Problems getting data

[tscottt]

The downloader is progressing for me these days. But on the 8177 item entries, it is printing out a lot of "!" instead of the occasional "." marks. Is this indicative of a problem processing an entry (or a bunch of them)?

-Scott

[Colen]

An ! during the download means that the downloader encountered a problem downloading those entries. Once everything else is downloaded, it goes back to the "problem" entries and tries again; generally things work the second time around.

If the second attempt fails, the downloader stops and asks you whether you want to try again. In that case, I recommend waiting a few hours (maybe overnight) before saying "yes"; the D&D Compendium occasionally goes wrong for no clear reason, and stops sending the right pages out. If that happens, it usually fixes itself within a few hours, so everything should work when you retry the next day.

(The download problems aren't unique to the downloader - if you go to the downloader in your web browser and log in, you'll get error pages returned for the same items that the downloader is having problems with.)

Hope this helps!

[tscottt]

Thank you for the advice. The importer has been running for about 5 days on a quad-core, 8GB computer, and it's still going. I see mostly errors "!" I've attached a screen shot image.

I will try again, and perhaps the next week of downloads will work.

-Scott

[Colen]

Whoa, that looks bad - it certainly shouldn't take more than a few hours to download content, let alone multiple days.

If you're getting that many errors, try going to the D&D Compendium web site:

http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/co.../database.aspx

Log in, and try looking at maybe half a dozen items or powers. Do you get the correct information, or an error page (or a "you must subscribe" page)?

If the downloader has been running for more than a day or so, I'd advise closing it and just starting over, since there's obviously something wrong. Restart the downloader, re-enter your login information, and try again - does it work any better this time?

[tscottt]

Well, I ran it again and everything worked. Mystery bugs...

[ryntak4536]

I am on my 4th attempt now, and still get the !!!!!! as it tries to download the powers. Every time.....

What format does it get saved to when it is downloaded and before it is put into herolab? Does it download the data as text files?

[Gord]

I have a somewhat different problem. The ddi files seem to load ok but all the data for the base weapons and armor have no value. For example, except for the Unarmed strike, all the weapons show zero damage and armor has a zero modifier.

Could this be because I am testing the software using a corporate key for my store?

[Colen]

Originally Posted by Gord

I have a somewhat different problem. The ddi files seem to load ok but all the data for the base weapons and armor have no value. For example, except for the Unarmed strike, all the weapons show zero damage and armor has a zero modifier.

Could this be because I am testing the software using a corporate key for my store?

Did you log in with a D&D insider account? If not, the downloader can't access many of the mechanics (like damage values, etc) from the compendium. They used to give you all the content from the core rules, like weapons etc, so I'm surprised to hear those aren't being included any more...

[Colen]

Originally Posted by ryntak4536

I am on my 4th attempt now, and still get the !!!!!! as it tries to download the powers. Every time.....

What format does it get saved to when it is downloaded and before it is put into herolab? Does it download the data as text files?

There should be a file named "output.txt" in your HeroLab\data\4e folder that records the status of the download. Please email it to me and I'll see if I can work out what's going on.