eTools FR Stuff

[theoremtank]

Ranger One, What folder in my e-tools directory does the FRgods.xml file go into?

 

[Ranger One]

Use ETHelper to import them.
ETHelper can be found here...
Click here for ETHelper
Be sure to follow the instructions on the web page for installation. (I.E. Unzip both of the .zip files into the SAME directory).
Then click on the .exe, then click on DB Sets (I'd make a quick back up of your data base first, that button is right there too), then just click on Import and browse to my unzipped file.
Bear in mind, its a bit large and will take a while to import.
By the way, if anyone catches any errors drop me a line or post it here so I can correct it.
Thanks.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

please, if you are going to incorporate someone elses work in a file you are putting up courtesy dictates giving a mention in there somewhere. Otherwise you are taking credit for someone elses sweat, time, and effort to transcribe this information into a format ETools can use.

I hope you are giving proper credit to Ed Greenwood, Sean K Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo, and James Wyatt who created this stuff in the first place and WotC who actually owns this information.

 

[ControlFreak]

Davin, in this case there is no need. Imagine my surprise when I opened up "control freaks files", the one's that

and I find that quite to my surprise they are MY files that I put out as a taster a few days ago. At least as far as the FR Gods and Domains go. The only alteration seems to be that my "Foreword" has been deleted, the one I cheerfully wrote to let people know who did the work.
I have no idea where the Feats came from, but as there was a post on the Fluid boards about someone having them done, I have a feeling they came from there.
I'm going to assume that this was unintentional, but I'm a little irked. Perhaps its because I do so many mods for other software/games but fella's, please, if you are going to incorporate someone elses work in a file you are putting up courtesy dictates giving a mention in there somewhere. Otherwise you are taking credit for someone elses sweat, time, and effort to transcribe this information into a format ETools can use.
Now he did leave the set name the same, which includes my nic (which I named thusly as an after thought). But he split out the Domains into a separate uncredited file with a different set name. To his credit he edited out an error I had already caught with the Domains (I had erroneously created FR versions of standard domains, but later found them unneccessary).
I can't see who originally did the Feats he included.

Sorry if I sound testy, this has just struck me wrong. I'm sure he was just trying to help the community.

EricN, thanks! Thats why I did it that way. I have a lousy memory for such things when creating NPC's.
I made sure to get page numbers in for the spells too. Scott should be happy.

Because I know that this board is very strict about people being uncivil, I'll do my best to be nice here .. but ..

I took a clean install of eTools .. the FRCS book .. Microsoft Access .. and NOTHING ELSE .. and added all the domains (first) and then the Gods. After I finished that I went to the Web Enhancement on Wizards.com and added those (mainly because one of the players in my campaign has a Cleric of Gorn Gulthyn). After entering all that stuff I downloaded ETHelper and exported what I had done, uploaded it to some space I have, and then (finally) posted a message here.

I realize that you hastily looked at what I had done and ASSUMED that I used something of your's, but you are incorrect. Not only did I have no knowledge of anything you had done, but until I read Eric's message about the Enhanced Stat Sheet and followed his link, I didn't even have ETHelper .. and that was AFTER I had done all my work.

Now .. I still don't have whatever it is you created, but I'm sure if you take a moment and look again you'll see that there MUST be differences between the ways we did things. This just based on the fact that 2 people will NEVER do things exactly the same.

I didn't enter any descriptions for the Gods, but I entered all the Gods from the FRCS and the Web Enhancement. Did you do the same? Did you look at the descriptions that I used for domains? Are they the same as your's? Please realize that there aren't that many ways to say what a given domain does, but I gotta figure that we shortened the descriptions (which was necessary on most) in different ways.

And .. if that doesn't warrant me an apology (which you DO owe me), please come up with a completely different way to enter all the Domains and Gods and explain that to me to show how 2 different people could have taken different tacts to do this ...

... and failing that ... apologize.

Not only would I NEVER steal someone elses work and post it as my own, but as a software developer, published author, and musician, I understand how much it hurts to have people steal what you've done.

Respectfully,
ControlFreak
Programmer, Author, and Musician

 

[ControlFreak]

I'm bumping this so that it doesn't get missed by Ranger One.

ControlFreak

 

[colossus]

I set up a repository so this stuff doesn't keep happening!

etools.ei-mg.com

Check it out!

 

[bitz]

Since all of the authors seem to be reading this thread, I just thought I'd let you know about the add-on I made yesterday.

Its living over at the MSN E-Tools user group (sorry, dont have the address handy.) and is called "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Add-On_20020819."

It contains all the work done by, I think everyone here. Read the 'Notes' file for specifics, errata, and contributors.

I'll add the original authors of the book and WotC, good point.

In short, it contains work from Control Freak, Eric Noah, myself, and others. It is missing a few things still, but thats what updates are for. (Like Feats, I'm looking for the XML file somewhere).

Enjoy!

 

[Ranger One]

I don't want to think badly of you, I really don't. Perhaps there is a screw loose in ETHelper. Let me ask you something then, as this may clear up the misunderstanding.
When I enter in a relatively clean backup of my database, remove the one or two files I had altered before I made that back up I get a clean slate. I close ETools.
I open ETHelper, its clean. No user files.
I open ETools to be safe. Nope, no user files at all.
I download your files again (please confirm there are three, FRGods, FRDom, FRFeats), I extract your file into a folder labeled test, and I then import the FRGods file (from the otherwise empty "test" folder.
When the import is complete, the set name is Ranger One's Forgotten Realms Deities and Domains.
All the files that are now loaded into Etools are mine, except the descriptions have been removed and the (FR) after each gods name is gone. Also the duplicate entries for the different alignments for Kossuth and Mystra are down to one each.
Did you download my files at some point and get them mixed in with your own?
Unless ETHelper is remembering my set name...
Well, you see my confusion. The file is labled with my nic.

 

[Davin]

Unless ETHelper is remembering my set name...

ET Helper is *supposed* to be forgetting set names once all their contents are deleted (but you can Access-view the [types Set] to make sure). However, if that is messed up somehow and not showing, and if his set GUID ended up with the exact same GUID as you (maybe he copied just the GUID in order to enter his stuff??), then it will look like it's loading his data into your set.

Another thing you can do to check is to view his XML file in Notepad (or similar) and find the <dbTable name="types Set"> section. Look to see what he's using for his set name & GUID. Maybe he downloaded yours to look at it, then started entering his stuff (like feats) into the same set, then deleted your stuff, then re-entered everything and it all ended up getting attached to your name.

Or maybe he entered all his stuff as "User", downloaded your set to look at it, then deleted your stuff piecemeal while renaming his data into your existing set name.

There are some weird combinations/sequences that can produce that kind of set name preservation, but I wouldn't expect any of them to happen very often.

 

[EricNoah]

I've had at least one person contact me privately and say they can't reproduce Ranger One's situation. And I myself downloaded Control Freak's files and don't recall anything weird other than "hey he skipped filling in the god descriptions". I have a strong feeling this is a big misunderstanding and hope we can put this behind us.