"missing thing in batch" error
 

I've got a custom template I put together called "Fey Touched" (similar to but not the same as the Jon Brazer Enterprises template of the same name).

It seems to work when I save the template file and click "Test Now". But if I save a portfolio containing a fey touched creature and then re-open it, Hero Lab presents the following error:

Which is pretty cryptic. Research has told me that:

1. "thing" is a term for a language construct in the HL system roughly equivalent to an object;
2. a "pick" is an instantiation of a thing;
3. "bootstrap" appears to be a bit of code that executes when a template is applied.

But how do I figure out what "batch 675" is and where it's going wrong? The log file the error message created just contained a copy of the error message.

The settings for the Weapon Finesse part of the template as currently written are as follows:

• The selected source thing is: fWepFin
• The "No Pre-reqs" check box is: not checked
• Target: None
• A condition has been set:
  • Phase: first
  • Priority: 750
  • Tag Expression: count:Hero.HitDice >= 6
  • Timing: No timing information specified.

I'm guessing that something is screwed up with the phase, priority, or timing. Perhaps the bootstrap is being evaluated before some necessary data has loaded?

I don't really know what "phase" or "priority" or "timing" do. I just copied the settings from another template.

Its a bit more art than science to figure out your issue. My guesses up front without allot of info is that you created the .por file on one computer that does have the .user file (which contains the template) but then you opened the .por file on a computer without the .user file.

You could also have some "bootstrap" condition going on currently in the template that does not exist at the time the .por file was created. Its worth reading the "glossary of terms" to get an idea of what HL is saying sometimes.

Those are some ideas but that is working blind. Your best bet if you want more help is to attach the .user file and the template and I can try and take a look.

Batch 675 I think refers to a reference inside the .por file which is itself a XML file. But really finding it in the .por file won't tell you much.

Sorry can't be more help but too many variables could be causing the above to be positive without seeing it. :(

I will take a thorough look at that glossary of terms shortly. Thanks for pointing it out.

Hmm. The .por file only exists on one computer, but I am doing something weird with the .user file. I'm a librarian, and often have long evening shifts on the reference desk when nobody asks questions. So I:

1) Moved the .user file to my Dropbox folder;
2) Used the Windows command line to create a symbolic link to the file in the data folder (using "mklink")
3) installed my secondary license for HL at the reference desk;
4) Repeated step 2 at the reference desk copy.

The upshot is that the .user file lives in my Dropbox folder, where it is automatically synced across both computers, which access it through the symbolic link.

It seems to work fine. I can make changes to the .user file at work, and then by the time I get home they've been automatically synced for me, and my changes are there. It is, however, a potentially complicating factor.

Well, that's certainly understandable. Here's a copy.

Still working on debugging this. I've tried the following:

1) I removed the condition from bonus feat. Error still occurred.

2) I created an entirely new template "Finesse Test" which does nothing but assign Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat, with no conditions. Error still occurred.

3) I tried creating an entirely new data file, recreated the "Finesse Test" template in it. Error did not occur!

4) Went back to my original data file and tried creating a template "Test Test" which does, literally, nothing. It has a description saying "This is a test, a test, a test", and it doesn't modify the hero in any way. Aaaand ... on reload, the following error occurred:

Soooo ... I suspect that I have somehow screwed up something somewhere ELSE in the .user file, and it's causing problems. I may have to remove my data file, create a new one, and copy over the bits one at a time, saving and reloading after every transfer, in order to identify exactly where it's getting messed up.

And in future, I think I'll have a "stable" and a "dev" .user file, one for stuff that's done and works, and one for stuff that's in progress.

I should have time tonight to take a look finally. I download the file over the weekend but it just didn't pan out for me getting to it.

Hmm. I think I MAY have gotten it working. But I'm not sure what I did.

It seemed to start working after I used "Tools -> Compile Data Files" in the editor. Maybe I need to do that more often.

My thoughts here is that its this that is causing you the issues. I took at look at the .user file and I am not finding anything wrong with it. Every test I do causes the .por file to load correctly.

Based on the error messages above it sure sounds like the computer where you opened the .por did NOT load the .user file. My guess is that the .user file is not loading into memory when you load the game system.

If you open the .user file and do a "Test Now!" on the template I bet it will then load. Or as you just found that if you force HL to compile the file that it has open in the editor it will also be loaded into memory.

If you use the DropBox method you may need to go in and open the .user file in the editor and tell it to specifically load into memory. :)

Well, that's annoying. Here I thought I'd saved myself a lot of clicking by using Dropbox to sync it and symbolic links to resolve the file.

Perhaps I could keep the .user file in the Dropbox folder, but write a .bat file that copies the file from there to the real folder and then starts HL. If I always open HL using .bat file, that should remove the need for additional manual intervention just to make it work on two computers.

Oh, computer ... how silly you are some times.

EDIT: Through experimentation, I have discovered that although Hero Lab cannot tolerate a symbolic link to an individual file, it CAN handle a symbolic link to an entire directory. So I've been able to set up automatic syncing as described above by copying the entire Pathfinder data folder to Dropbox and using "mklink /D" to create a link to the folder.

Now all I have to do is decide whether the convenience of auto-syncing is really worth expending 420 MB of space in my Dropbox account when all I really want to sync is my own .user file, currently 14.8 KB. I'm considering using a hard link to the file instead of a symbolic link. But those make me nervous. If you delete the hard link, the file it's pointing at goes away too, since the hard link is (to all intents and purposes) a real file.