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Destan
March 10th, 2005, 15:06
Hiya,

Love FG. Got four of my friends to grab it. One of them, unfortunately, has run into the DirectX 9.0 game stopper problem - so I suppose he's out until FG solves the issues, or until he gets a new computer (but his technically meets the minimum specs indicated on this site).

Bah...that's not why I'm posting. I have a couple newbie questions:

1) I wanted to "share" the initiative board with my players. In our tabletop game, we have a big markerboard and everyone can easily see who's up when. But I can't seem to find how to share it in FG. Is this because: a) I'm dumb, or b) The functionality isn't there.

2) What's the difference between the Shared and Host folders in my tokens folder?

3) Anyone know where the default circular token images are stored? I'd like to modify their colors a bit, but keep the same size/letters. Can we access the PNG files or whatever?

4) Dovetailing from #1: I'd also like to share an NPC stats (Combat, Description, etc.) with the players to serve as one of their henchman. I can't seem to find a way to do this. Is that type of info un-shareable as well?

5) I'd love to see more functionality with the "draw" command. Currently we can do a single-width black line. Would it be so difficult to add varyiny widths, colors, and perhaps the ability to draw certain shapes (or straight lines)? Is this being talked about for upcoming patches?

6) I draw. I make a mistake. I want to erase what I've drawn, but not lose all my scrawled notes and what-not. I can't do it. If I erase, I have to erase *everything* on the map. That seems...craptastic. Is there a way to erase (e.g., an eraser) mistakes without wiping out the whole drawing layer in one fell swoop?

Anyway - thanks!

D

richvalle
March 10th, 2005, 15:20
Hiya,

Love FG. Got four of my friends to grab it. One of them, unfortunately, has run into the DirectX 9.0 game stopper problem - so I suppose he's out until FG solves the issues, or until he gets a new computer (but his technically meets the minimum specs indicated on this site).

Bah...that's not why I'm posting. I have a couple newbie questions:

1) I wanted to "share" the initiative board with my players. In our tabletop game, we have a big markerboard and everyone can easily see who's up when. But I can't seem to find how to share it in FG. Is this because: a) I'm dumb, or b) The functionality isn't there.

FG does not share the init board by design. I agree it would be nice to have something like you say. We also used a big whiteboard and put the init order up on it for all to see. A dm we played fg with though pointed out he did not want to share the init board as there was info there he did not want us to see (the number of bad guys for one).


2) What's the difference between the Shared and Host folders in my tokens folder?
I think the host ones only show up in your box. So you could have tolkens for all the bad guys you are going to meet in that adventure in your box and others can't see them.


3) Anyone know where the default circular token images are stored? I'd like to modify their colors a bit, but keep the same size/letters. Can we access the PNG files or whatever?

Not sure.


4) Dovetailing from #1: I'd also like to share an NPC stats (Combat, Description, etc.) with the players to serve as one of their henchman. I can't seem to find a way to do this. Is that type of info un-shareable as well?

Pretty sure you can't do this either. Their is talk about letting FG run more then one character at a time. So you could then have the NPC as a character and the player could connect and pick that character as well as his own to play. Mages could do the same with familures.


5) I'd love to see more functionality with the "draw" command. Currently we can do a single-width black line. Would it be so difficult to add varyiny widths, colors, and perhaps the ability to draw certain shapes (or straight lines)? Is this being talked about for upcoming patches?

Others have commented on the same. Not sure if its activly being worked on atm though.


6) I draw. I make a mistake. I want to erase what I've drawn, but not lose all my scrawled notes and what-not. I can't do it. If I erase, I have to erase *everything* on the map. That seems...craptastic. Is there a way to erase (e.g., an eraser) mistakes without wiping out the whole drawing layer in one fell swoop?

Anyway - thanks!

D

Not sure on that last one.

Have fun!

rv

msd
March 10th, 2005, 15:26
3) Anyone know where the default circular token images are stored? I'd like to modify their colors a bit, but keep the same size/letters. Can we access the PNG files or whatever?


C:\Program Files\FantasyGrounds\data\tokens

Goblin-King
March 10th, 2005, 18:07
1) I wanted to "share" the initiative board with my players. In our tabletop game, we have a big markerboard and everyone can easily see who's up when. But I can't seem to find how to share it in FG. Is this because: a) I'm dumb, or b) The functionality isn't there.

It's b). There is a technical reason for the restriction as well as it being a design issue, so it can't be done for now.


2) What's the difference between the Shared and Host folders in my tokens folder?

Like richvalle said, host tokens are only available to the GM. The players see them when you place them, but they don't have them in their token boxes. Shared tokens are sent to players when they log in, so they can freely use them while you play.


3) Anyone know where the default circular token images are stored? I'd like to modify their colors a bit, but keep the same size/letters. Can we access the PNG files or whatever?

You need to install the ruleset source files when you run the installer or use the utility here (https://forums.fantasygrounds.com/viewtopic.php?t=155). You can't override them as such, but you can make new copies. You should be able to override them starting from the next upcoming patch, though.


4) Dovetailing from #1: I'd also like to share an NPC stats (Combat, Description, etc.) with the players to serve as one of their henchman. I can't seem to find a way to do this. Is that type of info un-shareable as well?

Players' character sheets are somewhat of an exception, and can't be shared like regular sheets. You can, however, create your own NPC sheet based on the PC character sheet assets, or create a custom sharable sheet type for henchmen. Look into the Workshop board for more information and help if you are interested in this option.


5) I'd love to see more functionality with the "draw" command. Currently we can do a single-width black line. Would it be so difficult to add varyiny widths, colors, and perhaps the ability to draw certain shapes (or straight lines)? Is this being talked about for upcoming patches?

6) I draw. I make a mistake. I want to erase what I've drawn, but not lose all my scrawled notes and what-not. I can't do it. If I erase, I have to erase *everything* on the map. That seems...craptastic. Is there a way to erase (e.g., an eraser) mistakes without wiping out the whole drawing layer in one fell swoop?

There are two main reasons for the current implementation. First, a thin black line is easy to synchronize. One player can draw over a portion of the picture, and another draw an overlapping line in the mean time, and everyone will see the same thing no matter what order the clients get the data sent over the net. The same applies if a player comes late to a session with a drawing already created. Second, having more complex drawing operations available would mean a lot more complex user interface.

I agree that more drawing options would be nice, so we'll keep your ideas in mind.

Destan
March 10th, 2005, 18:20
Many thanks for the replies!

Cantstanzya
March 10th, 2005, 23:11
I have a question about the init board, currently it sorts from highest number to lowest. Is there any way to change this so that it sorts with lowest numbers up at the top of the page (acending order).