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No content appears when transferring customizations to different machine

S

SeaanM

Member
I have been creating some content for my friends (customization for a bunch of house rules). But though it works fine for me, I can't get the items (new classes, items, feats, spells, adjustments, etc.) to show up on my friends version of Hero Labs. Everyone is running the latest updates, though some of them are missing optional packages (ultimate adventuring, etc.).

The first method was creating a HL file and having them import it. Note it works fine on my iPad. But for 3 different friends, despite it being successfully imported, none of the new things showed up. The second method of importing was to copy the .user file into their Pathfinder directory, and "compile data files" (and then try "Test Now!" on individual items because I sometimes find it is needed, perhaps that is a problem with my system -- anyone know why just doing a "compile data files" is not enough). But even after the "Test Now!" has been successfully completed (showing the usual message that xxx is ready to be used), it never shows up as an option to be chosen (for example, "Test Now!" on a feat, and the feat does not show up as an option when choosing new feats).

I have attached the user file (interesting to note this forum does not support uploading HL files, though I suppose I could always zip it).
 

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Did you make sure to give your new items a Source in the Editor? And have your friends gone into the "Configure Hero" screen to enable that source on the characters where you are expecting to see the new content?
 
Silveras said:
Did you make sure to give your new items a Source in the Editor? And have your friends gone into the "Configure Hero" screen to enable that source on the characters where you are expecting to see the new content?
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Sources are no way a requirement for making or using a .user file. If the new Things are not Source marked they will and should just load up in HL.

@SeaanM The first thing I can think of that would be causing an issue is that your friends are getting an error on load. This would cause HL to fall into safe mode and NOT load your .user file or any others they have.

I would say make a zip file of the .hl and attach that please to a post. I am wondering if you have a hidden attribute set on the file causing HL to ignore it. Do your friends have Windows or Macs?

I used your attached file and everything loaded up just fine for me. I looked into the XML and I see no issues.

My last question is do your friends have any of the 'Community Packs' installed? Just wondering if any other .user files/addons are loading.
 
Zip file is attached (took me a while to figure out I had to do a normal reply instead of quick reply when you want to attach a file).

Tried 3 friends now (1 on PC, which I also use; and 2 on Mac). No one (else) has "Community Packs" loaded, but I will ask one of them to give it a try. I have not seen any errors while the file is loading, certainly not the safe mode (which is pretty obvious when it happens). But I realized that I have not enabled Data File debugging on my friend's systems. I will get them to turn that on and see if anything interesting pops up when they try to use something from the .user file.

FYI - I have not tried the "source" mechanism, just using the defaults there.

One last thought, the friends system where I did the most debugging had his own .user file which was working fine. So whatever the problem is, it is not general to all .user files.
 

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I just tried the .hl file you posted and it works fine for me. No issues at all.

Just to make sure we are on the same page lets walk through the steps that your players are doing?
1) You email the file or use some method to get the .hl file to your players.
2) Your players put the file somewhere like there Desktop and Double Click on the .hl file to start the import.
3) On the Import screen they are importing into the correct "game" folder? Its possible to have multiple Pathfinder game folders setup. Most players will only have 'one' but you could have more. By default it will be installing into the "pathfinder" folder.
4) They answer "YES" to the huge warning window about installing content not created by LW?
5) They then start Pathfinder game system after the install says "completed".
6) They don't see your new classes in the class list?
7) Once Pathfinder started they go to Tools->Manage Third Party Updates and do they see your package name?

Is all the above correct?
 
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Yes, you have described what my friends are doing. One other note -- I seem to recall that when we try to compile the .user file it will even show duplicates with the .hl file (so we have to remove the 3rd package when trying the .user method).
 
SeaanM said:
Yes, you have described what my friends are doing. One other note -- I seem to recall that when we try to compile the .user file it will even show duplicates with the .hl file (so we have to remove the 3rd package when trying the .user method).
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Wait what? The file contained inside the .hl should be "exactly" the same .user file you are sending. Meaning if you put the .user file or the .hl file into HL they will simply overwrite each other. You should never be getting duplicate Thing ID's.

This simply is not adding up. The file you posted is good. the .hl file you posted is also good. They match to the same logic I use for the Community Packs which has thousands of downloads.

One of the above steps is not actually being done. Have you actually "watched" your players do the above steps? I am not trying to be mean but I have enough experience in the IT world to know that you often have to actually watch a user to find out what step they are not doing.
 
ShadowChemosh said:
Wait what? The file contained inside the .hl should be "exactly" the same .user file you are sending. Meaning if you put the .user file or the .hl file into HL they will simply overwrite each other. You should never be getting duplicate Thing ID's.

This simply is not adding up. The file you posted is good. the .hl file you posted is also good. They match to the same logic I use for the Community Packs which has thousands of downloads.

One of the above steps is not actually being done. Have you actually "watched" your players do the above steps? I am not trying to be mean but I have enough experience in the IT world to know that you often have to actually watch a user to find out what step they are not doing.
Click to expand...

Just to make sure that this is clear.. the .user file is the same thing as what is in the .hl file.. the .hl file is just a zipped copy of the .user file(s)... so they are not trying to use both at once, are they? If so, those "duplicate thing Id" errors would cause HeroLab to go into safe mode and not load ANY of the user content.
 
LOL I had a long winded reply but I figured out how he could have duplicate Things. If the person told windows to copy without over writing you would end up with file named "tremon02 (1).user" by windows and that would cause duplicate errors. :)

Hmm which does lead more proof then that the file "does" exist in the correct location.

LOL this is one of those issues where if I was there in person I could solve in like 5 seconds I bet. :)
 
Silveras said:
Just to make sure that this is clear.. the .user file is the same thing as what is in the .hl file.. the .hl file is just a zipped copy of the .user file(s)...
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Not really but sort of. The .hl file does use some 'zip' logic but it can contain ALLOT more than just the .user file. It contains version, unique id, it can contain .por files, .stock files, encounter files, and even custom output. In addition it contains "partial" folder path information so it knows where to put all those different files types correctly. Even if you have HL installed in a different folder or drive than the default locations.

So when you double click the .hl file HL is actually do a "install" to the right locations and "saving" that info. This allows the "Third Party Updates" feature to easily "remove" stuff you have installed as it "remembers" all the files installed.
 
ShadowChemosh said:
Not really but sort of. The .hl file does use some 'zip' logic but it can contain ALLOT more than just the .user file. It contains version, unique id, it can contain .por files, .stock files, encounter files, and even custom output. In addition it contains "partial" folder path information so it knows where to put all those different files types correctly. Even if you have HL installed in a different folder or drive than the default locations.

So when you double click the .hl file HL is actually do a "install" to the right locations and "saving" that info. This allows the "Third Party Updates" feature to easily "remove" stuff you have installed as it "remembers" all the files installed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was keeping it simple to focus on the part about "don't try to use both". :)

When things don't make sense, my first thought is to go back and re-check any and all assumptions.. no matter how "obvious" they might seem to me.
 
Silveras said:
When things don't make sense, my first thought is to go back and re-check any and all assumptions.. no matter how "obvious" they might seem to me.
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That is a very good point.

Part of that is the reason I asked about "seeing" his players do the steps I listed. Seen too many people say "yes" I did all the steps but if you watch them they are skipping something. :) :p
 
Appreciate your points about users and following instructions (or not so much :-) ). I was there in person for one of the attempts, and even did the actions myself to be sure it was right. That one was a Mac with a newly purchased original Pathfinder module (he had not yet purchased any off the add-ons, I was there for training as much as testing my HL file). At this point I am wondering if I have a dependency on something that we all have, but my friends did not (though at least one of the others has a pretty complete set of Pathfinder add-ons).

Sorry if the duplicate error turned into a something of a red herring. I was responsible for that myself - once the HL import items failed to show-up, I added and compiled the .user file without first removing the third party package. I realized what was happening when I got the error, removed the package, and that got rid of the error. But I mentioned that because it shows that the import and the compilation had at least some level of success.

Seems like we might be at an impasse. I am getting together with my friends next weekend (Dundracon 40!), and will give it another try. I will remember this time to enable Data File Debugging (in case there are any useful warnings I missed). Any other suggestions for debugging the problem?
 
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Some additional brainstorming here...

I would suggest watching from before the time your friends start HeroLab, if you have not already done that.

If there is a startup error, they may be clicking past it without thinking it is important, but that is exactly the kind of thing that would explain why nothing seems to be showing.

Also, make sure they aren't being told they're in Demo mode. I don't think User content works in Demo mode.

You said they're on Macs? Could there be something about how they are running HeroLab on those machines that makes HeroLab think they are using the license on multiple machines?
 
Yeah go with what Silveras said. Logically it is not adding up. I have tried both the .user file and .hl file and they work fine.

Unless the whole thing is "only" the macs having an issue in which case you may need to contact support. I know nothing about Macs... :(
 
I just asked my friend with the PC to try it again (with data file debugging turned on). And it worked! He is pretty sure he followed all the same steps (and he is SW developer, so better chance than normal that he followed the simple steps and did not overlook errors). I then contacted one of my friends with the Mac, had him update to the latest version, and everything worked for him too. So at this point I can only speculate that perhaps I ran into a version specific bug (happened about 3 weeks ago).

So - can't reproduce the problem any longer. Case closed (but bugging feeling of wanting to know what happened).

Thanks for the assistance.
 
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