Sharing tokens & rulesets

[Salar]

Hi all,
I've been playing around with FG. I've started learning XML, created about 30 tokens and downloaded the modern D20 ruleset and WHFRP ruleset. I'm thoroughly impressed with the whole setup & can see many hours being lost to this little gem.
One question I have is (& I've searched the forum, but my search-fu is weak) is whether all tokens are automatically shared with all participating players and whether the ruleset is also automatically shared.
If the question to either is 'yes' does this not wind up developers due to the fact that once the GM pays for a ruleset, is it then shared with everyone. Surely the one purchased ruleset would find itself into most of the FG communities hard drives very quickly?
I certainly don't mind sharing, but my tokens are adapted from a commercially available token set which I've paid for...can you see where i'm going with this?
John

[richvalle]

There are two places that you can put tokens. One that the players can see and use at will and one that only the dm can see. The ones that the players can see are all sent when the players login. The ones in the DM only folder are sent when the dm uses them.

The players get the full version of the ruleset when they login to your system (if you are running a campaign using that ruleset). Yes, this does mean that rulesets get sent around to players who have not paid for it. This was soon realized and I think FG is working on a way to minimize that sharing.

I don't see a way to stop the tokens from spreading. Maybe allow FG to remove the tokens after it disconnects? Others have complained of token overload after playing in a few campaigns.

rv

[Salar]

Cheers rv,
Thanks for the quick reply. One of the reasons I ask (apart from the post above & the obvious revenue loss to developers) is that I've changed the default portraits to tokens so that they can choose tokens which match. Any idea how to set up a list of PC tokens which match these portraits. Obviously, as you say, I can set up GM only tokens but what about these PC tokens?
John

[Toadwart]

A nice 'clean' approach to tokens is to have a single shared folder for all of your tokens. Also have a host folder of the same name in the host.
e.g.
...\Fantasy Grounds\tokens\shared\salars tokens\
...\Fantasy Grounds\tokens\host\salars tokens\

This results in a single 'bag' called "salars tokens" in the tokenbox. It helps prevent your tokens from getting mixed up with others (if you dm and are also a player in someone elses campaign then the tokens from their campaign get downloaded to your shared folder)

Any folders and tokens inside your shared folder will be copied to your players shared folder when they connect. The ones in the host folder are not copied to the players and are only visible to the dm inside FG. The tokens do get pushed down to the players when you use them on a map but are not stored on their harddrives.


note: After you have begun a campaign then any new tokens you put into these folders may appear in the wrong place in FG (just in the token box, not inside a bag).
This is a side effect of the way FG handles tokens. It creates an internal folder/file list when you start a campaign. This allows you to create bags and move tokens around inside FG and have these changes be remembered if you exit and restart FG.
Unfortunately once it has built this internal folder list FG just dumps any new tokens into it's base token box, regardless of which folder you added them to. There are two options for dealing with this:

1) Run FG and manually move each new token to the correct bag.
This keeps FG they way you want it and you can add bags inside FG to organise tokens on-the-fly. However, it can be painfully slow and can get confusing as the tokens inside FG bags won't match what you see in the folders on your harddrive.

2) Periodically delete the xml file that holds FGs internal representation of the tokens. This will force FG to re-build it's token bags to match your folders. The file is located in the usersettings folder within the campaign folder. It will be named "tokens_xxxxx" where xxxxx is your FG login name.
This approach is good if you are adding/moving lots of tokens but it does mean that any changes you made in the tokenbox while running FG (new bags / moved tokens / neatly arranged tokens) are lost.

[richvalle]

Cheers rv,
Thanks for the quick reply. One of the reasons I ask (apart from the post above & the obvious revenue loss to developers) is that I've changed the default portraits to tokens so that they can choose tokens which match. Any idea how to set up a list of PC tokens which match these portraits. Obviously, as you say, I can set up GM only tokens but what about these PC tokens?
John

I send the person with a new character a list of pictures so they can pick one they like.

They get on FG and create their character.

I take the picture and create two smaller versions of it by cropping off most of it except for the head and shrink it down. One version is 63x63 and the other 50x50.

Go into the /program files/fantasy grounds/campaigns/'your campaign'/portraits. There will be a file there with the new characters name (with no extention). Replace it with the 63x63 picture - name it the characters name with no ext.

Take the 50x50 picture and drop it into the shared tokens folder.

Restart FG. Both the characters portrait and the token should show up.

rv

[Salar]

Thanks guys, I'll start playing with those folder options mentioned.
John

[Azrael Nightstar]

I'm getting a bit OT with this, but another option to lessen "token clutter" is to use ruleset-specific ones, including them in /rulesets/[ruleset]/tokens rather than in the FantasyGrounds/tokens directory. I'm not positive that this keeps the tokens out of the player's /tokens/shared folder, but it at least helps with the DM.

It's observant of you to notice the file-sharing conundrum with FG, Salar, it is indeed a copyright/fair use concern. My theory on it is that if you buy a token pack, ruleset, whatever, it's for your use. As long as you're in a game, whether player or DM, it's okay. Think of it like buying a rulebook or pack of miniatures: you can use them in your own game, or if your friend is the GM, you can let him borrow them for the campaign or session.

However, if you get this type of content from someone else and they're NOT involved in a campaign, you should by all rights pay to use it, as it's akin to having a friend copy his book and give it to you, keeping his original. This is on the honor system FantasyGrounds or not though, since you can always send to a friend through email or whathaveyou. Perhaps for some people FG transferring the files automatically makes using things you didn't pay for seem more legitimate, but people really ought to know that taking content you haven't paid for is taking content you haven't paid for. There'll always be people looking to get something for nothing, but happily it seems much of the FG community can abide by the honor system. It's really not that hard, considering the artists usually only ask a few bucks for their hard work.

Apologies for the rambling:o

[Toadwart]

Each campaign has a tokens folder too and I think any tokens in that folder are only visible to the dm. Think they get bundled up with a module too so might be useful if you use modules.