Enable hint distribution to exclude specific goal categories for goal hints

[Elagatua]

This feature was created for the SGL 2024 settings which needed to have Path of the Hero hints disabled.

A excluded_goal_categories key can be defined in the hint distribution file along with an array of goal category names. Any goal category in the array will not be selected when generating goal hints.

[fenhl]

I feel like for consistency with the custom_goals entry, excluded_goal_categories should affect everything that uses goals, not just hints. This could be accomplished by adjusting the World constructor as follows:

         # Initialize default goals for win condition
         self.goal_categories: dict[str, GoalCategory] = OrderedDict()
         if self.hint_dist_user['use_default_goals']:
             self.set_goals()
+            for cat in self.hint_dist_user.get('excluded_goal_categories', []):
+                try:
+                    del self.goal_categories[cat]
+                except KeyError:
+                    pass # don't crash when a hint distro doesn't exist due to selected settings

[Elagatua]

would adding that behavior eliminate the need for the changes in Hints.py? @fenhl

[fenhl]

Yes.

[fenhl]

Since this implementation is now significantly different from what's being used in SGL, I'm going to require some basic testing: Does it correctly affect both hints and AGR? I'm not sure if I'll have time to test this myself today, so if anyone would like to help get this PR merged, please report your findings.

[fenhl]

We're giving this PR an exemption from the ongoing feature freeze since it's making a hints change from this release cycle configurable.

[Elagatua]

Agreed that it needs testing.

[fenhl]

Tested using ootrstats:

$ ootrstats-supervisor -u Elagatua -b feature/exclude-specific-goal-categories --preset=tournament --json-settings='{"reachable_locations": "goals", "hint_dist_user": {"name": "test", "gui_name": "Test", "description": "Test", "add_locations": [], "remove_locations": [], "add_items": [], "remove_items": [], "dungeons_woth_limit": 40, "dungeons_barren_limit": 40, "named_items_required": true, "vague_named_items": false, "use_default_goals": true, "upgrade_hints": "on", "distribution": {"always": {"order": 1, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "trial": {"order": 2, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "goal": {"order": 3, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}, "junk": {"order": 4, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}}, "excluded_goal_categories": ["ganon"]}}' categorize '.gossip_stones[].text | select(contains("on the path of"))'
$ ootrstats-supervisor -u Elagatua -b feature/exclude-specific-goal-categories --preset=tournament --json-settings='{"reachable_locations": "goals", "hint_dist_user": {"name": "test", "gui_name": "Test", "description": "Test", "add_locations": [], "remove_locations": [], "add_items": [], "remove_items": [], "dungeons_woth_limit": 40, "dungeons_barren_limit": 40, "named_items_required": true, "vague_named_items": false, "use_default_goals": true, "upgrade_hints": "on", "distribution": {"always": {"order": 1, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "trial": {"order": 2, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "goal": {"order": 3, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}, "junk": {"order": 4, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}}, "excluded_goal_categories": ["ganon"]}}' categorize '.[":goal_locations"].ganon'
8152x: null
$ ootrstats-supervisor --clean -u Elagatua -b feature/exclude-specific-goal-categories --preset=tournament --json-settings='{"reachable_locations": "goals", "hint_dist_user": {"name": "test", "gui_name": "Test", "description": "Test", "add_locations": [], "remove_locations": [], "add_items": [], "remove_items": [], "dungeons_woth_limit": 40, "dungeons_barren_limit": 40, "named_items_required": true, "vague_named_items": false, "use_default_goals": true, "upgrade_hints": "on", "distribution": {"always": {"order": 1, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "trial": {"order": 2, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "goal": {"order": 3, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}, "junk": {"order": 4, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}}, "excluded_goal_categories": []}}' categorize '.[":goal_locations"].ganon'
112x: {"Path of the hero":{"GC Maze Left Chest":"Light Arrows"}}
105x: {"Path of the hero":{"Graveyard Shield Grave Chest":"Light Arrows"}}
102x: {"Path of the hero":{"ZD Chest":"Light Arrows"}}
[…]
$ ootrstats-supervisor -u Elagatua -b feature/exclude-specific-goal-categories --preset=tournament --json-settings='{"reachable_locations": "goals", "hint_dist_user": {"name": "test", "gui_name": "Test", "description": "Test", "add_locations": [], "remove_locations": [], "add_items": [], "remove_items": [], "dungeons_woth_limit": 40, "dungeons_barren_limit": 40, "named_items_required": true, "vague_named_items": false, "use_default_goals": true, "upgrade_hints": "on", "distribution": {"always": {"order": 1, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "trial": {"order": 2, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 0, "copies": 1}, "goal": {"order": 3, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}, "junk": {"order": 4, "weight": 0.0, "fixed": 40, "copies": 1}}, "excluded_goal_categories": []}}' categorize '.gossip_stones[].text | select(contains("on the path of"))'
607x: "They say that #Kakariko Village# is on the path of #the hero#."
295x: "They say that #the Sacred Forest Meadow# is on the path of #the hero#."
267x: "They say that #the Ice Cavern# is on the path of #the hero#."
[…]

In summary, excluded_goal_categories prevents “on the path of the hero” hints from being generated and the ganon category from showing up in :goal_locations. (Ignore the 8232 failures, I had some workers configured incorrectly.) Only the last 2 commands, where excluded_goal_categories is empty, has the ganon category show up. So this is working as expected. I haven't verified that there are any unreachable bows or magic meters since that would need to be checked manually, but if anyone would like to check that, I can generate and post another batch of spoiler logs.