What 4e stuff have you parsed?

[GunnarGreybeard]

I am not a big fan of 4e having abandoned D&D back in the earliest AD&D days BUT I am considering trying to get back into it. I have a DDi account and am using the parser for the core books.

My question is for the regular FGII 4e'rs out there. Do you limit yourselves only parse the core books, have you parsed everything you can get your hands on or have you limited yourself to a certain groups of items?

[Stitched]

I've only parse the source books I will be using. Having all that stuff when you try to load a campaign takes a long time and uses up a lot of memory (if you have it all open).

There is, however, a part of me that would like to limit the game to the core books.

I will be interesting to see what happens now that Essentials has come out and is essentially a stripped-down, leaner 4e game; which for someone who is NOT heavily invested in 4e, is kind of attractive. Will it be DDI supported? I don't know.

[Griogre]

It really depends on your game... and your DDI subscription. When I was running RPGA you *had* to parse everything because everything was allowed even the stuff out of Dragon magazine. If you have signed up for a year of DDI and plan to renew then you can just parse the books as you decide you need them in your game. On the other hand if you just signed up for a month then you should parse everything you can.

For the DM the most important FG Libraries are the MMs, then DMGs, then any WotC modules you plan to run. Monsters and traps have high re-useablity in multiple adventures and if you are going to run a module not having to input the module custom monsters by hand is a huge time saver.

Players are most interested in the PHs, Splats and AVs. Just parse the ones you are going to allow into your game. If you don't know exactly what books you are going to allow in your game or what's going to be allowed in the games you play in then, yeah, you probably should parse every book.

Don't overlook the campaign books either. Personally I would not run or play in certain settings like Darksun or Eberon. I also don't plan to run FR in my home games but I do allow the Swordmage in some games so even though I don't really run FR in my home games I still use that module for the Swordmage. So even though you don't like a setting you might still want the module for the classes in the setting.

[Zeus]

I agree with Griorge in that its probably best for most users to just stick to the core content and the player guides. However given I tend to support Tenian's development work on the Parser as well as JPG on the ruleset I have parsed just about everything (with the exception of the Dark Sun Campaign guides which I have not found time for yet).

Having said that the only other person I know who has a more comprehensive set of 4E modules is Tenian, but then he would have wouldn't he ;)

I guess you could speed things up by just scraping and parsing the functional rule content and omitting the reference or fluff text. However I prefer to complete each rulebook including the text, images and glossary (probably overkill).

For adventure modules, I now use my Workshop tool which speeds up the process immensely, I have H1-H3, P1-P2, SoW#1-5 and Dungeon Delves completed so far. Will be working on Revenge of the Giants shortly.

[Stitched]

(with the exception of the Dark Sun Campaign guides which I have not found time for yet).


I'll save you the trouble. The parser "sees" a lot of information but when it scrapes, you only get stats for Kruthiks; which already appear in the Monster Manuals and H1-Keep on the Shadowfell.

Wait for the Player Guide. It will probably have more useful information.

[Zeus]

There's also the Creature catalog and Encounters Season 2. Regardless we have to wait for Tenian to first scrape, debug and update the Parser (if he plans to that is) before we are able to scrape and parse without errors.

This of course in addition to the usual DDI delay in the content being added (usually lags rulebook publication by about a month, give or take a few days).

Regardless there's no rush as I am working on extensions at the moment as well as the Demonicon and polishing/debugging my MM3. :)

[GunnarGreybeard]

I guess you could speed things up by just scraping and parsing the functional rule content and omitting the reference or fluff text. However I prefer to complete each rulebook including the text, images and glossary (probably overkill).
Crap, I just realized you can pull the images? Each time I run through the books I realize I missed something. Back to the drawing board. :mad: :D

[Zeus]

Yeah, you can grab the images/maps from the Galleries on Wizard's Website.

[Tenian]

I haven't looked at dark sun. I don't believe we get full compendium access until the sept ddi update. Dark Sun also does not have a separate campaign and player book. They went with a single setting book (player and campaign content) and a creature catalog.

I try to do mechanical parses of all the books (I don't keep up with dungeon dragon or adventures)

I do full parses of all the non-setting books. The end of true PDF versions has made it too time consuming to manually correct books like Underdark, astral sea, etc. I have done all the NPC specific books (open grave, both dragonomicons and demonomicon) but those take a lot of time for very little gain

My own campaign is running Scales of War so I parse those as well, currently I have the adventures well into the paragon tier

[Griogre]

Crap, I just realized you can pull the images? Each time I run through the books I realize I missed something. Back to the drawing board. :mad: :D
The size of modules in 4E can quickly become a concern/issue. You might want to limit yourself to just the images that you *really* need as you don't want to end up in virtual memory over a bunch of fluff pics you are never going to look at.

[Tisben]

I'm sure this seems like a stupid question. But where are you parsing the books from? I have DND insider and there is the rules compendium there, but the books aren't broke out individually. The art in all of the books isn't on the website, is it?

Thanks,

Tis

[Griogre]

Honestly, I think the pictures take up way too much file space, but yes there is a great deal of book art (if not all of it - I haven't looked in a while) on WotC's web site. I think the later books' art is mostly in subscription only content now?

[Zeus]

@Tisben: As Griogre states the images and maps from all published WotC D&D 4E publications are available from the DDI Image Galleries (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Archive.aspx?category=resources&subcategory=artgalleries) and DDI Map Galleries (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Archive.aspx?category=resources&subcategory=mapgalleries)s. These are separate resources to the DDI Compendium database.

In terms of parsing manuals/books:

- scrape and parse the functional data (class, powers, items etc. etc.) from the DDI Compendium using the 4EParser tool.
- grab the images and maps from the galleries (links above) and manually link them to the functional data (Trap/NPC tokens etc.)
- parse the rule or reference text of the manual/book manually (need a PDF source for this) using the 4EParser

[bnason]

Dumb question - how do you parse from a PDF? Copy/paste to a text file manually, then point the parser to those text files? Use a PDF > TXT engine (I'd be interested to know what you use, if so).

Thanks!

[Tisben]

Dr. Zeuss,

Thanks so much for the information. 1 more question. Where can you get .pdfs of the rulebooks? I own a hardcopy of all but 4 of 4e's publications but I do not have pdfs of them.

Thx

Tis

[Zeus]

@bnason: No such thing as a dumb question around here. :) You hit the nail, right on the head though. To parse a PDF requires you to manually cut n paste the data from the PDF into text files (using markup tags that the Parser understands) and pointing the Parser at the text files to parse.

You can use any standard text editor for this process (lots of people here use NPP). See the ParserDocument.txt file in the 4EParser install folder for details on markup language the Parser uses and the syntax of the data it expects.

Alternatively, you can use my Module Workshop tool (see the Tools section of my website for the link) which provides additional hot key controls for sending copied text from the PDF into a text file in a pre-determined format complete with Parser markup tags. The tool is designed to run alongside the 4EParser and incorporates features like an NPC database (for adding NPC data to a module fast).

@Tisben: Unfortunately PDF versions of WotC D&D 4E content was discontinued sometime ago. Unless you already have the PDFs that were originally released, your not going to be able to purchase them. Therefore you either have to source a PDF version of the rulebook from the interweb or make your own PDF version of your rulebook by scanning your own copy.

I'm quite fortunate in that I **know** someone who is able to scan in the books using a professional book scanner and so he is able to produce reasonable quality PDF versions of the books I own for me. Having said that 99% of the rule text in modules is not necessary for FGII play. Strictly speaking you only need the functional data to play in FGII.

Sometimes I just run an adventure with the bare basics: some tokens, a few maps, npcs, traps, parcels and items. I then keep the adventure module in book form open by my side whilst we play in FGII.

[Tisben]

Thanks Mate :)

Tis

[DaffyRoth]

Hey Zeuss, do you have templates for poisons and diseases for the parser? And also do you know how to keep level increases to powers from running in together at the end of a powers so that each get their own line?

[Zeus]

Hey Zeuss, do you have templates for poisons and diseases for the parser? And also do you know how to keep level increases to powers from running in together at the end of a powers so that each get their own line?

For power description, you can use '\r' to force a newline. Add the \r to the end of the line you want the break to follow.

For Poisons and Diseases - check out the ParserDocument.txt file which is in the 4EParser's program folder.

e.g. Disease

<name of disease> Level <level> Disease
<flavour>
Attack: <attack string>
Endurance improve DC <dc>, maintain DC <dc>, worsen DC <dc>
The target is cured.
! <initial state effect description>
!" <next state effect description>
" <final state effect description>

e.g. Poison

<name of posion> Level <level> Poison
<flavour>
Poison <cost>
Attack: <attack string>; <damage string>
First failed Save: <first failed save effect>
Second Failed Save: <second failed save effect>
Special: <special description>

[DaffyRoth]

So use /r at the beginning and end of of the line? And does that work for fluff as well? I want to try and get the fluff pieces to have a space in between each paragraph so it doesnt become a jumbled mess.

Edit: Nevermind I figured it out. <p> text </p> to space it out!

Also do you know of a way to get resistance and vulneralbility to work automatically in the monsters stat block?

Oh and on the disease do I need to use the ! marks?

And it would look something like this?

Pox Level 9 Disease
You have the Pox.
Stage 0: The target recovers from the disease.
Stage 1: While affected by stage 1, the target exhibits sores and
growths across 1 0 percent of the body and loses a healing surge.
Stage 2: While affected by stage 2, the target has sores and growths
over 50 percent of the body and loses a healing surge. The target
also takes a -2 penalty to AC, Fortitude, and Reflex, and is slowed.
Check (Stage 1 or Stage 2): At the end of each extended rest, the
target makes an Endurance check if it is at stage 1 or 2.
11 or Lower. The stage of the disease increases by 1.
12-15: No change.
16 or Higher. The stage of the disease decreases by 1.
Stage 3: While affected by stage 3, the target has sores and growths
over 90 percent of the body. The target also takes a -2 penalty to
AC, Fortitude, and Reflex, and is slowed.
Check (Stage 3): At the end of each extended rest, the target makes
an Endurance check if it is at stage 3.
11 or Lower: The target dies.
12-23: No change.
24 ar Higher. The target transforms into a pox ridden beast.

You see I dont see how that fits in with said template.

[Zeus]

You use the \r's at the end of the line. The next text will start on a newline. For Fluff use formattedtextfield tags like <p></p> for formatting.

For your disease, try:


Pox Level 9 Disease
You have the Pox.
Stage 0: The target recovers from the disease.
!Stage 1: While affected by stage 1, the target exhibits sores and
growths across 1 0 percent of the body and loses a healing surge.
!"Stage 2: While affected by stage 2, the target has sores and growths
over 50 percent of the body and loses a healing surge. The target
also takes a -2 penalty to AC, Fortitude, and Reflex, and is slowed.
Check (Stage 1 or Stage 2): At the end of each extended rest, the
target makes an Endurance check if it is at stage 1 or 2.
11 or Lower. The stage of the disease increases by 1.
12-15: No change.
16 or Higher. The stage of the disease decreases by 1.
"Stage 3: While affected by stage 3, the target has sores and growths
over 90 percent of the body. The target also takes a -2 penalty to
AC, Fortitude, and Reflex, and is slowed.
Check (Stage 3): At the end of each extended rest, the target makes
an Endurance check if it is at stage 3.
11 or Lower: The target dies.
12-23: No change.
24 ar Higher. The target transforms into a pox ridden beast.

[DaffyRoth]

Ya, the parser hangs up when I try to parse that disease. I think it has to do with the new disease format though. I am trying a workaround.

Oh and I notice you can put it in the fluff file.....does that mean that I have to have another mod with the disease in it or can I parse it with the my monster mod?