Importing Text From PDF (revisited) New DMs Guild encryption?

[Minty23185Fresh]

It's been about a year and a half since I tried to import a PDF module into Fantasy Grounds and I have a new set of issues.

The regular text in a PDF copies into the text buffer as a bunch of non printable characters (ascii codes > 127).
Oddly enough titles, headings, bold text, highlighted sidebars and "read to players" boxed text copies over just fine.

It's the main body text that presents the issue. Early investigation ....

[EDIT - redacted some of this post, in case there is a user licensing agreement that states I'm not supposed to decrypt/decompile my purchases]

My setup:

• New Dell Laptop
• Windows 11
• FG Unity (I'm sure this is irrelevant)
• PDF reader Microsoft Edge
• Also tried Adobe Acrobat reader

Interestingly, I've looked at a few different PDFs with differing results.

• PDF purchased from DMs Guild in Dec 2022 (Adventurers League CCC module) is problematic
• PDF downloaded from DMs Guild in Dec 2022 (monthly free adventure module) is fine
• PDF downloaded from Wizards of the Coast Jan 2023 (Adventurers League Player's Guide v13) - is fine
• PDF purchased from DMs Guild in May 2018 (Adventurers League DDAL module) is fine
• PDF downloaded from my bank in Jan 2023 (personal statement) is fine

It seems DMs Guild has recently taken to partial encrypting of PDF module purchases. I questioned them a few years ago about password protection of the modules when I couldn't "unzip" a Fantasy Grounds .mod file I purchased there. I'm guessing they have stepped up their game.

Anyone else notice this?

[EDIT - just can't help but wonder, is this part of the new WotC OGL 2.0 folly?]

[damned]

There are many different applications used to create the initial data and then different applications to convert to PDF.
Then possibly the DMsG also re-PDFs when they add the user data to the bottom of the file.

There are so many pieces that could be causing each issue.

You can also try using snipping tool to select the errant text as an image and paste into OneNote and do OCR on it.

[Minty23185Fresh]

….

There are so many pieces that could be causing each issue.

Ahh. That makes sense. Thanks for that. Good insight.

You can also try using snipping tool to select the errant text as an image and paste into OneNote and do OCR on it.

Yikes… Yet another layer of processing.
Ain’t nobody got time for THAT!

As I mentioned in another thread, I have a personal use extension that helps with PDF import. Strips LF-CR, fixes ligatures, converts non-printable characters to printable counterparts, that sort of thing. It does all this inside the copy-paste buffer.

I have it pretty much sorted out now. I’ve added pattern matching so that it converts the 4-byte upper range ascii (> ascii 127) codes to a single corresponding printable character.

I guess the real intent of this thread I started was to “announce” a new gotcha, by DMs Guild (probably DriveThruRPG too) for those of us that work with their PDF books. And to see if I was the only one lucky enough to be experiencing the gotcha.

Thanks again damed for the insight and the help suggestions.

[LordEntrails]

I haven't bought anything recently. But as I'm a Guild creator I would think if they changed the pdf creation they would notify us, I haven't seen anything like that. (But could have missed it). As damned says, it's probably just with that one creator. They did something on their end or had something unusual happen about the file they uploaded. You could always ask on the product page.

[Minty23185Fresh]

….

You could always ask on the product page.

Thanks LordEntrails. When I asked the DMsG support staff about password protection of FG .mod files they were pretty responsive. I wasn’t happy with the answer but they politely and quickly replied.

It would provide another bit of information for us.