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Why's it so hard to create a character generator that rocks?
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<blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 1573435" data-attributes="member: 7737"><p>The lack of testing and bug-fixing in PCGen is the most frustrating thing about it. You will see bugs posted on the Yahoo group or Sourceforge, but you cannot easily find out if they are (1) known but being ignored, (2) new bugs introduced in the latest build, (3) old bugs that would require serious coding work to kill, (4) bugs based on typos in the .lst files, or (5) something else. This is very frustrating for users who dutifully report bugs, but never get to see the bugs squashed. After a while, you just throw up your hands in dismay and either resign yourself to using buggy software, or get fed up and start using something else.</p><p> </p><p>Now I know that PCGen is open source and volunteer, so there is no real incentive to test and squash bugs, when you could be coding support for Dino-Pirates of Ninja Island or whatever other wacky d20 book just arrived in the mail. And I don't have a solution to that.</p><p> </p><p>Regarding PCGen's desire to be flexible and allow many non-RSRD sources: great idea, terrible execution. The built-in .lst editors don't work, and hand-editing the .lst files in Notepad (or whatever) is a pain in the ass. So as a user, you are faced with a choice of either becoming an expert in .lst-ese (in which case you may as well join the PCGen team, heh) or just sticking with an incomplete product. Again, frustration.</p><p> </p><p>I wouldn't be this frustrated with PCGen if it completely sucked. I am frustrated because it is on the verge of greatness, but being held back but (in my opinion) lack of focus and, of course, lack of time and money.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Joshua Randall, post: 1573435, member: 7737"] The lack of testing and bug-fixing in PCGen is the most frustrating thing about it. You will see bugs posted on the Yahoo group or Sourceforge, but you cannot easily find out if they are (1) known but being ignored, (2) new bugs introduced in the latest build, (3) old bugs that would require serious coding work to kill, (4) bugs based on typos in the .lst files, or (5) something else. This is very frustrating for users who dutifully report bugs, but never get to see the bugs squashed. After a while, you just throw up your hands in dismay and either resign yourself to using buggy software, or get fed up and start using something else. Now I know that PCGen is open source and volunteer, so there is no real incentive to test and squash bugs, when you could be coding support for Dino-Pirates of Ninja Island or whatever other wacky d20 book just arrived in the mail. And I don't have a solution to that. Regarding PCGen's desire to be flexible and allow many non-RSRD sources: great idea, terrible execution. The built-in .lst editors don't work, and hand-editing the .lst files in Notepad (or whatever) is a pain in the ass. So as a user, you are faced with a choice of either becoming an expert in .lst-ese (in which case you may as well join the PCGen team, heh) or just sticking with an incomplete product. Again, frustration. I wouldn't be this frustrated with PCGen if it completely sucked. I am frustrated because it is on the verge of greatness, but being held back but (in my opinion) lack of focus and, of course, lack of time and money. [/QUOTE]
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