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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SnowDog" data-source="post: 1218992" data-attributes="member: 2225">Crossposted with the DMF official Yahoo group.OK, last night was our first session using DMF.  Overall I would judge it as a success, but I'm not sure I'm sold on spending 30 dollars for the program.  I will continue evaluating and see how it goes.  Please take my comments as they are intended -- from someone who wants to love this application but has some questions about it and hopes to hear answers which will make him happy.As a negative, it seems like the application is not very forgiving.  I've had several times where the application encountered an error it couldn't get around (usually an "out of bounds" type error) and shut down.  This happened plenty while entering/importing data, and then happened in midcombat last night.  The process of shutdown was a surprise ("Would you like to ignore this error?" "uhm, sure."  "Would you like to backup your data?" "Uhm, ok." "boom." *shrug*).  Then starting back up, opening all the windows I had open, etc., was really disruptive.  Is this common, or is there something weird with my config?  Any suggestions on how to avoid this?The import interface seems a little weak as well.  Let's say someone puts together a mass import (for, say, a whole adventure) -- why do I have to import, separately, the feats, items, creatures, etc?  Why isn't there a master file I can import which knows what files to open and pulls them all in, in the right order (to prevent annoying "Do you want to create this thing that doesn't exist yet?" dialogs)?  Especially since the program relies on the import of tons of data to do its job well, I'm surprised it's such an error-prone interactive process.As a positive, I fell in love with the ease of searching for rules.  My players and I were surprised at how quickly I was able to do some rules checking.  If I put all my house rules, campaign data, etc., in there, it'll be insanely great.  That alone might be worth the money, though there's nothing innately "DMF" about that -- it's just a system for collecting and organizing data.Also, the 3.5 data that's in there isn't complete yet and it meant digging out the rulebooks a few times.  For example, when a player asked what aura surrounded a specific magic item he had found when he cast detect magic on it and I had to dig out the 3.5E book and figure it out.  Now that I know this, I'll be modifying relevant data in advance, but this is data I was surprised not to have.  I'm sure as time passes the 3.5 data will become complete and this will cease to be an issue.  It's not really fair to judge the system on how complete the 3.5 data is for it, but in actuality I need 3.5e data or the application isn't useful, so it has to be part of my evaluation process.The combat board served me well, with a couple exceptions.  It was just as fast as my "index card" system but with more information at my fingertips.  Unfortunately, I didn't really get a good handle on how to handled delayed/readied characters.  I need to look closer at that and make sure I have it smooth.  It's likely that I just didn't do it right as opposed to a flaw in the product.  One thing that really bugged me about the combat board was the new system of entering monster attacks in terms of {MAB}.  My players and I are bigtime die rollers -- it's stupid but we love the sound of those plastic polyhedrons hitting the table.  Buying, caring for, and even punishing dice (you know, ones that have "failed you for the last time") is a silly but integral part of our gaming experience.  A random number generator just doesn't give off the same vibe.  So, I want to make the combat rolls myself as often as I can.When I see a creature in the board with an attack of {MAB} I have to figure it out.  I see a MAB of 8 at the top ... does he get one attack or two?  I have to check the BAB and go from there, subtract 5, etc....  It's not rocket science, but it's not as fast as I want it to be either.It would be really nice if the combat board could give me the bonuses without having it do the rolling.  Is this something I can do, and just didn't see an option for?I did use the combat board to resolve an attack just to see how it would work.  Unfortunately, when I did this I got an out of bounds error and the app crashed in mid-combat.  I had to load it all back up and it was disruptive enough that I didn't bother trying to use the combat board to roll dice again.  I don't know if there was something wrong with the creature, or if it was a random error, or what.  I'll try and reproduce it later when I have a chance.Some questions about capabilities: is it possible to link from one object in DMF to another?  Which objects will this work for?  I know I can drop things in Codex nodes, but how about Rules objects?  Spells?  For example, let's say I create a Rule Node describing the political structure of an organization, to make it easy to search for.  Within it I'd like to link to the major NPCs of that organization.  Is that possible?  Say I create a house rule node that talks about something odd that could happen when performing a Bull Rush.  Can I link to the rules node for Bull Rush directly from there?Thanks for everyone who takes the time to read this, and thanks in advance to those who offer their input on my questions and feedback.  I really really want to be able to use this product.  I think the potential is great.</blockquote>

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