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Trenloe
October 21st, 2014, 02:59
Message of the Day functionality is now included in the core rules. No need to use this extension.

See this video for guidance on how to use the Message of the Day functionality built into most FG rulesets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN9DxOqQ4CY

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As requested here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22365-Any-Way-to-Create-a-Welcome-Banner-to-Players-When-They-Connect) I quickly put together a message of the day extension for CoreRPG and CoreRPG based (layered) rulesets.

It allows a GM to make a story entry and call it MOTD (it has to be called MOTD all in capitals). In this story entry put info you want your players to see when they log in. Then share the story entry (even if no one is logged in) and it will pop up when they join the session.

V0.1 download at the bottom of this post. Extension name "Message of the Day".

How to use:

Open the campaign story list.
Create a story entry called MOTD
Share it (this will make it public) - make sure the (P) icon appears to the right of the story entry list to show that it is public.


https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27982

When the players log in, the MOTD story entry will appear in front of the character selection screen:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27983

The message will be fully visible and can be interacted with:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27984

Trenloe
October 21st, 2014, 03:00
Techie stuff.

Relies on the User.onLogin event on the GM side to trigger searching of the Story entries for the first one called MOTD. The databasenode reference is then passed to the player logging in via OOB messaging and the story entry is displayed on the player desktop.

Compatibility
Uses the CoreRPG OOBManager functionality, but no code is extracted/incorporated for this extension. Therefore, as long as OOBManager is not removed from a future version of CoreRPG (unlikely) this extension should continue to function through future CoreRPG upgrades.

dr_venture
October 21st, 2014, 03:13
NIIICEEE!! This is a *much* needed extension -- BRAVO!

Mistamichal
October 21st, 2014, 07:57
This is brilliant! Well done and thank you!

damned
October 21st, 2014, 08:24
Woot! Nice one Trenloe. I think I shall start using this one right away.

Callum
November 15th, 2014, 15:30
Just a quick question, Trenloe. In your example MOTD, you have a URL for FG Con at the bottom - but the players reading it won't be able to click on that link, or even copy the text, will they?

Trenloe
November 15th, 2014, 15:34
Just a quick question, Trenloe. In your example MOTD, you have a URL for FG Con at the bottom - but the players reading it won't be able to click on that link, or even copy the text, will they?
Correct. If you make the link a chat frame the players can press the chat bubble icon which puts the link in the chat window where they can click on the link.

Qoff
September 18th, 2016, 00:25
Any way to make it work in 5e 3.1.7?

Zacchaeus
September 18th, 2016, 00:30
It does work in 5e. 5e is based on the CORE rule set.

Qoff
September 18th, 2016, 00:41
Sorry I forgot to enable it.

Teknykk
December 2nd, 2016, 14:10
Hey Trenloe, is there a way to change the title of the MOTD to something else more suited to a campaign? I guess an example would be "Previously on Curse of Strahd", but basically anything to suit a campaign being run instead of a plain old MOTD. While I'm okay with XML code now, I'm not too much up on LUA stuff yet, even though it does look somewhat similar.

If possible I'd like you to walk me through the process needed to change it from MOTD to anything I so desire, or a DM in a group I play in also wishes too. I have Notepad++ so I know how to easily edit files after changing extensions and modules to ZIP files and opening the LUA and XML files to change things, I just don't quite understand what I'm looking at entirely yet, and a bit of practice would make perfect, so to speak.

NotRussellCrowe
December 2nd, 2016, 14:17
Hey Trenloe, is there a way to change the title of the MOTD to something else more suited to a campaign? I guess an example would be "Previously on Curse of Strahd", but basically anything to suit a campaign being run instead of a plain old MOTD. While I'm okay with XML code now, I'm not too much up on LUA stuff yet, even though it does look somewhat similar.

If possible I'd like you to walk me through the process needed to change it from MOTD to anything I so desire, or a DM in a group I play in also wishes too. I have Notepad++ so I know how to easily edit files after changing extensions and modules to ZIP files and opening the LUA and XML files to change things, I just don't quite understand what I'm looking at entirely yet, and a bit of practice would make perfect, so to speak.

Looks like the following line in manager_motd_extension.lua is what you need to change:
if DB.getValue(vNode, "name", "") == "MOTD" then

Actually not the whole line, just the MOTD between quotes.

Whatever title you want to use on your story entry has to match exactly with what is between those quotes.

Teknykk
December 2nd, 2016, 14:31
Hah, yeah I had a feeling it'd be as simple as a single line of code or one section of it. I'm just not exactly an expert in the field and only dabble when I want something done. It's always the way though, one little thing, but it did the trick when I tested it via Local Host.

Thanks for jumping in for me, it'll be useful to both myself as a GM and for the DM who runs another game for me.

NotRussellCrowe
December 2nd, 2016, 14:37
Hah, yeah I had a feeling it'd be as simple as a single line of code or one section of it. I'm just not exactly an expert in the field and only dabble when I want something done. It's always the way though, one little thing, but it did the trick when I tested it via Local Host.

Thanks for jumping in for me, it'll be useful to both myself as a GM and for the DM who runs another game for me.

And now you've done some Lua programming and will be pumping out the extensions in no time!

GainunX
December 28th, 2016, 16:20
Looks like the following line in manager_motd_extension.lua is what you need to change:
if DB.getValue(vNode, "name", "") == "MOTD" then

Actually not the whole line, just the MOTD between quotes.

Whatever title you want to use on your story entry has to match exactly with what is between those quotes.

Noob question: How do I open the file to change this line? Notepad did not work

Zacchaeus
December 28th, 2016, 16:28
Noob question: How do I open the file to change this line? Notepad did not work

Notepad does work. You need to change the .ext to .zip and then unzip the file to get at the files first. Then open up the file manager_motd_extension.lua file.

GainunX
December 28th, 2016, 16:47
Notepad does work. You need to change the .ext to .zip and then unzip the file to get at the files first. Then open up the file manager_motd_extension.lua file.

Thanks!

Vishera
August 8th, 2017, 07:49
I can verify it works with 5e. Thanks for the extension!

Nickademus
August 8th, 2017, 18:23
Thanks for the confirm.

dragonheels
August 9th, 2017, 09:36
That's a great extension ! Very usefull ! Thanks a lot :)

Caelen
September 28th, 2017, 20:02
I just tried this out on 3.3.2 and it works great ^^ Thanks!

drkvoid
November 25th, 2018, 19:51
Just tried adding this to a campaign in FG 3.3.7. Player get an empty New Story box though, not the MOTD story. Any ideas what may be the issue?

Trenloe
November 25th, 2018, 19:57
Just tried adding this to a campaign in FG 3.3.7. Player get an empty New Story box though, not the MOTD story. Any ideas what may be the issue?
Welcome to the forums.

Did you follow all 3 steps mentioned in post #1? MOTD must be all upper case and you must manually share the story entry.

drkvoid
November 25th, 2018, 23:31
Sorry. Missed the share part. Working now.

YggBjorn
September 7th, 2019, 18:16
Has this been discontinued? I can't find a link anywhere in the first post.

Trenloe
September 7th, 2019, 18:19
Has this been discontinued? I can't find a link anywhere in the first post.
Welcome to the FG forums!

The link is still there at the bottom of post #1. Make sure you're not viewing the site in mobile mode - ensure you're viewing the "Full site".

YggBjorn
September 7th, 2019, 18:21
Make sure you're not viewing the site in mobile mode - ensure you're viewing the "Full site".

That fixed it! Thanks!

Zacchaeus
September 7th, 2019, 20:34
If you don't see this then make sure that you are not viewing the forum in mobile mode. Find the dropdown at the very bottom of the forum page and change it to something else.

GamerDad79
September 29th, 2019, 00:39
So I am really new to using extensions, but this one seems really interesting and something that I would use and I was just putting together a synopsis of my groups latest game. My question is how exactly would I get this to work with fantasy grounds. I see an extensions folder, but is it really as easy as importing into that folder and that's that? What are the images for? Sorry for the NEWB question.

Also, is there a version of this for other systems? I would really like to use with for my 5th edition campaign. Thank you.

Zacchaeus
September 29th, 2019, 01:09
Welcome to FG, GamerDad79.

Thus extension works just fine in 5e. It is a core based extension and should work in any ruleset that is based on core such as 5e is.

To use the extension download it and put it in your extensions folder. Start a new campaign or load an existing one and check the dot nest to the MOTD extension in the list that shows.

Once loaded create a story called MOTD, write whatever you want in it and then right click and select share sheet. When your players join your campaign the message you wrote will pop up when they enter FG.

not sure about your question about images. Can you expand on that one.

GamerDad79
September 29th, 2019, 05:08
Welcome to FG, GamerDad79.

Thus extension works just fine in 5e. It is a core based extension and should work in any ruleset that is based on core such as 5e is.

To use the extension download it and put it in your extensions folder. Start a new campaign or load an existing one and check the dot nest to the MOTD extension in the list that shows.

Once loaded create a story called MOTD, write whatever you want in it and then right click and select share sheet. When your players join your campaign the message you wrote will pop up when they enter FG.

not sure about your question about images. Can you expand on that one.

There was an image file attached to the main post. I realized it was only a "screenshot" of what the extension should look like. Thank you very much for the help.

vaughnlannister
August 18th, 2020, 10:52
Hey, cool extension!!
Does it also work in FGU?

Zacchaeus
August 18th, 2020, 11:05
Yes it does.

vaughnlannister
August 18th, 2020, 11:22
Thanks Zacchaeus :)!

rickyhunt
September 18th, 2020, 12:20
I set this up according to the instructions and I see the loading info in the chat window, but none of the players see a MOTD window. I am playing Pathfinder 2e in FGC.

Trenloe
September 18th, 2020, 12:31
I set this up according to the instructions and I see the loading info in the chat window, but none of the players see a MOTD window. I am playing Pathfinder 2e in FGC.
Have you followed the three steps in post #1 exacty?
Have you called the Story entry MOTD?
Have you shared the story entry?

If you've done this and it still doesn't work, then please provide a screenshot showing the shared MOTD story entry in the "Story" campaign data list window.

rickyhunt
September 19th, 2020, 14:23
Here is the screenshot.

39509

Trenloe
September 19th, 2020, 15:06
Here is the screenshot.

39509
You're using Notes, the entry should be a Story.

rickyhunt
September 20th, 2020, 18:30
You're using Notes, the entry should be a Story.

That would explain it, thanks.

LaiJien
December 10th, 2020, 17:41
Thanks for this excellent extension. Question: once the players see the story, will it only appear that one time or continue to appear every time they log in? I'd like to test it out as the DM (5e) first, and don't know if I would then need to create another story for it to appear to the players (because the first one "expired")? Also, if the same story will keep appearing, I'd like to just edit it for each subsequent session. Thanks!

Trenloe
December 10th, 2020, 17:53
Thanks for this excellent extension. Question: once the players see the story, will it only appear that one time or continue to appear every time they log in? I'd like to test it out as the DM (5e) first, and don't know if I would then need to create another story for it to appear to the players (because the first one "expired")? Also, if the same story will keep appearing, I'd like to just edit it for each subsequent session. Thanks!
With the extension enabled, the players will always see a story entry called "MOTD" appear each time they join your campaign - assuming that you've shared a story of that name. If you haven't shared a story, they'll see a blank entry - so make sure you share a "MOTD" story.

The MOTD story will stay available to the players just like any other shared Story entry.

You can update that story entry as needed.

LaiJien
December 10th, 2020, 18:02
Thank you! I'm fairly new to FGU, so I don't yet have any experience with shared stories and how they behave.


With the extension enabled, the players will always see a story entry called "MOTD" appear each time they join your campaign - assuming that you've shared a story of that name. If you haven't shared a story, they'll see a blank entry - so make sure you share a "MOTD" story.

The MOTD story will stay available to the players just like any other shared Story entry.

You can update that story entry as needed.

SmackDaddy
January 28th, 2021, 01:48
If the players have dismissed the MOTD in a session, will it pop-up on their next connection and every subsequent connection? Or is it dismissed until they want to access it again by going to the Story shortcut?

Trenloe
January 28th, 2021, 17:53
If the players have dismissed the MOTD in a session, will it pop-up on their next connection and every subsequent connection? Or is it dismissed until they want to access it again by going to the Story shortcut?
It'll pop up every time. Player's aren't exactly "dismissing" anything. All they're doing is closing a shared Story record. They can re-open it from the Story list (accessed through the Story sidebar button), and it will re-open every time they join a campaign - as long as the extension is enabled and there is a shared story record called "MOTD".

SmackDaddy
January 31st, 2021, 01:05
Awesome, thank you Trenloe!

Trenloe
February 17th, 2021, 15:32
With the ruleset release yesterday (v2021-02-01) most of the functionality of this extension is included in the base ruleset - using the "Message of the Day" button in the campaign "Options" window.

You can still keep using this extension if you desire. In the future I probably won't continue to provide updates, but this hasn't required an update since release over 6 years ago, so it'll probably continue to work... The only advantage I can see to using this is if you have lots of formatted text and want to prepare upcoming MOTD entries or copy/create new ones based off a previous one, as you can't copy/paste formatted text (all the formatting, links, etc.) into the new built in Message of the Day window - but once you have your text in there, it's easy to edit as needed.

Norgewalk
February 23rd, 2021, 17:46
Since the most recent update I now see that "Message of the Day" is in the standard options when no extensions are enabled. Has this become included in the base features?

44184

Trenloe
February 23rd, 2021, 17:47
Since the most recent update I now see that "Message of the Day" is in the standard options when no extensions are enabled. Has this become included in the base features?

44184
See the post immediately above yours.

Trenloe
March 3rd, 2021, 07:47
The only advantage I can see to using this is if you have lots of formatted text and want to prepare upcoming MOTD entries or copy/create new ones based off a previous one, as you can't copy/paste formatted text (all the formatting, links, etc.) into the new built in Message of the Day window...
With the 2021-03 core release yesterday, allowing story entries to be dragged to the Message of the Day window to essentially copy a story entry, there isn't any need to use the MOTD extension anymore. Enjoy your retirement!

Zacchaeus
March 3rd, 2021, 09:55
Yes, happy retirement MOTD. Absolutely the best extension ever produced.

Kelrugem
March 3rd, 2021, 12:17
Happy retirement, MOTD! :D

LaiJien
March 3rd, 2021, 17:38
With the 2021-03 core release yesterday, allowing story entries to be dragged to the Message of the Day window to essentially copy a story entry, there isn't any need to use the MOTD extension anymore. Enjoy your retirement!

Loved your extension. I imagine it must be a great honor to have it incorporated into the Fantasy Grounds Unity program itself - CONGRATULATIONS!

JustinFreitas
April 2nd, 2021, 01:31
I can't populate Links on the built-in MOTD... it replaces the entire MOTD with the story that I'm trying to link instead of simply filling the link bubble. So there's still still some value with the extension, I think. I'm re-enabling it now.

wndrngdru
April 2nd, 2021, 01:55
I can't populate Links on the built-in MOTD... it replaces the entire MOTD with the story that I'm trying to link instead of simply filling the link bubble. So there's still still some value with the extension, I think. I'm re-enabling it now.

As a workaround, create a story entry with all the links you want in it. Then drag/drop that story entry to the MOTD.

I would just do it this way anyway. It allows me to create a module of standard MOTD story entries in their own story group that I can pull into any campaign without needing to recreate for each one.

Trenloe
April 2nd, 2021, 01:55
I can't populate Links on the built-in MOTD... it replaces the entire MOTD with the story that I'm trying to link instead of simply filling the link bubble.
Create a normal story entry how you want it - with your links etc. setup. Then drag that story entry into the MOTD window. That will give you everything you have setup in the story entry - just like you would in the old MOTD extension.

JustinFreitas
April 2nd, 2021, 01:57
Makes sense, thanks y'all.

Hector Trelane
May 3rd, 2021, 20:51
I missed this feature (and extension) until now. Treloe, are you like the indie code developer who gets bought out by Microsoft? You come up innovations until the Big Finance people at Smiteworks open their checkbook so you can host games on your private server from your private island in the Caymans? ;) (Kidding, hopefully that's funny, right?)

Anyway, we appreciate all of these quality of life improvements. This will be a tool of practical use in my games.

Trenloe
May 3rd, 2021, 20:54
Anyway, we appreciate all of these quality of life improvements. This will be a tool of practical use in my games.
Thanks!


This will be a tool of practical use in my games.
Don't use the extension - it's now in the base CoreRPG ruleset.

SilentRuin
May 3rd, 2021, 21:20
You should probably lock the thread, as you say they thought your idea was awesome enough they incorporated it straight into the game. This is just a source of confusion now. IMHO

Trenloe
May 3rd, 2021, 23:02
You should probably lock the thread, as you say they thought your idea was awesome enough they incorporated it straight into the game. This is just a source of confusion now. IMHO
I don't see any reason to lock it. If people can't post, make comments or ask questions then there could be more confusion.

wndrngdru
May 3rd, 2021, 23:09
@Trenloe Something that might be a good idea is to edit the first post with the steps to use the functionality in FG now that it's incorporated.

Trenloe
May 3rd, 2021, 23:13
@Trenloe Something that might be a good idea is to edit the first post with the steps to use the functionality in FG now that it's incorporated.
I've added a link to the Fantasy Grounds YouTube video covering the functionality in post #1.

wndrngdru
May 4th, 2021, 00:10
I've added a link to the Fantasy Grounds YouTube video covering the functionality in post #1.

Perfect! and even less work for you. :D

MrDDT
June 27th, 2021, 18:08
I still use this ext and the one built in the game.

It allows for 2 pop ups to come up.
I normally have my rules and basic game info in the built in one, and I use MOTD for new things or changes or even quest stuff that apply that day.

LaiJien
June 27th, 2021, 18:29
I still use this ext and the one built in the game.

It allows for 2 pop ups to come up.
I normally have my rules and basic game info in the built in one, and I use MOTD for new things or changes or even quest stuff that apply that day.

Nice to know how that works - I had retired the extension, thinking it was redundant. Thanks for the information!