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Hero Lab for Ipad Immediately Closes

T

Timitius

New member
So, I'm running version 5.1.2. (#10432). I updated via the App Store, when the app came up as having an update through the store, and didn't think much more about it.

Today, I tried to open the app, and it stayed open for 2 seconds, and immediately closed. If I double click my button, Hero Lab shows that it is still open (as a screen image is there). So, I select it, and it stays on-screen for 2 seconds....and closes again. I cannot do anything else with the app. I have tried shutting down the Ipad, and restarting....same result.

I have the "new" Ipad, 32 GB, Wifi only.

Solutions?

Thanks.
 
Yes, I've done the force close. No luck.
I've also rebooted, several times. No luck.

:(

Update: removed it and reinstalled, and uploaded my character portfolios. Works fine again. No idea what happened, but it worked!
 
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This problem hits me regularly (I've emailed support about it).

If it strikes again (which it likely will), close down all of your background apps:

Double-press the home button to bring up your "recently used apps". Swipe upwards on each app. This will drop it from the iPad's memory, freeing up space for HL. (If you're running a version of iOS before 7.0, hold one of the icons until they start shaking, then click the "-" to get the same result.)
 
I had that problem with my iPad 2.. I even went so far as to uninstall it and reinstall it with no luck.
But this year for my birthday.. my wife bought me the iPad Air.. now it opens with no problems. So I guess what I am saying is that it might be the version of the iPad that might be of issue?
 
Shadow, I hate to say it, but I've been experiencing the same issue, and spent the last couple hours troubleshooting. Here is what happened. I'm using an iPad Mini.

Attempt One: Removed and reinstalled Hero Lab Play v5.1.2, and Pathfinder RPG v9.4

Default characters loaded fine.
Player characters loaded with the appropriate issue warnings due to things not found.

Added personal mod pack (.hl)

Default characters loaded fine.
Player characters loaded with a few less issued warnings.

Added iPad Community Super Pack v1.11

Loading default characters beyond 1st level would close the app after 20 seconds.
Loading 1st level default characters was stable.
Player characters would not load at all, and app would close after 20 seconds.

Attempt Two

Repeated process but used Community Player Pack v2.17

All portfolios load without error and are stable.

Frankly, I don't know what exactly is causing the issue, but I have to suspect the issue lies within the Super Pack. I'd be willing to test further if I can get access to the last version of the Super Pack before version 1.11.
 
I always leave the last working version of a community package on the server. So 1.09 of the super pack can be downloaded HERE.

The issues I have heard about the mini's is more limited memory and its possible that you have hit that with the addition of all the mythic stuff that the CB added.

I know I had asked LW before about number of .user file limits and I was told their was not one. If you can duplicate it my advice is to make sure you email LW support so Colen can know. I am of course happy to work with LW on making any changes that are necessary to make things work better.

In my group I have access to iPads 2 to Air and they all run my houserules package which is almost as big as the super pack. We just had a game two nights ago and it was all working fine. Unfortunately I have no access to a mini to test so any info is of course welcome.....
 
I've been having issues getting certain community portfolios to open on my iPad2 as well. Here are the relevant versions I'm using, in case that matters:

  • iOS 7.1.1 (11D201)
  • Hero Lab v5.1.2 (#10432)
  • Pathfinder Roleplaying Game 9.3/9.4
  • iPad Community Super Pack 1.11/1.12

In an effort to determine the possible cause, I performed the following troubleshooting:
  • Uninstall HL from iPad
  • Reboot iPad
  • Reinstall HL from App Store
  • Attempt to load stock PC portfolios (iconic characters), which load fine
  • Attempt to open a portfolio with all my PCs ("PCs.por" created in Hero Lab for PC, with the Community Bestiary installed, and transferred to iPad via Google Drive). This portfolio loaded okay, with some expected errors about unreferenced objects.
  • Attempt to open a Community Adventure Path Portfolio ("C1BlueBightsEmbrace.por" from the Skulls & Shackles AP, Book 2), this opens fine w/some expected unreferenced object errors.
  • Update Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from 9.3 to 9.4
  • Attempt to open PCs.por, which opens fine with the same (expected) errors as above.
  • Attempt to open C1BlueBightsEmbrace.por, which opens fine with the same (expected) errors as above.
  • Install iPad Community Super Pack v1.11 via "New Update Source" method directly on the iPad.
  • Attempt to open same two test portfolios, which now both open correctly w/o and unreferenced object errors.
  • Notice available update to iPad Community Super Pack v1.12; download and install it after removing previous iPad Community Super Pack version.
  • Both test portfolios load fine w/o errors.
  • Download another community portfolio I would like to use ("Event17AMightyFortress.por" from Skulls & Shackles Book 2).
  • Attempt to load this portfolio, which brings up the loading screen, then drops me back to the iPad home screen after about 5 seconds. HL still appears to be running (in the double-click app list), and I can switch to it but I'm still at the "Select Portfolio" page.

The only thing I could think of that might cause this would be the size of the portfolio (31 heroes instead of 5, 7, or 8 that my previous test had), but I'm not sure how to go about troubleshooting beyond this point. Is there anything I can do to help determine the cause of the "crash"?
 
ethanism said:
portfolio (31 heroes instead of 5, 7, or 8 that my previous test had), but I'm not sure how to go about troubleshooting beyond this point. Is there anything I can do to help determine the cause of the "crash"?
Click to expand...
I do appreciate the test notes!! :)

But OMG!!!!!! :eek: :eek:

The iPad was made for running single characters with maybe one or two animal companions. A .por that has 31 files in it is WAY OVER what the iPad can handle. Many peoples laptops will have issues with 31 characters in a .por file let alone a tablet.

I have seen a few mentions of DM's trying to use the iPad app for running encounters and I don't think it is meant to do this at all. So I would never expect it to be able to handle 31 characters at once. The amount of memory and CPU required is huge as each character is almost a doubling of the resources needed.

Is this the same as others trying to load .por files with large number of characters? Or is the issue appearing for others even with a single character in a .por file?
 
iPads have much less RAM than desktop or laptop computers. I do not recommend loading more than a couple of characters in each portfolio when using the iPad version of Hero Lab, even on an iPad 3, which has significantly more RAM than an iPad 2. A PC can handle that many characters at once, but for use on an iPad, I recommend splitting that into several portfolios, so that only a few characters are loaded at once.

iOS's solution to running out of RAM is to close the offending program without giving any error messages.
 
Oh, I see. That would explain the behavior I'm seeing.

And yes, I was hoping to be able to use it to run encounters since it seemed like that was the intent of the design (with all the dice rolling, equipment swapping, damage, status effect, and healing application right there at your fingertips). Perhaps I can break up the huge portfolios which were grabbed straight off the d20pfsrd community repository (Thank you Tim!) into smaller bits that the iPad can handle.
Too bad you can't just throw a few more SODIMMs into that puppy to bump up the RAM count. Oh well.

Thanks for all of your quick responses, btw.
:)
 
The intent of the design was for one PC (and maybe his animal companion) to run on each iPad - we figured GMs would use a laptop running HL with the Tactical Console open, since the tactical console does a better job of showing you the whole encounter at once, rather than the constant switching between characters that the iPad requires, if you've got more than one character open.

Once we've gotten more of the basics implemented for tablets, we may be able to build a tactical console-like thing for tablets, although that might end up requiring future generations of the tablets themselves in order to have enough processor power and RAM to handle large combats.
 
Ahh, yes, that does make a bit more sense. I appreciate your input on this and now I have a much better idea of how I might run things to make it more streamlined. Also, thank you both for all your hard work on this excellent product and community. Cheers!
 
I think I solved my problem after looking at it via the PC instead of my iPad mini. PFRPG_Wayfinder_01.user and Wayfinder_02.user, from the Repository, are definitely NOT compatible with the current versions anymore. This was causing the CPP to error out (and not show up during character creation) in the PC, and kept me from installing any of Shadow's updates via the iPad. Once removed, all the .user and .hl files became available.
 
Korlen said:
I think I solved my problem after looking at it via the PC instead of my iPad mini. PFRPG_Wayfinder_01.user and Wayfinder_02.user, from the Repository, are definitely NOT compatible with the current versions anymore. This was causing the CPP to error out (and not show up during character creation) in the PC, and kept me from installing any of Shadow's updates via the iPad. Once removed, all the .user and .hl files became available.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I will see about fixing those as soon as I can. I admit I don't watch those as close as I do the packages. :(
 
There's "something" going on with the Super Pack. Problem being I have no way to figure out what.

iPad 2, same as most people suffering problems (which suggests a memory overload issue), and earlier I stripped the CSP out and I'm able to access all of my single-character portfolios. Prior to this, it would crash constantly, unable to load any portfolios at all (even the stock ones). I do still get a crash if I try to bring up my party portfolio (which has 6 characters, a kingdom, and a henchman in it), but the individual portfolios don't have any problems at all.

To give you an idea, I'd given up using HL on my iPad months ago because I couldn't get it to load a portfolio stably.

Now, I suspect that the CSP plus HL, pushes an iPad 2 to the very limit (I've deleted and reinstalled several times, made sure I closed all of my apps on the tablet, you name it), and the effort to load even one of the stock portfolios pushes it beyond the limit.

Not the end of the world, but a potential problem for some users.
 
Chemlak, after my own experience I would recommend looking at your PC for some .user files that aren't playing nicely with the Community Pack. An error there can get into your portfolios on your iPad when you upload them, and Hero Lab Play doesn't have a way to show you the error other than shutting down. If your portfolios are not in the same folder as HL, you can elect to (first, find and record your license number for Hero Lab) uninstall/reinstall Hero Lab.
 
I'll take an in-depth look later. I have several backups of my portfolios already, so pretty trivial to drop things where I want them. My current crop of characters are all free of anything from the the Community Pack (complete coincidence) so I've switched it off on them.

Will post later.
 
Shows you what I know. Turns out that the only community generated stuff I have on my desktop copy of HL are ShadowChemosh's adjustments and RavenX's Forgotten Realms files. I also have my own .user file.

In the interests of seeing where a conflict might crop up, I downloaded the whole kit and caboodle of community stuff (except the CPP to avoid the conflict with the community Bestiary), switched the whole lot on for a character that it wouldn't cause any extraneous errors to, and I get nothing wrong. Reboot HL, no errors. Load backup portfolio that I'm actively trying to break with this exercise, no errors.

If there's a problem in a .user file somewhere, it's hiding pretty darn well.
 
Chemlak said:
Shows you what I know. Turns out that the only community generated stuff I have on my desktop copy of HL are ShadowChemosh's adjustments and RavenX's Forgotten Realms files. I also have my own .user file.

In the interests of seeing where a conflict might crop up, I downloaded the whole kit and caboodle of community stuff (except the CPP to avoid the conflict with the community Bestiary), switched the whole lot on for a character that it wouldn't cause any extraneous errors to, and I get nothing wrong. Reboot HL, no errors. Load backup portfolio that I'm actively trying to break with this exercise, no errors.

If there's a problem in a .user file somewhere, it's hiding pretty darn well.
Click to expand...
Are you trying to break Windows HL here or the iPad? HL Windows/Mac is very stable and has allot more memory than a tablet so I would be shocked to find it having issues.

You can of course just create your own package to load to the iPad if you wish. Keep the windows/mac version up to date and then create package from it. So that way it would only have FR and my adjustments file.

See THIS help page for doing that.
 
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