***Pathfinder Packs are going away!!!***
 

Well hopefully that got everyone's attention! :D

A new feature has been added to the HL binary program that I will be making use of in the next release. The good news is that the requirement to have all these different "Packs" because of official license issues is no more! This means moving forward all the packs will simply become a single download called the "Pathfinder Pack". This is same as what the d20 and 5E communities have already.

So what happens if you don't have a specific license? HL will give you a nice warning message about the missing Thing (ie a feat or spell or class ability) but the rest of the class or race will function normally. This means I don't need different Packs anymore and everything can become ONE SINGLE Pack!

This will make install issues a thing of the past. Saving me time in getting a release out the door and support hours spent helping those with license and Pack install issues. Saving time is a wonderful thing! :)

Now the bad news. Yes always a bad news. No automatic method exists in HL that will allow me to automatically take all the different Packs on your computer/iPad and merge them into one. :( Meaning it will be left as a manual step but not one that is very difficult to do but still a manual step. Once I am ready to move things over I will cover the couple required steps but basically you delete all the existing Packs and then download the new "Pathfinder Pack".

This is just a "pre-announcement" to get people ready and start spreading the word. Hopefully LW will let me do another announcement in the official news letter to make sure those that don't visit the boards are informed. I will also do a post to the Paizo forums and hopefully those here will spread word to your local gamers. :)

Thanks!

Really looking forward to this.

Is there any mechanism in this new method of packaging information which will keep the actual memory footprint quite low if we don't want/need everything that is in the packs (e.g. the various sets of encounters for the adventure paths and/or modules)?

Simply put no. You will get everything including the basic "Stock" files that are part of the GM & GM Mythic Pack. But the main "encounter" libraries are still things you individually download and that is not changing.

The download will be about 25 megs roughly in size. I mean that is still nothing compared to the size of the LW download of 165megs. The file is downloaded locally to your PC. So if the issue is installing the same Pack multiple times to different computers just go to "C:\ProgramData\Hero Lab\download" to run the installer again.

I maybe missing the "issue" so feel free to give details of why the size of the download matters? :confused:

I was thinking more about the iPad, or just the bloat in all the pick lists where there are items that I'll mostly not be interested (e.g. the extra items in the old GM pack which aren't in the basic pack).

Good, this will make it easier to help my friends along when it comes to updates. Recently I had to assist them in the updates because they were not aware of what they needed to get. They are informed now, but should new members get the program then this will make all our lives a bit simpler.

Everything should be "source" marked correctly. So if you don't turn on a specific book (ie GM Options) than the new Picks/Things won't display. I have done a slight change to the layout of options in the Configure Your Hero to set things up for "Players" and then "GMs" now.

Obviously if you see Things that are showing or are not source marked please let me know as its a bug that I will fix.

The only one I am really thinking about leaving as its own thing is the Modern Pack. But it it will be SO nice to leave everything (including Modern) in the same pack for purposes of updates and releases.

Yep. Totally agree with this as I do like "simple" and this new feature will allow that to happen. :)

wow, i can just imagine how much time this will save you, just in answering posts in the forum alone. lol

Just bumping this so it does not fall off the page. Want time to let this info spread some... :)