[Suggestion] Replaces Thing Id should still use original Thing Id in saves.
 

Things can have a Replaces Thing Id ( as shown in the Editor ) or replaces attribute on the thing element. This is nice as it allows an easy way to bug fix system things that have a bug. But the save file uses the new thing id instead of the replaces thing id. This means even if the reason for putting in a replacement is no longer necessary it either has to maintained to not loss picks for the characters that used it, or if it is removed all characters that had picks on the replaced thing need to have the thing removed and readded.

Suggestion add a replaces attribute to the pick element in save files which notes the original thing id if when loading a character and the thing id for the pick is no longer available but it has a replaces attribute try to use that thing id instead and optionally alert the user about the replacement with the base version of thing.

Would still like to see this.

Alternate suggestion: Add a new overrides attribute which works similar to the replaces attribute but causes hero lab to save with the original thing.

What I have done is remove the Unique ID from the "Replaces Thing ID". Then set he Unique ID of the old one to be *HIDDEN. I then update the Name of Thing and Text to explain what should be added to the character to fix the issue.

So lets say I had fS2Dodge that replaced "fDodge" a feat in Pathfinder. I would remove the "fDodge" from replace thing id. Then on the *HIDDEN tab I would add "fS2Dodge". This allows a .por to load without errors but it will still show this now HIDDEN thing and will highlight it in red. It will give a nice message about this is feat no longer working.

I then change the name from "Dodge" to "Remove this add Add Dodge". In the text desc I may put "This is now depreciated and no longer works. Please remove it and re-add the new DODGE feat to your character".

The gamer is now given helpful instructions on how to fix the issue and not cryptic errors about "Missing Thing in Batch XXX". :)

That's a cool way of dealing with the issue when updating a add-on that a player has. But the issue that I see is when sharing a por file with users that may or may not have a temporary bug fix or be at a different update level. The current approach means that you have to either tweak the players computer or tweak the character every time you export it. For example consider the following case. Two characters have the same feat. One character has another feat that for one reason or another does not work correctly with the first feat. The easy solution would be to a fix to the first feat, but that means when the game master loads in the character, does some tweaks and exports it, the player without the issue might find themselves with a broken character.