Hero Lab V3.1 Is Out!

[LWDPressRelease]

It's Alive!! Yes, the V3.1 release is finally available. This new update provides three major items:

1. Lots of new stuff for the Authoring Kit
2. Completed data files for Savage Worlds
3. Support for 4E

There is also an assortment of new features within V3.1 that you can take advantage of, plus a number of bug fixes. You'll find the details on these lesser items within the release notes that are in the "readme.txt" file installed with the product.

For those of you who have been waiting for the Savage Worlds files, thank you for your patience. These data files are looking really good based on our in-house testing. We're sure there are issues that you'll uncover, though, so please post them on the newly created forum for Savage Worlds.

Our direct support for 4E is limited to all of the mechanics, with the Editor being a convenient tool for entering all the material. However, those of you who have a DDI subscription will be able to take advantage of something really slick we’ve put together. You'll be able to download the data off of DDI and migrate it into Hero Lab in automated fashion. Also, the tool is released to the public domain, so users can adapt it if they want.

Lastly, this new release includes a host of new stuff that can be leveraged by data file authors. I'm in the process of getting it all documented, so stay tuned to the wiki. I'll be including a section on the wiki that details all the changes to the Kit, as well as another section that details all the refinements to the Skeleton data files. Look for all of this new material being fully documented this coming week.

For information, please visit www.wolflair.com

 

[Nylanfs]

Interesting, so you're encouraging people to violate the EULA they signed upon subscribing to the DDI? Or do you have express permission &/or a license with WotC?

6. Limited License: Subject to the terms of this Agreement and the EULA (including, but not limited to, the Payment Terms), we hereby grant to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, personal, revocable license to install and use the Program solely for your personal use via an authorized account and in accordance with this Agreement, the EULA and other terms and conditions referred to herein. You may not copy (except to make one necessary back-up copy), distribute, sell, auction, rent, lease, loan, modify or create derivative works, adapt, translate, perform, display, sublicense or transfer all or any portion of the Program or any Component thereof. You may not copy any of the written, digital, electronic or other materials accompanying or related to the Program unless we expressly permit you to do so, and then only to the extent permitted. You may not reverse engineer, decrypt, disassemble or decompile the Program or any software or files included with, used, accessed, stored or distributed through the Program, in whole or in part, except to the extent that this restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law. The Program may contain digital rights and license management software that restricts and/or monitors your use of the Program and you agree to such monitoring.

 

[LWDRob]

Interesting, so you're encouraging people to violate the EULA they signed upon subscribing to the DDI? Or do you have express permission &/or a license with WotC?

I just saw this post and wanted to respond, but I'm about to head for the airport. As such, I won't be able to reply again for a few days.

We're not "encouraging" anything. For DDI non-subscribers, there is no license agreement that must be accepted, so it's a non-issue. For subscribers, the text you quoted refers to a "Program", for which the long-established meaning does *not* include websites, so either Wizards is redefining established terms or the reference focuses on elements like the Character Builder *program* (which we don't touch). If Wizards is trying to redefine entrenched industry terminology, then the choice lies with the individual user. And now they at least have a choice.

Hero Lab provides a great deal of functionality that the Character Builder does not. In-play support, multiple simultaneous characters, tactical management for GMs, *EASY* extensibility for users to add their own custom material, and a whole lot more. Hero Lab accomplishes this in an intuitive fashion, with fast performance and a comparatively tiny disk/memory footprint. Until the Character Builder catches up, Hero Lab offers a lot of benefits that some gamers will want to exploit for their 4e games. The downloader gives them the choice.

 

[Vascant]

We're not "encouraging" anything. For DDI non-subscribers, there is no license agreement that must be accepted, so it's a non-issue. For subscribers, the text you quoted refers to a "Program", for which the long-established meaning does *not* include websites, so either Wizards is redefining established terms or the reference focuses on elements like the Character Builder *program* (which we don't touch). If Wizards is trying to redefine entrenched industry terminology, then the choice lies with the individual user. And now they at least have a choice.

This is coming straight from the WOTC EULA:

THIS AGREEMENT IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU (“LICENSEE” OR “YOU”) AND WIZARDS OF THE COAST, INC. (“WE”, “US” OR “WIZARDS”) AND GOVERNS YOUR ACCESS, INSTALLATION AND USE OF SOFTWARE TOOL SET APPLICATIONS (“APPLICATIONS”) AND RELATED ONLINE SOFTWARE (“SOFTWARE”), TEXT AND OTHER DOCUMENTATION (“DOCUMENTATION”) AND RELATED SERVICES (“SERVICES”) (EACH A “COMPONENT”, AND COLLECTIVELY, THE "PROGRAM") PROVIDED BY WIZARDS OF THE COAST, INC. (“WE”, “US’ OR "WIZARDS").

Now granted I did not have my lawyer read this EULA mostly due to a lack of interest on my part even to move in this direction however if I read this it clearly states what the "PROGRAM" is as far as this agreement is concerned. What the rest of the software industry considers a program doesn't matter.


Sometimes I wonder if people ever read these things...

 

[LWDRob]

it clearly states what the "PROGRAM" is as far as this agreement is concerned. What the rest of the software industry considers a program doesn't matter.

I don't understand why you chose to focus on the terminology reference - for which I explicitly included a disclaimer in my post. Whatever your reasoning was, it's not important at this point. I guess the part about heading for the airport failed to sufficiently translate into "no time to research the post in detail before I leave". So allow me to clarify that I did *not* spend the time to chase down and wade through the EULA that was only partially quoted before posting my reply. I hadn't looked at it recently, so I didn't remember it in detail and only had the portion quoted available at the time of my post. In the interest of replying before leaving town, I replied without researching the EULA language. As a result, I clearly left open the possibility that Wizards was doing something funky with the terminology. For some unknown reason, you elected to ignore that fact, but I hope this clarifies things for you. Enough said on that.

Putting the question of terminology aside, the important detail is that Hero Lab users have a choice. It's up to them what they choose to do. With the release of the 4e data files for Hero Lab, users can manually add whatever 4e information they want. The integrated Editor makes it quick and easy to do that, whether it be adding home-brewed material or content from the various rulebooks. Those same users can also opt to leverage the downloader (if they prefer) and spend more time playing. It's their choice.

The options go beyond the core 4e system, too. Since the complete mechanics are published within the 4e data files, anyone can tailor them to whatever purpose they want. You can adapt them to a variant game system, integrate house rules, add custom output, or anything else you want. Hero Lab provides a fully adaptable framework that can accommodate whatever direction your game goes in. It also supports a diverse range of games.

 

[Vascant]

Hold on a second...

First, I don't care what you do personally. I own a copy of Hero Lab but (and a big but) I do not play 4e. I have not read any information of any detail beyond what was released prior to the release of it. I have nothing against the game, I just simple still enjoy 3.5 and the information I did read did not do anything make me think 4e would be better for me.

You made a statement with regard to if Wizard was defining what PROGRAM was or if it was redefined from the way you find the term used based on your experience. I am a retired software developer so it isn't like I do not know where your point of view is coming from. As a software developer I always read the EULA if for no other reason then amusement, some of the stuff you find can be really entertaining.

So coming from a Hero Lab customer, I do wonder suddenly if the next C&D letter will be heading your way causing something I own to no longer be usable. I found his question valid from this point of view.

 

[LWDRob]

So coming from a Hero Lab customer, I do wonder suddenly if the next C&D letter will be heading your way causing something I own to no longer be usable. I found his question valid from this point of view.

Fair enough. I didn't read it that way, else I would have replied differently. Allow me to address that concern directly.

We've been navigating these waters for a long time with our Army Builder product (10 years and counting), as Games Workshop is highly litigious. However, we've managed things pretty well and avoided any legal problems thus far.

We read the DDI EULA awhile back when we first decided on this strategy. We also have an IP lawyer we work with on matters like this. The tie-in between the Authoring Kit and 4e was not a hasty decision on our part. In fact, it's all been in place for quite some time and waiting on getting the Kit completed and documented - not the other way around. That's why I didn't remember the EULA - only that we decided on this course many months ago after assessing everything back then.

It's definitely possible that Wizards could take exception to the downloader and ask us to stop making it available. If they do, then we talk further with our legal counsel and decide how to proceed. But the notion that HL would cease to be a viable product, even for 4e, is quite extreme and makes the assumption that we are doing this blindly.

The game mechanics of any game system are fair game for us to develop data files for. Only the content is protected IP. That's why we only provide the 4e data files with the mechanics and leverage the integrated Editor to let users easily add whatever content they want. The downloader is a separate tool that allows people who already subscribe to the Wizards product a means to use that material with another tool *also*. Since the downloader is in the public domain now, it could be readily adapted for other purposes or used with other tools. As such, Hero Lab itself is fine.

The Hero Lab product is a generic engine that can be used with the full spectrum of game systems. We have licenses with a bunch of major RPG publishers. The d20 System is now supported under the OGL. All of that is unassailable. Based on our analysis, the only thing that Wizards could potentially take exception to is the downloader. And it's unclear whether they even could take action on it - let alone whether they would.

Hero Lab's general architecture is the key distinction here. Other tools that are specific to 4e will have big problems trying to assert the same arguments, since the program code is clearly written for one game in particular. That's not the case with Hero Lab, and that same approach is what has enabled us to succeed with our Army Builder product for 10 years now. Developing a generalized tool is vastly harder than a game-specific tool, but it allows us to support virtually everything, including games that might otherwise be off-limits like 4e.

 

[mps42]

Thread Jack!

I installed herolab and the 4e file that I found on the website and could not even create a character as it said there were no classes avail in the class drop-down...
Help?

 

[LWDRob]

I installed herolab and the 4e file that I found on the website and could not even create a character as it said there were no classes avail in the class drop-down...
Help?

As we've been discussing in the earlier posts, the 4e data files contain only the mechanics and no actual game content like classes and races. Every time you load the 4e data files into Hero Lab, a message is displayed that tells you where you can get instructions for acquiring the content. Please read that message instead of just clicking past it and you should be on your way. Full details are in the included manual.