MT, PCgen, etc

[celeborn67]

I have looked over most all of the software currently availbe .
i like the character generation of PCgen. I find most of the champain tools lacking in either user interface or functionality.

How many would be interest in a good program if it require operating system upgrade, or a 20mg update just to install the program?

 

[Twin Rose]

It depends on just what you want the software package to do for you. Naturally, I think that my software - Campaign Suite - is the most flexible and easy to use, but also extremely powerful. It will let you do characters, but also dungeons, stock them with treasure, monsters, traps... and customize your world with different feats/skills/races/classes/equipment. Of course I'm biased, but I think if you are looking for a flexible generator you should check it out.

 

[Mynex]

It depends on just what you want the software package to do for you. Naturally, I think that my software - Campaign Suite - is the most flexible and easy to use, but also extremely powerful. It will let you do characters, but also dungeons, stock them with treasure, monsters, traps... and customize your world with different feats/skills/races/classes/equipment. Of course I'm biased, but I think if you are looking for a flexible generator you should check it out.

Well it's perfectly okay to be biased.

Actually for DMing tools, I'm fairly impressed with what your software can do. Of course it can be better (any software package can)...

But as for Character Generation, i'm biased for PCGen.

 

[celeborn67]

i can admit that very one is biased on the progrma they like.
But say you had windows 95 and there realy was a program that you liked. but it only ran on windows 98 or higher and requires a update to be run for windows. The compressed update file is 20mb. the program is 10 mb ...

how does that change your response?

 

[Twin Rose]

You gotta ask yourself if updating your windows is worth it. The easy answer is yes. Because there's a lot more than just one program out there that requires 98 or higher. Are you certain that it actually does require it, or only that it's been tested on 98?

The software I design does get most of it's work on 98 SE, but I've had many 95 users who say everything works fine.

But everyone does things differently.

Hope this helps you.

 

[DMFTodd]

DM's Familiar (www.paladinpgm.com/dmf) is a 17Meg download. It's had lots and lots of downloads in 3 short months. D&D players seem very willing to download large files in my opinion.

Plenty of people seem to like PCGen. The java engine for that was a pretty large download as well as I remember.

As for upgrading Windows, I don't know about that. I think people would be much less likely to go buy a new operating system then they are to download large files.

 

[celeborn67]

try VS C# .net for the 44k dice roller wrote this past week.
requires the .net frame work to be installed. 20mg compressed file in its self.

But what i have learned of C# its a very nice language.

I need to test the .net framework on win95 pc.. I have heard that its not supported. I am not sure....

 

[Mynex]

DM's Familiar (www.paladinpgm.com/dmf) is a 17Meg download. It's had lots and lots of downloads in 3 short months. D&D players seem very willing to download large files in my opinion.

Plenty of people seem to like PCGen. The java engine for that was a pretty large download as well as I remember.

Java from Sun is something that is used for more than just PCGen, and therein lies the difference. There are a lot of (web) sites that use java plug-ins, there's some baic frame of java support built into most OS's.

PCGen just uses Java to be truly cross platform, and that's something most software can't even _think_ about claiming. Yes, the Sun Java Standard package is 13megs in size, but PCGen itself is only two 1mb zip fles (1 is data, the other is the program/support files).

To test to see what version of Java you have (if any) on your system, at the command prompt (DOS windows for all us Windows users - any version), and type in;

java -version

if it comes back as saying;

Java Version '1.3.0' or higher, then you're good to go to run PCGen and need make no other downloads than the 2 zip files for PCGen itself.

If you get 'Invalid command' or other statement, then you need to go to Sun's website and get teh Java Runtime Enviorment download (the 13 meg file) and install it.

So if you have Java already installed, then it's a 2 meg d/l, if not, then it's a total of about 15megs.

Just depends on your definition of 'huge' d/l's

 

[TBoarder]

Also, if you don't want to have to deal with the 13MB Java download, AOL includes it on the CDs that they include in just about everything you buy. Just pop an AOL CD in, explore around it, and you should be able to find the Java setup program there. It'll save you an easy hour if you have a slow connection.

 

[Twin Rose]

I believe what he was referring to was an update of his windows to be able to handle C# (Csharp) applications. C# is, near as I can tell, Microsofts answer to Java for their .NET platforms. I could be incorrect, as I haven't researched it any farther than reading a few articles on CodeGuru.

CSharp code looks something like this:
// MainForm.cs

namespace WorkerThread
{
// delegates used to call MainForm functions from
// worker thread
public delegate void DelegateAddString(String s);
public delegate void DelegateThreadFinished();

public class MainForm : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
...

// worker thread
Thread m_WorkerThread;

// events used to stop worker thread
ManualResetEvent m_EventStopThread;


Essentially, I believe the libraries needed to run it come with windows 98 ... But not 95 .. And he wants to find out if he can. I believe it would come down to what version of IE you are running - but I could be wrong, since I'm just making an educated guess.


Hope this helps somewhat.