Sharing Tokens with Players or players using their own tokens

[Apocrypha]

As the title says, how does the DM share tokens with players (Like spell tokens) in FGU or is that even possible? Can a player load their own tokens from the player side?

[Moon Wizard]

That is currently not available. We do plan to add the ability for players to see any tokens and portraits installed on their machine in the Assets window; but it's not something we're working on yet.

Sharing is more complicated, because it creates a "lot" of network/file/graphic overhead. (i.e. FG would have to query whether each and every file is modified/deleted on each connection; update the local player client state; and then download all the files.) For a few files, this isn't that bad. But, people like to share 20,000 files like that, which makes it more problematic...

Regards,
JPG

[Apocrypha]

So when the player ability to use local tokens is implemented, I assume only that player will be able to see their tokens? I'm thinking things specifically like the ability to add spell tokens to spells with some of the 3rd party extensions that are available. I realize it may be too soon to answer these questions due to the fact it isn't implemented yet.

Do you know if this is planned for release time or is it something coming after release?

[Moon Wizard]

No current timelines. Working to fix core items, and existing promised features first.

Regards,
JPG

[mikegraf]

Understand the priority on core items, but would be nice if players could add their own tokens and portraits to their characters. This would mean having a local library or folder accessible to them which can be accessed via the Assets I assume.

[Zacchaeus]

Yes. Such folders exist but the mechanics of how clients access them have not been implemented as Moon Wizard says above.

[LordEntrails]

I just ran some one-shots for PAX. My players had no problems adding their own portraits for their characters. I'm not sure what steps they took (I instructed them to double click on the portrait window on their character sheet.) This was both for character xml I imported for them and for those who imported their own characters from another campaign.

So, it's do-able, I'm just not sure how.

[Zacchaeus]

I just ran some one-shots for PAX. My players had no problems adding their own portraits for their characters. I'm not sure what steps they took (I instructed them to double click on the portrait window on their character sheet.) This was both for character xml I imported for them and for those who imported their own characters from another campaign.

So, it's do-able, I'm just not sure how.

The OP was talking about tokens - which aren't available to players. Portraits are available to players if they own any or if they have placed portraits in their portraits folder.

[Hyperventilator]

I don't know if I misunderstand the issue but can't you share tokens just like you could in FGC? Just put them on a map and everybody sees them.

You just can't share the view of your token library to others, right? So, you can send screenshots of your library to the players, have them pick their favorite, and drag them to their PC sheets.

[Zacchaeus]

I don't know if I misunderstand the issue but can't you share tokens just like you could in FGC? Just put them on a map and everybody sees them.

You just can't share the view of your token library to others, right? So, you can send screenshots of your library to the players, have them pick their favorite, and drag them to their PC sheets.
The OP wants to be able to access tokens themselves as a player. Yes, the DM can do what you say; but the DM cannot share tokens with players nor can players access tokens that they own.

[Trenloe]

Understand the priority on core items, but would be nice if players could add their own tokens and portraits to their characters.
As mentioned subsequently, players can add their own portraits - which will auto generate a token when the portrait is added to a PC.

[Milke]

*duplicate info*

[Axeking]

Are there any plans to ever implement sharing of tokens like other images can be? I would like to let my players use character tokens in my games from the token packs I have...

[epithet]

Has there been any progress on this issue?

It seems a little strange that my players can set an image as a portrait (which can then also become a token) but can't set the same image as a token directly without changing the portrait. Just off the top of my head, it seems like you could just add the ability to lock the token (so changing the portrait wouldn't change the token) as a workaround if it's just too much to ask for players to be able to manage their own tokens directly. That way a player could add a token as a portrait, lock it on the sheet, and then replace it with an actual portrait.

Or, y'all could just let players add tokens to the character sheet. I know the DM will still have to drag it over to the combat tracker, but the current implementation is inelegant in the extreme. A player has to look for the token he wants, then send the image to me (the dungeon master) in discord, then I have to find it in the assets and drag it to the sheet for him. That can't be the best we can get on FGU, especially considering that it worked just fine in FGC.

[Zacchaeus]

The way assets work in Unity is wholly different from the way they worked in Classic - so it's not an easy matter to give players control of tokens. Portraits were always treated differently which is why they're available for the players. I imagine that this isn't a high priority matter at this time.

[epithet]

So, a couple of years later, has there been any progress?

[LordEntrails]

Not on this issue.

[Laerun]

I believe there was some sort of performance related issues in regards to sharing token libraries. However, I think it was something related to large volumes of token assets on the host side trying to push the collection thumbnails and list.

[epithet]

It seems to me that having the DM share tokens isn't really necessary. Simply letting the player maintain a library of his own tokens and accessing those tokens like he can already access the portraits would be just fine. For example, I almost always use custom tokens, and when I'm a player I have to send a token to the DM, usually remind the DM how to add it to her assets, and then get her to apply the token to my character. Not a big deal once, or even once in a while, but it simply isn't practical for her to switch tokens for me when my paladin mounts on his warhorse or something similar.

If I could apply and switch tokens for my own character, it would make it practical to use a token that reflected one of several statuses for a given character, which is a very convenient visual cue reminding everyone of who's mounted, or even whether a character has a melee weapon equipped.

I imagined that introducing the perspective view and full-body tokens in addition to the top-down would have been a great time to implement this fix which, as this thread demonstrates, we've been asking for lo, these many years.

[LordEntrails]

I don't think anyone disagrees that players being able to do their own tokens would be nice. I don't recall anyone ever saying it shouldn't be available, but just why it hasn't and some of the problems with some of the possible solutions.

But early architecture decisions means its not a simple update. Given 'cost' and relative reward for this change, it simple hasn't been prioritized high enough to spend the hours changing it so that this feature can be added. When the new wish list gets setup, make sure the idea is there and it gets voted or otherwise indicated. I doubt the devs will ever forget this request, but it's always best for us to make sure we (respectfully) they don't forget ;)

[Laerun]

It seems to me that having the DM share tokens isn't really necessary. Simply letting the player maintain a library of his own tokens and accessing those tokens like he can already access the portraits would be just fine. For example, I almost always use custom tokens, and when I'm a player I have to send a token to the DM, usually remind the DM how to add it to her assets, and then get her to apply the token to my character. Not a big deal once, or even once in a while, but it simply isn't practical for her to switch tokens for me when my paladin mounts on his warhorse or something similar.

If I could apply and switch tokens for my own character, it would make it practical to use a token that reflected one of several statuses for a given character, which is a very convenient visual cue reminding everyone of who's mounted, or even whether a character has a melee weapon equipped.

I imagined that introducing the perspective view and full-body tokens in addition to the top-down would have been a great time to implement this fix which, as this thread demonstrates, we've been asking for lo, these many years.

As of now, the full body images are edited and setup outside of the platform. As far as localized tokens I agree. The only other thing I can image is that some users may use large images beyond the recommended dimensions and formatting, which can effect performance. However, this can also be a thing on the host's side too. I had players try to use an image that was over 1000x800 and not "square", etc. But, to each their own. It's just not as clear or as obvious initially without a trip to the FG Atlassian guide, or learning the hard way. But a localized collection might be better.

[epithet]

Is it practical to automatically rescale non-conforming images? I honestly have no idea what it would entail on the coding side, but having a campaign option to limit player-provided image size to 200x200, 500x500, or no limit (or whatever numbers make sense) might also be a way to avoid the problem of performance hits.

[Laerun]

Is it practical to automatically rescale non-conforming images? I honestly have no idea what it would entail on the coding side, but having a campaign option to limit player-provided image size to 200x200, 500x500, or no limit (or whatever numbers make sense) might also be a way to avoid the problem of performance hits.

I don't think there is a way to limit or block a given file size from within Fantasy Grounds, especially when most images are sourced outside of Fantasy Grounds. The de facto number for Portraits was around 100. I used 256x256 so that outside of FG the thumbnails were still large enough to see. Fantasy Grounds does try to scale the portrait and token images to be visible within the Fantasy Grounds VTT platform, but the memory is still held in RAM, unless one physically resizes the initial image size. The other issue is too many images to select from. The thumbnail previews often have to index and rebuild upon opening a given subfolder with Fantasy Grounds, depending on how that function has been setup and written. Limiting a file size or dimensions is likely not achievable through programming logic within Fantasy Grounds. Generally features are turned on or off with no in between.