We do know about this. It was a particularly weird issue that should be fixed on both the Skull and Shackles and Jade Regent's Players Guides this week.
I encountered this on both the Jade Regent and Skull & Shackles Player's Guides (even after the update).
In each case I believe I am able to print everything except the first double-sided page (I know that's true for Jade Regent; I haven't yet completely printed the Skull & Shackles guide). I run into problems whenever I try to print the S&S cover page (even if I just try to print it on its own). The same was true for Jade Regent.
This is on Windows XP Professional (32-bit) using Adobe Reader X, and two different printers (a Brother HL-5370DW and an HP 8600). I have not as yet tried printing from my Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) system, as at present that does not have the printer drivers installed. If I manage to try it there I'll post an updated report.
I gotta say, I really wonder why the Player's Guides have all this fancy layout and graphical stuff when they're meant to be digital only. Beyond the issues of font problems causing bizarre print issues, they're just hell to print, period.
Having never actually subscribed to an AP before, I had a blind hope that I'd get a print copy of the player's guide/that the player's guide is also included in the back of the AP booklet -- because otherwise, why on bloody Earth would you make it so graphically intense? I thought surely the only reason was because it actually got professionally printed somewhere.
I always HATE printing player's guides 'cause they're such ink hogs (as it is, I very naughtily print at work since no printer I've got access to at home or at my friends could handle it), and gods forbid if the printer screws up, and you've got to start over again. I haven't even looked to see if the version I have has the error but either way I'm keeping it because I'm not printing it again.
Please please please please, Paizo, if you've got digital-only products, please lay them out and format them so you don't put us in the poorhouse with ink costs.
(Maybe Paizo is secretly owned by a company that makes printer ink....)
And OTOH, if print player's guides were made, I'd buy them for a reasonable cost... much rather do that than print something that'll kill my printer.
Please please please please, Paizo, if you've got digital-only products, please lay them out and format them so you don't put us in the poorhouse with ink costs.
You mean the cover of the Carrion Crown players guide that was pretty much all black was hard on ink? ;)
And OTOH, if print player's guides were made, I'd buy them for a reasonable cost... much rather do that than print something that'll kill my printer.
Theyusedtobe and morphed into the Player Companion line. Having started out with print player's guides and transitioned to digital only, I must assume that the sales weren't sufficient to justify it, even when they were only $2. (And the fact that the CotCT player's guide is still available in print after all this time backs up my impression that they didn't sell well when people could download them for free.)
I am aware that it was the cover causing the issue. We fixed the only common graphical element between the two (or so I had thought). Since I can't replicate the error in the office, it's a bit puzzling what exactly is the problem. I'm going to investigate further this week and hopefully have both guides fixed for good. I apologize for any confusion or frustration this has caused.
And OTOH, if print player's guides were made, I'd buy them for a reasonable cost... much rather do that than print something that'll kill my printer.
Theyusedtobe and morphed into the Player Companion line. Having started out with print player's guides and transitioned to digital only, I must assume that the sales weren't sufficient to justify it, even when they were only $2. (And the fact that the CotCT player's guide is still available in print after all this time backs up my impression that they didn't sell well when people could download them for free.)
Fair enough. But then that leaves my wish that they be laid out to be printed out easily on something less robust than a publisher's printer. If anything, it'd save time and money on art and layout.
I tried skipping the cover and printing it and now I'm getting a PCL error I tried this on three different HP printers all different makes and models and all had the same problem. One didn't say anything about errors but it tried to print for thrity minutes so I shut it off. I've tried printing 1 page at a time and still get insuffecient memory pcl error. Just trying to give you more info so maybe it can be fixed faster.
I tried skipping the cover and printing it and now I'm getting a PCL error I tried this on three different HP printers all different makes and models and all had the same problem. One didn't say anything about errors but it tried to print for thrity minutes so I shut it off. I've tried printing 1 page at a time and still get insuffecient memory pcl error. Just trying to give you more info so maybe it can be fixed faster.
No worries
One suggestion I have for you: if your printer manufacturer offers multiple drivers, look for Postscript drivers first, PCL 6 drivers second, and PCL 5 drivers only if you have to.
Paizo Superscriber, Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber, Pathfinder Comics Deluxe Subscriber
DeathQuaker wrote:
Joana wrote:
DeathQuaker wrote:
And OTOH, if print player's guides were made, I'd buy them for a reasonable cost... much rather do that than print something that'll kill my printer.
Theyusedtobe and morphed into the Player Companion line. Having started out with print player's guides and transitioned to digital only, I must assume that the sales weren't sufficient to justify it, even when they were only $2. (And the fact that the CotCT player's guide is still available in print after all this time backs up my impression that they didn't sell well when people could download them for free.)
Fair enough. But then that leaves my wish that they be laid out to be printed out easily on something less robust than a publisher's printer. If anything, it'd save time and money on art and layout.
I get mine professionally printed and bound. With this one, they had the same problem everyone else did unfortunately. The printer told me it appeared to them that the PDF was corrupted in some weird way.
(I havent yet heard back from them regarding the updated version).
I tried skipping the cover and printing it and now I'm getting a PCL error I tried this on three different HP printers all different makes and models and all had the same problem. One didn't say anything about errors but it tried to print for thrity minutes so I shut it off. I've tried printing 1 page at a time and still get insuffecient memory pcl error. Just trying to give you more info so maybe it can be fixed faster.
No worries
One suggestion I have for you: if your printer manufacturer offers multiple drivers, look for Postscript drivers first, PCL 6 drivers second, and PCL 5 drivers only if you have to.
I tried to do that for 3hours last night I'm no techie but I downloaded several drivers from the site and none of them installed. I have windows 7 64-bit I downloaded 32-bit and the 64-bit neither worked.
But is it not strange that this problem occured on 3 different printers and computers?
Today I'm going to break down and buy one of those rip off driver update software programs will attempt to update my drivers again and see if it will print then.
So after updating my drivers I still get the same error. I should note this is the only document I get the error on. Also I wasn't able to print the cover it said no pages were selected I'm wondering if the one in my downloads is the updated one I've recieved an email stating it was but who knows. I was able to print page 2&3 before updating my drivers however when I get to page 4 this is what prints out:
PCL XL error
Subsytem: TEXT
Error: InsufficientMemory
Operator: Text
Position: 63898
On my girlfriends computer it just locks the print out and it says printing forever.
On my friends computer he gets the InsufficientMemory message on his printer screen.
I'm leary to take this to kinko's as it is quite a drive going to try creating an new paizo account and downloading the player's guide and see what happens post my results on here.
I really do apologize for everyone having issues printing the document. I'm totally baffled by what the problem could be and there doesn't seem to be much documentation on Adobe's part for this sort of thing. There have been a few things higher up on the To Do list to tackle, but I'm making this my priority to fix as soon as possible.
page 6 did not and now I give up on this document and look forward to an update. If anyone needs any of my information to try to narrow down the problem more specifically or if I can help in any way let me know.
FWIW- I just printed my players guide without problem at work. I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro X Version 10.1.3
Not sure if that helps, but I thought I share in case it does.
But is it not strange that this problem occured on 3 different printers and computers?
I have no doubt that something in the document is problematic for certain configurations, and Chris will do her best to solve that. But while it doesn't print properly for some, it *does* print properly for others, and I'm just trying to make adjustments to your configuration that might get you into a happier place (and the driver changes I suggested should actually improve PDF printing with other documents too, so it's not wasted effort).
Are you using the latest version of Adobe Reader X—Version 10.1.3? If not, get it for free here:
I am having similar problems - Windows 7, Adobe Reader X 10.1.3, HP OfficeJet Pro 8100 with current drivers. I am able to print off some of the internal pages, but it takes about 45 seconds to a minute for Adobe to process each page, because it has to perform "flattening." Having done some large printing jobs in the past, each page takes longer to process than a 180-page black-and-white document took in its entirety. The printing is also hideously slow, presumably because of the complicated inking required. It's functional (mostly), but it may be beneficial to simplify future Player's Guides so that DMs can actually print out enough copies for their players (or, conversely, so that all the players are able to print their own).
Don't know if it would work, but would going to a resolution high enough to show a full page, and then using a screen capture program work? Something like Camtasia or Hypersnap DX?
If so, then you could just print out the screen capture. Paizo could also take the screen captures and combine them into a new pdf as a temporary fix till they figure out why its happening.
Were the printing issues ever resolved with this? I just downloaded a new copy (to be sure I had the most recent) and using Adobe 10.1.4, I am still unable to print out a copy.