.ext files

[Resonance]

Hi

I just tried opening a .ext file.
Not knowing which app to use, I tried notebook.
That might have been fine, except I didn't notice that ever helpful windows chose to mark .ext as to be always opened by notebook.
Had I seen that "helpful" little piece of autocorrect in action, I would obviously have unchecked that option. Alas.

My computer is now happily insisting, that any and all .ext files should ever be opened by notebook.

Meaning that I can no longer get FGU to load properly. It accepts the order to "start" but cant finish.

So, obviously, I need to correct the changed settings for communicating with .ext-files back to something that FGU (and other programs) can understand.

Specifically, game server connection is lost, every time FGU tries to load, now that the ext files setting were changed to notebook.

Which type of app should be used to open .ext?
What would the game server accept?

Thanks

[damned]

That shouldnt really stop FGU rfom loading as it doesnt care what windows thinks the files are, it already knows how to handle them.

You could Install 7Zip and then set that as the default app to open .ext files but it shouldnt affect FGU...

[Trenloe]

As damned says, the default application that Windows uses to open .ext files shouldn't affect Fantasy Grounds.

Please provide more information on exactly what is happening - is your problem even starting FG and you never get to the main screen? Is the issue loading a campaign? If it's loading a campaign, then this can take a couple of minutes if you have a few extensions and also have previously activated some library modules.

If your problem is loading a campaign, and you give it a few minutes, then please compile the logs and post the resulting ZIP file in this thread so that we can take a look at what might be causing the issue.

[Resonance]

Ok, thanks.
you are right, it had little to do with that.
Apparently, the ruleset I was working on got deleted!

So, unless I can recover it, I lost a couple of hours worth of work.
Fortunately I have a roughly 6 hour old backup, if all else fails.
But pretty weird and unsettling that the whole ruleset folder is suddenly deleted, though.

[Trenloe]

Fantasy Grounds will only delete directories within the vault directory at the end of an update, it won't delete directories within the rulesets, modules, extensions, portraits, tokens campaigns etc. directories. During the update process it will update .pak ruleset files, .mod module files, .ext extension files, .ppk portrait files and .dat vault files if the filename exactly matches that of a product the updater provides updates for. But it won't delete directories, other than those in the vault directory.

[Resonance]

Ok. Good to know, although it doesn't really solve the mystery.

I know for a fact that I have put nothing into the vault directory, at least not manually or knowingly.
I also know for a fact that the directory that has gone awol were in the ruleset folder until less than an hour ago.
Ah well. I shall just have to be hawkish on backups for this, I guess.

[damned]

What are you manually putting in the /rulesets folder?
I have tonnes of things I put in there but that is because I am always working on new rulesets.
Generally the only thing you would put in there if you are not developing is a PAK file downloaded from the forums.

[Resonance]

What are you manually putting in the /rulesets folder?
I have tonnes of things I put in there but that is because I am always working on new rulesets.
Generally the only thing you would put in there if you are not developing is a PAK file downloaded from the forums.

I am working on a ruleset so that I can use FG as a digital gameboard for taking my roleplaying group online.
The point of departure was RolemasterClassic, which was slightly useful as is, and quite useful as a starting point for a new ruleset, due to the stat and skill-structure and the openended %-dice rolls.
The game we are playing in my group is a Rolemaster-HARP hybrid of my own make, rules cherry-picked to attain a combination offering greater fairness and logic than Rolemaster has on offer, and greater nuance and detail than HARP (made by Iron Crown Enterprises as "Rolemaster light" - and while the altered combat system is a lot lighter, and a lot better, imo, they overdid it in other regards, making HARP smack of DnD-simplicity in regards to the skill-system, for example. Which is not a good thing, if you ask me.)
So what I am putting into the ruleset folder is an open directory containing a quite different child of RolemasterClassic.

Say, damned, you wouldn't happen to be able to teach me the very dark and arcane art of blasfemously changing a win-zip file into an actual EXT-file, would you?
It has been suggested that I should simply rename the file, but that obviously doesnt work, and does not make the extension-to-be accessible as an extension in FG - because renaming it to something.ext doesn't make an EXT-file of it, of course. It just makes it a Winzip-file with a something.ext name.

[LordEntrails]

.ext files for FG are simply .zip files renamed. (zipped w/o the parent folder). Same with .mod, pak, etc.
Those files that are in te vaut are encrypted/password protected, but all the ones in the other FG Data subfolders are just zip files.

If you are making a ruleset, you might want to look into the Ruleset Wizard. I'm not a developer, but I'm earning to code a ruleset using it. Long learning curve for me, but I'm enjoying it. And though you are using a lot of the RMC ruleset for a basis, you might want to consider doing a standalone ruleset tat is just a child of CoreRPG. In general, tat is the suggested approach for new rulesets unless they are close derivatives to other rulesets.

[esmdev]

Also of note, you can also just have a directory in the ruleset or extension directories with the same tree structure as whatever is in the .ext and FGU will read that directory just like it was an extension. It makes development quick and easy not having to constantly zip, rename, unzip, etc.

[Resonance]

.ext files for FG are simply .zip files renamed. (zipped w/o the parent folder). Same with .mod, pak, etc.
Those files that are in te vaut are encrypted/password protected, but all the ones in the other FG Data subfolders are just zip files.


Yes, I've now found out that the problem was hidden file endings.

[Resonance]

Also of note, you can also just have a directory in the ruleset or extension directories with the same tree structure as whatever is in the .ext and FGU will read that directory just like it was an extension. It makes development quick and easy not having to constantly zip, rename, unzip, etc.

I don't think I follow what you are saying?

[LordEntrails]

I don't think I follow what you are saying?
What he means is you can take the rmc ruleset file, rename it to .zip, extract it to a folder. Rename the folder and then start editing it. To start, you will want to rename the description element values in teh base.xml file (displayname, displayversin, text) to give them your new name (which should match your folder name). You don't need to repackage/zip the files. FG will simple see the folder structure as a ruleset and you can start testing and developing.

[damned]

The main gotchas with converting .zips to .exts or .paks or .mods are:

1. always use zip compression - dont use 7z, arj etc
2. make sure that the filename extensions are not hidden
3. make sure you zip up the contents of the parent directory and not the parent directory

[damned]

Did you by any chance switch to the test or dev channel and back?
If so your missing files might be under the \channel folder

[Resonance]

What he means is you can take the rmc ruleset file, rename it to .zip, extract it to a folder. Rename the folder and then start editing it. To start, you will want to rename the description element values in teh base.xml file (displayname, displayversin, text) to give them your new name (which should match your folder name). You don't need to repackage/zip the files. FG will simple see the folder structure as a ruleset and you can start testing and developing.

Oh, right. That's what I've been doing from the get-go. I just didn't quite catch the meaning concerning tree-structure.
The ordering of the files and directories should stay what it is, of course. Otherwise most programs are bound to get lost.

[Resonance]

The main gotchas with converting .zips to .exts or .paks or .mods are:

1. always use zip compression - dont use 7z, arj etc
2. make sure that the filename extensions are not hidden
3. make sure you zip up the contents of the parent directory and not the parent directory

Gotcha on 1 and 2, but 3 is unclear - come again?

[damned]

\myextension
\myextension\extension.xml
\myextension\graphics\
\myextension\graphics\graphics_icons.xml
\myextension\graphics\logo.png
\myextension\scripts\
\myextension\scripts\desktop.lua

you dont zip up \myextension
you go into \myextension and you select all the contents and you zip those up
you place that in your \extensions directory

[Resonance]

Did you by any chance switch to the test or dev channel and back?
If so your missing files might be under the \channel folder

Hah! That seems like a thing I might have done without giving it a second thought.
Just rumbling about, trying things out, just to get my bearings (usually with a reasonable level of caution, but still) - that's totally me! :-P

Where is the channel folder?

[Resonance]

\myextension
\myextension\extension.xml
\myextension\graphics\
\myextension\graphics\graphics_icons.xml
\myextension\graphics\logo.png
\myextension\scripts\
\myextension\scripts\desktop.lua

you dont zip up \myextension
you go into \myextension and you select all the contents and you zip those up
you place that in your \extensions directory

Oh, right. Yeah, I learned that yesterday, when editing my first extension.
It proved reasonably easy to realize my mistake, when it wasn't working. :-)

[LordEntrails]

Where is the channel folder?
The channel folder only exists if you have switched from the live channel.

[Resonance]

ok, thanks