Character Builder and Compendium Update Announcement April 28th

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Didier Monier has announced the contents of the next update of the Compendium and Character Builder:
April 2009 Character Builder & Compendium News

Major think is what was to expected - the new material from DDI (last month) and Arcane Power, E1 and and the Minis will be added as material.

What is nice to know is that this material is also added to the Demo version of the builder.

A neat feature that seems to have been frequently asked for is the XML export and character summary. The XML Export will apparantly contain more information to be more useful for 3rd parties, and the character summary can be copy & pasted to forums and back into the application!
Sounds cool to me.

The compendium gets a glossary feature for summary information about rules.

 

[wedgeski]

Very good stuff. Improvements are coming at a good rate.

Now please, Wizards, sort out connecting through a proxy, *please*.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Very good stuff. Improvements are coming at a good rate.

Now please, Wizards, sort out connecting through a proxy, *please*.

I am not sure what your particular issue is, but I know proxies can cause issues with various programs. This suggestions very simple and probably inadequate, but anyway:
Set the correct proxy information in your Internet Explorer.
I know that .NET by default uses proxy settings that are set for the "system" - which actually means Internet Explorer. Even if you never use the IE for regular browsing.

I don't know how well this works for password-protected proxies and similar stuff. BUt I know that this was something I stumbled over myself recently when I connected my work notebook via a T-Mobile Hotspot in a hotel and forgot to change my IE settings, and my freshly downloaded CB couldn't update.

Of course, if you have an issue with the site itself, I've got no idea.

 

[wedgeski]

Of course, if you have an issue with the site itself, I've got no idea.

The issue is that the CB installer doesn't seem to obey any proxy rules I have set anywhere on my machine. I do use Firefox, but have ensured that the IE settings (and those accessed through Control Panel, i.e. the same ones) are also correct. It simply seems to be a bug, and one that doesn't appear to be getting much attention from the developers either.

 

[beverson]

What is nice to know is that this material is also added to the Demo version of the builder.

Just as a note, since WotC wasn't really clear, it states that the demo will include "all content up through Player’s Handbook 2." I get the impression from that statement that Arcane Power and the new minis stuff will NOT be in the demo...but that's just my interpretation.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The issue is that the CB installer doesn't seem to obey any proxy rules I have set anywhere on my machine. I do use Firefox, but have ensured that the IE settings (and those accessed through Control Panel, i.e. the same ones) are also correct. It simply seems to be a bug, and one that doesn't appear to be getting much attention from the developers either.

Hmm. The installer might be another matter. That of course is not .NET. I haven't figured out what they used for that.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Glossary!
Yeseseseseses!

 

[Verys Arkon]

Adding a glossary to the Compendium will be excellent, and makes it even better as an 'at-the-table' tool. It is clear WotC is listening to user requests here.

I appreciate that WotC is still devoting resources to polishing the Character Builder, on top of adding all the new material released that month. I know some people are impatient for the other tools, but it bodes well for those future releases that quality is a high priority for the CB.

DDI continues to increase in value.

 

[catsclaw227]

A neat feature that seems to have been frequently asked for is the XML export and character summary. The XML Export will apparantly contain more information to be more useful for 3rd parties, and the character summary can be copy & pasted to forums and back into the application!

This is going to be nice. I can write a parser to convert the XML into JSON properties used by Maptools and the 4e framework I end up choosing to use form the VTT game I am going to start running (sometime here in the next month or two).

 

[Scribble]

Scribble happy.

Now all they need to do is add a section in the compendium for:

Traps
Diseases
Poisons (or are they covered under alchemy/equipment?)
Terrain

I think that's all I need.