• Please note: In an effort to ensure that all of our users feel welcome on our forums, we’ve updated our forum rules. You can review the updated rules here: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=5528.

    If a fellow Community member is not following the forum rules, please report the post by clicking the Report button (the red yield sign on the left) located on every post. This will notify the moderators directly. If you have any questions about these new rules, please contact support@wolflair.com.

    - The Lone Wolf Development Team

Authoring Kit - List of Wiki Errors?

G

Goreshade

Active member
Intro
I am going thru the authoring kit Savage Worlds examples again after abandoning it a long time ago due to school and life in general. Frustration with the authoring example did play a hand back then but it wasn't the deciding factor, more like the icing on the cake. I am back to work on now it with some more programming knowledge and skills this time around, however I have already come across a few unclear points early on in the walkthru.

Question
Is there a compiled list of problems that trip newcomers up like a FAQ here on the forums or common questions that keep arising with the walkthru?
 
Nope, just ask your questions, there are a few that are always happy to answer! Unfortunately the wiki is extremely out of date and there isn't a lot of chance to update it.
 
Thank you for answering.

I am currently working on the following page http://hlkitwiki.wolflair.com/index.php5?title=Traits_(Savage) but the tutorial is somewhat unclear as to where you edit (or paste) the script samples provided. EDIT- I worked thru some of it by having a copy of the source file onhand to locate the proper place to put it.

Further down it says...
Once everything is in place, reload the data files and test everything out. The sample attribute should display as "d4" on the Basics tab. If you adjust it up and down, it should properly display the next die type, capping at "d12" at the upper end and "d4" at the lower end.
Click to expand...

...but it doesn't in the main interface, it does display in the floating info windows under Develop Tab>Floating Info Windows>Show Selection Fields.
 
Last edited:
Have you found where the traits component is defined?

If not, look through the file list - see any files that are related to traits?

Just to double-check, in the "Initial Changes" part of that walkthrough, you followed the "Create the Game System" instructions? Or are you trying to edit the savage worlds source (which is not in a folder that Hero Lab will read as a game system).
 
Goreshade said:
Intro
I am going thru the authoring kit Savage Worlds examples again after abandoning it a long time ago due to school and life in general. Frustration with the authoring example did play a hand back then but it wasn't the deciding factor, more like the icing on the cake. I am back to work on now it with some more programming knowledge and skills this time around, however I have already come across a few unclear points early on in the walkthru.

Question
Is there a compiled list of problems that trip newcomers up like a FAQ here on the forums or common questions that keep arising with the walkthru?
Click to expand...

There is this thread:
http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=33740
 
Mathias said:
Have you found where the traits component is defined?

If not, look through the file list - see any files that are related to traits?

Just to double-check, in the "Initial Changes" part of that walkthrough, you followed the "Create the Game System" instructions? Or are you trying to edit the savage worlds source (which is not in a folder that Hero Lab will read as a game system).
Click to expand...

Yes. I am not going thru the tutorial by itself, I have the authoring kit reference wiki in another browser tab so I can read the instructional entries for each element and attribute in the XML files. For example, if I am working on a component in the structural files I use another browsing tab to go to http://hlkitwiki.wolflair.com/index.php5?title=Component_Element_(Data) and use the links to focus on whatever I am focused on at the time, such as fields or eval elements. At the same time in my editor I have the files I am working on in the tutorial side-by-side with the source files for savage system(in read only mode so there are no accidental editing) so I can see where the changes for the skeleton files go. It is slower going, but provides a much more solid understanding. Anything I see that looks interesting I can go right back to the browser and "dive in" to whatever it is I am looking into, for instance http://hlkitwiki.wolflair.com/index.php5?title=Field_Element_(Data) which links from the Component page.

As to the game system, yes. Created the whole thing, followed all steps. I also named the directory in a way to not confuse it with the normal savage folder HL uses.
 
Still not finding where this isn't working. Been trying to find out what is going wrong but no luck. Its got to be something incredibly simple that I am just not seeing. The problem is that the trait numbers between the incrementer arrows still display as "2-6" instead of the die type "d4 thru d12".

Followed every letter in the tutorial page here up to "Bonuses and Penalties" section. The tutorial says it should display as the die type but it doesn't. It DOES display in both fields correctly when you open the Floating Info Windows>Show Selection Fields
trtFinal = "2" and so on
trtDisplay = "d4" and so on
Really looking forward to moving past this part...
 
Last edited:
I'm not an expert on this, and maybe you've already worked through what I'm going to say, but if I recall correctly, the d4, d6, etc are bmp files. Somewhere, there should be a portal type defined that specifies using these bmp files. Then in the basics tab, you define that as the portal type for the attribute score.
 
Goreshade said:
Thanks for the fast reply. I'm not even at the bmp stage of it, that part comes a bit later in the tutorial. This is the page I am working/following.
http://hlkitwiki.wolflair.com/index.php5?title=Traits_(Savage)

The block of code right before the Bonuses and Penalties section is where the problem is. At this point in the tutorial it should just be displaying the text form.
Click to expand...

If it shows correctly in the floating windows, then it could be a timing issue. Have you made sure that your script runs during the "Render" phase with a priority of 5000?
 
Yes. Cut and pasted from the tutorial. There is another eval element with the same settings from the skeleton files.

Code: 
<!-- Set the delta for the user value to be the current bonuses
        NOTE! This is necessary so incrementers have proper values when edited by the user.
        -->
    <eval index="1" phase="Render" priority="5000"><![CDATA[
      field[trtUser].delta = field[trtBonus].value + field[trtInPlay].value
      ]]></eval>

Is that interfering?
 
Goreshade said:
Yes. Cut and pasted from the tutorial. There is another eval element with the same settings from the skeleton files.

Code: 
<!-- Set the delta for the user value to be the current bonuses
        NOTE! This is necessary so incrementers have proper values when edited by the user.
        -->
    <eval index="1" phase="Render" priority="5000"><![CDATA[
      field[trtUser].delta = field[trtBonus].value + field[trtInPlay].value
      ]]></eval>

Is that interfering?
Click to expand...

I don't know, but possibly. Try changing the priority of the other script to 5010.
 
No luck. But hey, you just showed me how to tweak potential timing issues.

This seems to be a problem in the tutorial, something is either missing or it isn't clear on what the user/author should be seeing at that point. Instead it just says it should be working. This was the concept around this thread, I was hoping someone else had made a roadmap of problems in the tutorial since the wiki isn't updated anymore.

Since I am going to be going thru the whole thing before starting on my real project maybe I will just chronicle it here. It might help more people in the future.
 
In the Switching the Display section at the bottom of that wiki page, you applied all the changes there?

The one listed for tab_basics.dat is the one that will control how the display of the traits on the basics tab looks.

I think it's just that the wiki is telling you to test your work too early - before you've made all the necessary downstream changes that are required to let your change have an effect.
 
Before going to bed last night (at 4am) I decided to push on and complete that page of the Wiki. I did change all the files as instructed, it works on all the summary windows but still not on the main tab.

fEn5Bkb.jpg


Also.

I think it's just that the wiki is telling you to test your work too early - before you've made all the necessary downstream changes that are required to let your change have an effect.
Click to expand...

If so then that really, REALLY needs to change. This is the first page in the tutorial, dealing with a cornerstone component. I understand it may seem like a small thing to the experienced, but its a supremely discouraging thing to go up against as your starting out. If the changes to the main tab display come later in the example then the sentence needs to be replaced with a paragraph explaining where to see the changes at that step, like in the floating info windows.

So where do I fix the above problem? Tab_basics.dat has only the one reference and it has been changed exactly as instructed. As you can see the summary windows are fine. Did something fundamentally change recently in how HL handles display that invalidates something in the tutorial?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top