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  1. #11
    Valarian's Avatar
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    I like the separate guides. It looks cleaner to me than having common sections and then multiple sections for different rulesets. There is, of course, the problem of having the same information in two places and keeping the two in sync.

    Is there any feeling on having a PDF version, rather than the existing HTML pages?
    Using Ultimate license - that means anyone can play.
    Valarian's Fantasy Grounds Rulesets

  2. #12
    I agree with both of you. The challenge is the tradeoff between ease of use, and managing all the content. I think the separate manuals are easier to understand and use, but they definitely require more upkeep.

    Given that the manuals are very rarely updated, I'm leaning towards the separate approach. Also, the way they are built, I can pretty much drag and drop between folders to update the same topic on multiple rulesets.

    Finally, the benefit of a separate manual is that we can eventually get manuals online for other rulesets as well, without complicating things too much.

    JPG

  3. #13
    On the PDFs, I looked at trying to find a way to publish to the web and PDF using a single source, but all of the reasonable solutions are essentially professional grade help file creators with big price tabs.

    In the end, it wasn't cost effective for the business. It makes more sense for me to take the time to toss everything in a PDF manual or tweak the online version to allow PDF printing (like the refdoc version of the FGWiki).

    Cheers,
    JPG

  4. #14
    If you store the manual in a database, it would allow for multiple options. I know this would be a bit on the late side, but better now then never.

    This is an on the fly description of the structure. My guess would be to have two tables (possibly three) that would contain the information.

    Code:
    tbl_Manual
      PrimaryKeyID
      PageName
      InstructionData
      SortOrder
      ActiveVal
    
    tbl_Associations
      FK_PrimaryKeyID
      EditionVal
    
    SELECT InstructionData 
    FROM tbl_Manual m INNER JOIN tbl_Associations a ON m.PrimaryKeyID=a.FK_PrimaryKeyID 
    WHERE PageName = '[Passed Variable]' AND ActiveVal = TRUE AND EditionVal = [Passed Variable]
    ORDER BY SortOrder
    You would probably use query strings to tell which edition and pull the page name as well.

    Just a thought.

  5. #15
    If the user guides are separated, then I would like one that has just the core (i.e non-ruleset specific) functions. It would be frustrating to use a guide designed for a specific ruleset when using a ruleset that doesn't have its own guide - and most don't.

    Wow, that came out sounding much more confusing than I had intended.

    -Kevin McD

  6. #16
    Interestingly enough, the functionality of FG is 98% defined by the ruleset, so there is no way to define a "core" ruleset manual. There are several generic rulesets to build from, but the 4E ruleset does not use any of them and the upcoming 3.5E ruleset update won't either (will use 4E improvements instead).

    The manuals have now been published. Thanks for all the input.

    Cheers,
    JPS

  7. #17
    Hye Jedi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by moon_wizard
    Since the user guide was getting a bit unwieldy lumping both 3.5E and 4E together, I decided to see what they would look like separately.

    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userguide4E/
    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userguide35E/

    Which do you prefer? The original combined guide, or the separate guides?

    Thanks,
    JPG
    Being a new FG user, I'm not 100% confident this isn't "user error" on my part... but when viewing the 4E user guide - "Activating a Character" section, the following procedure doesn't seem to apply:

    1) You can only perform this operation on your own characters.
    2) Locate the portrait of the character to activate, and invoke its radial menu using the right mouse button.
    3) Select "Activate" in the menu.
    4) The character will be activated, and all further chat and die rolls will be labeled to this character's name.

    Is this a only valid in the 3.5E ruleset? or am I doing something wrong? For me the 1st and 3rd option for activating a character work in the 4E ruleset.
    Founding member of the Star Wars Adventure Writers Guild
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    PST (GMT-8) Evening and Weekend Gamer
    Systems Played: Star Wars Saga Edition, D&D 4th Edition, Pathfinder

  8. #18
    It looks like I must have disabled it with the changes I made to allow characters to be activated simply by clicking on the portrait. Were you looking specifically for this to work for a particular situation, or just noticed that the option didn't show up?

    Thanks,
    JPG

  9. #19
    Hye Jedi's Avatar
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    It was more that I didn't see the option show up and wanted to know if I had something misconfigured on my end. Now that I know... I'm good since the other two are more than sufficient to get the job done.
    Founding member of the Star Wars Adventure Writers Guild
    Avatar image by artist Steve Criado of Fandom Comics
    PST (GMT-8) Evening and Weekend Gamer
    Systems Played: Star Wars Saga Edition, D&D 4th Edition, Pathfinder

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