Import Local Character questions

[KlatuB]

Is it possible

1. Import more than 1 character at a time
2. Auto or Manually sort the list after import

[Dracius]

I've also got a question pertaining to importing local characters.

I've noticed whenever I connect to someone else's game and go to import one of my local characters that the list is blank. But when I'm hosting and go to import they're all there. Is there a specific folder/location you need to export them to so that they'll show up when you're not the host? Or is the only option sending the .xml files to the host so that they can import them for you? (Which isn't hard, drag+drop in discord takes like 5seconds).

[damned]

Import only reads from your hard drive.
You need to send it to the GM to import for you.

[Dracius]

Import only reads from your hard drive.

So how come when I connect to another game I don't see the characters that are on my hard drive?

Or is it more apt to say that only the GM can import characters?

[spite]

You can upload the characters to your own "Manage Characters" section, reachable from the launcher. You can then upload characters from there when you connect to another person's game.

[Dracius]

No one seems to be actually reading what I'm saying. Just telling me to do what I'm already doing and not listening to the part about how it's not working.

Going to try this again. Here is what I'm doing:
1) I go to manage characters, select 5e, then select 'start'
2) I create a character
3) I click 'Edit List' then 'Export Character'
4) I save that character to a local folder in the Fantasy Grounds directory:
-C:\Users\Dracius\AppData\Roaming\Fantasy Grounds\characters
5) I connect to someone elses game
6) I select 'Edit List' -> 'Import'
7) I get a blank "Import Local Character" page and no file browser appears.

So my question is this: Do local characters need to be saved to a specific directory for them to show up when connected as a client? It seems odd that the functionality is built in for a client to get the "import local character" option but you can't actually import anything unless you're the host.

[damned]

Disconnect from the GMs game.
Load Manage Characters.
Select Ruleset and the Campaign.
Import character(s).
Close Manage Characters and Connect to GM.
Choose Import from Character Selection window.
Do you see your character(s) now?

[spite]

No one seems to be actually reading what I'm saying. Just telling me to do what I'm already doing and not listening to the part about how it's not working.

Going to try this again. Here is what I'm doing:
1) I go to manage characters, select 5e, then select 'start'
2) I create a character
3) I click 'Edit List' then 'Export Character'
4) I save that character to a local folder in the Fantasy Grounds directory:
-C:\Users\Dracius\AppData\Roaming\Fantasy Grounds\characters
5) I connect to someone elses game
6) I select 'Edit List' -> 'Import'
7) I get a blank "Import Local Character" page and no file browser appears.

So my question is this: Do local characters need to be saved to a specific directory for them to show up when connected as a client? It seems odd that the functionality is built in for a client to get the "import local character" option but you can't actually import anything unless you're the host.

They STAY in manage characters. You only need to export them to a directory to send them to someone else.
For having your own characters ready to be uploaded into GMs game they need to be in the character management of FG for the relevant ruleset.

[Zacchaeus]

Is it possible

1. Import more than 1 character at a time
2. Auto or Manually sort the list after import

1) If you have a bunch of characters which have been exported via the /exportchar function (from the chat box) then you can import them all at the same time - in fact you can only import all of them. Otherwise it's one at a time.
2) Not that I'm aware of.

[Nickademus]

2. Auto or Manually sort the list after import

I would imagine closing and reopening the character selection window would do this.

[Zacchaeus]

I would imagine closing and reopening the character selection window would do this.

It doesn't. I've no idea what kind of sort mechanism the character selection uses - if any. I just imported a character whose name starts with an 'A' and it's imported it into the middle of my character list. Currently the first letters of the first 4 characters in my list are A,B,Z and A. It doesn't seem to matter either who owns the character - those that I own aren't sorted into any particular order but they do all come after all the characters that are un-owned

[Nickademus]

Then I imagine it is in the order of the database nodes (i.e. 'id-00001', 'id-00002', 'id-00003', etc.).

[Zacchaeus]

Then I imagine it is in the order of the database nodes (i.e. 'id-00001', 'id-00002', 'id-00003', etc.).

You could be right.

[Trenloe]

1) I go to manage characters, select 5e, then select 'start'
2) I create a character
3) I click 'Edit List' then 'Export Character'
4) I save that character to a local folder in the Fantasy Grounds directory:
-C:\Users\Dracius\AppData\Roaming\Fantasy Grounds\characters
5) I connect to someone elses game
6) I select 'Edit List' -> 'Import'
7) I get a blank "Import Local Character" page and no file browser appears.

Does the character remain in Manage Characters after step 4? Or are you deleting the character after you've exported the file?

Additionally, what are you calling the file when you save it in step 4? You shouldn't be saving it to the \characters directory, this is used by the Fantasy Grounds manage characters functionality and your own exports shouldn't be put there.

As has been mentioned by others, the characters should stay in Manager Characters and then they are available to import when you join a GMs game of the same ruleset type (e.g. 5E).

[Trenloe]

Then I imagine it is in the order of the database nodes (i.e. 'id-00001', 'id-00002', 'id-00003', etc.).
Yep, it's in the order that the characters are created.

[Dracius]

Does the character remain in Manage Characters after step 4? Or are you deleting the character after you've exported the file?

Additionally, what are you calling the file when you save it in step 4? You shouldn't be saving it to the \characters directory, this is used by the Fantasy Grounds manage characters functionality and your own exports shouldn't be put there.

As has been mentioned by others, the characters should stay in Manager Characters and then they are available to import when you join a GMs game of the same ruleset type (e.g. 5E).

Helpful as always!

I'll make sure the characters are loaded back into 'Manage Characters' and then see if they show up in games. I may very well have cleared them out of there after backing up but before connecting to the host campaign. Then I'll get all my character files relocated out of the FG directory to avoid any possible conflicts.

[KlatuB]

Zacchaeus: 1) If you have a bunch of characters which have been exported via the /exportchar function (from the chat box) then you can import them all at the same time - in fact you can only import all of them. Otherwise it's one at a time.
2) Not that I'm aware of.

Thanks for the update Zacchaeus, I'm assuming that the import all function would be done via the chat box /importchar (I'm guessing).

The other thing I have noticed with importing characters is that you can import the character multiple times, when I first reimported a character after some updates were done on a different copy of FG (different computer), I had a second copy of my character instead of it replacing the current character.

[Trenloe]

Thanks for the update Zacchaeus, I'm assuming that the import all function would be done via the chat box /importchar (I'm guessing).
Yes, but you can also just use the normal import from the Character Selection window. FG realises if there are multiple characters in the XML and will import them all.

[KlatuB]

Trenloe: Yes, but you can also just use the normal import from the Character Selection window. FG realises if there are multiple characters in the XML and will import them all.

Normally what I have been doing when exporting is creating separate files for the characters, am I correct in thinking that if I use the same name for all characters exported that the export function will append them to the file and not overwrite.

[Trenloe]

Normally what I have been doing when exporting is creating separate files for the characters, am I correct in thinking that if I use the same name for all characters exported that the export function will append them to the file and not overwrite.
If you use the same filename when exporting a character FG will overwrite the file with the new data, it won't append.

If you use the /exportchar chat command (without a character name after it) then all characters will be exported into the file specified. See the chat commands here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Chat_Commands

[Dracius]

Thank you again for the help. Got home and tested it and sure enough, the characters weren't in my manage characters anymore (are they stored in the cache? Because I believe I cleared the cache folder recently). I imported all my local characters into "Manage Characters" then connected to a game and my characters were available for import.


Where does the /exportchar command export the characters to? (ie. what file path)

[Trenloe]

Got home and tested it and sure enough, the characters weren't in my manage characters anymore (are they stored in the cache? Because I believe I cleared the cache folder recently).
Nope, they're not in the cache. Either the 5E.xml file in \characters was overwritten/deleted or you probably deleted the PCs from within Manage Characters.


Where does the /exportchar command export the characters to? (ie. what file path)
It is exactly the same as exporting a single character from the Character Selection screen, FG will prompt you where you want to save the file.

[tahl_liadon]

.
this is an old thread and the comments suggest that it's not doable:

just to confirm -- is sorting possible in character selection window?

i have prefixes in names -- e.g. 1pc-[name of pc1] and 1pc-[name of pc2], or 2npc-[name of npc5] and 2npc-[name of pc7] -- you get the idea.

it would be nice if it was sortable, and in my example, pc profiles get bumped to the top.

thx

[Zacchaeus]

PCs are sorted in the order they are created with the oldest at the top and newest at the bottom.

[Skillkoil]

I know this has nothing to do with the post, but what are we going to do when Trenloe hits 25k posts? I think he deserves a tacky watch or something!