Custom .user file locations?
 

I'm using Dropbox and would like to keep my .user files there just like my portfolios.

I've looked around the menus and searched the forums but not seeing anything that will allow me to point Herolab to an alternate location for .user files.

I'd prefer not to store the whole application in Dropbox, but keeping .user files and portfolios in the cloud would allow me to use HL from all 3 of my machines without having to manually update those files.

Am I missing something or is this a candidate for a future update?

Thanks for any help

I think what you're looking for is available through the help menu in Hero Lab - choose "Help Topics", then "View User Manual", and once that opens, follow the "Miscellaneous Details" link.

I don't think it is, Mathias, unless the documentation is incorrect.

There are 2 user definable paths listed.

-dataroot=path – If this parameter is present, Hero Lab treats the specified folder as its "Program Data Folder" - it will look for data files, custom output types, skins, and more under this folder.

and

-userroot=path – If this parameter is present, Hero Lab treats the specified folder as its "User Data Folder" - it will look for saved portfolios under this folder.

I'd like to have my .user files in the cloud (Dropbox in this case) but not the base game data. From what I understand, Herolab expects all of these files to be in the same place, defined by the dataroot path.

.user files are generally small and are changed frequently by me, making it very useful to keep them in the cloud.

Game data is a much larger set of data (something I'd rather not take up Dropbox storage for) and is automatically updated by the application anyway, so there is no great need for a common file location.

I think what you are looking to do is split your files up, Core files in the root dir and user created files someplace else. This has been brought up before as well, so that multiple machiine could access the same files and thus maintain 1 consistant image. Its a good idea but I dont think HL can do this on the fly.

You can use the secondary file system to get downloads from different sources, so if you would like to do installs each time you load HL you could do it that way.

Indeed, having .user (and other user created game data) files be in the same location as base game data seems to be a requirement with HL currently. One that will hopefully be reconsidered soon.

Last night I decided I'd try putting my game data into Dropbox. After trimming down the unneeded fluff (e.g. game systems I'm not using and import files that have already been applied) it comes to half a gig or so. More than I'd like, but doable.

Unfortunately I didn't think about the fact that it would mean that I'm sharing the .pref file between the two systems and now I'm on a cooldown period for one of my licenses. Hopefully Lonewolf support can fix me up when I get home.

I think I should be able to set up different .pref files to load with the 2 PCs so that I can seamlessly swap between them with Herolab. We'll see.

Yeah, each time Herolab runs on a particular system, it updates core.hlz, data.hlz and HPkey.lic. Then when I start HL on the other PC it's forced into demo mode until I activate the license again.

So back to loading the data from my hard drives rather than the cloud. I'll have to transfer my .user files manually whenever I make a change. Pity I have to do that in the 21st century!

I was wondering this as well, I now have Hero Lab running on a VPS as well as my laptop with the .por files synced but having to manaually move the .user files is a pain. I think I might hack together a script to run on each to copy updated user files from the system to Dropbox, then check to see if the ones in Dropbox are newer and copy them back.

Add my vote as this being something I really, really want...

Also, if there ever is an iPad App, dropbox support or iCloud support will be damn near impossible to do without.

Add my vote as well. A separate variable -userfileroot=path would be an excellent add-on, and could default to the same path as -dataroot=path initially, for new users. I use HeroLab on a netbook, and don't really back it up, with the exception of anything Dropbox'd. Having to copy over my .user files to a Dropbox folder -- manually -- drives me crazy.

Solution!
 

There is a solution using symbolic links managed by the filesystem.
My friend Ben and I worked out how to do it this morning so that we can use Dropbox for the .user files exactly as you want.

Anyone who has used Linux or Unix would be familiar with symbolic links - they create a "symbolic" file at a location which is actually a mirror of a file in another location. You can do it in Vista and Windows 7 too. Check the wiki here on them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symboli..._symbolic_link

So to get this working follow the following steps, this will make HeroLab think the .user file is in the Program directory, but it is actually just a link to the real file in your Dropbox folder.

1) make sure your Dropbox folder is setup for auto syncing the .user files etc on the computer you have HeroLab installed on.

2) type "cmd" into the search bar in the start menu.

3) in the terminal that comes up navigate (use the 'cd' dos command) to your HeroLab folder which normally contains the .user files. i.e. type "cd C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\data\pathfinder"

4) use the 'mklink' dos command to create the symbolic link as follows (change the folder/file names as appropriate):

mklink /H "Pathfinder-Forgotten Realms.user" "c:\Downloads\My Dropbox\D&D\Hero Lab Resources\Pathfinder-Forgotten Realms.user"

(i.e. mklink /H "userfilename.user" "\<dropbox folder>\userfilename.user")



This should create a symbolic link file in the program directory which links to the real file in your Dropbox, which will keep up to date and synced across all your computers.


Ask if you have queries.

i think I have a workaround that I've been testing today and has worked well so far on Mac and Windows 7 - file symbolic/hard links.

In Windows 7 -
C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\data\pathfinder>mklink /H "My Custom Userfile.user" "c:\Path\To\My Dropbox\Hero Lab Resources\My Custom Userfile.user"
Hardlink created for My Custom userfile.user <<===>> c:\Path\To\My Dropbox\Hero Lab Resources\My Custom Userfile.user

In Mac OS X Terminal -
mymacname:pathfinder username$ ln '/Users/username/Dropbox/Hero Lab Resources/My Custom Userfile.user' './My Custom Userfile.user'

I haven't confirmed the Mac one but have been told by Mac/Linux users that would work perfectly fine. Will report back if it doesn't. Windows 7 however is tested and works perfectly, saving to the .user file in my pathfinder data folder triggered a dropbox update to my other PCs. Enjoy!

Update: confirmed working on Mac too! Updated the instructions

I ninja'd you there Cuzza with the method :-)
worked fine on my computer too. Teamwork!

Glen

All paths really need to be user definable. I was very close to requesting a refund when I installed and specified custom install and discovered that even though I directed the install to my D:/program files (x86) directory, a C:/programdata directory was also created and utilized.

Why? Because I use a SSD drive for C:/ which contains OS and static application files only. For those unfamiliar with SSD's, they dramatically speed up reads for file access so applications/programs gain a significant boost. The downside is that they have a limited number of writes to the device. Hero Lab forces a directory onto the C:/ and writes every time the program is accessed. Every time I use Hero Lab, a few bits die.... And that makes me sad.

SSD's are becoming more common for laptops and gaming systems. Cloud data support for centralized storage would be a huge plus for anyone using a desktop/laptop combo. I'd really like to see this limitation changed.

Protip: The solution i posted above would work in your case as well. Just move the entire C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab folder to your non-SSD drive then create a symbolic link -
C:\ProgramData>mklink /d "Hero Lab" "D:\Data\Hero Lab"

From there you can even hardlink to Dropbox for your .user files as well.

Thank you Cuzza. The symlink to the directory as you outlined worked perfectly. I'm a much happier camper now. :)

It would be nicer to be able to user define locations for .hl, .user, .stock, images, exports, portfolios from within Hero Lab. But this will work just fine for the interim.

Thought I'd add two bits to this discussion. This is for windows users. There's a nice GUI tool to help create links.

http://code.google.com/p/symlinker

It works well and is free. Works in Vista, Win7, Win2008.

Kizan

While the Mac version of the instructions had been working for me back in March, as of right now it's broken. It appears that Hero Lab now deletes and recreates the .user file, which breaks any hard links to it. So now this workaround is no longer working.

Anyone else have any ideas for working around the lack of a configurable custom file location?

Hey Bobson, are you referring to files you have created yourself or other ones?

This is a file I've created myself, that I put all my house-rules, conversions, and so on in. I haven't tried it with the latest version yet.

This bit me again this week - I'd edited my CustomData.user file on my desktop, and the hardlink to dropbox was disconnected so it never got propagated over to my laptop. Has anyone managed to find another workaround?

This is version 4.1 of HL, and OSX 10.6 on the desktop.

Ok, I want to weigh in with this one myself as well with a "+1", with caveats...

I have had this discussion a long time ago in a long dead thread. I play in a Pen-And-Paper group. Most of the guys have conniptions when I ask them to send me a copy of their character sheet, let alone mess around with anything like this. Half of the group couldn't find the ProgramData folder!

Having .user files stored by default in the "My Documents" folder and being able to link to something like Dropbox (or a file uploaded on a website!) is important.

I created some templates for the characters in the Pathfinder game I am running, and I create all custom magic items in the editor and distribute the file that way. It's tedious and I have had to spend significant time each week on the phone to each of the people, telling/retelling them how to import the file. I update the file quite often, so if I can simply upload it somewhere and have HeroLab check it's version/build number when you open a file that uses it (and downloads/imports it if necessary), it'd sure speed everything up.

In addition: In addition, the prgram seems to incorporate all .user files. In the "Configure Hero" screen, on the right is a lovely check list for all the published content that can be incorporated. A button somewhere on the Configure Hero screen that takes you to a window that lists all available files (and their locations if multiple locations can be browsed and selected for Dropbox and so on) and a check-box that enables and disables them would effectively be a way of doing this for user-created content. My player do not want to have my magic items, templates and other garbage cluttering up their character selections in other campaigns!

The last item on every tab in the editor is named "sources". That's how you can create your own entries in that list on the configure hero form.

That's what that is for..!

Pardon me, but if I've got a data file FULL of things for one campaign, it would probably be a handy option to actually have a "Apply to all entries in this data file", with an additional option "Create all new records with this source option enabled".

I've been lurking on this thread for awhile. I came up with a partial solution for this problem.

I've been using Dropbox and a Simlink to sync my Pathfinder data for a while now. My Dropbox folder lives in a folder on my Desktop, but you can change paths for your destination. I still have to update each install of HL and then let it sync, but this works well.

ren "C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\data\pathfinder" pathfinder.org

mklink /j "C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\data\pathfinder" "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\Hold\Dropbox\Char acte rs\Hero Lab\HL data - pathfinder"

pause

Kizan

Use a .hl file instead. Its what LW itself uses to distribute its games like Pathfinder and its what we use in the community also. Go to "Tools->Launch HLExport".

If you have a web server you can then setup a "Powered by HL" feature like I did for the community. Then HL can check it for version and download and auto-install the update. I also do this for my personal games as it makes it really easy for my players to keep up on all my changes.

I have a question about the sources.

I created a source for a home brew campaign. Everything looks good, and I see the source listed under User Content in the Configure Your Hero box. When I either copy that .user file over to my other machine or use the HLExport to create a .hl file and then import that I either get blank for my custom source or the Unique ID for the source.

What am I missing? Is there another file that maintains the sources?

I don't have a webserver, but was thinking of setting one up (for a completely different set of circumstances). If I do, then I'm all over this like kids on fairy bread.

(Any chance you can work your magic on a video tutorial on some of this? I wasn't even aware of .hl files and how they are distributed.)

Id like to "bump" this thread in regards to changing the default locations. (not regarding the .hl files, which i think is a different topic altogether)

We're now living in an age of cloud based computing with things like google drive and dropbox. But even if we dont consider that, its still important to let people choose where they want to store their files. I know someone earlier mentioned SSD's. Backups are another reason too.

Yes, the symlink workaround works, but not everyone knows how to do that, and to have to run something as administrator is ok, but not great. Id like to know if there is in the works any plan to modify hero lab to do the following:

1. Allow for custom locations for data files
2. Allow the user to change their default location.

Thanks!

Me 3!
 

I got to weigh in on this as well. I use a SSD as well for my C drive, for the aforementioned reason. If I tell a program to install on a different drive I effing expect it to install on THAT HD!!!. I love the program, think its a marvelous tool for RPGing that I could only dream of in previous decades, but this blunder is really something you should attend to asap. To install to drives of your choice is so commonplace today that its essentially a given. :mad:

Is there any work being done on getting data files in a custom location and not in %APPDATA% The linking works for now, but its a bit of a pain, and it doesnt always work on a mac.

I am curious if anyone knows how this works on Win 8.1? I had this working well with Windows 7, but I can't seem to find the files now with Win 8.1. Perhaps it's too early in the morning here. Ha Ha

As mentioned in the M&M board, I am trying to copy a .stock file into the ProgramData directory to make it accessible in the Stock File menu. In Win8.1, however. The problem is that even after I reveal the directory I cannot copy into it. I'm not even given the option to go into the Admin account -- it simply refuses to let me perform the task.

I've asked the Microsoft Community how (and if) I can do this. No response yet -- I will probably share it once I get one because this something that might have to be done every so often.

Since the problem is likely to persist in future versions of Windows, perhaps Version 5 of HL could provide an alternative location for .stock files to make adding fan-built ones (like the one I am trying to add) easier (or at least possible without undergoing extensive system calesthenics).

The solution, according to the Microsoft community, is to go into the Properties for the folder in question and take out the Rewad-Only status the program seems to install them to. That worked for me, though I couldn't detail exactly how I did.

... wait, i messed up somewhere

Just to put aside any fears here, you have to write a tremendous amount of data to an SSD to kill it.

http://techreport.com/review/27909/t...heyre-all-dead

I worked it out once that a standard 128GB SSD needed in the order of 64TB of data written to begin to lose cells. Please consider just how much data that is.

The above link is a test run by a online source in an attempt to kill SSDs, and it proved they have remarkable endurance.

I run SSDs in all my systems, everything, I mean everything is installed and run off them, I see no reason why one would want to gimp their performance by running the OS on an SSD and then wait for apps to run off a convention HD. Back in the day, when I ran a 1st Gen Agility it made sense to do this, but even a value line SSD has a very long life, and is the single biggest performance enhancing part of any computer.

Crucial, Adata are my go to brands. I have two of each, and my lappy has been running a 512GB Crucial for nearly 4yrs, and still not a single redirected cell.

However, mileage may vary, like any device not all are created equal even within brands and models. But there is very little reason to worry that any program will kill your SSD. Reality here is, your swap and temp files used by the OS will create far more writes then most apps.

Just FYI this thread is 5 years old. So keep in mind your answering someone from tech 5 years ago. Things have gotten better with SSD drives in those 5 years. :)

I need a drink.

Hey now! You have to share! :D :eek:

Need to modify Data File Paths
 

Am bumping this thread. We still need data file paths editing in a day and age of cloud computing. Want to push Program Data Files to Dropbox.

:p