Minty23185Fresh

This time I’ll jump right in, create an extension, then slowly add more and more functionality to it. I’ll explain, as I go along, what I am doing, and why. Plus I’ll explore solutions to problems as they arise. It is quite a bit to bite off so this will assuredly require multiple blog posts.

First, to clean things up: in previous blogs I edited some of the ruleset files. I was exploring what the consequences were when certain changes are made to the ruleset files. I want to start with a clean development environment, so I’ll restore all the files to their original condition. To do this I’ll delete my development 5E and CoreRPG folders in the rulesets subfolder of the FG data directory. Then I’ll create new development folders using the procedures detailed in “Share the Battlemap” (blog number 4).

To create the extension I’ll refer to the Extensions section of the Ruleset Modification Guide. As explained in the Guide, I need to create a folder in the extensions sub folder of the Fantasy Grounds data directory. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll name the folder EffectVisibilityFor5E. Then, again as detailed in the Guide, I’ll create an extension.xml file. I’ll start with a minimum number of elements for now.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
 
<root release="3.0" version="3">
  <properties>
    <name>Effect Visibility Extension Project</name>
  </properties>
  <announcement text="5E Effect Visibility Extension"/>
  <base>
    <!-- Leave the base blank for now, test other functionality, e.g. -->
    <!-- (1) FG “sees” my extension -->
    <!-- (2) when started announcement appears in chat -->
  </base>
</root>

After saving my extension.xml file, I invoke Fantasy Grounds and create a new campaign called Effect Visibility. I leave the Username blank and choose the 5E ruleset. When I select the ruleset, the <name> as I defined it in my .xml file should appear as one of the selectable Extensions (as shown in this screenshot).

Attachment 14218

After clicking “Start” I look for the <announcement> in the Chat box (as shown in this screenshot):

Attachment 14219

Success and success!

I realize this post is short. In actuality I’m amazed I was able to even get this much done as I’m traveling in Andalusia. Hasta luego!

Until next time keep on role playing.