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  1. #1

    2.2.0 Feature: Ruleset Extensions

    The latest update includes the support for ruleset extensions. These are technically similar to basic ruleset files. The difference is that you can activate them on top of an existing ruleset based on your needs and what is available.

    Like rulesets, all extensions are activated by the host and are selected when the campaign is chosen. Extensions are likely to be ruleset dependent, so they might not all be available for all rulesets.

    Extensions live in the "extensions" subfolder under the Fantasy Grounds II application data folder (easiest to reach though the Fantasy Grounds II start menu group). Like modules, they can be delivered as a single package with the .ext extension. Installation consists of copying the file into the aforementioned folder.

    This is a complex feature that is impossible to test for all possible configurations of custom rulesets and usage scenarios. We'd like to ask you to keep that in mind when working with extensions. Please back up your campaigns before making extensive use of extensions in running campaigns with important data.

    For development, you can also create new extensions by creating a new folder in the extension directory and placing any files in there. This is convenient when you're developing one and do not want to perform the packaging each time you make a change. There will be further documentation about this in the Ruleset Modification Guide in the library on the site, and I'll post a notification on this thread once that is ready. Ruleset reloads will reload any active extensions as well.

    For those of you eager to start experimenting on your own, attached is a very basic example extension that creates a rudimentary sheet allowing inputting of town data, compatible with the d20 ruleset. It is available both as the .ext file (town_packed.zip) and as separate source files (town_source.zip).

    Please post any questions and discussion below. I will probably not answer questions that are covered in the upcoming documentation.

    Extension friendliness in rulesets

    A word must be said about the topic of rulesets and extensibility using this new feature.

    Many current rulesets have been designed around the idea that everything the user wants to do is included in the core ruleset files. Making an extension that alters something may break another extension relying on the particular feature being the same it is in the core ruleset.

    There is a mechanism available that allows extensions to create dependency relationships between each other, and a particular ruleset version. This may help in some cases. Another option is redesigning parts of the rulesets themselves to be modular, based on templates and equipped with scripting functionality that allows extensions to hook into the core functionality of the ruleset. The d20 ruleset was modified to provide something like this for desktop icons (see desktopmanager.lua).

    Our future improvements to any rulesets will probably address this issue, at least to some extent, but we'd be happy to read discussion about this topic to see if there are any ideas you may have about particular areas where you'd like to see stronger extensibility support.
    Tero Parvinen
    Fantasy Grounds Guru

  2. #2
    Oberoten's Avatar
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    Okay. With fully updated FG, I still can't get the Extensions to load or even show up.

    The subfolders name should be extensions, right? A minor gripe about the update not creating this, maybe?
    For your Ars Magica needs :
    https://fgrepository.com




    Atque in perpetuum frater, Ave atque vale.

  3. #3
    Yeah, me too i had to create the folder myself for the ext. to work...
    Religion is an insult to human dignity.
    With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.
    But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion...

  4. #4
    I managed to replicate this on one of our test machines. It seemed to be Vista specific in that case. The d20.pak file was, for some reason, stored in the Vista VirtualStore, and kept overriding the patched file in the FG2 program folder.

    If this happens, and you are on Vista, go to C:\Users\[your-user-name]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files and delete the Fantasy Grounds II folder in that location. You should be fine after that. If not, try rerunning the update to make sure the d20.pak file under program files is ok.

    The reason the extension isn't showing up is the minimum ruleset release version requirement. The overiding ruleset in VirtualStore is not satisfying this requirement.

    Let me know if this solves it for you, we'll investigate the reasons behind this happening in the first place.
    Tero Parvinen
    Fantasy Grounds Guru

  5. #5
    Oberoten's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goblin-King
    I managed to replicate this on one of our test machines. It seemed to be Vista specific in that case. The d20.pak file was, for some reason, stored in the Vista VirtualStore, and kept overriding the patched file in the FG2 program folder.

    If this happens, and you are on Vista, go to C:\Users\[your-user-name]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files and delete the Fantasy Grounds II folder in that location. You should be fine after that. If not, try rerunning the update to make sure the d20.pak file under program files is ok.

    The reason the extension isn't showing up is the minimum ruleset release version requirement. The overiding ruleset in VirtualStore is not satisfying this requirement.

    Let me know if this solves it for you, we'll investigate the reasons behind this happening in the first place.

    Eh... I am running XP and I also created the folders by hand. Still no dice so to say.
    For your Ars Magica needs :
    https://fgrepository.com




    Atque in perpetuum frater, Ave atque vale.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Oberoten
    Eh... I am running XP and I also created the folders by hand. Still no dice so to say.
    The first thing to try would be to remove the <minrelease>12</minrelease> line in the extension.xml file and see if this brings it up on the list. If this doesn't work, could you run the d20unpak utility, and check the base.xml file generated in the examples/rulesets/d20 folder, see if its <root> element has an attribute release="12". If you can't see one, your d20.pak isn't updating properly for some reason.
    Tero Parvinen
    Fantasy Grounds Guru

  7. #7
    So, is the code that supports this in the .exe upgrade, or spread out in the scripts and xml? I edited the source and replaced 'd20' with 'my ruleset name', zipped it, then renamed it to .ext and copied it to the dir (with the sample that does work in d20). It didn't show.

    Edit: I was posting when you wrote the above post. If I do that, it shows in the list, but does nothing in game.

    Can you make the
    <ruleset>
    <name>WFRP2</name>
    </ruleset>
    blank, or leave it out or something and make it generic to all rulesets?
    Last edited by nezzir; September 12th, 2008 at 20:55.
    Ultimate License
    Rulesets by NezziR:
    WFRP2 for FGI, WFRP2 for FGII, Dark Heresy for FGII,
    Savage Fallout for FGII and Savage Worlds, FGII help mod.


    https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/fgvtt/files

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by nezzir
    So, is the code that supports this in the .exe upgrade, or spread out in the scripts and xml? I edited the source and replaced 'd20' with 'my ruleset name', zipped it, then renamed it to .ext and copied it to the dir (with the sample that does work in d20). It didn't show.
    It's in the program upgrade. What you did should work, even if it didn't actually do anything really once you start up. If you didn't remove the <minrelease> element when you did the edit, it would not work (because the ruleset probably doesn't include a release attribute).

    Edit: I was writing when you were editing... yes you can leave it out and make it generic. Creating something that would look decent with all the various graphic and naming schemes present in different rulesets would be a challenge, but it could be an option for a general purpose script library for example.
    Tero Parvinen
    Fantasy Grounds Guru

  9. #9
    Yeah, I'm getting a console error. I think there may be some code needed from d20:

    Script Error: [string "towninit]:1: attempt to index global 'DesktopManager' [a nil value]

    I've changed the ruleset/name variable to match my ruleset and deleted the minirelease section.
    Ultimate License
    Rulesets by NezziR:
    WFRP2 for FGI, WFRP2 for FGII, Dark Heresy for FGII,
    Savage Fallout for FGII and Savage Worlds, FGII help mod.


    https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/fgvtt/files

  10. #10
    There is a mechanism available that allows extensions to create dependency relationships between each other, and a particular ruleset version. This may help in some cases. Another option is redesigning parts of the rulesets themselves to be modular, based on templates and equipped with scripting functionality that allows extensions to hook into the core functionality of the ruleset. The d20 ruleset was modified to provide something like this for desktop icons (see desktopmanager.lua).
    Nezzir according to the above the desktop manager is now different than in the base d20 ruleset. This file needs to be rolled into your ruleset (and maybe other supporting XMLs) to get the example to work.

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