Newbie with questions

[Dazmiuth]

My gaming group is looking for a way to keep playing even though I will be moving to a new area. I have about 6 people who plan on purchasing FG and I had some questions regarding the program before we buy it.

1) If we collectively by a bundle of licenses with one credit card, how are the licenses given to each person? Will they be sent by email to the purchaser, who will in turn give them to the players? How does this work?

2) I am going to be buying a new computer in the near future, is it difficult to transfer campaign information from one pc to another? Or should I wait until I have my new computer before I get everything started?

I know I have more questions than this, but I am drawing a blank. Thanks in advance for any help.

Daz

[Dachannien]

1) You've got it exactly right.
2) Easy. In your FantasyGrounds directory there will be a directory called "campaigns", and under that will be a directory with the name of the campaign that you created. Just copy that directory and all its contents to the same place in the installation of FG on the new computer. (This applies if you're the DM. If you're a player, then you don't need to copy anything, as the data will be downloaded from the DM's machine the next time you play.)

[mr_h]

My gaming group is looking for a way to keep playing even though I will be moving to a new area. I have about 6 people who plan on purchasing FG and I had some questions regarding the program before we buy it.

1) If we collectively by a bundle of licenses with one credit card, how are the licenses given to each person? Will they be sent by email to the purchaser, who will in turn give them to the players? How does this work?

The person who purchases it receives the licenses. You can then share those with your players. Exactly how I did it (And I got a bundled price, so that's the way to go :) )



2) I am going to be buying a new computer in the near future, is it difficult to transfer campaign information from one pc to another? Or should I wait until I have my new computer before I get everything started?


I just got a new computer so I had to do this. What I did was installed FG on the new computer, then I simply copied over my data into the directories. Worked perfectly (Although for some reason when my players connected for the next game session, they had to download everything again, as if it flagged the content as 'changed'. No big deal, but it's something to be aware of.)

[Dachannien]

I'm going a bit off topic, but your sig is hilarious! :)

[richvalle]

Yeah, I laughed when I read that one the first time too. :)

rv

[Dazmiuth]

Alright everyone, thanks for the help so far. I remembered a couple more questions that I wanted to ask.

3) If my players don't have any tokens, will I be able to let them use mine to represent their characters?

4) What types of images can be used in FG, will maps I make with CC2 show up, if so, will my players need the CC2 viewer installed on their computers to see them.

5) I was messing around with the demo, and I was having trouble inserting the grid layer at the right size. I noticed when I started making the initial square, it gave me a number representing size. What number represents a 50x50 square? Also, if I have to zoom in a map in order for it to be the correct size as compared to the tokens, will the map be zoomed in on my players screens as well, or will they have to zoom it themselves.

6) I think this is the last question for now. When I upload maps, what is the largest size I should upload. This question may seem obvious, but I am kind of a newbie with computer programs. If I import a pre-drawn map that already has a grid on it. Let's say for simplicity's sake that it is a room that is 10x10 squares. If I make the map at 500x500 pixels, each square should be 50x50, which would be appropriate for most tokens, is this correct?

Thanks again, sorry for being such a nub!

[Dachannien]

3) There are two subdirectories in your tokens directory: "host" and "shared". When you start up FG and your players connect, they download the tokens you have in the "shared" directory automatically, and they can make use of those tokens as they wish (as can you). The tokens in the "host" directory, on the other hand, are accessible by you, and when you place one of them on a map, your players will automatically download the token so that they can see it.

4a) I believe JPG and PNG will both work. BMP might work as well, but results in very large files to transfer.

4b) I don't know anything about CC2, but if it exports JPGs or PNGs, then your players won't need CC2, because FG can display those kinds of files.

5a) The number displayed when you are establishing the grid layer is the size in pixels of each square, so 50 means a 50x50 square.

5b) You may have to update the map (there's an option in the right-click context menu once a map has been shared) after you zoom it, but when you do, your players will see the map at the same zoom level, dimensions, and cropping that you do. Players can scroll a map around to see the parts that are off the edge of the window, but it snaps back when they let go of the scroll control. I believe that players can't zoom a map at all.

6a) There have been differing reports here on the forums as to what the biggest advisable size is. My personal experience is that once you get to 2048 pixels in either dimension, FG will have severe problems, especially when the mask layer is turned on. Other players have said that smaller numbers are advisable, and some people have said that the smaller the file size is (in bytes, rather than dimensions), the less likely FG is to crash. (Note that SmiteWorks has rewritten the image transfer code for FG2, and it runs much more stably than FG1.05.)

6b) It depends on the token size you're using. Various people here use different token sizes. I personally like 50 pixels, but others have mentioned 25 or 75. The default (alphabet) tokens that come with FG are 25 pixels across. However, if you are planning to use 50 pixel tokens, then you are correct that a 500x500 map will result in a 10x10 square grid.

Hope this helps :)

[Dazmiuth]

Thanks Dachannien, that helped a bunch. I am actually having one of my players over tonight to run a little sample of gm/player interaction with my two pc's. If I have any more questions, I will post them. Thanks a bunch!!

Daz