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DDI Downloader alternatives?

Z

zero_traveler

Member
Ok, So I've tried this downloader three times in the last three days, the first was just after I had bought HeroLab, and was about 4 hours before my connection dropped off at midnight. Needless to say, it didn't finish.

So I tried it again the next day, starting it first thing in the morning, around 8:00, and let it run on my computer, nothing else running on the connection all day, and it ran all the way through to midnight again. And did not finish.

I got up earlier yesterday and ran it again, starting it around 5:00 and letting it run all day, uninterrupted. It did not finish.

Is there an Alternative to the downloader? Because as it is, I can't use this for 4e, because I have no data to run on it. I don't have the capacity to run it for as long as it needs apparently. If there's a Bulk file I could download faster, or maybe a torrent file that wouldn't care about my connection dropping?

It is quite frustrating.

Edit: For Progress, the furthest I've been able to get in the process is downloading the powers segment, and it got about 17? lines of ....... before time runs out.
 
Last edited:
How is your time running out? I've left it running for as long as 18-36 hours and not had a problem with time running out for me.
 
Yeah, I can't get past rituals. I always get a string of !'s
It's a real shame that WOTC can't play nice with LW and collaborate on the data downloader for HL. It ought to be in their interest since they are at least guarenteed $10 from each person to subscribe for a month to gain access to the data.

There has to be a solution by which both companies and us, the players, can all be satisfied.

I love HL under 3.5, it's awesome. I was so excited to buy the licence for 4e, and now I'm pretty bummed that it's all going to be a waste of time. $20 to LW and $10 to WOTC, and nothing for it. $30 is totally worth the cost of the data... if I had the data, which I don't.

This is the kind of poor support that leads to piracy, and I hate that. All of us are prepared to pay both companies, but we're getting nothing for it, or at least some of us aren't. It sounds like some of you folks got lucky :)

Sorry, rant over. I just want my data so I can continue to enjoy HL!
 
I wonder if the ddidownloader could be altered to fetch specific sections, so that it doesn't have to run the whole thing all the time.

I have some other ideas for making it more fault tolerant too.

I'd love to see the api or feed spec for their web service.

Hey Lone Wolf guys, email me if you want some help rewriting the downloader? :) And no, I'm not being mean, just saying you probably have more important things to be working on, right? I'd be more than willing to take a crack at it. I can work with PHP, Java or C++.
 
Has there been a Dec update to the DDI does anyone know and if so is it all workign in HL? I have some time and would love to run an update if there is new stuff since my NOV HL/DDI download.
 
I'm having similar problems as Zero Traveler. I've tried downloading the DDI data multiple times using both wireless connection and cable connection.

After the download completes I get the message that there was one error downloading and that there is a server error. The downloader then suggests that you can retry downloading the missing data a couple of hours later since the server error often fixes itself... but when I do so I get the same server error message again.

Without the DDI data (I have a subscription) Hero Labs isn't of much use to me :(

Has anyone else had similar experiences with the downloader and been able to fix them?
 
If there's one or two of those and the retry doesn't work, just select Skip instead of retry (after trying retry when it's almost done). HL will generate data files with what it has... So far my 20 or so 4e characters haven't been affected. Personally, I think it's bad data in the compendium that's referencing something that either no longer or never exist(s/ed)
 
cryptoknight said:
If there's one or two of those and the retry doesn't work, just select Skip instead of retry (after trying retry when it's almost done). HL will generate data files with what it has... So far my 20 or so 4e characters haven't been affected. Personally, I think it's bad data in the compendium that's referencing something that either no longer or never exist(s/ed)
Click to expand...

Ok I'll give it another go and see what data will be present when I try to make a character.
 
I can get through the download perfectly (just takes a while) but as soon as the data tried to load the DDI download program fails, leaving my 4e ability dead. Any ideas?

I have a win7 basic netbook and tried running the program in compatibility mode with admin rights.
 
knight2142 said:
I can get through the download perfectly (just takes a while) but as soon as the data tried to load the DDI download program fails, leaving my 4e ability dead. Any ideas?

I have a win7 basic netbook and tried running the program in compatibility mode with admin rights.
Click to expand...

This is what happened to me as well when I used the "skip" alternative (I was running Windows in normal mode though).
Here are some images and system info, if it helps:

Download failing:
fail1.jpg


Program locks up:
skipfail.jpg


Program stops working:
crash.jpg


Here is some system info:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz, 2401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies LTD Z15N011, 9/30/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Locale Sweden
Time Zone W. Europe Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 4.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.57 GB
Total Virtual Memory 7.99 GB
Available Virtual Memory 5.60 GB
Page File Space 4.00 GB
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday when I tried to run it to update it. I wonder if there's some piece of funky data in that portion of data that causes it to crap out?

I've got a backup of the previous downloaded 4e data that I had that's in working shape. If you need that, I can email it to you so that you can get 4e back up and running until this is fixed.
 
I am glad I am not the only one. My patience is running thin on this process. today I am trying for the 3rd time on two different machines. Even the one that is wired is doing the same thing.

I want to stop DDI and throw more money at the Hero Labs folks, but until I can get my stuff into the Hero Lab software I have to continue to pay WotC :(

Help!
 
I'm going to retry running it this weekend to see if I get the same result.

Also, I might take a look at the source code to see whether it's worthwhile working on a native Mac alternative, or a pure Java one instead that can be used by both Mac and Windows.
 
TehBagder said:
I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday when I tried to run it to update it. I wonder if there's some piece of funky data in that portion of data that causes it to crap out?

I've got a backup of the previous downloaded 4e data that I had that's in working shape. If you need that, I can email it to you so that you can get 4e back up and running until this is fixed.
Click to expand...

Thanx for the offer. I'm OK for now though as it is at least two months left before I start up my new campaign (maybe I'll join the New Year Game thingy the Gnome Stew guys started http://www.newyearnewgame.com/)

I'm glad the developers start looking into the issue though. Good luck guys *cheers*
 
If any one is interested. Themes have been added to the compendium. Maybe that has caused some of the recent problems.
 
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