Re-purchasing products

[sakmerlin37]

I'm just about to purchase the Ultimate License and started going through the SW products in the store and noticed that this is getting EXTREMELY expensive, especially since I own a lot of the hard copy products already.

Is there a way to insert a license from the hard copy products, or do I have to re-purchase every single Savage Worlds product specifically for Fantasy Grounds?

[sakmerlin37]

After perusing the SW sub-forums, I found a Doswelk reply to another person:



I am planning to run a Weird Wars II game soon, using the theme created, you might want to join us....

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=517

As to the others why not convert them yourself, that's what I did for Slipstream, Sundered Skies, Horror Companion, Hellfrost, Suzerain. I bought the PDFs and converted them,I sent them to Doug and after quality control and getting approval from the publishers added them to the store.

I'd be happy to help you with tips on how to get started, but I do not have either Iron Dynasty or MARS.

Is there a tutorial on how to convert the already purchased products? It sounds an awful lot like re-inventing the wheel, but it would be a way to avoid having to purchase things twice.

[Doswelk]

As long as you have the PDFs and a lot of time you can copy all the data into FGII, Ikael's library builder add-on makes it easier but I hand-code most of mine with Notepad++.

All the Savage Worlds stuff is Licensed from the original companies (with the exception of white-haired man who include FGII versions in all their bundles - well at least they did last time I looked), they are not created by the original companies hence the need to buy them twice.

It has taken me a year to convert Hell On Earth (as I have less free time these days) and buying the FGII version is easier than converting it myself.

That's the choice you have really, create your own copy or save time (but not money) and buy the FGII conversion.

[sakmerlin37]

Thanks, I had figured as much as read more of the older posts. If I've understood the FGII system correctly, adding content by hand is done using XML? If so, then just learning the structure expected by FGII and a lot of time seems not too bad a trade off :).

How far are you on Hell on Earth? I'm purchasing everything right now, as we speak (so to speak), and I could help with anything that might be outstanding to do. I'm disabled, so, when my health permits it, I can work on the coding, although my XML might be a bit rusty...

[Mgrancey]

Depends on how you work at it and how much needs added. just the xml is a much easier than if you have to code in Lua script as well.

For savage worlds, I tend to blend using FGII and pure XML, somethings are easier to build inside than coding it, primarily I use it for creating combat encounters and creating critters/humans. Text and images aren't that hard to put together in code, though it can get a bit messy if you want to make it sellable. I started putting in The Flood, but when I decided to make it available for sell, I felt to make it decent I needed to clean it up a bit.

[Doswelk]

Thanks, I had figured as much as read more of the older posts. If I've understood the FGII system correctly, adding content by hand is done using XML? If so, then just learning the structure expected by FGII and a lot of time seems not too bad a trade off :).

How far are you on Hell on Earth? I'm purchasing everything right now, as we speak (so to speak), and I could help with anything that might be outstanding to do. I'm disabled, so, when my health permits it, I can work on the coding, although my XML might be a bit rusty...
I finsihed Hell on Earth yesterday, so it needs quality control checking and also it has been built to be 3.4 compatible (should work under 3.3) so it might need to wait for that.

[ddavison]

You can do a lot directly within FG if you start a new campaign for each new Product to keep it clean and then export it in your preferred format afterward. Just make sure to keep your campaigns archived instead of deleting them when you are done so you can go back in and edit directly there and re-export if you choose that route. Otherwise, you'll have to fix everything directly within Notepad++.

MGrancey and Doswelk both do official module conversions for us, and these are going to be reviewed much more thoroughly than you'll probably need for your own usage. They put way more time in to making a really good end-user experience than most people will put into their own modules.

I know it sucks to have to re-buy something you may already have in print or PDF, but there really is a lot of work that goes into building, reviewing and maintaining these. The big benefit is that it allows us to pay the publishers for the right to carry their content -- which is awesome.

[sakmerlin37]

I finsihed Hell on Earth yesterday, so it needs quality control checking and also it has been built to be 3.4 compatible (should work under 3.3) so it might need to wait for that.

Thank you, Doswelk! I'll definitely purchase the Player's Guide & the GM portion for FGII. I haven't had a lot of time to sit down with it since I've installed it, but I did get it working with Wine on Linux (I don't run Windows).

I did take a look into some of the coding and wow, there is a ton of work put into these; after realizing just how much, I'm more than happy to buy the products to support their efforts.