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Hero Lab 3.0 & Authoring Kit released

C

Colen

Ex-Staff
Hero Lab 3.0 is now available! This release, a free update for all users, has one major update - the long-awaited Authoring Kit.

(Note: Although all users will be able to view the new 'sample game system' and any game systems created with the authoring kit, Hero Lab will operate in demo mode with those games unless you purchase the "Authoring Kit / Savage Worlds" data package.)

PLEASE NOTE! The authoring kit, and the Savage Worlds data files, are NOT YET COMPLETE. The documentation for the authoring kit still needs to be updated, and the savage worlds data files still need a few days work. However, after consultation with our beta testers, we decided that it was better to release this incomplete version, then update it later - that gives any users of the authoring kit an extra few weeks during the holidays to start learning it. :)

The d20, Mutants & Masterminds and World of Darkness game systems have not had any major updates yet, due to the fallout from the hack we discovered last week. These will be updated in the coming weeks.

As always, you can download Hero Lab 3.0 through the updates mechanism, or from our website at http://www.wolflair.com/ .

If you're interested in using the authoring kit to work on new games, you can find searchable work-in-progress documentation here: http://hlkitwiki.wolflair.com/

A new forum for discussion of the Authoring Kit has been created here. Please post any questions or comments about it in that forum.

Once again, PLEASE NOTE! The authoring kit, and the Savage Worlds data files, are NOT YET COMPLETE. More complete versions will be released in the upcoming weeks.

Happy gaming!

- Colen
 
If you want to package up your data files to move to another computer, or to back them up, you should use HLExport, which you can download here:

http://www.wolflair.com/download/hp/hlexport.exe

HLExport requires Hero Lab 3.0 to be installed to run. To use it, download it to your Hero Lab directory and run it. Full instructions should be included within the program.
 
The authoring kit page is a little out of date. Maybe I'm missing something obvious here, but I'm a little confused. Do I have to purchase the Savage Worlds data files to get any of: the Authoring Kit, the Authoring Kit docs, or the example files?

I tried to see if Savage Worlds was available as a separate purchase, but you can't get prices for datafiles without an activation code.

Thanks.
 
I think Savage Worlds comes automatically bundled with the Authoring kits, so once you buy the Authoring Kit, you automatically get full access to the full Savage Worlds files. I don't think you can get SW by itself, separately.
 
Thanks. From visiting other spots in the site, I've concluding that the authoring kit is treated as a "game" by which I mean it's one of the things that you can pick as your "free" download when you purchase a copy of HL.
 
You're correct Balok, it's treated as a game, but with the added side benefit of having savage worlds... it's a two for 1 deal.
 
Thanks.

Does anyone know if the Authoring Kit may be used to alter the behavior of other game systems one might purchase? For example, to add house rules?
 
From what I've seen, for the d20, M&M and WoD files, the core files are stored on your computer as compiled versions. So, you're able to add new versions of existing things or create replacement versions with the editor, but you can't modify the way the system works, to convert d20 to a spell point system, for example.

Balok said:
Thanks.

Does anyone know if the Authoring Kit may be used to alter the behavior of other game systems one might purchase? For example, to add house rules?
Click to expand...
 
That's a shame. Providing the source would certainly improve folks' chances of getting the Authoring Kit to do what they want. I've found looking at how other folks solved certain problems enormously helpful.
 
Providing the source would also let them, with a little bit of copying, create a usable data file set. Someone could buy the authoring kit package, copy d20, M&M, and WoD over to custom games with new names, and they'd all be licensed.

I do of course agree with you on needing the examples on the authoring kit. There are a few d20 things I want to look up now.
 
Mathias said:
From what I've seen, for the d20, M&M and WoD files, the core files are stored on your computer as compiled versions. So, you're able to add new versions of existing things or create replacement versions with the editor, but you can't modify the way the system works, to convert d20 to a spell point system, for example.
Click to expand...


what a bad luck i tried several times to change them but failed after reading this i will now not try again
 
Mathias said:
From what I've seen, for the d20, M&M and WoD files, the core files are stored on your computer as compiled versions. So, you're able to add new versions of existing things or create replacement versions with the editor, but you can't modify the way the system works, to convert d20 to a spell point system, for example.
Click to expand...

Well, this is exactly what I've been trying to find out. So, in order to get the game system to incorporate house rules that significantly alter the mechanics, I have to use the Editor. That's rather annoying. I really needed to alter the strength bonuses to attack values (to be more like 2nd Ed), an altered skill system (which seems now to be an impossibility, sigh), and change the armor dex bonus system (mine works on percentages rather than just a number).

My options, therefore, are to create the entire system from scratch with the skeleton files, OR use the editor and have to keep loading things all the friggin' time? I don't see how this is any more useful than just doing a whole program myself. Yet another industry product that has promised the ability to edit "everything" and fails to live up to it. Still, that said, this is probably the best thing out there so far that I've seen, and I'll be using it for the interim.
 
You can modify any data file, you just have to create a copy of it in a new folder. I have the authoring kit and it appears to come with the full source files for 4th Ed and for Savage Worlds, the latter being the reason I bought it. . .
 
I was going to try and make a custom d20 but I guess that is impossible. OK, not impossible but I cannot just edit the base d20 files to suit my needs. I guess I will not purchase the Authoring kit after all.
 
Provos you can make a copy of the d20 game to add different content to it, but as Mathias stated you can not rewrite the d20 files to say make a true 20 system or a 2.o skills and power system.

If your just creating a D20 varient then you are okay.
 
Is it possible to create a game system from scratch and add in things? I was considering attempted to create AD&D 2e in the authoring kit.
 
RavenX said:
Is it possible to create a game system from scratch and add in things? I was considering attempted to create AD&D 2e in the authoring kit.
Click to expand...

That's the intent of the Authoring Kit. There's a pretty steep learning curve, but you've got the complete source files available to you for the Savage Worlds and D&D 4E game systems, so those should be extremely helpful. In addition, the walk-through outlines how the Savage Worlds files were originally created, which should also be a huge help. The Savage Worlds files have diverged a bit from when they were first written as new capabilities were added, but they are mostly the same, so there will be some differences you'll encounter in the walk-throughs. However, they should be minor and not detract from the value of the walk-throughs.

Hope this helps...
 
rob said:
The Savage Worlds files have diverged a bit from when they were first written as new capabilities were added, but they are mostly the same, so there will be some differences you'll encounter in the walk-throughs. However, they should be minor and not detract from the value of the walk-throughs.

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

As the savage worlds data file updates come out is the source in the AK kept up to date as well? I'm starting to add some options for my Savage Worlds setting but I'd like to keep up to date with the the latest version as well.
 
Last edited:
The source listings in the wiki articles is not kept up to date, as the changes that occur are relatively minor and don't invalidate the usefulness of the wiki as an example of how to do things. However, the complete source files provided in the "source" directory beneath where the Savage Worlds files are installed *is* fully up to date. So if you are using that source code as your reference, you'll have all the latest code.

Hope this helps...
 
I bought a copy of the Savage World / Authoring Kit data, but can't figure out how to get to the authoring kit itself. Any guidance would be appreciated.
 
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