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Matrim posted:How about that DMCA takedown notice for cbloader, eh? Just one more reason not to buy any more products from WoTC, and another fine example of how the DMCA bing abused by corprate america.
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# ? Dec 15, 2011 04:48 |
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# ? Apr 29, 2024 02:37 |
Yeap, on the google code page. We Have received a DMCA Takedown notice as of 12/15/2011 The notice is available here http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=162429. We do not host any of Wizards of the Coast's software. And have filed a countercomplaint. We will keep you posted
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# ? Dec 15, 2011 04:48 |
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Hordelands Nomad has some of the text and powers from the Mercenary theme.
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# ? Dec 15, 2011 06:42 |
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MMAgCh posted:Is the Black-Hearted Knave level 6 utility power missing its trigger line in the actual article as well?
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# ? Dec 15, 2011 10:11 |
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Matrim posted:Yeap, on the google code page. Whoa. Uh, yeah, things might be going away soon. I've done a little more emergency privacy protection, but the first wiff of legal trouble the site is coming down. Just FYI. Mustache Ride fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Dec 15, 2011 |
# ? Dec 15, 2011 12:04 |
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I don't know if CBLoader can be legally taken down. The LCB could be considered Abandonware. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware "In November 2006 the Library of Congress approved an exemption to the DMCA that permits the cracking of copy protection on software no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder so that they can be archived and preserved without fear of retribution. It is still unlawful to distribute copies of old copyrighted software and games, with or without compensation, in any Berne Convention signatory country."
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 01:41 |
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Read that article again. US copyright law doesn't recognize abandonware until the author does or the copyright is over 50 years old.
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 01:52 |
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EDIT: Never mind. MadScientistWorking fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Dec 16, 2011 |
# ? Dec 16, 2011 02:01 |
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Mustache Ride posted:Read that article again. US copyright law doesn't recognize abandonware until the author does or the copyright is over 50 years old. Entilzha4 was referring to the Library of Congress's decision to grant an exemption to the DMCA, allowing the cracking of copyright protection on software no longer being sold or supported by the copyright holder, to allow you to continue using the software you already legally have. To put it another way, it's illegal to distribute the LCB, but if it's technically considered "no longer sold or supported" by WotC (which it is, if you consider the OCB a separate product), then it is legal to distribute software designed circumvent the copy protection the LCB uses. So the legal questions in regards to the Google Code page are: A. Is the DMCA anti-circumvention clause the only claim being made? B. Can the LCB be considered "no longer being sold or supported"? If both are "yes", then WotC would appear to have no case.
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 08:41 |
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Noticed a couple of things; The new themes from Neverwinter Campaign setting (Gates of Neverdeath) aren't working, and the new armors (such as Studded Leather & Banded Mail) don't present as the armor types they are (leather & chainmail respectively) when trying to get them as magical armor. Small Note: I hope the DMCA fails thoroughly because I can't stand the online CB. I would have no complaints against it if they could just add the "classic" character sheets as an option, but apparently "no looking back, only forward" is just how they think. Anyhow, could the updates you guys add to CBL on a semi regular basis (like stuff from Heroes of the Feywild or new online content from the D&D website) be considered copy-writed material.
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 10:41 |
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The biggest worry I have is that we can't really claim WotC abandoned the software, just released an upgraded version. Sure it's on an online platform, but they had many valid concerns for doing so. It's not really a case we can win. I'm going to pull the site down if they ask me to, it's not worth the legal battle. I haven't heard a peep yet, however.
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 10:43 |
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Sucks about the DMCA. Also i found a bug. The Primal Gaurdian theme from Dark Sun is automatically applying to druids that take the Primal Gaurdian option.
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 21:28 |
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J.B. posted:the new armors (such as Studded Leather & Banded Mail) don't present as the armor types they are (leather & chainmail respectively) when trying to get them as magical armor. Akemnos posted:Also i found a bug. The Primal Gaurdian theme from Dark Sun is automatically applying to druids that take the Primal Gaurdian option.
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# ? Dec 16, 2011 21:40 |
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I should have clarified this a little more. When I level my Druid to level 2 I see the Theme level 2 utility power (Sandstep) available to choose. The druid currently has the Primal Guardian class feature selected. I if change the class feature to Primal Predator, the option for the power dissapears. Pretty sure I ran the cleanup file just the other day, but I will rerun it again and verify if I still get the error. Edit: just ran the cleanup file and reloaded the builder and I still see the option to take Sandstep as my level 2 power. for level 2 i see 2 options for theme utility powers Heal Fey Beast Companion (this is the one from my actual theme) Sandstep Akemnos fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Dec 16, 2011 |
# ? Dec 16, 2011 22:40 |
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Akemnos posted:I should have clarified this a little more. When I level my Druid to level 2 I see the Theme level 2 utility power (Sandstep) available to choose. Edit: On a completely unrelated note, the Shiradi Champion epic destiny from HotF currently cannot be selected at all because the "any nonevil aligment" part of the prerequisite throws off the builder; it needs to be changed to something like <Prereqs> 21st level, Lawful Good or Good or Unaligned </Prereqs>. Whoever coded the ED actually got it right in the case of the Fey Anointment class feature, though I'm not sure the features of the ED require any prereqs at all – if, for some reason, they do, Armor of Stars and Everlasting Champion need to have their prerequisites changed as well. MMAgCh fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Dec 17, 2011 |
# ? Dec 16, 2011 22:57 |
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MMAgCh posted:Edit: On a completely unrelated note, the Shiradi Champion epic destiny from HotF currently cannot be selected at all because the "any nonevil aligment" part of the prerequisite throws off the builder;
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# ? Dec 17, 2011 09:14 |
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I disagree – as bad an idea as alignment prerequisites may be held to be, the builder should still reflect them as faithfully as it should any other game mechanic. (Then again, my suggestion to retool the half-elf's Dual Heritage and similar game elements to actually reflect the rules was not very popular either. vv) On another unrelated note, it looks like the Oak Shield paragon path from Dragon 401 is missing its level 16 feature. It's supposed to have one, I'm pretty sure.
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# ? Dec 17, 2011 23:31 |
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MMAgCh posted:I disagree – as bad an idea as alignment prerequisites may be held to be, the builder should still reflect them as faithfully as it should any other game mechanic. (Then again, my suggestion to retool the half-elf's Dual Heritage and similar game elements to actually reflect the rules was not very popular either. vv) Here's a working prereq line for Shiradi Champion: code:
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# ? Dec 18, 2011 01:21 |
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MMAgCh posted:I disagree – as bad an idea as alignment prerequisites may be held to be, the builder should still reflect them as faithfully as it should any other game mechanic. When that was the case for both cavalier and blackguard classes we all received entirely too many e-mails about how the classes were "broken" or "missing" or "messed up". When the only problem was certain players didn't know what the heck they were doing. Just saying sometimes simplicity is better. Soon as we changed it no more complaints. Worked like a charm.
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# ? Dec 18, 2011 01:48 |
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Odd. The DMCA notice about CBLoader has disappeared. It is no longer in the ChillingEffects database. Did WotC withdraw it? CBLoader's Google page acted like it was available for viewing before. Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Dec 18, 2011 |
# ? Dec 18, 2011 02:11 |
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I noticed that the Harper's Study feature of the Harper of Legend epic destiny wasn't working correctly. You're supposed to gain a bonus encounter power of level 13th or lower, which it grants. However, you're supposed to be able to retrain it for an encounter power of your level - 6. So at 23rd level you should be able to retrain your choice for a power up to 17th level. It currently doesn't do this. So, I coded up something that allows you to select higher level powers. I just don't know if it's the best way to do this. If we go this way, it'll allow the selection of higher level powers, but not through a retraining option. code:
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# ? Dec 18, 2011 04:02 |
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Tallgeese posted:Odd. The DMCA notice about CBLoader has disappeared. It is no longer in the ChillingEffects database. Did WotC withdraw it?
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# ? Dec 18, 2011 04:14 |
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Dark_T_Zeratul posted:I've never been able to see it; every time I've looked since the first post in this thread about it, ChillingEffects has said, "The cease-and-desist or legal threat you requested is not yet available." I had the same problem.
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# ? Dec 18, 2011 04:19 |
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Dark_T_Zeratul posted:I've never been able to see it; every time I've looked since the first post in this thread about it, ChillingEffects has said, "The cease-and-desist or legal threat you requested is not yet available." http://code.google.com/p/cbloader/ edit: Durr, didn't bother to look. Chilling Effects will post the notice after we process it.
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# ? Dec 18, 2011 05:31 |
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Greyhawk Fan posted:I generally recommend that for alignment based prerequisite that they be spelled out fully under <print-prereqs> but be totally omitted from the actual <Prereqs> tags. We have to make DMs check something. It also makes the builder work a whole lot better. Surely though it is better for people who do not understand the rules to get blocked by the CB than them thinking they have made a valid character, turn up to a session then have to remake it as it is not following the rules? The whole point of the character builder is that it is meant to enable you to make rules consistent characters so that the DM doesn't have to check every item on every character sheet to make sure it is not broken?
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# ? Dec 19, 2011 10:49 |
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Hey folks Homebrew Fixes It was reported to me that some (not all) of the homebrew stuff was producing processing errors. I just checked and fixed 26 of these errors and the next time you update it should correct itself (if you use these files). Largely they were encoding issues. I also corrected the Unearth Arcana index and "StrangeGods" part file that had an incorrect filename internally. I don't use the UA mods so if someone that does would check and make sure your PC still works that would be great. 404 Errors I was also told about a bunch of 404 file not found errors. The files are still there. The DNS or IP for cbloader.com is changing or has had some minor adjustments. I hadn't noticed any problems until today. I will let MSR know. Seems to only affect some of the "Homebrew" files. Ignore the problem for now and hopefully it will be fixed.
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# ? Dec 19, 2011 14:30 |
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Greyhawk Fan posted:Hey folks Just got 505 errors getting updates for part files 0 through 10. part 11 fighter and a few others seemed to update OK.
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# ? Dec 19, 2011 18:51 |
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I updated Stornont's Deep-Pocket Cloak to have similar rules to the original Deep-Pocket Cloak (allowing it to have a weight and adding it's weight capacity to the character sheet):code:
code:
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# ? Dec 20, 2011 03:14 |
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Hey guys. We appreciate the code. I am still trying to fix the reported problems this morning. Most of them seem to be difficult to diagnose internal file errors in the home brew part files themselves. I just fixed the file "AssassinDamagePatch". I am going to try to get some time to work on these newer fixes for the "main files" later. However, it would be great if we could start using pastebin.com again. First, it helps clean the thread up here. It is a lot easier to go through new posts without all the code in the way. Second, it is a lot easier for us to click on two buttons and get the code into our clipboard. If you haven't used pastebin.com before then just go right to the homepage and cut and paste your new code into the "new paste" box. If you want to fill out the Syntax Highlighting the answer is XML. Then click on Submit and copy the new URL to your post here. Many thanks. AssassinDamagePatch.part corrected This has been updated but the fix will only patch thru automatically if you used that index file. Otherwise delete the file and re-download: http://cbloader.com/Homebrew/50-AssassinDamagePatch.part I had to give the file a new name and obsolete the old one because the Update Header information has the error in it and was jamming up.
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# ? Dec 20, 2011 03:34 |
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Minor typo: The invoker power Hall of Thunderous Battle lists the target as "Each enemy in burs."
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# ? Dec 20, 2011 07:49 |
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Mr Beens posted:Surely though it is better for people who do not understand the rules to get blocked by the CB than them thinking they have made a valid character, turn up to a session then have to remake it as it is not following the rules? That's a great sentiment, but then the Character Builder should stamp HOUSERULED across the character sheet in that case, since there are some things which can be done in the builder which mark the character as houseruled but which come across as completely rules legal (and which aren't) but without looking at the character builder, it's hard to find the houseruled stuff. I, for one, am glad that the character builder doesn't stamp HOUSERULED across my character sheet since some things *need* to be houseruled to work (Tactician's armor....)
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# ? Dec 20, 2011 20:20 |
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Speaking as someone who organized an ongoing LFR night, I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how many times I've seen players come to the table with houseruled characters, using the excuse "but the character builder said I was legal!" To put it simply, I've had to deal with an enormous amount of people who are simply ignorant of the rules, and try to use that as an excuse to play an illegal character in an organized play scenario. If I ever seem anal-retentive about making sure a the LCB only applies bonuses when it absolutely SHOULD, and err on the side of marking MORE characters as houseruled in the name of caution, this is why. I'm tired of that drat excuse, and I do everything I can to eliminate it. The LCB will tell you WHY a character is houseruled, but it won't tell you why one ISN'T. This is exactly why, in the case of an epic destiny or class feature that have alignment restrictions, they should absolutely enforce them. That being said, alignment is one of the last things people set in the character builder, which is probably why people complained about the cavalier options; they hadn't selected their alignment yet, so the options didn't show up in the list. A solution to that would be to set the prereq to deny everything other than the appropriate alignments; that way, with no alignment set, they can choose it, but the moment they choose an alignment they're not allow to take that feature with, it marks them as houseruled.
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 12:23 |
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scpredmage posted:Speaking as someone who organized an ongoing LFR night, I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how many times I've seen players come to the table with houseruled characters, using the excuse "but the character builder said I was legal!" To put it simply, I've had to deal with an enormous amount of people who are simply ignorant of the rules, and try to use that as an excuse to play an illegal character in an organized play scenario. Wow. Honestly dude, chill out. LFR barely even exists anymore. There has been even more layoffs over at Wizards of the Coast (they love to do this as a Christmas Bonus). I wouldn't be surprised if LFR disappears completely soon. Probably right after Winter Fantasy. CBLoader is mainly to add house rules to stuff. If you are really "anal-retentive" about stuff consider that allowing your players to use CBLoader is probably a violation of your agreement as an LFR organizer. So you can't be that anal because you are here. Also, just for your information, RPGA/WOTC organized floor rules require that players bring every rulebook they intend to be using to the convention floor. It is there responsibility to know their loving dudes. If they are bringing illegal characters it is because they are cheating and never read up on this stuff. The builder is only a tool. It is not a replacement for a DM, having a brain, or the books.
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 17:32 |
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LFR isn't part of WotC or the RPGA anymore, it's freestanding and not going anywhere (for better or worse.) Character Builders have never been valid rules sources but have always been used by players as such. Players should know all their relevant rules but not all due. You both have valid points but there's no need to get worked up about it.
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 18:03 |
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My favorite thing that players will say: "But this is what the character builder printed on the sheets." I have had to tell people many times that they cannot go by the short-text that the builder uses for feats and features but they *have* to know the actual wording of the feat or feature because that is what matters. I believe I mentioned that on this thread no too long ago, as well. The problem I find is that people who are using the character builder have never bought a book, or they bought the original PHB and that's all and they never read up on rules updates. If someone brings up a rule update which affects someone else's character, that person (the one who brought up the rule update) becomes a "rules lawyer" and is chastised. When did it become a crime to actually *know* the rules?
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 19:32 |
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rantmo posted:LFR isn't part of WotC or the RPGA anymore, it's freestanding and not going anywhere (for better or worse.) That is not an accurate statement. LFR is wholly owned by Wizards of the Coast and it shall always be unless Hasbro decides to sell D&D (which I find unlikely). If you don't believe me then ask any LFR admin or check on the cover of any module. Its continued existence is solely at the discretion of WOTC. When it becomes too much of a bother it will end. Undrhil posted:The problem I find is that people who are using the character builder have never bought a book, or they bought the original PHB and that's all and they never read up on rules updates. If someone brings up a rule update which affects someone else's character, that person (the one who brought up the rule update) becomes a "rules lawyer" and is chastised. That is pretty sad. In a normal campaign you just go by what the Dungeon Master says. Some DMs use every rules update, others only bother with ones that are important to their campaigns. In my campaigns we have pretty much thrown out most of the Cleric "Class Compendium" update. I thought about using it in future games just to follow standardizations but I am not sure about that. My group owns every book put out for 4E. Each player also owns atleast the Player's Handbook (and most have all three and both of the little books). One of our newer players owns both of the little books and the rules compendium. I find it perfectly acceptable for a group to have one copy of a book like "Arcane Power". Everyone doesn't need it. However, every player should own the book that their base class comes from. Someone playing a Skald for example should own "Heroes of the Feywild" so they can understand their class features and be able to look stuff up in-between sessions. You can't count on something like the Character Builder to fill you in on all the information. It isn't all in the builder.
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 20:58 |
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LFR is licensed by WotC but isn't a part of it, no WotC staff are involved in it at all. It's still official and all but it's not part of the RPGA anymore. Whatever it is or isn't, it's nothing worth getting worked up about.
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 21:06 |
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rantmo posted:LFR is licensed by WotC but isn't a part of it, no WotC staff are involved in it at all. It's still official and all but it's not part of the RPGA anymore. Whatever it is or isn't, it's nothing worth getting worked up about. Might not be worth getting worked up over but you are still wrong. LFR is owned by Wizards. They would never let the Forgotten Realms IP be licensed out. They have direct control over it. --- On other news the CBLoader Google Code site is down. The notice still isn't showing over at chillingeffects.org. Greyhawk Fan fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Dec 21, 2011 |
# ? Dec 21, 2011 21:12 |
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Greyhawk Fan posted:Might not be worth getting worked up over but you are still wrong. LFR is owned by Wizards. They would never let the Forgotten Realms IP be licensed out. They have direct control over it. That doesn't match with what the LFR website says or what the Global have said or what the last year or so of it has indicated but I may well be wrong, I really don't care.
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# ? Dec 21, 2011 21:29 |
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# ? Apr 29, 2024 02:37 |
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Forgotten Realms is owned by Wizards. Living Forgotten Realms is a separate entity using a licensed product.
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# ? Dec 22, 2011 00:22 |