PDA

View Full Version : Pin Color Extension



LordEntrails
August 2nd, 2016, 18:14
So, I'm really in need of the ability to allow me to use multiple pin colors and maybe shapes. (Idea has already been added to IdeaInformer.) Is this a functionality that could be added with an extension or is it a function in the core program?

Here's why (and I'm not done adding links yet):
14928

If an extension could do this, would someone be willing to help me get this done? I'd be willing to throw some money to you. Not enough to actually pay for your time, but enough to help your beer budget, or whatever your vice is :)

Trenloe
August 2nd, 2016, 18:24
It's in the core application. You can't change these on the fly. All you can do is change the base icons via the <imagesettings> entry in gameelements.xml which sets the single icon for all shortcut pins.

LordEntrails
August 2nd, 2016, 18:46
It's in the core application. You can't change these on the fly. All you can do is change the base icons via the <imagesettings> entry in gameelements.xml which sets the single icon for all shortcut pins.
Ugh, ok, that was my fear. Thanks for confirming :)

Related question; I'm guessing that the only way I can find where a story entry is pinned is to look in the db.xml and find the entry for the image and then find a pin entry for a given story entry and find the x,y coordinates for it? (i.e. I'm trying to figure out how to find all the pins for a story entry (portal).

Trenloe
August 2nd, 2016, 18:49
Related question; I'm guessing that the only way I can find where a story entry is pinned is to look in the db.xml and find the entry for the image and then find a pin entry for a given story entry and find the x,y coordinates for it? (i.e. I'm trying to figure out how to find all the pins for a story entry (portal).
That's all I can think of, and it's a manual process (i.e. opening db.xml in Notepad++ etc.).

LordEntrails
August 2nd, 2016, 19:06
That's all I can think of, and it's a manual process (i.e. opening db.xml in Notepad++ etc.).
Thanks again. Yea, next time I will take better notes when I place teleporters in the dungeon as to where I'm placing the two pins!

LordEntrails
August 2nd, 2016, 19:54
So, here's how to find where a pin or link is on an image. (Documenting this so next time I need to do it, I can remember how, and since it might be useful to others).
Assumptions: open db.xml of campaign used to author/create the images and story entries using Notepad++ (NPP)

1) Search for story entry by name.
Example: "Two-Way" yields:

<id-00183>
<locked type="number">0</locked>
<name type="string">Portal, Two-Way, E</name>
<text type="formattedtext">
<p>These locations are a paired set of always active two-way portals.</p>
<p>To the being(s) undergoing the 'jump,'</p>
<frame>There is a sudden silvery haze everywhere, an empty silvery void visible all around, in which the only other objects visible are the being's body, belongings, and other creatures that the being is touching at the time. There is a brief sensation of falling, and then the surroundings are suddenly different.</frame>
<p>Beings passing through these teleports always forfeit initiative to beings present at their destination, during the round of their appearance.</p>
</text>
</id-00183>


Notice object ID number (i.e. 00183), Now search for this. You will return one or more results for a tag like this:


<shortcut>
<x>437</x>
<y>751</y>
<class>encounter</class>
<recordname>encounter.id-00183</recordname>
</shortcut>

This immediately reveals the x,y coordinates of the pin (437,751) in pixels on the image.

To find which image this pin reference (shortcut) is on, scroll up until you find the parent of the shortcut tag.This will tell you the file name that the pin is located on. Such as;


<id-00025>
<image type="image">
<bitmap>images/DungeonLvl-DM.png</bitmap>
<shortcuts>


To learn the name of the image (which can be different from the filename), collapse all of the shortcut tags and look at the name value. Such as;


</image>
<name type="string">0 DungeonLvl (DM)</name>

Callum
August 2nd, 2016, 20:14
This may not be helpful to you, but if I was working on that map, I'd chop it into about eight pieces.

LordEntrails
August 2nd, 2016, 20:51
That's the DM map for level 1. The players never get to see it. They get battle maps for individual rooms or small areas (I think I'm around 40 of those). But imo it's important the DM can see everything at once. The file size is actually very small as resolution on that map is horrible. But it lets a DM see rooms and doors. Not more than that.

Callum
August 2nd, 2016, 21:13
Okay, that makes sense. I often use DM overview maps, too. But I don't put any pins on them - I put those on the players' maps.

Trenloe
August 2nd, 2016, 21:15
I use GM maps (with pins) and Player maps (with pins also - usually the same links as the GM map). Quick and easy access to the location info for the GM.

LordEntrails
August 2nd, 2016, 22:11
As you can imagine, in Undermountain the GM map is the absolute key to finding the info you need. Since their really is no set order something like a numbered story list just doesn't work. And, since it's Undermountain, the players don't get one big map because there are portals in places the may not even be aware of.

I had to hide a smile when the player mapping said, "Hey, that's not right, this hallway goes into the fountain room..." My response was, "Apparently not."

Bonkon
September 17th, 2017, 18:15
Nice job on Undermountain. I was thinking that would be a great addition but it is so huge it seems a daunting task. I have the old original boxed set but it seems impossible to scan the huge maps in :)

LordEntrails
September 17th, 2017, 20:50
If my players just stayed on track with the published adventure we are running (PotA) then I would be working on UM more. But right now I'm having to create the part of the elemental plane of earth. Since they let Ogremoch loose on teh prime plane and went through the portal seeking the apostle...

Ah well. Soon (tm)!

Nickademus
September 17th, 2017, 21:28
I'm trying to understand exactly what you are trying to do here. If a pin is for a Story entry, can't you just hover the mouse over the pin and it will say the name of the Story entry? I know that you have to have the module containing the Story entry open for this to happen, but I believe you can easily find the name of a pin this way.

LordEntrails
September 17th, 2017, 22:30
I'm trying to understand exactly what you are trying to do here. If a pin is for a Story entry, can't you just hover the mouse over the pin and it will say the name of the Story entry? I know that you have to have the module containing the Story entry open for this to happen, but I believe you can easily find the name of a pin this way.
The second part of the thread, what I was trying to do and document was when you have a link in a story, how do you find where it is on the map? From the image in post #1, you can see that there are a large number of pins on the map, where is the pin that is for the story entry you have open or have linked to?

For instance, I'm in a known location on the map, I open the story entry, part of the story is a portal to another part on the map. The players pass through the portal, I have a link to the new story entry location. But where the heck are they on the map now? As I'm re-doing the map I'm putting a coordinate grid on it so I can reference that, but since at this time time I don't have all that done (and did lots of the story entries before I worried about this) I need a way to figure out/clean up my oversight.

Nickademus
September 18th, 2017, 03:09
I understand. I've been thinking about this (in addition to some other communication oversights such as "Where in the Combat Tracker is THIS token"). Let me think on it...

Exalted
October 20th, 2017, 13:56
The second part of the thread, what I was trying to do and document was when you have a link in a story, how do you find where it is on the map? From the image in post #1, you can see that there are a large number of pins on the map, where is the pin that is for the story entry you have open or have linked to?

For instance, I'm in a known location on the map, I open the story entry, part of the story is a portal to another part on the map. The players pass through the portal, I have a link to the new story entry location. But where the heck are they on the map now? As I'm re-doing the map I'm putting a coordinate grid on it so I can reference that, but since at this time time I don't have all that done (and did lots of the story entries before I worried about this) I need a way to figure out/clean up my oversight.

Not an ideal solution but maybe the text label extension could help somewhat.

Edit: after looking at your screenshot, well, maybe it can't...:D

LordEntrails
October 20th, 2017, 17:20
Not an ideal solution but maybe the text label extension could help somewhat.

Edit: after looking at your screenshot, well, maybe it can't...:D
Always open to ideas :) But yea, the text label won't help much in this case. Plus I'll be publishing this on the DMsGuild so I'm trying to stick with core FG functionality unless some extension becomes just too useful/important.

skj310
April 23rd, 2018, 12:16
Man .. colouring pins ... SOOOO want this to happen too! Shoot

Trenloe
April 23rd, 2018, 15:14
Man .. colouring pins ... SOOOO want this to happen too! Shoot
Have you voted for it here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Developer_Guide_-_Rulesets_-_Layering ??

skj310
April 24th, 2018, 00:43
ok ... so that link confused me. Perhaps you meant this link: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=81597
and yes I voted :)

Trenloe
April 24th, 2018, 04:48
ok ... so that link confused me. Perhaps you meant this link: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=81597
and yes I voted :)
Yeah, sorry - wrong link. Copy/Paste issues.

Glad you found the right one. :)

DwightLee
December 14th, 2018, 13:54
I was just looking for this in my game, so my best option for now is a name system "Bandit Hideout - Story" and "Bandit Hideout - Encounter" so when I hover over the pin I can tell if it is a story or an encounter or a trap or whatever. It is a shame, colored pins by type would be a nice feature. Seems kind of silly to name my encounters in the encounters tab all with the word encounter just for the push pins

Trenloe
December 14th, 2018, 14:08
It is a shame, colored pins by type would be a nice feature.
Go vote for it: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=81597

DwightLee
December 14th, 2018, 15:22
Oh I did :)

Dont take this as a critique, I LOVE Fantasy Grounds... and am subscribed to help continue its improvement. Easily the best platform for table top type role-playing games over the internet. With Discord and Syrenscape, it is actually better ( for me ) than actual play around a table.

DwightLee
December 14th, 2018, 15:32
I'm trying to understand exactly what you are trying to do here. If a pin is for a Story entry, can't you just hover the mouse over the pin and it will say the name of the Story entry? I know that you have to have the module containing the Story entry open for this to happen, but I believe you can easily find the name of a pin this way.

That is exactly what I am doing now, but it is kind of silly to have every story point ( I have hundreds of them in my campaign ) all with the text "Story" in the title, same with encounters with the text "Encounter" in the title, on the encounter table for an encounter just for the push pins. If I could color the story pins blue, and the encounter pins red and the sound pins Yellow, ext... it would be wonderful.

LordEntrails
December 14th, 2018, 15:59
That is exactly what I am doing now, but it is kind of silly to have every story point ( I have hundreds of them in my campaign ) all with the text "Story" in the title, same with encounters with the text "Encounter" in the title, on the encounter table for an encounter just for the push pins. If I could color the story pins blue, and the encounter pins red and the sound pins Yellow, ext... it would be wonderful.
I don't pin the encounters to the map. I only pin the story entries to the map, and then in the story entry I have a link to the encounter. This is generally how you will see it done in the store adventures. Part of the reason is unless you know the adventure really well, how do you know when to add the NPCs to the tracker? They might only be activated in some situations and not other. (Note, I would still love multi-colored pins, and even pin shapes based on entity type, but, until that happens, this works well enough.) Also, don't forget that you can also group your story entries to help organize them too.

It works really well for Undermountain (and there are over 600 story entries on the first level)...
25582

DwightLee
December 14th, 2018, 18:28
I don't pin the encounters to the map. I only pin the story entries to the map, and then in the story entry I have a link to the encounter. This is generally how you will see it done in the store adventures. Part of the reason is unless you know the adventure really well, how do you know when to add the NPCs to the tracker? They might only be activated in some situations and not other. (Note, I would still love multi-colored pins, and even pin shapes based on entity type, but, until that happens, this works well enough.) Also, don't forget that you can also group your story entries to help organize them too.

It works really well for Undermountain (and there are over 600 story entries on the first level)...
25582

And the reason you dont ( and I probably wont ), is because all pins look the same. Id like to have a lot of things pinned, sound changes, map changes, story changes etc, but that is difficult to do easily if all pins look alike. There is no difference activating an encounter by pin or by a link in the story board. Today I tested having a pin in a door, the sound of that door opening using DOE across discord... worked perfectly, but there is no tool tip saying that it is a sound ( like there is for Story or encounters or maps ) it would be nice if I could make those pins yellow so I knew it was a sound for example

Milke
March 13th, 2021, 17:19
I don't even need lots of colors. I just wish that encounter pins were one color (red, for example), and story pins were green. Or something.