Hero Lab - Linux & wine

[dreww]

I just wanted to share my latest experiences running Hero Lab in linux (the latest version 3.9b).

The windows emulator for linux (wine) version 1.3 does not work well for me with the newest HL3.9b when viewing PFSRD characters. This is something that was not a problem. In fact for wine version 1.2 (a few months ago) I could pretty much do whatever I wanted (PDF export, XML char sheets etc). This is a new issue and I'm not sure what's causing it.

The latest wine 1.2 doesn't seem to be able to communicate over the network (but wine 1.3 does). Hence, I update HL by temporarily switching to wine 1.3 (networking works fine in wine 1.3 and HL3.9b) and then run HL on a day-to-day basis using wine 1.2 which is stable for all other aspects of HL I have used to date but doesn't seem to work for network updates. This is with Ubuntu 11.10 but the behavior should not be Ubuntu-specific.

[scienceboyroy]

I tried running Hero Lab under WINE versions 1.2 and 1.3 with Pathfinder; while 1.3 was considerably better, it was still so painfully slow as to hinder gameplay. It took several seconds, for instance, to switch between tabs, or open a selection dialog box, or apply the selected item to the character. Switching between active characters took approximately 10 seconds. You can imagine my frustration when I tried using the tactical console for combat. I tried various WINE settings, but nothing seemed to help. This was under Ubuntu 11.04.

I switched it over to my XP partition, and everything was perfect. The program was sleek and responsive. It became a valuable tool at my game table, rather than a hindrance.

[senshikaze]

I just found out about Hero Lab yesterday and have been testing it out. It seems to run smoothly in wine (using crossover office 10 (not sure what wine version that translates to)) without any lag or delay. Getting the (4e) ddi information took forever, but after reading, it seems to be a normal problem.
Running on Ubuntu 12.04 beta x64 (quad core intel and 8 gb of mem).

Also, I do not have a windows PC in the house at all, so finding Hero Lab was terrific since I can't even use WoTC character builder AT ALL. Hero Lab isn't an alternative, it is my only real option.

The only major complaint I have (other than it costing 30$ (10~15$ would be much closer to what I think it is actually worth), is that the blue textured background and white text is horrible. I am going to repost this question in the 4e forum: but is it possible to change the ui to look native, or at least like the pathfinder UI. The 4e theme is bad. Really, really bad.

[Colen]

For our other readers, I've answered your 4e question here.

http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=20085

[Lurch]

Originally Posted by senshikaze

(10~15$ would be much closer to what I think it is actually worth)

I think it's safe to say opinions vary on that score; for as much utility as HL has provided me I'd have been happy to pay $50 in hindsight, so it's a solid bargain in my book.

[senshikaze]

I know, Lurch. I ended up buying it anyway. It is worth it just based on the fact that nothing WoTC makes works on my OS AT ALL. At least Hero Lab works in Wine.

[scienceboyroy]

Originally Posted by Lurch

I think it's safe to say opinions vary on that score; for as much utility as HL has provided me I'd have been happy to pay $50 in hindsight, so it's a solid bargain in my book.

I think I've paid a total of about $120 for it, actually, when you count all the "optional" packages I've purchased. It's very useful, yes, but it follows the "y=mx+b" formula, where y=utility, x=money(data packages), and b=money(base price). It's like those sale ads on TV, where they can never resist the urge to say, "The more you shop, the more you save!" Except with Hero Lab, the thing you save is time.
If you purchase enough extras, the base price becomes less relevant; sure, it would be nice to have it $20 cheaper, but 100/120 seems like less of a difference than 10/30.