The Parser

[SoupViking]

Is using the parser the quickest way to enter the 5E info into Fantasy Grounds? I mean if I'm typing in all the information from the book to a text file, could I just figure out how to enter the text into a FG file and skip a step?

[El Condoro]

The process of marking up the text files can be very time consuming but it is much quicker than any other method I know of, assuming you have access to PDF files that you can copy from.

[damned]

Hi SoupViking - I think the suggestion is to try and scan and ocr the source book rather than retype everything.
But either way - the text file + markup (despite the many snags) will still be at least 10x faster than writing your own xml as you go.

[Nylanfs]

Unless you have a REALLY high words per minute typing speed.

[Xorn]

I'm pretty sure if you include all the XML markup that would be needed to just hand-type one (or navigating an XML template) would at least double the amount of text to enter. There's a reason I never bothered with library modules until the 4E Parser and PAR5E came about.

[SoupViking]

I spent some time watching your tutorial, Xorn. I'll try the free PDFs first like you did. But scanning the PHB is out of the question. I'm not buying a scanner just for this. Looks like I'm doing a little typing.

Question: If I type up just the entries my players need, do I add to my original text files and reparse the older entries? I'm thinking the answer is yes.

[Xorn]

Yes, when you update your TXT source files, just reparse to create an updated module. If it's still named the same, their links won't break to old stuff.

Couple suggestions for you: You can get all the equipment tables from the basic rules--I'm pretty sure they are the same.

I think I recommend in the videos as well--the two most valuable things to parse are by far NPCs (far and away the most valuable) and spells (which are a distant second to NPCs), which is probably tied with equipment. You can actually build a nice NPC parse just from the basic rules DMG v3, get a full equipment parse from BR PHB v2, and quite a few spells as well. I didn't buy a scanner for this, I just happen to have an officejet multi-function printer with a scan bed. But more importantly, there is an AWESOME scanner at work, which will scan a two-page spread @ 600 dpi in about 2 seconds. That's how I've scanned every 5E book printed so far.

But I'm moving to Montana on 11/28 (which is when the DMG releases)... so I'm not going to be able to scan it (as I will no longer be an employee). I might have to scan it with my little printer, which is SLOOOOW. Hopefully I'm just scanning magic items out of it, and the dungeon tables.

[SoupViking]

The printer I have access to is a document scanner, not a flatbed. It's great for scanning two-sided pages, and it's fast. But I'd have to disassemble my book. I'm going to follow your suggestions.