Talk:DnD4eCM

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Excellent utility, some suggestions

I have to agree that that your utility is by far the best rpg tool I have ever used. I would love a couple of add-ons if possible. I don't see this on sourceforge or other code community sites. Taht being said here are my ideas:

Once you start an encounter it would be awesome if it recorded what you do each turn into an encounter log. Number two is can you have an actual hot seat for whose action it is and be able to track interrupts per turn. If you ever play with a warden/bard combo there is a ton of interrupts that can occur. Having it reset them or on a creatures when it comes back around like recharge powers would be cool. And number three is more of a question, I noticed with delay/ready actions I would screw up initive orders by not click next turn and then move to top. With players it would be nice to have move up/move down if I know someone is delaying one round for something instead of taking them out of intitive.

Ditto on add some contact information I would love to send a personal thanks to you. I had my best session of Dming from 20 years experience from your utility. THANKS!


So far, I have been using an excel sheet I designed with a few features to achieve the same purpose. This application is far superior. One can see that the programmer has been using the utility - because the features make sense and are really useable. The screen real estate is also sparingly used, which is good, except maybe on netbooks with only 600 vertical pixels avaibles.

Some quick and humble suggestions, now. I see that some of them have already been voiced by other people.

  • Please provide some sort of contact information. I would like to send you a postcard to thank you for this great and very useful utility.
  • Add cut and paste to the statblock library, so that vriants of creatures can be easily created from within your application, without a need to resort to DDI utilities (I have access to them, but not everybody has).
  • Make it so that it is possible to highlight several creatures in the main tracker window, in order to modify them in bulk.
  • Make the langage-dependant terms used in the app a separate XML file, so that non-programmer can help and localize it. A french version would be very handy, for instance.

62.203.197.179 10:25, 21 March 2010 (UTC) RTRT


Tork - I would like to add excelent tool. Only few bugs are there - surge value don't adding any modifiers and missing surges per day and how many left. But everything is superb


Nice utility.

A few things I think it needs to be complete:

- Track healing surges (how many are available, total) - Track magic item uses per day - Track action points - Allow granting of milestones - Short/Extended Rest


David: I think this is a great tool. I would love to see it integrated with the tool being created over at: http://masterplan.habitualindolence.net/. They have a lot of great features that this doesn't, but what they don't have is PC import from character builder files and they don't parse out the powers from the monsters. They do however import all monsters from the compendium which I must say rocks. So if the two could be integrated it would be amazing.

It crashed when I tried to load. Debugger says:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll

Additional information: An error occurred creating the form. See Exception.InnerException for details. The error is: Font 'Arial Narrow' does not support style 'Regular'.

WinXP64bSP3. I don't appear to have that font installed, and I can't find anywhere that I could get it that doesn't want to charge me $30 for a 10kB file.

Update: Found it here: http://www.fontyukle.com/en/1,arial+narrow

N8Ball: Minor suggestion here, would it be possible to add some more beneficial effects to the effects menu? Like Attack bonus, Damage bonus or Defensive bonus. Leaders hand these effects out regularly. Great app, btw.

Knowledge Sharing Request

Would it be OK to share pre-generated encounters for Living Forgotten Realms modules via a Yahoo Group? As a convention manager I'm planning on loading up every combat encounter of every module for my DMs at our local gaming convention into Combat Manager. Can we share the wealth?

Enhancement Requests

I"m not sure if this is the right place to make a feature request, but I didn't see any other contact information on this page. I'd like to see the following enhancements:

  • ability to double-click on a power to toggle expended/available.
  • ability to select multiple monsters in the encounter roster and perform bulk operations on them, such as rolling initiative (so the highlighted monsters share the same init count), sending to reserves, etc.

I"ve got my own request. See, I primarily use this tool on a netbook during play, and the screen size is a little odd -- 1024 x 600, to be exact. What I end up with is the windows being cut off at the bottom, and the page for editing Compendium entries lacks resizing handles. This means that the OK button, while still present, is totally inaccessible without using the Tab key and hoping I get it right. Could you tweak the windows to allow resizing, maybe with scrolling up-and-down to allow for shorter displays?

Problem

The reserve window has green blocks for pcs with no text and red blocks for monsters with no text. Powers window does not show list. Library does not show list. The line items are there, but text has the same color as the background. This seems to be the same for the reserve and power windows: text color = background color. I am running Windows Vista on a Dell laptop. Also, don't know if this is related, but the program produces the following error detail upon exiting:

See the end of this message for details on invoking just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

Exception Text --------------

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\Program Files\DnD4e Combat Manager\statlibrary.dnd4.tmp' is denied. 

  at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
  at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
  at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
  at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share)
  at System.Xml.XmlWriter.Create(String outputFileName, XmlWriterSettings settings)
  at DnD4e_Combat_Manager.StatLibrary.SaveToFile(String filename)
  at DnD4e_Combat_Manager.frmTracker.frmTracker_FormClosing(Object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmClose(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


Loaded Assemblies --------------

mscorlib 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4062 (QFE.050727-4000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll

DnD4e Combat Manager 

   Assembly Version: 1.6.0.0
   Win32 Version: 1.6.0.0
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/DnD4e%20Combat%20Manager/DnD4e%20Combat%20Manager.exe

Microsoft.VisualBasic 

   Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll

System 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll

System.Windows.Forms 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll

System.Drawing 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll

System.Runtime.Remoting 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll

System.Configuration 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll

System.Xml 

   Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
   Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3074 (QFE.050727-3000)
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll

System.Core 

   Assembly Version: 3.5.0.0
   Win32 Version: 3.5.30729.1 built by: SP
   CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Core/3.5.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Core.dll

JIT Debugging --------------

To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this application or computer (machine.config) must have the jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section. The application must also be compiled with debugging enabled.

For example:

<configuration> 

   <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />

</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer rather than be handled by this dialog box. --Astromath 19:14, 3 December 2009 (PST)

Open source

Hi there! I just recently discovered this application, and it looks like it's a tool I'll definitely be giving a shot at my next session.

I happened to notice that it's a .NET application, and you have the source up for perusal, but you don't have the source under a license. I was considering perhaps contributing to the project, but without a license, I don't believe I could legitimately change your source without your permission.

Some good license choices for open source apps are http://www.apache.org/licenses/ and http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html

If the lack of license was merely an oversight, you should consider placing the code on Github at http://www.github.com, which is completely free for open source applications. It also gives you a wiki, and an issue tracking system. --Adamjford 01:55, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Adding monsters

Wonderful tool, and I hope to use it.

Alas, I am not a subscriber to D&D Insider and so do not have access to the monster builder. Of course, I can add monsters simply by typing in the powers. But, for example in Keep on the Shadowfell, I have a myriad of Kobold types to enter with similar abilities. It would be nice to have a feature where I could copy and paste my own monsters to create similar monsters without overwriting the existing entry in the library.

Suggestion

Now that the PHB3 is out, I'd suggest a spot for power points.

Also, I like to load my characters daily magic items in as well. Every time they hit an even level, I repaste them from the cb. When I do this, I have to manually retype all of their magic items. It would be nice if we had a way to save info like this somewhere and just select them.

Maybe an area to manually type and save power info would be nice. Just to keep the permanent text. I don't mind typing in the To Hit mod and Damage mod.

Suggestion 2

Hello, your tool is a great utility. In my opinion are missing a couple of things: 

 - Mile stones tracker
 - Surge tracker

In my opinion should be enough to add some check box for the mile stones (I suppose 6, this means at least 12 encounters without long rest...) and a box I can put the number of surges, with the positive and negative button in order to increase and decrease the value.

Problem With Latest CB Version

First off I have to say that this Tool Rocks. It is by far the best and most complete one I've seen. I am no developer so I hope you keep it updated and moving forward. It is better then most of the Shit I've seen WoC put out. If you can even post and address for donations I would gladly send something.

Lately I have been having a problem with loading Characters from the Character builder. They load in but the stats are all empty. This happened after I updated the Character Builder. I assume they changed something in their file layout. I work around by entering in the info manually but that gets tiring. Has anyone else had this problem? Are their any other work arounds?

Thanks

Rich

Problem With Latest CB Version - replicated

Rich, I observe the same problem.

Since the source is available, I could go as far as updating the application to correct the issue. It is indeed caused by an update to the file format used by the character builder. Until now, in the CB .xml file, the 'stat' nodes used to have a 'name' attribute: now they do not any more and the app cannot properly load the data. Instead, one can rely on the presence of an 'alias' child node with the appropriate 'name' attribute. The update is made easy by the fact that the code is very clean and easy to understand. I am sure that the author of this wonderful app will be able to adapt it easily once he knows about the need.

Thanks a lot,

Armand

Ongoing damage

I love this tool. Been using VCC for a while now but this tool is so much easier to use, especially on my tablet PC.

One thing I would like to see in the update would be two fields that open up when you select "Ongoing Damage". Damage Type, and amount.

Unless I am missing something, I don't see anything that allows me to say, Ongoing damage, 5 poison. For now, I just place it in the notes field (great idea BTW!)

Dragon3y3

ongoing damage

When you bring up Ongoing Damage from the drop down menu, You can type in 'poison 5' or '5 poison' or whatever.

Ongoing Damage

Would be awesome if Ongoing Damage could be automatically deducted from hit points of target. Also, the reverse for benefits. Would require some reworking of Effects screens.

And one massive THANK YOU for such an awesome tool! You help make 4e ROCK!

== Right-Click Marked! == (Implemented)

Love this utility. I never have to touch a pencil again.

One common thing that I find is that my crew tends to mark enemies consistantly. An option to be able to right click on a monster and have a "Marked until the end of current players next turn" would REALLY speed things up for me.

Also I can confirm that since the last update the character imports are not working properly.

~Krewl

cb fix

A buddy of mine fixed the cb thing. It was a pretty simple fix. He hasn't uploaded it anywhere though.

Edit - nm. He uploaded it:) Thanx DS

Character Builder Fix

I've posted a fix that takes care of the Character Builder file format change. If the author doesn't return before Adventure Tools changes the format of Rich Text monsters, I'll try to update it again, with those changes, should the need arise. --DarkSir

Problem with newest adventure tools paste rich text function(monster manual 3 Update)

Does anyone have a fix for the paste rich text function. It appears to be broken with the new adventure tools update for monster manual 3. I'd fix it but I dont have a dot NET delvelopment enviroment. If anyone can help that would be awesome. -- Krieger

I'm looking it over. I don't think I have the time to fix it tonight, but I'll try to take a look at it over the next couple of days, provided the author doesn't pop in before then. :) -- DarkSir

Re looking it over: Anyone have an update? As the new July 20 Adventure Tool Format has rendered this program 1.6.1a for those who've upgraded to the new July 20 format completely unfunctional. And thus it's a significant issue now. -Gorstagg (7/27/2010)

Cool. Thanks. -- Krieger

Another thanks for taking a look at this -- I've been spoiled by this combat tracker and would really like to see it updated to use the new stat block format!!!

Thanks for stepping up and helping out the community, DarkSir! --hbunny

DarkSir, you're my savior. This is my favorite out of all the combat trackers I've tried, and I'd begun to despair of the possibility of continuing to use it as WotC continues to update their formats! --SabreCat

DarkSir - I'm looking at the code now...I have to wonder if it would be better to rewrite the code to import the XML file that the Adventure tool creates, and use that moving forward. There is alot of delicate fiddling going on with the RTF. I also found a bug in the XML export in the adventure tools app. It's not copying or dealing with recharge powers correctly. It's almost like it doesn't care what the recharge value is. -- Krieger

Re the Bug: I think the bug is more like this: I can't export non-customized monster as XML. When I "copy and edit", the recharge values get lost right in the monster builder. Workaround is to insert Rechargs values by hand in monster builder. I haven't tested if this survives the export. -- Milf
Re the above: If it's possible to preserve the RTF paste option, fiddly as it may be code-wise, please do so! The usability benefit of that style is enormous. Compare the workflows:
RTF: Right-click entry in Monster Builder. Choose Copy to Rich Text. Open the Statblock Library in DnD4eCM. Click the button to paste from RTF. Done.
XML: Right-click entry in Monster Builder. Choose to save to XML. Give it a location and filename, save it. Open the Statblock Library in DnD4eCM. Click Import. Find the file and open it. Done.
... that's a lot more clicking and juggling, thanks to having to deal with two file browser windows. It'd triple (or more) the time and effort it takes to get a monster from one program to the other. -- SabreCat
re the re: Actually you click on the monster you want, then go up to the top and click on right option (save as XML), choose the location, adjust the name if needed but it provides the name and format. Now if DnD4eCM added it to the library by pulling directly from a specific designated location, then it would be as simple as hitting add. If that's what DarkSir was thinking when he said what he did. And in that case the whole thing would be even quicker. - Gorstagg

To Darksir, I'm really looking forward to your fix, as this program is just essential to gameplay now. But I also happen to like the update from WoTC on the monster builder, and am anxiously waiting your fix! -Gorstagg

1.6.1b

I posted an update to Combat Manager tonight (7/28/2010). I stuck with the RTF import, as it IS much quicker than the XML import method suggested. The change to the output format in Adventure tools necessitated a near complete rewrite of the power import code, as well as significant changes to the statblock code as well as the RTF handling code. It's not pretty, but it works, I think. If you find a monster that does not import properly, please leave a note on the discussion page of my page. I don't always get a notification if anything has been posted on this page, but I should be alerted fairly quickly if something is left on mine. I will try to correct any errors as quickly as possible, as I'm sure there's SOMETHING I missed. Once I'm fairly certain that the import function is complete, I'll post the source code so you can all point and laugh at my insane wiring job. --DarkSir

I'll install the new version and test it tonight, but in the meantime THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! We all know that this wasn't originally your program, and that you're doing this so that you (and we) can have a working tool that helps us DM. So thanks, dude!

Thanks for this, you rock SirDarkSir! - bryan

This is the best CM I've found for 4e and I'm sure many people using it would be willing to help if you ever needed it just to keep this going. Tracking all of this outside of this tool, is far more painful. And, even though there's improvements to be made, it works very well (especially if the fixes for CB and AT work). Thank you so much. - JMH

I agree! This is the best tool I've found so far. I'm sure there are many of us quietly using this tool, so I wanted to be sure to express my gratitude. Thank you so very much! We appreciate you jumping in and using your skills to keep this excellent tool functional! - Vilael

I too am using this tool, and it's also used by the other DM in our group. It's completely invaluable. It's something that should of been built by WotC to support their player's needs. But thanks to the originator of this and DarkSir for helping keep it up and running. - Gorstagg

Amazing app that has made running my games a whole lot easier. Thanks for the fix - missed the tool last session :) - Sefotron

1.6.1c

Fixed a bug that was pointed out to me yesterday, and implemented a couple of features that had been requested. Still looking for monsters that don't import properly. So far, so good :) --DarkSir

Fantastic! Three cheers! --SabreCat

Deathgaunt Lasher and Deathgaunt Madcaster give errors on import, but not always.

Fixed the Madcaster error, though that's partly cause it's not entered correctly in Monster Builder. It has an aura under Other Powers, rather than traits, and won't show up in the proper place, even though it DOES import without an error now. Couldn't duplicate an error on the Lasher. Will post the fix in the next release. --DarkSir

  • Reported the Madcaster error to WotC. Hoping for a fix in the September update.

Are you still taking suggestions for features? I'd love a way to copy the initiative roster after it's rolled as text so I can paste it for all of the people to see in my online skype-gametable campaign. Anyways, thanks so much for making it so this program's still useable with new WotC updates! -SP

Thanks for a very nice program and the quick fix. Can't live without this program now. I have a small suggestions too. A way to assign the monsters on the list to the PCs, so it's possible to keep track of what Monsters attack what PC. (can get very confusing in larger battles) -Z

Uh oh, here it comes, DarkSir. The wave of insatiable fans! ;) --SabreCat

Indeed, I am legion, for we are many... -z

1.6.2 to-do list

I will probably be posting 1.6.2 sometime early next week. Mortaneus has kindly given the green-light for me to make further updates, and I didn't want to increment the actual version number until I knew he was cool with it.

Here's what's on my list of things to fix and add:

  • Badly formed monster powers in Adventure Tools could cause Combat Manager to crash. This isn't guaranteeing that they're all fixed, but I did fix a couple of glaring ones. *done*
  • Power Points for Psionic PCs that will work much like Action Points. These will import from the Character Builder file, and can also be added to any entry in the library. *done*
  • Ongoing damage popup. At the beginning of any turn that has an effect with the word "Ongoing" in it, it will pop up, reminding you to apply ongoing damage. There will likely be a toggle for this feature. *done*
  • Fix equipment naming on import. Magic Weapons currently show as "Dagger Lifedrinker Weapon +1" or Leather Armor Magic Armor +1" These will now show as "Lifedrinker Dagger +1" or "Magic Leather Armor +1"

I have a few more things, but nothing that I will be able to release quite this quickly. These will be part of 1.7 (export initiative list to clipboard, some nice PC Power and Item related tools) --DarkSir

You rock! Thanks for considering my request. -SP

Outstanding. And thank you for picking up this fantastic tool. And thanks to Mortaneus for giving you the truly important green light. -Gorstagg

In addition to the Ongoing damage popup, creatures with regeneration powers should also have a popup because the regenerated HP are not automatically added at the beginning of their turns. Of course not adding them automatically should be how it works since they will not always get the regen HP due to the regen being cancelled by appropriate attacks. (fire\acid attacks on trolls ceases the regen until the beginning of it's next turn).

It would be a nice add on if CM notified you when a creature has "upon bloodied" or "upon death" attacks or effects when those trigger. -Krewl

Just a thought, would it be possible to have the CM parse attack entries and roll out attack and damage? Say a attack that does 13 vs. Will and does 2d10 damage, then have a popup window that displays what it rolled (just in case the auto-parse picked out the wrong thing) and the results. Then you could just select a monster, select one of their powers, and tell it to roll. -VoyRising

1.7.0 Release

New release posted. Added everything I mentioned earlier. Things I still want to work on:

  • regeneration popup
  • on bloodied on death popup triggers
  • fix an xp calculating bug for users with regional settings that format numbers with spaces or periods
  • track pc healing surges

Comments and suggestions are welcome, as always.

Tracking Healing Surges, would be a great thing. With us having the ability to just mark them off, or add them back from uses like Rituals like the Comrade's Succor one. But that would go a long way to making my day happy. But the other suggestion that I have is if there was a way to once a fight has completed, clear the round keepers, remove the monsters, and then update the characters as they heal, from a short rest. - Gorstagg

The initiative listing is greatly appreciated. There is one other thing that comes to mind, though. I'd love to be able to have the ability to remove or kill a combatant with the right-click menu. Anyways, keep up the good work. -SP

Thank you again for the updates, fantastic work. The right-click to mark option is especially nice. Would it be possible, though, to add an "until end of encounter" option for groups with multiple types of mark mechanics? -VoyRising

Yeah! Speaking of, it'd be nice to be able to add those striker "marks", like oath of emnity, warlock's curse, and hunter's quarry. Can't quite use the regular right-click "mark", because for those, they do stack with other marks or "marks" of the striker kind. If there could be a designation like "add striker mark" in the dialogue box or similar, that might be handy. -SP

I can probably do that, I'm just worried about overloading the right-click menu. It'll have to clear the older marks made by the source. Let me ponder that. -- DarkSir

Two Bugs; when you reach a milestone, you should not reset your action points to one, as if you had taken an extended rest. Instead, you gain an action point. If you had previously spent your action point, hitting a milestone will seem like you are resetting, but if you haven't spent it, you should have two. I have yet to have a player ever reach two milestones, and have 3 action points, so a means to add just one more action point should do the trick. I experimented with adding 1 to the character's action point entry box in the editor, and it seems to do the trick. You will have 'Action Point' and 'Action Point 1'. A short rest will not affect either, and reducing the value to zero removes it. Hitting a milestone can add 1 to this value, and and extended rest can reset it to zero. - Bartimus

Someone else mentioned this on the rpg.net forums. I plan to have it ADD action points at some point with a milestone, rather than simply reset them. This is just a temporary fix. I've got to work out a few things with REMOVING extra action points during an extended rest. It shouldn't be a big deal, but I didn't have time to deal with it before this release. -- DarkSir

Second; death saving throws shouldn't be reset upon gaining consciousness. PHB1 states you die after failing 3 saves 'before resting'. Therefore, you should keep the quantity of failed saves until either a short or extended rest are made. Thanks for the updates, I depend on this program! :) - Bartimus

I'll take a look at that. Hadn't noticed it, cause I never actually track them that way. I'll take a look at it and get that in the next release :) -- DarkSir

Suggestion: Add a status end of 'indefinite' or something similar to track long-lasting effects that extend beyond the time of an extended rest (eg. Diseases). This condition will not clear at all automatically, and the condition can only be removed by manual removal. This way you can keep status ailments saved on the party for extended times. - Bartimus

I've located a character import bug, relating to magic items. Have to track it down. It doesn't happen often, so it shouldn't be too heavily duplicated, before I get it fixed. -- DarkSir

Can't thank you enough for the work you've picked up on this - I rely heavily on this program for my campaign! Something I noticed about the 'copy init to clipboard' - the final list doesn't include the iteration of each creature (like Skeleton-01, Skeleton-02, etc.)...maybe was intentional, but just wanted to point it out. -- Salen

Latest version crashes when importing any Monk from the character builder xml format. --Jimbodriven

Likely the same error I mentioned above. It has to do with the weapons that are being imported. That HAS been fixed in the next version that I will post soon. -- DarkSir

  • SUGGESTION - Make every window maximizable so that the program can work on netbooks. As it stands, the only one I noticed is the Statblock View when you hit "Change" in the Statblock Library screen. You could make the Description area slightly smaller and find a way to condense the stuff on the left and have it just fit on a 600 vertical resolution display. Not sure about a 574 resolution display though.

Yes, please! The bottom of the window for editing Library entries is always cut off on my netbook, I've had to resort to clicking into the Bloody field and tabbing four times in order to save changes. Also, when deleting multiple entries from the Library, the bottom of the window can get cut off if you are deleting a large number of entries. - VoyRising

I encountered an exception while trying to import a character from Character Builder (the exception is "Object reference not set to an instance of an object"). I'm really not much of a programmer, but based on the details of the exception, I was able to determine it was choking while importing the LootTally section of the CB file XML. The character had a house-ruled piece of equipment, and once I deleted that out of the CB file XML, the import completed successfully. Is this the character import bug you referenced earlier in the 1.7.0 notes? Thanks for the great product. -- HenchmanNo21

It is indeed. -- I'll put out a fix version on Thursday. -- DarkSir

1.7.1 release

Again, I wish to thank you for all your efforts, DarkSir. However, while you did indeed fix the house-ruled equipment, the bug persists with regard to house-ruled powers. Is there a quick fix for that perchance? :) -- Salen

Is it giving a similar error? I hadn't tried it with house-ruled powers... -- DarkSir

Yes, Sir, exact same error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" -- Salen

Posted a quick fix. No new version, just redownload it. Thanks for catching that. -- DarkSir - once again, outstanding, thank you so much, and just in time for tonight's adventure! -- Salen

Nice work! Regarding near-future plans, watch out that you don't actually count Striker bonus-damage designation features as "marks". That's a piece of shorthand that leads to a lot of confusion: somebody with Hunter's Quarry on them is not "marked" in the sense the game rules use the term. Best not to enshrine that mixup in the software! -- SabreCat

Right, if I add the feature to track that at all, it will be in a different section from marks. -- DarkSir

Error note - Got a bard character with Fey Pact Initiate, took Fey Pact (gained Eyebite). Then also has a Master's Wand of Eyebite, and a Wand of Psychic Ravaging. In each of those cases it gives the character eyebite. I found that it doesn't worry about the one by the feat, but for the two wands, it says Eyebite already exists. And then fails to import the character. So going through the process of elimination, I removed the Wand of Eyebite and kept the rest the same. So items that generate powers that essentially duplicate the same thing (i.e. power) will crash, and will not let you import. Though removing the power does let you import it. - Gorstagg

11/29/2010 - Gorstagg: I've fixed it so that it will not import the same power multiple times. Do you think it would be better to import for each instance? The current change will be in 1.7.2 -- DarkSir


Is there a Checklist of how to set things up on my PC so I can help with the development efforts? - MadDad

I just tried this last night, Monster powers (via RTF Copy/Paste were not showing up - anyone else having that?

Thank you, DarkSir, for the quick update. I can now import a PC from Character Builder with a custom item, but I'm having a different problem: with characters imported in that fashion in version 1.7.1, I can no longer get Compendium entries for powers to launch. The option is still there when I right-click on a power, but when I choose "View Compendium Entry", nothing happens. If I place a PC imported using v1.7.0 in the party list, the Compendium entries launch fine. I looked at the statblocks in the statlibrary.dnd4 file, and they are identical for a PC that I imported using 1.7.0, and the same character imported using 1.7.1 (aside from a slight name change, so the new wouldn't overwrite the old). I downgraded DnD4eCM to v1.7.0, and the PC imported using v1.7.1 still does not launch the Compendium. For the time being, I'll just update PCs in the library by hand, rather than importing them. Thank you so much for the great product -- my game would be so much harder to run without it. -- HenchmanNo21

HenchmanNo21, that sounds like my fix stopped importing the URLs at all. Could you look at statlibrary screen for one of those characters and tell me if ANY of the powers have a "URL" entry? -- DarkSir

Hello Darksir: Thanks for all the updates, but I am now unable to upload CB files. Running Win7-64bit and get this error on (almost) all my characters: (See screenshot) [1] Thanks!

Hmm, can you email me a CB file you're having trouble with? darksir at dragonpro dot com -- DarkSir

Any chance the current source code can be linked from here again? I found that very useful. -- mattakaslash

Still loving Combat Manager, liking it the more I use it and I love how often it's updated. It's so nice to use something in such active development! Two suggestions/feature requests/whatever. This might be something for fairly far in the future, or it might already be on the slate for the next version, but I've tried out a number of combat trackers before settling on Combat Manager, and it's the best but there were two really great feature in the first one I tried (Initracker: http://www.incompleteuserna.com/initracker/) that none of the others, including Combat Manager, seem to have (CM is better in pretty much every other way). First, if you designated a combatant as having ongoing damage, it would automatically take that damage out at the start of the turn (this is pretty much taken care of in CM with the addition of a reminder at the start of the turn, which is perhaps better anyway). The second and even more useful feature it has, is tracking of resistances/vulnerabilities/immunities and typed damage. That is to say when creating a combatant you could put in whatever vulnerabilities/resistances it had, and then when you were entering damage you could designate the type of damage (acid, fire, lighting etc), and it would automatically take into account those resistances/vulnerabilities. I think if CM had those features it would do pretty much 99% of what I could possibly want from a combat tracker! Anyway, thank you again, I really really like CM and can't wait to see what's next! --DrOct

Hi DarkSir, thanks for your reply. The power URL entries are in the statlibrary.dnd4 file for newly imported characters, just as they are for characters imported with v1.7.0. In fact, other than the name of the character (which I changed on the old version so I wouldn't overwrite it), the information between the opening and closing <statblock> tags is identical. Hope that helps. I'm completely baffled. -- HenchmanNo21

I just tried one other thing. I had been trying to View Compendium only on powers that initially show in the Powers window. I scrolled down to the bottom of the list, and the View Compendium entries for items that the character has all work. Also, I can view the Compendium entry for one power (Evil Eye of the Vistani), though I get an error from Wizards when the page loads (a problem on their end). That power is the second to last power in the list. I imported another character, and get a similar thing, though with that character, I can view the last two powers in the list (Dark One's Own Luck and Eldritch Rain), as well as all items. A third character allows me to view the last power, and all items. Just figured I'd add to the mystery... -- HenchmanNo21

And now one more revelation -- I saved an encounter with the three newly-imported characters from the previous message, and one character imported in v1.7.0 (actually the same as one of the non-working characters, with a different name). When I look in the XML of the saved encounter, the <url> fields for powers are empty for the three new characters (except the few powers at the end of the list I could launch and all items), but are populated for the one old character. -- HenchmanNo21

Just a small thing. When you import a monster from Adventure tools with more that 999 XP value, the XP value shows up as the first digit. (ex. monster worth 2500 XP shows up with only 2 XP.) -- Z

Z, I'm not seeing that issue. I just imported a 1,200 XP monster and it came through OK. Are you in a region that uses a different thousands delimiter (e.g. 1.200 or 1 200 for the above)? That's been known to cause problems like that in Windows apps that haven't been internationalized. -- SabreCat

To fix the issue of the missing digits on exp, you have to set in International and language option (control panel) the thousands delimiter to "," and restart the applications (Adventure tools too) -- Guez

Sorry for the lack of recent update, everyone. I will be back on top of things at the beginning of November. My schedule has been crazy lately, as I'm getting married at the end of October. Preparations for that have kept me pretty busy. Z, the problem you're seeing is due to a regional setting, and the way that the Monster Builder exports the monster in RTF, with the numeric formatting. I'm working on a workaround for this. HenchamnNo21, could you send me the character .dnd4e files for the characters you're having that issue with? I'd like to see if I can figure out what's happening. -- DarkSir

No problem, DarkSir, and congratulations! Glad to hear from you, and especially that the delay was due to such happy circumstances. It's probably prudent to wait a bit before undertaking much on CM anyway, since it's not certain what WotC is doing next with the CB regarding Essentials and such. -- SabreCat

Congrats, Darksir! I'd be happy to send you the Character Builder files I'm having issues with. Is there an e-mail address to which I should send them? Or is there some other method you'd prefer for me to get them to you? -- HenchmanNo21

HenchmanNo21: darksir at dragonpro dot com  :) -- DarkSir

Turn Progression when current Hits 0 HP

If the monster dies while in the middle if it's turn in initiative, he is sent to the "Dead" stack in the list. While this does shift the initiative list up, it does not initiate the "Start of Turn" actions. So the recently added "Ongoing Damage Popup" does not get triggered and other effects like a readied action does not get cleared from that characters bar. One way to possibly fix this, is to have a popup that informs the DM that the monster has died, and instead of moving down to the "Dead" stack immediately, have it move after the DM presses "Next". This will also give DM's the reminder to perform any actions for the creature that happen after they reach 0 HP. ~Krewl


I believe I have this lined out with 1.7.2 -- The next turn initiates properly when the active combatant dies mid-turn. Let's see how that does. I'll be releasing 1.7.2 hopefully within the day. -- DarkSir

Character Builder now web-based tool as of November 16

Will we be able to import the data from CB after it goes web-based? --Astromath 02:11, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

WotC issued a notice today that the next release of Character Builder would be entirely web based. While there are benefits to this, it also means that character files will be saved on your Wizards account. Initially, there will not be an ability to export character builder files. So the functionality of the Combat Manager will be reduced for a while, I'm afraid. Also, they don't sound like they plan to update Monster Builder until they can put out a web based version of IT, either. -- DarkSir

Well I agree that this decision on their end makes it difficult. At least the current incarnation of it will remain, and at least the manager will allow us to input the characters manually if needed. As far as the monsters, while it may not be updated the program still works at least. So, there's that. -- Gorstagg

Ok, now that the new CB is out, I can get back into dealing with what we have to work with. I'm going to keep my hopes up that the character export options will be implemented soon. I have no doubt that the format will change somewhat when it does. Ah well, we'll deal with that as it comes. -- DarkSir

Latest Source Code?

I'm interested in looking at the source code, but it has apparently vanished since last time I was here. Is it possible to get a link to the latest source? 220.253.60.246 10:41, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Version 1.7.2

It's released. Only a few bug fixes this time. Looking at a few things that have been proposed/sent to me. The online Character Builder has a semi-hidden workaround to let you export a character to a local file. However, it isn't a complete character file, as it doesn't include the sections that the Combat Manager reads for powers and items. Hopefully, when they actually add exports, they'll leave those sections in, as I'm sure DnD4eCM isn't the only application that makes use of it. -- DarkSir

Addendum: I've had several requests to add healing surge tracking. Here's a screenshot of 1.7.3, which I'll release as soon as I've tested it a bit. I welcome any comments or thoughts.

http://www.fortsackville.com/dnd4ecm_screenshot_173.jpg

-- DarkSir

Second Window Request

I love this program it works great. However there is one request I have. Could you add a second window that displays the initiative order, HP %, as well as conditions? so you can display it to the players on a second monitor.

I would second this request. While the ability to copy the init to a clipboard is available, It would be nice to have the above information updating in real time on a second monitor.

~Ktulu

I've been mulling this over, and would like to do it, but I need some input. How much information do you guys think the window should share? Personally, as a DM, I don't always tell my players how many combatants there are at the beginning of a fight, or what their opponents are called, for example. Trying to think of a way to "control" this information a bit. I'm open to suggestions on this :) -- DarkSir

From my point of view, I think only combatants who've rolled initiative should display. Anything that's not in the active list of rolled shouldn't show up.

I think having the monster's names are ok, since it's easy enough for the DM to change the name right before rolling, or during import, or even during the building.

I would display:

  • the initiative count
  • the % of health for each creature (not the actual HP)
  • whether or not it's bloodied
  • any conditions currently affecting (both creature and player, of course).

I can't think of anything else I'd display. Have it populate in a second window, then it could be drug to a second screen for player display.

~ Ktulu

Here's my thought: A percentage could be a giveaway. I don't know about you, but my players would look at how much damage was done, figure out how much the percentage they did, and figure out the opponent's HP immediately. So how about this: Undamaged, <blank>, Bloodied, and Near Dead?

This would all be in a slightly larger font, of course, so the creature name would be on the left, then the NAMES of any status effects, comma separated, on the right.

Was also thinking about showing 10 or 12 lines. The first two lines would be the prior two turns, in a lighter grey, the Current combatant in bold black, perhaps with a box around it, then the "On Deck" combatant a bit lighter below, and then the next 6 or 8 combatants again in a lighter grey, though still readable.

I'll play with it, of course, but that's just what I'm looking at now.

--DarkSir

Initiative Window:

I second Ktulu's suggestions. Also if possible make the font re-sizable, some of my players need their eyes checked heh. If bloodied put it under conditions, but also turn the Hitpoints into bold red. Monsters that are in Reserve don't go into the window. Have a little window on the bottom right where I can type notes as reminders for the players. For the current combatant, why not use blue, same as the DM init tracker? Also for current combatant have the font for that blow up to 100% more size. The box is a good idea too.


I'd imagine it' look like this (My secondary monitor is 4:3 so not widescreen):

Player 1 Hitpoints Conditions (including bloodied) Player 2 Hitpoints Conditions (including bloodied)

-- Bryan


I think all comments above are good. a percentage isn't required, was just a thought.. I think having the monster name go red and bold when bloodied is a good enough option.

I would probably format it like this, though

Init


  • 13 Player 1 Conditions (marked, bloodied, etc..) along with the specifics (save ends, next turn, etc..)
  • 12 Monster 1 Conditions (marked, bloodied, etc..) along with the specifics (save ends, next turn, etc..)

~Ktulu

Good suggestions. Bear with me a bit, guys. For the last 5 days, I've been dealing with a busted furnace, and it's taking up most of my extra energy right now. Plus I'm likely to have to work some overtime to help pay for it, so I may not get much done REAL quick, but I'm toying with it already, so bear with me :) --DarkSir

Merry Christmas guys! Hope you got your furnace sorted out DarkSir! Best of luck!

- Bryan


No pressure, DS! Perceive our interest for the gratitude that it is! Your continued work on the builder has helped to greatly improve my combat encounters. I'll wait with anticipation for any updates that come along.

Hope the floundering furnace was fantastically fixed! Happy New Year!

~Ktulu

All great ideas. I think including a check-box menu at the top of the window with a list of things you can include/exclude from the second screen may be a good idea so the GM can keep some degree of secrecy when they want to. Another idea I had for the second screen was maybe it could list effects that are always active like the +2 to death save throws, or +2 to diplomacy checks, or any other constantly active racial or class ability/powers to help the players keep track of them. I figure it could pull this info from the character sheet when you upload it to the tracker. Hopefully your not freezing without a furnace and happy new years to you all.

~OP Sinner Dragoon.

Online Character Builder

DnD4eCM turns out to be compatible with the online character builder, now that they've included the export function.

Also, if nobody minds, I plan to go through this discussion page and remove bug reports that have been corrected and feature requests that have been fulfilled, so this area is easier to read.

--DarkSir

Spam on main page

Just a heads up, someone inserted some links to online drugs. I've gome through and removed them, but I wanted to let you know.

I saw that. I went back and reverted the page to before the spams (the bastards removed a little bit of content for their junk). --Lord Knockwood the Mad 00:30, 4 January 2011 (UTC)


They did it again. Can someone check to make sure they didnt remove anything? - Krieger

Fixed -- DarkSir

DarkSir - Is the latest version of the source available? I wanted to take a look at something. thanks - Krieger


More drug spam - reverted it again. Seems OK. Please someone double-check though. - Salen

Suggestions

I would like to request that the initiative rolls be displayed to the left of the status window. The one with "R", "Name", "Status" as headers. Next request: In the new/change window I would like to add "Trap", "Hazard", & "Puzzle" to the drop down box for monster/pc roles.--184.19.219.50 02:22, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

I like the idea of the initiative rolls being displayed. And yes, I had planned on adding better support for Traps and Hazards and the like, but honestly, completely forgot to do it. Thanks for the reminder :) -- DarkSir

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