New program to help set up VASL scenarios

Will Fleming

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I put the text in the line 2 on the VASL 'label' on some of them. I think that is why it looks 'behind' the counter.

Sorry if any confusion.
 

Will Fleming

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Here is a screenshot showing most everything is fine. I suspect the Romanian setup instructions 'bullet' is just some old text/html from a prior save.

Note: this is how it appears without 'vasl-templates' running. With it running, the image loads.

8531
 

Pacman Ghost

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Here is a screenshot showing most everything is fine. I suspect the Romanian setup instructions 'bullet' is just some old text/html from a prior save.
Thanks, it looks much better (almost). The flags and vehicle/ordnance counters really make a difference :)

I used the "update VSAV" feature to update the scenarios, but it seems to have not realized that that label needed to be updated. I'll take a look at it... :doh: I'm an idiot. I set up 2 vasl-templates scenarios, to get the Romanian and German setup notes for the one player, and that's what's confused the program. No bug :-/
 
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Yarlis

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Hi,

here's a screenshot testing v0.10 beta 2.

Getting the images from the internet causes an insignificant delay in VASSAL. It freezes for about 1 second.

Apparently, everything regarding images which previously didn't load is solved.

Just two minor comments:

1. The snippet for the German OB appeared vertical. I would prefer it to be horizontal. Don't know how to change the snippet width here, if possible.

2. The snippet the Turn/track shading could be maybe better visualized if it was darker. (In the image, it is covering turn 6, but it appears somewhat very light).8534
 

Pacman Ghost

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here's a screenshot testing v0.10 beta 2.
Thanks for this. The scenario looks good :)

I note that the labels for the scenario name+ID+date and German set up look a little narrow, so FYI, you can manually set the width for these things e.g. "300px" = 300 pixels.

Getting the images from the internet causes an insignificant delay in VASSAL. It freezes for about 1 second.
Good to hear. My internet is pretty bad right now, so I was hoping that the delays would be not as bad when you have decent internet.

The snippet for the German OB appeared vertical. I would prefer it to be horizontal. Don't know how to change the snippet width here, if possible.
Double-click on the entry in the vasl-templates program, and there will be a field in the bottom-left where you can set the width.

2. The snippet the Turn/track shading could be maybe better visualized if it was darker. (In the image, it is covering turn 6, but it appears somewhat very light).
Change the background attribute in $/data/default-template-pack/extras/turn-track-shading.j2

Note that if you make changes to any of these template files, your changes will be overwritten when you install the next version. However, you can create a custom template pack, by copying the default one, making your changes there, then running the program like this:
Code:
vasl-templates.exe --template-pack ...path-to-your-custom-template-pack...
But then, of course, when you install a new version, you need to carry over any changes that have been made to the default template pack into your custom template pack.

EDIT: I've just made the background color a configurable parameter, so you won't need to fiddle with the template, you'll be able to change it on the fly when you create the snippet (unless you want to change the default value).
 
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peterd1973

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Hi,

here's a screenshot testing v0.10 beta 2.

Getting the images from the internet causes an insignificant delay in VASSAL. It freezes for about 1 second.

Apparently, everything regarding images which previously didn't load is solved.

Just two minor comments:

1. The snippet for the German OB appeared vertical. I would prefer it to be horizontal. Don't know how to change the snippet width here, if possible.

2. The snippet the Turn/track shading could be maybe better visualized if it was darker. (In the image, it is covering turn 6, but it appears somewhat very light).
Now we know where your HIP is, muahahaha.
 

peterd1973

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The vehicle/ordnance counters are there because those tables provide useful information about what capabilities they have. What information would you want to see for squads?
LATW to hit ranges, PF and THH quantities, and counter images for quantities and a place to stack the counters for setup.
 

Pacman Ghost

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LATW to hit ranges
Already done e.g. on the German OB page, there are buttons to create snippets for PF, ATMM and PSK.
PF and THH quantities
Already done - in the Extras tab, there is a template called "Count remaining".
and counter images for quantities
There is no need for this - when you set up a scenario, you're going to set up the pieces as well, so you don't need a label telling you how many of each squad and SW there are.
and a place to stack the counters for setup.
Already done - it's implied that counters go underneath the "OB setup" labels. Also, a new feature has already been added for the next release that creates a grid, which is useful for scenarios that have an OB that says e.g. "pick one of these 3 groups of counters".
 

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Version v0.10 has been released here.

I had a bit of time over the past few weeks to work on this, so a quick turn-around for this release and, to make up for the lack of wow! in the last release :), there are 2 very cool new features in this one.

First, the ability to have your scenarios download images from the internet, rather than this program. This means that you no longer need to have this program running when loading scenarios in VASSAL and, in particular, you can play these scenarios with someone who doesn't have this program. Turn this on in the User Settings dialog.
Note that VASSAL is slow loading images, so there may be a delay when loading a scenario, and it will look like VASSAL is hung, but be patient, and it will eventually come back.

Second, integration with ROAR has been added. You can search the ROAR database for scenarios, and the information there will be used to get your scenario setup started. You will also be shown the latest results each time you open the scenario in vasl-templates.
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Other changes of note:
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping images from showing properly in VASSAL when using certain versions of Java (thanks to Will for figuring out what was going on here).
  • Added extras templates to generate snippets for a grid (useful for OB's that have a "choose one of these 3 groups of counters" component), and for Victory Points.
  • Made the background color configurable in the Turn Track shading extras template.
  • Tightened up validation and error handling of server configuration.
Check out the release notes for the full list of changes.

Thanks to everyone who helped beta test this release; please check the User Settings dialog and review the configuration, since things have changed a bit there.
 
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Pacman Ghost

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With the impending release of the VASL extension for Forgotten War, if there's anyone who would like to see it added to this program, and doesn't mind doing a bit of the work importing the data, please send me a PM. It's not difficult, just a bit tedious, and I've already done some of it... :)
 
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ramzon

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I have found using Version 0.10 that I can not use the less than symbol (<) in the OB set up, it does not appear when pasting the snippet. Anyone else have this issue?

8630 8631
 

Pacman Ghost

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I have found using Version 0.10 that I can not use the less than symbol (<) in the OB set up, it does not appear when pasting the snippet.
What you type in gets inserted as HTML, so if you put a lone <, it looks like the start of an HTML tag, but since there's nothing following it, VASSAL just ignores it. To get < to show up, you have to type in &lt;

You can find a full list of these "HTML entities" here e.g. type &reg; to get a circled R symbol.
 

ramzon

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What you type in gets inserted as HTML, so if you put a lone <, it looks like the start of an HTML tag, but since there's nothing following it, VASSAL just ignores it. To get < to show up, you have to type in &lt;

You can find a full list of these "HTML entities" here e.g. type &reg; to get a circled R symbol.
Thanks
 

ramzon

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Just want to say this program is great. In the last 3 days I formatted 13 scenarios for play-testers for an upcoming scenario pack and it is a real benefit for everyone. Not being very computer savvy I am even learning how to add symbols via HTML. Pacman Ghost has gone above and beyond developing this program and I hope he continues with updates (ex Korea) and improvements when he is able to. Thank you for such a great program!
 

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No worries, glad you like it. I really just wrote it for myself, since I used to set up all the labels manually and just got sick of repeating the same thing over and over (especially the Chapter H data), but it's great that other people are finding it useful as well.

It's at code complete now, and I'm just letting the release bake. If no bugs or feature requests come in over the next few months, then I'll push out the 1.0 release and call it done. I'm actually working on another ASL program now :), that lets you quickly call up charts and tables. Not sure if I'll release it, since it's lacking a bit of polish.

The shout-out for help with adding support for Korea didn't receive any replies, so this won't happen until I get this module myself. I play mostly VASL, and have real problems with storing stuff, so I'm very reluctant to buy physical products, for anything. If there were an electronic version, I'd get it in a heartbeat.
 

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Version v0.11 has been released here.

I know I said before that this program was at code complete, but I thought of a really useful feature, hence this release :) The program can now analyze an existing VASL scenario and import the vehicles and ordnance, which means you no longer have to enter this information twice (once for the VASL scenario, once for vasl-templates).

The suggested workflow is now:
  • Set up the VASL scenario, with the boards and counters.
  • Analyze the VASL scenario, to automatically create entries for vehicles and ordnance.
  • Enter the other scenario details e.g. the scenario name and date, Victory Conditions and SSR's, setup instructions.
  • Update the VASL scenario, to automatically create labels for all the scenario details and vehicles/ordnance.
Due to oddities in the way VASL/VASSAL saves pieces, the program can sometimes miss them, so please check the results after doing an analysis.

I've also done all the other clean-up and tying up of loose ends that I was going to do for v1.0, so this is as close to the final release as we're going to get. Unless I think of something else to add before then... :)
 
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