amerigoV
May 19th, 2021, 14:24
I got to run two sessions under the new lighting for FGU. I had played with it enough under Test that I feel I have a good idea how it works (ie, I can set up lighting both on the map, on the token etc). I understand lighting for Savage Worlds is "functional but not fully implemented" at this time so I make my comments with that in mind.
Setup
One session did not use much of the new features as the session start was in the middle of a combat from a FGU 4.0 version. But there were a few quirks from there I am going to mention. The second session last night was chance for the new lighting to shine (ha!) as the PCs were exploring a small silver mine infested with Vilstraks (an underappreciated AD&D 1e era critter). I used an overall map of the mine with LOS and token lighting for exploration, then would load up a hi res version of an area for an encounter. I had LIGHT:4 Torch effect on a couple of the PCs.
Other info:
Host: Win10
3 players: 2 Win 10, 1 using Wine/Linux (note the player has been using this setup well before the native Linux FGU and its worked well for them, so they never migrated to the Linux version)
Good
The LIGHT:4 Torch effect in the CT worked overall as intended. There was a very nice flicker effect for the torch. The effect stayed in play as I switched between the maps. Dragging and Dropping the green "good guys" icon from the CT to the maps allowed me to quickly get the PCs on the maps in a predicable way. I used pre-made Encounters on the maps, and deleted a few bad guys on the fly each time as I had a few less players than anticipated. No issues. Overall Savage Worlds mechanics flowed appropriately. Both sessions were fantasy encounters so gang up and wild attacks were in play and worked nicely.
I was able to search and add a few art elements on the fly relatively smoothly (one PC used an item that is the equivalent Leomunds Tiny Hut and I actually had the D&D spell effect and I tossed it on the map).
The Rough Stuff
One session had the Bennie LUA issue, the other did not. I have some theories to test (its seems like the Reset Bennies and Give a Bennie to all PCs can (inconsistently) trigger - last night I gave all bennies one at a time and it worked fine) and I'll post that in the other thread.
Add PCs to CT button did not work. The chat would say they were added, but it did not add them. This is a new issue with FGU 4.1.1. [Edit] I see Ikeal has that on the list to fix in the next version.
I will put frequently used effects on the quickbar at the bottom of the screen. When it worked, it was great to quickly add an effect to the selected creature by just clicking the quickbar. It still works for those with their own action card, but it does not work right for groups (I have posted this issue already). But I still have it there as you can still drag from the quickbar and drop into the CT. This is very sluggish/inconsistent under FGU 4.1.1, to the point it was easier for me to just have the effects menu open and drag/drop that way. This was experience by host and clients.
Lighting inconsistencies - this occurred mostly with the Wine/Linux player but a few other clients had this once or twice as well. The lighting sometimes would just wink out for on the client side. They could see the tokens of all the PCs (might be the group vision), but the rest of the screen was black. Sometimes this would happen during combat, but not always. The solution was various combos of the Host resharing the image and the Client closing/opening the map.
A similar issue was if the Host added an asset to an image on the fly as the host (the Tiny Hut example - and no lighting was on for that), it would not necessarily push to client. There I was all proud about the perfect image tossed out on the fly and no reactions from the crowd. Turns out, they did not see it. Resharing the map then pushed the full set of assets.
This minor and likely irrelevant long term. Based on a few posts either here or in Discord, I tried making my own LIGHT effect. It would apply it to the CT but it did not really work. It was like a grayscale light. But typing it in directly in CT or cut/paste the wording worked just fine.
Tech overall is more sluggish than FGU 4.0 versions. It was better than when I played around with it on Test but still "heavier". I was conscious not to "over-occular" the maps and there were only 2 or 3 light sources (one map had lighting for outdoors, then the aforementioned torches). I did not track CPU/GPU usage since this was a game, not a test. I presume performance will improve over development cycles.
Overall conclusion
The new lighting really did add to the atmosphere of the exploration. There were some bumps and bruises, and not all of them just lighting. An overall net positive and I am looking forward to the full implementation under Savage Worlds and improvements in the overall lighting/effects.
Note that one of the players runs his games with Foundry (but has used FG in the past) and another player bounces between FG and Foundry. They at least did not openly rag about it the lighting too much. I count that as a positive as well (since they know FGU is much stronger automation - we all appreciate the VTTs pushing each other to get better).
Setup
One session did not use much of the new features as the session start was in the middle of a combat from a FGU 4.0 version. But there were a few quirks from there I am going to mention. The second session last night was chance for the new lighting to shine (ha!) as the PCs were exploring a small silver mine infested with Vilstraks (an underappreciated AD&D 1e era critter). I used an overall map of the mine with LOS and token lighting for exploration, then would load up a hi res version of an area for an encounter. I had LIGHT:4 Torch effect on a couple of the PCs.
Other info:
Host: Win10
3 players: 2 Win 10, 1 using Wine/Linux (note the player has been using this setup well before the native Linux FGU and its worked well for them, so they never migrated to the Linux version)
Good
The LIGHT:4 Torch effect in the CT worked overall as intended. There was a very nice flicker effect for the torch. The effect stayed in play as I switched between the maps. Dragging and Dropping the green "good guys" icon from the CT to the maps allowed me to quickly get the PCs on the maps in a predicable way. I used pre-made Encounters on the maps, and deleted a few bad guys on the fly each time as I had a few less players than anticipated. No issues. Overall Savage Worlds mechanics flowed appropriately. Both sessions were fantasy encounters so gang up and wild attacks were in play and worked nicely.
I was able to search and add a few art elements on the fly relatively smoothly (one PC used an item that is the equivalent Leomunds Tiny Hut and I actually had the D&D spell effect and I tossed it on the map).
The Rough Stuff
One session had the Bennie LUA issue, the other did not. I have some theories to test (its seems like the Reset Bennies and Give a Bennie to all PCs can (inconsistently) trigger - last night I gave all bennies one at a time and it worked fine) and I'll post that in the other thread.
Add PCs to CT button did not work. The chat would say they were added, but it did not add them. This is a new issue with FGU 4.1.1. [Edit] I see Ikeal has that on the list to fix in the next version.
I will put frequently used effects on the quickbar at the bottom of the screen. When it worked, it was great to quickly add an effect to the selected creature by just clicking the quickbar. It still works for those with their own action card, but it does not work right for groups (I have posted this issue already). But I still have it there as you can still drag from the quickbar and drop into the CT. This is very sluggish/inconsistent under FGU 4.1.1, to the point it was easier for me to just have the effects menu open and drag/drop that way. This was experience by host and clients.
Lighting inconsistencies - this occurred mostly with the Wine/Linux player but a few other clients had this once or twice as well. The lighting sometimes would just wink out for on the client side. They could see the tokens of all the PCs (might be the group vision), but the rest of the screen was black. Sometimes this would happen during combat, but not always. The solution was various combos of the Host resharing the image and the Client closing/opening the map.
A similar issue was if the Host added an asset to an image on the fly as the host (the Tiny Hut example - and no lighting was on for that), it would not necessarily push to client. There I was all proud about the perfect image tossed out on the fly and no reactions from the crowd. Turns out, they did not see it. Resharing the map then pushed the full set of assets.
This minor and likely irrelevant long term. Based on a few posts either here or in Discord, I tried making my own LIGHT effect. It would apply it to the CT but it did not really work. It was like a grayscale light. But typing it in directly in CT or cut/paste the wording worked just fine.
Tech overall is more sluggish than FGU 4.0 versions. It was better than when I played around with it on Test but still "heavier". I was conscious not to "over-occular" the maps and there were only 2 or 3 light sources (one map had lighting for outdoors, then the aforementioned torches). I did not track CPU/GPU usage since this was a game, not a test. I presume performance will improve over development cycles.
Overall conclusion
The new lighting really did add to the atmosphere of the exploration. There were some bumps and bruises, and not all of them just lighting. An overall net positive and I am looking forward to the full implementation under Savage Worlds and improvements in the overall lighting/effects.
Note that one of the players runs his games with Foundry (but has used FG in the past) and another player bounces between FG and Foundry. They at least did not openly rag about it the lighting too much. I count that as a positive as well (since they know FGU is much stronger automation - we all appreciate the VTTs pushing each other to get better).