"Forced to decrement a characteristic in general.txt".
In SE4 v1.49, and in Gold, the AIs will choose characteristics first, and then the Racial Traits. This allows negative characteristics to pay for more advanced racial traits.
However, if at any point there are
zero points remaining during the advanced trait choice, SE4 stops choosing more traits, ignoring the fact that some modded traits can have zero or negative cost.
By decrementing one characteristic, the AI Patcher ensures that at least SOME amount of points is left at the end, so that the race can choose "Regular"
The "Normal"/"Regular" problem was due to confusion on my part as to how the Advanced Trait was referenced in the code.
It was fixed in the next Version of the patcher
(Download Here).