Module Modifications

[Arcanun]

First of all sorry if it is not the right place...

Now to the question... im editing some modules that i have bought... and i noticed something... i have done all the editing... and the editing is right for sure... cause it was a minor edit... What i do is...

I take the mod from the appdata FG folder put it on desktop... rename to zip... take everything out unziping... edit the xml i want... then i use winrar and compact it all again and rename to .mod... what im doing wrong?

Bcuz after i do that, the FG does not recognize it as a mod anymore, meaning i cant load it because it does not show up...

Thanks!

[Zacchaeus]

What you are doing wrong is using winrar. Use the in build windows zipper. FG doesn’t recognise anything else except .zip files.

[Trenloe]

And ZIP from inside the directory - select all the files for the module inside the module directory and ZIP those.

[Arcanun]

And ZIP from inside the directory - select all the files for the module inside the module directory and ZIP those.

Oh that must be it then... because i tryed the windows built in zip as mentioned by our friend above, but it still didnt work... the .mod does not recognize folders then?

[Zacchaeus]

Yes it does. But if you zip up the entire folder instead of the contents of the folder then you have a folder too deep. The definition.xml file needs to be on the top level, not in another folder.

[Arcanun]

Thanks guys, those hints were really helpful

[Arcanun]

Just so i dont create another thread for a similar matter... do you guys know, why i cant edit any of the spells? They are all read only, and i cant click on the lock to unlock it and edit and it seems that it works like that for all spells... as i tryed doing this on PBH and book of lost spells with same results

[Zacchaeus]

You need to copy stuff like that and edit the copy. Everything which is produced in reference manual format (PHB, DMG, MM) is locked by default.

[Arcanun]

Yea but then i will have a duplicate of the spell, i need to edit the xml if i want to edit the spell description?

[Trenloe]

The idea of spell reference modules is that they always contain the original version of the spell - hence why it is read-only. If you want to edit the spell you need to make a copy of it and modify that copy.

In theory you could edit the original module XML (if the module is not encrypted), but you'd then get this overwritten every time you ran a FG update.

[Arcanun]

I see... there is no other way i can save the changes on a spell description without losnig it on updates? And without having duplicates? I thought that could be done rather easy.

[Trenloe]

I see... there is no other way i can save the changes on a spell description without losnig it on updates? And without having duplicates? I thought that could be done rather easy.
Make your own module from the copied and modified spells.

[Arcanun]

I think its kinda "advanced" for me, ive been only editing things so my players can understand, most dont speak english.
I have no idea how i could use only the copies to create a totaly separeted module tbh

[Trenloe]

It's really straightforward.

1) Make a new campaign, call it "Spell module making" or something like that.
2) Make copies of the base spells you want to modify.
3) Modify the copied spells within the campaign.
4) Export the spells from the campaign to a module: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Library#Module_Export

[Arcanun]

Let me see if i undersand...

I load the module of the spells i want... create copies... edit the copies, then i unload the main module, and export the entire campaign?

[Trenloe]

Yes.

[Trenloe]

And don’t call the new module exactly the same as any published modules.

[Arcanun]

But will it export only the spells tho, or all that my campaign has?

The name this is for copyright or any other reason?

[LordEntrails]

But will it export only the spells tho, or all that my campaign has?

The name this is for copyright or any other reason?
Check out the link above, you can chose what you export. You can choose to export all campaign spells, or you can even drag and drop individual spells to the export window and only export those. Same with everything else.

You can also check out the link in my signature for advice on other types of exporting best practices.

[Zacchaeus]

But will it export only the spells tho, or all that my campaign has?

The name this is for copyright or any other reason?

You just need to select spells if all you want to export are the spells. The reason not to name the module the same as the official module is that it will take precedence over the official module in every campaign so you won't be able to access the original module.

[Trenloe]

But will it export only the spells tho, or all that my campaign has?
Please just try it. Following the process I outlined above will give you what I believe you're looking for, and probably answer most of your questions in the process.