Question: setting all the ID icon/buttons to not identified by default

[tamahandy]

Hi,

I have a question regarding the ID button for items/maps/creatures in 5E running the FGC Ultimate license.


Is there a way to set them always to not identified by default?

As a gamemaster for me this should be the default option, where ever I have it, drag and drop something or add something in the game and I just want to toggle this once at one place for everything always.

I know it is just one click but if I have to create a random encounter on the fly and drag a NPC into the combat tracker it invisible at first but it is already "ID-ed" and more often than just sometimes I forget to set it to "not ID-ed", which IMHO should be the default. Also when I prepare an encounter before playing everywhere I have to set it back to "not Identifed", because it would spoil the "surprise" ;-).

I did look at the options menu within FG but haven't seen something in there but did not yet waded/searched through the oceans of extensions available.

Thanks

[LordEntrails]

There is no option to change this behavior. Depending upon the source, some things are unidentified, but not most of them. No extension I am aware of that changes this behavior.

You can check out the Wish List, and either vote on the idea or add a new one.
https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/

[Zacchaeus]

Historically only magic items were originally toggle-able between ID and Non-ID. There used to be an option in options which allowed the DM to set a default (either ID or non-ID). Most users either diodn't know the option existed or didn't ever use it so it was deprecated a couple of years ago. At the same time the ability to have creatures and images be identified/not identified was introduced. The default state of all items which can be toggled in this was is now set to identified and it is up to the DM to toggle that if they want to.

As a legacy magic items in the DMG default to non-id'd and you'll also find some non-id's magic items in some of the earlier adventures.

[tamahandy]

Historically....

So the FGC code is spagetti code and I can only hope that the FG Unity code is done properly while adding it to the wish list .... :cry: .. it could have been so easy (easy said in hindsight I know)

Still thanks, I ll try to get a better work routine then ... :ninja:

[Zacchaeus]

So the FGC code is spagetti code and I can only hope that the FG Unity code is done properly while adding it to the wish list .... :cry: .. it could have been so easy (easy said in hindsight I know)

Still thanks, I ll try to get a better work routine then ... :ninja:

Not sure what you mean. As I said there used to be an option but no-one used it. So it was removed. It's not likely to come back because one user wants it.

[celestian]

Hi,

I have a question regarding the ID button for items/maps/creatures in 5E running the FGC Ultimate license.


Is there a way to set them always to not identified by default?

As a gamemaster for me this should be the default option, where ever I have it, drag and drop something or add something in the game and I just want to toggle this once at one place for everything always.

I know it is just one click but if I have to create a random encounter on the fly and drag a NPC into the combat tracker it invisible at first but it is already "ID-ed" and more often than just sometimes I forget to set it to "not ID-ed", which IMHO should be the default. Also when I prepare an encounter before playing everywhere I have to set it back to "not Identifed", because it would spoil the "surprise" ;-).

I did look at the options menu within FG but haven't seen something in there but did not yet waded/searched through the oceans of extensions available.

Thanks

See if this works how you want it?

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?48726-CoreRPG-Item-Identification-Option

[Ampersandrew]

See if this works how you want it?

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?48726-CoreRPG-Item-Identification-Option

I've only read the post, but it explicitly does what he doesn't want.

If you set the option on it will identify everything. If you set the option off it does nothing. He wants the option to have nothing identified unless he specifically sets that item to identified.

[Ludd_G]

I must say I would really really love the option for everything to be unidentified by default too.

It just seems strange to massively expand the items affected by an option (ability to make NPC, Maps etc. unidentified) at the same time as depreciating the ability to choose the default setting of the option. I know I was never bothered about the option before it was expanded, but since then it is a massive pain to go through every NPC and Image to set it to my preferred default of not identified.

And if the option can't be reinstated, I would say that it should really default to Unidentified, as my players seeing something they know about show as Unidentified isn't as game/plot/immersion breaking as seeing something that should be a mystery accidently identified for them. The way it is now is creating much more busy work for me as a DM, which is something FG very successfully minimises in so many other areas of the game.

Cheers,

Simon

[damned]

I must say I would really really love the option for everything to be unidentified by default too.

It just seems strange to massively expand the items affected by an option (ability to make NPC, Maps etc. unidentified) at the same time as depreciating the ability to choose the default setting of the option. I know I was never bothered about the option before it was expanded, but since then it is a massive pain to go through every NPC and Image to set it to my preferred default of not identified.

And if the option can't be reinstated, I would say that it should really default to Unidentified, as my players seeing something they know about show as Unidentified isn't as game/plot/immersion breaking as seeing something that should be a mystery accidently identified for them. The way it is now is creating much more busy work for me as a DM, which is something FG very successfully minimises in so many other areas of the game.

Cheers,

Simon

The devs receive data on what options are set and the option to have everything unidentified was being used by a minuscule % of GMs.
The code for options becomes more and more complex as the number of options increases so occasionally options that are not being used are removed.

[Ludd_G]

But if the 'usage data' the devs received was before or not to long after a massive expansion of the use possibility of that option, then the data would be rendered obsolete, no? I suppose I'm saying that if the devs are using usage data to make a decision, it may have been wise to wait until the impact of the new situation with regards the number of potential identified/unidentified usage cases was seen? Or maybe the timeline is out, and this was decided a couple of years after the change? I'm just basing it on my vague recollections and what was said in a previous post above. As I said I never used it when it was just Magic Items but now it is NPCs and Images I really really wish the option hadn't been depreciated.

Also, just because something has been removed, does not mean it shouldn't be raised and discussed on the forums. Otherwise how would the devs even know that, with a change in the situation, an option may once again be very much desired by a significant proportion of their user base? I'm not say that is the case here, maybe it's just a couple of us, but it really seems like this is the perfect place to discuss it?

Cheers, Simon

[celestian]

I've only read the post, but it explicitly does what he doesn't want.

If you set the option on it will identify everything. If you set the option off it does nothing. He wants the option to have nothing identified unless he specifically sets that item to identified.

It will retain the state of the item,. I think I wrote it because it would change the state to "identified". This would turn that off.

I could be wrong, it's been a while since I wrote it.

[Ampersandrew]

It will retain the state of the item,. I think I wrote it because it would change the state to "identified". This would turn that off.

I could be wrong, it's been a while since I wrote it.

As far as I can see, that extension is for people who want everything identified. If you turn it on it identifies the few things that are currently unidentified. If you turn it off it leaves everything the way it finds it. There is no option to take the large majority of identified things and make them unidentified. Perhaps I'm having a reading comprehension issue but it seems to me to be the complete opposite of what's being asked for.

Although, presumably, since it exists it could be used as the basis for an extension that makes identified things unidentified.

[daargrim]

This is an old thread, but I 100% agree with the OP. Would love to have everything default to non-ID (or be able to choose the default behavior).
If you don't remember to non-ID NPCs (or other objects), you can easily reveal info to the PCs that they shouldn't have.

"Oh, so that bandit is really Mr. Campaign Big Boss" in disguise! Guess we should go after him first"

[Nylanfs]

"Sadly that Mr. Campaign Big Boss you just killed was a clone."

[Minty23185Fresh]

I usually find myself having to rework a module that I have purchased. I have to go in and set the Identified/Unidentified flag to Unidentified for most of the NPCs, Maps, and Items (I’ll call them “things”, below).

There are subtleties here that I’ve been trying to deal with for a while:
* The ID’ed/unID’ed flag is actually tri-state; when a thing that has the flag (e.g. NPCs, Maps & Items) is created, the flag has no set value, it is neither ID’ed nor unID’ed. It’s “undetermined”. Once set by the user, to ID’ed or unID’ed, it cannot be unset to “undetermined” except by hand editing some XML. FG for the most part handles undetermined as an equivalent of ID’ed.
* When one decides to set the flag to unID’ed, one should also ensure they’ve given the thing a Non-ID’ed Name and if appropriate, as with an Item, a brief Notes description. FG does provide a default name of “Unidentified < thing >” if the Non-ID’ed field is empty.
* The portrait/Combat Tracker icon/map token also needs to be addressed. As mentioned earlier in this thread, letters are good, and the value usually remains intact should the DM not have the appropriate module open, if a picture/drawing style icon is used.
* The Encounter builder is particularly frustrating. I’ve yet to determine what is loaded into the Name field for a nonID’ed NPC when the NPC is dragged into the builder. I just haven’t spent enough time nailing it down. (This might be a case where FG does not equate undetermined with ID’ed, I’m not sure.)
* The Combat Tracker is equally frustrating. When the CT is loaded by an Encounter and there are nonID’ed NPCs involved the Names in the CT can be confusing. I cannot recall for sure whether the Names are different for the player than the DM or whether the Name field is the unID’ed Name. In either case it’s problematic. Trying to run an encounter when what you see as the DM is “Unidentified Creature”, especially if all of them are not the same type of creature, can be challenging. Or equally so, if the player sees, “Humanoid” and the DM sees the human names (Fred, Mike, Joe, and George).

It’s my opinion that an extension that is going to set multiple thing ID fields at once should have some options as to which things to modify. For instance if you have several modules open you might not want to change every NPC in every module to Unidentified. You might also not want to change those that are not “undetermined” (because you’ve already addressed them once before).