Twitch Streaming Layout

[ChazRambone]

I was wondering if there were any tricks people have been using for their OBS/Xsplit layouts?

I've been playing around with being able to slice up the Fantasy Grounds windows (ie: party sheet, map, etc), but with the inability to lock the windows similar to the chat window, it makes it very easy to accidentally wreck everything... something that would be detrimental during a stream.

I feel that this is an area that FG has the opportunity to leave roll20 in the dust, especially as Adventurer's Guild becomes more and more of a thing, the publicity couldn't hurt either. I'm surprised that Smiteworks hasn't been issuing full time GM's licenses to stream on twitch, the amount of content their viewers would donate to watch them run could border on obscene, not to mention the players wanting to play in their campaigns buying standard versions too

Ideally it would be awesome to actually have a version of the client where the game elements actually created new windows (something you might be able to right click and pop-out/pop-in perhaps?). This would allow us to have standard crop offsets that wouldn't need to be relative to the main game window.

The hours of work creating a layout that would look professional and customized to a stream is just too easy to destroy with one misclick dragging or resizing a window, with no way to get it back to where it was.

[kylania]

Did you miss the top sticky post in this very forum? https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24282-How-to-make-an-overlay-and-setup-OBS-for-streaming!

[ChazRambone]

Did you miss the top sticky post in this very forum? https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24282-How-to-make-an-overlay-and-setup-OBS-for-streaming!

I did... and usually I am so good about that!

[PopinFRESH]

...
Ideally it would be awesome to actually have a version of the client where the game elements actually created new windows (something you might be able to right click and pop-out/pop-in perhaps?). This would allow us to have standard crop offsets that wouldn't need to be relative to the main game window.
...


This is another request that is somewhat paired in with the multi-monitor support. Check out the Feature Wishlist (https://fg2app.idea.informer.com) along with the sticky thread that kylania mentioned. I'm pretty sure any changes to the window management system won't happen until the move to Unity so for now work with what we've got ;)

I was thinking about working on some overlays for people to use, however, I'm likely to be too busy being engrossed in VR shortly. I've been meaning to start streaming my campaigns but I just haven't had the time to really set them up for streaming lately, I've been too busy with work :(

Have a good day,
-PopinFRESH

[ChazRambone]

I erased the thread but after browsing through the videos, this "Streaming for Dummies" is much more basic than I was explaining.

Yes... this tutorial gives you the basics needed to create streams, but there are some serious limitations that could easily be improved upon to make these layouts much more professional and even more so... MUCH less prone to screw-ups during the cast for anything beyond the basic window layouts.

The locking or pop-out features would still be huge advances in making it easier for detailed window captures... gimme a few, I'll share some screenshots showing this more clearly

[ChazRambone]

Thank you Popin, that's more along the lines of what I was searching for... as I DID search the forums for a couple of things to do with streaming and twitch before posting

So here is an example of something close to what I was trying to create... but was forced to abandon when I saw how fragile the layout was. In essence it is just a condensed character sheet that could be overlayed or switched out with the players cameras, giving viewers a better ideas of what races, classes, AC/HP, and stats were/have to help them get up to speed with what is going on much more quickly, or to just have something besides a player's empty chair when they are afk (finished product would be a different aspect ratio of course)

Here is the example:
https://i64.tinypic.com/2eqfnl1.jpg

Here is what happens when you can't lock the window:
https://i65.tinypic.com/2cmkwo6.jpg

Oh... you wanted to use the order map to do some pseudo "theater of the mind" quick sketchup combat?:
https://i68.tinypic.com/34pyr1u.jpg

I'm assuming this move to Unity is also why a few other things like Par5e have been put on hold as well? I can't wait!

[PopinFRESH]

I erased the thread but after browsing through the videos, this "Streaming for Dummies" is much more basic than I was explaining.

Yes... this tutorial gives you the basics needed to create streams, but there are some serious limitations that could easily be improved upon to make these layouts much more professional and even more so... MUCH less prone to screw-ups during the cast for anything beyond the basic window layouts.

The locking or pop-out features would still be huge advances in making it easier for detailed window captures... gimme a few, I'll share some screenshots showing this more clearly

Hey ChazRambone,

I get what you are referring to which is why I included the link to the Features Wishlist. Being able to define a region capture of a window, you need to have that region fixed. Even better, treating each "Window" item, such as a map, story page, character/NPC sheet, etc (basically anything that is windowed within the program) as it's own system window of "FantasyGrounds" would allow you to window capture just that element regardless of where it is on the screen. Much like how we use multiple browser windows to capture and place specific things such as TwitchAlerts, etc.

What my main point was is that this will likely be something that comes along with multi-monitor improvements since this general concept is a good method to tackling that issue; as well as any major change (like changing how window management works) isn't likely to be done with the current engine. SmiteWorks has been working on rebuilding the platform in Unity, taking into account many of these highly requested features. I would probably suggest chiming in on the multi-monitor (https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=54190) request in support of tackling multi-monitors by spawning/de-spawning separate windows for each "window element" (and also up vote it if you haven't already).

Sadly for now I think the best option for most people wanting to stream is to span the program across multiple monitors and then use monitor capture on a second display for your "FG Window" in your stream layout. Unlock and move the chat to that Monitor and then lock it in place or leave it locked on the left-most monitor and use a region capture to capture the chat window separately. I'm right there with you on this, however, it's something were just going to have to be patient with until the Unity build is released :)

There are some other ideas that are streaming related which I'm not sure are on the wishlist or not, such as a "Streaming Spectator" mode that would let you (as well as viewers if the DM allows) spectate the campaign, selecting a character to see their chat window and what is being shared with them. You could then open multiple spectator instances to capture each players "view port" and then layer those in OBS to switch between player views. To be clear, this wouldn't be capturing the players actual client window rather it would simply allow you to access anything that player would have access to without being able to do anything. so you could close & re-open maps or images that are shared to them, open their character sheet, etc. These types of things are more pipe-dreams for now since they aren't as impactful as features that improve the actual gameplay and thus will rightly be put on a back burner.

If you think of something that isn't already on the wishlist (or closely related to something on the wishlist) definitely add it there so people can check it out and up vote it / add to it.

Kind Regards,
-PopinFRESH

[ChazRambone]

thanks Poppin, I had a post that thanked you, but apparently wasn't moderator approved with my second post after it? idk... thanks for the effort and time spent trying to help me understand.

[damned]

The initial Unity version will be aiming to replicate the existing support and not a whole lot more.
Once that is in and bedded down then new features will be worked on.

All features added will need to be features that are supported on PC/Mac/Linux and multi-monitor support for Mac/Linux has only just become available so fingers crossed the features are robust and we will see it come quickly to Fantasy Grounds.
Other things that are likely to come are Dynamic Lighting, WYSIWYG style Character Sheets and 3d Maps/Assets. This is all conjecture at this stage.

Par5e is unlikely to be developed further for public use.