my etools 1.2 patch experience so far

[EricNoah]

After downloading the patch I had minimal pains and several joys to share.

1) When the patch installer started, it wanted to put the patch in Program Files/Wizards of the Coast/eTools. My etools wasn't there, it was in Program Files/Wizards/eTools. I actually had two installations, one in each location, and I'm not sure why but ... once I got that straightened out, no problem.

2) I tried to use ET Helper to import custom stuff I'd exported from the unpatched version. Maybe the file was too big, but at some point it just wouldn't take the all-in-one file. Fortunately, I had also exported things in chunks and just imported section by section.

3) I copied my /Race and /Monster files from User in my old etools into the correct spots in the new etools, and monsters seem to be loading up fine. I will want to tweak the monster stat block output -- I'm not a big fan of the courier-type font used, and am wondering if that is something I can change on my end.

4) Overall stuff is looking very much improved. I was able to use ET Helper to create a +1 level spellcasting PrC -- awesome. I was able to use ET Helper to create a new material, then used etools' House Rules to apply the material to various weapons and armor. It took me a while to figure out how to build these items in the Character builder - it's on the purchase screen, click Create and instead of just being able to build magic items there you can also build items with different materials. Masterwork nephelium bucklers and adamantine greataxes galore!

5) Character sheet looks pretty good. The new spell sheet layout is kinda funky, not sure how I'll like it in practice but looks pretty good at first glance.

6) noticing some AC oddities -- looks like natural armor is being calculated as a part of Touch AC (which it doesn't, I don't believe). Will want to run some tests to try various combos of magic armors, shields, natural armor items, and deflection bonus items to see if Touch and FF are calculating correctly.

7) while old .rac and .mon files seem to be opening ok in 1.2, old character files cause crashes. Not sure if this is because characters have custom items/feats/whathaveyou that the new DB doesn't (even after importing old stuff via ET Helper). C'est la vie -- I'll have to do my two characters up and get those on the web for you.

 

[EricNoah]

Update to #7 -- after a little more investigation it did turn out that the character I was trying to open did have a custom item I had failed to export and import into the patched version. Once I got that in, and got the User portraits copied over from the old to the new, it worked slick as snot.

http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/etchars/Kurdor.html

http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/etchars/vangkor.html

 

[BarakO]

3) I copied my /Race and /Monster files from User in my old etools into the correct spots in the new etools, and monsters seem to be loading up fine. I will want to tweak the monster stat block output -- I'm not a big fan of the courier-type font used, and am wondering if that is something I can change on my end.

5) Character sheet looks pretty good. The new spell sheet layout is kinda funky, not sure how I'll like it in practice but looks pretty good at first glance.

Just a quick note on the above comments Eric. The font is a mono font because some of the monster output contains tables, and there was no way we could make them look pretty without a monospace font. (Not my first choice and I let loose several choice expletives when I couldn't find a way around it in time for the patch).

That being said, it's easy to change. Go to etools/xml/stat block and open up the appropriate file (character.xsl for characters, monster.xsl for monsters, etc.) with a text editor.

Find the line:
<font face="Courier" style="font-size:11pt">

Change it how you will, save it, and your font will change. Note that this will also effect the display of the stat block within the program.

On the spell list, many people requested that we output as much of the spell info as possible, so between that request, and doing something very similar for PCGen, that list is how it ended up.

 

[EricNoah]

Yeah, thanks. I was able to get in and change the font size. And I tweaked the order of some things (I like alignment near the front of the stat block, removed some spaces, added some spaces, stuff like that). I will probably go through my old stat block and try to bring over some of the features from it (cleric domain powers, coins, critical hit info, stuff like that).

Another cool feature I hadn't heard about is when you open a .rac file, you have the option to go back to the main screen where you pick type, subtypes, size and number of HD. This is a HUGE benefit for those trying to create templated creatures. For example, I opened my custom wemic.rac file, changed its type to Undead, made CON a non-ability, gave it some extra special attacks and special qualities, and saved it as Zombie, Wemic.rac. Then I popped it open in the Monster Builder and spent its skill points, feat slots, and bought it some equipment and armed him. Voila -- template applied (to that one creature, anyway). The old way involved building the templated race from scratch, you practially had to do all the math etc. ahead of time before entering. No fun!

 

[Chaz]

Thanks for the info so far Eric. I realy look forward to getting this patch. Have you(or anyone) heard of an alternate download site yet?
Anyway thanks again.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Ghostwind has posted the patch to the d20 Magazine Rack. Go to the ETools Review, scroll down, and follow the link to the download site.

 

[Cougar]

Forget it, thought I had a problem, but it was me being stupid.

 

[EricNoah]

Hey Barak, it's probably too early to start making suggestions but...

I do like the spellsheet. However, it's missing an important field (target/area), and the Components field... the output seems to be Yes, No or blank. That seems strange to me!

If you're looking for room, I would snuggle Components on the first line between Duration and Range and then put Target/Area where Components is now.

What would really be neat is a new sheet that is a fusion of two things: a standard stat block at the top, and a spell list (but only spells prepared, or spells known for a sorc/bard) at the bottom. Would be extremely handy for printing out big bad guy spellcasters.

Also I kind of miss having my little Description box on the front page. I was using it to keep quick notes. Maybe I'll badger Colossus into revising his sheet.

 

[noretoc]

MY e-tools experience

I downloaded the patch. Installed. Loaded up the program to check out what is different. Noticed some new stuff. Thought it was cool. Clicked on the generate table (random encounters) CRASH. I said to myself. No way. I restarted.. Tried it again. CRASH. Fatal error. Guess it goes back on my shelf.

 

[BarakO]

Hey Barak, it's probably too early to start making suggestions but...

They all say that...

I do like the spellsheet. However, it's missing an important field (target/area), and the Components field... the output seems to be Yes, No or blank. That seems strange to me!

The spell component deal was a code problem. I caught a quick look on the CMP site before I couldn't get in any more, and I *think* they might have fixed it in the last couple days.

And targetarea isn't output to the XML either. I'm not even sure if it's in the database... If I can get the coders to get it into the XML, it'll make its way to the sheet.

Some things we just had to leave behind to meet the contractual obligations or other things got prioritized higher when we got to the point where we didn;t have to worry about hte contracted items.

If you're looking for room, I would snuggle Components on the first line between Duration and Range and then put Target/Area where Components is now.

What would really be neat is a new sheet that is a fusion of two things: a standard stat block at the top, and a spell list (but only spells prepared, or spells known for a sorc/bard) at the bottom. Would be extremely handy for printing out big bad guy spellcasters.

I'll keep these ideas in mind.

I broke the spell list out as a seperate module (if you will) of XSL, so it could be appended to the statblock with little to no effort.

It would need some changes to print differently based on spellcaster class, but not terribly difficult.