Creating a Pathfinder Second Edition Foundry VTT Content module pt. 3

Posted on Sat 30 September 2023 in pf2e

This article is all about exporting your newly created items so you can complete them...

When you are happy with your items, it is time to export them.

A fair warning: It took me a while before I was happy with my items, and went back and forth a couple of times while exporting, re-importing, modifying it in the GUI... So practice makes perfect, I guess...

Before exporting my packs, I locked them again. Call me paranoid, but when dealing with databases, I prefer the data to be consistent, and if locking the packs might help, I'll be safe.

Next step is to stop your world. The Foundry VTT devs actually recommend this step, before backing up your data, as it sets your world in umloacked mode.

This is where foundryvtt-cli comes in. I did some tests, but it appears your Foundry VTT instance has to be running, if you're running it in a container, like I do.

Follow the instructions in the README to install it, and you should be good. In my case, I needed to install this in my container:

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev npm install \
    -g @foundryvtt/foundryvtt-cli

added 62 packages in 8s

21 packages are looking for funding
run `npm fund` for details
npm notice
npm notice New major version of npm available! 9.6.7 -> 10.1.0
npm notice Changelog: https://github.com/npm/cli/releases/tag/v10.1.0
npm notice Run npm install -g npm@10.1.0 to update!
npm notice
podman@teamymcteamface:~$

And that's it, I'm ready to go!

foundryvtt-cli allows people to export the LevelDB to json or yaml. I have a preference for yaml, as it is more human friendly. So I will perform all my commands with that in mind.

First we'll make a couple of export directories, where our yaml files will go to:

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev mkdir \
    -p /data/export/{ancestries,ancestryfeatures,feats,heritages}

Let's configure foundryvtt-cli so it knows where to look for the binaries and your data. Be careful, the paths below are based on my setup. Don't copy paste without changing them to fit your setup.

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt configure \
    set installPath /home/foundry
Set installPath to /home/foundry
podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt configure \
    set dataPath /data
Set dataPath to /data

Next, we need to declare we will be working on my module:

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package workon 'bushvin-pf2e-expansion' --type 'Module'
Swapped to Module bushvin-pf2e-expansion

Now, we're ready to export our LevelDB to yaml with the following commands:

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package unpack "ancestries" --out /data/export/ancestries --yaml
[classic-level] Unpacking "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/ancestries" to "/data/export/ancestries"
Wrote Dragonborn_zZR26Ycr687afIZe.yml

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package unpack "ancestryfeatures" --out /data/export/ancestryfeatures --yaml
[classic-level] Unpacking "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/ancestryfeatures" to "/data/export/ancestryfeatures"
Wrote Damage_Resistance_Zv2o5KVTvcDtQVac.yml
Wrote Breath_Weapon_fQmAZdrRYx6UoiYi.yml

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package unpack "feats" --out /data/export/feats --yaml
[classic-level] Unpacking "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/feats" to "/data/export/feats"
Wrote Level_1_NnZWtMQ83iuKNqu6.yml
Wrote Level_5_WPY4b746k2iCiVs3.yml
Wrote Dragon_Armor_4VbpWdkETTM25OK6.yml
Wrote Deadly_Claws_4xhRTsoUM6tqRjZe.yml
Wrote Dragon_Wings_KtEawYwMyMnSvuVU.yml
Wrote Dragon_Resistance_L1dENaBLOP8w2b5H.yml
Wrote Improved_Breath_Weapon_NS5egObFforhZTbW.yml
Wrote Basic_Flight_WzHUHXurvmcECGM3.yml
Wrote Dragon_Claws_XBbR8aq9X63gVRh4.yml
Wrote Metallic_Breath_Weapon_XmqaCUlnP3KHPX7r.yml

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package unpack "heritages" --out /data/export/heritages --yaml
[classic-level] Unpacking "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/heritages" to "/data/export/heritages"
Wrote Chromatic_Dragonborn_VkaariTo8IIkRe8J.yml
Wrote Metallic_Dragonborn_ojXHip2KZUKuLdR7.yml
Wrote Copper_Dragonborn_08mmpQ0LR2w9brhy.yml
Wrote White_Dragonborn_3xxb5F12p5K80Qg4.yml

Before going any further, make a backup of these files. If something goes horribly wrong, you will be able to revert to your original files. Make a backup each time you have successfully imported, and validated the data, before editing again. It will save you a lot of hassle. I know from experience...

Notice, I only created 2 heritages: Copper Dragonborn and White Dragonborn. The Chromatic Dragonborn and Metallic Dragonborn entries are folders I created.

All files are named according to the name of the item and the UUID.

First let's create all heritages:

  • Red Dragonborn
  • Brass Dragonborn
  • Black Dragonborn
  • Gold Dragonborn
  • Blue Dragonborn
  • Green Dragonborn
  • Bronze Dragonborn
  • Silver Dragonborn

Just copy paste the existing template a couple of times and rename them accordingly. Make sure to remove the uuid in the filename, it doesn't really matter when importing them again.

Make sure the contents of the file reflects the new heritage and change the _id key/value pair to a new unique identifier, and replace all identical strings in the file to this new unique identifier.

You can easily generate unique random IDs in the Foundry VTT web console:

randomID(16)

Will generate a 16 character long ID.

But how to link the ancestry features with the ancestry?

Well, it took some digging around in other ancestries, but the you need to add them to the system.items section, with unique identifers (again):

...
system:
...
  items:
    2s8Ca:
      img: systems/pf2e/icons/default-icons/feat.svg
      level: 0
      name: Breath Weapon
      uuid: Compendium.bushvin-pf2e-expansion.ancestryfeatures.fQmAZdrRYx6UoiYi
    68q2K:
      img: systems/pf2e/icons/default-icons/feat.svg
      level: 0
      name: Damage Resistance
      uuid: Compendium.bushvin-pf2e-expansion.ancestryfeatures.Zv2o5KVTvcDtQVac

2s8Ca anc 68q2K are both identifiers. They are used by the internals of Foundry VTT, so make sure you generate them, and not just copy them from somwhere.

level obviously assigns the feature to this ancestry at the specified level

uuid is the unique identifier pointing straight to the ancestry feature

  • Compendium is where our information is located. My module is a compendium, hence the location.
  • bushvin-pf2e-expansion is the id of my module, not the name
  • ancestryfeatures is the name, not label of the pack the resource is in. Check your module.json file when in doubt.
  • fQmAZdrRYx6UoiYi and Zv2o5KVTvcDtQVac are the UUIDs of the relevant ancestry features.

Once you're done making the required changes, you can import them again, to check if what you changed is correct.

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package pack "ancestries" --in /data/export/ancestries --yaml
[classic-level] Packing "/data/export/ancestries" into "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/ancestries"
Packed zZR26Ycr687afIZe (Dragonborn)

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package pack "ancestryfeatures" --in /data/export/ancestryfeatures --yaml
[classic-level] Packing "/data/export/ancestryfeatures" into "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/ancestryfeatures"
Packed fQmAZdrRYx6UoiYi (Breath Weapon)
Packed Zv2o5KVTvcDtQVac (Damage Resistance)

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package pack "feats" --in /data/export/feats --yaml
[classic-level] Packing "/data/export/feats" into "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/feats"
Packed WzHUHXurvmcECGM3 (Basic Flight)
Packed 4xhRTsoUM6tqRjZe (Deadly Claws)
Packed 4VbpWdkETTM25OK6 (Dragon Armor)
Packed XBbR8aq9X63gVRh4 (Dragon Claws)
Packed L1dENaBLOP8w2b5H (Dragon Resistance)
Packed KtEawYwMyMnSvuVU (Dragon Wings)
Packed NS5egObFforhZTbW (Improved Breath Weapon)
Packed NnZWtMQ83iuKNqu6 (Level 1)
Packed WPY4b746k2iCiVs3 (Level 5)
Packed XmqaCUlnP3KHPX7r (Metallic Breath Weapon)

podman@teamymcteamface:~$ podman exec -it foundryvtt_dev fvtt package pack "heritages" --in /data/export/heritages --yaml
[classic-level] Packing "/data/export/heritages" into "/data/Data/modules/bushvin-pf2e-expansion/packs/heritages"
Packed b2DhMXAo6OLhhyoQ (Black Dragonborn)
Packed pbPTCgk9eXC4EXl8 (Blue Dragonborn)
Packed QwA4eZEXP5W0Juqe (Brass Dragonborn)
Packed raStKMkdcSuacKrj (Bronze Dragonborn)
Packed VkaariTo8IIkRe8J (Chromatic Dragonborn)
Packed 08mmpQ0LR2w9brhy (Copper Dragonborn)
Packed omy2xU9ahICeNUqo (Gold Dragonborn)
Packed qMoVIzkmVyyRmWz2 (Green Dragonborn)
Packed ojXHip2KZUKuLdR7 (Metallic Dragonborn)
Packed 6hrXn0oduivm6X0y (Red Dragonborn)
Packed zeOuCJfAHOeaR8gn (Silver Dragonborn)
Packed 3xxb5F12p5K80Qg4 (White Dragonborn)

As you can see, now, I have all the Dragonborn heritages I needed, and these are now also available in Foundry VTT!

If you want to have a look at the end result, feel free to check out my Github repository: bushvin-pf2e-expansion

foundry-vtt pathfinder podman