Is fog of war a thing in Fantasy Grounds?

[ddavison]

3) Pathfinder support is sketchy. I've went to list of modules and loaded what I can get going. After loading an Oracle, no spells loaded and appear to incomplete. I'd like to see native Pathfinder SRD support in FG - esp. when free apps like PCGEN have nearly 95% of the content.

Have you checked out these modules yet for Pathfinder? While the base app only includes a subset of the Pathfinder SRD, the community has built the remaining modules and shared them on the forums here and elsewhere. There are some other great community built tools as well that help import characters and do all sort of things for Pathfinder. I have reached out to a few people before to see if they would mind us incorporating some of those modules into the official ruleset libraries. Even though they have built it and shared it on the forums, we don't want to simply include them without permission from the original authors. We also don't want to duplicate efforts if we don't have to.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ist-of-Modules

[Trenloe]

This is generally what I keep seeing here - people just filter out what I'm saying like my concerns are "minor gripes"

We're not filtering them out - we wouldn't be replying if we were. A lot of these things have been raised by other people in the past and the developers are well aware of them - some might get done in the future, others might not. As such, we're telling you how things work in the current version of the software and also giving you feedback on what the developers have said about some of the features you're talking about.

1) The developers have said multiple times that FG is not a character generator and the vast majority of the users of Fantasy Grounds don't want the developers to dedicate hundreds of hours of development to do something like that, when that development time could be spent providing more features for this Virtual Table Top software.

The desire for a 3.5E/Pathfinder character generator is pretty low on the FG wishlist (22 votes), but go ahead and vote for it: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=57990

2) Multiple monitor support is much higher on the wishlist: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=54190 So, again, the devs are well aware of it. But, you won't see anything like this in the current platform used by Fantasy Grounds as this would be a massive overhaul of the interface, maybe when the platform moves to Unity this will be a possibility.

3) As has been mentioned to you before, Fantasy Grounds is not competing with PCGen or HeroLab - hence why there is the PCGen and HeroLab character converter included with the product. Yes, you'll have the issues that you say, but this is symptomatic of Fantasy Grounds not being a character generator. Sorry, I'm going to keep saying that, because that is something that you seem to "filter out".

Please keep the following in mind when thinking about Fantasy Grounds - it is not a computer RPG/MMO where everything is done for you, Fantasy Grounds is a Virtual Table Top (VTT) - it replaces the physical table top used by players in a face-to-face game, with a virtual application that allows people who aren't face-to-face to player over the internet. It provides places to record the PC data (record data, not automate character creation/leveling) and NPC data; allows rolling of dice (in the open and in secret), provides tracking of data, initiative, etc. via the combat tracker; GM campaign data management, sharing of maps, handouts, etc.; provides inventory management; provides base library data for reference during play; provides some level of automation and the effects system for users to add in lots of automation themselves if they really want it, provides the ability to play many, many different RPG rules in the same platform; etc., etc., etc... Fantasy Grounds is not a replacement for the player/GM knowledge of the rules of the game they're playing. It facilitates that play in a virtual environment where people normally wouldn't be able to play pen-and-paper RPGs.

Keep asking your questions - but please take into account the above when thinking about your expectations of Fantasy Grounds. Also, please don't think we're filtering things out when we give you feedback on how the software works - we're trying to manage your expectations of what you can do and let you use the software in it's current form.

[Dracones]

1) My players don't have PCs or clients - they have paper printed characters - all they need do is show up - pick up their dice and character sheet and have fun. When its time to level up, they go shopping with their money - and level up. I cant seem to do that with what I paid $150 for - people say "Its not a character generator and never claimed to be one. I know you paid $150 but go use another product if you want that." - this email is about what I would LIKE to see in FG - and I'd like to see a merger of something like PCGEN directly into FG. Would save the whole create it with this, export it and then go through it with a fine tooth comb to add effects, dmg to spells, etc. EVERY TIME they level up.

Yeah, unfortunately I don't think you're ever going to see Hero Lab/PCGen level functionality in FG when it comes to Pathfinder character creation and upkeep. Pathfinder character software is an insanely complex thing to do. It's brutally hard and requires full time paid staff dedicated to adding new Paizo supplements into the software as they come out. It's why the folks at Hero Lab can charge hundreds of dollars for their software + packs and people buy it up.

Now the 5E ruleset for FG does have some pretty decent character generation/level up code in it. But that's because 5E character generation/leveling is absurdly easy so it's not a lot of work to throw a level of warlock on your character sheet and have it auto-add the abilities in. Of course 5E has its own issues(no OGL license) that makes it a bit of a mess compared to Pathfinder.

If there are specific ways that the import could be made better so you have less work to do when PCs level up that would probably be a lot more doable. I'm also curious if the importing works different from PCGen vs Hero Lab. I've worked with Hero Lab file formats and they have in them a huge amount of information. Maybe post in the Pathfinder forums the issue you're having with the Oracle and see if other users have a better way of handling it? Or maybe see if other users can try it with a Hero Lab export/import and it has the same problem?

[JohnD]

Level in your external program, write down all the changes, manually update your character in FG accordingly.

I've run a 3.5 game for three years and this is how I've always done it. Not a big deal - as DM I do it for eight PCs and it takes maybe an hour.

I did the same thing for the Pathfinder game I used to run as well.

[PopinFRESH]

Dynamic lighting, dynamic map building, layered maps, better drawing tools, random map generation, auto-scaling of map images on import so they perfectly align and streaming of sound and music, and better campaign folder/heirarchy support are all features that we consider to be a very high priority for immediately after our move to Unity. I doubt these are features we would consider for implementation prior to the move to Unity because we'd likely have to re-write them again afterward. The 5E implementation took a large part of our focus and slowed down our port to Unity, but we are hoping to begin resuming this again in the near future. The immediate focus is to make sure that the Unity version supports everything that we can do today and that we can utilize all our current assets, such as modules, adventures, etc and deploy them natively to the various platforms that Unity supports.

You guys and gals at SmiteWorks are amazing Doug! I'm fairly new to FG (since your launch on Steam) and there is already so much that is fantastic about the software. There are also some obvious shortcomings that require additional work for both a player & GM (not anymore than actual PnP). All of the things you've listed above are fantastic and will allow for more robust systems that can further automate things and provide a greater level of immersion for everyone involved. One such concept which I'm hoping to be included under the "dynamic map building" banner would be for an objects library for all sorts of map elements that can have properties easily added to them. For example I could create a barrel object that I can drag a parcel onto for it's contents, add a cover attribute to it so that if it's in the line of sight would automatically add a cover bonus, etc. Thus you could build relatively "empty" base maps and then add in most of the objects such as tables, chairs, columns, fountains, chests, book shelves, torches, etc. I'm really looking forward to the move over to Unity and all of the potential upgrades it can bring (as well as native OS X, linux, and potentially iOS / android support). Once you get the Unity build to a point where it would be appropriate for external testing I'd love to play around with it on any of those OS'. Lastly, thanks for all the videos Doug, I greatly enjoy them and they have helped a lot in getting up & running in Fantasy Grounds!

Kind Regards,
-PopinFRESH

[PopinFRESH]

Yeah, unfortunately I don't think you're ever going to see Hero Lab/PCGen level functionality in FG when it comes to Pathfinder character creation and upkeep. Pathfinder character software is an insanely complex thing to do. It's brutally hard and requires full time paid staff dedicated to adding new Paizo supplements into the software as they come out. It's why the folks at Hero Lab can charge hundreds of dollars for their software + packs and people buy it up.

Now the 5E ruleset for FG does have some pretty decent character generation/level up code in it. But that's because 5E character generation/leveling is absurdly easy so it's not a lot of work to throw a level of warlock on your character sheet and have it auto-add the abilities in. Of course 5E has its own issues(no OGL license) that makes it a bit of a mess compared to Pathfinder.

If there are specific ways that the import could be made better so you have less work to do when PCs level up that would probably be a lot more doable. I'm also curious if the importing works different from PCGen vs Hero Lab. I've worked with Hero Lab file formats and they have in them a huge amount of information. Maybe post in the Pathfinder forums the issue you're having with the Oracle and see if other users have a better way of handling it? Or maybe see if other users can try it with a Hero Lab export/import and it has the same problem?

I would tend to disagree with the idea of SmiteWorks attempting to duplicate the functionality of HeroLab within Fantasy Grounds. HeroLab is another amazing piece of software that would be a waste of energy for SmiteWorks to attempt to build the same thing within Fantasy Grounds. What I would rather see is discarding the whole notion of importing/exporting and have SmiteWorks and Lone Wolf work together on building plugin support for HeroLab so that if you have HeroLab installed you can install a Fantasy Grounds plugin. Thus within the character sheet you could have a button to open in HeroLab. Then you can create/level up and HeroLab would validate all the rules for that system and directly modify the Fantasy Grounds character sheet once you choose to apply changes. I'm going to stop now as this is already fairly off topic for this thread, but it is something that I would like to see as a possibility with the move to Unity.

Kind Regards,
-PopinFRESH

[Dracones]

The problem for that would be on the Hero Lab side. It doesn't have any tie ins where it could talk back and forth with FG or other external apps. The codebase for it is also pretty old with a dev team that's really busy working on other products(Realm Works). The Hero Lab file format is very open though and they're friendly towards devs working and using their save files. So you could maybe have the FG app constantly reading the HL por save file and import/update directly from that.

[Trenloe]

I'm going to stop now as this is already fairly off topic for this thread, but it is something that I would like to see as a possibility with the move to Unity.

All good ideas - please log them in the FG wishlist if they aren't already there: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/

[PopinFRESH]

Hello Dracones,

Yeah, I understand that and was mainly mentioning it as a better possibility to have that level of character validation within Fantasy Grounds. My point was more directed at Falantrius, but I forgot to imbed his quote within yours so it didn't make as much sense My main point was that I'd rather not see the good folks at SmiteWorks reinventing the wheel when they could be putting that labor to better use.

Thanks for the reply,
-PopinFRESH

[ianmward]

With all due respect Falantrius, your attitude comes accross as a little annoying, I'm sure that's not what you mean, but it does.
You have bought the worlds best VTT, well done, you will not regret it. You have not bought a character generator. Wishing it was one will not make it so. If you want a character generator, you should buy Hero Lab, the worlds best character generator (for which you will pay far more than $150, I know because I have). It even includes a combat tracker!
What the small, but excellent team at SmiteWorks give you for your $150 is a perpetual license for the VTT and the rulesets to run the d20 games (& Numenera). It is the framework to allow you to play over the Internet with other players, that is its aim and it does it brilliantly. The other gamesystems and data modules take a lot if extra time to make. Time the developers don't generally have spare, therefore the modules are created, usually by third paries, and sold on the SmiteWorks store or (where legal for coyright reasons) shared in the community. All of the additional SRD modules that you have found, with dupllications etc. were created by people like you and me, so if 'It needs cleaned up and uptated', please feel free to do just that and share the new modules with the people who did just that to give you those that you've found.