Vamp FAQ

Override Data Sources

I tried to add a new vampire with an override file, but the vampire isn't showing up.

Make sure your new vampire is selectable by your current filter.
Vamp will load a vampire with any clan or sect you specify, or with no clan or no sect. However, the user interface does not let you specify a filter that will display such a vampire.
Although the Vampire groups control has an "All" setting, "All" really means groups 1, 2, and 3. If you add a vampire belonging to another group the vampire will never be filtered for.

Is there any way to tell whether a card's data is coming from the primary data source or the override data source?

Not using Vamp. The override data source always has precedence, so looking through it will tell you what cards it is providing. Everything else is coming from the primary data source.

How do you use the results tables to build decks?

We can only speak for ourselves. While applying various filters, the authors use pushpins to keep around any cards we decide we want. When doing comparisons, we use the Peel Off Current Results button and then drag back any cards we decide we want. At the end of the process, we select for an impossible filter (vampires of no clan or library cards of no card type), and whatever is left in our results tables is our deck. After adjusting card counts as necessary, we save our output, and perhaps our filter as well.

I want more space to look at my results table so I don't have to scroll as much.

Use the Peel Off Current Results button. You can maximize the new window so its results fill your whole screen. Later, if you wish, you can drag selected cards back to your main results table for further manipulation.

Elder Library let me click on a card to increase its count! Why doesn't Vamp let me do that?

Fundamentally because the authors are unconvinced that method is significantly easier than typing a new count number. More concretely, attempting such an implementation would probably compromise a Vamp feature which we find indispensable, selecting and dragging cards from one results table to another. We did consider making the count column use spinners, but decided they would end up too small to be usable. We're happy to continue to listen to commentary in this area.

Why does the Zap Counts & Pushpins button set counts to one instead of zero?

Vamp includes card counts in its results tables to facilitate designing crypts and libraries, which generally include multiple copies of at least some cards. Its default count is one; a card with a count of zero will never be output.
You really never need to set a card's count to zero. Because only selected cards in a result table are output, it is easier to use selection to control what cards are included in your output.

How do I make my regular expressions case-insensitive?

Begin your regular expression with the character sequence (?i). Vamp uses Java's supplied regexp engine; you can find more information about it in the J2SE documentation on the Pattern class.