FGU Question/Musings - Perhaps it's too early to worry about this, but . . .

[doseyclwn]

. . . My worry with FG Unity is that the system requirements will be too high. One thing I love about FG right now is that I can run it on a netbook. I suppose I'm worrying about it too soon, but there ya go. Otherwise I'm really looking forward to it.

[jojogladco]

Having players having just watched the new preview tonight all said the same thing.

"Looks awesome, but do you have the upload bandwidth to push that?"

I'm less worried about graphic resources than I am about network requirements.

[pindercarl]

It is too early to say what the system requirements for FGU will be, but none of the features that have been developed (or are planned) thus far should put a large of a burden on the system. Many current systems may also see a boost in performance. The 3D dice in the current FG, for example, rely on DirectX 9 for rendering and Windows 10 has particular poor legacy support for DX9. Additionally, FGU will be able to support 64-bit OSes (increasing the amount of addressable memory above 4GB). Also, the GPU will manage the graphics, so large images will no longer expand to fill large portions of the main memory when opened.

Without even considering improvements to the networking, layered images can reduce the bandwidth required. In the video, the river tile is used twice, the grass tile four times, and the trees somewhere around 10. Each of those images would only need to be sent over the network once.

[damned]

And you dont have to use features that dont work for your setup or challenges.

[HoratioDrank]

Upload bandwidth is definitely a concern. We use Fios, which fortunately doesn't throttle upload speeds, but prior to that we had...my memory is foggy on this, I want to say Comcast, and upload speeds were throttled way down.

[jrh18]

I assume that Unity will help with the Mac and Linux clients too. Allowing those OS's to run the application natively instead of via Wine.

I haven't tried running a game virtually yet, but I know that my ISP Spectrum caps my upload speed at 3 or 4 Mb/s, even though I have 100 Mb/s down.

What is the benefit of the layers in the program? Is it to make it so you don't have to use Gimp or Photoshop to do the image editing for maps?

[damned]

3 or 4 mbps is fine for running games. Even with better (Im still talking 2d) graphics in use FG caches the graphics so whilst there may be some pre-load delays in game performance should still be good.
At the moment (without using any extensions) there are two layers - your map and a mask (optional).
The main reason for additional layers is to have things like furniture tokens that are above the map but below the mask and tokens so that they dont interfere when players are moving their tokens.
But there are many other uses - the weather effects being a cool one.

Unity will allow for better Mac and Linux support.
It should also allow for alternative connection methods if you cant port forward tcp1802.

[pindercarl]

As damned confirmed, FGU will be native on OSX and Linux. No more WINE or DX9 emulation. As damned also pointed out, layers will help with adding detail to maps without "baking" those details into the map in an external image editor. I'd also reiterate that layers can be used to build large maps with limited impact on bandwidth. With a fairly small tileset of floors and corridors, the GM could construct a megadungeon and only pay the network and memory penalty of the source tiles.

[gaara6666]

That is great to hear Carl. Only paying the assets penalty once means preloading images and maps and making emergency maps on the fly will not be a time or resource constrainer

[Nylanfs]

That is great to hear Carl. Only paying the assets penalty once means preloading images and maps and making emergency maps on the fly will not be a time or resource constrainer

What you mean you don't have your entire gameworld mapped out to the 5' resolution in-case they decide to go to the other side of the planet?

[doseyclwn]

I guess what I was majorly concerned about was that the developers would be purely focused on it looking cool, but it seems like they're at least conscious of it. Like if it starts requiring i7 processors to play, I'm out of luck.

[mhorgunn]

Will you be able to save the tiled new maps so that you can return to the same location again?

[pindercarl]

Will you be able to save the tiled new maps so that you can return to the same location again?

You will be able to save the tiled images. Considering the images no longer have a fixed size, you will be able to open the image to the previous view.

[gaara6666]

A neat musing I had was a very minor thing with maps. But have a colored dot or token as an indicator of maps in the map list that are occupied with pc tokens. Just a quick cheat reference for when you split the party or you are trying to pick up where you left off gameplay wise. It's also helpful if you close a map and need to reopen it without bugging the gm

[MarianDz]

Will torches on walls has their own light radius and time when burns out after DM set (rounds or minutes) and activating them?

[Ken L]

I'm curious if the images will be saved player side for easier future loading on subsequent sessions. Perhaps with a light encryption for pre-loaded elements to maintain the surprise.

[LordEntrails]

A neat musing I had was a very minor thing with maps. But have a colored dot or token as an indicator of maps in the map list that are occupied with pc tokens. Just a quick cheat reference for when you split the party or you are trying to pick up where you left off gameplay wise. It's also helpful if you close a map and need to reopen it without bugging the gm
Double click on your portrait and FG will open the map the token is on.

[LordEntrails]

I'm curious if the images will be saved player side for easier future loading on subsequent sessions. Perhaps with a light encryption for pre-loaded elements to maintain the surprise.
Added a related suggestions since I didn't find one;
https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/fg2app?ia=111112

[Andraax]

Added a related suggestions since I didn't find one;
https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/fg2app?ia=111112

I always apply a mask before pre-loading images, but this would be nice as well.

[gaara6666]

Double click on your portrait and FG will open the map the token is on.

Wish I would have known this YEARS ago

[jimmifett]

I'd personally love to separate maps from general images

[Honken]

I'd personally love to separate maps from general images

Well, you can, with making a group of each.

/H

[jimmifett]

Well, you can, with making a group of each.

/H

Yes, and I do, but its damned annoying. Much better with grouping but still.

With FGU, it'd be nice for maps, images, tokens, and objects in seperate areas.

[swbuza]

I would rather have a robust client even if that means more horsepower is required to run it. PC's turn over every couple of years. We're not going to get an entire rewrite onto a more capable platform every couple of years.

[LordEntrails]

I would rather have a robust client even if that means more horsepower is required to run it. PC's turn over every couple of years. We're not going to get an entire rewrite onto a more capable platform every couple of years.
You mean my PC from '95 is obsolete? But it has Win 95 on it...

[rodrigotravessa]

I am afraid i will have to buy the gamr again, is that the case? I just recently acquired FG Ultimate, and since i live in Brazil it is a heavy purchase, am i going to be able to use my license with this new client? Or am i going to pay again?

[Nylanfs]

I am afraid i will have to buy the gamr again, is that the case? I just recently acquired FG Ultimate, and since i live in Brazil it is a heavy purchase, am i going to be able to use my license with this new client? Or am i going to pay again?

This is what they have said on Facebook


0-1 year old license will probably be around $15 for an Ultimate to upgrade. $30 for 1-2 years, then $60 for 2-3 and $90 for 4+ years. These will be offered in a Pay-what-you-want style offering so you can self-selected. Our tiers will be guidelines. (https://www.facebook.com/fantasygrounds/posts/10154449320071630?comment_id=10154449377971630&reply_comment_id=10154449493826630&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R2%22%7D)

[jasonthelamb]

I'd personally love to separate maps from general images


I find splitting maps to be quite annoying, especially in the client. Hopefully FGU allows for folder support so that groups are automatically made.