GM Portrait change in Chat Window (NPC portaits Idea?)

[Blackfoot]

I'm tapped into this whole issue primarily not for the chat window issues (that's kinda a side benefit) but because I need my NPCs to use a HEX mask instead of a square image for tokens. I'm not sure that 4 or 5 images would be enough.. but it actually doesn't matter because if you can do 4 or 5 you can do all your NPCs.

It is sounding like it could be tough to pull off. I'm getting that the PC images are tied to their ID... hrm.. it changes when I have multiple PCs ... seems like there should be a way to come at this that will work.

[Trenloe]

Experiment with the <portraitset> values I mentioned above. Look at graphics\graphics_portraits.xml

[sturtus]

Sorry to rez this zombie thread, but this would be an excellent feature to have. When the players have these beautiful portraits down the chat frame and the multiple NPC's they are interacting with all say GM, it feels like something is wrong or broken.

I'm not very familiar with extension dev (though i ought to start), it seems like if a hook can be called, it could hook in when a chat bubble is selected or the "speak as" command is initiated, it mimics the portraitselectioncontrol and sets the GM with a new portrait, loaded into memory at the moment from the NPC selected. I will have to do some light extension dev reading.

[Trenloe]

@sturtus - see my comments earlier in this thread. The GM's icon cannot be the dynamic, the best you can do is have a preset number of icons defined in the extension and change those.

[sturtus]

Adding to the feature requests!

[Rades]

Resurrecting this thread from the dead again to provide a workaround!

While there may not be a way to dynamically change the DM icon, a somewhat-clunky but functional workaround is to load up a second instance of Fantasy Grounds (which I think many DMs usually have running anyway, to see what their players see), log in as a player (not as DM), and just have a blank "NPC" character sheet ready. Then if the party starts chatting with Elminster, on this guest FG window I activate the blank NPC sheet, change the name to Elminster and select the Elminster portrait pic that I've prepared in advance. Essentially, a new PC named Elminster joins the party temporarily, and by chatting through him on the guest screen, his portrait shows up in the chat window next to whatever he says. (You could also set up multiple NPC sheets in advance and have their names and portraits already set.)

Since players can control multiple PCs, you can even open a second PC sheet on the guest window and have multiple NPCs talking with portraits. (Just be sure to click the NPC you are speaking as before chatting!)

If you want to get even trickier, you can also set up Story/Note pages in advance with pre-typed dialogue, and as long as you click back-and-forth between your various NPCs properly, you can carry out a fully portraited conversation this way. Two things: you must designate speakers with any pre-typed dialogue, or it just shows up as "Guest". And secondly, you need to make sure the active NPC sheet matches the designated speaker name, or it will show the wrong portrait next to the name. On the attached image, you can see what happens when I don't do these two things properly.

It's not perfect, but I think it works pretty well! Players will see NPC portraits show up at top in the "party" area, but really that's the only thing they should notice that's out of the ordinary.

Attachment 18623

[Bidmaron]

Very clever!

[Nickademus]

+1 for making Elminster a halfling.