slow map speeds

[AKABigBlack]

hey all,

using the 5E ruleset, my maps seem to take an unusually long time to load. also, any grid adjustments and masking tools take a very long time to process. what am i doing wrong? any tutorial vids show these commands to pretty snappy and that isn't the case for me...

[Valarian]

Preloading the map helps. Also, the smaller the map file size the better. Upload speed of the GM's broadband/wifi connection also plays its part.

[AKABigBlack]

as the gm, i click on the link to bring up my map and it takes between 15-25 seconds to come up, use any tool on it, or to close it. i also can't perform any other action while its opening or closing...

[Mask_of_winter]

What's the file size?

[AKABigBlack]

4.367 Mb

[Mask_of_winter]

That's why. Keep it under 1mb, even 600-800 pixels and 100-200kb and you'll see a big difference.

[ddavison]

You can try this.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php%3F20303-Please-optimize-your-images-in-your-ruleset-tokens-battlemap-and-such!&sa=U&ei=Ei69VPKpNeL-sATLuIGACA&ved=0CAYQFjAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNE1sjictGtp5kjYzxKU5FcGkY0ejw

Typically, JPG files set to Medium or High resolution will shrink down pretty well. I normally try to make it so that my map image is around 50 px per square. For really large maps, I may go smaller, as long as the resolution still looks good.

[AKABigBlack]

ok, so i've reduced my image size to 213 Kb. still laggy. it even takes a long time to close the map window. can't help but feel like something is not right with my settings...

[AKABigBlack]

i got it. i'm an idiot. i was confusing folder locations and i was using the wrong image. all set now. thank you all for your help!!

[seycyrus]

Preloading the map helps...

So ... I THOUGHT that this never worked for me, but have recently (perhaps) had a revelation.

When I have my gm instance of FG running and preload some maps, and then someone connects in as a player or even if I connect in with a second instance as a player ( as localhost) are the maps supposed to

A) *wham* pop up as soon as the player connects and chooses his character?

OR

B) Be hidden, but preloaded in the background, so that when the GM *does* share them, they pop up a lot quicker on the player side?

I used to think A), and it wasn't working for me, but now am thinking that B) is the correct scenario.

???

[Trenloe]

When I have my gm instance of FG running and preload some maps, and then someone connects in as a player or even if I connect in with a second instance as a player ( as localhost) are the maps supposed to

A) *wham* pop up as soon as the player connects and chooses his character?

OR

B) Be hidden, but preloaded in the background, so that when the GM *does* share them, they pop up a lot quicker on the player side?

I used to think A), and it wasn't working for me, but now am thinking that B) is the correct scenario.
It's actually somewhere in between A and B. When a GM preloads an image it is downloaded to the player side, but does not automatically open. If a player logs in after the preload they will download the image data, but not open the image.

However, preloaded images are not hidden from the players - they can go to their "Images & Maps" list and see the pre-shared images and manually open them - so keep this in mind if there are secret images you want to preload but don't let the players know about them. A way around this is to give the image a non-spoiler name and mask the image before pre-sharing it - all of the image data will be downloaded but there is no give-away with the name and even if the players opened the image they wouldn't see anything due to the mask.

The main thing with pre-loaded images is that they will immediately appear when the GM shares the image, as they have already been downloaded previously.

It's still a good idea to keep the image size to below 1MB for background image transfer speeds, memory usage, etc..

[seycyrus]

Thank you Trenloe. I use the Gurps ruleset which doesn't have an images&maps folder on the player's side. So maybe that added a little to my confusion, or maybe I'm just easily confused. Regardless, thanks!

[Nickademus]

I'd +1 you Trenloe if I could. Seems I am too stingy with the reputation. Nevertheless, I have been wondering this for a while and had got around to asking.

Thank you again.