New program to help set up VASL scenarios

Will Fleming

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Update, looks like the config reads relative to the directory you are running it from.

So you could

  1. include something to put you in the right directory in the script (such as cd ~)
  2. Use /home/<username>/ in the config file
3) Wait for "Ghost" to give you a better suggestion. :)

I chose #1 for now
 

Pacman Ghost

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Edit: for those doing the config, it seems to take your 'home' directory as a start, so any directories/files you put in the config, just start from there (i.e. /home/<username> is already in there, so say vasl-templates/champter-h would go into the config file)
Hard experience has shown me that you always want to configure stuff like this using absolute paths :) There's nothing in the code that bases relative paths off your home directory, so I suspect what's happened is that you've launched the program from your home directory, and so when the program tries to access files using a relative path, it starts from whatever its current working directory is, and the paths you've configured happen to work.

OTOH, if you want to use remote storage to replicate the installation on other computers, then you will almost certainly want to use relative paths, in which case you just need to remember to set the CWD correctly before running the program.

I think I needed to install a Quicktime Python file, but that might be my particular situation or simply a mistake by me working through this. (PyQt5 or similar)
Not sure what you're seeing to make you think this. PyQt is only needed by the desktop app, and while you can run this from source, it needs the PyQt runtime installed, and this is a PITA.
 

Will Fleming

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~ works?

As in putting this in the config?

~/<some directory>

Looks like it doesn't. My script to start it up is thus:



#!/bin/sh -ex
#
# Execute this file to launch vasl-templates on linux

cd ~
MEGA/vasl-templates/.venv/bin/python ~/MEGA/vasl-templates/vasl_templates/webapp/run_server.py
 
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Pacman Ghost

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Version v1.0 has been released here.

No big changes, just the warm fuzzy feeling you get when running a program who's version number doesn't start with a zero :)

The main changes are:
  • a Quick Start Guide has been added.
  • the "count remaining" template now includes helper information that lists how many PF/THH you get.
 

ramzon

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Due to the COVID 19 the Nor'easter XXIV was cancelled but we decided to do a VASL tournament. We have 24 participants at this time that will start playing tomorrow. The first round match ups were made, so as part of the committee in order to keep rounds 2 - 5 going quickly, because as we all know setting up in VASL can take some time if not knowledgeable and to make sure boards were configured correctly, I used this program to set up the 20 scenarios in rounds 2 - 5. I did not pull counters because of the issue with the "?" counters on ownership that occurs at times (did not want to give participants any issues to worry about if they did not know how to handle) but everything else is there. The scenarios were sent out to the group to use. I just wanted to say I have used this program since Pacman Ghost introduced it in 2018 and have loved it and using it this way for a VASL Tournament is a testament to its potential. Thank you Pacman Ghost!
 

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These are difficult times we find ourselves in, and a post like this really means something. Thanks!

I've been stuck in my room coding up some ASL stuff (because what else are you going to do as a deadly virus rages across the planet?) and as it happened, when I saw this post, I was in the process of dragging this project out of storage and reviving it, to add support for K:FW.

I did not pull counters because of the issue with the "?" counters on ownership that occurs at times
I seem to remember reading something once about being able to take "ownership" of pieces, but I couldn't find anything in the options or help. Maybe someone else might know about this...?
 

Joe Moro

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Hi Pacman

First of all thank you for the program...its fantastic and really helps with having all that info on hand while playing VASL. Kudos to you mate!!

one question...and please this is from someone who has no idea about computers and programming in general..

I have many of my scenarios scanned and in pdf format...is there any way of pasting the SSR and other relevant info into your program? It would make settting up so much easier..

Thanks
 

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Like most things in life, it depends :)

Sometimes, you will be able to select some text and just copy it out. Some PDF readers have a "text mode", where you see a plain text representation of the content, and you can copy stuff out of there.

If your PDF reader doesn't let you do this kind of thing, try dragging the PDF into Firefox or Chrome and doing it there.

If you have just a scan of the original scenario card that has been put into a PDF file, it's more complicated. You need to do OCR on it (optical character recognition), where a program looks at a picture and tries to figure out what the written text is. It's not a perfect process, and you might have to manually correct some errors, but it does the grunt work for you.

Failing that, just get some kid in India to type it all in for you.
 

Joe Moro

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Hi
Like most things in life, it depends :)

Sometimes, you will be able to select some text and just copy it out. Some PDF readers have a "text mode", where you see a plain text representation of the content, and you can copy stuff out of there.

If your PDF reader doesn't let you do this kind of thing, try dragging the PDF into Firefox or Chrome and doing it there.

If you have just a scan of the original scenario card that has been put into a PDF file, it's more complicated. You need to do OCR on it (optical character recognition), where a program looks at a picture and tries to figure out what the written text is. It's not a perfect process, and you might have to manually correct some errors, but it does the grunt work for you.

Failing that, just get some kid in India to type it all in for you.
Hi Pacman..i was able to scan, OCR and paste..Thanks you
I am want to use your program to do all the boards setup for our Virtual ANZACon Tournment. This may have been asked before, and if so i am sorry..do players have to have program to be able to use my setups? - I think not, but can you please confirm..
Thank you for the greatb work
 

Pacman Ghost

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do players have to have program to be able to use my setups?
Depends how you set the scenarios up. The best way to do things would be to go into the Settings dialog and set Get images from to "internet". Any labels or scenarios you create thereafter will not require the program to be running when you open the scenario.

Note that people may see VASSAL hanging when you open the scenario (white screen), but it will eventually come back (VASSAL is really slow at loading images).

Set or unset the 3 checkboxes beneath as you please, but the more you turn on, the longer it will take to load scenarios. Player flags is definitely worth it.

For the record, if you configure the setting to be Get images from this program, images will load instantly, but both players need the program running when they open the scenario.
 
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ramzon

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Hi
Hi Pacman..i was able to scan, OCR and paste..Thanks you
I am want to use your program to do all the boards setup for our Virtual ANZACon Tournment. This may have been asked before, and if so i am sorry..do players have to have program to be able to use my setups? - I think not, but can you please confirm..
Thank you for the greatb work

Joe,

Here is what my settings look like so the Nor'easter players could all see the notes, images and flags. There seemed to be no issues when using the set ups I did. I can send you some of the set ups (Gamesquad will not allow me to attach the files) I did for the Nor'easter if you want to get some ideas and see how it looks and how long it takes to open, just PM an email and I will send.

12618
 

Joe Moro

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Joe,

Here is what my settings look like so the Nor'easter players could all see the notes, images and flags. There seemed to be no issues when using the set ups I did. I can send you some of the set ups (Gamesquad will not allow me to attach the files) I did for the Nor'easter if you want to get some ideas and see how it looks and how long it takes to open, just PM an email and I will send.

View attachment 12618
Hi mate

That would be great...working on them now...did the first one..and sent to a friend to check if he could open it and no probs..but if you could send me an example of yours i can maybe refine my settings..i will pm you now,,

Cheers
 

Joe Moro

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Guys

was doing my setups..all good and then on my 4th, i got the following error message whe updating the vsav file:

Can't update the VASL scenario.
Unexpected return code from the VASSAL shim: 4294967295

what is happening?

Please help
 

Pacman Ghost

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Can't update the VASL scenario.
Unexpected return code from the VASSAL shim: 4294967295
The program launches VASSAL+VASL to insert the labels into a scenario. This error is most likely because VASSAL crashed.

Try it again. Try to reduce memory usage on your computer by closing programs and/or rebooting. In the worst case, you can create the labels manually in the scenario (check the help, tedious, but it will work).
 

peterd1973

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Got this message when trying to update a VASL scenario:

Message: 'chromedriver.exe' executable needs to be in PATH. Please see https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/home

Traceback (most recent call last):
File ".venv-vasl-templates.linuxdev\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\common\service.py", line 77, in start
File "subprocess.py", line 707, in init
File "subprocess.py", line 990, in _execute_child
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "vasl_templates\webapp\vassal.py", line 61, in update_vsav
File "vasl_templates\webapp\vassal.py", line 142, in _save_snippets
File "vasl_templates\webapp\webdriver.py", line 195, in get_instance
File "vasl_templates\webapp\webdriver.py", line 79, in _do_start
File ".venv-vasl-templates.linuxdev\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\chrome\webdriver.py", line 68, in init
File ".venv-vasl-templates.linuxdev\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\common\service.py", line 85, in start
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: 'chromedriver.exe' executable needs to be in PATH. Please see https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/home
 
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