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tytalan
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Old December 22nd, 2017, 06:45 PM
I’m new to HL and realm works but I would like to use both for my 4th DND campaigns. So what I want to know is which 4ed books are covered for HL and does HL interfaces with RWs. Also were do I get the latest version of the HL files for 4ed?
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charlieluce
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Old December 22nd, 2017, 10:01 PM
I'm not sure how complete it is, but the source selection screen lists the following --

Rules Supplements: Adventurer's Vault, Adventurer's Vault 2, Arcane Power, Class Compendium, Dark Sun Campaign Setting, Demonomicon, Divine Power, Draconomicon, Dungeon Delve, Dungeon Master's Guide 2, Dungeon Master's Kit, Eberron Campaign Setting, Eberron Player's Guide, Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, Heroes of Shadow, Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Heroes of the Feywild, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, Manual of the Planes, Martial Power, Martial Power 2, Monster Manual 2, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium, Neverwinter Campaign Setting, Open Grave, Player's Handbook 2, Player's Handbook 3, Player's Handbook Heroes, Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn, Player's Handbook Races: Tiefling, Primal Power, Psionic Power, Red Box Starter Set, The Book of Vile Darkness, The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, The Shadowfell, Underdark

Adventures: Beyond the Crystal Cave, Dragon Magazine, Dungeon Magazine, E1 Death's Reach, E2 Kingdom of the Ghouls, E3 Prince of Undeath, FR1 Scepter Tower of Spellgard, H1 Keep on the Shadowfell, H3 Pyramid of Shadows, Halls of Undermountain, Hammerfast, HS1 The Slaying Stone, Madness at Gardmore Abbey, Marauders of the Dune Sea, P1 King of the Trollhaunt Warrens, P2 Demon Queen Enclave, P3 Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress, Revenge of the Giants, Seekers of the Ashen Crown, Tomb of Horrors, Vor Rukoth, Web of the Spider Queen

The last centrally supported version of the 4e files are the ones downloaded from within Hero Lab; I know there are/have been various projects to fix bugs or add material to the files but there is little or no coordination between the projects.

Our group has been playing 4e using Hero Lab for a couple of years now and have our own set of modified files; I can give you a link to those if you want to try them out.

Currently Running: Pathfinder Second Edition
Currently Playing:
Pathfinder First Edition, Star Trek Adventures
Former HL Games: D&D 4e & 5e, Mutants & Masterminds 2E & 3E, Savage Worlds
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tytalan
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Old December 24th, 2017, 08:09 AM
Okay looks good to me. Just a couple more questions first how do I download the 4 files. What in your mods are they just bug removal or did you modified things? I see MM 2 in included but not 1 or 3 is that because there are characters options in MM2? I can’t remember. Does downloading give me access to the raw file also so I can do some editing myself?
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tytalan
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Old December 24th, 2017, 08:11 AM
Also has The errata been included. Seems like that would be easy mostly changing the data base I guessing it has a data base
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charlieluce
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Old December 26th, 2017, 03:27 PM
Okay, this reply is going to be somewhat long but I want it to be useful.

4e for Hero Lab is a Authoring Kit project, so you buy it by buying the Authoring Kit package (this wasn't an issue for our group, as most of us had already purchased the Authoring Kit to get Savage Worlds). Once you have the Authoring Kit for Hero Lab you can download and install the latest centrally developed version of the 4e game system from the Game Select screen or the Updates screen. As far as I know, the files (such as they are) do reflect the game's errata.

4e is not an officially supported system, it's a fan project with a convoluted history; this means that 4e for Hero Lab has significant limitations compared to an officially supported system like Pathfinder or even an OGL system like d20 (I'm not familiar with 5e, but given the SRD and the apparent size and activity of the 5e Hero Lab community and the fact that 5e is the current edition, I expect that things are better off there).

As an Authoring Kit project, you technically have full control over your copy of the game system and can use the Editor and the Authoring Kit tools to change pretty much anything and everything about it. That being said, for the most part this is not a simple process; we had people who were familiar with using the Editor in Hero Lab with Pathfinder and Savage Worlds and we have still struggled at times (and we don't have anyone who knows things to the level of the Authoring Kit; we've never tried to do anything that fundamental).

I also have to admit that although I know that Hero Lab 4e has tools for monsters I don't know anything about using Hero Lab for 4e as a DM. Our DM has the DDI-derived offline tools and uses that to run his games (though he does have a copy of 4e Hero Lab so that he can read the portfolios the players send him and enter the characters into the semi-official builder. This is admittedly a useful way for us to catch bugs in the Hero Lab files). We also don't use Realms Works, so I don't know anything about how they will work together.

If you'd like to go ahead with it, let me know here and I'll put up a link to a zip of our modified files and explain how to use them.

Currently Running: Pathfinder Second Edition
Currently Playing:
Pathfinder First Edition, Star Trek Adventures
Former HL Games: D&D 4e & 5e, Mutants & Masterminds 2E & 3E, Savage Worlds

Last edited by charlieluce; July 3rd, 2020 at 01:17 PM. Reason: Updated explanation slightly
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tytalan
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Old December 26th, 2017, 05:29 PM
Yes I would like that link please
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charlieluce
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Old December 26th, 2017, 07:17 PM
All right, then; a Zip archive of our last files (October 18, 2020) is here.

We didn't expect any more "official" updates, and we were doing these for ourselves not expecting our work to be used outside our own group; that means that rather than doing things in discrete files to be added to the downloaded system files like we would for Pathfinder or Savage Worlds we actually edited our copy of the game files. Because of that, you have to copy our files over the initial ones.

Here's the procedure:
1) Download the Zip archive.
2) Open the Hero Lab 4e Game System Data Folder. The default location Windows is C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\data\4e but in any case you can get to it from within the Hero Lab for 4e menu at Tools > Explore Folders > Game System Data Folders
3) With Hero Lab closed, unzip the archive to the Game System Data Folder, overwriting any duplicate files.
4) Now when you open Hero Lab 4e, you should be using our files.

Do be warned that while we have fixed bugs, added functionality, and put in a little more content, we know that there's lots more to potentially do.

EDIT: I updated these files with our latest fixes for anyone who comes across this post.

Currently Running: Pathfinder Second Edition
Currently Playing:
Pathfinder First Edition, Star Trek Adventures
Former HL Games: D&D 4e & 5e, Mutants & Masterminds 2E & 3E, Savage Worlds

Last edited by charlieluce; November 22nd, 2020 at 09:41 PM. Reason: Updated the files/link (20201018)
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Paragon
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Old December 27th, 2017, 08:28 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlieluce View Post
Do be warned that while we have fixed bugs, added functionality, and put in a little more content, we know that there's lots more to potentially do.
And there were at least some things that were, to say the least, resistant to any sort of easy fix.
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Luirru
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Old December 6th, 2018, 10:54 AM
Any idea on when we can get Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes?

In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!
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charlieluce
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Old December 6th, 2018, 06:27 PM
Did you mean to post this in the 4e section?

Currently Running: Pathfinder Second Edition
Currently Playing:
Pathfinder First Edition, Star Trek Adventures
Former HL Games: D&D 4e & 5e, Mutants & Masterminds 2E & 3E, Savage Worlds
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