Pathfinder Creature Parser V2

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May 20th, 2014, 23:34
Seeker1728

Trenloe;

As a stumbling Newbie, I offer a most humble bow and salute for your work here. Its in fact due to the community of FG that I committed myself to and brushed away the remaining pretenders in the VTT industry.

Earlier today I wasted a good hour writing a post complaining about how this parser wouldn't let me input spells and/or modify them for NPCs and was in the process of taking/formatting screenshots to supply some visuals in case I had missed something; I was nearly done when while taking a screenshot of the parser itself and noticed this little button off to the top right called "Parse Spells". Hmm...wonder what happens if I check that and run the parse?

/em does the happy chair dance

Then I was going to bitch about not being able to edit or format the npc. Hey what's this little padlock do? more chair dancing.:cool: I mention this to show only that I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm a newb despite having burned through most of my vacation watching video tuts. (If only most of them weren't with the most vile of vilest systems of 4E).

However, with sugar comes some sour right? ;)

I ran into a rather vexing problem (for me it at least it is very vexing). Feats.

PF has a crapton of them, and though I've enabled all the modules in that most excellent sticky, they seem to only be drag-n-drop for PCs. I realize that the pro PF GM's have all feats memorized, including which book, page number, year of release, and playtest variants... but sadly I'm not one of those.:rolleyes: I'm interested in the same feature that exists for spells and even PCs Feats, to be present for NPCs, namely to have the feats linked so that if I draw a blank on a feat, I can just click the link like I do with the spells and become enlightened thereby. Is there some setting within the parser that I'm missing that would make feats a link?

I even tried to do this by hand on the NPC tab to no avail, which is seriously irksome. If anyone has any tips on how to deal with this it'd be much appreciated.

Finally: I noticed when parsing spells that most seem covered, but every now and then one slips through, especially if its a metamagic prepped one. Is there any way to submit a report of which ones those are to lend a hand with continued development of the tool?
May 21st, 2014, 00:10
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seeker1728

I ran into a rather vexing problem (for me it at least it is very vexing). Feats.

PF has a crapton of them, and though I've enabled all the modules in that most excellent sticky, they seem to only be drag-n-drop for PCs. I realize that the pro PF GM's have all feats memorized, including which book, page number, year of release, and playtest variants... but sadly I'm not one of those.:rolleyes: I'm interested in the same feature that exists for spells and even PCs Feats, to be present for NPCs, namely to have the feats linked so that if I draw a blank on a feat, I can just click the link like I do with the spells and become enlightened thereby. Is there some setting within the parser that I'm missing that would make feats a link?

It's on my list of development items - if I can do it with a good success rate. Also the Universal Monster rules entries.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seeker1728

I even tried to do this by hand on the NPC tab to no avail, which is seriously irksome. If anyone has any tips on how to deal with this it'd be much appreciated.

You can add them as links in the "Other" tab. In edit mode right click and select Paragraph Types -> Link and then drag the feat entry to the link box that has appeared.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seeker1728

Finally: I noticed when parsing spells that most seem covered, but every now and then one slips through, especially if its a metamagic prepped one. Is there any way to submit a report of which ones those are to lend a hand with continued development of the tool?

List the metamagic feats in this thread and I'll add them to the development list.
May 21st, 2014, 03:09
Seeker1728
Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

It's on my list of development items - if I can do it with a good success rate. Also the Universal Monster rules entries.

That'd be awesome!

Quote:

You can add them as links in the "Other" tab. In edit mode right click and select Paragraph Types -> Link and then drag the feat entry to the link box that has appeared.

Oh wow. That deserves a giant pizza sized cookie of thanks. This humble Padawan appreciates the power of such a subtle tip greatly :cool:

Quote:

List the metamagic feats in this thread and I'll add them to the development list.

Will do, I didn't save that test run of parsing as I was teaching myself how to use the tool, but I'll be sure to post whatever I find. Thanks for all the work :)

Um, totally forgot the set of meta magic spells I've encountered so far, sorry about that lack of sleep catching up with me.
1. Metamagic Extend (any communal spell-I.E. Protection vs Evil, Arrows). Most likely because the communal spells mentioned aren't part of the PFRPG spell book.
2. Metamagic Heighten: Disintergrate
May 21st, 2014, 05:46
Trenloe

Currently metamagic is matched on just 4 names: "extended", "quickened", "maximized", "empowered" - it will not match "Metamagic Extend" it would need to be "extended".

I will be adding to this list in a future release.

Note: matching the metamagic name will not alter the effects under the spell, it will purely match the spell and include the metamagic label at the statblock assigned spell level. It is up to the GM to change the actual effects of the spell to take into account the metamagic label.
June 5th, 2014, 18:32
Trashkicker

I finally got a chance to play with this and love it!

I did have a question though, have you thought about possible adding the ability to parse these DB?

https://www.pathfindercommunity.net/.../full-bestiary
https://www.pathfindercommunity.net/home/databases/npcs

Would love to have a full Bestiary with all spells and abilities already done (usually takes up 1/2 of my prep time), but i'm balking at going through and manually building the text file to parse out, and these DB's are regularly updated so it would be simple to continually update with newer info. Anyways still a very awesome tool!
June 5th, 2014, 19:12
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trashkicker

I did have a question though, have you thought about possible adding the ability to parse these DB?

https://www.pathfindercommunity.net/.../full-bestiary
https://www.pathfindercommunity.net/home/databases/npcs

Would love to have a full Bestiary with all spells and abilities already done (usually takes up 1/2 of my prep time), but i'm balking at going through and manually building the text file to parse out, and these DB's are regularly updated so it would be simple to continually update with newer info. Anyways still a very awesome tool!

I've considered it when I get through doing a few updates to the parser. However, there are "format issues" with some of the data in the databases that results in about 5-10% of the creatures not coming across fully into FG and this has stopped me looking at these databases at the moment.
June 6th, 2014, 19:39
Blackfoot

I am working on updating my Summonables modules to include the spell features now available... quick question about the parser...
You aren't actually doing any building of the pieces of the spells right? (effects, damage, cast, heal) That's all being done by FG once the creature is created?
I'm not seeing anything in the parsed creature that seems to be directing this sort of traffic.
June 6th, 2014, 19:53
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackfoot

You aren't actually doing any building of the pieces of the spells right? (effects, damage, cast, heal) That's all being done by FG once the creature is created?

Correct, essentially it is the same as dragging all of the spells from the library into the PC, FG attempts to parse the spell description to create effects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackfoot

I'm not seeing anything in the parsed creature that seems to be directing this sort of traffic.

A flag is set in each NPC spellset record <parse type="number">1</parse> that forces an FG parse of the spells when the NPC is opened (NPCs with a lot of spells can take a few seconds top open).
June 6th, 2014, 20:08
darrenan

Is it just me, or is the spell parsing broken now in 3.0.4? Seems like all the healing and damage entries are empty now and I'm having to go back and manually fix them for all my NPCs. (perhaps this should go into a different thread, sorry)
June 6th, 2014, 20:10
Moon Wizard

It's probably the expanded effect tags extension, which needs to be updated for v3.0.4.

Regards,
JPG
June 6th, 2014, 20:10
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenan

Is it just me, or is the spell parsing broken now in 3.0.4? Seems like all the healing and damage entries are empty now and I'm having to go back and manually fix them for all my NPCs. (perhaps this should go into a different thread, sorry)

Is this a new NPC opened for the first time in 3.0.4, or has it been opened before?

I've just opened a new NPC in 3.0.4 and the spells parsed out OK.
June 6th, 2014, 20:14
Blackfoot

Hmm.. so if I don't set that parse flag.. then it won't try and build it and I could set the bits up manually? So .. for example .. a Mephit has a generic 'summon' spell that cannot be parsed by the parser because it is not a standard spell (it is a variation of summon monster obviously) .. I'm thinking it would be 'best' if I brought it in with an effect 'summon mephit' with a duration of 6 (caster level of the mephit).

Do you know where those codes/tags might be found by any chance?
This is a lot of work for the higher level summonables.. but it seems like it would be worth it as it makes them usable immediately... many parsed spell actions are 'casts' that don't do anything.
June 6th, 2014, 20:23
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackfoot

Do you know where those codes/tags might be found by any chance?

Which codes/tags?
June 6th, 2014, 20:28
darrenan

These are existing NPCs in modules that I created previous to 3.0.4. If open these modules either in the campaign I used to create the modules, or my main campaign which loads the modules, all my spell-using NPCs so far that I've seen have had empty damage and healing entries in their spells. I have had to go back and fill in all the healing and damage entries by hand. I haven't tried deleting the spells and re-dragging them over from the library modules though, is there a chance that might work better? (I'm not at home right now so I can't try it, but I will looking at this more tonight)
June 6th, 2014, 20:32
Blackfoot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Which codes/tags?

The ones for setting up the spell elements.... effect/cast/damage/heal...
June 6th, 2014, 20:32
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenan

These are existing NPCs in modules that I created previous to 3.0.4. If open these modules either in the campaign I used to create the modules, or my main campaign which loads the modules, all my spell-using NPCs so far that I've seen have had empty damage and healing entries in their spells. I have had to go back and fill in all the healing and damage entries by hand. I haven't tried deleting the spells and re-dragging them over from the library modules though, is there a chance that might work better? (I'm not at home right now so I can't try it, but I will looking at this more tonight)

Are you running any extensions?
June 6th, 2014, 20:37
darrenan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Are you running any extensions?

In my module creation campaigns I usually have all extensions disabled, but I'll double check when I get home.
In my main campaign that loads the modules, I have the extensions that have been identified as problematic with 3.0.4 disabled, but I suppose some other extension might be causing problems. Again, I'll check when I get home tonight.
June 6th, 2014, 20:41
Trenloe

Thanks darrenan - when you have time tonight could you please check and if there are still issues provide steps to recreate. Including posting the modules you are using (with just the NPC content). Thanks.

Note that it is only NPCs created in V2 creature parser that have the <parse> flag set initially. Once they have been opened within the campaign this flag may no longer be set and so won't try to parse the spells.
June 6th, 2014, 20:44
darrenan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Thanks darrenan - when you have time tonight could you please check and if there are still issues provide steps to recreate. Including posting the modules you are using (with just the NPC content). Thanks.

Note that it is only NPCs created in V2 creature parser that have the <parse> flag set initially. Once they have been opened within the campaign this flag may no longer be set and so won't try to parse the spells.

And again, this may be the wrong thread entirely, because 95% of my NPCs were not created with the creature parser, I only recently started using it in some of my newer modules.
June 6th, 2014, 23:14
Blackfoot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Correct, essentially it is the same as dragging all of the spells from the library into the PC, FG attempts to parse the spell description to create effects.

A flag is set in each NPC spellset record <parse type="number">1</parse> that forces an FG parse of the spells when the NPC is opened (NPCs with a lot of spells can take a few seconds top open).

Hrm. I tried removing the <parse> tag and setting it to 0... in both cases it went ahead and parsed the spell and ignored the code I put in there to setup an effect... I guess I'm not quite as clever as I was hoping I was.

Code:

<actions> <id-00001> <durdice type="dice"></durdice> <durmod type="number">0</durmod> <durmult type="number">1</durmult> <durstat type="string">cl</durstat> <durunit type="string">min</durunit> <label type="string">Summon Mephit</label> <order type="number">1</order> <targeting type="string">self</targeting> <type type="string">effect</type> </id-00001> </actions>
June 6th, 2014, 23:20
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackfoot

Hrm. I tried removing the <parse> tag and setting it to 0... in both cases it went ahead and parsed the spell and ignored the code I put in there to setup an effect...

Did you remove <parse> from every spell entry? i.e. one for each spell?
June 7th, 2014, 00:51
Blackfoot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Did you remove <parse> from every spell entry? i.e. one for each spell?

Yeah.. and from the monster in general. I'm just testing this out so it's a creature with only one spell.
I didn't add all the other misc tags.. only the ones that related to adding an 'effect' type action... could that be the issue?
June 7th, 2014, 01:22
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackfoot

Yeah.. and from the monster in general. I'm just testing this out so it's a creature with only one spell.
I didn't add all the other misc tags.. only the ones that related to adding an 'effect' type action... could that be the issue?

Test it with a complete spell entry and enter the effect through the FG interface. Get it working with FG created XML first to get the format right.
June 8th, 2014, 00:17
darrenan

After having used this fabulous tool now a few times, a very handy feature springs to mind: How hard would it be to have an option to generate a new campaign containing the parsed NPCs instead of a module? That would make it much easier to load it up in FG, do any edits/touchups on the parsed creatures, and then re-export the module. As someone who has generated a half-dozen of my own modules so far, I find it absolutely essential to be able to make changes and re-export like this.

A little context might help. I just got my Emerald Spire PDF and was going to start by extracting all the baddies in the Bestiary chapter. Paizo has seen fit to superscript every spell or ability that isn't in the core rulebook with a two letter abbreviation of which book it's from. Unfortunately, this seems to mess up your parsing and generates errors such as this: Cannot find spell XML element with name <shadowstepum> cannot parse this spell - skipping. This spell is in the "all paizo spells" module, so I'm guessing you would have parsed it just fine if it didn't have that code appended.

Also, if the user has selected the "Parse Spells" checkbox, I think you can skip emitting the prepared spells block to the "Other" tab, or make it so that can be turned off.

That's all!
June 8th, 2014, 00:39
darrenan

Question, do you have plans to eventually parse traps also?
June 8th, 2014, 02:10
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenan

After having used this fabulous tool now a few times, a very handy feature springs to mind: How hard would it be to have an option to generate a new campaign containing the parsed NPCs instead of a module? That would make it much easier to load it up in FG, do any edits/touchups on the parsed creatures, and then re-export the module. As someone who has generated a half-dozen of my own modules so far, I find it absolutely essential to be able to make changes and re-export like this.

It would be a lot of work to generate the resulting creatures in a campaign. Do you know that you can drag the creatures from the library window directly into the NPC list? This makes a copy of the creature in the campaign allowing you to edit and export to a campaign based module as needed. You can then close the creature module if you've dragged all the NPCs you need.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenan

Also, if the user has selected the "Parse Spells" checkbox, I think you can skip emitting the prepared spells block to the "Other" tab, or make it so that can be turned off.

Any particular reason? Does it annoy you having it in 2 places? ;) I find for creatures with a lot of spells, and for some creatures where the spells haven't been matched, it is very handy to be able to quickly look on the other tab to scan through what they have. I'll see if adding an option to remove the spell block in the other tab would be easy, if it isn't then I'm sorry but I won't change it.
June 8th, 2014, 02:11
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenan

Question, do you have plans to eventually parse traps also?

Not in the short term - I still have a lot of plans for the NPC parser.
June 8th, 2014, 02:19
darrenan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

It would be a lot of work to generate the resulting creatures in a campaign. Do you know that you can drag the creatures from the library window directly into the NPC list? This makes a copy of the creature in the campaign allowing you to edit and export to a campaign based module as needed. You can then close the creature module if you've dragged all the NPCs you need.

I did not know, I'll give that a try.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Any particular reason? Does it annoy you having it in 2 places? ;) I find for creatures with a lot of spells, and for some creatures where the spells haven't been matched, it is very handy to be able to quickly look on the other tab to scan through what they have. I'll see if adding an option to remove the spell block in the other tab would be easy, if it isn't then I'm sorry but I won't change it.

I turns out that having it there was handy for me too, just a few minutes ago, so i wouldn't worry about it.

I did just send you a link to the input .txt file so you can see an example of the superscripts i was talking about. Also, the module generated from that input file loaded with script errors. It looks like having multiple types of Spell-Like abilities is throwing things off. It was easy enough to fix up manually in a text editor though, not a big deal.

Cheers!
June 8th, 2014, 02:22
darrenan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Not in the short term - I still have a lot of plans for the NPC parser.

The only reason I ask is because Emerald Spire has a butt-load of traps, way more than I've seen in any other adventure path. But traps are small, and easy enough to put in by hand, no worries.
June 8th, 2014, 02:23
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenan

Also, the module generated from that input file loaded with script errors. It looks like having multiple types of Spell-Like abilities is throwing things off. It was easy enough to fix up manually in a text editor though, not a big deal.

Yeah, this is a know limitation (mentioned in post #1) and is on the development roadmap to address.
June 8th, 2014, 19:50
Funau

German Translate Question

Hello. I want to translate the ADHUKAIT into German. After my Translation I missed two Options behind some Spells.

Screenshot:
https://www.schwarzerdrache.info/sd/images/Adhukait.jpg

How can this be?
June 8th, 2014, 19:56
Trenloe

The Fantasy Grounds ruleset parses the spell description in English to attempt to find specific phrases that are used to create the effects you see in the image on the left. Changing the description to German will break this auto-parse of effects functionality.

The parsing is done the first time you open the creature in FG. You might be able to get it to work if you drag the creature (in English) from the library module into the NPC list in a campaign and then manually edit the creature once within the campaign.
June 8th, 2014, 21:44
Funau

thx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

The Fantasy Grounds ruleset parses the spell description in English to attempt to find specific phrases that are used to create the effects you see in the image on the left. Changing the description to German will break this auto-parse of effects functionality.

The parsing is done the first time you open the creature in FG. You might be able to get it to work if you drag the creature (in English) from the library module into the NPC list in a campaign and then manually edit the creature once within the campaign.

Great! That's it!
June 9th, 2014, 05:08
Funau

Saves

I still noticed something. After parsing a Creature included some Spell Like Abilities (Example: ABOLETH) there is a Dice Button at every Spell. A Mouse Over such a Button shows a Box with "CAST and SAVE". This ABOLETH (left Screenshot) is directly parsed with the Creature Parser. If this ABOLETH dragged from the library module into the NPC list in a campaign (right Screenshot), all SAVE Informations added a "1".

Screenshot:
https://www.schwarzerdrache.info/sd/...leth_Spell.jpg

Is there something wrong?
June 9th, 2014, 15:59
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Funau

I still noticed something. After parsing a Creature included some Spell Like Abilities (Example: ABOLETH) there is a Dice Button at every Spell. A Mouse Over such a Button shows a Box with "CAST and SAVE". This ABOLETH (left Screenshot) is directly parsed with the Creature Parser. If this ABOLETH dragged from the library module into the NPC list in a campaign (right Screenshot), all SAVE Informations added a "1".

Screenshot:
https://www.schwarzerdrache.info/sd/...leth_Spell.jpg

Is there something wrong?

This is related to how Fantasy Grounds calculates the save for spell cast actions. When in a library module it does not take the casting stat or the base 10 into account. Once a creature is dragged into the campaign (the NPC list or directly to the combat tracker) the base 10 is taken into account but the casting stat will not show on the hover tooltip unless the creature is in edit mode. However, once in the campaign if a cast check is made against a target the correct DC (10 + spell level + caster stat) will be used. So, spells should not be used directly from the locked library entries, the creature should be dragged to the NPC list or the combat tracker first.
June 11th, 2014, 21:32
Funau

Thank you for your help.

I dont know why, but your tip to "drag the creature (in English) from the library module into the NPC list in a campaign and then manually edit the creature once within the campaign" works only with one or two exported Spells. I did manually edit the XML File included more than two Spells and give them this <actions> Parameter, but nothing happend.

Example:

<actions>
<id-00001>
<savetype type="string">reflex</savetype>
<type type="string">cast</type>
</id-00001>
<id-00002>
<damagelist>
<id-00001>
<dice type="dice">d4</dice>
<type type="string">piercing</type>
</id-00001>
</damagelist>
<type type="string">damage</type>
</id-00002>
</actions>

My Goal is a full Pathfinder Bestiary and Spell Libary in german, so I think my second best Option is to copy the complete english spell-description after my german Translation. So Fantasy Ground can auto-parse the effects funcionality without a failure.

Or is there perhaps still a further solution that wants me just come up yet?
June 11th, 2014, 21:36
Trenloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Funau

Thank you for your help.

I dont know why, but your tip to "drag the creature (in English) from the library module into the NPC list in a campaign and then manually edit the creature once within the campaign" works only with one or two exported Spells. I did manually edit the XML File included more than two Spells and give them this <actions> Parameter, but nothing happend.

Example:

<actions>
<id-00001>
<savetype type="string">reflex</savetype>
<type type="string">cast</type>
</id-00001>
<id-00002>
<damagelist>
<id-00001>
<dice type="dice">d4</dice>
<type type="string">piercing</type>
</id-00001>
</damagelist>
<type type="string">damage</type>
</id-00002>
</actions>

My Goal is a full Pathfinder Bestiary and Spell Libary in german, so I think my second best Option is to copy the complete english spell-description after my german Translation. So Fantasy Ground can auto-parse the effects funcionality without a failure.

Or is there perhaps still a further solution that wants me just come up yet?

Which XML did you edit? Did you do this before or after the NPC was dragged into the campaign?

When I said "manually edit the creature within he campaign" I meant use the FG interface to add actions, effects etc. through the NPC spells tab once within the campaign NPC list.
June 12th, 2014, 22:37
Funau

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Which XML did you edit? Did you do this before or after the NPC was dragged into the campaign?

When I said "manually edit the creature within he campaign" I meant use the FG interface to add actions, effects etc. through the NPC spells tab once within the campaign NPC list.

I have edit my own XML File to a complete German Bestiary. This <actions> Edit was done after I was dragged the NPC into the campaign. I don't edit the creature using the FG Interface.

1. I have only parsed a Creature with the Creature Parser included some Spells.
2. Then I have copied this Creature into my own XML-File.
3. Then I have dragged this Creature into a new campaign and have a look into the Spell Tab.
4. After I have seen some Spell Effects there, I have exported this Creature and opend this generated XML-File.
5. Now I have copied the generated <actions> Parameter on every Spell into my own XML-File.

The Problem is, only one or two Spells works fine. But my own XML-File with a complete Pathfinder Bestiary does not accept more Spells included a <actions> Parameter.

Any Idea? Or should I leave the english Description in every Spell?
June 12th, 2014, 22:50
Trenloe

Make sure that each spell entry in the NPC XML does not contain <parse>1</parse> This will force FG to parse the spell description and overwrite any <actions> that are already there.
June 14th, 2014, 11:51
Funau

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenloe

Make sure that each spell entry in the NPC XML does not contain <parse>1</parse> This will force FG to parse the spell description and overwrite any <actions> that are already there.

Thank you very much! Now it runs perfectly!

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