Any plans to discontinue Fantasy Grounds Classic?

[99bluerabbit]

Hey,

I'm a big fan of Fantasy Grounds Classic and the way it works and don't feel the need to upgrade to Unity. With the upgrade sale being sent here yesterday (for me) i'm curious to know if there are plans to discontinue FG: Classic or end support for it?

I would love to stay with Classic for as long as i possibly can but if modules will stop being Classic compatible i might need to look into upgrading to Unity.

I hope someone can answer my question and i apologize for the poor grammar since english isn't my first language. :)

Have a great day everyone!

[*Neuro*]

I was a big huge fan of FGC (from 2016), but when I passed to FGU I never regret it.

If you have decent HARDWARE and if all people connecting to the game have decent hardware machines then immediately upgrade to Unity.

Stay on FGC only if you have very old hardware.

[Trenloe]

SmiteWorks have said that FGC will be discontinued at some point. I haven't seen announcement for exactly when that will be. I'm sure there'll be a notice period given.

[damned]

FGCs days are numbered. Yes there are plans to discontinue it but no 9at least not public) date for that.

Why?
Primarily because it wont run on new Macs.
And then because it is two codebases to support.
And then because all shop content needs to support both platforms.

Eventually usage of FGC will drop to a point that it will become unsupported.
That does not mean it wont work any more - but it might also mean that.

[99bluerabbit]

I was a big huge fan of FGC (from 2016), but when I passed to FGU I never regret it.

If you have decent HARDWARE and if all people connecting to the game have decent hardware machines then immediately upgrade to Unity.

Stay on FGC only if you have very old hardware.


What if not everyone has decent hardware machines? I have it myself but some of my players have laptops that don't have by far exceeded their usual length of service. Any way to fix it then?

I've also heard that Unity runs off of Smiteworks own servers. Is there a way it runs off of my own system like with FGC?

[Griogre]

In FGU the server is still your machine. The cloud connection is just a matchmaking server to connect the clients to the host. You can still direct connect with IP like FGC if you wish or if the FGU cloud server is ever down.

Old hardware is always a problem when software adds new features. :(

[damned]

What if not everyone has decent hardware machines? I have it myself but some of my players have laptops that don't have by far exceeded their usual length of service. Any way to fix it then?

I've also heard that Unity runs off of Smiteworks own servers. Is there a way it runs off of my own system like with FGC?

SmiteWorks have no plans to cripple the software intentionally.
But they will make a decision at some point to no longer put resources into it.
If lots of people are still using it then that date will likely be further away.
As more people transition to FGU then the date will likely draw closer.

Unfortunately for those with older computers many things will stop working and as their operating systems stop being patched by vendors then they also become more risky to continue to use in the face of ever increasing hacking, malware and other virus threats.

[99bluerabbit]

SmiteWorks have no plans to cripple the software intentionally.
But they will make a decision at some point to no longer put resources into it.
If lots of people are still using it then that date will likely be further away.
As more people transition to FGU then the date will likely draw closer.

Unfortunately for those with older computers many things will stop working and as their operating systems stop being patched by vendors then they also become more risky to continue to use in the face of ever increasing hacking, malware and other virus threats.

So you recommend atleast buying the license now?

in regards to the computer hardware i might've needed to be a bit more specific. When we're talking poor computers i refer to ones still running win10 updates but the hardware being limited due to age. One player is on a laptop from 2016-2017 so a little old. Would it be able to run FGU without most issues? :)

[damned]

i cant recommend to anyone how they spend their money
there will always be sale opportunities so if you arent in a hurry just grab it when its on sale next or next time you can afford it

my laptop died 6 weeks ago :(
it was a well used and trusted device
it was a good 5 years old, i7, 8GB and SSD but an intel 400 gpu

it was pretty bad on early FGU but i didnt try it on more recent builds
i currently use a 7yr old i5 desktop with 8gb and SSD and put an $80 2GB GFX card in there and FGU runs well on that

so i cant tell you how FGU will run on your devices but decent GFX/GPU makes a big difference

I think the main driver will be when someone in the group buys a device that wont run classic...

[99bluerabbit]

i cant recommend to anyone how they spend their money
there will always be sale opportunities so if you arent in a hurry just grab it when its on sale next or next time you can afford it

my laptop died 6 weeks ago :(
it was a well used and trusted device
it was a good 5 years old, i7, 8GB and SSD but an intel 400 gpu

it was pretty bad on early FGU but i didnt try it on more recent builds
i currently use a 7yr old i5 desktop with 8gb and SSD and put an $80 2GB GFX card in there and FGU runs well on that

so i cant tell you how FGU will run on your devices but decent GFX/GPU makes a big difference

I think the main driver will be when someone in the group buys a device that wont run classic...

The recommendation was more of whether or not you would do it with the 50% off for upgrading ;)

But im glad to hear you can run it on somewhat dated hardware and i will probably buy the license now and just have it in the backup.

Is there anything i will lose out on when upgrading to FGU but still running FGC?

[damned]

Sorry wasnt aware of the sale details - 50% off is about as good as it gets!

[Zarestia]

The recommendation was more of whether or not you would do it with the 50% off for upgrading ;)

But im glad to hear you can run it on somewhat dated hardware and i will probably buy the license now and just have it in the backup.

Is there anything i will lose out on when upgrading to FGU but still running FGC?

No, you can actually run both programs on the same computer. They have different installation paths, port forwarding in FGU now works over UDP instead of TCP. All your purchases should also work in FGU.

[Kelrugem]

About "discontinuation": It may be worth to add that FGC is probably still maintained even if it is discontinued. I think the devs mentioned that; so, being discontinued should not mean that it suddenly stops working, first of all it means that there will be no shiny things for FGC :) (though ruleset updates may still carry over, but I have no idea) So, FGC is then in pure maintenance mode

I think that the devs mentioned that they will "discontinue" FGC once the total number of users of FGC is small enough :)

[Talyn]

Classic (FGC) has been in "maintenance mode" for some time now -- ie. no new features added to the client. Last I saw @Moon Wizard say anything was a year ago and he was hoping the Unity adoption rate would let them start planning the FGC sunset within 18 months of FGU's launch, so we're coming up on that by end of the year. Haven't seen any commentary in the meantime on whether or not the FGU adoption has been high enough yet to start thinking about that, however. Which is not surprising -- they typically don't discuss internal statistics in public.

Hardware-wise, my desktop is running an i7-6700 which is coming up on 5 years old. The first few beta releases of FGU were rough, really rough, to the point I just stopped bothering loading it at all. Since release though, it's pretty zippy and I don't notice much difference performance-wise from FGC now.

DLC-wise, we're still supposed to be making official retail DLC compatible with both clients, just that in Classic you'll be missing Unity-specific features like Line of Sight, etc. Community DLC in the forums, etc. may be FGU-specific, just depends. The larger "issue" I suppose is that now Classic is holding back Unity, so the sooner Classic can be sunset and everyone is on the Unity platform, the sooner SmiteWorks can add new features without having to worry if those features break Classic.

[EllivasKram]

I would also mention that you don’t have to use LOS and lighting vision distances.

And with /VSYNC and /imagequality settings it can be made to work on older hardware. But that’s just my opinion. It’s free to download to try in solo mode.

[Trenloe]

It’s free to download to try in solo mode.
Yep - something a lot of people don't realize. Load up the FGU free version, make a 5E campaign and activate the SRD data and the FG battle maps. Play around with it and see how it goes. You can now save campaign data in FGU with the free license (you couldn't in FGC) - it's just that the network is disabled, so you won't be able to connect any player instances, including 'localhost' connections.

[LordEntrails]

I'm running FGU as GM/host on a Dell Precision M3800 that is something like 7 years old. i7 2.3 GHZ, 16GB RAM. I really haven't had any issues, though I'm only now starting to play just a bit with lightning. Sure there are times I max the CPU/GPU, but those are rare and usually only a few second in duration. So in part you have to have the right expectations.

Now, don't think any 7 year old laptop will work. This was considered a graphic workstation in it's day, and has a dedicated Quadro K1100M NVidia graphics card. I used it for high end 3D mechanical CAD. But it is still very old technology.

[readymeal]

Hey,

I'm a big fan of Fantasy Grounds Classic and the way it works and don't feel the need to upgrade to Unity. With the upgrade sale being sent here yesterday (for me) i'm curious to know if there are plans to discontinue FG: Classic or end support for it?

I would love to stay with Classic for as long as i possibly can but if modules will stop being Classic compatible i might need to look into upgrading to Unity.

I hope someone can answer my question and i apologize for the poor grammar since english isn't my first language. :)

Have a great day everyone!

Sooner than later please...

hopefully converters will be informed ASAP, as of today we are still required to use FGC to convert any product for the FG shop... there are now expectations to add FGU features to every conversions but at the same time we must use FGC to convert...

Very similar with map making... i would have initially used FGU to create maps for official conversions but can t do anything with a finished product since i have to export it to FGC... so i bought and use Dungeon Draft and i have no intertest or time to learn FGU map making tool anymore...i mean who designs a map making software without export function (not even jpeg)?

Overall very interesting choices from SW

To limit my FGC usage visibility to SW i am thinking of going offline...don t want Doug to think i am using FGC by choice and add to the stat.

[LordEntrails]

To limit my FGC usage visibility to SW i am thinking of going offline...don t want Doug to think i am using FGC by choice and add to the stat.
FYI, unless you have players (non-local host clients) connect to your session for at least some length of time (45 minutes?) they do not count using FGC as a session for game statistics.

[spoonhead]

Seems it’s soon.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?68964-Important-Notice-New-Product-Support-ending-on-June-24-2021-for-Fantasy-Grounds-Cl

[*Neuro*]

I used for many years FGC, but now dear Classic you time has come. Your bigger brother Unity is far superior to you.

Rest in Peace CLASSIC!

[Griogre]

Seems it’s soon.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?68964-Important-Notice-New-Product-Support-ending-on-June-24-2021-for-Fantasy-Grounds-Cl

There is a difference between discontinuing the software - which means the software won't run at all - and ceasing to update the software. Ceasing to update the software means it will keep running just like it does currently, but get no new features. This means you can convert over at your pace, if you want to convert.

[spoonhead]

There is a difference between discontinuing the software - which means the software won't run at all - and ceasing to update the software. Ceasing to update the software means it will keep running just like it does currently, but get no new features. This means you can convert over at your pace, if you want to convert.

Sure.

[vankar]

Sure.

Some of my players uses old computers, not compatible with unity version, I finish the agents of edgewatch campaing and we will try roll 20

[Jiminimonka]

Some of my players uses old computers, not compatible with unity version, I finish the agents of edgewatch campaing and we will try roll 20

its not being discontinued, just not releasing new products. There are literally thousands of products available for FGC and they will continue to work after the cut-off date.

[Trenloe]

Some of my players uses old computers, not compatible with unity version, I finish the agents of edgewatch campaing and we will try roll 20
What are you planning on playing next? If it's still available on FGC why look elsewhere? Updates and new products won't be added to FGC after June 24th, but the large amount of currently available products are still available.

[johnecc]

Plus, you can still use classic to run your own non-published games, just creating the encounters and running from a pdf. Or if more comfortable with FGC, and time, converting a pdf to a module.

[Temmpest]

What if not everyone has decent hardware machines? I have it myself but some of my players have laptops that don't have by far exceeded their usual length of service. Any way to fix it then?

I've also heard that Unity runs off of Smiteworks own servers. Is there a way it runs off of my own system like with FGC?

I had to buy a gaming computer to get FGU to run.

[LordEntrails]

FGU does not require a gaming computer to use. At least not for most people and situations. I run it on an almost 10 year old laptop, as DM.

[Temmpest]

FGU does not require a gaming computer to use. At least not for most people and situations. I run it on an almost 10 year old laptop, as DM.

I'm just telling you about my experience.

[damned]

I picked up a 7 year old business desktop PC - a HP business PC with mid range i5 CPU, 8GB RAM.
I got it for free but easily obtainable for $100 or less

I swapped the HDD for a SSD
I put in the cheapest 2GB GFX I could find

Cost me $154
Runs FGU very nicely.
Actually it runs everything nicely :)
Right now its got Outlook, Teams, Discord, 23 Chrome Tabs, GiMP, Acrobat Reader, 3 OneDrive instances, 2 instances of FGU and the Ruleset Wizard all running happily concurrently.

[spoonhead]

Some of my players uses old computers, not compatible with unity version, I finish the agents of edgewatch campaing and we will try roll 20

I suggest watching this before you switch to Roll20.

https://youtu.be/FkHKxX434y0

[Jiminimonka]

I had to buy a gaming computer to get FGU to run.

So now you can play new games that require gaming machines and FGU too, congratulations.

[Temmpest]

So now you can play new games that require gaming machines and FGU too, congratulations.

I'm not complaining about it. But, I think it's a bit disingenuous to keep telling people that FGU can run on your PC as well as FGC. FGU needs more computing power than FGC, period.

[Jiminimonka]

I'm not complaining about it. But, I think it's a bit disingenuous to keep telling people that FGU can run on your PC as well as FGC. FGU needs more computing power than FGC, period.

Yeah of course, its new software, FGC is ANCIENT in computer software terms. Unfortunately computers also need to be upgraded and replaced too.

I don't think anyone has said FGU has not got higher specifications in terms of hardware than FGC.

[Nylanfs]

It's almost as old as PCGen. :)

[Valyar]

It's almost as old as PCGen. :)

Wow… :)

[JohnD]

I suggest watching this before you switch to Roll20.

https://youtu.be/FkHKxX434y0

Boy does that ever look primitive.

[*Neuro*]

Lol what a joke Roll20, at least in that video

[spoonhead]

Lol what a joke Roll20, at least in that video

For PF2 it seem they are way behind the curve. The GM has since switched to FoundryVTT and continued the campaign.