LOS Terrain Options Request: Pits, Holes, Depressions, Floor Traps, Pool and the like

[Gomischm]

After working on several maps practicing my map making technique, I came across a scenario where I had a pit in a particular corridor. My objective was to hide the pit to entice a PC to go look in it and once near it they would be able to see down in to it, revealing what lies beneath. After attempting a number of ways to simulate this I have come to the conclusion that there is no workable solution within Fantasy Grounds Unity. At least there is not one that I was able to discover. So what I would like to inquire/request is an alternative terrain option, or combination of options, that would do the following:

1. Terrain option to wear you are unable to see down in to a hole/depression/pit or the like.
2. Allow LOS to go through this to the other side as terrain that goes below the ground would not block line of sight.
3. When a character descends, gets submerged or the like, to have an option to block the line of sight going out of said hole/depression/pit.

I am not sure if there is a workaround for this or if this is possible to code in to the system. I have searched multiple times for this and my apologies if this has been addressed before.

Thank you everyone for any assistance.
M

[damned]

They are good suggestions. At this stage I think its unlikely they will add too much functionality before release so you might want to repost in the future if it doesnt get any attention this time around.

[Gomischm]

Thank you for the reply. I wasn’t sure if this would get any attention or not. I almost wondered if they could code a reverse or say an inverse of the terrain LOS selection tool. I imagine that would do the trick. I am ignorant of what it takes to do this and love this program. Just wanted to give my Beta 2 cents. Thank you again.
M

[LordEntrails]

Great idea. I would suggest you add it to the wishlist with a link back to this thread, and a link from this thread to the idea so people (like me) can vote for it.
https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/

[Gomischm]

Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve done this and hopefully I did it right. I seldom suggest anything as I assume it’s either in the works or been tested. But an inverted terrain option could be handy. Thanks again and appreciate the feedback.
M

[LordEntrails]

Link to the idea; https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=129793

[iemckinnon]

I will add my two cents to that. Something like a wall without fog of war for hills and the like. They can see there is a hill there, but it blocks LOS on tokens on the other side of the hill.

[Kelrugem]

I will add my two cents to that. Something like a wall without fog of war for hills and the like. They can see there is a hill there, but it blocks LOS on tokens on the other side of the hill.

A hill is already possible with the terrain options :) Moreover, when you add the lines of terrain similar to lines of constant height as on maps then you get some nice 3D effect :) (while climbing the hill they do not see immediately everything but more and more until they reach the top to see "everything")

[Zacchaeus]

I will add my two cents to that. Something like a wall without fog of war for hills and the like. They can see there is a hill there, but it blocks LOS on tokens on the other side of the hill.

Watch the videos on LOS linked to this post (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?50591-FGU-Sharing-LOS-Definitions-for-Maps-Crowd-Project) to see how to do this.

[Gomischm]

Thank you everyone for the help. I appreciate it. I believe a terrain inversion option, similar to opening and closing doors would be an ideal solution. Again I am not a coder, but since the code exists for terrain, it should be possible to invert this for holes, pits and the like where you should be able to see past it, but not in it. I hope this idea continues to gain traction.

[VRkat]

Thanks for the idea link. So many forms have linked to the site but not the idea and I just can't find anything on that system. I'm trying to do a pit with terrain right now and have already enabled just about everything suggested but the lack of an actual drop off option is killing it.

[Eriwan]

[...]it should be possible to invert this for holes, pits and the like where you should be able to see past it, but not in it. [...]

That is a good point that I didn't encounter in my own map-making, but for which I could still see some use, hence wherefore I've added it to my own suggestion.

Here is my take after playing with the Pit for quite a while now: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/fg2app?ia=135391

High ground / low ground
Most important part of the idea, a reverse Pit (experimental) would be super neat, such as for a spire in the middle of a map.
I would call such LoS "high ground":
-Movement might or not be restraint (maybe by a similar function as the door locking);
-Any creature inside can see everything inside and outside;
-Any creature outside of it can't see in it nor pass it.
(Even better would be to have only those outside be able to see only the first square inside the zone, and at the same time only a creature on the first square inside the line would be able to see outside the zone, but I get that it may be quite hard to do, so I would be still really glad to have the simpler version.)

Such idea in fact came from toying with the said Pit (experimental), which allow one way see-through, but prevent movement, which seems to works great for trap, but less for a climbable hole. Therefore, it be great to have a similar LoS that wouldn't prevent the movement from the player side.
I would call it "low ground":
-movement can go in any direction (maybe having a similar function as locked door to prevent move)
-when in it, a creature can only see what's in it;
-any creature outside can see everything in it;
(Also, if feasable creature inside could also see the first square outside the line, and only from the first square outside the line, a creature would be able to see everything inside, but I get that it may be quite hard to do, so I would be still really glad to have the simpler version.)
There is this idea that is similar but instead represent more a deep depression so low that line of sight can't be share in any way without blocking what's on the other side for a creature outside, but I feel it would be best been a separated piece of LoS. https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=129793

I know that the Terrain feature is suppose to be use to represent high/low ground, but I find it much more useful to cut out objects (like boulder) or dense zone (such as foliage in a thick forest). In fact, this video try to show how to use it for cliff, but end up showing why it can't work properly: why a creature on a level can't see everything for the same plane! https://youtu.be/dpaUojfIFCw?t=461

The concept of my idea, though is to be unrelated to any height indicator to not force the map to work on a third dimension, but simply to allow or prevent certain types of visibility, which fake the height.