local blocked_characters = {
      american = { --Houston
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      german = { --Wolf
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      russian = { --Dallas
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      spanish = { --Chains
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      jowi = { --Wick
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      old_hoxton = { --Hoxton
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      female_1 = { --Clover
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      dragan = { --Dragan
            bot = true,
            player = false,
      },
      jacket = { --Jacket
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      bonnie = { --Bonnie
            bot = true,
            player = true,
      },
      sokol = { --Sokol
            bot = true,
            player = false,
      },
      dragon = { --Jiro
            bot = true,
            player = true,
      },
      bodhi = { --Bodhi
            bot = true,
            player = false,
      },
      jimmy = { --Jimmy
            bot = true,
            player = true,
      },
      wild = { --Rust
            bot = true,
            player = true,
      },
      sydney = { --Sydney
            bot = true,
            player = true,
      },
      chico = { --Scarface
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      },
      max = { --Sangres
            bot = false,
            player = false,
	  },
      myh = { --Duke
            bot = false,
            player = false,
      }
 }

local function remove_blocked_character(character_table, type)
    for character, block_data in pairs(blocked_characters) do
        if block_data[type] and table.contains(character_table, character) then
            if table.size(character_table) > 1 then
                --printf("REMOVING %s", character)
                table.delete(character_table, character)
            else
                return
            end
        end
    end
end

function BaseNetworkSession:check_peer_preferred_character(preferred_character)
    local free_characters = clone(CriminalsManager.character_names())
    for _, peer in pairs(self._peers_all) do
        local character = peer:character()
        table.delete(free_characters, character)
    end

    remove_blocked_character(free_characters, "player")

    local preferreds = string.split(preferred_character, " ")
    for _, preferred in ipairs(preferreds) do
        if table.contains(free_characters, preferred) then
            --printf("Selecting pref character %s", preferred)
            return preferred
        end
    end

    --printf("Picking random character")
    local character = free_characters[math.random(#free_characters)]
    print("Player will be", character, "instead of", preferred_character)
    return character
end

--[[function CriminalsManager:get_free_character_name()
    local available = {}
    for id, data in pairs(self._characters) do
        local taken = data.taken
            if not taken and not self:is_character_as_AI_level_blocked(data.name) then
    		table.insert(available, data.name)
		end
    end

    remove_blocked_character(available, "bot")

    if #available > 0 then
        return available[math.random(#available)]
    end
end]]