Eberron World and Planar Calendar Utility [Archive] - Wizards Community

Eberron World and Planar Calendar Utility [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
chimpman
11-29-04, 01:33 AM This is very cool. I've been waiting for this tool since the planar orrery. Check it out! They even threw in phases of the moons.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebwe/20041129a
Hellcow
11-29-04, 02:03 AM Please note that this tool is an optional aid for DMs who want to use it; it should not be considered canon material, and the dates listed for planar conjunctions will not necessarily coincide with events presented in novels or adventures. The ECS says "... bring a given plane into a coterminous position when it suits the needs of your campaign" -- so just because the tool says that Dolurrh won't be coterminous for years to come doesn't mean you can't say differently in your campaign.

Now, this tool may be used for Mark of Heroes to create a foundation for participating DMs to work with. But otherwise, consider it to be an optional tool, not a nbreakable rule.

And as a side note, there's nothing stopping you as a DM from breaking the normal cycle of planar alignment. Dal Quor was pushed out of alignment, and Xoriat pushed away. So who's to say someone can't create an eldritch machine that will pull Dolurrh into alignment off-schedule? The needs of the story should always come first!
GrayS
11-29-04, 05:23 AM I must be unbelievably stupid, as I can't get it to work on my WinXP machine. It works perfectly when I run it directly from the WoTC web site, but downloaded and unzipped, it fails every time.

If I try to open the index.htm, IE6 (WinXP with SP2) comes up with an error message every time saying: "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer. Click here for options..."

So I click and select the "Allow blocked content" option. Then I click "YES" to the "are you sure" message. and up comes the window..... BUT...
It is a complete mess. No images, no graphics, completely unreadable and unuseable.

Can anybody please tell me what I'm doing wrong??? :confused:
This is a mega-cool tool that I would love to be able to use.
slainethehornedgod
11-29-04, 08:03 AM This tool is so helpful for a DM it's amazing. I wish every campaign world had one!

I was trying to figure out the planer cycles the other day and had to stop in confusion. Sure as a DM I can bring planes into the game as I see fit but there are several planes that draw close acouple of times a year. Or every couple of years. Its such a good flavor thing that its nice to have a reference to know when to include it.
Zalaz Mavi
11-29-04, 08:49 AM From the Mabar entry:

"Mabar enters a coterminous phase for three dark knights once every five years, on the nights of the new moon closest to the winter solstice..."
Tevildo
11-29-04, 09:49 AM Turns out there's no need to panic--the next time Xoriat is coterminous, in YK 2747, Daanvi will be as well. Those Gatekeepers knew what they were doing.

However, according to the utility, Xoriat's subsequent coterminous phase, in 9747, will occur while Daanvi is remote and Kythri is coterminous. Hoo boy! That'll be a doozy.

But the time after that, in 16747, Daanvi will be coterminous again to keep things from getting too hectic.

Seems that Xoriat's new orbit was designed to keep things cool for most of the time, with all the zaniness lumped into short, widely-separated "oh crap" periods. At least, that's what I'd assume from this program.
Rinna
11-29-04, 10:48 AM *sigh* It's so sad that you took the time to figure that out.

..........

Wish I'd thought of it first. How did you figure it out?

Rinna
Beleriphon
11-29-04, 11:10 AM But the time after that, in 16747, Daanvi will be coterminous again to keep things from getting too hectic.

Seems that Xoriat's new orbit was designed to keep things cool for most of the time, with all the zaniness lumped into short, widely-separated "oh crap" periods. At least, that's what I'd assume from this program.

I suppose it would be kinda dumb to point this out, but Xoriat is coterminus ever 7000 years. Thus the next coterminus phase is in 23747.

In fact its on 2 Lharivion every 7000 years, and lasts for 336 days. So thats some crazy stuff.

I wonder how far we would have to go before all of the planes are coterminus?
Bluebrush
11-29-04, 12:32 PM However, according to the utility, Xoriat's subsequent coterminous phase, in 9747, will occur while Daanvi is remote and Kythri is coterminous. Hoo boy! That'll be a doozy.

So... We've got about nine thousand years to work out how to deal with a seriously bogus coterminous phase.

Better get crackin'.
Wotc_Mark
11-29-04, 01:02 PM I must be unbelievably stupid, as I can't get it to work on my WinXP machine. It works perfectly when I run it directly from the WoTC web site, but downloaded and unzipped, it fails every time.

If I try to open the index.htm, IE6 (WinXP with SP2) comes up with an error message every time saying: "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer. Click here for options..."

So I click and select the "Allow blocked content" option. Then I click "YES" to the "are you sure" message. and up comes the window..... BUT...
It is a complete mess. No images, no graphics, completely unreadable and unuseable.

Can anybody please tell me what I'm doing wrong??? :confused:
This is a mega-cool tool that I would love to be able to use.I'll look into this ... believe it or not I dont have Win XP handy to test on ... and although its not an optimal solution you could try firefox and see if it lets you run it

Sorry

MJ
chimpman
11-29-04, 01:15 PM I'll look into this ... believe it or not I dont have Win XP handy to test on ... and although its not an optimal solution you could try firefox and see if it lets you run it

I'm running XP and don't seem to have any problems.

Please note that this tool is an optional aid for DMs who want to use it; it should not be considered canon material, and the dates listed for planar conjunctions will not necessarily coincide with events presented in novels or adventures. The ECS says "... bring a given plane into a coterminous position when it suits the needs of your campaign" -- so just because the tool says that Dolurrh won't be coterminous for years to come doesn't mean you can't say differently in your campaign.

What would be really cool would be to allow the user to set the starting points for all of the planes for their individual campaigns. I suppose we could do this by hacking into the downloadable version, but it would be super nice if someone could point out the numbers that need changing. I'll do that if I can figure it out.
Wotc_Mark
11-29-04, 01:39 PM What would be really cool would be to allow the user to set the starting points for all of the planes for their individual campaigns. I suppose we could do this by hacking into the downloadable version, but it would be super nice if someone could point out the numbers that need changing. I'll do that if I can figure it out.

There is a line in the index.htm that holds the info about the planes

aPlanarInfo = new Array("0","0","0","0","0","0",
"134400","33600","50400","50400","0","0","1","1","0","0","1","0",
"33600","336","8559","8559","0","0","1680","28","1344","1344","0","0",
"1008","10","420","420","0","0","0","0","0","0","2","0","364","7","94","94","0","0",
"1680","3","422","422","0","0","1680","28","505","505","0","0",
"12096","336","4032","4032","0","0","3360","1","841","841","0","0",
"75600","2352","20076","20076","0","0","2352000","336","588168","588168",
"3","0");

there are 6 values for the starting points of each plane ... I think they are in order top to bottom as displayed and the first 6 are 0's and don;t represent a plane.

The values are in this order

PLANAR INFO
- Orbit Length (days)
- Coterminus/Remote Length
- Current Point
- Starting Point
- Special Condition Tag
- Status

STATUS
- 0 = Not Yet Set
- 1 = Remote
- 2 = Waxing
- 3 = Coterminus
- 4 = Waning

So looking at the second set of 6 numbers

"134400","33600","50400","50400","0","0",

We see that Daanvi has the following

- Orbit Length (days): 134400
- Coterminus/Remote Length: 33600
- Current Point: 50400
- Starting Point: 50400
- Special Condition Tag: 0
- Status: Not Yet Set

Now that we have all that out of the way you should only need to set two values to change the starting positions....

To change the starting date we would change the 3rd and 4th values. I'm going to change them to 80,000 which should move it to coterminous.

"134400","33600","80000","80000","0","0",

Hope that all makes sense...
ralixgaudreau
11-29-04, 01:53 PM I wonder how far we would have to go before all of the planes are coterminus?

I don't think it's actually possible for all of the planes to be simultaneously coterminous, even if Dal Quor weren't permanently remote. You can get most of them coterminous at the same time, but some just can't possibly line up. Many of the planes are coterminous for lengthy periods (like an entire year, or a century), but others have very short coterminous periods which occur at specific times of the year. For example, Irian is coterminous for only a few days and only in the spring, while Mabar is coterminous only for a few nights and only in the winter. So, those two planes can never be coterminous with Eberron at the same time (fitting, since one is Eternal Day and the other is Endless Night), which by definition means that you can't have a planar conjunction with all planes coterminous.

Unless, of course, someone builds a massive Eldritch Machine to manipulate the orbits of one or more planes. :D Or unless you simply change the way the planar orbits work in your campaign.
JabBond
11-29-04, 02:01 PM Or what about a point when all the planes are at an extreme, whether it be coterminous or remote? Chaos can still reign when that happens! :eek:
chimpman
11-29-04, 02:09 PM To change the starting date we would change the 3rd and 4th values. I'm going to change them to 80,000 which should move it to coterminous.

"134400","33600","80000","80000","0","0",

Hope that all makes sense...

Thanks for the quick response Wotc_Mark! That's just what I was looking for.
Fevil
11-29-04, 02:29 PM The needs of the story should always come first!

And until then, this comes in VERY useful.

Kudos to the developers of this little baby :)
GrayS
11-30-04, 02:48 AM Wotc_Mark - thank you. Please let me know (either PM or e-mail at gsharpling@hotmail.com) if you find out what the problem is. :confused:

Chimpman - I suspect the problem could well be my settings, but I just have absolutely no idea WHICH settings are wrong. This is where I need help. If anybody else figures this out, please let me know. :P

Thanks Guys.
luke_twigger
11-30-04, 08:24 AM I must be unbelievably stupid, as I can't get it to work on my WinXP machine. It works perfectly when I run it directly from the WoTC web site, but downloaded and unzipped, it fails every time.

...

up comes the window..... BUT...
It is a complete mess. No images, no graphics, completely unreadable and unuseable.

When you unzipped it, did everything all go into one directory? All the image files need to be in a subdirectory called "images". Some zip tools create the subdirectories, some don't.

Just an idea.

Luke
GrayS
11-30-04, 08:28 AM Figured out what the problem was - I knew it had to be my settings somewhere.

ALL the images and graphics (basically, everything except the index.htm) needs to be in a sub-folder named "images". Then it works perfectly! This was not explicit in the install instructions, and the defaults on my un-zip utility were not set to do this automatically. Wotc_Mark: it might be a good idea to update the PC (and mac?) install instructions to include this little tid-bit?

Anyway:- Phew! :D

I LURVE this utility.
Wotc_Mark
11-30-04, 09:26 PM Got to check it on XP today ... we added this to the instructions.

Under Windows XP, you have to give Internet Explorer specific permission to allow the World and Planar Calendar Utility script to execute. Click the yellow Information Bar at the top of the Internet Explorer window and select "Allow Blocked Content... ." This allows the utility to run locally on your machine. The code for the World and Planar Calendar Utility is limited to supporting the program as a standalone javascript program running in a web browser. It does not violate security settings or put your data at risk in any way.

I'll add that bit about the images folder... thanx

MJ
:cool:
Orion Polaris
11-30-04, 11:20 PM So does a math genius exist on these boards that could find out at which time most of the planes could be coterminous/remote?

That'd be cool to know.
nick012000
11-30-04, 11:56 PM Find the lowest common multiple of the orbits.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
chimpman 11-29-04, 01:33 AM	This is very cool. I've been waiting for this tool since the planar orrery. Check it out! They even threw in phases of the moons. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebwe/20041129a
Hellcow 11-29-04, 02:03 AM	Please note that this tool is an optional aid for DMs who want to use it; it should not be considered canon material, and the dates listed for planar conjunctions will not necessarily coincide with events presented in novels or adventures. The ECS says "... bring a given plane into a coterminous position when it suits the needs of your campaign" -- so just because the tool says that Dolurrh won't be coterminous for years to come doesn't mean you can't say differently in your campaign. Now, this tool may be used for Mark of Heroes to create a foundation for participating DMs to work with. But otherwise, consider it to be an optional tool, not a nbreakable rule. And as a side note, there's nothing stopping you as a DM from breaking the normal cycle of planar alignment. Dal Quor was pushed out of alignment, and Xoriat pushed away. So who's to say someone can't create an eldritch machine that will pull Dolurrh into alignment off-schedule? The needs of the story should always come first!
GrayS 11-29-04, 05:23 AM	I must be unbelievably stupid, as I can't get it to work on my WinXP machine. It works perfectly when I run it directly from the WoTC web site, but downloaded and unzipped, it fails every time. If I try to open the index.htm, IE6 (WinXP with SP2) comes up with an error message every time saying: "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer. Click here for options..." So I click and select the "Allow blocked content" option. Then I click "YES" to the "are you sure" message. and up comes the window..... BUT... It is a complete mess. No images, no graphics, completely unreadable and unuseable. Can anybody please tell me what I'm doing wrong??? :confused: This is a mega-cool tool that I would love to be able to use.
slainethehornedgod 11-29-04, 08:03 AM	This tool is so helpful for a DM it's amazing. I wish every campaign world had one! I was trying to figure out the planer cycles the other day and had to stop in confusion. Sure as a DM I can bring planes into the game as I see fit but there are several planes that draw close acouple of times a year. Or every couple of years. Its such a good flavor thing that its nice to have a reference to know when to include it.
Zalaz Mavi 11-29-04, 08:49 AM	From the Mabar entry: "Mabar enters a coterminous phase for three dark knights once every five years, on the nights of the new moon closest to the winter solstice..."
Tevildo 11-29-04, 09:49 AM	Turns out there's no need to panic--the next time Xoriat is coterminous, in YK 2747, Daanvi will be as well. Those Gatekeepers knew what they were doing. However, according to the utility, Xoriat's subsequent coterminous phase, in 9747, will occur while Daanvi is remote and Kythri is coterminous. Hoo boy! That'll be a doozy. But the time after that, in 16747, Daanvi will be coterminous again to keep things from getting too hectic. Seems that Xoriat's new orbit was designed to keep things cool for most of the time, with all the zaniness lumped into short, widely-separated "oh crap" periods. At least, that's what I'd assume from this program.
Rinna 11-29-04, 10:48 AM	sigh It's so sad that you took the time to figure that out. .......... Wish I'd thought of it first. How did you figure it out? Rinna
Beleriphon 11-29-04, 11:10 AM	But the time after that, in 16747, Daanvi will be coterminous again to keep things from getting too hectic. Seems that Xoriat's new orbit was designed to keep things cool for most of the time, with all the zaniness lumped into short, widely-separated "oh crap" periods. At least, that's what I'd assume from this program. I suppose it would be kinda dumb to point this out, but Xoriat is coterminus ever 7000 years. Thus the next coterminus phase is in 23747. In fact its on 2 Lharivion every 7000 years, and lasts for 336 days. So thats some crazy stuff. I wonder how far we would have to go before all of the planes are coterminus?
Bluebrush 11-29-04, 12:32 PM	However, according to the utility, Xoriat's subsequent coterminous phase, in 9747, will occur while Daanvi is remote and Kythri is coterminous. Hoo boy! That'll be a doozy. So... We've got about nine thousand years to work out how to deal with a seriously bogus coterminous phase. Better get crackin'.
Wotc_Mark 11-29-04, 01:02 PM	I must be unbelievably stupid, as I can't get it to work on my WinXP machine. It works perfectly when I run it directly from the WoTC web site, but downloaded and unzipped, it fails every time. If I try to open the index.htm, IE6 (WinXP with SP2) comes up with an error message every time saying: "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer. Click here for options..." So I click and select the "Allow blocked content" option. Then I click "YES" to the "are you sure" message. and up comes the window..... BUT... It is a complete mess. No images, no graphics, completely unreadable and unuseable. Can anybody please tell me what I'm doing wrong??? :confused: This is a mega-cool tool that I would love to be able to use.I'll look into this ... believe it or not I dont have Win XP handy to test on ... and although its not an optimal solution you could try firefox and see if it lets you run it Sorry MJ
chimpman 11-29-04, 01:15 PM	I'll look into this ... believe it or not I dont have Win XP handy to test on ... and although its not an optimal solution you could try firefox and see if it lets you run it I'm running XP and don't seem to have any problems. Please note that this tool is an optional aid for DMs who want to use it; it should not be considered canon material, and the dates listed for planar conjunctions will not necessarily coincide with events presented in novels or adventures. The ECS says "... bring a given plane into a coterminous position when it suits the needs of your campaign" -- so just because the tool says that Dolurrh won't be coterminous for years to come doesn't mean you can't say differently in your campaign. What would be really cool would be to allow the user to set the starting points for all of the planes for their individual campaigns. I suppose we could do this by hacking into the downloadable version, but it would be super nice if someone could point out the numbers that need changing. I'll do that if I can figure it out.
Wotc_Mark 11-29-04, 01:39 PM	What would be really cool would be to allow the user to set the starting points for all of the planes for their individual campaigns. I suppose we could do this by hacking into the downloadable version, but it would be super nice if someone could point out the numbers that need changing. I'll do that if I can figure it out. There is a line in the index.htm that holds the info about the planes aPlanarInfo = new Array("0","0","0","0","0","0", "134400","33600","50400","50400","0","0","1","1","0","0","1","0", "33600","336","8559","8559","0","0","1680","28","1344","1344","0","0", "1008","10","420","420","0","0","0","0","0","0","2","0","364","7","94","94","0","0", "1680","3","422","422","0","0","1680","28","505","505","0","0", "12096","336","4032","4032","0","0","3360","1","841","841","0","0", "75600","2352","20076","20076","0","0","2352000","336","588168","588168", "3","0"); there are 6 values for the starting points of each plane ... I think they are in order top to bottom as displayed and the first 6 are 0's and don;t represent a plane. The values are in this order PLANAR INFO - Orbit Length (days) - Coterminus/Remote Length - Current Point - Starting Point - Special Condition Tag - Status STATUS - 0 = Not Yet Set - 1 = Remote - 2 = Waxing - 3 = Coterminus - 4 = Waning So looking at the second set of 6 numbers "134400","33600","50400","50400","0","0", We see that Daanvi has the following - Orbit Length (days): 134400 - Coterminus/Remote Length: 33600 - Current Point: 50400 - Starting Point: 50400 - Special Condition Tag: 0 - Status: Not Yet Set Now that we have all that out of the way you should only need to set two values to change the starting positions.... To change the starting date we would change the 3rd and 4th values. I'm going to change them to 80,000 which should move it to coterminous. "134400","33600","80000","80000","0","0", Hope that all makes sense...
ralixgaudreau 11-29-04, 01:53 PM	I wonder how far we would have to go before all of the planes are coterminus? I don't think it's actually possible for all of the planes to be simultaneously coterminous, even if Dal Quor weren't permanently remote. You can get most of them coterminous at the same time, but some just can't possibly line up. Many of the planes are coterminous for lengthy periods (like an entire year, or a century), but others have very short coterminous periods which occur at specific times of the year. For example, Irian is coterminous for only a few days and only in the spring, while Mabar is coterminous only for a few nights and only in the winter. So, those two planes can never be coterminous with Eberron at the same time (fitting, since one is Eternal Day and the other is Endless Night), which by definition means that you can't have a planar conjunction with all planes coterminous. Unless, of course, someone builds a massive Eldritch Machine to manipulate the orbits of one or more planes. :D Or unless you simply change the way the planar orbits work in your campaign.
JabBond 11-29-04, 02:01 PM	Or what about a point when all the planes are at an extreme, whether it be coterminous or remote? Chaos can still reign when that happens! :eek:
chimpman 11-29-04, 02:09 PM	To change the starting date we would change the 3rd and 4th values. I'm going to change them to 80,000 which should move it to coterminous. "134400","33600","80000","80000","0","0", Hope that all makes sense... Thanks for the quick response Wotc_Mark! That's just what I was looking for.
Fevil 11-29-04, 02:29 PM	The needs of the story should always come first! And until then, this comes in VERY useful. Kudos to the developers of this little baby :)
GrayS 11-30-04, 02:48 AM	Wotc_Mark - thank you. Please let me know (either PM or e-mail at gsharpling@hotmail.com) if you find out what the problem is. :confused: Chimpman - I suspect the problem could well be my settings, but I just have absolutely no idea WHICH settings are wrong. This is where I need help. If anybody else figures this out, please let me know. :P Thanks Guys.
luke_twigger 11-30-04, 08:24 AM	I must be unbelievably stupid, as I can't get it to work on my WinXP machine. It works perfectly when I run it directly from the WoTC web site, but downloaded and unzipped, it fails every time. ... up comes the window..... BUT... It is a complete mess. No images, no graphics, completely unreadable and unuseable. When you unzipped it, did everything all go into one directory? All the image files need to be in a subdirectory called "images". Some zip tools create the subdirectories, some don't. Just an idea. Luke
GrayS 11-30-04, 08:28 AM	Figured out what the problem was - I knew it had to be my settings somewhere. ALL the images and graphics (basically, everything except the index.htm) needs to be in a sub-folder named "images". Then it works perfectly! This was not explicit in the install instructions, and the defaults on my un-zip utility were not set to do this automatically. Wotc_Mark: it might be a good idea to update the PC (and mac?) install instructions to include this little tid-bit? Anyway:- Phew! :D I LURVE this utility.
Wotc_Mark 11-30-04, 09:26 PM	Got to check it on XP today ... we added this to the instructions. Under Windows XP, you have to give Internet Explorer specific permission to allow the World and Planar Calendar Utility script to execute. Click the yellow Information Bar at the top of the Internet Explorer window and select "Allow Blocked Content... ." This allows the utility to run locally on your machine. The code for the World and Planar Calendar Utility is limited to supporting the program as a standalone javascript program running in a web browser. It does not violate security settings or put your data at risk in any way. I'll add that bit about the images folder... thanx MJ :cool:
Orion Polaris 11-30-04, 11:20 PM	So does a math genius exist on these boards that could find out at which time most of the planes could be coterminous/remote? That'd be cool to know.
nick012000 11-30-04, 11:56 PM	Find the lowest common multiple of the orbits.