New program to help set up VASL scenarios

Pacman Ghost

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Hopefully the BFP vehicles will be in the next release. (I just started a project playing ALL the Blood and Jungle scenarios. The first one has a bunch of FT-17 variants not in the program)
The program works off Chapter H, and finds the corresponding counters in VASL. Are the BFP counters in an extension? I'm going to add support for them later (I'm playing KGS myself, now).

You could always add one of the FT-17 variants that are currently available, and edit the capabilities. If you're including counter images in the snippets, it'll be slightly wrong, but that's not a show-stopper.
 
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Pacman Ghost

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Any chance of this happening?
If it does, it won't be for a while. I'm focusing on adding features for now.

Are you on a Mac? Since people seem to be having trouble getting it going, I'm going to add something to make it a bit easier. It'll still be a bit techie, but it'll be pretty much guaranteed to work.

What we really need is somebody with a Mac to put together a package, like the Windows one, that people can just drop into their Applications folder.
 

peterd1973

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Not on a Mac, sorry.
If it does, it won't be for a while. I'm focusing on adding features for now.

Are you on a Mac? Since people seem to be having trouble getting it going, I'm going to add something to make it a bit easier. It'll still be a bit techie, but it'll be pretty much guaranteed to work.

What we really need is somebody with a Mac to put together a package, like the Windows one, that people can just drop into their Applications folder.
 

fzmann

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If it does, it won't be for a while. I'm focusing on adding features for now.

Are you on a Mac? Since people seem to be having trouble getting it going, I'm going to add something to make it a bit easier. It'll still be a bit techie, but it'll be pretty much guaranteed to work.

What we really need is somebody with a Mac to put together a package, like the Windows one, that people can just drop into their Applications folder.
I'm on a Mac, but I've no idea what putting together a package means.
 

Pacman Ghost

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Open a Terminal window.

cd into the installation directory (assuming you got the source code from Github).
e.g. cd /home/fzmann/vasl-templates <== assuming this is where you put it
If you haven't already got the source code, type this first: git clone https://github.com/pacman-ghost/vasl-templates.git

type: pip install -e .[dev] <== nb: there's a dot in there, easy to miss

type: python _freeze.py -o /tmp/vasl-templates.zip 2>&1 | tee /tmp/report.txt
nb: you might need to type python3
You should see something like this:
freeze.png
You should find a ZIP file in /tmp that contains the release. Hopefully someone can just unpack it and run the vasl-templates inside it (you can try it yourself).

If it doesn't work, send me /tmp/report.txt

The GUI may well not work, but you should be able to fire up a browser and connect to http://localhost:5010
 
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Fiedler

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Must I be the first jerk here (again)?

Step one, buy a real PC.
Step two, follow the instructions for a real PC.

Just kidding, MAC are great machines and I can understand those who love them. Good luck on getting this tool working as I am sure lots will love it.
I am using MAC, Linux & PC in parallell but prefer MAC for personal use.
 

Pacman Ghost

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Version 0.5 has been released here.

The main feature in this release is insanely cool: the program can now automatically insert labels into a VASL scenario file, and update them if they're already there.

However, an important caveat: at this stage, this feature should be considered experimental, so use with care. Check the resulting scenario before overwriting the original, and keep backups. The program invokes VASSAL to insert/update labels, but VASSAL was never designed to be used in this way, so while it's been working reliably for me, your mileage may vary. I'll be having a chat with the VASSAL developers about the validity of what I'm doing, but for now, caution is advised. If you're setting up a Red Barricades CG, I would strongly urge you to do things the old way, by manually creating labels and copying the HTML snippets over, since that's guaranteed to work and not cause problems down the road.

It's important you read the release notes, since there are a few things that need to be set up. It's fairly self-explanatory, but there is one tricky thing - you need either geckodriver or chromedriver, so download one, unpack it somewhere, and configure the location into the program.

My settings look like this:
server-settings.png

The release notes also have important information about how the program handles scenarios you have created using an earlier version of this program - TL;DR: update them. Take note of the bubble notification that tells you what it did; ideally, it will say something like "20 labels updated", otherwise you will have to check the updated scenario and manually fix up anything it wasn't able to handle by itself.
 

von Marwitz

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Version 0.5 has been released here.

The main feature in this release is insanely cool: the program can now automatically insert labels into a VASL scenario file, and update them if they're already there.
I don't know if I understand correctly what you are saying here, so please elaborate.

Say you have an existing VASL setup for VASL v5.9.3 with neatly labelled tanks, named leaders etc. , could your thingy update this into a current VASL v6.4.3 file automatically transferring the old labels 'n' stuff?

If so this would be really REALLY insanely cool. There are hundreds of old setup-files around but after some years they become outdated as the VASL versions move on and some new functions for counters are added or changed.

von Marwitz
 

Pacman Ghost

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could your thingy update this into a current VASL v6.4.3 file automatically transferring the old labels 'n' stuff?
Nah, afraid not.

I was maybe a bit unclear in the release announcement - in previous versions of the thingy, you had to manually create each label in VASSAL, and copy over the HTML content for each one. Very tedious, but no longer. You can now just enter all the details into the thingy, press a button and it will automatically create all the labels in the VASL scenario for you, already loaded with the HTML content. If you realize you've made some mistakes in the scenario details, correct them in the thingy, press a button and it will automatically update the labels in the VASL scenario for you.

The real value the thingy offers is in the vehicle/ordnance special capabilities - it automatically figures everything out based on what's in the OB, the scenario date and theatre - plus the ability to easily generate attractive labels for other stuff e.g. setup notes, PF, BAZ hit tables, etc. Labels on tanks and leaders and the like are not something it really concerns itself with; if they're already there, great, but the thingy will ignore them. It's not a tool for upgrading old VASL scenarios. It's probably possible to write something that converts old-format scenarios, but it seems more effort than it's worth.
 
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Pacman Ghost

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Version v0.6 has been released here.

If you are already running v0.5, you don't need to worry about this release, the only new feature it has is a new way of running the program. While the new feature works on Linux, and might work on Windows [*], this will primarily be of benefit to Mac users.

First, you need to have Docker installed.

Then, open a Terminal window and type:
Code:
docker run --rm -it --name vasl-templates \
    -p 5010:5010 \
    -v XXX:/data/vasl.vmod \
    vasltemplates/images:v0.6
where XXX is the full path to your VASL .vmod file. For example:
docker.png
The first time you do this, it will take a while to download everything, but once you see the messages above come up, open a browser and go to http://localhost:5010. Ctrl-C the program in Terminal when you're done.

Note that the new "Update VASL scenario" feature introduced in v0.5 will not work, but the core functionality will be there.

[*] You will need Hyper-V enabled and be running under WSL for this to have any chance of working on Windows.
 
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peterd1973

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BTW, the crickets in here are deafening. Have people had any luck with the new v0.5 version, and automatically updating their VASL scenarios, or did I word the warnings a bit too strongly...? :-/
Hi, I'm not quite I understand what to do, maybe I just don't get it.
 

Pacman Ghost

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Hi, I'm not quite I understand what to do, maybe I just don't get it.
Pick a scenario you want to play, and enter the details into the program e.g. scenario name, SSR's, each players' OB. Or just load up one of the scenarios in the examples folder.

Run VASL and set up the boards, and save the scenario.

Go back to my program, choose "Update VASL scenario" from the menu, choose the .vsav file you created in the step above.

Save the result somewhere, then open it in VASL. You will see the scenario with all the HTML labels created for you, listing the scenario name, SSR's, each players' OB, neatly arranged around the boards. Previously you had to create these manually, and copy over the HTML content one-by-one, the program now does it all automatically for you,
 
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Pacman Ghost

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And I need geckodriver?
Yes, or chromedriver. It doesn't matter which one, so if you already have Firefox installed, use geckodriver, if you already have Chrome, use chromedriver.

You download a ZIP file, which will have a single EXE file inside. Put that EXE somewhere, configure the location into my program, configure everything else (see my screenshot in the release announcement), and it should all Just Work (tm).
 
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peterd1973

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I'm almost there, but I can't couldn't find where the server settings are.
Turns out there is a little "File" in the top left corner, instead of it being in the top right menu button.
Got it to work, very cool, I just need to do the setups better in VASL Templates.
You should have mentioned VASL Templates would create a new .vsav file that you need to save and use instead of my old .vsav file, or save over my old file.
This is a great automated feature, instead of copying and pasting.
Thank you.
I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

ps just saw the vehicles and ordinance portion, very good.

Yes, or chromedriver. It doesn't matter which one, so if you already have Firefox installed, use geckodriver, if you already have Chrome, use chromedriver.

You download a ZIP file, which will have a single EXE file inside. Put that EXE somewhere, configure the location into my program, configure everything else (see my screenshot in the release announcement), and it should all Just Work (tm).
 

peterd1973

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Muli-Nationality support is needed, per AP17 as an example.

EDIT found a work around, if one nationality has the afv and ordinance, use that nationality as the player nationality for access to the counters.

BTW, the crickets in here are deafening. Have people had any luck with the new v0.5 version, and automatically updating their VASL scenarios, or did I word the warnings a bit too strongly...? :-/
 
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Pacman Ghost

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I'm almost there, but I can't couldn't find where the server settings are.

Turns out there is a little "File" in the top left corner, instead of it being in the top right menu button.
Yes, this is an unfortunate side-effect of how a web application works. The Server Settings is for configuring the web server, the User Settings are for the per-user settings.

You should have mentioned VASL Templates would create a new .vsav file that you need to save and use instead of my old .vsav file, or save over my old file.
You can still save on top of the existing .vsav file, but until this feature has proven itself, it defaults to a new file, to discourage people from doing this.

I can't wait to see what else you come up with.
Already hard at work on it :)
 
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peterd1973

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I sent someone a file that was updated, someone who doesn't have your program, and when he tried to open the file, VASSAL froze up. So, my question is, if I start an online game with a file with ordinance and afv counters from your program, would someone who doesn't have your program be able to join it?
 
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