So, over 24 hours now...

[RavenX]

*sigh* WOTC seems to go through and make asinine changes to the compendium site rather frequently. Everytime this happens the downloader needs to be updated so that it can read the data. Sometimes in the process of changing things WOTC moves something or it goes missing for a while...

Lone Wolf gets around to fixing this whenever possible. It just takes time to figure out what WOTC changed and match the compiled code to grab it sometimes for the downloader.

[RavenX]

and based on what I know from experience using the downloader, if your hung up on the indexes, something is wrong or missing from the Data on the D&DI site. The indexes are typically downloaded in a matter of a few minutes. The only places where you should see long delays are when the downloader is grabbing Items and Powers. Since these areas are often over 9,000 individual pieces of data.

[nayalith]

So wait, now I'm confused... It's just giving me the little exclamation points, and they are not hung up, there's just a freaking TON of them in the items part. Is it supposed to be going way faster or is it just taking forever because there are so many, or is it because DDI is rearranging or adding stuff? I'm sorry if I'm being obtuse here, I assure you it is not deliberate.

[RavenX]

I believe the ! are missing data... or skipped data. Usually its a sign the downloader is not working or wizards changed things around in the compendium, my bet would be compendium. The downloader when it runs correctly should take roughly 6 - 7 hours. If its taking longer than that, something is usually wrong with compendium. Give Colen a little time and the downloader will be fixed. This happens every time wotc updates compendium. They make a little tweak here and there and the downloader stops working like it should

[SAbel]

Hey all,
I have used HL since the release, and for the last few updates it has taken nearly 24 hours to finish.
the ! are data that is missing/lost or does not know what to do with (ie it was change from belt pouch to puch, belt and now the info is in a "new" place. at the end the installer runs a "double check" to fix errors that it can or missed data.
Lone wolf checks and listens to our imput as to what is missing or not working correct and fixes these but sometimes it is a reprogram how the data is converted or located to match the changes in the DDI so it may take until the next update to be replaced.
As a player you can use the in program editor to fix the data until HL has it in the correct spot (some big things may be hard to figure out how to make them so most people wait.

Make sure to get a screen shot and use that if you have questions it helps everyone know or better explain what is happening for you as a user.

Do not worry about reporting the Lone wolf People understand and will ask you direct question if they do not understand what is going on and they will help.

on a PS I only had 2 ! pop up this time (one in powers dont remember what the other was) but it did take 24 hours to do.

[RavenX]

I am waiting to run it again until i know heroes of shadow is in it. That and my groups been playing Shadowrun and we've been having fun with hero lab there.

[nayalith]

So, here I am a week later. A couple of things to note: RavenX, what you said about the ! being missing or skipped files is awesome, that's a piece of information that I would love to have had from the start. It should seriously be in the FAQ or something because I didn't know it was an error, I thought that was what it was supposed to be doing. Secondly, I finally completely restarted this whole process and am getting ... now instead of !!!. Hopefully things will go better now. Not a hundred percent thrilled with my experience so far, but at least I feel like things are moving in the correct direction now.

[RavenX]

the ................................... means its getting the data based on what I have learned from everyone on the forum here. Also talking with Colen has helped me learn about it too. The downloader is something I tend to run as soon as Colen says its updated here on the forum because I know he fixed it to work for the current data set. I check these forums frequently as I have 3 game systems and campaigns running with these different systems in hero lab.

Overall I find Hero Lab is the best character creation software around. I have personally recommended it to many people and converted more than a few to the way of Lone Wolf Development. The software is indispensable for Dungeon Masters. It has made my running the games easier and I don't have to worry about players making illegal mods to their sheets either. Not to mention the time it saves me stating out NPCs.

[nayalith]

Everything's done now and I just put all my info in and printed my character sheet and power cards. I have to say, other than the issues with the downloading, this is a pretty freaking awesome program. It blows the CB out of the water, frankly. I do wish there were some way to edit what text it shows for feats on the printout, because it cut off some important stuff and I had to go through and write up the cut-off parts on the back of my sheet. Minor issues though, overall I'm thrilled

[Colen]

Hi nayalith,

Sorry for not looking into this before now - glad that RavenX and SAbel could help you get stuff working.

I've had a couple of users now say that the downloader gives them a long string of !!!!!! (which do indeed mean failed downloads); that's not normal behaviour, and I'm looking into better ways of having the downloader report that. Usually you just get one or two ! indicators through the course of a normal download, and the downloader retries them automatically once downloading has complete.

Regarding text on the printout - enable the "Long Ability Descriptions" option to get up to 10 lines of ability text on the printout, which should hopefully give you what you need.