Working on FG stuff when away from PC

[mrrockitt]

Hi all.

I have a bit of a strange, question....more just random musings almost, but thought I'd ask for opinions!

I'm sitting in my lounge watching TV - (NFL - Broncos playing Steelers currently) - far away from the PC that hosts Fantasy Grounds ( in another room away from the TV) and I'm using my laptop.....

I have lots of tables of items that need updating/tweaking/editing on Fantasy Grounds and would really like to be able to do this from my laptop but I'm not sure of the best way to do this and whether it is really possible easily (for example, got a table of 100+ random books that player's could find in game and I need to add descriptions for lots of them).

It would be great if I could simply update these tables and lists from my laptop and easily add these updates to my FG-hosting PC.

Now, I know I could simply use Remote Desktop from my laptop to the PC but I find it a bit of a pain to use. I have my laptop connected through WIFI to the FG PC as a player machine but do not have access to these tables in this default player set up. I guess I could just allow myself access to these tables as a player on my laptop but not sure I can edit the tables this way? I know also that it is possible to do a lot of stuff using the XML but I'm not sure how easy this is to do really?

So, how is it best to do this? To summarise, I'd really like to be able to sit at a laptop that is not my FG-hosting machine and work on tables, items, etc inside or outside of Fantasy Grounds and then easily synchronise/import just the edited tables straight back into FG.

Is it really possible right now to do this or am I just talking nonsense :)
Thanks!

[Andraax]

Install FG on your laptop - use the same license key. Run an update. Then copy the contents of your FG campaigns and modules folders to the laptop and work at will. When you're done working on the laptop, copy the campaigns and modules folders back to the desktop.

[mrrockitt]

Thanks for the quick answer Andraax.

I imagine that might be a little time-consuming for large FG installs but I guess that would do it fine. I already backup my FG directories to Dropbox.

No big issues with doing it this way then? I'll give it a go.

Thanks :)

[darrenan]

One way to do this is to copy the entire campaign folder back and forth between your two computers, or via an intermediary. However, do not ever ever ever EVER point the FG data directory to a network share such as OneDrive, DropBox, or anything similar. That's a good way to corrupt your campaign.

Another way to do this is to create all the tables and lists on your laptop in FG. Then after you've exited the campaign, open up db.xml in your favorite text editor, copy the added items and paste them into the destination campaign. However, this can be fraught with challenges since you can end up with some XML elements with the same names. I don't recommend this method, I'm just saying you COULD do it this way if you're knowledgable.

If you have the ability to share out the FG data directory from your desktop PC and have your laptop map to it remotely (via "Map Network Drive...") I think that's safe to do as long you don't have the campaign open in FG on both computers.

FYI - If you don't know how to find the FG data directory, there is an "Open data folder" button on the FG launcher window. To change the data directory, click Settings from FG launcher window.

But I think Andraax's method is probably the safest and most straightforward.

Hope that helps.

[mrrockitt]

Thanks Darrenan, some good options there but think you are right, probably safest to stick to the simple copying back and forth method Andraax suggested as really don't want to risk any corruption to the files. Would love to just use the same network directory for both machines but don't trust my WIFI. PC is on solid wired connection but laptop not so good and again would not want to risk corruption due to loss of network connection at critical moments.

Thanks

[Nylanfs]

Why not use a flash drive to copy from one to the other?

[Trenloe]

If you're working in a single campaign, copy just that campaign directory from one computer to the other. Via intermediary network drive, USB drive, temp (unsynced) cloud storage - whatever is easiest for you.

[Andraax]

Yeah, I just use rsync via NAS to move stuff, and it automatically copies only changed files...

[mrrockitt]

Thanks all.

Happy to use Rsync to my NAS Andraax but thought perhaps that might be a bit like copying to Dropbox and potentially cause corruption? If that definitely works OK then I'll just do that :)

[Andraax]

rsync only runs when you tell it to run. The problems with something like Dropbox is that it runs on an unpredictable schedule and may be modifying your files while FG is running. I also run FG via a script when I am starting a game session, which then automatically backs up my campaigns after the game finishes using rsync.

[mrrockitt]

Great, then Rsync seems a good way to do it. I'll set up a script to do as you suggest. Can I ask please Andraax, are you running this through some kind of shell in Windows like CygWin?

I tend to use MobaXterm nowdadays: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/

Will give Rsync a go in that....

[Andraax]

On my Windows boxen, I use CygWin. Attached are the scripts I use.

FGstart.bat


set PATH=C:\cygwin64\bin;%PATH%
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Fantasy Grounds\FantasyGrounds.exe"

rem do a backup
bash ~/bin/backup_games

pause

backup_games


#!/usr/bin/env bash
# vi:sw=2:ai

indir=/cygdrive/d/Fantasy\ Grounds/
outdir=/cygdrive/p/games-backup/

rsync -Ca --delete-after --human-readable \
--info=BACKUP,COPY,DEL,NAME,STATS \
"$indir" "$outdir

[mrrockitt]

Thanks Andraax, that will save me some time this evening!