PC Pics = Tokens?

[sunfest]

Hi everybody,

another question: We played with FG2 last night for the first time, just a test round with some combats and stuff, and I encountered the following problem: I wanted the tokens for the PCs to be also used at Pics for them. But when I drag a PC Pic (= token picture) from the lefthand upper corner (the place, where a players logged on are listed) to the combat tracker and drag it from there to the battlemap it is automatically reduced in size drastically.

To get rid of this problem, I ordered my players to leave the Picbox blank and after dragging them to the combat tracker I gave them their tokens only in the tracker. When I dragged them from there to the battlemap the size of the tokens was normal that is just like the size of the other tokens from the tracker.

But is it possible to keep the size "fixed" when using tokens as PC pics an dragging them from the upper corner to the combat tracker and from there to the battlemap?

Thanks!
sun

[Griogre]

You didn't mention what ruleset you were using. Some rulesets handle this problem by having a token spot on the first page of the character sheet in the top right of the first page. This token is used when you drag a PC onto the tracker.

If you do not have a ruleset like this, then the GM is going to have to put the token on the combat tracker. As this is usually a one time thing (there is no reason to ever re-drag a PC onto a tracker once it is on it) some ruleset designers don't think its worth putting the automation into the ruleset.

[AndyPan]

Ran into this same situation myself. Was a bit more of a sticky situation for me, as all my monster tokens that I'd made are about 128x128 pixels. Dragging portraits to the tracker resulted in REALLY tiny tokens for the players. Yes, they could be resized on the tracker, but that resulted in really blurry, ugly tokens when compared to the monster tokens. As I am all about how my game "looks," that won't do.

Then I remembered that when I was getting the updated 4E_JPG ruleset from FUM, I would have to go into the ruleset files and alter the size of a couple of images... not the images themselves, just the size. Once altered, the portraits could be dragged to the tracker for tokens that matched the monster tokens already prepared.

With the new 4E ruleset that is "officially" offered through FG, thought it took me a bit to figure out, I was able to do the same thing. Here's what I did:


1. Go to C:Program Files/Fantasy Grounds II. There you should see a file called 4E.pak. Open it. (Note, you need a program that can open .pak files, such as WinRAR or similar. Also, as you'll be altering the .pak file with the following steps, save a copy of the file somewhere you'll know to find it later if needed.)

2. Find "graphics" folder. Open it.

3. Find "icons" folder. Open it.

4. Scroll down to find two files: portrait_token.png and portrait_token_mask.png. Copy both files to the desktop.

5. Open both files in PhotoShop or similar program. I did this in PhotoShop, but would assume other programs will work similarly.

6. Resize the portrait_token.png file to be the same size as your monster tokens (if you have them) or whatever size you need. For example, as I mentioned above, all my monster tokens are 128x128 pixels, so I sized the portrait_token.png file to be the same.

7. The portrait_token_mask.png, however, needs to be resized a little smaller. The mask is just a white shape the size and shape of the portrait_token.png, and will be replaced with the characters' portraits in-game. It needs to be smaller to keep from covering up the portrait token image. In my case, as the portrait_token.png file was made 128x128, the mask file was made 112x112.

8. Save both files, then copy and paste back into the .pak file. Open FG and test it out.

I should also point out that I changed the look of my portrait token from the square shape in the ruleset file to a circular one that matches my monster tokens, just for continuity. That part is entirely up to you. Also, particularly in regards to the mask file, you may need to tweak the size a few times to get it right. Took me about 4 tries to get the mask just right, but now my tokens pulled form the portraits work perfectly.

Just my method. Someone else might have an easier way. But hope it helps anyway.