1.

Will Hero Lab be released for Android or other tablet platforms?

Creating an app for a new platform is a major step for us, so we have to be careful about what we plan to support. Hero Lab for the iPad took us over a year to develop, for example.

We're aware that users want Hero Lab on other platforms and are carefully considering the situation. Unfortunately we're a tiny company, so we simply don't have the resources to commit to other platforms immediately.

We'll announce any updates to this situation in our monthly newsletter.

2.

How do I delete portfolios on the iPad?

To delete a portfolio on the "Select Portfolio" screen, swipe from right to left on the portfolio, then tap the "Delete" button that appears.

You can also go to the "File Sharing" section in iTunes, find the Hero Lab app, select the file(s) you don't want, and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

3.

How do I put my custom data files / .user files on the iPad?

You can find a detailed guide to putting custom data files onto the iPad here.

4.

When will (other game system) be released on the iPad?

Other games may be added to the iPad in the future, but supporting a game on the tablet is a lot of extra work for us, due to how different the user interface has to be to work well. We want to make sure our Pathfinder support is solid and complete before jumping in to support another game.

We'll announce any updates to this situation in our monthly newsletter.

5.

When will I be able to create characters on my iPad, not just play them?

Full Pathfinder character creation is now available on the iPad!

Download the latest update from the app store, link a Hero Lab license to the app, and you can create and advance characters on the iPad just like you can in the desktop.

6.

Why doesn't Hero Lab on the iPad run on my iPad 1?

Unfortunately, the iPad 1 (the first iPad released by Apple) has very little RAM (memory) - only about 5-10% of what you'd find on a desktop computer nowadays, and only a quarter of what's availble on the latest iPad.

Complicating this, the current Pathfinder data set is enormous, because it contains dozens of books from years of releases.

So far we've been unable to squeeze the entirety of Pathfinder into a tiny enough footprint to cram it all into the original iPad. We're still working on that, and we have some ideas of how we can shrink things down to fit, but we aren't certain it will be enough and we didn't want to withhold the tool from everyone else while we tried to figure this out.

Ultimately, we may not be able to solve the memory issue, since Pathfinder continues to grow at a prodigious rate. We simply don't know at this point in time, but we're working on it.

We'll announce any updates to this situation in our monthly newsletter.

7.

Will Hero Lab be released for the iPhone or other phone platforms?

We don't currently have any plans to release Hero Lab for phones.

Reworking the user interface to fit on a tablet was a lot of work, and since phones have such small screens, it'd be an even bigger job to make Hero Lab work well on those devices.

8.

Can I use Hero Lab for the iPad in landscape mode?

Currently, Hero Lab for iPad only runs in portrait mode (narrow and tall). We're hoping to add support for landscape mode, at least in some situations, in the future.

9.

When will data files for game system XYZ be available?

We're in active discussions with numerous RPG publishers to secure licenses to support their games. When contracts are finalized, we will announce support for the corresponding game systems and will provide estimated dates when the data files will be ready. However, the publishers will have final approval over the material we release, so the actual release dates will be subject to any delays that may occur due to the approval process.

10.

What if I don't have an internet connection?

Hero Lab requires that you have access to the internet, although it's not required for the computer on which you install the product. If you don't have a direct internet connection from your computer, you can complete the licensing process and obtain data files by transferring files to/from your computer via memory stick or some other method. Having a direct connection will make the process much easier, since you can use all of the built-in facilities of Hero Lab to handle everything automatically for you.

11.

Is Hero Lab available for the Mac?

Yes! A native Mac version of Hero Lab can now be obtained from our Downloads page.

12.

Is Hero Lab available on phones or tablets?

Hero Lab is now available for the iPad! See other questions in this FAQ about support for other platforms.

13.

I have a Mac and a PC; can I use Hero Lab on both?

Yes. You can use Hero Lab on one computer for each license and secondary license you have. Those computers can all be PCs, can all be Macs, or can be a mixture of the two.
When transferring your license between two computers, it doesn't matter what type of computer it's being transferred to or from - the same rules apply regardless. See the Licensing section of our site for details.

14.

I just bought a couple of data packages, but I can't select them in Hero Lab?

After purchasing new material, you need to re-activate your license so that Hero Lab recognizes the new content you now own. To access the new content, go to the License menu within Hero Lab and choose Re-activate License. Follow the wizard through to the end. Once Hero Lab restarts, you'll have access to the new content. If this doesn’t solve your issue, please send an e-mail to our support desk, support@wolflair.com, and include your license number and the details of your purchase from the confirmation e-mail you received.

15.

Can I edit the data files myself?

Absolutely. Documentation and an assortment of tools is now available to provide you with everything you need to add your own material to the data files. This includes an integrated editor that allows you to add custom feats, skills, merits, disciplines, equipment, magic items, spells, and even classes. This will make it possible to add selected material from your all favorite supplements.

The data files for each game system include one or more tutorials, showing you how to add your own items to the game, and the documentation is regularly improved with instructions on how to model different behaviour within your custom material.

16.

Where should I install .user files that I've created or obtained from someone else?

You can find the path for user files by going to Tools -> Explore Folders -> Game Data Folder in Hero Lab. That should take you to the right place on either Windows or the Mac.

17.

Can I create data files from scratch for a new game system?

You can, but it's not a trivial task. Check out our page on the Authoring Kit for details.

18.

How do I move a Hero Lab license from one computer to another?

Once you install Hero Lab on the new computer and connect to our server, we’ll recognize your license number and all the content you’ve purchased from us will be available. For any portfolios you’ve created, you’ll need to manually copy them over to the new computer. Make sure to place them in the Portfolio folder within the Hero Lab folder.

If you have .user files that you use, you’ll also need to manually copy them over to the new computer. To make sure you put the .user files in the correct place so Hero Lab will find them, you can always find the path for user files by going to Tools -> Explore Folders -> Game Data Folder in Hero Lab. That should take you to the right place on either Windows or the Mac.

19.

Does Hero Lab run on Linux?

While we don't produce a linux version of Hero Lab, we're informed that Hero Lab runs correctly under Wine. Please note that you may require Wine 1.7 or later - using earlier versions of Wine, you may encounter problems fetching updates. Please note that running Hero Lab under Wine is not officially supported, and while we'll do our best to keep it running, we can't guarentee it will always continue to do so.

20.

I get an error message when I try to add new packages to my license!

Are you using Internet Explorer? For some users, IE has a problem connecting to our sales web site. At the moment, our recommended solution is to download another browser, such as Firefox or Chrome, and visit the site in that browser, which should work fine. You can do so by copying the address out of internet explorer and into the other browser.

21.

What material is included with each game system?

The link for each game system at the top of this page has a complete list of content included for each game.

22.

Will Hero Lab and data files be available in non-English languages?

Not initially, but most likely down the road. This depends entirely on whether RPG publishers want translated versions of their data files developed and how difficult the translations are to accomplish. We're designing Hero Lab with translation support in mind, so this will ultimately depend on the RPG publishers and access to the translated source materials.