Engineer Suite

[Maasq]

MOD: This project is no longer active. Please see posts;
110, 119 and 137

Engineer Suite
A windows program designed to facilitate the process of getting data into Fantasy Grounds.

Website: Engineer Suite
Discord channel: Engineer Suite
Issue tracker: Engineer Suite

Engineer Suite.jpg
Engineer Suite ties NPC Engineer, Spell Engineer, Table Engineer, project management and the parsing engine together into one framework. All future releases in the series will also be tied into this framework, with the current one under development being Equipment Engineer. There are several advantages - tighter integration of packages, reuse of shared code makes maintenance easier, and easier updating for users.

There are 3 complete modules, one in whatever-the-letter-before-alpha-is state, the project management module, and the parsing module (which is largely invisible until you click 'create module').

NPC Engineer

• Enable the import of NPCs from a variety of sources (PDFs, D&D Beyond, CritterDB, RPG Tinker and others);
• Edit the imported information;
• Parse to produce a bestiary module for Fantasy Grounds;
• Export to a variety of formats, including RTF for MS Word, BBCode and HTML.

It is also possible to create NPCs from scratch, save them individually, save to an NPC file for later parsing, and export to a NPC file suitable for other parsers.
Images and tokens are handled as smoothly as possible - both are copied to the correct directory and renamed properly to make the process of building a bestiary as quick and as accurate as possible.

The module file produced has a library section which mimics the Monster Manual, and NPCs import spell information automatically when opened or added to the combat tracker (assuming you have the source book required open). All NPC functions are fully supported - Actions, Legendary Actions, Lair Actions, Spellcasting and so on.NPCs created with NPC Engineer are 3.3.4 (and later) ready - spell slots will automatically populate.

A reference manual can be created automatically for your NPCs.

The many tool-tips and (hopefully) clear layout should guide you through the process.

NPC Engineer 1 - Main Screen.jpg

Spell Engineer

• Enable the import of spells from a variety of sources (PDFs, D&D Beyond and others);
• Edit the imported information;
• Parse to produce a codex module for Fantasy Grounds;
• Export to a variety of formats, including RTF for MS Word, BBCode and HTML.

It is also possible to create spells from scratch, and save them individually to a Spell file for later parsing.
The module file produced has a library section which mimics the Player's Handbook.

Spell Engineer 1.jpg


Table Engineer

• Paste tables from MS Excel, Google Sheets, MS Word;
• Edit imported information;
• Easily include links to other tables (or other items);
• Make table entries such as '1d6 trolls' rollable with the click of a button;
• Parse to produce a module for Fantasy Grounds;
• It is also possible to create tables from scratch, and save them individually to a Table file for later parsing.

Table Engineer.jpg

Equipment Engineer

• Enable the import of equipment from a variety of sources (PDFs, D&D Beyond and others);
• Edit the imported information;
• Parse to produce a catalog module for Fantasy Grounds;
• Export to a variety of formats, including RTF for MS Word, BBCode and HTML.

It is also possible to create equipment from scratch, and save individually to an Equipment file for later parsing.

The current build is 0.5.29 (release date 6 August 2019), and can be found on the Engineer Suite website. The FG forums don't allow exe uploads, and the installer is an exe.

Maasq

[Maasq]

Engineer Suite
==============
UPDATED: Links to tables enabled throughout the Suite.
UPDATED: Link menu reorganised - the first menu entry lets you insert a link from a set of cascading menus. Far easier than before!
UPDATED: Adding links to parcels and items is now enabled throughout the Suite. It will remain fiddly until I build Item Engineer and Parcel Engineer.
UPDATED: The right-click menu for inserting links sets the caret at the point you right click, putting it in line with Word etc.
FIXED: Strange link error spotted and fixed. I hope.
FIXED: Blank submenus no longer crash the application.


NPC Engineer
============
NEW: The 'Import' window will remember its position when you reopen it. It stores the last position between sessions too. If you need to reset it, close it while its left edge is off the left side of the screen.
UPDATED: Some minor changes to the top of the 'Base Stats' tab the 'Gender', 'Unique' and 'Name' fields have moved to the right and other fields have had their width changed for cosmetic reasons. 'Type' is now full-width to allow for the swarms (see below) and 'Tag' is on its own line.
UPDATED: The 'Type' list now includes 'trap'.
UPDATED: Swarms should be picked up correctly on import, and have been added to the 'Type' box.
UPDATED: Weapons can be tagged as 'Versatile'. This will increase the hit die by 1 class for 2-handed use, and this should suffice for most use cases. If something different is required the 'other text' box can be used.
FIXED (0.5.16): An issue with the above addition.
FIXED: Editing an NPC from the CTRL-M entry now properly reloads the 'NoID' field.
FIXED: In actions, weapon hit die with 2 digits (d10, d12, d20) were not being read properly when edited. This has been dealt with for damage, bonus damage and ranged damage.
FIXED: 'Sahuagin' was mis-spelled in the languages box, meaning it wasn't being tagged properly. Fixed. Check any of your NPCs with this language selected as they'll need to have it re-selected. Sorry!
FIXED: If 'Add Descriptive Text' was NOT selected but Reference Manual output was, an XML error cropped up in the FG Module. This has been fixed and will now work as intended.

Spell Engineer
==============
NEW: The 'Import' window will remember its position when you reopen it. It stores the last position between sessions too. If you need to reset it, close it while its left edge is off the left side of the screen.
FIXED: An issue with imports where non-standard capitalisation was being ignored.
FIXED: Rogue commas in the caster list and a memory leak that this could cause have been sorted.
FIXED: 'Clear all casters' now correctly clears the user list too.

Table Engineer
==============
NEW: The GUI is now active. You can build tables. You can even save and load them.
NEW: You can add links in table cells in the same way that you can in NPC/Spell Engineer. There is an 'Information' menu entry all about links, so please read it before telling me how broken things are. Once you have RTFM and still think they are broken, I'm happy to listen
NEW: Ranges calculated & shown for 3 roll methods.
NEW: An 'Add Notes' button has been added to allow the entry of formatted text for the 'Notes' tab in FG. This is written in such a way that I can add it with a single line of code, vastly simplifying the upkeep as the number of sections of the Suite increase.
NEW: 3 roll methods allowed for: 'Based on table values' (min and max values taken from data in the table) 'Preset range' (min and max values set in advance), 'Custom dice roll' (you set ranges based on a number of dice - examples are 2d8 or 1d6+1d8 to give probability curves).
NEW: Lock tables checkbox added. This should be left checked unless you want your tables to open up in edit mode in FG.
NEW: Added two buttons: 'Text Dice' and 'Rollable Dice'. This refers to entries in your table that read '1d6 orcs' or the like. 'Rollable dice' converts all statements like this to read '[1d6] orcs' and this makes the entry rollable in FG - when this result is chosen by dice roll then it will send '4 orcs' to chat rather than 1d6 orcs. 'Text dice' removes all the square brackets should you need to.
NEW: Tables now parse into a module along with spells, NPCs, images and tokens. The parsing may require tweaking as I add features but in my testing it seems robust.
NEW: Links to other tables parse, allowing for nested tables.
NEW: Rows & columns can be cleared via the right-click menu.
NEW: Rows & columns can be inserted via the right-click menu.
NEW: Rows & columns can be deleted via the right-click menu.
NEW: The whole table can be cleared via the right-click menu.
NEW: Paste from Spreadsheet (Excel and Google Sheets tested) or word processor table (Word; NOT Google Docs. It doesn't use tabs to delineate). Dice cells ignore non-numerical (or blank) cells.
NEW: Table increases in size to accomodate pasted data.
UPDATED:The 'From' and 'To' cells only accept numerical information (or being blank). I'm not totally happy with what happens when you try to insert text but I can't find an easy fix. Just don't do it and we'll all be happier.
UPDATED: Some GUI changes to allow for some more options.
UPDATED: 'Previous table' and 'next table' buttons are enabled.
UPDATED: 'Manage tables (CTRL-M)' enabled. This is only for deleting tables. Editing is proving problematic and will be added at a later date. hopefully this isn't something you need to do often anyway as you save your tables
FIXED: Rogue spaces appeared in the RichText table. Even though they never affected the output they were still offputting. This has been sorted.
FIXED: Data remained in 'deleted' cells when reducing a table size. The cells are now properly deleted.

Equipment Engineer
==================

[Zacchaeus]

I suppose you’ll want me to change the stickies AGAIN! PM me so I don’t forget

[dmbrown]

These look great, but I run a Mac. I tried running it on Crossover but no go. Has anyone been able to get these to work through wine?

[Maasq]

I don't know how much luck you'll have, as there are a lot of Windows calls.
It would be interesting to hear if anyone on Mac or Linux has this running through WINE.

Sorry I can't be of more help here.

Maasq

[KlatuB]

Maasq,

I downloaded the zip version of Engineer Suite, I can load the program and get to the main menu, but when I click on either icon I get the below, also after clicking OK the program looks like it is closed but the process is still running.

[Maasq]

Ah, the dll didn't update in the zip for some reason. I'll rebuild the zip and post it in the morning. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Maasq

[KlatuB]

No problem, at least is was an easy fix

[dmbrown]

Thanks Maasq. It is the thought that counts.

[Maasq]

Maasq,

Good day! Another question...the Shadow (SRD Creature) has Stealth +4, +6 in dim light or darkness. Any way to add (Stealth +6 in dim light and darkness) to the skills area of the Engineer?

Thanks,

GBFF

I didn't know such creatures existed. Is this rare? Unique? I wonder if the mighty Zacchaeus can help out here, or some of the other gurus?
Basically, is this something I need to allow for, or is this a one off?

The way I have NPC Engineer set up this would require a lot of work to enable, although there may be ways to mitigate some of the work (right-click the skill to add further text rather than add new GUI elements). Let me hear from people how commonplace this is before I plan too much into how I am going to fix it. I will fix it, though.

Maasq