Exporting an Adventure

[Blakey]

Pre-Script: I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, or if this has been asked and answered a million times before so apologies if either of those cases is true.

So, I've bought an FG adventure: Princes of the Apocalypse. Looks great. I've loaded it into FG and it seems amazing. So now I want to prepare that adventure. What's that? I have to log into my home PC to do this? I can't export the module into a PDF to read at my leisure? That seems... harsh.

I know there are all sorts of Copyright implications, but really. Do I need to buy this module in FG and also in Hardback to prepare it away from FG??

Is there anything in the pipeline to get around this? An iPad app which lets me install Stories from an FG adventure? Some sort of export to PDF option? Anything at all?

Yes, I know I could sit down and copy and paste every section from the module into a Word document and then save as PDF - which I might have to do - but surely something automated would be a good idea?

Cheers
Blakey

[Zacchaeus]

No there isn't a way to export an FG module into anything else. As you have noted copyright issues prevent such things. In any case if you are preparing the adventure you'll want to do it in FG anyway.

As for the future who knows what might be on the horizon.

[Bidmaron]

When you say “prepare” unless that is synonomous with “read” there is nothing useful you can do outside FG that cannot be done better and likely faster inside FG.
While your expectations are not unreasonable, when you consider the copyright violations virtually guaranteed with some kind of PDF export, it really is not reasonable and nowhere should you have been led to think this was possible with FG.
Concerns over copyright were why they developed encryption for purchases modules, and an export would bypass that feature. This would mean many (most?) publishers would not want their material in FG. Remember that WotC doesn’t even put their materials for 5e on RPGNOW and so on.
Sorry, but your desire here just isn’t realistic for a VTT.

[Blakey]

Thanks and understood. And yes, to clarify I really just mean "read" - but wanting to do it in digital format.

I'm currently running LMoP and I have it on PDF and FG. Absolutely perfect as I can read it (PDF) on my iPad in the sitting room or in bed to do prep and then use FG when it's game time. I'd just love to have that available for all modules. I guess I get why I can't. :)

[Bidmaron]

If you switch to Pathfinder you can get what you want because when you order Pathfinder FG module you get the corresponding PDF for free. Just sayin’....

[ddavison]

As far as I'm aware, there is no legal options to acquiring a PDF version of D&D modules unless they are released directly by Wizards of the Coast within Dragon+ magazine. This is a business decision by the publisher.

Other than Paizo, no other publishers have chosen to include the PDF with the FG version of the product either. In the case of Paizo, we don't distribute the PDF, but we instead allow you to link your account between our two sites so you can get the PDF directly from them with all the required security watermarks.

For more and more of our products, we have been attempting to improve the readability of the modules within Fantasy Grounds so that you can enjoyably read through it prior to play. Check within the Library for the Reference Manual link on products you own. For the products that support that (most D&D modules, Pathfinder modules and several 3rd party modules), it greatly enhances the experience IMO.

[Bidmaron]

Go Pathfinder.....

[Erin Righ]

Go Pathfinder.....

What he said...

[Codesmith]

There is text in the module that I BOUGHT and I can't even copy and paste it to dump it in the window for my players to read. Encrypting the XML is a little draconian!

[ddavison]

Wizards of the Coast does not sell PDFs of the 5E modules. For 2E modules that we also have available, they *do* sell those PDFs over on DMsGuild.com. Our license with Wizards of the Coast does not allow us to sell or produce PDFs. If you want to share content with your players that are connected to your game, you can right-click on the window and choose Share. The players will see a copy of this within Fantasy Grounds while they are still connected to you. You can close the window and they can save it to a hotkey bar to open up at their leisure.

[LordEntrails]

There is text in the module that I BOUGHT and I can't even copy and paste it to dump it in the window for my players to read. Encrypting the XML is a little draconian!
EDIT: better said by Doug.

[Codesmith]

Unfortunately I couldn't simply share because a majority of the information was for the DM only. I just needed a few paragraphs. Manually re typing them was the only option. Doesn't change my opinion. While I have a developers attention have you folks thought about adding better support for Multiple Monitors? This thing feels like an MDI interface and I am constantly struggling moving windows around while I am running my campaign. Plus Im getting old and I cant read tiny print anymore so this all adds up to not enough room on a single screen.

[ddavison]

Can you tell us more about the type of info you wanted to share with the players? Was it from a Story entry or from the Reference manual?

For multiple monitors, I have stretched across screens for years. Just Restore so you are not maximized and drag the window border across two or more screens. This works decently as long as the resolutions are similar on your two monitors. With this and using the hotkeys to store the windows you need to be able to close and re-reference often, it should work well for most cases.

[Codesmith]

It was in the Reference section of Storm King. It was a section where they were giving the GM 3 potential starting points as motivation for heading to NightStone. Granted it was not super detailed but it would have been nice if I could have copied it out and edited it to my specific need rather than have to retype everything from scratch.

Yeah I have been using two different screen resolutions because my laptop display makes FG hard on the eyes at its native resolution. I will have to try something else like maybe a dedicated desktop machine with more resolution options. I'm running Discord and a few other programs on the other display. I have a feeling this is going to become a multiple computer situation.

I will say at first I found the FG interface a bit of a challenge but it is growing on me and my players are coming around to it as well.

[damned]

Reference Manuals are set as Read Only.
You can share individual pages from a refman by dragging the shield link to the target player, or to everyone by clicking the shield to open it in a new window and then right click to share.
You cannot edit refman content in most cases.

[Trenloe]

It was in the Reference section of Storm King. It was a section where they were giving the GM 3 potential starting points as motivation for heading to NightStone. Granted it was not super detailed but it would have been nice if I could have copied it out and edited it to my specific need rather than have to retype everything from scratch.
As damned mentions, the reference manual is read only. You could find the relevant story entry (from the desktop sidebar Story button) unlock that and then copy the text you need.

[Codesmith]

Interesting. I will have to check to see if this content is in the Story section. I didn't think that it was though. If it is then this is just an instance of me being a noob. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Thanks all.

[Trenloe]

Is this what you're referring to?

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=28545

[Trenloe]

If it is then this is just an instance of me being a noob.
No worries. :) There's a lot to learn!

[Codesmith]

Yes that was what I am referring to. So why can I copy it from the one frame and not the other one?

[JohnD]

Yes that was what I am referring to. So why can I copy it from the one frame and not the other one?

Because that's how it's designed - the reference manual is just to read while the regular story entries can be shared, copies made, changed, etc....

[Trenloe]

So why can I copy it from the one frame and not the other one?
Because they are two different sources of data - and displayed in different ways. The reference manual is just that - a read-only reference, with no background code to allow changing of it's contents so the GUI that displays it is read-only also. Whereas the story is a more dynamic entity with the background code that allows changing of a module's data (just within that campaign), so it can be unlocked allowing editing (including copying).