Parse without a DDI account?

[rukkia]

I've been reading up on the Parser for the last several days trying to get a handle on it, and I'd swear I saw a write up over the course of my perusals that dealt with a way to plug text files into the parser directly without scraping from DDI.
I have no DDi account, and do the majority of my campaign data entry as text files that I am able to work on during dead moments at work or in front of the TV. I'll typically take a module worth of encounters and NPCs, text them and then copy and paste it into FGII, which has actually proven to be a surprisingly fast way of dealing with it. That said, if I can get the same results with less effort, bring it.
Does anyone know if this is a real document that I saw or a pipe dream? If it's real, any idea where I can get a copy?

Thanks

[Seran]

I don't think so, unless someone whom which has previously scraped data gives you the compendiums files. Then you could parse straight from there.

The way you could do it is get a DDI account for a month, parse all the books you want, save the leftover data (email it to yourself or some such) and you'll have it whenever you need it.

A DDI accounts pretty cheap, at least compared to what i've spent on books in the past. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to tell ya'.

I will say, it's pretty handy having every single monster/item/power etc. extract into your library in the course of 5-10 minutes.

[Zeus]

There's this guide over at the FGWiki for parsing NPC's manually.

Its a bit old but might you might find it useful.

[Crossfireue]

What are the possibilities of somebody handing over previously scraped compendiums from DDi? I also don't have an account, but I do own all the Core books. The thought of manually going through everything and adding them in is daunting, to say the least.

I'm not terribly keen on giving more money to WotC to gain access to information that I already have (only in a different form).

I'm not sure if this is bad form, but anybody out there willing to help a brother out?

Thanks!

[Zeus]

Crossfireue - I'm afraid it is indeed bad form old boy.

Distributing any official WotC content and IP violates DDI end user agreements and as such is forbidden.

Whilst their are pros/cons to the DDI subscription, I do actually advocate it as the tools (whilst slow to roll out) have been a life saver for my gaming. More recently I have been having lots of fun messing with the Monster Builder tool.

I too own most of the books released to date, but I also paid for and own the OEF PDFs (up until WotC stopped releasing them) as well as an ongoing DDI subscription. For me DDI has now become the main source for module production and I regularly re-scrape and re-parse my module collection in order to get all the errata updates.

[Jharii]

A one month DDI account costs $10. Buy it and deactivate the account. You have one month to scrape. Definitely superior than typing in the material yourself, too.

It's easily worth it. If you purchased the full version of FG (and own the books as you claim), chances are you can afford $10 for every piece of IP that Wizards offers and not just the books you own. You should be glad that Wizards allows this, too.

[Crossfireue]

Crossfireue - I'm afraid it is indeed bad form old boy.

I assumed as much, but it doesn't hurt to ask. $10 (plus exchange rate, whatever that is right now) doesn't amount to much at all for me to scrape the compendium. It's not that I can't afford it, I usually try to take the cheaper method (i.e. free) if available.

I hope that my question didn't cause too much consternation! I'll probably spring for the 1 month or 3 month subscription and attempt scraping together the core books over the weekend.

Cheers!

[Jharii]

It's well worth it.

It's tedious, but can be fun all the same. Just seeing those folders starting to fill up with data, one book at a time, editing the thumbnails to the right size... and so on.

It's geek fun, but still fun.

[Xorn]

Having a full set of parsed books from the compendium *IS* pretty breathtaking. Funny part is I rarely even use library modules.

[Jharii]

Having a full set of parsed books from the compendium *IS* pretty breathtaking. Funny part is I rarely even use library modules.

It would be nice for a more user-friendly way to create custom modules, picking and choosing parts of one and putting it into another.

I'm new to this, so don't flame me too badly in your response.