In-Play Tab

Northern_Wolf · February 11th, 2011, 07:54 AM

Hiya,

New to Hero lab, and love it. Finally couldn't take Wizards BS anymore and cancelled my Insider Subscription.

Hero Lab works fantastic except for one thing, the In-Play tab.

Are there any discussions about changing or improving it? Numerous programs out there have better interfaces. iPlay4E being the top of the list.

- Badly organized
- Changing font sizes, hard to read
- No discerning between item powers and regular powers
- No way to mark powers as "Expended" in the modify-able area
- Hit Point tracker is simply weird, small buttons, unintuitive

In general in nearly made me not purchase the software.

Just wondering if anyone else agrees, perhaps Im missing some settings (Quite likely), or this discussion is going on in another thread (Which I couldnt find through searching).

NW

RavenX · February 11th, 2011, 08:58 AM

It takes a little getting used to but I pretty much exclusively use this software. I renewed my insider account only for the purpose or retrieving the data for Hero Lab. WOTC tends to reinvent the wheel instead of keeping things simple... so we end up with crappy software from them. I am also tired of their lies too. The only reason they are still technically meeting their so called one book a month promise is because they count the novels... actual game content books... every three months or so we can expect a new one... I think they underwent some serious downsizing too based on the fact they ditched the star wars license...

As for the In-Play tab, yes it gets glitchy at times, but there are check boxes for powers. You put a check mark in the box when a power is expended. IF you are using the tactical console... when you finish a battle, and click end combat the software automatically refreshes encounter powers for you and unchecks the boxes. Daily powers remain checked off though. Its really nice and I have adjusted quite well to using it. The software has made my life a lot easier for managing my many campaigns in 4e.

chiefweasel · February 11th, 2011, 11:22 AM

hey Ravenx, what ata is downloeded from the Wizards site? I have heard a few folks talk about it but i don't know what it is. if it feeds directly into HL, i would be interested in taking a look at it. thanks.

Northern_Wolf · February 11th, 2011, 12:47 PM

RavenX, thanks for your input.

There are no check boxes on the In-Play tab. Those are under the special tab. No rhyme or reason they shouldnt be incorporated into the In Play tab. I dont want to be switching back and forth in game. Again, See: iPlay4e.com, amazing interface.

And in my opinion, the tactical console could take a serious lesson from Masterplan, the bast campaign management software out there. I would NEVER use that function, very inferior imho.

Cheifweasel: If you have a D&D Insider account, you can download ALL of the D&D compendium info: Item Info, Powers, Classes, etc. When you do it at first it takes well over 6 hours on a good connection (I have fibre and it took over 6). I highyl recommend getting it, even if only for a month to download the info. And with little to no content coming out in the coming year, not a bad idea.

Overall, I am not trying to bash Hero Lab, I love it, just bought it, and am going to use the crap out of it. I would love to see some improvement in the Live Play functions though, as I have been using superior free products for years now.

NW

RavenX · February 12th, 2011, 12:37 AM

I am not sure how they get the data with the downloader. I know it digs the material out of the compendium site, and gets it into the system. part of the problem with this months downloader is actually due to a bug in compendium, that came out when WOTC updated it. Overall I am mostly displeased with WOTC because they have been very bad with customer service. Their product is good, but its not what it used to be. I used to be an RPGA judge under 3.5. I don't know when it happened exactly, but somewhere before the change to 4th WOTCs customer service went to hell in a hand basket. Based on what I have pieced together I think they downsized the company and haven't said anything to anyone. Their production of product has slowed as well. They were releasing a new book every month, now they're launching products at a once per 3 months interval. I am not sure what ata downloads, i just know the downloader gets the data out of compendium, which takes time, but seems to work. I downloaded the data in december and it was working fine, as per Colen's message I choice not to run the downloader this month as the data I already have is working fine.