Question about tokens not loading to players.

[midas]

The following scenario happened last night:

- DM creates a campaign, makes blank character sheets for players.
- Players connect to game, create their characters with the DM. Super happy fun times are being had by all.
- DM starts a sample encounter to show basics of combat using the map and the Combat Tracker.
- DM opens his Maps folder and shares out one of the super sexy Smiteworks maps.
- DM opens his Modules, loads the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign and drags a couple of sample monsters to the Combat Tracker, and then from the tracker to the map.
- None of the players but me can see the tokens, either on the map or in the Combat Tracker. Sad faces ensue.

It is important to note that I have an ultimate license, and also own the Lost Mines of Phandelver module (as well as the other 5e content available for Fantasy Grounds), so I'm thinking that's why it was showing up for me, but not for other players.

Am I correct in assuming that this behavior is intended? That the token portraits cannot be "pushed" out on-the-fly to the players from a module that wasn't loaded when they connected? We all disconnected and reconnected and after that the tokens showed up for everybody, but that seems like a cumbersome "fix."

I'm wondering if that is in fact the case and if there are any plans to change this behavior. I'm also wondering if he wouldn't have had that issue had he dragged the monsters from the Monster Manual (which I believe he already had loaded in his campaign when we first connected). Thanks in advance.

[Zacchaeus]

Now, granted I'm connecting to a second client which might be a factor but I can't replicate this. Anything I drag onto the combat tracker shows up on the player side even if the player joined before the module was opened. I don't believe that what you experienced is intended behaviour, but I don't have an answer as to what might be the problem. But Trenloe will know :)

[Trenloe]

Maybe he might, maybe he might not... ;)

Tokens in use are shared from the GM side to the players.

All I can think of is that something was delaying this happening. When you opened the LMoP Module in the "Data Module Activation" screen, did you just open it on your side? That is, leave access as blank or blocked (red X), and not allow the players access to the module (allow or force load).

[midas]

I'm not the DM, but he did not load the module to the players (which he figured he typically would not want to do, as then the players could flip through the module) when he first opened it and pulled the monsters out to the tracker.

I know at some point he did load the module to the players (he was asking us if we could see the module and flip through encounters, parcels, etc) but I don't recall if we were doing that after we reconnected or before.

[Zacchaeus]

Players should not have access to the module, so a red x or blank would be correct.

[midas]

Yeah, he was only trying that to see if it made any difference (we figured it wasn't required; we were just trying out things).

I just wanted to know what the client was trying to do. I know that when players connect data is downloaded to their cache, however I'm not clear on what happens if the DM loads a new module (such as LMoP) after users have connected and uses that content. As I mentioned it worked fine for me immediately; he dropped the token and I saw the bugbear picture and their nameplate when I moused over, however no other players saw either of those things (even after waiting a few minutes). My suggestion was that if players disconnected and reconnected they would download that token info upon connect (since it was loaded into the campaign when they connected the second time) and it *did* work, but I didn't know if it was just because of the reconnect or because he had also shared out LMoP to the players (which we both agreed shouldn't be done, and therefore should not be necessary).

As I mentioned I was thinking I saw the token right away because I have that module (I believe the other players were all using demo versions of the program).

**EDIT** Also, I figured that--since he already had the Monster Manual in his campaign--that it may not have done this had he pulled the monsters from the MM.

The concern was how this would affect "on the fly" encounters. If he decided to do a non-prepared encounter and just threw some monsters on a map it seemed to be disruptive to require the players to disconnect and reconnect, or to wait for some amount of time for the tokens to show up (we waited about 3-4 minutes with no change for any of the players).

[Trenloe]

It shouldn't make any difference the order in which modules are opened. As I mentioned above, it sounds like the transfer of the token info when they were added to the combat tracker and the map was delayed or got interrupted. Sometimes closing the CT and/or the map can fix this. Sometimes the GM re-sharing or synching the view (both right-click options in the map) will help too.

Were the other players who couldn't see running on the same computer? Or the same location?

[midas]

All the other players were at different locations around the country. I know he tried resharing and resyncing with no luck. I don't know that he did anything from the tracker, though.

I may try to simulate this with a friend later this week. I believe I had the same problem some months back when I was showing a friend Fantasy Grounds; I dragged a monster to the tracker then threw him on a map, but nothing I did would allow him to see anything but a red square where the token should be.

[Redemption77]

Did he click on the eye which allows players to see monster tokens after they are placed on the map and made sure to only click it once? If he didnt click on the eye to make all the monster tokens visible then they will stay hidden or if he did click it and clicked it a second time it will rehide them all

[Trenloe]

Did he click on the eye which allows players to see monster tokens after they are placed on the map and made sure to only click it once?
Good thought. However, the OP said that some of the players could see the tokens and others couldn't.

[midas]

Yes, he had them set to visible. Like I'd mentioned, I had no problem seeing them but the other players could not. They could see there was *something* as they saw a transparent red square where he'd placed the tokens, but they did not see the token art or nameplates on the map and could not see the tokens in the tracker either. Visibility wasn't the issue as we all saw the entries in the tracker.

The only difference between the other players and me that I'm aware of is I have a license for the software and also own the module (and have loaded it in the past) that he pulled the monster from.

[Trenloe]

The only difference between the other players and me that I'm aware of is I ... own the module (and have loaded it in the past) that he pulled the monster from.
This is definitely suggesting transfer issues either during the game or at some point in the past. For things like tokens the module reference will be used and so players who have the module won't need to have the data sent over the network. The players who don't have the module will have that portion of the

Get the players with issues to clear their cache (click the "nuke" button in the top right of the "join game" window) just in case this is causing the issue.

However, if it keeps occurring then this might suggest a problem with the GMs upload connection. Is the GM using WiFi? If so, they should try and get a good, high strength signal if they can - use a wired connection to the router if at all possible.

[midas]

I'll pass it on. The GM does have a wired connection to his router. Thanks.

**UPDATED**

I'm sure it must have been some wonky fluke with loading to players. Most of the players involved have played games with this GM before (some with another 5e campaign, myself and two others in a Savage Worlds campaign) but I just did exactly what he did (using a remote machine to connect to myself using the free client) and was unable to duplicate the issue.

[GuardianLurker]

My group has noticed something like this in our own games - most frequently with Player Tokens. So far our work around has been for the GM (me) to delete the token from the map, then re-add it from the combat tracker. That clears up the problem.

[Zacchaeus]

I have never had problems with the players not seeing tokens but come to think of it they often don't see the token names. As GuardiantLurker says resharing the map and replacing the tokens often solves the problem.

[epithet]

I've noticed that Fantasy Grounds has a "one track mind" such that it will apparently only serve up one resource to one client at a time. If it gets bogged down sending a map to player one, everyone else will have to wait patiently to get the tokens. I'm plugged into a relatively fat pipe (10Mbps up) and still have an occasional issue with serving up resources to my players.

I'm really looking forward to the Unity version.

[Trenloe]

I've noticed that Fantasy Grounds has a "one track mind" such that it will apparently only serve up one resource to one client at a time. If it gets bogged down sending a map to player one, everyone else will have to wait patiently to get the tokens. I'm plugged into a relatively fat pipe (10Mbps up) and still have an occasional issue with serving up resources to my players.
Yeah, FG is single threaded so things don't get done in parallel.


I'm really looking forward to the Unity version.
Yep, network management should be a lot better in Unity. Hopefully the devs can devote time over the next few months to move this forward.

[midas]

Yeah, FG is single threaded so things don't get done in parallel.

That'd make sense, then. This could mean that the quality of the experience could at times be dictated by the weakest connection in the link. If one of the users has a spotty connection and it starts trying to load to him and can't, then it could result in others not seeing it as well?

[Griogre]

It shouldn't really. Basically the timeout on one player shouldn't effect the other's content - just they might sit around waiting for the crappy connection to time out. You can help the guy using his neighbor's wireless by keeping your map file size small and by making sure you don't do *anything* (mask, token movement, focus) to the map while he's still loading it.

[Zacchaeus]

you can help the guy using his neighbor's wireless by

I like it :D