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View Full Version : Other players can't see my shared images/maps, no matter how small



Momotombo
May 29th, 2009, 14:14
I just started using this program. I'm getting ready to start a campaign, so I decided to test the it to make sure people could see my images and maps.

Of course, it didn't work. Nothing ever does at first. It's stuck at "Loading" for all clients, just like with everyone else. I tried preloading the images, but I can't even tell at what progress it is for everyone else.

Why can't FG transfer image files to clients? I can transfer files just fine through an instant messenger or anything else, but not through this.

I tried looking up a module creation tutorial, but the website it was on doesn't exist anymore. I found a post where someone using dialup created a module with all the images, making it harder for other players to see the maps yet allowing them to be loaded instantly during gameplay. I want to do this, but I have no idea how I'd do it. I have no interest in creating modules for any other reason, I just want to have images ready for everyone else.

I'm not behind a firewall, I'm running Windows XP, and I'm using Ventrilo. I usually upload at around 50kb/sec. I tried loading a 25kb file, it was stuck at the loading screen and never loaded.

However, I did try opening two instances of FG, one a GM and the other as a client, and I loaded the image on the GM side and it eventually loaded on the client. I'm sure it was because it was on the same computer, but it still took around ten minutes to load a 300kb file on the same computer.

I really want to try the module idea, but I don't really know anything about creating modules or what code I could use. I just want to use simple code for having images that players can't see until I decide to share them. Ideally, someone would just give me the code outright. But I'll learn a little bit about making modules if someone could get me the resources for learning, because most of them seem to be dead.

Griogre
May 29th, 2009, 23:28
That seems very long time for a 300K file, though with 5 players at a 50K upload it should take about 30+ seconds to transfer. Are you sure it isn't like 3 megs? What happens if you transfer the map without having Vent running? Vent's a bandwith sucker. Are you running both a Vent and FG server? Also when you are transfering the map make sure you are not changing it because if you add tokens, a grid, etc you will likely restart the download process from the beginning everytime you change the map in mid-transfer.

Spyke
May 30th, 2009, 11:16
Could there be a virus checker running that's interfering in some way?

Are the images simple jpgs or pngs?

Spyke

Momotombo
May 30th, 2009, 13:13
The images are JPGs. I know for a fact that the one I tested is 300kb, but I want to be able to transfer them up to 2mb, and I know it shouldn't be a problem with preloading. I haven't tried disconnecting from Vent, but I've never had a problem uploading while talking on it. I do have a virus program running, but it's not very intrusive at all, and I can still upload images and the like to websites or over IM without it interrupting. I'm not running a server for anything except FG if that counts.

Spyke
May 30th, 2009, 15:16
It would still be worth turning the virus checker off and then repeating the FG Client and Host on the same machine test, just to rule it out.

How much memory does your machine have?

Do you have lots of tokens loaded? These will be transferring in the background. If so, the instances of FG would eventually get in sync and then everything would be much faster.

Another test might be to connect to a friend while running a traffic monitor like DU Meter, to see how much data is actually being transferred. If your images seem to have hung this would show whether something else was going across the connection.

Spyke

Spyke
May 30th, 2009, 15:19
I tried looking up a module creation tutorial, but the website it was on doesn't exist anymore.Have you tried the links on the Fantasy Grounds Download (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/downloads/)page?

Spyke

Momotombo
May 30th, 2009, 16:11
I do have a huge amount of tokens, but I gave them to the other players to put in the same folder on their computer. Should they be putting them somewhere else? I did notice that they couldn't see them at all when I tried setting them on the unloaded map.

Is there a way that I can give the tokens to them so they don't have to transfer in the background while we play? That'd be really useful.

Spyke
May 30th, 2009, 16:52
It's almost certainly the tokens slowing things down. I think you can provide these in a module, but I'll let others confirm if that helps.

However, if you get your players to log in early and just let all the tokens go across you should find that things get quicker once that's completed.

Do you really need all the tokens loaded?

I tend to keep them all offline and just add the ones I need for the session.

Spyke

Momotombo
May 30th, 2009, 19:26
I had all the tokens because I thought it'd be useful to just have them all there before I needed them. I removed them and then tested everything out, it went smoothly. Thanks.