Reconnecting masks?

[Callum]

I've noticed that if I make changes to a module, then in my base campaign, all the masks on maps from that module disappear - even if I haven't made changes to the maps. But the mask images still exist, in the "maskedimages" folder. Is there any way to reconnect those masks to their maps?

[Griogre]

You just need to re-add the mask id back into the xml for the base campaign. I don't have FG available right now but just look at an image that has a mask to see the syntex and duplicate it for the image(s) with the orphan mask(s).

[Callum]

Ah, okay - thanks, Griogre! I managed it by editing the files in the "moduledb" folder under my base campaign. I opened the "module_name.xml" file and then pasted in the relevant <image> item from an earlier version of the file (now called "module_name_12345678890.xml").

[Moon Wizard]

Whenever you update any information in a module, including adding a mask or drawing to a map, then the internal database for that image is updated. A record of all the updates to modules is stored in the moduledb folder.

In order to make sure that no data is inadvertantly overwritten, the overrides file is renamed when the module file is updated. This is what happened in this situation.

Cheers,
JPG

[Callum]

I tried to do this again recently, but found that when I updated the module, all the associated masks in the "maskedimages" folder vanished! This meant I had to re-draw all the masks for all my maps, rather than just re-attaching the masks in the xml file. Is this a new disk-space-saving feature?

[Moon Wizard]

The way that modules work for images has not changed that I an aware of. You could try keeping your images in their own module to prevent changes from resetting the masks.

Regards,
JPG

[Griogre]

If you know you are going to updating the adventure module while the players use it, I'd move the maps into the campaign image folder so you won't lose the mask if you re-export. Then when they finish the module just delete the maps from the main campaign.

[Callum]

I'll definitely save the masks beforehand if I need to do this again. It's just odd that they disappeared this time, but not when I did the same thing previously.

The problem with moving the maps into their own module or into the campaign image folder is that I do sometimes change the maps, and also that I really want them to be part of the relevant adventure module.

[Griogre]

I agree I just sometimes keep the maps in both places while I'm still working on the adventure module. I tend to tweak adventures a lot so I found it easier to use a map out of the main campaign until I'm totally done with the adventure module.