PC actions in combat tracker

[pastiche]

I know this has been discussed in the past before, but can I add my voice to those requesting that the PC actions also get displayed on the combat tracker, just as the NPCs?

I'm using FG to support local play, so I'm controlling both the PCs and the NPCs. Having to switch between the different character sheets to input the player actions is extremely cumbersome and wastes screen real estate. (And screen and window management is not FG's strong suit to begin with :-) )

It seems this was possible in the past, but was removed at some point, probably because it does not make sense for online play. However, could there at least be an option to bring this back for those doing local play?

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

[Zacchaeus]

Indeed, as you say it was deprecated some time ago since normally the DM doesn't need to see the PC actions in the CT.

Make your request/suggestion in the wish list - or vote for it if it is already there. Link in my signature.

[Trenloe]

It seems this was possible in the past, but was removed at some point, probably because it does not make sense for online play.
I don't think was ever the case for the mainstream rulesets. See the comment from the main FG developer nearly 5 years ago here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?21609-Weapons-don-t-appear-in-Combat-Tracker&p=180933&viewfull=1#post180933 It's more a case of over complexity in the CT, especially for characters with a lot of actions - it's a lot of development for very little return (IMO).

You can make a request to the devs on the wishlist here: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/ (Check for a similar request first)

[pastiche]

Could you elaborate where the complexity comes from? One would hope that the code to populate the actions list for NPCs would be very similar for PCs.

Alternatively, is there a hack to create some sort of NPC copy of a PC?

[Trenloe]

Could you elaborate where the complexity comes from? One would hope that the code to populate the actions list for NPCs would be very similar for PCs.
Which ruleset are you referring to?

[pastiche]

5e for now, later your PF2 ruleset.

[Trenloe]

Could you elaborate where the complexity comes from? One would hope that the code to populate the actions list for NPCs would be very similar for PCs.
The underlying PC data structure is different from that of a NPC, For high level PCs it can be very complex (many attacks, many spells, many powers, extra custom actions/effects added, etc.).


Alternatively, is there a hack to create some sort of NPC copy of a PC?
Nope. Due to the difference, and complexity, of the data structures that I've just mentioned.

[pastiche]

BTW, filtering in Idea Informer does not work: I typed "combat tracker" to see if there were any similar requests, which shows a few matches, but then when I click on "74 ideas more", the search just resets. This makes it extremely hard to vote for an existing feature request... I tried both with Chrome and IE.

[Zacchaeus]

I tried a number of different combinations of searches for character action visible on the combat tracker and didn't find anything. So I think it is fairly safe to say that there isn't already a request for this on the wish list.

[epithet]

It was in the 5e ruleset, once upon a time. It worked well, and I used it. SmiteWorks chose to remove the option, and when I asked for it to be left alone I was informed that I didn't need it. I was not pleased.

Apparently if you're a DM managing an NPC as a PC you're supposed to open up the character record instead of doing everything from the combat tracker.

Edit: Of note, the Actions tab of the PC record didn't link to the actions on the combat tracker, you had to enter them manually, which I did before the option to do so was entirely removed.

[Trenloe]

Thanks epithet for the clarification.

As mentioned, the full blown PC actions have never been on the combat tracker for most rulesets. There was a basic text based attack line that manual data could be entered into - depending on the ruleset it could be pretty basic in terms of functionality.

Having this basic, text based, initially empty attack entry for a PC in the combat tracker was causing lots of "why are the PCs attacks in the combat tracker empty?" confusion and wasted time among users, and it was deemed something that few people used, hence why it was removed. Users are always going to miss functionality they use when it's removed. The fact that there was very little wailing and gnashing of teeth, and no one took the time to write an extension to add this functionality back in, suggests that only a few people using the text attack field in the CT was indeed the case.

[pastiche]

If you want, you can always vote for the feature here: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=124076

By the way, I don't think this idea informer site is very friendly to make sure less popular ideas get visibility. Apart from the issue I reported earlier that if you click "74 ideas more", the search just resets, there is the problem that if you type in the exact title of the feature request I submitted "Display PC actions on combat tracker", it doesn't find anything...

[LordEntrails]

By the way, I don't think this idea informer site is very friendly to make sure less popular ideas get visibility. Apart from the issue I reported earlier that if you click "74 ideas more", the search just resets, there is the problem that if you type in the exact title of the feature request I submitted "Display PC actions on combat tracker", it doesn't find anything...
What is the alternative SmiteWorks could use for an idea tracker/voting system? Maybe after FGU if a better alternative was presented to them, they would have time to consider moving to such a site.

[pastiche]

Uservoice perhaps?

[LordEntrails]

Uservoice perhaps?
No idea what that is. I was hinting that if you have a better suggestion and you provide details, it is likely that SW will consider it.

Of course, making a move now is difficult, given that they have a huge database of existing suggestion on Idea Informer. But, after they release FGU it might be a reasonable time for them to make such a change.

[pastiche]

Google is your friend :-)

www.uservoice.com

[Moon Wizard]

Uservoice is a customer management solution; and the non-trial price is prohibitive. I actually looked at them. I've looked at other solutions as well, but most are much more work and/or more cost than they save.

Idea Informer is currently free; which is why it doesn't get many updates.

The other option is to go back to the wish list mega-threads we had before; but that seems worse.

Regards,
JPG

[pastiche]

Hmm, it seems uservoice no longer has a free plan...

How about upvoting in a reddit thread, like here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopsimulator/comments/ajgmon/feature_requests_suggestions_upvote_for_your/

A feature request tracker like Idea Informer where you can't find previous feature requests is essentially useless in my opinion...

[Valyar]

Let's not get back to the mega-threads! :)

[Bidmaron]

I would prefer them

[pastiche]

It's a megathread, but the most popular ideas get voted to the top. I'll take this over the current system any day :-)

[Ampersandrew]

Hmm, it seems uservoice no longer has a free plan...

How about upvoting in a reddit thread, like here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopsimulator/comments/ajgmon/feature_requests_suggestions_upvote_for_your/

A feature request tracker like Idea Informer where you can't find previous feature requests is essentially useless in my opinion...

"As this thread is never permanent, I suggest also posting your suggestions on our official forums "

Doesn't sound that useful to me.

[pastiche]

The reason why it's not permanent is because the TTS guys recreate it every few months to 'refresh' it. There's nothing that prevents you from keeping the thread pinned forever.

[epithet]

I think the biggest downside of the ideainformer wish list is that it is a different site that most (I'm guessing) FG users, and even most FG forum participants, don't check very often, if ever. That won't be addressed by using a Reddit thread instead.

I think maintaining a sub-forum here on fantasygrounds.com where the ideas are listed and linked would solve the problem, but I acknowledge that there are a helluva lot of ideas currently under consideration, and so maintaining that list would be a pain in the fundament.

[celestian]

There are some other free options like Gitlab (milestones). You can submit a request and then it can be tracked. You can watch the issue and get email updates when something changes. Doesn't have a vote option. There is also a discord plugin that lets you push those alerts to a channel.

It tends to be more useful for developers wanting to give users more transparency with changes and requests progress.

[artreri]

I definitely agree with the original post... I thought I had messed up making the PC's or something. For localized play on a single PC running Fantasy Grounds for the GM... this is a must have feature. I realize that FG wasn't possibly meant for in-person play on a single GM PC running a player instance... But some of us see FG as a great tool to do so and I hope the developers have us in mind. I haven't ever really looked at other solutions... but in-person gamers want the feature.

It really slowed my combat and gameplay down. In fact... as a noobie I am not even sure how to us FG to run my combat if I have to use the outside PC Sheets to select the actions... I guess I gotta run some tests if I can't find any tutorials for one PC GM ran FG setups...

[Valyar]

If you want to use FG on single PC and have Player|GM interaction just launch second instance of FG and connect to the local host. Have the second instance's user to claim all heroes and this is how you do it.

A host even though it can claim all PCs, they won't appear in the upper screen and will be a bit cumbersome to interact with. Also host has full control over a map and if there is fog of war, the players will see through.