Looking for Editor Basics

[Eeyore]

I'm getting started on using the Editor and I'd like to find some basic information. However, I'm having problems with the help provided. Going to Help->Help on Using the Editor, as has been suggested, gives me a text file with all sorts of HTML tags in it. That's not very helpful.

The next suggestion is a series of videos. Is there any alternative to that? I hate trying to learn from video and would much rather read the instructions.

I've looked through the articles Mathias has put together and they seem useful but also seem to presuppose a certain amount of the information from the previous elements.

Lastly, is there a list somewhere of the abbreviations and context for the scripting language? I see people being referred to the Develop->Floating Info Windows but this seems to have a couple of problems. The first is that the information isn't presented in a particularly useful order. It also seems to refer only to things that are in the active character and not all of the things that you might want to add to whatever you're editing.

I also don't think it explains what terms like "Pre-levels" mean. That's probably the kind of thing that's in the Help file or videos that I'm trying to find better sources for.

[psych777]

the videos help with a basic understanding

if you click on Develop->Floating Info Windows there are some options for "Selection ...". if you choose those another window pops up and asks which selection you want to see. then you can choose what area you are looking at.

pretty sure pre-levels is mentioned in the videos...
it is a 'timing' setting. when you have say an eval script you have to set what time it occurs at.

[ShadowChemosh]

All the places to learn about the editor is listed HERE in FAQ#1.

Also if the Help is not displaying its because for some reason your computer is not setup to display Web pages using a browser. It would appear it is using text editor. So you need to change that or manually go and open the file with a web browser so you can view it.

[Eeyore]

Thanks. I'll try to avoid the videos if I can; while they may help you, they're an inefficient and ineffective way for me to learn things.

[Eeyore]

I've read the stuff and watched the videos and this isn't getting any less frustrating. The videos mostly covered things I'd already figured out on my own, though the explanation of the syntax for the different bonus types was nice. There's some helpful things in the tutorials but not enough depth.

I'll lay out the specific thing I'm working on at the moment. My question isn't really how to accomplish this; rather, it's to learn how I can find out the answers to the kinds of issues I'm having.

I'm trying to build an up-powered Sorcerer class that does a number of things better than the Core sorcerer. One of those things is that it pumps up the save DCs on spells of certain schools.

The first way I tried to do this was to create a third and fourth tier of Spell Focus feats, called Superior Spell Focus and Master Spell Focus. I went to the Feat tab in the editor, clicked New (Copy) and selected Greater Spell Focus, figuring that it shouldn't be too hard to just modify that.

I ran into problems on the Eval Scripts and Pre-reqs buttons. In the former, Greater Spell Focus has one script that includes the line "if (focus.tagis[Broadcast.SpellGrFoc] <> 0) then" It wasn't too hard to figure out what this is trying to do: make sure that you only select a school once for each feat. I tried changing that to Broadcast.SpellSuFoc in the hopes that it would do the same thing for my new feat. When I compiled it, I got an error message that Broadcast.SpellSuFac was undefined.

That's clear enough; I understand about needing to define variables. What I found, or rather couldn't find, was anywhere that Broadcast.SpellGrFoc is defined. It isn't anywhere in the script. When I use the debug windows, I can't find either "Broadcast" or "SpellGrFoc" anywhere. I don't know exactly what they are, what they mean, where to find any information about them, or how to use them.

It's probably trying to tell me something in the Pick Tasks window for Greater Spell Focus but I have no idea where. That window is full of references to Eval Scripts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 & 11. But Greater Spell Focus only has one Eval Script. What are the rest of these?

Also, nowhere in any of the debug windows or the scripts in the Editor can I really figure out where or how the school is chosen or gets attached to the feat. I assume that it has something to do with the line in the script "call fTargetFoc" but, again, this isn't something I can find in the debug windows so I don't know how it works. When I left the script exactly as it was in Greater Spell Focus it compiled, but then gave the expected duplicate copy error of having selected Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) twice.

I also can't figure out how to do the Pre-req of having Greater Spell Focus for the school first, but it looks like this is really the same issue as above, since it also uses Broadcast.SpellFocus and it doesn't like it when I try to change that to Greater Spell Focus.

Unable to find any of this information, I decided to take a different approach and make it a class feature. It should work much like the Fighter Weapon Training feature does, selecting different schools and escalating the bonus for the earlier choices as you level up. So brought up a copy of the Fighter Weapon Training (Heavy Blades) Custom Ability to see how it worked.

That was even less useful than Greater Spell Focus was. The only Eval Script in that was exactly one line long: "call cFtrWepSum" That's it. There are some tags and a field but, as far as I can tell, nothing that does any work. Again, going to the debug windows did nothing to clarify the matter. I can't find any element called cFtrWepSum. I don't see anything that actually links Heavy Blades to Weapon Training or advances the bonus.

In all, it really seems like there are too many steps that take place behind the scenes without any documentation and the debug windows are too full of extraneous information to make it easy to find what's important, as well as leaving plenty of necessary information out. I've hit a wall trying to learn this Editor and have no idea where to go next.

[ShadowChemosh]

Yes it takes time to learn the editor. Going after a harder piece is not making it easier.

Anything that does a "CALL" is known as a Procedure and the script logic can be found going to the "General->*Procedure" tab and doing a new copy.

So at least for myself hitting a "wall" of text like above means it limits during the day how much I can help. Just don't have time to read that much. (Please note I do NOT work or get paid by Lone Wolf).

Why not focus on "one" single issue. Get that fixed and move on. You appear to be jumping all over the place with issues. Work one.

[Eeyore]

I am trying to accomplish a single thing. It's long because I tried two different ways to get it done and provided all the detail of my attempts.

I want an arcane spellcaster whose save DCs for chosen school(s) go up as he gains levels. Everything above was about the quest to do that. The reason I provided so much detail is largely because my main concern isn't the specific answer to how to do that; what I really want to know is where to look for answers on my own the next time I have problems. The issue isn't that this editor is hard; it's that, as far as I can tell, this editor is really opaque.

[ShadowChemosh]

So for a Class Special take a look at THIS post I did awhile back. It covers how to create a Generic Script that will give a level bonus based on the levels that you bootstrap the ability to your class/archetype.

Originally Posted by Eeyore

The reason I provided so much detail is largely because my main concern isn't the specific answer to how to do that; what I really want to know is where to look for answers on my own the next time I have problems.

You will need to search the forums here or look for other "Things" that work in a similar method. Take its scripts and modify them. Sorry that is pretty much it.

So I do disagree that you are taking too many parts at once. You need to break this down into VERY small steps.

1) Use the above generic scripts to get a class ability that increases its "Plus" at the levels you want. This plus is OUTPUT only will not actually affect the school of magic. Get this to work first.
2) I assume that the school is chosen not set so you will need to create a custom expression that will allow the "School of Magic" to be chosen. For that look at THIS adjustment from the community Basic Pack. That adjustment lets you increase/decrease the DC for a whole school of magic. See if you can use that to get the Custom Expression working so that the school can be chosen.
3) Finally combine the two things above together so that the school of magic "chosen" gains the plus.

The last part is very different script logic based on if the gamer can choose a different school at each level or is the school chosen once and then never again?