Suggestion: Module sorting

[SylvanSnake]

So, I've been accumulating a lot of modules for D&D 2E, 5E and PF1E. One thing that is quite tedious is weeding through large numbers of modules to find which ones you're looking for. For activation and the reference books windows. It would be really helpful if we had a more convenient way to sort modules by type.

I'd like to see this type of ordering:
1 Player character books (such as Pathfinder Core book, Unchained and all the Advanced/Ultimate guides) should be at the top of the list to make it convenient for players to build characters when they start the game.
2 GM-focused rulebooks
3 Campaign setting and world books
4 Other sourcebooks, such as Pathfinder Companion series
5 Adventure Paths and modules
6 Monster Compendiums
7 Optional accessories and custom content

Ideally, the GM should be able to customize the sorting method for the campaign, but a hard-coded sorting system would be an improvement. For some reason the PF Bestiaries, Advanced character guides, Book of the Damned and NPC Codex are all sorted into the "Core Rules" category.

And most of the Companion books are in the "Pathfinder companion Pathfinder Companion" category. (Yes, the category name repeats!)
Then there is separate category called "Player Companions" with only 2 books that I own in it. Can we clean up these categories somehow?
Screenshot 2024-05-16 234930.pngScreenshot 2024-05-16 235348.png

[Trenloe]

Moderator: Moved from the Laboratory sub-forum, which is for posting problems/discussions with the latest test build, not for suggesting new functionality.

@SylvanSnake - please check the feature request site to see if something like this has been created: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/featu...rerequests.php If this feature isn't already in the list, please create an entry for it - and within that entry, provide the link to this discussion thread.

[vegaserik]

There is one on the request page, currently sitting around 33 votes.

[SylvanSnake]

Yes, I saw that. Surprised more people aren't voting for such a quality-of-life upgrade. Doesn't seem too difficult to do, maybe someone could make an extension for it?

[Moon Wizard]

Ordering of categories is alphabetical.

For the rest, it's not a thing that an extension can necessarily take care of; but rather something that all the various DLC developers would have to be consistent about. Since DLC can be developed by any person with a relationship with us and the publisher, implementations can vary. We do suggest a standard categorization for module developers:
https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassia...ule+-+Overview

If you point out specific books that are not falling into categories like this, I can have James reach out to ask them to adjust to match the standards.

Regards,
JPG

[deer_buster]

Yes, I saw that. Surprised more people aren't voting for such a quality-of-life upgrade.

Welcome to the world of software development. People are quick to complain about things, but rarely put in any effort (at all) to gather consensus on what should be done, much less click on a button to show their support for it...

[LordEntrails]

It's the consensus here that is hard. And the standardization as pointed out by Moon.
For me, if developers conform to the standards linked, then I able to find what I need easily enough and can't imagine a much better system.

Maybe there are some shortcomings, but in general the OP points are answered thus by me:
1. Players can generally only see player modules, unless the GM has altered the player load. Also searching for 'player' in the name or using the categories works ok (not perfect, but sufficient for my needs as a GM)
2. Isn't this pretty much everything ? There are already the Core and Settings categories etc.
3. Category = Setting
4. Category = Supplement
5. Category = Adventure
6. Either Core or Supplement or even Adventure, this one is more tough because how do you distinguish between a monster only book and a book that has monsters?
7. Category = Supplement, Token, or Map Pack

I guess maybe a tag system rather than a category system (using the existing categories as tags and adding some additional ones), but then that would mean a whole lot of products might need to be updated (though I guess if there were no tags assigned, then the category could be used...).

[MrDDT]

Yeah, this likely is more of a GM issue than a player issue, as most players shouldn't really be loading all that much while playing. They pretty much should only have a few books to look at to get info from, even if you are playing in a very robust 3rd party content rich environment.
The GM should be culling what the players can see/load anyways.

[SylvanSnake]

I consider Core to be the books that are the most commonly accessed by Players and GMs. Most of the rules systems and character creation stuff is in there.

For PF, the core books would be:
1 Core Rulebook
2 The Advanced Guides
3 The Ultimate Books
4 Pathfinder Unchained

I would never consider Book of the Damned to be a "core" book, even though it is a very nice book to have. Lol

I'd like all these sorted at the top, grouped together. And as I mentioned, several of the companion books seem to be tagged oddly. But the simplest solution for everyone would be to let GMs edit the sorting fields that are currently in the definition.xml of each module or give us a way to override the definition files.

I appreciate the work you guys do. I'm not complaining, just a few QoL things I've been thinking about. When a GM has 30 pages of modules to sort through for one campaign, finding the mods so he can click the share button for each one to give players access can be a bit tedious. I'm just saying...

[SylvanSnake]

P1.jpgP2.jpgP3.jpg

These are the official modules I own on Fantasy Grounds.
1 One thing you may notice is that there is an Adventure and Adventures category. I don't own many adventure modules yet, but you might look into that.
2 There is a Bestiary category, but there aren't actually any bestiaries in it. There are some NPC codex entries there, but the actual bestiaries are in the "Core Rules" category. Why not put all bestiaries and NPC Codex modules together, then?
3 The "Pathfinder Companion pathfinder Companion" category is a bit redundant. Just put them together in a "Companion" category.
4 Consistent naming of modules. Some books are prefixed with PFRPG, some Pathfinder RPG, some are just Pathfinder. It makes it more difficult to search alphabetically.

My suggestion: drop the "Pathfinder RPG" prefix on the Companion books, just use "Pathfinder Companion: Elves of Golarion" as the full title of the module, for example. Do the same for books labeled Campaign Setting, Chronicles, Adventure Path, Module, etc.