Dear Paizo,
Is it possible for you to provide alternative downloads of pdfs that do not contain the "pretty" backgrounds. I am using an android based ipad and the rendering time is killing me! The pages render great but they would render faster if they were not so art heavy. Many other pdfs that I have do not render as slow as yours. (But many do not have the great art that you provide.)
I would like to see just the background art removed not the graphics of the wonderful title art, character pictures, or creatures. It seems the few programs that render pdf files for viewing in Android cannot handle the backgrounds. The size of the pdf is not a problem but the graphic intensive backgrounds reduce the rendering time of one page to almost 30 seconds each page. I know Adobe Acrobat 9 can remove backgrounds from pdf files but your pdfs are DRM'd, and does not allow the end user to remove them. I agree you should protect your content.
I can only hope this is made possible, cause I don't think I can wait for the technology to get cheap enough for all of us to enjoy a quad core tablet that renders as fast as a laptop, just so I can read the rulebooks.
Edit....Yes.....I could just read the actual books (which I own at least one copy of each, and many of the Adv Paths) but traveling with all of them is like carrying around a 2 year old.... :P
I would also buy these without the page backgrounds and with 'screen resolution' (120 dpi) artwork downsampled. I use a netbook for gaming off of, and while I'm not at 30 seconds per page, I'm noticing a definite rendering lag.
I know InDesign can do this as a PDF export setting.
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I use my iPad off the shelf and while I don't have a huge wait time for rendering, perhaps a second or two is all, I do believe that the PDFs could use some work to make them more user friendly (weird fonts I am looking at you!)
And like Victorious said, yes I can read the actual book, but carrying around dozens of books, or printing out several PDF books and carrying them all around is ridiculous in this day and age. I am just too old now to carry fifty pounds of dead trees around with me. :)
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I use my iPad off the shelf and while I don't have a huge wait time for rendering, perhaps a second or two is all, I do believe that the PDFs could use some work to make them more user friendly (weird fonts I am looking at you!)
And like Victorious said, yes I can read the actual book, but carrying around dozens of books, or printing out several PDF books and carrying them all around is ridiculous in this day and age. I am just too old now to carry fifty pounds of dead trees around with me. :)
Off the shelf iPad as well and nothing that slow.
The core book is probably the worse. It might also be slowed down due to all the bookmarks in the index linking every subject.
Sean
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This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but on
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/downloads
There is a text only version of both the core rulebook SRD and the beastiary SRD - it was made by Mike Dusseault.
The only complaint I have is that the bookmarks are automatically fully open instead of collapsed and I have to close them manually every time I open the file.
They haven't been updated in quite a while, so they're not up to date on new printings, but they're quite nice for a quick loading easy to read PDF file. Maybe someone with the software to edit pdfs might take the time to update them someday.
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I was looking at one of the preview PDFs for Eclipse Phase and they have a really nice option to turn off the various layers of their PDFs. If Paizo could do something similar I would be very impressed (I DM from an older tablet and it's sometimes slow going browsing through the PDFs).
Android based Ipad ? Am I missing something here.
Samsung have just announced that they are releasing an Android-based iPad competitor this autumn. Name escapes me.
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Android based Ipad ? Am I missing something here.Samsung have just announced that they are releasing an Android-based iPad competitor this autumn. Name escapes me.
The Galaxy Tab, also Archos, who's been doing Android devices for almost two years now will have 5 new ones in October, 2 about the size of an iPhone/Droid, 2 about the size of an iPad, and one that's 10.1" ... the most expensive version of the 10.1" model looks to be $350.
I'll add my vote for a text-only PDF with lots of usuable hyperlinks.
When I host gaming, I use my laptop. No problems there. But at someone elses house, I only bring my Droid2 and while it works well, the heavy graphics slow it down.
But the PDF is VERY handy for searching and checking something quickly.
By summer 2011, we'll be swimming in iPad competitors.
Add another vote for a lightweight option.
What I'd really love (but I assume is too niche for there to really be a market for) is to be able to get a version of an Adventure Path that's Kindle-friendly.
When I'm running the adventure, I'm going to want the printed module -- but when I'm reading/prepping it, which for me is the bulk of the time I spend with the adventure, a Kindle version would be a godsend. I'd subscribe on the spot if that came included.
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This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but on
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/downloads
There is a text only version of both the core rulebook SRD and the beastiary SRD - it was made by Mike Dusseault.
The only complaint I have is that the bookmarks are automatically fully open instead of collapsed and I have to close them manually every time I open the file.
They haven't been updated in quite a while, so they're not up to date on new printings, but they're quite nice for a quick loading easy to read PDF file. Maybe someone with the software to edit pdfs might take the time to update them someday.
Is it possible to edit the pdf to have the bookmarks collapsed? I don't know anything about .pdfs, but I do like text-only documents for the gaming machine.
On the plus side, at least things have improved since the first official pdf, which was a pig to navigate even on a reasonable computer (let alone a tablet).
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Is it possible to edit the pdf to have the bookmarks collapsed? I don't know anything about .pdfs, but I do like text-only documents for the gaming machine.
On the plus side, at least things have improved since the first official pdf, which was a pig to navigate even on a reasonable computer (let alone a tablet).
if you have the right version of adobe acrobat, I'm sure you could.
I don't. :)
Chief Technical Officer
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What I'd really love (but I assume is too niche for there to really be a market for) is to be able to get a version of an Adventure Path that's Kindle-friendly.
Kindle and other ePub formats are ideal for electronic books that are mostly text, but lack support for the precise layout of images and special textual formatting that are important to most of our products. Unless and until that changes, the best electronic format for most of our products will be PDF.
Kindle and other ePub formats are ideal for electronic books that are mostly text, but lack support for the precise layout of images and special textual formatting that are important to most of our products. Unless and until that changes, the best electronic format for most of our products will be PDF.
Yeah, that's kind of what I figured.
There's value to me, specifically, in a version where I can just read the text in a portable format and lose the graphics and maps and such, because I'm the kind of person who needs to read and digest the text a few times before I start to feel comfortable about running the mod.
But I assume most people would rather read it in the 'real' format that they'd run from, and I've met a lot of very good GMs who can run this sort of thing fabulously cold.
Bump.
Less graphic-heavy PDFs would greatly help those of us who use netbooks and other not-high-power devices at the game table.
I found on my ipad opening the thumbnail view of the pages helps the ipad render the pages faster. i also have goodreader which rendrers some of the pages really fast but the method they use to do that results in some pages being garbled.
What i really want is a way to use form fillable PDFs on my ipad. i Purchased on on paizos site and it is really nice being able to enter the fields on the ipad would be awesome, until Hero labs is out for the ipad this seemed the best solution but no dice :(
Add another vote for a lightweight option.
What I'd really love (but I assume is too niche for there to really be a market for) is to be able to get a version of an Adventure Path that's Kindle-friendly.
When I'm running the adventure, I'm going to want the printed module -- but when I'm reading/prepping it, which for me is the bulk of the time I spend with the adventure, a Kindle version would be a godsend. I'd subscribe on the spot if that came included.
Dittos to all.
Are people aware of the downloadable PDF's of the PRD available in the Downloads section of d20pfsrd.com? Just asking since they've been available for quite some time.
With all due respect for the work you've put into your fan site, and of course it's useful to know that such material is available, I am sure some people would like to get more flexible use out of the official Paizo .pdfs they've purchased. As comprehensive as your site is, it is a fansite, and official .pdfs would be more immediately updated, amongst other things.
With all due respect for the work you've put into your fan site, and of course it's useful to know that such material is available, I am sure some people would like to get more flexible use out of the official Paizo .pdfs they've purchased.
That is more than reasonable.
As comprehensive as your site is, it is a fansite, and official .pdfs would be more immediately updated, amongst other things.
As for being "more immediately updated," I could debate that but won't.
As for "amongst other things," since I don't know what those other things are, I can't debate that :)
However, if people would prefer to wait for Paizo to release background-less PDF's, I submit that may be quite a lengthy span of time.
Edited for political correctness :)
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I have plugged those pdfs here on this forum, and use them myself. I find them extremely useful (in fact, it's open on my computer right now for some research for the game I'm running today!). I don't know if you have or know anyone that has the full version of acrobat (if I had access, I'd try to do it), but if you could get the core book version updated so the table of contents open in the compressed instead of fully extended version, I would be extremely happy!
Are people aware of the downloadable PDF's of the PRD available in the Downloads section of d20pfsrd.com? Just asking since they've been available for quite some time.
I use those on my Nook. My question for you is this - since the APG is considered part of the PRD, how soon can we expect a nice PDF of it from your site? I'd really prefer to not lug the book around, and though I can use your site to find the content, a pdf of the information would be a nice touch.
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I use those on my Nook. My question for you is this - since the APG is considered part of the PRD, how soon can we expect a nice PDF of it from your site? I'd really prefer to not lug the book around, and though I can use your site to find the content, a pdf of the information would be a nice touch.
Good idea. I'll contact Mike Dusseault (the original creator of the PDF's) and see if he can whip up an APG version. He did such an awesome job with the two that are there now I would not even attempt to duplicate his work.
Edit: Ok, email/request sent to Mike. I have no idea what he's been up to lately but I'll let folks know as soon as I know more.
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Chief Technical Officer
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The rendering problem is caused by the vector graphics.
Any PDF renderer worth anything should be good at rendering vector graphics—they *have* to be good at it, since fonts work pretty much the same way. Now, I realize that really, really big vector graphics could be a problem for some, but we don't tend to use big vector graphics. Even our logos, which are among the most complex vector graphics we use, are pretty small.
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Hey thanks Jess! By the way, I have changed the default setting for the corebook and bestiary PDF's to now be collapsed. Hope that helps!
(they now say "bookmarks collapsed" in the downloads area)
woot! Just downloaded them, and it's awesome.
I'm sure it seems like a small thing to some people, but having to collapse it every time I opened it was frustrating.
I just got an HP tablet pc - pretty much exculsively for gaming - and this is great for it!
What I'd really love (but I assume is too niche for there to really be a market for) is to be able to get a version of an Adventure Path that's Kindle-friendly.Kindle and other ePub formats are ideal for electronic books that are mostly text, but lack support for the precise layout of images and special textual formatting that are important to most of our products. Unless and until that changes, the best electronic format for most of our products will be PDF.
I think that the Core Rulebook would be ideal for one of the eBook formats. The rules themselves are relatively light on required images and the various eBook formats seem to support tables well.
Since I got a Kindle for Christmas, I've been experimenting with PDF converters with varying levels of success. The Core Rulebook PDF renders nicely on the Kindle 3, but reading and searching is slow and darn near useless. Converted to the Kindle format, it's fast to read through and is somewhat searchable.
IMHO, rulebooks in some eBook format other than PDF would be a game changer. For players, Laptops are almost overkill at the gaming table, since they don't really provide any utility that justifies the space they occupy and they can become an unwelcome distraction.
Dell is supposedly coming out with their own Android OS tablet PC as well.
I do buy some of Paizo's PDFs, but for the majority, it's the physical books all the way; our GM absolutely loathes using the PDFs for gaming.
Well I just have my lappy at the table connected to the wireless network and have the d20pfsrd site open and click through that. Seems to be a fairly quick method of getting what I want.
At some point I will work out how to save an offline version, but at the moment it works well - so long as the network is up :p
Well I just have my lappy at the table connected to the wireless network and have the d20pfsrd site open and click through that. Seems to be a fairly quick method of getting what I want.
At some point I will work out how to save an offline version, but at the moment it works well - so long as the network is up :p
http://www.httrack.com
-- david
Papa.DRB
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Or alternatively, download the following files...
If you do not have WinRar (or some archiving application that understands .rar files) then go here and download/install it.
Then, double-click on the file labeled "part01.rar" and it will extract all files to your local PC.
That is a snapshot of the site created sometime around November 2010 I believe.
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Or alternatively, download the following files...
If you do not have WinRar (or some archiving application that understands .rar files) then go here and download/install it.
Then, double-click on the file labeled "part01.rar" and it will extract all files to your local PC.
That is a snapshot of the site created sometime around November 2010 I believe.
any chance you have some other version of compression? Something more cross platform?
That is a snapshot of the site created sometime around November 2010 I believe.
Thanks for that!
How often does it update?
any chance you have some other version of compression? Something more cross platform?
If you check the download page of the WinRar website, you'll notice that it supports many Operation Systems: Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, etc...
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If you check the download page of the WinRar website, you'll notice that it supports many Operation Systems: Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, etc...
Yeah there aren't many apps as cross-platform friendly as WinRar.
I suppose I could make it a zip file at some point but I just always use WinRar and forget to select zip as the output format.
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any chance you have some other version of compression? Something more cross platform?If you check the download page of the WinRar website, you'll notice that it supports many Operation Systems: Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, etc...
ahhh I have always associated RAR with windows and never bothered to even look at it's other platforms. Sorry :)
add me to the list of people looking for more tablet friendly PDF options. check out some of the things done by the Eclipse Phase people - beautifully done art and they take advantage of the tablet environment to make navigation within the document quite easy. no problems with slow rendering times either.
if Paizo did something like that with their PDF files, I'd be one very happy gamer!