iPlay4e integration

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Stitched
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iPlay4e integration

Post by Stitched »

I know that this has probably been talked about before but Masterplan announced that they now have direct integration of iPlay4e directly in their 4e Campaign/Map tool.

If people showed interest, I am wondering if the same integration could be achieved inside Maptool ?

It sure would make PC token creation a lot easier.

I like the fact that I can manage my character sheet directly in the interface, without any importing on tokens, data entry, or other hacks to get things to work.

If I sound cranky, it's because I gave up trying to set my character up to play Dark Awakening Solo using Veggie's framework; which, while easy to use, ended up being slower than printing out my character sheet with all it's powers and using Maptool just as a battlemat.

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Rumble
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Rumble »

The 1.3 code base does not, I believe, have any mechanism to "link out" to other sources like that. However, there are a number of us MapTool gearheads - prompted by JamesManhattan's work on a parser for monsters - that have created "importing" capability for their frameworks. Basically, you paste in a power, a character sheet, or a monster, and it is converted into a token for the appropriate framework (there's even one for Veggie's framework).

If you check out User Creations, you'll see a stickied thread about pasting a PDF and getting a token, and stuff like that. So far as I know, my framework, Veggie's, and DeviantNull's all have importing capability now to some extent; I know someone is doing something very similar for RPTroll's Savage Worlds framework; and JamesManhattan's original importer creates tokens that use a basic framework that is very fast and lightweight.

For future versions, I'd love to have it integrate with the various tools like iPlay4e, DDI, MasterPlan, etc., but I don't know if that's on the roadmap.

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Stitched
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Stitched »

Hi Rumble,

Thanks for pointing out the token tools. Much obliged.

I guess as a DDI subscriber, being able to import my character sheets and monsters directly in to other tools, I wanted something similiar in Maptools.

Now, it looks like that's becoming a reality. Read somewhere that WoTC change the XML code on a regular basis. Hope it doesn't muck up everything.

BTW - I ended up playing and finishing "Dark Awakenings". I may not have had a token for my PC but the created Splugg and all the monsters and maps worked like a treat.

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Rumble
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Rumble »

Stitched wrote:Hi Rumble,

Thanks for pointing out the token tools. Much obliged.

I guess as a DDI subscriber, being able to import my character sheets and monsters directly in to other tools, I wanted something similiar in Maptools.

Now, it looks like that's becoming a reality. Read somewhere that WoTC change the XML code on a regular basis. Hope it doesn't muck up everything.

BTW - I ended up playing and finishing "Dark Awakenings". I may not have had a token for my PC but the created Splugg and all the monsters and maps worked like a treat.

I don't think the XML code is necessary, actually - the importers work on raw (and ugly!) pasted text. Now, if they change the format of the character sheets, that would be an issue.

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Stitched
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Stitched »

Hi Rumble,

I tried the Character/PC token import and had all sorts of errors. Not sure if it's related to the DDI character sheet format, the way different PDF exporters save data (CutePDF, etc.), or the version of Maptools I am using.

In either case, I get weird characters when I paste; like the Registered Trademark symbol "(R)", squares, etc.

Following James instructions but something doesn't work...

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Rumble
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Rumble »

I can't really help much on that end - I only know that James' token does it, but I'm not sure how. Mine is so heavily customized for my framework that it wouldn't really apply.

Warderbrad
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Warderbrad »

I am looking at starting a campaign and thought it would be nice to be able to have the health bars reflect the Hit Points in Iplay4e. How do you get the program to pull this type of info from an outside source?

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Rumble
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by Rumble »

As mentioned earlier in the thread, MapTool can't do that - it has no means to get information from an outside source except for cutting and pasting text.

andrew.reutter
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Re: iPlay4e integration

Post by andrew.reutter »

Warderbrad wrote:I am looking at starting a campaign and thought it would be nice to be able to have the health bars reflect the Hit Points in Iplay4e. How do you get the program to pull this type of info from an outside source?
I can't really speak to Maptool's functionality, but will respond to your question about retrieval from iplay4e that you posted on our google group. In short: not just yet, but it's in the works. More details on the group.

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