Workflow or suggestions on converting a book that was published for multiple TTRPGs

[drempel]

Hey all, first time doing this.

A book I'm converting was published for both 5.5E and Shadowdark. I'm like 3/4's of the way there with the 5.5E conversion, and the Shadowdark version will obviously have a lot of the same assets and words.

Wondering if anyone has done something similar before and how they reused work from one TTRPG conversion efficiently.

I think starting up a Shadowdark campaign, using the universal module loader to import the 5.5E version, then duplicating records, might be a way to go. Still need to fixup all the art links.

Can I make a copy of the 5.5E campaign and then edit the XML somewhere to change the ruleset used? Then go through and fix whatever is broken?

It's close to 300 pages, and I don't wanna start from scratch for the SD version :P

[Moon Wizard]

You can do a campaign copy, and change the campaign.xml. Or open with universal module extension, and copy over. Either one will work.

One caveat is that the SD module records for NPCs, Items, and other unique ruleset records may throw errors or have data abandoned in the database. Could probably be cleaned up with some fancy search and replace in the db.xml; just make sure to save a copy before each change.

Regards,
JPG

[claedawg]

The issue is that Shadowdark does not use the same coding as the 5E rules. The items, npcs and such will not port over correctly, if at all.

[drempel]

You can do a campaign copy, and change the campaign.xml. Or open with universal module extension, and copy over. Either one will work.

One caveat is that the SD module records for NPCs, Items, and other unique ruleset records may throw errors or have data abandoned in the database. Could probably be cleaned up with some fancy search and replace in the db.xml; just make sure to save a copy before each change.

Regards,
JPG

Ok, so that should give me a good start thanks. I feel like I'll be using Sublime Edit a lot more for the Shadowdark version, once I've got a couple of xml records to compare with for the SD conversion. Working back and forth between the FG and the Editor.

Is there a way to force FG to reload the db.xml without leaving the campaign and loading it again? That takes a long time, a refresh of the db.xml (and throw whatever errors it throws if I get it wrong), similar to the refresh assets button, might be helpful for developers, assuming they are comfortable with XML and have a decent understanding (or can figure out) the schema being used.

If that's not already there, can I request it be added in a future release? You guys must have shortcuts in your dev builds for reloading things while debugging and editing ;)

[drempel]

The issue is that Shadowdark does not use the same coding as the 5E rules. The items, npcs and such will not port over correctly, if at all.

Yeah I know, but I'm willing to bet the images, LOS, lighting, Book and Story entries, etc all will. And that's a lot. Simple search and replace for DC 12 STR (Athletics) to DC 12 STR in a text editor to get rid of the 5isms, etc.

[LordEntrails]

/reload
in chat

[Trenloe]

Is there a way to force FG to reload the db.xml without leaving the campaign and loading it again? That takes a long time, a refresh of the db.xml (and throw whatever errors it throws if I get it wrong), similar to the refresh assets button, might be helpful for developers, assuming they are comfortable with XML and have a decent understanding (or can figure out) the schema being used.
Nope. There's the /reload option mentioned by LordEntrails, but this will save the current FG memory to db.xml, and overwrite any changes made to the file outside of FG, before reloading the whole campaign - so this isn't what you're looking for. If you're making changes to the campaign db.xml do it when a campaign isn't running. Editing the campaign db.xml file is only recommended for making one-off changes and for those who are aware of the XML structure and the implications of changing it - as it's easy to completely break the database and lose data. Always make backups of any files before modification.

[claedawg]

Yeah I know, but I'm willing to bet the images, LOS, lighting, Book and Story entries, etc all will. And that's a lot. Simple search and replace for DC 12 STR (Athletics) to DC 12 STR in a text editor to get rid of the 5isms, etc.

Yes, the images and LOS will be available, and you can copy the images from the module into the new campaign, to be loaded when using Shadowdark.
The Book will be available from the mod, but you will need to paste everything from that book into a new book for that campaign to have any changes to links and such to be viable when you export the new campaign as a module for use with Shadowdark.

I don't believe there is an option to drag/copy a Book, so you will need to do it page by page and replacing the links to all images, tables, story entries and such.
Even if you could copy/paste Books, you would still need to replace the links to all images, tables, story entries and such.

[drempel]

Yes, the images and LOS will be available, and you can copy the images from the module into the new campaign, to be loaded when using Shadowdark.
The Book will be available from the mod, but you will need to paste everything from that book into a new book for that campaign to have any changes to links and such to be viable when you export the new campaign as a module for use with Shadowdark.

I don't believe there is an option to drag/copy a Book, so you will need to do it page by page and replacing the links to all images, tables, story entries and such.
Even if you could copy/paste Books, you would still need to replace the links to all images, tables, story entries and such.

Yeah, having to hunt down the deep links is why I'm thinking copying the campaign altogether and switching the game system to Shadow Dark in the xml might be a better way to go. Moon Wizard seems to think it'll be ok.

I'll try that when I finish the 5.5E conversion

[drempel]

Nope. There's the /reload option mentioned by LordEntrails, but this will save the current FG memory to db.xml, and overwrite any changes made to the file outside of FG, before reloading the whole campaign - so this isn't what you're looking for. If you're making changes to the campaign db.xml do it when a campaign isn't running. Editing the campaign db.xml file is only recommended for making one-off changes and for those who are aware of the XML structure and the implications of changing it - as it's easy to completely break the database and lose data. Always make backups of any files before modification.

Just for background, I'm a software engineer and have been a professional coder since the mid-90's (Apple, Google, others). This stuff is totally within my wheelhouse ;) (the pros and the cons).

Was just hoping for a version that doesn't autosave, and that I can send a command to trigger a reload (I think I've seen it autosave periodically, as well as when it gets shut down). Even with my beefy Gaming/Dev PC FG can take a while to get up and running. I figure once I study the Shadowdark version of FG's schema, I could maybe do a transform that took me most of the way there, but with trial and error being slow due to slow FG load times, not sure if it would be faster to just redo what needs to be redone in FG.

Sounds like in the end I'll probably just make a copy of the campaign, switch its game system to Shadowdark, and then take it from there in FG proper as my first stab. Changing the contents of elements without changing their attributes with search-and-replace could be a time-saver, at least for story records.

[claedawg]

Oh, never thought about just creating a copy of the campaign file for use in developing another campaign. That would have made things easier for me when working on stuff. I often get side tracked into other subjects while working on something. A word or sentence will trigger a long process of thinking about that instead of doing the work I intended to do, lol. I end up having two or more projects developing at the same time in the same campaign. I end up making a module with just the stuff I want in the other work and then copy\paste the stories and such individually in a new campaign.