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Update Deleted My Custom Data

D

Drew

Member
I'm a newbie to HeroLab. I added a few custom data files after I first got the program. I recently purchased an additional supplement (the Advanced Player's Guide for PF) and, after updating my license, I find that all my custom data is gone.

What did I do wrong and how can I avoid repeating this in the future?
 
I'm a Mutants and Masterminds user myself, but the times I've seen this happen, it's because my custom data files in some way depended on the data changed. ^_^ I don't know if my experience will be very applicable to you, because for me, it's generally because I submitted my custom rules to be added to the official ones and they did so.

Did you get any kind of a dialogue box when loading the first time indicating errors you encountered? And the custom data files you downloaded, I'm assuming they're .user files? If so, they should still be there... you may just have to update their dependencies. If it's direct modifications to the core files... well, in that case, you're best off backing them up and then manually adding to them.

Could you clarify what kinds of custom data files we're talking about?
 
Sure, I'll be as clear as I can. I have the Pathfinder set. I changed the rules for how many languages characters get for the Linguistics skill, added some custom languages, and began adding a new race.

I bought the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide. When I updated the license, my custom user option was no longer on the list. As near as I can tell, my languages and such are gone. It's not a big deal, since I haven't added much yet, but I don't want to sit down and truly had a bunch of custom content only to lose it the next time I buy an upgrade.
 
Drew said:
Sure, I'll be as clear as I can. I have the Pathfinder set. I changed the rules for how many languages characters get for the Linguistics skill, added some custom languages, and began adding a new race.

I bought the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide. When I updated the license, my custom user option was no longer on the list. As near as I can tell, my languages and such are gone. It's not a big deal, since I haven't added much yet, but I don't want to sit down and truly had a bunch of custom content only to lose it the next time I buy an upgrade.
Click to expand...

The user file should still be present in your HeroLab/Data/Pathfinder folder. You may need to open and edit it (probably the sources, as the user content source changed) to get it to be visible in the program again. This has been commented on in several threads in the Pathfinder forum.
 
Last edited:
Bishop37 said:
This has been commented on in several threads in the Pathfinder forum.
Click to expand...

Has it? I'll look at the folder in question when I get home. I didn't see any comments towards this over there, but I may have overlooked them. I assumed this was more of a general "Here's how to properly backup your user file, dummy" sort of issue that related to the program in general, not the update specifically.
 
First of all, if the only thing you did was run the Reactivate License wizard, nothing will be touched with regards to any data files. The only way that data files can be mucked with is by retrieving an update to the game system data files. So I'm going to assume you attempted this at some point.

All user-created content is kept completely separate from the official content. User-created files are stored in files with the ".user" extension, while official content is stored in files with the ".pkg" extension. This ensures that no user-created content will be accidentally clobbered when an update is installed.

Once the new update is installed, it's possible that a conflict will exist between user-created content and newly added official content. If that occurs, then an error will be reported to this effect when you next try to load the data files. You will be told that an error exists, after which Hero Lab will exclude the user-created files and try loading again. If this happens, your user-created content is still sitting there, but Hero Lab simply isn't using it. You can open your file(s) within the Editor, modify them to eliminate the reported errors, and then get your custom content in use again.

There is exactly ONE way in which your custom content can be actually deleted by Hero Lab during an update. Once the new data files are downloaded, you are presented a window that asks you to confirm the import. On the left side, there is a checkbox labeled "Delete files not updated by import". If it is checked, Hero Lab will delete all user-created data files (and any other files), that are lingering around. By default, this checkbox is always unchecked, but users can check it if they want to revert to a "clean" state. If you checked this box, then that would explain the disappearance of your custom data files.

Hero Lab has a safety precaution when deleting files, though. All files that are deleted are first copied to a backup folder. So your files should still be around. The backup folder is named "importbackup" and will be found beneath the normal game system folder. By default, the Pathfinder files will be found in "c:\herolab\data\pathfinder", so look for your files in the "importbackup" folder beneath that location.

Hope this helps....
 
ShadowChemosh said:
Pathfinder sources issue main thread can be found HERE.

The specific fix can be found HERE.

If loading a character after fixed source then you need follow THIS.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

You da man Shadow! Man it was frustrating to have that Sources error hit my gaming group as one of our players was using a custom class. Per your post, I was able to fix it and that character is ready to go on HL this weekend.

Fans helping fans, awesome!

EK
 
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