Sharing maps in Unity

[mhorgunn]

I am trying to convert my players to Unity. We tried it early on but due to situations including my mistakes they were a little soured on the idea. Now with the new upgrades I would like to try again.

So after watching videos I have questions about sharing maps. It was suggested that you can cut bandwidth by having the map on the players computer. How do you do that? Send the map outside the program and have each player? Make it in a module and have them install it?

I’m working with some limited machines here and there are even 2 sets of players on the same WiFi.

Thanks!

[Zacchaeus]

I think what you might be thinking about is presharing images - so that they download when the player joins. So it's the same as in Classic; with no players joined right click on the image and select share.

[mhorgunn]

Ok thanks

[Griogre]

Just keep in mind they will see the name of the map, so if it has spoilers in it then you should probably rename it before sharing.

[Jiminimonka]

Or set it to unidentified so they only see the name you want or unidentified map.

[mhorgunn]

Just keep in mind they will see the name of the map, so if it has spoilers in it then you should probably rename it before sharing.

Yeah .... I was reminded of that last session. I loaded a map that mentioned t was for 20th level characters. One of my players lost it when he finally noticed it. 😂

[Griogre]

LOL, I use to mess with my guys and call a map: Demon Ambush... :D

[Geometer]

Just keep in mind they will see the name of the map, so if it has spoilers in it then you should probably rename it before sharing.

Also bear in mind that if a player has the console open and watches while the map is being shared, or examines it afterwards, they will be able to see the name of every asset on that map. This can potentially give them information you don't want them to have (as I found out recently).

[Jiminimonka]

Also bear in mind that if a player has the console open and watches while the map is being shared, or examines it afterwards, they will be able to see the name of every asset on that map. This can potentially give them information you don't want them to have (as I found out recently).

Doesn't matter what information they have. You can change things on the fly if you suspect cheating. Then have a word with the players about not cheating.

[LordEntrails]

Or drop an ancient red dragon onto the map spur of the moment. Or maybe a Balrog!

In reality, for me I just don't worry about meta game knowledge. Some of my players have played D&D for 40+ years. They have a good idea of what all the creatures can do, what their weaknesses are, and how to defeat them. So, I mix things up often enough (maybe 1 out of 10) times to keep them guessing. It's always possible that little kobold is a dragon in disguise, or the troll is from the elemental plane of fire and is immune to fire, something just has more hit points, or has added a poisoned weapon or something. And yes I usually give them a logical in game reason and clues ("It looks like a troll, but it's eyes seems to be flames").

Remember, it's all about fun, it's not a game of winner and losers :)

[Geometer]

Doesn't matter what information they have. You can change things on the fly if you suspect cheating. Then have a word with the players about not cheating.

I so disagree, and I'm not accusing anybody of cheating.

This is going a bit OT, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but your comment deserves a response and I would like to explain where I'm coming from.

I've been running a campaign on FG since last October. Both I and my 3 players are completely new to online gaming and 2 of them are completely new to D&D. 2 of my players are partners and have been playing using the same phoneline connected to 2 machines, one an up-to-date gaming PC, the other an old laptop. They've had problems with the length of time it can take to "acquire files" at the start of a session, particularly to the laptop; in one instance, it took over an hour for the player using it to fully download. This has caused problems when, assuming that the fact that players can activate their PCs indicates that downloading is complete, I've attempted to start a session by sharing a map that hasn't completely downloaded, and all the players get is a black space with lots of red question marks.

Things have improved, the laptop has been retired and I've learned from experience not to share too much material at one time, but downloading can still take 15-20 minutes.

As the DM I need to know when my players have finished acquiring files so I can start the game. Unless I've missed something, the only way I have of of knowing this is if they tell me, and the only way they have of knowing it is if they have the console open and can watch progress. Inevitably this means they will see things I don't want them to see, and no cheating involved. It's not a game-breaking issue, but a lot of the magic of D&D is about exploration and discovery and I try to create maps that build on that. A lot of the magic disappears if the players know in advance what sort of terrain or structures they're going to encounter.

As for changing things on the fly, nah. If I've spent days carefully preparing a detailed complex map, with everything stable and in the right place, the last thing I want to do is faff around changing things right at the start of a game, especially if everyone's been hanging about waiting for somebody to finish downloading. There'd be hell to pay if I started doing that.

[LordEntrails]

Note, if you 'pre-share ' images before your players connect, you can start up FG 30-60 minutes early and have your players connect early. That way things will be done downloading before game time. If you and your players have time to do that.

[Zacchaeus]

I use the Resource Monitor in the Task Manager to monitor what is getting uploaded to my players. Also we use Discord and on my connection Discord lags to all hell and back until the uploads are finished.

I've also noted that even if a map is preshared; when I then share it in game it seems to upload a bunch more stuff. So I don't know exactly what it is doing.

[Moon Wizard]

@Geometer,

Also, your maps are very complex and use hundreds of image files of probably high resolution. This will inflate your loading times dramatically.

This is one of the reasons why we've continued to suggest lower map sizes for both resolution and file size.

Regards,
JPG

[Geometer]

Note, if you 'pre-share ' images before your players connect, you can start up FG 30-60 minutes early and have your players connect early. That way things will be done downloading before game time. If you and your players have time to do that. That's what we're doing.



@Geometer,

Also, your maps are very complex and use hundreds of image files of probably high resolution. This will inflate your loading times dramatically.
Yes, I know. We've got it down to manageable levels, for now.

Cheers.

[Geometer]

I use the Resource Monitor in the Task Manager to monitor what is getting uploaded to my players. Also we use Discord and on my connection Discord lags to all hell and back until the uploads are finished.

I've also noted that even if a map is preshared; when I then share it in game it seems to upload a bunch more stuff. So I don't know exactly what it is doing.
I'll check out the resource monitor, thanks. What sort of "other stuff" is it uploading? Not seen it myself, maybe I should be keeping an eye out.

[Zacchaeus]

I'll check out the resource monitor, thanks. What sort of "other stuff" is it uploading? Not seen it myself, maybe I should be keeping an eye out.

I don't know. I'm assuming that if I share an image when no players are connected that it downloads when the players join. However as I say when I share a preshared image in game then it seems to upload stuff again. It's possible that what I should be doing is asking the players just to select the map that has been shared from images and maps rather than sharing it again (so that it pops up on their screen).

Of course it could be that what's uploading is the information about where the tokens are and the LoS and lighting data based on that.

[Lone Blade]

Hello. So I do apologize for bringing this back up.

I am running the DM side & an instance as a player in Unity. I can share images just fine with the player. My issue has appeared sharing a map. Its a basic FG Battle Map 1 I believe, & on the DM side I get the combat tracker up with the player, drag & drop them.

Go to share & on the players side, a black screen. I have tried to figure this out & have been running into the wall. I am not sure why it will not show for the player & what I am over looking. Any amount of detail aid would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Trenloe]

I believe, & on the DM side I get the combat tracker up with the player, drag & drop them.

Go to share & on the players side, a black screen. I have tried to figure this out & have been running into the wall. I am not sure why it will not show for the player & what I am over looking.
Assuming you have lighting/LoS enabled for the image: until a player selects a token, their view will be black. The player needs to click on a token so FG knows what portion of the map to show and what they can see based off Line of Sight and Lighting. If there's no lighting on the map, and the token doesn't have any vision or light, then it'll still be dark.

If there are further issues, turn off lighting and LoS for the map and see if the map becomes visible to the player.

[scottbrown]

I know that you can share images/maps with individual players by dragging those images/maps onto their character icons at the top-left of the screen while they are logged in. But is there any way to pre-share the image to a single player when they're not logged in?

[Zacchaeus]

I know that you can share images/maps with individual players by dragging those images/maps onto their character icons at the top-left of the screen while they are logged in. But is there any way to pre-share the image to a single player when they're not logged in?

Not that I'm aware of.