Overflowing with token bags

[swest]

I just acquired all of Devin Night's Pathfinder-appropriate tokens from his website (free and Fantasy Buff).

That means that I have, like, 50 different zip files... Does this mean that I'll have 50 Token bags (when I bring these in)?

Is there a better way? How do other people manage large quantities of tokens?

Also, I have the rpgart Fantasy Art Kit... a single zip file whose contents are organized in a directory hierarchy, with .png files at the bottom. How have people managed that set?

I just don't want to go and import 100 different modules, and have 100 different token bags, if there is a better way.

Thanks.

- s.west

[seycyrus]

I think that you will be advised to limit the amount of tokens you have available at a time. The token bags are directly related to the folders in your appdata directory.

I tend to create folders (bags) for PCs, NPCs, and monsters.

You can pull tokens into your bags from outside of FG during sessions, so I think it will be recommended that you organize your tokens outside of FG, and pull in what is needed.

[damned]

it is absolutely NOT recommended to have 100's and 100's of tokens in your campaign at any one time - they all consume memory and can cause performance issues. In many scenarios and even in a whole adventure path you probably only need 50 or so monster/npc tokens...

[Valarian]

Just bring in what you need for the game. You can create a tokens directory under the campaign folder for a specific campaign, as well as the general tokens folder in the application data directory. FastStone Photo Resizer can help get the tokens to a consistent scale (%age resizing). Devin Night's tokens are a consistent scale, but it's a little larger than I use (100px for low-res and 400px for hi-res per 5' IIRC). I use 50px per 5' usually so I shrink the file sizes down by rescaling the low-res to 50% of original.

[dr_venture]

My understanding (and I'd love to hear if I have this right or not) is that there are two issues: memory footprint on the host's computer, and usage of FG's very limited bandwidth capability for sharing assets over the network. I believe that all tokens impact the host's memory footprint (potentially causing performance problems), while only tokens in the "Shared" folder automatically download to players when the player's cache is first generated. All other tokens are shared when the GM uses them in a game session.

So I definitely have a *ton* of tokens, and the consensus in our group seems to be that I need to move all of the "Shared" character tokens into the "Host" folder, and only share them with players when they are choosing a token for their character. That way, there is far less for FG to download for players when they rebuild their cache.

Does that add up to you folks?

[ddavison]

I place them into module files that are themed (if not already done) and then open them up as needed and close them afterward. I rarely use the actual token bags much anymore now that we have a better search feature on the token screen. As has been stated before, you don't want a ton of tokens in your shared tokens folder if you are managing them that way. Placing them in the host folder will be better.

[JohnD]

More tokens also = longer loading times.

[swest]

Thanks very much for the guidance. I'm getting the drift.

[Moon Wizard]

While the token memory footprint has been improved greatly in more recent versions and a token cache check has been added on the player side, a limited number of tokens will reduce cache checks in an ongoing campaign and file transfers in a new campaign.

JPG

[ffujita]

Should I put *all* the tokens in a single module? If not, how many modules do the seasoned veterans use? Or, how many tokens per module?

[Zacchaeus]

Should I put *all* the tokens in a single module? If not, how many modules do the seasoned veterans use? Or, how many tokens per module?

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this really. I have dozens of token bags since I, like the OP, bought all of DK's stuff and each of them come in a separate module or folder. I did get some from somewhere which I put into a single bag. The point of the above is not to share vast numbers of tokens with players (so keep all of your tokens in the host folder - not the shared one), and not to have lots of bags open when you play. So when you are creating NPCs or whatever you need to open the bags to find the tokens you want but afterwards you close them up. So basically whether you have then in one folder or 50 folders is a matter of personal preference.

[ffujita]

Well, I put a bit over 2800 tokens in one big module. I figure that when I'm looking for tokens as I'm building my adventures, I'll just open the mod up, and type in names to search. With the right organization I might have a better time finding things, but this was easier to do.

[damned]

Wow! That will work fine. But 2800 tokens in your main token directory would have definitely chewed some memory!
Ive never organised all my tokens but I rarely have 50 in my token folder and usually many less.

[Zacchaeus]

Well, I put a bit over 2800 tokens in one big module. I figure that when I'm looking for tokens as I'm building my adventures, I'll just open the mod up, and type in names to search. With the right organization I might have a better time finding things, but this was easier to do.

The search function will work on any bags you have open. In other words if you have 50 bags open with 100 tokens in each and type in 'Goblin' it will find all the tokens marked goblin in all of the bags you have open. There isn't a need therefore to have them all in one bag to search.

[ffujita]

Now you tell me :) Well, it's always good to know, but I'm not going to go re-organize my module.

[Loucifer]

I keep all my tokens in a seperate folder on the hard drive. According to windows, my token folder has 4,476 Files, 119 Folders, LOL

The only tokens I place in the FG data folders would be the ones i need for the module i am currently running. The shared token folder only holds player tokens.

Now the folder I keep them in is all sorted. I have, PC and NPC, and then each of those is broken down further, PC breaks down to player races, and accessories ( tents, fires, horses, etc.) And the NPC section is broken down along the lines of the monster type listing in the monster manual (aberration, celestial, etc...). A little clunky, but i usually sit at the top level of my token folder and use windows search on it when i need something specific.

[dmkevin]

That's sure a lot of creatures to kill.:rv: