, turks, etc, which I believe are used only when your culture is set to one of the 'dark' cultures, or perhaps when your religion is muslim, although I have not tested this.

Perhaps when I have more time I will compile a graphic tutorial that will blow up the individual components and assign numbers to them, so people won't have to root through their portrait component files to see what shape of mouth or ears a certain number will get (trust me, it is hard to tell what the mouths and sometimes the eyes look like when they are just disembodied bits of a person on a horrid lime-green background).

And once again, anyone who has questions, or even better something to ad or a bone to pick with my theories, please feel free, in the spirit of free scientific enquiry, to do so.

-ElimGarak, Professor of CK Genetics, University of Paradox
 
Hey they're not ALL ugly... just make sure that, for females, the 2nd digit of the DNA sequence is never 2, and you've won half the attractiveness battle.

Unless you like 'em real thick an' juicy, that is.
 
Could you show us a product of your eugenics? i want to see a hot genetically engineered chick!
 
ElimGarak said:
Also, there are separate files for men and women of 'dark' ancestry, probably the arabs, mongols, turks, etc, which I believe are used only when your culture is set to one of the 'dark' cultures, or perhaps when your religion is muslim, although I have not tested this.
Click to expand...

Do you mean by this that identical DNA sequences produce different portraits dependent on culture and/or religion?

I ask, because at some point when DEMs/patches have settled down a bit and the game is reasonably stable in structure, probably some months from now, I want to try to go through a game entering a complete genealogy of a game in some of my other software, complete with portraits. I am wondering if DNA sequence is enough to uniquely identify all possible portraits, or if another element has to be added to this. (and if any digits of the DNA cover other traits that would not be relevant to the portrait)
 
good to see someone guessed this, now it will be easier to create better portraits :D
 
OK, to answer some questions:

If the number for heads is over 10 (let's say it's 36), then it would take the 7th head in the file (assuming the 1st one is 0, it would cound 0,1,2,3,4,5,6).
Once it gets to the last one, it starts over again and keeps counting through until it's counted as many heads as the number (36), and then stops. So in this case it would count through 3 times (30 heads total) and then count 6 more.

I am going to test my theory about dark/light skin right now, I'll have an update on that in about 30 mins.

Edit: And, as per request, some screenies from the results of my genetic manipulations.

Also, I don't know what the formulae are for exactly what stats the child gets, or exactly how DNA is inherited. If some-one has an idea for an experiment, let me know.
 
Well, what I have determined is that the DNA that gets passed down is largely the MALE dna, and usually one or two of the two-digit segments are copied from the mother (most I've seen is 3), at random it would appear (I noticed the odd SLIGHT variance in the actual numbers inherited from the mother, sometimes).

Culture appears to be inherited at random (thought I think it is predominantly that of the father)., but religion is ALWAYS inherited from the father (at least in my experiments it was). And yes, Arab, Turkish and the other middle-eastern/north african cultures affect which .bmp files the portrait bits are taken from. The 'dark' ones generally have only 5 selections to chose from (the 'dark' ears only have two choices!).

Barrister Boy, if I understand your question correctly, the DNA knows which files to chose portrait bits from based on the sex and the culture, so you could have a daughter inherit from her father the number for hair that would in males give a beard, but since it would be selecting from the female hair .bmp file, there's no danger of getting a bearded daughter.
 
I'd say that they are genetic in that they are inherited, but I don't think that what they call the "DNA Sequence" affects them. You could basically say that looks are one part of a CK character's 'genetic code,' and the stats are another.
 
The Results of my Genetic Fiddling

Please delete this post, as it should not exist[i/]
 
Last edited:
The Results of my Genetic Fiddling

Alrighty guys, here you go:
(Remember, this is purely a matter of individual taste :D )
hottie1.jpg


I do good work:
hottie2.jpg


You're all welcome :cool:

-ElimGarak, Professor of CK Genetics, University of Paradox
 
So tell me, Mr. Plain, Simple Garak...


Do you think it's possible to have more than the current number of options for body parts? I.E. just edit the graphics files to have more noses in them, and all of a sudden have extra genetic options?

Because if so, it'd be really interesting to load a game in 1066, find some young virile count, give him a bright red clown nose, run the game hands-off and see where his seed spread. :cool:
 
I am not sure whether the number of possible noses, for example, is hardcoded or not. I would assume it is, unfortunately, since I can't find anything in the .csv or .txt files in the databse or configuration directories that would tell the program how many options it has per facial feature, and I don't see any way of the program 'knowing' how many options it has based on the layout of a graphics file.
 
Is possible to put your custom portrait in the game?
I have in mind some excelent portraits of Boticelli, Rafael etc...
Although not exactly medieval and more of Renaissance It would be great to have such images!

Here is the famous muse of medieval Florence, Simonetta Vespucci (she was consiered the most beautiful woman of her time)

PopUpArt



So is it possible?? :confused:

Thank you
 
ElimGarak said:
Alrighty guys, here you go:
(Remember, this is purely a matter of individual taste :D )
hottie1.jpg

Click to expand...


Work on the eyebrows - the current ones make her look like she's frowning.



ElimGarak said:
I do good work:
hottie2.jpg


You're all welcome :cool:

-ElimGarak, Professor of CK Genetics, University of Paradox
Click to expand...


Nose is a little big, don't you think?

;) :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back