Organization of Sources and User Files

[Paris.Crenshaw]

The discussion about community-created content prompted a question for me: How do others organize their user files?

About halfway through my process of entering Pathfinder module stuff, I decided that, for my own use, I'd create new source files as I came across new sources, so that I could keep things from one source in a single .user file. As a result, I have something like the following:

Carnival_of_Tears.user
Hungry_Are_the_Dead.user
Tome_of_Horrors.user
Advanced_Bestiary.user

However, I have earlier files (like Revenge_of_the_Kobold_King.user) that contain templates and races referencing the Advanced Bestiary or other sources by simply using the "sources" button from within the editor.

I know this will make it difficult to share data without adding multiple files (which can be confusing, anyway), but I would like to be able to keep my own data structure, so I know where to look for things when I need to.

What systems do others use?

Also, is there an easy way to move data from one .user file to another, in case I want to reorganize the data I already have?

Thanks!

 

[Adam.Ormond]

I'm doing the same thing you are doing. I create a separate .user file for each "source book".

As to your question about reorganization of data, yes, there's a relatively easy way to do that. You can open a .user file in any XML editing software (I'm fond of XML Notepad 2007) and cut and paste things. You will need to be a little careful in doing this, as it's easy to cut and move one thing, forgetting it relies upon others, or is relied upon.

 

[chiefweasel]

There is also an issue with new content that is offficially created that replaces user created content. for example, now user enter in the creatures from the adventure paths, but with the beastiary 3 coming out, some of these might be included in it. no way to know until it happens. but if it does happen you will run into dups on your system, and trying to clean it up can be a problem.

I tried to make some organization and naming conventions way back when we started the d20 user content files, but it didnt last long. my suggestion would be to put each NPC, creature into a seperate .user file. that way it can be easily identified and reomved if need. for gear and items, that becomes harder as they are small and it would be easier to make a bunch of them all at once.

so i'm not sure there is a good solution, i guess the best mehod is to use a central point of storage and access for the files. but that also means that the person/people doing that have to have the most current files. its not an easy problem to solve.

 

[Adam.Ormond]

I really wish Hero Lab could load .user files from external locations, such as a network location or, preferably, by URI. I know the d20 project has some sort of auto-update configuration going on, but I'm not certain how to set that up for my own material.

I have three licenses used on three different systems, and I frequently forget to migrate content that I create on one machine over to others. And it's even worse when trying to sync up the other players' copies.

 

[Mathias]

I really wish Hero Lab could load .user files from external locations, such as a network location or, preferably, by URI. I know the d20 project has some sort of auto-update configuration going on, but I'm not certain how to set that up for my own material.

I have three licenses used on three different systems, and I frequently forget to migrate content that I create on one machine over to others. And it's even worse when trying to sync up the other players' copies.

In the help menu within Hero Lab, select "Help Topics", "View User Manual", and then choose the bottom link "Miscellaneous Details". The "Folder Locations" section there might be useful - you may be able to get all of your copies to look in the same shared folder.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

II know the d20 project has some sort of auto-update configuration going on, but I'm not certain how to set that up for my own material.

What you want to look at is the Tools->HLExport tool. That is what we are using for the d20 project. Well at least one step of it. That tool allows you to create a .hl file that is a Hero Lab import file. This combines .user files and .por files into a single file. Then when a user runs it HL correctly puts the .user files and .por files into the correct locations on their machines.

That tool will now even create the .XML file that is used as part of what is called "Secondary Update URL" feature. Basically the .XML tells HL where to download/install the .hl file from. You then put that .xml on a website and tell HL using Secondary Update URL where to look. Then it simply pulls down the update.

I do this for both the d20 project and for my own games. Works great!

 

[Adam.Ormond]

Thanks for the tip -- that looks like it'll work. I also didn't know about the command line parameters. Just updated my shortcuts to include the system, so HL doesn't prompt me to pick it all the time.

Is there a way to suppress the Release Notes dialog? If not, may I suggest that as a feature? I wouldn't mind having to re-suppress each time HL receives a software update, but every time I open the application is a bit tedious. I've stopped reading them altogether, even when there are updates now.

 

[Adam.Ormond]

Hmm, it's awfully slow to load all the data files from my NAS. Is there a way to separate out just my .user content, and I'm not seeing it? Given just how much data there is to load, this isn't a viable solution for me. It did work, but took at least two or three minutes to finally come up.

Also, how does this feature interact with my licenses? I see the .lic file is in the dataroot path.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

I tried to make some organization and naming conventions way back when we started the d20 user content files, but it didnt last long.

What can happen here is that you simply pick two letters to add to everything that gets created. When I was doing the Player Companion stuff originally for the community I add PC to everything. The misc stuff I have released I add S2 to the Unique ID. This way I know for a fact that it won't conflict with Official stuff.

For your stuff you could add CW to everything. So in example the Dodge feat officially is fDodge. You could have fCWDodge and I could have fS2Dodge and these could all exist nicely together. Plus it would even tell people who did it right away by looking at the Thing ID.

Just an idea is all. This way of something got added officially the extra letters would get removed and it wouldn't cause Duplicate Thing errors then.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

Is there a way to separate out just my .user content, and I'm not seeing it?

Their are two ways now. From HLExport once you select the game system you can then select files and individually select the files you want. Their is a new feature that HL added in 3.7, which is sweet, that it auto selects only .user files. From HLExport its the 2nd menu over. Not near HL so I can't remember and then it says select all .user files.

The files I give to my players are 687kb in size and load from my website in like a minute. Then now we can even support version number and HL tracks what the hl file installs and can now be uninstalled through a menu option. Very nice set of features...

 

[Adam.Ormond]

Ah, I hadn't explored the HL Export tool before, so that's useful to know how to package up stuff for others. And it does simplify deployment on my own machines. Users still have to manually retrieve the latest updates, though, right?

Maybe a future version of HL can load .user data files from the userroot location, as well as the dataroot location? This would allow for shared user content on the same network, without requiring the application to load all data from a network location.