PDA

View Full Version : Moving and Backing Up player character sheets



Robbo
March 10th, 2010, 15:41
Hello!

I recently bought the Ultimate license in order to run a couple of different groups through 4th edition D&D games. I'm working really hard to learn the basics, and I've answered most of my own questions with the help of these boards and the FUM boards (for the parser).

One question I haven't been able to answer is about backing up player character sheets. It takes a bit of work to make them, but it looks very easy to accidentally delete them. Is there a file I can find in the Appdata folder to back them up? Should I just back up the entire campaign folder to be safe?

What if I want to use a pc sheet in a different campaign? Is there a simple way to move them?

I know from Xorn's videos that the adventure building model consists of the following: the DM creates a campaign, and within it he creates the player character sheets. Any maps or images that he plans to use throughout the campaign can go in here. Then the DM creates a campaign that will be a single adventure, and when it is done, he uses a /export command in the chat window to turn the campaign into a module. When the DM is ready to run the adventure he opens the original campaign which houses the PC sheets, and opens the adventure module. This information will show up as a tab on each of the DM’s folders (story, encounters, personalities, etc).

If I could move PC sheets, would I be able to skip the /export step and just keep moving the PC sheets into the next adventure I want to run?

I haven't built my own adventures yet, but when I do I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

Thanks in advance!

Moon Wizard
March 10th, 2010, 22:42
Robbo,

Currently, character sheets are not exportable. Most GMs set up their campaign with their characters, and then swap out the adventure information instead of the character information.

For my own best practices, I also make a copy of my campaign folder every month or so to make sure I have a backup on hand.

Technically, you can copy character sheets between campaigns, since they are essentially a bunch of XML in the campaign database file. However, you should be extra cautious if you attempt this, since XML errors in the database can cause information to be lost. Make extra sure that your campaign is backed up before attempting anything like this.

Regards,
JPG

Zeus
March 10th, 2010, 23:13
I'll second moon_wizard's advice.

However if you really need to copy the characters from one 4E campaign to another and you don't want to have to get your hands dirty with XML you could use the updated FGII Campaign Tools application I created.

FGII Campaign Tools v2 is just a simple community developed .NET app that allows you to view/print and import/export characters to/from FGII 4E campaign db.xml files. The tool uses standard XML libraries and routines to manipulate the <charsheet> node of a FGII campaign db.xml, as such the tool builds in integrated XML validation to ensure any output is syntactically correct. It's pretty easy to use and it even prompts you for an alternative file to save so there is reduced risk of overwriting/losing important campaign character information.

You can find more information on FGII Campaign Tools here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10734&highlight=campaign+tools).

Oberoten
March 11th, 2010, 00:52
Another much requested ability, eh? Letting the players and GM export the characters.

- Obe