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ryntak4536
August 7th, 2010, 01:21
Hi all! Just got Fantasy Ground and am amped to use it. I was told that Tenian's Parser is what I need to be able to use my ddi account. Where can I find the Parser?

ryntak4536
August 7th, 2010, 01:35
I've found it. However, I am having some difficulty. The only tutorial I can find on how to use it is for version 2.x. The fields aren't all the same. I think I've done the parser right, but nothing seems to have happened, and my mod screen in ffii as well as my libraries are both blank.

tdewitt274
August 7th, 2010, 14:13
There's another tutorial around here somewhere, but I'm not sure exactly. If I remember correctly, DrZuess had a big writeup. I'd try searching with that.

Sorry, my search-fu is weak.

EDIT: Apparently not that weak. It's on the [rul=https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/Creating_Modules]FGWiki[/url]

ryntak4536
August 7th, 2010, 15:15
Awesome! That worked!

Now...do I need to parse core books? eg. the PHB? DMG?

tdewitt274
August 7th, 2010, 17:41
I would suggest it. That's where the majority of the Powers are.

Griogre
August 7th, 2010, 20:48
For the DM, by far, the most important thing to parse are the Monster Manuals followed by the DMG. The monsters are pretty much required in any game, have high reuseablity and are time consuming to input on the fly. There aren't nearly as many traps and hazards but once again they are time consuming to input by hand and have fair reuseablity.

The powers are something you want to do eventually but they are far less rewarding to parse because you will need to parse 1000's of them and your game will use a handful, at best, per character. Without the parser it is not very likely many people would bother to parse powers since you can copy and paste power descriptions into the character's powers and have the 4E ruleset build the effects.

ryntak4536
August 8th, 2010, 02:48
Thanks all for your help!!!

I've got a couple more questions (yes, FGII guys - I'm the one from Gencon that asked so many questions the first two days...):

First - how do I get the tokens to show? Or how do I get monster/PC/NPC tokens to appear? I've got the MMI and PHB Dragonborn race modules set up, and the only tokens I see are a bag with A through something and another with a skull, a chest, and something else. No actual monsters, etc.

Second question: While trying to parse the PHB, the scrape worked fine, or seemed to, and then after it parsed, I got the following few lines as the end, and the module doesn't show in FGII:


QUOTE:
8/7/2010 8:26:53 PM : ERROR:System.Xml.XmlException: The '\' character, hexadecimal value 0x5C, cannot be included in a name. Line 26797, position 397.

<secondarytarget type="string">Each enemy other than the primary target adjacent to you</secondarytarget>
<secondaryattack type="string">Strength vs. Will</secondaryattack>
<secondaryhit type="string">1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.</secondaryhit>

</powerStunningSmite>
*** <powerFateOfTheVoidWarlockPactBoon1YourCurseIntermi nglesWithTheLostVitalityOfACursedEnemyToRevealAGli mpseOfTheFutureToYou_At-WillFreeActionPersonalPrerequisite_StarPactTrigger _AnEnemyUnderYourWarlocksCurseIsReducedTo0HitPoint sOrFewerEffect_YouGainA_1BonusToAnySingleD20RollYo uMakeDuringYourNextTurn_attackRollSavingThrowSkill CheckOrAbilityCheck__IfYouDontUseThisBonusByTheEnd OfYourTurnItIsLost_\rThisBonusIsCumulative_IfThree CursedEnemiesDropTo0HitPointsOrFewerBeforeYourNext TurnYouGainA_3BonusToAD20RollDuringYourTurn_>
<name type="string">Fate of the Void Warlock Pact Boon 1 Your curse intermingles with the lost vitality of a cursed enemy to reveal a glimpse of the future to you. At-Will Free Action Personal Prerequisite: Star Pact Trigger: An enemy under your Warlock’s Curse is reduced to 0 hit points or fewer Effect: You gain a +1 bonus to any single d20 roll you make during your next turn (attack roll, saving throw, skill check, or ability check). If you don’t use this bonus by the end of your turn, it is lost.\r This bonus is cumulative; if three cursed enemies drop to 0 hit points or fewer before your next turn, you gain a +3 bonus to a d20 roll during your turn.</name>
<level type="number">0</level>
<tier type="string">Heroic</tier>
<type type="string">Power</type>
<flavor type="formattedtext"><p><i></i></p></flavor>

8/7/2010 8:26:53 PM : Checking XML

tdewitt274
August 8th, 2010, 05:59
First - how do I get the tokens to show? Or how do I get monster/PC/NPC tokens to appear? I've got the MMI and PHB Dragonborn race modules set up, and the only tokens I see are a bag with A through something and another with a skull, a chest, and something else. No actual monsters, etc.

While I can't help with the tokens showing (that would take an entirely different setup), I can help with getting tokens.

I created a VBScript file (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=93333#post93333) that downloads, formats and creates a module for all the miniature sets from WotC. Read the README.TXT file for the required program and running the script.

If I remember correctly, the Parser (somehow) associates an image with an appropriate entry. In theory, once you have the images, you could put them in some folder (can't say for sure which one) and it could possibly associate a monster with the same name to the token. However, that was some time ago and I don't know if that still works. Worth a try.

tdewitt274
August 8th, 2010, 06:02
Second question: While trying to parse the PHB, the scrape worked fine, or seemed to, and then after it parsed, I got the following few lines as the end, and the module doesn't show in FGII:

Sounds like it hiccuped on the "Fate Of The Void" power. You'll want to take a look at the entry in the parsed text files to see what's happening. I had an issue similar to this once, but can't remember how I fixed it. However, I know that I did have to modify a file.

Mevith
August 9th, 2010, 13:01
I have the same problem.
Still searching for solutions other than change "Warlock Pact Boon 1" to "Warlock attack 1" or something like that.

Moon Wizard
August 9th, 2010, 19:01
The FG client only comes with about a dozen portraits and the alphabet tokens.

I've heard good things about the tdewitt's tool, if you want to make some tokens using the online mini pictures from WotC.

Also, we sell token packs in our store, which are the ones I used in the demos at Gencon.

Additionally, you can use any image file you want as tokens, though image sets work the best because they are all relatively scaled to each other. Most people are using tokens of 50x50 or 70x70 for Medium creatures, and scale the rest appropriately. (i.e. 100x100 or 140x140 for Large, etc.)

Cheers,
JPG

ryntak4536
August 9th, 2010, 22:46
Thanks to all of you. I'll try these things out and see what happens. Another question: Can any of the stuff from DDI be parsed? E.g. Can I parse the adventures, the dragon magz, etc? Or only the core and supplement books?

Moon Wizard
August 10th, 2010, 01:47
I've used the parser to grab the creatures and items for the Wizards P series of adventures. It saved me quite a bit of time over entering the data in manually, which I did for the first set of modules in the H series.

It seems that anything in the Compendium is downloadable. The only limit is making sure that Tenian has set up the parser to handle that data type, and that he has worked with me to make sure the reference windows/links are visible in the 4E ruleset. As far as I know, he is supporting everything in there to date.

Cheers,
JPG

Zeus
August 10th, 2010, 09:29
Yes the 4EParser allows you to scrape all current data from the DDI Compendium DB. Be warned though at present the Compendium is a bit messed up following some changes WoTC introduced during the last update. Consequently you may encounter some data errors if you scrape some of the older modules e.g. MM and MM2.

Tenian maintains a blog which he updates with the latest dev information on the Parser and the current state of play. You can view his Blog here (https://dnd-4e.blogspot.com/).

DNH
August 10th, 2010, 09:37
Can any of the stuff from DDI be parsed? E.g. Can I parse the adventures, the dragon magz, etc? Or only the core and supplement books?
It's not just limited to WotC DDi material. With a little work, and reference to the Parser Document, you can use anything from 3PPs too. Though it should be said that Tenian already has a hard enough time making sure the parser supports all WotC output; if you find anything from a 3PP that the parser does NOT support, then you're probably on your own in finding a workaround.

Stitched
August 10th, 2010, 12:35
"you find anything from a 3PP that the parser does NOT support, then you're probably on your own in finding a workaround."

Or maybe use DrZeuss' tools for creating content that you can parse.

Tenian has updated the 4e Parser and can now scrape and parse the Monster Manual 3 correctly.