Engineer Suite

[Three of Swords]

Thanks for the warning, Maasq!

[Maasq]

Hey folks!

After a 6 week absence, I got myself together enough to release an update again. I fixed the underlying issue that messed up the last update - so everything from that is back in the application. I added a couple of other things too that will hopefully improve the quality of using the application. I'm quite excited about the validate XML button, although in its current state it just shows you the XML. The next stage is to actually validate it to a certain degree - check for overlapping tags (the biggest issue), extra or missing close tags. I hope to colourise tags at some point too, and to highlight the broken ones. Lofty dreams!

So here's the list of new stuff, updates, and broken bits fixed:

v0.4.49
Engineer Suite
==============
UPDATED: I changed the 'Parse Log' window quite radically. It is no longer a log - mainly because I never managed to implement an XML checker. That is far harder than it looks Anyway, the window is still called a parse log for now, but really it just updates the progress. Bonus: it compiles a module far faster now. Bonus 2: The reason I changed it was that I was seeing some strange (but non-critical) behaviour. That is gone now. I hope you all like it.

NPC Engineer
============
NEW: A checkbox on the 'Innate Casting' tab allows you to mark the casting as Psionics. No other changes are necessary to introduce psionic casters to FG (thankfully!).
NEW: There is a menu option to add custom languages to the interface. It works exactly the same as weapons, traits etc in that it saves to an external json file. This was part of the overhaul of Languages (see below).
NEW: There is a 'Validate' button under the RTF window on the 'description' tab. At the moment this just displays the XML, but it will build up into an XML checker over the next few releases. For now, though, it allows you to have a look for errors in the description code before committing the NPC to a module.
UPDATED: The 'Languages' interface on the 'Skills' tab has been radically reworked. It should still operate flawlessly with save files - let me know of any issues. The tickboxes are gone, replaced with 4 multiselect boxes. Click to select, click again to deselect. A dropdown box for the special language options replaces the 8 radio buttons. The biggest impact on users is the ability to add custom languages to suit your campaign. I have added two from Frog God Games' NPCs as an example. The other knock-on effect is that it gives me GUI space to expand the skills section, something I have had multiple requests for over the years.
UPDATED: Languages sort alphabetically in the statblock.
UPDATED: Autosaving NPCs is now an option. It is on by default to ensure consistency of naming of NPC and graphics. You may switch it off to cause a 'Save NPC as..." box to pop up. This will point at your selected NPC save path and have the NPC name as the suggested name.
UPDATED: Range increased on 'Senses' by request.
UPDATED: Weapon damage bonuses are suppressed if they are zero ('1d8' rather than '1d8 + 0')
UPDATED: Removed mention of 'JSON' in menu options.
UPDATED: Added 'half-orc' and 'dragonborn' to the drop down list of tags for NPCs.
FIXED: Parentheses at the end of some fields were disappearing - weapon names, for instance. I've added a check for the parentheses. If anyone needs other non-alphanumeric character specifically excluded in this way, let me know.
FIXED: (I think) Issues with adding asterisks to spells.
FIXED: NPCs with numbers in their name will now properly add to a project in Fantasy Grounds.
FIXED: NPCs with an ampersand in their name will now have that ampersand appear in Fantasy Grounds.

Spell Engineer
==============
UPDATED: Removed mention of 'JSON' in menu options.
UPDATED: Added 'CTRL-M' keyboard shortcut to edit the spells file.

Have fun, and let me know what you think of the language change. I much prefer it, and it gives flexibility to allow easy addition of other languages. I will change the resistances tab to use this style at some point if there's not a huge negative reaction to it!

Finally, I have posted another couple of videos on the Patreon site, and I will be uploading a short one about today's changes later on.

Thank you for all the support and suggestions!

Maasq

[iotech]

Hi Maasq! Thank you for the update, your work is appreciated! One very small feature request would be to lengthen the timeout on the tool tips... some of the longer ones close before I can get the whole thing read. Seems like they're just over 2 seconds now, would you mind going to 4 or even 5 seconds on these? Thanks for considering!
-G

Edit: Nevermind, I found the setting for this in Settings. D'oh!

[Maasq]

Hehe
You weren't the first to ask me to do that
I'm glad the feature is getting use!

Maasq

[Targas]

Would it be possible to include a ‚PC Engineer‘ functionality, with which you could import a DnD Beyond Character into FG, similar to the NPC Engineer?

[Maasq]

Would it be possible to include a ‚PC Engineer‘ functionality, with which you could import a DnD Beyond Character into FG, similar to the NPC Engineer?

Hiya!

Maybe one day, but there is a lot of functionality to be coded before then. The suite is primarily to build modules and there are lots of elements of those I haven't incorporated yet.

Sorry that this isn't what you need to hear at this stage.

Maasq

[mattekure]

Would it be possible to include a ‚PC Engineer‘ functionality, with which you could import a DnD Beyond Character into FG, similar to the NPC Engineer?

There is one thats been built. Its not 100% perfect, but it does a great job with everything I've thrown at it. check it out at https://www.ai6k.com/dndbeyond/

[Targas]

There is one thats been built. Its not 100% perfect, but it does a great job with everything I've thrown at it. check it out at https://www.ai6k.com/dndbeyond/

Thank you very much. I‘ll give it a try. It doesn‘t need to be perfect.

[Maasq]

Hey folks!

There's an update to Engineer Suite. We're now at v0.4.55 and it can be downloaded from www.masq.net as always. This version adds the ability to insert FG links into any free text area and a quickstart guide amongst other improvements. The future has changed a little too - Equipment Engineer is taking a step to the rear for the moment as I try to figure out how to integrate magical items. I should have listened to people from the start! The new 'current project' will be Table Engineer, and I hope it helps people out!

Full update notes:

v0.4.55
Engineer Suite
==============
NEW: You can insert links to other objects in free text fields. These are Rich Text fields (recognisable by the 'bold' etc buttons underneath them). There is a right-click menu with several options. Please note - DON'T FORMAT INSIDE THE LINKS!
The ones in the top half of the menu are riskier - you need to know the object's correct name or the link will not have an effect. The 'Displaytext' part of the link is what you want it to show on screen. There are just a few options for now, but I am happy to add whatever people feel they need - just request.
The bottom half of the menu is safer - it only allows you to add objects from your current project. It opens a small GUI to allow you to choose the object and generates the link code automatically. This is obviously limited to NPCs and Spells at the moment, but will be expanded as each new part of Engineer Suite is coded.
NEW: Windows 'Toast' notifications can be turned off. If you do so, the notifications will be delivered on the statusbar.
NEW: There is a 'Quickstart Guide' option in the information menu (F12 shortcut). Engineer Suite is becoming quite complex and I felt that an 'in-house' help document might be in order.
UPDATED: Object types are highlighted in bold.
UPDATED: Tooltips in the 'Options' box.
UPDATED: Status bar text has been removed. With the control of the tooltip timer, this text was pointless.

NPC Engineer
============
NEW: The NPC's description box can have any number of links inserted. See general text above.
UPDATED: Some missing tooltips added.

Spell Engineer
==============
NEW: The spell's information box can have any number of links inserted. See general text above.
NEW: There is a menu option to add custom classes or archetypes to the interface. It works exactly the same as weapons, traits etc in that it saves to an external json file.
UPDATED: You can add any number of casters to a user-defined list. When setting who can cast a spell, items in this list are available.
UPDATED: Artificer and its archetypes added to casters list.
UPDATED: Casters aren't tagged automatically on import as there is no standard way to deliver this information. To deal with this, the 'Casters' box opens automatically after an import. If this is NOT to your liking, you can turn it off in 'Options'.
UPDATED: The import function should deal with custom spell schools. Let me know if anything isn't working!

Table Engineer
==============
NEW: An icon Watch for things appearing as time goes on.

Equipment Engineer
==================
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Cheers
Maasq

[sorvan76]

This app is brilliant. I purchased a 5e zombie book from DMs Guild and converted the whole book to a *mod file. All NPCs with full descriptions and pictures. Keep up the good work.