Problems syncing/sharing maps from published content.

[Coren]

I'm using the 5e rule set and am running The Sunless Citadel out of Tales from the Yawning Portal.

When I open up the player battle maps and share it with my players, none of them are able to use the map. anytime they try to zoom in, the map just kind of auto-zooms in and doesn't move. If they have it zoomed out, they don't see the tokens I add or move around.

I have 7 players in the game, all of them exhibiting the same problems.

I have the map masked almost completely.

I am using Enhanced Image Layers (here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20231-Enhanced-Images-%28layers%29-for-FG-3-0-CoreRPG-%28and-rulesets-based-on-CoreRPG%29))

As a work around, I've just taken screenshots of the part of the map I need at any particular point and just share those in small chunks, but I don't feel I should have to work around this with an official module.

I had this happen before with one custom map I had and when I looked for a solution I found threads around keeping image size to certain resolutions and file size, but this is published content so I can't really do that.

If anyone has any troubleshooting help, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

[Trenloe]

A couple of things:
1) Have you (the GM) selected "lock client view" from image sharing right-click menu? You can check to see if it is showing the option to lock or unlock.
2) Do you keep sharing the image or using the "synch client view" option?
3) Sometimes players can zoom right out with the mouse-wheel and then zoom back in to what they want to see. This kinda resets the view (zooming right out).

Otherwise, I'm not exactly sure what the issue is. If none of the above things work, could you get a video of the problem? Maybe see if the issue occurs when connected as a player by localhost

[Zacchaeus]

Many of the published maps do exceed the limits (it isn't always possible to keep map sizes down). However those in the Sunless Citadel aren't that big. There's a couple of things that you should check; the first is how much memory are the players using when FG is running. If it is getting up around 3Gb then that is an issue. You would need to have a look at how much you are sharing with your players and how much of what you are sharing is actually needed. this includes modules, images and especially tokens. Unshare as much of that as you can and then get your players to nuke their caches before rejoining your game.

You have a lot of players and it will take some time to share even a smallish map with them. So make sure that they have had the time to actually downloaded it properly.

Finally does this issue persist when you are not using the extension? Also make sure that you are using the latest version of the extension and that you have read and understood the 'gotcha's' in the first post.

[Coren]

Luckily enough, one of my players is in the next room over, so can set up that laptop and do some troubleshooting a bit later.

To answer some of the initial questions best I can:


1) Have you (the GM) selected "lock client view" from image sharing right-click menu? You can check to see if it is showing the option to lock or unlock.

I can check this. What should it be set to ideally? What function does it serve?


2) Do you keep sharing the image or using the "synch client view" option?

To refresh the view, I use the "sync" option.


3) Sometimes players can zoom right out with the mouse-wheel and then zoom back in to what they want to see. This kinda resets the view (zooming right out).

It seems that the problem comes when they try to use the mouse wheel to zoom in. When I share the image initially, it is zoomed out, but as soon as they touch the mouse wheel it zooms way in and seems to be come much less responsive.


the first is how much memory are the players using when FG is running.

I'll check that when I get a chance.


You would need to have a look at how much you are sharing with your players and how much of what you are sharing is actually needed. this includes modules, images and especially tokens.

I do try to keep my shared items to a minimum. I share images and then stop sharing them when we're done with them. I had read that this can cause problems so I try to be proactive about it.

Is there an easier way to stop sharing something than to have to go back into the images menu each time? Is there a right-click option to "stop sharing" like there is for sharing, because I didn't see one.


Unshare as much of that as you can and then get your players to nuke their caches before rejoining your game.

How would I instruct them on cleaning their cache out?


You have a lot of players and it will take some time to share even a smallish map with them. So make sure that they have had the time to actually downloaded it properly.

How long should downloading the maps take? I mean, I share small maps and they are there pretty much immediately, I figure the bigger maps, with more masking, the grid, etc, would take a little longer, but everyone is running decent internet speeds and this happens constantly after sharing. We had waited several minutes and were still having the problem. Should it really take that long to pass a few MBs across the wire? I don't know what the FG net code looks like or how much info is traveling back and forth.


Finally does this issue persist when you are not using the extension? Also make sure that you are using the latest version of the extension and that you have read and understood the 'gotcha's' in the first post.

I am using the most recent version of the extension, although I have not attempted any testing without the module. That'll go on the list. I've also taken a look at the 'gotcha's' list and they all make sense/I've been working around them.

Since we're talking images, is there a way to easily move images from one group to another in the images window? it seems like whatever group was selected the first time the image was detected in the images folder is where it ends up. I'm guessing this is metadata of some sort. Is there a way to edit this on the fly?

Thanks both of you for the prompt replies.

[Trenloe]

I can check this. What should it be set to ideally? What function does it serve?
See here - https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Images#Viewing Leave it unlocked.


To refresh the view, I use the "sync" option.
How often do you do this? This will push a sync to every player and will reset how they have set up their map view. Could this be contributing to the problems the players are seeing?


It seems that the problem comes when they try to use the mouse wheel to zoom in. When I share the image initially, it is zoomed out, but as soon as they touch the mouse wheel it zooms way in and seems to be come much less responsive.
Is there one specific map (if so which one?) or does this happen for all/most maps?


How would I instruct them on cleaning their cache out?
Each player needs to click the Nuke button on their Join Game screen.


Since we're talking images, is there a way to easily move images from one group to another in the images window? it seems like whatever group was selected the first time the image was detected in the images folder is where it ends up.
Drag the image link to the group title you want to move it to.

[Moon Wizard]

Also, if it wasn't already mentioned, make sure that you aren't sharing any GM modules (such as DMG, MM or the adventure module). (i.e. these should have a red X in the module activation window.)

Regards,
JPG

[Coren]

I have an update to this.

We played last night after a little bit of testing. Everything was going fine until I accidentally selected "Clear Drawing".

For some reason, after selecting "Clear Drawing" everyone else's map freaked out and they could not control the zoom properly.

We had to disconnect folks from the game and reconnect them and reshare the map to get it back to functioning.

So, I at least know how to not break it now.

I figured I'd give an update to see if anyone has an idea of "why" this is happening.

Also, thanks for the previous input.

Cheers.