I'm not a big fan of the default naming system for the character files, et al. The whole Char0, Char1 thing.

Can't even rename the file because when I go to save in the character builder, the save just creates another generic file and ignores the renamed one.

Makes it all very confusing when organizing my stuff and/or distributing files...

Ok, so using the GM Tools > Encounters, I went to print out an NPC sheet for my game's end-boss (I'm hoping once they reach him, it'll take all four of them to take him down - so he's got a lot of skills and talents and gear)... and it wouldn't load the print preview page.

Through troubleshooting, I found that if a single character sheet (Attributes, Skills, Talents and Equipment) is longer than one page, it won't work.

It doesn't give any error, but the print preview window takes a longer-than-usual time to load, then it just shows a blank white page. The top strip of tools (Print Document; Page Setup; Zoom...) is still there and using the close button works, but the page is blank and the Current Page Number box says 1 (and it is "of 1").

If I change the Sheet Style, it will sometimes crash (Parameter not found), or -more often- it will load a page with Encounter, Campaign, Adventure, Location information... and a full-page sized Notes box... and say it's page 1 of # (I've seen 21 - 52) and all of those pages are the exact same as the first.

If at any point I try to go through with the printing (tested by printing to PDF using DoPDF), it will print the same thing. If there were other minions or rivals before, then they show up on the first few printed pages properly, then where the end boss would be, the page-sized NOTES picks up for 20-something to 50-something pages.

I've taken gear and talents down to make him fit exactly on one page and it all works properly again. As soon as I add just one talent, gear, information, etc that would put him over a single page, it stopps working again.

All this happens whether it's just my end boss only or if it's him, some minions, rivals and other stuff.

Adversaries will split at the count (for rivals), and rosters will split at position and gunners, but if any one section that doesn't split is over a page long, weird things can happen So, you'll need to keep the description part of adversaries under a page.

OggDude,

First, thank you for creating such a wonderful character generator, me and every one of my players love using it. Now on to the problem...

Recently replaced my aging HP printer with a Brother, but now when I attempt to use print preview a Unhandled Exception occurs. I get two options, cancel or continue; if I continue then the print preview is blank and the select printer icon is grayed out. The character generator is still trying access the HP printer, but I already removed the software/drivers and set the Brother as the default. Just to test I was able to successfully use MS Word and Adobe just fine with the new printer.

Toubleshooting Steps

1. Used the character generator launcher to clear cache; wasn't successful.

2. Deleted program and associated files under ...\AppData\Roaming\SWCharGen then did a clean install using the latest download, created a test character; wasn't successful

Are there other locations that the software might be storing the printer information? Hoping you might have some idea what might be going on, would be very disappointing to not be able to use your software.

Thank you.

I think what's causing this is that when it saves your printer page settings, it's also saving the name of the printer as well. When you go to print, I believe it's assuming that this printer still exists, which it doesn't.

Could you show me the first 10 or 20 lines in the call stack that's displayed with the error? That should help me narrow down where the problem is occurring.

To get it to work right now, try removing the user settings for the app. First, open a Windows Explorer window and go to "C:\Users\<your login name>\AppData\Local\SWCharGen". You'll probably need to type this in, since by default, "AppData" is hidden. You're going to see a bunch of weirdly-named folders in there starting with the name of one of the executables. These folders contain the user settings for your apps, such as default window location, print page size, etc. Depending on how long you're been using the apps, you may see a whole bunch of folders in here.

The easiest thing to do is just delete all of those weirdly-named folders. They all just contain user settings, and most of them probably aren't even being used anymore (it doesn't delete old settings when a new version is installed). Keep in mind that it'll cause the apps to resort to their default settings, so don't be surprised if, say, "Full Color" is once again selected instead of "Simplified", or that your windows need to be expanded a bit to see the entire vehicle editor.

1) Here's the error text you requested...

************** Exception Text **************

System.Drawing.Printing.InvalidPrinterException: Settings to access printer 'HP Universal Printing PS (v5.2)' are not valid.

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings.GetHdevmodeInternal(String printer)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings.get_ExtraBytes()

at System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings.CopyToHdevmode(IntPtr hdevmode)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings.GetHdevmode(PageSettings pageSettings)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrintController.OnStartPrint(PrintDocument document, PrintEventArgs e)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PreviewPrintController.OnStartPrint(PrintDocument document, PrintEventArgs e)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrintController.Print(PrintDocument document)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument.Print()

at CoolPrintPreview.CoolPrintPreviewControl.RefreshPreview()

at CoolPrintPreview.CoolPrintPreviewControl.set_Document(PrintDocument value)

at CoolPrintPreview.CoolPrintPreviewDialog.OnShown(EventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CallShownEvent()

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackDo(ThreadMethodEntry tme)

2) Deleted the folders you suggested and it's now printing again!

Many thanks!

Cool, I'll try replicating the issue.

I'm not a big fan of the default naming system for the character files, et al. The whole Char0, Char1 thing.

Can't even rename the file because when I go to save in the character builder, the save just creates another generic file and ignores the renamed one.

Makes it all very confusing when organizing my stuff and/or distributing files...

You shouldn't be modifying those files directly. If you want to copy characters or move them around to different installations, use the Import, Export, and Copy buttons.

1) Here's the error text you requested...

************** Exception Text **************

System.Drawing.Printing.InvalidPrinterException: Settings to access printer 'HP Universal Printing PS (v5.2)' are not valid.

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings.GetHdevmodeInternal(String printer)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings.get_ExtraBytes()

at System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings.CopyToHdevmode(IntPtr hdevmode)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings.GetHdevmode(PageSettings pageSettings)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrintController.OnStartPrint(PrintDocument document, PrintEventArgs e)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PreviewPrintController.OnStartPrint(PrintDocument document, PrintEventArgs e)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrintController.Print(PrintDocument document)

at System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument.Print()

at CoolPrintPreview.CoolPrintPreviewControl.RefreshPreview()

at CoolPrintPreview.CoolPrintPreviewControl.set_Document(PrintDocument value)

at CoolPrintPreview.CoolPrintPreviewDialog.OnShown(EventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CallShownEvent()

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackDo(ThreadMethodEntry tme)

2) Deleted the folders you suggested and it's now printing again!

Many thanks!

Cool, I'll try replicating the issue.

2) Deleted the folders you suggested and it's now printing again!

Many thanks!

The last printer that you used was, indeed, saved with the printer settings. The print preview dialog will now check to see if the saved printer is valid. If it is not, it'll be replaced with the default printer. This should avoid the error you got by removing the last used printer from your system.

So the superior armor customization mod doesn't seem to be adding +1 soak, at least not to the laminate and battle armor that I tried adding it to. Can anyone else verify?

So the superior armor customization mod doesn't seem to be adding +1 soak, at least not to the laminate and battle armor that I tried adding it to. Can anyone else verify?

Did you equip the armor?

Yes, I tried it equipped and held, as well as only checking one or the other.

Yes, I tried it equipped and held, as well as only checking one or the other.

Well, I just tried it and it did raise soak by 1. This was on a new character. Soak is 2 without anything, 4 with heavy battle armor, and 5 with heavy battle armor with superior attachment.

DOH, nevermind. It looks like it was a PEBKAC issue. Math is hard...

All is working as expected. Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

More special thanks go out to Sean Masters and Everett Johnson for their generous donations! You guys are great, thanks a bunch!

oggdude,

No problem, I have paid more for programs I end up never using.

Sean

Two little errors.

1) the Trast A-A5 Heavy Speeder truck has it's Silhouette listed as 4, it should be 3.

2) I think the Selonian picture is incorect; It looks like a picture of two Farghul, the other pictures I've seen of Selonians look more like Ferrets or Otters (except in SoF, where they have more feline characteristics).

I'm really impressed and pleased with this character generator. It just goes to show what you can do in .NET if you've got the programming chops, and Oggy obviously does.

(So...um...how do I donate?)

I'm really impressed and pleased with this character generator. It just goes to show what you can do in .NET if you've got the programming chops, and Oggy obviously does.

(So...um...how do I donate?)

There's a donate button at the top of the character generator, near the Save, Print, and Option buttons.

And thank you VERY MUCH for the support

Is it possible to merge custom data files? I've made a few new items in my custom data. And a friend as gone ahead and filled out the descriptions for every item. Is it possible to merge all that data without loosing any of the items I've made?

If this is not currently a feature could it be fleshed out so that I can see the differences between the two files and choose what to merge.

Thanks

Is it possible to merge custom data files? I've made a few new items in my custom data. And a friend as gone ahead and filled out the descriptions for every item. Is it possible to merge all that data without loosing any of the items I've made?

If this is not currently a feature could it be fleshed out so that I can see the differences between the two files and choose what to merge.

Thanks

Both of you can just export the data sets containing the changes, then import each others export. For better control of what you're importing or exporting, the changes can first be added to a named data set, rather than just using the default data set, using move/copy mode. The documentation explains how to do this.

This application you made sounds very cool, but I have a Mac. I have a WinXP VM running on Parallels though....will it run in XP?

This application you made sounds very cool, but I have a Mac. I have a WinXP VM running on Parallels though....will it run in XP?

As long as your OS supports .NET Framework 4.0, you shouldn't have a problem.

Wow, three big thank-you's go out to DW Bennett, Steven Law, and "Long Tail" for their donations! Thanks guys!

Is it possible to merge custom data files? I've made a few new items in my custom data. And a friend as gone ahead and filled out the descriptions for every item. Is it possible to merge all that data without loosing any of the items I've made?

If this is not currently a feature could it be fleshed out so that I can see the differences between the two files and choose what to merge.

Thanks

Both of you can just export the data sets containing the changes, then import each others export. For better control of what you're importing or exporting, the changes can first be added to a named data set, rather than just using the default data set, using move/copy mode. The documentation explains how to do this.

When I export the zip files the importer doesn't see them. Is the builder not compatible with winrar? Even when I say show all files and click on the export zip it says it not a valid file.

First off, this app is FANTASTIC and your efforts are greatly appreciated!

I understand you have the character sheet split up among four different pages (by default, more data = more pages). However, I notice a lot of space taken up by the "NOTES" sections that may or may not be used. If there is no data in the NOTES sections, can that be turned off and data from a following page float up to take it's place?

What I do now is print to a PDF, open the PDF in Photoshop and just manually removed the notes sections I don't use then move over data from another page. This makes a 3 page character sheet with all the same data that is included in your 4 page layout. That one page difference doesn't seem like a lot until you have stacks of multiple characters from multiple players.

I do not know how hard it would be to make a dynamic layout where you can choose to include or exclude certain sections. Having the option to exclude the NOTES or only have the Header on the first page, would be nice options to have if it would automatically move up data from subsequent pages to fill the gaps.

The wet dream scenario would be to have a pre-print interface with all sections floatable so that if you want your TALENTS on page 1, you could turn the notes off on that page then drag the Talents section over from page 3. Maybe change the size of sections or put things side by side (the current layout has Motivations and Obligations on top of each other when they fit nicely side by side, at least for the characters I have made.)

Again, I love the program and do not mean this as a critique in any way. I just thought I would throw out the idea and see if it was something you were interested in. Manually modifying the pages to the extent I do is more my OCD thing but I thought some other people might appreciate at least removing sections that aren't being used.

THANKS AGAIN!

(EDIT: I can email you examples of what I mean, if you want.)

Is it possible to merge custom data files? I've made a few new items in my custom data. And a friend as gone ahead and filled out the descriptions for every item. Is it possible to merge all that data without loosing any of the items I've made?

If this is not currently a feature could it be fleshed out so that I can see the differences between the two files and choose what to merge.

Thanks

Both of you can just export the data sets containing the changes, then import each others export. For better control of what you're importing or exporting, the changes can first be added to a named data set, rather than just using the default data set, using move/copy mode. The documentation explains how to do this.

When I export the zip files the importer doesn't see them. Is the builder not compatible with winrar? Even when I say show all files and click on the export zip it says it not a valid file.

I just tried an export and Windows was able to see what was in it just fine. I'm not sure about WinRAR, but it should just be a standard ZIP archive.

It looks like the import has some issues when it comes to importing the default data set (DataCustom). Try adding your changes into a named data set and doing it again. It should work.

First off, this app is FANTASTIC and your efforts are greatly appreciated!

I understand you have the character sheet split up among four different pages (by default, more data = more pages). However, I notice a lot of space taken up by the "NOTES" sections that may or may not be used. If there is no data in the NOTES sections, can that be turned off and data from a following page float up to take it's place?

What I do now is print to a PDF, open the PDF in Photoshop and just manually removed the notes sections I don't use then move over data from another page. This makes a 3 page character sheet with all the same data that is included in your 4 page layout. That one page difference doesn't seem like a lot until you have stacks of multiple characters from multiple players.

I do not know how hard it would be to make a dynamic layout where you can choose to include or exclude certain sections. Having the option to exclude the NOTES or only have the Header on the first page, would be nice options to have if it would automatically move up data from subsequent pages to fill the gaps.

The wet dream scenario would be to have a pre-print interface with all sections floatable so that if you want your TALENTS on page 1, you could turn the notes off on that page then drag the Talents section over from page 3. Maybe change the size of sections or put things side by side (the current layout has Motivations and Obligations on top of each other when they fit nicely side by side, at least for the characters I have made.)

Again, I love the program and do not mean this as a critique in any way. I just thought I would throw out the idea and see if it was something you were interested in. Manually modifying the pages to the extent I do is more my OCD thing but I thought some other people might appreciate at least removing sections that aren't being used.

THANKS AGAIN!

(EDIT: I can email you examples of what I mean, if you want.)

The reason I have them as separate pages is because each page has its own header, followed by variable-sized information. I could make it all one continuous sheet, but it might look kind of funny, and you could end up with the header block at the bottom of a page.

If other people are interested in having this as an option, I could look into adding it.

First off, this app is FANTASTIC and your efforts are greatly appreciated!

I understand you have the character sheet split up among four different pages (by default, more data = more pages). However, I notice a lot of space taken up by the "NOTES" sections that may or may not be used. If there is no data in the NOTES sections, can that be turned off and data from a following page float up to take it's place?

What I do now is print to a PDF, open the PDF in Photoshop and just manually removed the notes sections I don't use then move over data from another page. This makes a 3 page character sheet with all the same data that is included in your 4 page layout. That one page difference doesn't seem like a lot until you have stacks of multiple characters from multiple players.

I do not know how hard it would be to make a dynamic layout where you can choose to include or exclude certain sections. Having the option to exclude the NOTES or only have the Header on the first page, would be nice options to have if it would automatically move up data from subsequent pages to fill the gaps.

The wet dream scenario would be to have a pre-print interface with all sections floatable so that if you want your TALENTS on page 1, you could turn the notes off on that page then drag the Talents section over from page 3. Maybe change the size of sections or put things side by side (the current layout has Motivations and Obligations on top of each other when they fit nicely side by side, at least for the characters I have made.)

Again, I love the program and do not mean this as a critique in any way. I just thought I would throw out the idea and see if it was something you were interested in. Manually modifying the pages to the extent I do is more my OCD thing but I thought some other people might appreciate at least removing sections that aren't being used.

THANKS AGAIN!

(EDIT: I can email you examples of what I mean, if you want.)

I think there is something you can do in OggDude's application that should work.

I wanted a single page character sheet so I went into the GM tools - Encounter Builder and then added my character to an encounter (I also added the ship) and then I printed out the encounter without initiative tracker (and I included vehicle). That gives a one page character sheet, but does not list the skills you don't have trained.

Another sweet thing in the app is also in the GM tools. If you click on the player character in the Adversaries window and they select the 'Stat Block' button in the lower right hand corner it gives a clean looking stat block. I added a picture of the character as a background and then saved it as a .png file.