Genesys (FFG RPG) work in progress

[johniba]

Hi everyone

There will be major updates to rulesets in the end of november/start of december.
This is to let you all know I will start testing the Genesys/Star Wars rulesets against the beta build for FGUnity this week.

My intention is to have a smooth transition, as soon as FG updates the rulesets to the live build, for us to have no issues.

So this may delay things a little bit, depending on whether i find any bugs i need to fix.
The good thing is that usually I dont expect a lot of issues, since from the beginning I tried very hard not to change core stuff, and make the rulesets design following some suggestions and best practices from FG, but there are still a few parts where I had to customize.


Here is the official post:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...uleset-Updates

[mossfoot]

Hopefully all goes well

[johniba]

Hopefully all goes well

Oh yes, I can tell that I am pleased.
The only real issues I had were small.

Two error messages: one related to the customization I did on the /export window (easy to fix, I am only deciding how to make), another simple one with the module activation window.

All issues are fixed, I am only making sure I can still make this change not break FGClassic usage, and I am now adding back the stuff I did to the export window.

I am checking a few more code, but nothing is broken

The only issue is that these changes do not currently work on Live, only on the test FGU. I think Smiteworks will move this to Live in about a week, but if they delay, I can disable a couple of lines of code and release another update with some stuff i am working on

The good thind is that everyone can rest assured both rulesets are ready for the big update

[Xarax]

Thank you so much for all your work on this making all our game nights and days using Genesys and Star wars possible and future update proof.

[mossfoot]

Thank you so much for all your work on this making all our game nights and days using Genesys and Star wars possible and future update proof.

Yeah, in it's current state it's exactly what I need to make my Star Wars (and eventually Genysys) nights easy to manage. Everything you add from this point on is gravy. Sweet, sweet gravy.

[johniba]

Yeah, in it's current state it's exactly what I need to make my Star Wars (and eventually Genysys) nights easy to manage. Everything you add from this point on is gravy. Sweet, sweet gravy.

Thanks Xarax, moosfoot.
As I always say, this is all very nice. I love learning how to code on Fantasy Grounds. Sometimes I will spend long nights or weekends coding on it and I dont even see the time passing, but by far the best feeling is knowing other people are finding enjoyment on this, and that it is useful to other people.

[johniba]

So I noticed that some npcs had weapons that didn't have descriptions, even though I had a description in the database filled out. I thought maybe I needed to restore backups for it to work. So I did it after backing it up. It resulted in the sharing all records I had descriptions. Why does it do this? If it is necessary then is there away to mass un share records?

The weapon on the NPC still didn't have the description updated. Everything matched except the descriptions. How does this feature work?

I did some testing and investigation on the code and on those records, and I found out the cause of this issue.

Looking at that npc, the Aqualish Thug

Open the inventory and open that Blaster Pistol

Notice the source field says: "Edge of the Empire Core (161)"

Now, go to the items database, open the blaster pistol record, and check the source field.
It says "Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook (161)"

Here is how the restore descriptions code work:

It will compare: "type" + "name" + "source (it removes the parenthesis and numbers, so it compares the source "book" only)

So in this case, the Aqualish Thug weapon will be:
"item" + "Blaster Pistol" + "Edge of the Empire Core"

But the item in the database is:

"item" + "Blaster Pistol" + "Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook"

So the code will not match them.

One way to fix is to go back and make sure all sources in each npcs match the source name in the "main" item records in the items database, but that would consume a lot of time.

What I am thinking of doing is making the search code smarter

So, the code will first try an exact match. If that is not possible, it will try to match only "item" + "Blaster Pistol"

That I think should work. I suppose we could have a very rare case of two items with the exact same name but different descriptions, but I am not really sure this would happen....

Anyway, I am making the restore code better like described above

About the Aqualish Thug:
I noticed there are two records in the library, and I did figure it out it is because they have two different sources (one is the edge of the empire core, the other is another book) and I know you will eventually "merge" most of these records.
In the case of this npc, I am not sure if you are aware, but I noticed they have a different minion configuration. One of them has more minions per group.
So when merging duplicate records, maybe it will be a good idea to check if they are a complete match
I thought of sharing this with you, hope it is useful




About the mass sharing of records, here is a brief explanation:

There are two ways to make some records available for players.
The main method: if a library is created as a "Player" library, it means your players can go to modules, and activate it, right?
Now if the player does this... they will have access to all records in that library module.

Another way for a GM to share, is making a record public. This will share the record with the players even if they dont open a library, and indeed it is also the only way to share a record that does not belong to a library file (one that exists in the campaign only)

If the player used the first method, they will have access to the original record in the library. By this I mean that if you edit a description in lets say, a weapon from that library, it will not reflect in what the player sees.
You can fix that by sharing the record. Even if the player already has access to that record from the library, the player will now see the edited description, because you shared it.

And here is our big challenge: although I have created this feature in Genesys and Star Wars FFG rulesets to allow for editing descriptions in a way we can easly transport them to other campaigns, the player would never see the description unless you shared them... and toggling sharing is done one by one.

The workaround I found was this:

When you go to the Backup Descriptions database and click "Restore", if the code restores any descriptions to a record, it will also share it with players.
There are exceptions: it will not share the npc records (for obvious reasons, players usually should not have access to those)

I know this is probably not ideal to everyone, but it is the current workaround I found

[sevrick]

At what point is it supposed to update the record on the NPCs weapon. Is it when you backup the database? Is it when you restore it? Or is done during exporting.

I never found what you were talking about the source on the aqulish weapon being "Edge of the Empire Core (161)" and the Database being "Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook (161)".

Since I just added the descriptions manually to the aqualish thugs weapon I did a test on a completely untouched NPC.

So I tested it with a Forger in the Image below.
The 1st Holdout blaster stats is the one currently on the Forger. The 2nd one with the description is my database. You can see for yourself that everything is the same. Including the source. I backed up the database saved the campign and exported the library and still the holdout blaster in the Forgers inventory doesn't have the description. Which is why I am wondering when is the database supposed to update the npc item descriptions.

[johniba]

It what point is it supposed to update the record on the NPCs weapon. Is it when you backup the database? Is it when you restore it? Or is done during exporting.

Ok first, you click Backup. This will make a copy of all descriptions you added.
When you click Restore, it will restore all descriptions, and this is when the descriptions on items, attachments, talents etca belonging to npcs and pcs will be restored.

Trying to explain in a different way:

Imagine you have this:

- Item
Holdout Blaster -> this item has a description

- NPC Forger -> has item "Holdout Blaster"... no description

As soon as you hit RESTORE, this is what happens:

The ruleset will restore all descriptions to "main tables": items, talents, skills etca.

After that is done, it will check databases that have "child" records, like in the example.. npcs

It will get to a point it will look at the above npc, and see it has items.
It will work on each item, eventually it will look at the holdout blaster belonging to the npc
It will try to find the description from the "main" table... and if type (item) + name (holdout blaster) and source match... it will copy the description to the item inside the npc


So in your case... click restore, open the npc, see if the item has descriptions now.


Now about exporting.
When you export a campaign into a library, it will only export LOCAL records (records that were created in the campaign... NOT ones that existin modules)
Example:

Lets say you have opened your special campaign you use to generate the libraries you share with us:
- You open that campaign and edit a bunch of descriptions
- Click Backup
- click restore

Now, child records will have been updated based on descriptions you added to main records:
- npcs/pcs will have items+attachments, talents etca all with descriptions you added to main records
- items: if they have attachments, they will get descriptions from the main table for attachments

You export your library... this new library will be complete... WITH descriptions
That is an important part:
- before you export and share publicly, you will want to make sure to uncheck the "with descriptions" in the /export window



Backup/Restore descriptions work DIFFERENT for everybody else: for us using your libraries
I am hesitant to explain how this works now, afraid I could make it confusing for you, so i will explain later...


I know this is a bit confusing to understand at first.

I never found what you were talking about the source on the aqulish weapon being "Edge of the Empire Core (161)" and the Database being "Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook (161)".

Since I just added the descriptions manually to the aqualish thugs weapon I did a test on a completely untouched NPC.

So I tested it with a Forger in the Image below.
The 1st Holdout blaster stats is the one currently on the Forger. The 2nd one with the description is my database. You can see for yourself that everything is the same. Including the source. I backed up the database saved the campign and exported the library and still the holdout blaster in the Forgers inventory doesn't have the description. Which is why I am wondering when is the database supposed to update the npc item descriptions.

[sevrick]

Ok first, you click Backup. This will make a copy of all descriptions you added.
When you click Restore, it will restore all descriptions, and this is when the descriptions on items, attachments, talents etca belonging to npcs and pcs will be restored.

Trying to explain in a different way:

Imagine you have this:

- Item
Holdout Blaster -> this item has a description

- NPC Forger -> has item "Holdout Blaster"... no description

As soon as you hit RESTORE, this is what happens:

The ruleset will restore all descriptions to "main tables": items, talents, skills etca.

After that is done, it will check databases that have "child" records, like in the example.. npcs

It will get to a point it will look at the above npc, and see it has items.
It will work on each item, eventually it will look at the holdout blaster belonging to the npc
It will try to find the description from the "main" table... and if type (item) + name (holdout blaster) and source match... it will copy the description to the item inside the npc


So in your case... click restore, open the npc, see if the item has descriptions now.


Now about exporting.
When you export a campaign into a library, it will only export LOCAL records (records that were created in the campaign... NOT ones that existin modules)
Example:

Lets say you have opened your special campaign you use to generate the libraries you share with us:
- You open that campaign and edit a bunch of descriptions
- Click Backup
- click restore

Now, child records will have been updated based on descriptions you added to main records:
- npcs/pcs will have items+attachments, talents etca all with descriptions you added to main records
- items: if they have attachments, they will get descriptions from the main table for attachments

You export your library... this new library will be complete... WITH descriptions
That is an important part:
- before you export and share publicly, you will want to make sure to uncheck the "with descriptions" in the /export window



Backup/Restore descriptions work DIFFERENT for everybody else: for us using your libraries
I am hesitant to explain how this works now, afraid I could make it confusing for you, so i will explain later...


I know this is a bit confusing to understand at first.

Ok. Does restoring still share every sheet that has a description? I made that mistake once and had to go through every record in that campaign and remove sharing. If it still does I will hold off till something is in place before testing it.

One other thing while working on the Genesys typos and stuff. I decided to add a link from Parcels to the description in careers. These parcels would be filled with the starting equipment lists suggested in Realms of Terrinoth.
My question is: If I export parcels with no descriptions checked will the items in the parcels still have descriptions. I only ask this because I noticed that Items that are put into a parcel seem to be copies of the item from the data base and not referencing it.

Lastly I decided to not wait till the next Star Wars library update to release the Genesys Library fixes. I will get those out ASP. I didn't realize how much need to fixed.