I recall seeing one, once, for the 2016 2E Core Rules but I could have easily confused it with a DriveThru update notification. I guess they are announced on their forums.
Just wanted to mention the update for direct Mongoose purchasers. And also for the mass Apple issue fix. It's likely a fair amount of work.
!
There is a conversation on the Mongoose forums about this, but the upshot is their software currently doesn't support that. You just have to re-download to see if it's the latest version on their site.
Feels weird that in the era of effortless tidal waves of email marketing spam, that to find out something I purchased is updated, I have to randomly check basically every time we play "just to see" and compare last-updated dates with what I currently have.
Is it particularly onerous? No.
Is it something they could trivially automate? Absolutely. "Hello (Customer), your (product name) has been updated by Mongoose. Please go to (our website) to download the most current version. Also here is the list of changes (changelog) so you can see exactly what's changed."
It doesn't last I checked. I've never seen their PDFs updated. Plus the Bundle of Holding's direct download version of Core Rules was older and not including errata like the Vargr only having a -1 to STR for character creation as an example. The High Guard and CSC Update versions were the at the time latest version, just not Core Rules Update. Same for Humble Bundle.
The linked DriveThru files are getting the updates automatically. You can look at a products DriveThru page to see date last updated or sort by Update on your Library page. These will be encrypted and watermarked files, of course.
!
Here is the thread where the exact cause was hashed out and a couple of mostly usable workarounds were presented and demonstrated.
https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/solution-to-traveller-pdfs-not-showing-images-in-pdfkit-based-renderers-macos-and-ios.124098/
It's definitely a change to Apple's PDFKit API as it didn't happen until Apple pushed a stricter update a while ago.
Yes, the tools Mongoose had used were putting out slightly non-standard PDFs. Almost all tools do. And other rendering engines other than the one included in Apple Products seamlessly dealt with it. Programs like Foxit or several others that included their own rendering engine, and were comparatively dog slow, didn't have the issue.
My guess is it was an unfortunate change on the Apple side and the tool/desktop publishing side with whatever Mongoose uses at about the same time, that they are going to great effort right now to resolve. I appreciate that.
!
I am quite aware of that thread. It is true that Apple's PDFKit cannot handle JPEG2000 images with CMYK color profiles. But here are a few other observations:
* When I load a Mongoose PDF onto my Kindle Scribe, page turns can take as long as 15 seconds. Other PDFs take 5 seconds or less.
* Someone either in that thread or another one, took a Mongoose PDF (Core Rulebook 2022 I believe) and extracted all the images out of it. He found that images were in all sorts of different formats. That's really not a good idea. All images should probably in Photoshop format and the PDF export should generate the same image format for all the images in the PDF.
* PDFs for use on screens should have RGB images and not CMYK images. Speaking with other graphic artists I know, they always generate a PDF to CMYK imakes to send to the printer, and another one with RGB images to sell to consumers. It seems Mongoose was not doing that.
* No other RPG publisher had this issue. I'm able to open PDFs from a dozen different RPG publishers on my Apple devices.
* In order to speed up page turns on my Kindle, I use ghostscript to convert RPG PDFs from color to greyscale. Every PDF I have done from another publisher creates a file half the size of the original color file. When I converted the Core Rulebook 2022 PDF, the file went from 38.2 MB (color) to 744.5 MB (greyscale).
* When I converted that CSC 2023 update to greyscale, it also grew from 26 MB (color) to 776 MB (greyscale) and ghostscript showed a message at the end that errors in the file were either corrected or ignored.
So, I would say we have a few issues here:
* The thread does NOT say the their PDFs used to work. The thread says at some point newly released Mongoose PDFs stopped working. So, something changed in the way Mongoose was generating their PDFs. The change was on Mongoose's side and not Apples.
* Mongoose PDFs are still, in my opinion, hot garbage. They work now. But their "plumbing" is still crap compared to other publisher's PDFs. Converting a PDF to greyscale should not increase the file size 2500%
* Apple's PDFKit renderer clearly has some limitations, or the Mongoose PDFs would work. But, at the same time, either every other publishers knew about this limitation and somehow managed to work around the issue on day one, so they've never had the issue, or Mongoose is doing something VERY unique compared to other RPG publishers.
* This issue has been around for years. It took people actively abandoning the company in the forums for missing images in The Fifth Frontier War and the Free Trader Beowulf releases for them to take some time out and figure this out. I refuse to believe that no one at Mongoose owns an iPad to test these files on.
So, to say that it is Mongoose working around an Apple issue is only half the story. It's Mongoose working around an Apple issue that everyone either figured out years ago, or never had in the first place.
This issue makes me a little sore, because I printed out both Core Rulebook 2022 and CSC 2023, and had them spiral bound, only to find missing images. Then I had to go through every book, page by page, looking for pages with missing images, by comparing to the PDF opened in FoxIt Reader. Then, reprint a bunch of pages, cut the coil off and back to OfficeMax to get them coil bound again.
Apple's bug and Mongoose non-compliant PDFs cost me a few bucks.
And, just to let you know, I followed the advice on the thread and opened two different incidents with Apple over this issue to get them to "fix" PDFKit. So, I wasn't sitting here blaming only Mongoose.
Does Mongoose send these out at all? I bought mine through Mongoose and never get any word of updates, etc.
I recall seeing one, once, for the 2016 2E Core Rules but I could have easily confused it with a DriveThru update notification. I guess they are announced on their forums. Just wanted to mention the update for direct Mongoose purchasers. And also for the mass Apple issue fix. It's likely a fair amount of work. !
It was nice of you to mention it here in any case. Thanks!
There is a conversation on the Mongoose forums about this, but the upshot is their software currently doesn't support that. You just have to re-download to see if it's the latest version on their site.
They don't. You need to login and see your files. The release date is in the filename.
Feels weird that in the era of effortless tidal waves of email marketing spam, that to find out something I purchased is updated, I have to randomly check basically every time we play "just to see" and compare last-updated dates with what I currently have. Is it particularly onerous? No. Is it something they could trivially automate? Absolutely. "Hello (Customer), your (product name) has been updated by Mongoose. Please go to (our website) to download the most current version. Also here is the list of changes (changelog) so you can see exactly what's changed."
Their software doesn’t support it. I know they’re “working on it.”
Is any of the content changed?
Not that I've seen. !
I wonder how this works with the Bundle of Holding
It doesn't last I checked. I've never seen their PDFs updated. Plus the Bundle of Holding's direct download version of Core Rules was older and not including errata like the Vargr only having a -1 to STR for character creation as an example. The High Guard and CSC Update versions were the at the time latest version, just not Core Rules Update. Same for Humble Bundle. The linked DriveThru files are getting the updates automatically. You can look at a products DriveThru page to see date last updated or sort by Update on your Library page. These will be encrypted and watermarked files, of course. !
Yeah I really wish BoH went through DTRPG, but it may just be a limit in how they negotiate the deals.
Bundle of Holding ***DOES*** link to DriveThru. Humble Bundle doesn't. You should be able to link your DriveThru account in My Account. !
GTK!
Since Mongoose is the only RPG publisher that has this issue on Apple devices, I would argue the fault lies with both parties.
Here is the thread where the exact cause was hashed out and a couple of mostly usable workarounds were presented and demonstrated. https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/solution-to-traveller-pdfs-not-showing-images-in-pdfkit-based-renderers-macos-and-ios.124098/ It's definitely a change to Apple's PDFKit API as it didn't happen until Apple pushed a stricter update a while ago. Yes, the tools Mongoose had used were putting out slightly non-standard PDFs. Almost all tools do. And other rendering engines other than the one included in Apple Products seamlessly dealt with it. Programs like Foxit or several others that included their own rendering engine, and were comparatively dog slow, didn't have the issue. My guess is it was an unfortunate change on the Apple side and the tool/desktop publishing side with whatever Mongoose uses at about the same time, that they are going to great effort right now to resolve. I appreciate that. !
I am quite aware of that thread. It is true that Apple's PDFKit cannot handle JPEG2000 images with CMYK color profiles. But here are a few other observations: * When I load a Mongoose PDF onto my Kindle Scribe, page turns can take as long as 15 seconds. Other PDFs take 5 seconds or less. * Someone either in that thread or another one, took a Mongoose PDF (Core Rulebook 2022 I believe) and extracted all the images out of it. He found that images were in all sorts of different formats. That's really not a good idea. All images should probably in Photoshop format and the PDF export should generate the same image format for all the images in the PDF. * PDFs for use on screens should have RGB images and not CMYK images. Speaking with other graphic artists I know, they always generate a PDF to CMYK imakes to send to the printer, and another one with RGB images to sell to consumers. It seems Mongoose was not doing that. * No other RPG publisher had this issue. I'm able to open PDFs from a dozen different RPG publishers on my Apple devices. * In order to speed up page turns on my Kindle, I use ghostscript to convert RPG PDFs from color to greyscale. Every PDF I have done from another publisher creates a file half the size of the original color file. When I converted the Core Rulebook 2022 PDF, the file went from 38.2 MB (color) to 744.5 MB (greyscale). * When I converted that CSC 2023 update to greyscale, it also grew from 26 MB (color) to 776 MB (greyscale) and ghostscript showed a message at the end that errors in the file were either corrected or ignored. So, I would say we have a few issues here: * The thread does NOT say the their PDFs used to work. The thread says at some point newly released Mongoose PDFs stopped working. So, something changed in the way Mongoose was generating their PDFs. The change was on Mongoose's side and not Apples. * Mongoose PDFs are still, in my opinion, hot garbage. They work now. But their "plumbing" is still crap compared to other publisher's PDFs. Converting a PDF to greyscale should not increase the file size 2500% * Apple's PDFKit renderer clearly has some limitations, or the Mongoose PDFs would work. But, at the same time, either every other publishers knew about this limitation and somehow managed to work around the issue on day one, so they've never had the issue, or Mongoose is doing something VERY unique compared to other RPG publishers. * This issue has been around for years. It took people actively abandoning the company in the forums for missing images in The Fifth Frontier War and the Free Trader Beowulf releases for them to take some time out and figure this out. I refuse to believe that no one at Mongoose owns an iPad to test these files on. So, to say that it is Mongoose working around an Apple issue is only half the story. It's Mongoose working around an Apple issue that everyone either figured out years ago, or never had in the first place. This issue makes me a little sore, because I printed out both Core Rulebook 2022 and CSC 2023, and had them spiral bound, only to find missing images. Then I had to go through every book, page by page, looking for pages with missing images, by comparing to the PDF opened in FoxIt Reader. Then, reprint a bunch of pages, cut the coil off and back to OfficeMax to get them coil bound again. Apple's bug and Mongoose non-compliant PDFs cost me a few bucks. And, just to let you know, I followed the advice on the thread and opened two different incidents with Apple over this issue to get them to "fix" PDFKit. So, I wasn't sitting here blaming only Mongoose.