Still working on this, I'm just taking my time.
None of it is committed yet—I'm using git wrong—but I thought I'd post the changelog as it stands so far. The first point is actually a lie since I've not sorted out the dictionaries yet. Not sure whether I'll keep the expanded dictionary or whether I'll use dflangopt to make optimized dictionaries instead.
Most of this is actually reverting changes. Do speak up though if you disagree with anything: I feed on critique. I'm known for getting a bit carried away with the delete key. There are a few additional fixes and a feature or two I'm looking into, so it won't be all bad.
Gathering evidence alone for some of the fixes will delay the release further. I might put out an interim release before I start getting into testing what's left.
* updated to v0.47.04 with all appropriate raw changes.
* reverted (most) names back to vanilla. This also reverted all changed creature letters back to their expected letters.
* removed all added discipline and a lot of added NOFEAR.
7161 indicates that this is either resolved or a problem in the other direction. This was also a very noisy fix.
* minotaurs, yetis, stranglers, blind cave ogres, ogres, cyclops, sasquatches, and blind cave bears no longer guzzle alcohol, just like vanilla.
* cap hoppers and bugbats no longer steal food, just like vanilla. Crundles still will. weasels no longer steal things.
* removed gut thread and tannable intestines.
* humans are no longer ambushers.
* goblins and subterranean creatures have KILL_NEUTRAL:REQUIRED again.
* removed ALL_MAIN_POPS_CONTROLLABLE from goblins, just like vanilla. You're likely to start in a dark tower anyways,
which will be unplayable.
* ostrich feather description reverted to vanilla because I misread it last time.
* the new mount control AI made its way into fort mode, so I've reverted the amphibious mount fix. I also allowed slow mounts and mounts that curl up when threatened again. You do you, goblins.
* aquatic humanoids are aquatic again. Mermaids are still amphibious.
* cave fish people are amphibious again, like vanilla. No idea why I ever deleted this, looks like an accident.
* hippos and orcas are benign again. Unexpected behaviour deviation from vanilla and I'm not attached to either creature enough to justify the change.
* hippo bites now gore instead, like vanilla. Good thing they're gentle, benign beasts.
* removed redundant mandrill stealing tags.
* gremlins appear rarely again, like vanilla.
* dragons feel pain again, like vanilla.
* aardvaarks no longer hunt vermin. [1]
* animal people are capable of being NOTHOUGHT again, just like vanilla. Can't find an actual bug report on this or discussion on why I and (I think) the Modest Mod were removing the tag. If it's just flavor, it doesn't follow (to me) that all animal people should be able to think.
* four vermin tags that were added to the animal people variations (as remove_tag, to get rid of them) now aren't being removed anymore, just like vanilla. [2]
* removed REMOVE_TAG:SPECIFIC_FOOD (that I added) from the legless animal people variation, since there are no such animal people by default. The wiki reports that panda people can get along just fine in vanilla so I might remove this entirely. [3]
* removed REMOVE_TAG:COOKABLE_LIVE, REMOVE_TAG:GRAZER, and REMOVE_TAG:STANDARD_GRAZER tags (that I added) from the legless animal people variation, since there are no such animal people by default.
* gendered child and baby names are removed from humanoids. They weren't applying to animal people (inconsistent) and it was a noisy fix already. I didn't want to add hundreds of new lines to the animal people just to rename children and infants, so I opted to remove the whole thing.
* I decided to replace lengthy commented out sections with a single comment in an effort to reduce the file size of the RAWs ever so slightly.
[1]: There's quite a few new 'eats vermin' and 'is a vermin that gets eaten' tags that Warlord255 brought to the party. I like the flavor but want to see if it comes out in-game before deciding whether I'll be keeping it.
[2]: No sign of any actual bug reports as a result of these tags. This is frustratingly common for mod fixes I've accumulated: no bug report, little or no forum discussion..just raw fixes that somebody said were needed once.
[3]: There are a few reports that humanoid grazers have difficulty eating (not in the bug tracker though) so I want to test things for myself and put in a bug report if it's needed. It sounded kind of like people were digging deep fortresses and forbidding people from leaving; it makes sense to me that humanoid grazers would die in those conditions. That's on the player. If there's parts of the fortress with grass that they can access and they're not grazing on their own though, then that's different. Going to try testing this and panda people but it'll take a bit to just get a vanilla fort going with the relevant humanoids in it.