Dungeons & Dragons Manuals & Modules Platform v3.0.0 - OUT NOW!

[malarrya]

VERSION 3.0.0 IS OUT!  From all the excitement surrounding the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie, I thought it would be prudent to celebrate with the latest Dungeons & Dragons Manuals & Modules release. With the addition of new LaunchBox functionality, such as box spines, icons, filters, and custom fields, an enormous amount of data, images, and information was added to the Dungeons & Dragon Manuals & Modules Platform. There is so much new content, I'll need to roll a successful intelligence check to remember what was added/changed.

1.  Box Spines: 214 new Box - Spine left-sided images created for all boxed sets, all hardcovers books, and several soft cover products.
   1. These allow 214 of the 960 images to be viewed using LaunchBox's new 360-degree image viewer.
   2. Softcover and module spine images will be included in a later release as it will take several months to find and Photoshop the 300+ spine images.
2.  22 Playlist Icons added. These new icons can be viewed in the LaunchBox left-hand playlist menu.
3. 218 (whew!) updated Box - 3D images.
   1. Many softcover books now better represent the proper page-count and thickness of the original printed manuals.
   2. Dragon Magazines, around a dozen boxed sets, and several softcover manuals had their images completely refurbished from higher resolution photos, better preserved products, and include proper rear covers.
   3. Several images have been redesigned with new 3D models (see #7 below).
4. 28 updated Box - Front images with much sharper and richer artwork.
5. 18 updated Box - Back images with much sharper and richer artwork.
6. 7 new custom fields that make searching/filtering for a product or series much easier. These new data fields expand not only the knowledge base of the original products but aid with historical preservation as well.
   1. Author: Usually 1 or more of the main contributors to the book, manual, module, or accessory.
   2. Category: Accessory, Adventure, Campaign Setting, Board Game, Core Rules, or Sourcebook. Values assigned to various items will likely change a bit in the future, as more data becomes available.
   3. Format: Hardcover, Softcover, Module, Boxed Set, Folding Cardstock, Leatherbound Book, et al.
   4. Pages: This helped greatly with redesigning many 3D images to better represent the book thickness of softcover manuals.
   5. Rule Set: Original D&D, AD&D 1st Edition, AD&D 2nd Edition, Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal, RPGA, Saga System, etc.
   6. Setting: Forgotten Realms, DragonLance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Lankhmar, Spelljammer, Greyhawk, Mystara, Birthright, et al.
   7. Year: Release Year of the product. This makes for a pleasurable and informative year-by-year journey though D&D history.
7. 2 new types of 3D image designs:
   1. Folding Cardstock: Used to display products such as Dungeon Master's Screens.
   2. Leatherbound Books: Used for the 4 Encyclopedia Magica manuals (I love these!!!).
8. Updates to some playlists to better represent a particular game setting.
9. Updates to several filenames to better represent the product titles.
10. Updates to game notes when errors or misspellings were found.

 

I hope you're as excited to download version 3.0.0 of the D&D M&M Platform as I was to release it. This latest update is the culmination of months of data and image editing, while the entire platform is an avocation that I've been working on since 2018. You can simply extract the archive file to the directory where you have your LaunchBox directory installed. You may want to delete the D&D Images folder, if you have one already installed, to make sure you see the latest images and filenames, before extracting but it's not necessary. If I forgot to include anything, I will upload minor version updates, once I discover them. There should be another major update in a few months.

Thanks so much to websites like RPGGeek, TSRArchive, DriveThruRPG, eBay, and Worthpoint which without these amazing sites, none of this would be possible. I must reiterate, however, that NO PDFs or Software are included with this platform. This is 100% for the preservation, enjoyment, and appreciation of the mythology, artwork, and universe that is D&D.

Please let me know if you encounter any issues during setup. The XML file path for all items is set to Z:/ but I can help if anyone wants to use a different absolute or relative path. Also, please make sure to backup your LaunchBox installation before making any big changes such a this. There are no LaunchBox core files included in this archive but it's always wise to have a backup plan just in case you're waylaid by any  dishonorable thieves or savage troglodytes. But most of all... roll a natural 20 and ENJOY!

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by malarrya

[Jowaratymo]

I'm pretty excited about it coz my friend and I used to play this game all the time before we went to college. Now, I think it's gonna be cool to play this game at our reunion.

[TobyRooney]

The custom fields are pretty damn good for finding stuff easily, and it’s awesome to see how much detail has been added. When playing D&D online, a dice roller online is a lifesaver. It lets you roll any type of dice fast and keeps the game flowing without any hiccups. Anyone else pumped about these updates? This version seems like it's packed with cool new features.

Edited July 26 by TobyRooney