Portraits that have shown me who is logged in with what PC now no longer seem to work

[Egheal]

Just me tying to understand what would look like the ext suggested by Moon Wizard:
is it just like that? :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<root version="3.0">
<properties>
<name>No NPC Portraits</name>
<version>1.0</version>
<author>Test</author>
<description>No NPC Portraits on desk</description>
</properties>
<base>
function onInit()
CharacterListManager.getPartyIdentities = function () return {} end
end
</base>
</root>
Sorry I'm very new to this extension stuff, I want to understand and see what this code would do in this instance.

[Ludd_G]

Hi,

I'd just like to say that I also use the portraits to indicate who is logged on with a character and would really prefer not to have that changed without an simple option to retain. If a character isn't presently owned by a logged in player I don't want to see their portrait, thanks.

Cheers,

Simon

[Jiminimonka]

I better check what all this fuss is about.

[Jiminimonka]

I see the point that it removes the ability for the GM to see who is logged in at a glance. I use it that way myself and the dot is not a vivid enough visual change to adequately replace that functionality to my aging eyes.

Suggestions:

1) Grey out unconnected portraits, which is a fairly standard UI convention from online gaming and chat I think. Makes it visually much more obvious. Preserves both sorts of functionality without adding a setup option.

2) Allow a setup option to toggle the behaviour, which if it is a one-liner bit of code to implement feels like it is a worthwhile one. I'd personally leave it at its current setting ie only show portraits for logged in players because I'm used to it working that way and I value the at-a-glance who is logged in functionality.

Cheers, Hywel

Yeah a "Disonnected" image (broken link) over unconnected player icons would help methinks.

Other than that, unless you have a lot of characters, then its fine as far as I can see. Maybe have the icons scale down when more than 10 are connected so they take up the same amount of space (half sized icons stacked in the same location).

[Ludd_G]

Or have an option to retain present behaviour?

[rocketvaultgames]

I would also prefer an option to retain the current functionality without removing characters from the party sheet.

I like the portraits to show characters that are currently claimed and connected.

Not every PC plays in every session, but it is still nice to have access to their party sheet info when they aren't there without taking up screen space or confusing who is actually there.

What is the proposed benefit of the new way?

[Egheal]

I'm the Mother of an Alien RPG game. There is currently 9 colonial marines in the team but only 4 players. It is a great help for the players to visualise who is in the team
and who is playing what (no colored dot? ---> controlled by Mother, colored dot?---> controlled by a player and just point at the dot to know the name of the controlling player).
That's particularly nice in this game because if your character die you can take an NPC on the fly.
Perhaps the dots are to small? It is important to change the color of the dots, black ones are indeed not easy to spot.
I think that it is a great improvement but it is probably something that could be only optional has it seems it is very annoying for some of you.
The lines of code provided by Moon Wizard are meant to do that exact thing but I'm unable to make it work in an extension to test it.

[Moon Wizard]

I added the gold border to the color dots, just like in the color selection option; in order to make them a little more visible. I'm concerned about making them too big, because that either takes more desktop space or obscures the image more. Also, I try to avoid too many options, as they increase the complexity of learning to use as well as each campaign setup.

In this case, I think an option may be the way to go, since some of you appear to use the desktop character list differently than others. However, I still feel strongly that the new default behavior is a generally better experience for new FG users, so that will be the default option.

The new build in the Test channel will fade party PCs that are not owned when they are shown; and provide an option to only show Active PCs.

Regards,
JPG

[rocketvaultgames]

This sounds like the best of both worlds. Thanks much!!

[SilentRuin]

Huzzah!