August 2010 Character Builder, Compendium and Adventure Tools News
We said we would deliver Compendium and Adventure Tools updates on August 20th. Sorry if we're missing that date, here they are on August 3rd 
Here’s a summary of the new data and features for Character Builder, Compendium, and Adventure Tools.
Data Update:
Data from the following published materials are new this month:
- Books
- Demonomicon
- Tomb of Horrors
- HS2 Orcs of Stonefang Pass
- Vor Rukoth
- Magazines
- Dragon #388
- Dungeon #179
Plus we’re doing the normal monthly errata.
Remember: you need an active D&D Insider subscription to update your Character Builder with the new data and features. Each account is limited to 5 updates, per application. Every month, when a new data set is released, this limit will be reset for each application.
Check the Character Builder FAQ [wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg...] for additional information.
Studio:
While Chris is off to GenCon, I’m left here in the Pacific Northwest manning the ship. This month we are back to the proper schedule, with Character Builder, Compendium and Adventure Tools released together.
We have a bunch of new faces around and lots of work to do, Essentials and Dark Sun are shaping up to be quite awesome and both bringing some "interesting" changes to how characters are created, so we are busy at work making sure that our tools reflect the D&D experience as closely as possible.
Community feedback:
As Chris mentioned a while ago, we like to hear from you. Post things in the forums. Please. We are listening (well, reading, but you get the point).
- Paolo
About the Author
Paolo Marcucci is the Development Manager of the D&D Digital Studio. While he doesn’t mind playing games, what he really likes is making software that delights users
Seriously, thanks for getting this out quickly. I hope the Essentials won't break the character builder too badly when it is time for that to come out.
Hope the Magic Missile glitch was fixed in the Character Creator. I love that program but Bolt Spellblaster isn't that good at remembering how much damage he does when he hits. I try not to let him roll D20's for damage.
roguemissions.podbean.com
Community feedback:
As Chris mentioned a while ago, we like to hear from you. Post things in the forums. Please. We are listening (well, reading, but you get the point).
Paolo, Grazie! Early updates are great. Happy B-Day to Adventure tools.
With regards to our being listened to, can you confirm that someone is monitoring the Monster Builder forums? Thread such as the stickied feature requests bugs thread seem to get no attention from your team. The general forum for Monster Builder has a number of bugs reported with editing monster damage math and resetting values, with printing functionality, with triggered actions, resistance values not printing, etc.
It would be great for someone to just once a month pop into the forums and just say "hey, we have read issues up until this point, thanks guys". I think this would greatly improve the low morale of the forum.
With the Monster Builder being one year old, I think there is a lot to be thankful for but also very little functional progress since the first release one year ago. The only real change has been content and MM3 handling. Traps, themes, templates, terrain, saving the holding pen, better export compatibility with RPGA module formats - these requests happen often but have seen no action. And this is all independent of the desires many have to see Adventure Tools take the next step and handle encounter building.
I remain positive, but the year has been rocky. More participation by the design/dev team on the forum would really help.
Most of those issues (the ones dealing withmissing data like Triggers or Resist values, etc.) can be fixed by deleteing the current entry and making a new one. For example, if you have a triggered power that doesn't show the trigger, change the name slightly and make a new power with all the text f the original and the Trigger will show. Get rid of the resistance and then add it back in and the value will shows etc.
They need to fix the data for the official monsters where such things have happened, but for custom monsters it works, you just have to go back and edit them. Annoying, but like I said, there isn't much they can do about that on their end.
Several bugs were pointed out regarding the last Adventure Tools update, and the changes to the new format. Those don't appear to have been addressed at all. I understand that the tools have not been updated for very long, and that time will be needed to fix those problems, but it would be nice if the problems were acknowledged, at the very least.
We are aware of all the issues reported, and we prioritize them accordingly, with content updates at the top of our ranking.
That said, the July Monster Builder update introduced the new stat blocks from MM3 to display "old" monsters. This is just a presentation change, to make old content visually consistent with the current one, and it doesn't recalculate or modify stats. Our usual take on conversions and updates is still via the publishing method, where only new books (or erratas) have the power to update old content.
Holy Crap. I had no idea you were working for WotC. You've come a long way from Italy and ShadowRN. Congratulations!
GRAHT!
Holy Crap. I had no idea you were working for WotC. You've come a long way from Italy and ShadowRN. Congratulations!
GRAHT!
Heh. The downside is that I know what you can do and now my expectations for improvements and new tools just went up a few notches ;) Anyway, I'll let you get back to work. Congrats again
We are aware of all the issues reported, and we prioritize them accordingly, with content updates at the top of our ranking.
That said, the July Monster Builder update introduced the new stat blocks from MM3 to display "old" monsters. This is just a presentation change, to make old content visually consistent with the current one, and it doesn't recalculate or modify stats. Our usual take on conversions and updates is still via the publishing method, where only new books (or erratas) have the power to update old content.
Right, and I understand the thinking behind not updating anything, besides when new material is released, but I'm talking about the actual bugs, like actual damage dice being lost in custom monsters, and recharge values not being preserved (or copied over at all, for that matter), as well as the lack of keywords for Traits. Existing keywords cannot be modified or removed, and new keywords can't be added to traits.
Thank you for clarifying that the issues are being worked on. Adventure Tools is a truely amazing utility (can't wait for it to be a set of utilities) and I'm looking forward to the future
I don't know if this is the place to ask this, but since I can't seem to contact customer support . . . does anyone know what I can do to fix this problem?