Vaults of Pandius & PDFs - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Vaults of Pandius & PDFs

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
mcdeath
Nov 23, 2007 22:36:17 All these years that I've perused the Vaults I've always wondered why certain projects were never made into streamlined pdfs. I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Some of the MC10-- are ok but most are split up in a most horrific manner. When I sit down to read something I like to go through from start to finish. I suppose I could just print them out but even then I have problems with a few (notable 1017 which is split in such a darn way I can't fit it together. Anyone know who runs the site who might be able to help with this?
#2
agathokles
Nov 24, 2007 4:05:06
All these years that I've perused the Vaults I've always wondered why certain projects were never made into streamlined pdfs. I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Some of the MC10-- are ok but most are split up in a most horrific manner.

The last years of the Mystaran Almanac are simply too large. However, they are split in just three books (Events, Atlas and Adventures).
Then, the books are split into different archives (to allow people with slow/unstable connections to download them more easily), but it's a single pdf file once you rebuild it on your PC.

(notable 1017 which is split in such a darn way I can't fit it together.

Odd. It's just split in four files:
MA1017_MystaranAlmanacAC1017_OneFilePicturesEmbeddedVersionPart1.zip
etc.
Join them following the instructions on the website (in Windows, "copy /b file1.zip+file2.zip+file3.zip+file4.zip output.zip") and unzip the output.

GP
#3
gazza555
Nov 24, 2007 7:31:41 Here's the complete pdf of MA 1017

Regards
Gary
#4
agathokles
Nov 24, 2007 7:47:17
I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs.

Also, regarding the Tome, it was never a PDF. It started as an online magazine, and the editors are not anymore active in the Mystaran community, so the chances of seeing it in PDF are near to none.

GP
#5
stanles
Nov 24, 2007 12:50:42
Also, regarding the Tome, it was never a PDF. It started as an online magazine, and the editors are not anymore active in the Mystaran community, so the chances of seeing it in PDF are near to none.

GP

and that wouldn't be something that I'm willing to do given the history of that project.
#6
stanles
Nov 24, 2007 12:55:13
All these years that I've perused the Vaults I've always wondered why certain projects were never made into streamlined pdfs. I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Some of the MC10-- are ok but most are split up in a most horrific manner. When I sit down to read something I like to go through from start to finish. I suppose I could just print them out but even then I have problems with a few (notable 1017 which is split in such a darn way I can't fit it together. Anyone know who runs the site who might be able to help with this?

The Almanacs are not available as PDF files in the Vaults proper, but they are available in more consolidated files on the Mystaran Almanac sub-site. The idea of the Vaults in this regard was to have HTML files of the ZIP or PDF files available on the Mystaran Almanac site.

As to why other projects aren't streamlined into PDF files. Well that's a bit more difficult to answer. I agree that there's many sets of files which could be combined into PDF files quite successfully, and quite usefully.
#7
Cthulhudrew
Nov 26, 2007 11:59:47
As to why other projects aren't streamlined into PDF files. Well that's a bit more difficult to answer. I agree that there's many sets of files which could be combined into PDF files quite successfully, and quite usefully.

I'm sure it's mostly just due to the relative lack of ability to create PDF files by a majority of the contributors, especially back when a large portion of them were written- .pdfs really weren't all that common for much of the lifespan of the Mystara community.

One project that I had started about a year ago was to rework the Almanacs into a .pdf format similar to the actual almanac format- ie, multiple column, designed to print out in pamphlet/booklet form. Several things have held up that project (overambitiousness on my part; the sheer volume of information in the almanacs; mostly just RL things that get in the way), but another offshoot of that project that I'd hoped to include would be a basic template for people to be able to use to put articles they liked on the Vaults into to create their own .pdfs (though I'm not exactly sure how that would work, admittedly).
#8
Hugin
Nov 26, 2007 15:02:39
I'm sure it's mostly just due to the relative lack of ability to create PDF files by a majority of the contributors, especially back when a large portion of them were written- .pdfs really weren't all that common for much of the lifespan of the Mystara community.

I know I would've liked to have done some of my projects in a pdf format but like you say, I don't have the ability to do that. But then again, I always have only a fraction of the time I'd need to do all the projects I desire.
#9
stanles
Nov 26, 2007 18:03:34
I know I would've liked to have done some of my projects in a pdf format but like you say, I don't have the ability to do that. But then again, I always have only a fraction of the time I'd need to do all the projects I desire.

I thought I had mentioned it before, but if not then I'll mention it now, but I do have the ability to create PDF files. All I would ask is to be provided with a Word document in the format desired.
#10
Cthulhudrew
Nov 26, 2007 20:23:27
I thought I had mentioned it before, but if not then I'll mention it now, but I do have the ability to create PDF files. All I would ask is to be provided with a Word document in the format desired.

I'll chime in with a second on that, for my own part. I can make pdfs for anyone who is interested, even if I'm not exactly speedy about doing my own projects (I generally find it easier to work and be timely when doing projects for others than myself, kind of sad, really.)
#11
agathokles
Nov 27, 2007 13:16:11
I'm sure it's mostly just due to the relative lack of ability to create PDF files by a majority of the contributors, especially back when a large portion of them were written- .pdfs really weren't all that common for much of the lifespan of the Mystara community.

Also, many of the shorter articles were just posts on the MML, so there was no formatting anyway.

However, generating pdfs, if one doesn't expect an expecially professional or fancy layout, it's quite affordable these days -- OpenOffice comes with a PDF export tool, and MS Word can be equipped with a similar functionality in several ways.

Finally, note that layout costs in terms of space: the Ochalea GAZ, in its non-fancy PDF format, is about twice the size of the original file. In the fancier layout (with images, backgrounds, etc), it's about 10 times larger.

GP
#12
stanles
Nov 27, 2007 18:27:55
Also, many of the shorter articles were just posts on the MML, so there was no formatting anyway.

I don't think it is just the format, PDF or not, which is the thing being mentioned but the streamlining of files into single coherent units, whether they be PDF or whatever. There is a lot of room for some sort of streamlining to also occur in many areas.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mcdeath Nov 23, 2007 22:36:17	All these years that I've perused the Vaults I've always wondered why certain projects were never made into streamlined pdfs. I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Some of the MC10-- are ok but most are split up in a most horrific manner. When I sit down to read something I like to go through from start to finish. I suppose I could just print them out but even then I have problems with a few (notable 1017 which is split in such a darn way I can't fit it together. Anyone know who runs the site who might be able to help with this?
#2 agathokles Nov 24, 2007 4:05:06	All these years that I've perused the Vaults I've always wondered why certain projects were never made into streamlined pdfs. I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Some of the MC10-- are ok but most are split up in a most horrific manner. The last years of the Mystaran Almanac are simply too large. However, they are split in just three books (Events, Atlas and Adventures). Then, the books are split into different archives (to allow people with slow/unstable connections to download them more easily), but it's a single pdf file once you rebuild it on your PC. (notable 1017 which is split in such a darn way I can't fit it together. Odd. It's just split in four files: MA1017_MystaranAlmanacAC1017_OneFilePicturesEmbeddedVersionPart1.zip etc. Join them following the instructions on the website (in Windows, "copy /b file1.zip+file2.zip+file3.zip+file4.zip output.zip") and unzip the output. GP
#3 gazza555 Nov 24, 2007 7:31:41	Here's the complete pdf of MA 1017 Regards Gary
#4 agathokles Nov 24, 2007 7:47:17	I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Also, regarding the Tome, it was never a PDF. It started as an online magazine, and the editors are not anymore active in the Mystaran community, so the chances of seeing it in PDF are near to none. GP
#5 stanles Nov 24, 2007 12:50:42	Also, regarding the Tome, it was never a PDF. It started as an online magazine, and the editors are not anymore active in the Mystaran community, so the chances of seeing it in PDF are near to none. GP and that wouldn't be something that I'm willing to do given the history of that project.
#6 stanles Nov 24, 2007 12:55:13	All these years that I've perused the Vaults I've always wondered why certain projects were never made into streamlined pdfs. I've looked at the two links to the Mystaran Almanac & Tome of Mystara and I'm more than a bit miffed that neither of those are in decent pdfs. Some of the MC10-- are ok but most are split up in a most horrific manner. When I sit down to read something I like to go through from start to finish. I suppose I could just print them out but even then I have problems with a few (notable 1017 which is split in such a darn way I can't fit it together. Anyone know who runs the site who might be able to help with this? The Almanacs are not available as PDF files in the Vaults proper, but they are available in more consolidated files on the Mystaran Almanac sub-site. The idea of the Vaults in this regard was to have HTML files of the ZIP or PDF files available on the Mystaran Almanac site. As to why other projects aren't streamlined into PDF files. Well that's a bit more difficult to answer. I agree that there's many sets of files which could be combined into PDF files quite successfully, and quite usefully.
#7 Cthulhudrew Nov 26, 2007 11:59:47	As to why other projects aren't streamlined into PDF files. Well that's a bit more difficult to answer. I agree that there's many sets of files which could be combined into PDF files quite successfully, and quite usefully. I'm sure it's mostly just due to the relative lack of ability to create PDF files by a majority of the contributors, especially back when a large portion of them were written- .pdfs really weren't all that common for much of the lifespan of the Mystara community. One project that I had started about a year ago was to rework the Almanacs into a .pdf format similar to the actual almanac format- ie, multiple column, designed to print out in pamphlet/booklet form. Several things have held up that project (overambitiousness on my part; the sheer volume of information in the almanacs; mostly just RL things that get in the way), but another offshoot of that project that I'd hoped to include would be a basic template for people to be able to use to put articles they liked on the Vaults into to create their own .pdfs (though I'm not exactly sure how that would work, admittedly).
#8 Hugin Nov 26, 2007 15:02:39	I'm sure it's mostly just due to the relative lack of ability to create PDF files by a majority of the contributors, especially back when a large portion of them were written- .pdfs really weren't all that common for much of the lifespan of the Mystara community. I know I would've liked to have done some of my projects in a pdf format but like you say, I don't have the ability to do that. But then again, I always have only a fraction of the time I'd need to do all the projects I desire.
#9 stanles Nov 26, 2007 18:03:34	I know I would've liked to have done some of my projects in a pdf format but like you say, I don't have the ability to do that. But then again, I always have only a fraction of the time I'd need to do all the projects I desire. I thought I had mentioned it before, but if not then I'll mention it now, but I do have the ability to create PDF files. All I would ask is to be provided with a Word document in the format desired.
#10 Cthulhudrew Nov 26, 2007 20:23:27	I thought I had mentioned it before, but if not then I'll mention it now, but I do have the ability to create PDF files. All I would ask is to be provided with a Word document in the format desired. I'll chime in with a second on that, for my own part. I can make pdfs for anyone who is interested, even if I'm not exactly speedy about doing my own projects (I generally find it easier to work and be timely when doing projects for others than myself, kind of sad, really.)
#11 agathokles Nov 27, 2007 13:16:11	I'm sure it's mostly just due to the relative lack of ability to create PDF files by a majority of the contributors, especially back when a large portion of them were written- .pdfs really weren't all that common for much of the lifespan of the Mystara community. Also, many of the shorter articles were just posts on the MML, so there was no formatting anyway. However, generating pdfs, if one doesn't expect an expecially professional or fancy layout, it's quite affordable these days -- OpenOffice comes with a PDF export tool, and MS Word can be equipped with a similar functionality in several ways. Finally, note that layout costs in terms of space: the Ochalea GAZ, in its non-fancy PDF format, is about twice the size of the original file. In the fancier layout (with images, backgrounds, etc), it's about 10 times larger. GP
#12 stanles Nov 27, 2007 18:27:55	Also, many of the shorter articles were just posts on the MML, so there was no formatting anyway. I don't think it is just the format, PDF or not, which is the thing being mentioned but the streamlining of files into single coherent units, whether they be PDF or whatever. There is a lot of room for some sort of streamlining to also occur in many areas.