[Tenian's Parser] Parsing this monster

**DNH** · July 28th, 2010, 20:26

After more than a dozen passes and trying everything I can think of, this monster STILL will not parse properly.

Code:

Red Shard Dragon Level 7 Solo Soldier
Large construct (dragon) XP 1,250
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +10; darkvision
HP 332; Bloodied 166; see also bloodied breath
AC 25; Fortitude 25, Reflex 22, Will 21
Resist 15 fire; Vulnerable 10 thunder
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6, fly 8 (hover), overland flight 12
Action Points 2
m Bite (standard; at-will) w Fire ZZX
Reach 2; +14 vs. AC; 2d6 + 6 plus 2d6 fire damage.
m Claw (standard; at-will) ZZX
Reach 2; +14 vs. AC; 2d6 + 6 damage.
M Double Attack (standard; at-will) ZZX
The dragon makes two claw attacks.
M Tail Strike (immediate reaction, when an enemy
moves to a position where it flanks the red dragon; at-will) ZZX
The dragon attacks the enemy with its tail: reach 2; +12 vs.
Reflex; 1d10 + 6 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square.
C Breath Weapon (standard; recharge 5, 6) w Fire ZZX
Close blast 5; +10 vs. Reflex; 1d12 + 4 fire damage. Miss:
Half damage.
X Bloodied Breath (free, when first bloodied;
encounter) w Fire ZZX
The dragon’s breath weapon recharges, and the dragon uses
it immediately.
C Frightful Presence (standard; encounter) w Fear ZZX
Close burst 5; targets enemies; +10 vs. Will; the target is
stunned until the end of the dragon’s next turn. Aftereffect:
The target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).
Alignment Evil Languages Common, Draconic
Skills Bluff +9, Insight +10, Intimidate +9
Str 22 (+9) Dex 17 (+6) Wis 14 (+5)
Con 19 (+7) Int 11 (+3) Cha 12 (+4)

I mean, I get an entry but most of it is blank. No powers content (although there are the right number of <<Power Name>> entries, and it looks like everything is running on after the creature's XP.

If anyone has any ideas on what I am doing wrong, I would be very grateful.

**Stitched** · July 28th, 2010, 21:39

Is this a custom Dragon that you have entered or parsed? What resource is it being parsed from (book/library)?

**DNH** · July 28th, 2010, 21:54

It comes from M2: Curse of the Kingspire, from Goodman Games.

**Stitched** · July 29th, 2010, 09:34

Not sure why. It looks like your text is correct. How does it compare to a parsed monster entry from Monster Manual 1 ?

What version of the parser are you using?

**Zeus** · July 29th, 2010, 10:13

Whilst the 4EParser supports the official WotC statblocks its only tested against mainly WotC published material, some 3rd party content can therefore fail to parse correctly particularly if it introduces slight differences.

In this case the line:

Code:

Large construct (dragon) XP 1,250

is not being parsed correctly, causing all other fields to scramble. The term Large construct (dragon) is not being handled by the Parser.

Try, using this alternative instead (using MM1 format for a Dragon) as a workaround.

Code:

Large natural magical beast (dragon) XP 1,250

You can also petition for greater Goodman Games support but that would require Tenian to purchase his own copies of their materials, something he maybe reluctant to do.

**Stitched** · July 29th, 2010, 10:41

Is the Parser now "unofficially" broken for all Monster Manual type resources since WotC has changed their format?

I scraped and parsed MM1, using version 56, about 1 month or so ago and it worked fine.

After getting errors with version 89, I tried rolling back to the older version and re-parsing MM1, as a test, to see if it would error out and, sure enough, it broke.

**Tenian** · July 29th, 2010, 10:53

As DrZ said it's the size /origin / keyword line that gives it a problem. In this case because the origin is missing. It expects something like magical / natural / etc between the large and construct.

As for the compendium: they updated some older material to the new format and this is an issue. They also screwed up the type / origin / keywords on many npcs. Unless black dragons and celestial chargers are now humanoids

**Stitched** · July 29th, 2010, 10:57

I just finished typing a question on your programming page and then you responded here.

Yeah, I am finding now that it's all bust. Good thing I grabbed them when I did, then.

Noticing, too, that the names of creatures often gets missed or the content is displaced between weird HTML tags after the entry that it corresponds to. What a mess.

I think it's a shame that they keep changing stuff. Are they good at publishing the changes, in terms of API ?

**Zeus** · July 29th, 2010, 11:03

Technically its not the Parser thats at fault but WotC for two reasons:

i) they changed the MM stat block format in MM3 which in itself is manageable but a pain in the ... and then they decided to do a major update on old data updating keywords etc. This has required extra effort on Tenian's behalf to get this all working again.
ii) Wizards managed to screw up the compendium database and metadata for a while meaning referencing data wasn't/isn't reliable. Not sure if this is fixed yet but its added complications.

Tenian is working on adding MM3 support, more info here.

**Stitched** · July 29th, 2010, 13:02

Perhaps I misstated. What I wanted to say was that getting data through scrapes and parses through DDI is broken, for now. I've only found really minor errors before, all fixable, so I really like the tool and use it a lot.

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