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View Full Version : Is there a way to disable the line of sight feature that greys out the map?



bookbrat
November 2nd, 2021, 02:27
Inspired by one of the FG map creation livestreams, I'm planning to run a multi layered-map of a church, and I found it neat that I could set up different occluders and lighting options on each layer, so that, for instance, once a token run up or down the stairs, I can toggle which level they're on, and since I'm using transparency, I could have them fight monsters between different floors through the balconies. Awesome stuff.

The only issue is that, when a token sees a portion of the map and then moves to another floor, that portion that it uncovered is visible in the other layer, but greyed out. That spoils a little bit of the exploration between floors. Is there a way to disable that mechanic, so that once you can only really see a part of the map if your line of sight allows it?

LordEntrails
November 2nd, 2021, 02:59
No, you can not disable the FoW aspect of LoS. There is a request on the wish list you can vote for.

And though your idea sounds great, using layers to indicate levels of a structure, it actually does not work well. Here's why; which layers are displayed are displayed to all players, and your players will want to be on different levels. And it wont work. Yes, you could turn on and off layers as each player's turn starts, but it becomes cumbersome and annoying quickly.

It's much easier to use one map, wit each level of the structure off-set a full amount from each other. That way all tokens are on one image (for LOS tracking etc), as GM you can drag them (with Shift) between levels and not reveal excess LoS info, and it's easy for layers to grasp and there is little confusion.

sciencephile
November 3rd, 2021, 20:11
Yeah, I've tried the one-map method too. I have experienced similar problems. It's easy to share a different map to one player or move one player to another part of the map so only they see the next floor. It's really difficult to deal with characters on different levels by just changing the layer visibility. I pretty much only put roofs of the buildings as separate layers so PCs can see the yard and a house with a roof and then I hide the roof when they approach the building. If there are separate floors, I put them as a different part of the map or as separate maps.

As a side note, another slight complication of the multi-floor, single-map is that if you use pins a lot, they get crowded into the same area and I haven't found a way to pin to a particular layer. Pins *seem* to have a layer all their own and can be turned off or one, but it seems to be an all-or-nothing thing.

djbreaktime
November 3rd, 2021, 22:54
I use the portals extension for this type of thing frequently and then I set the portal to only allow the one who activated it to teleport to the other map. Although it does require purchasing the extension I find this works very well, if that helps at all.

sciencephile
November 4th, 2021, 00:51
I personally have been looking for something like this (ever since I saw in in another VTT a decade ago). Thanks for the heads up. Well worth the $10 in my opinion.

DeDiceManCometh
November 13th, 2021, 01:22
Yeah, I was wondering something similar... Is there currently a way to have LoS keep its "reveal NPCs and tokens" functionality without its "masking of sight" functionality? Is there an option somewhere to control the opacity of the vision mask? It is just really ugly to be exploring outdoors in broad daylight and have what look like long, utterly black shadows being cast every which way. Or does that boil down to the same thing the OP was asking about?

Moon Wizard
November 13th, 2021, 01:37
I don't think you're talking about the same thing.

If you want a default lighting for outdoor areas, then you can use the ambient light option in the image data panel to add ambient lighting to a map.

Regards,
JPG

DeDiceManCometh
November 13th, 2021, 01:57
I don't think you're talking about the same thing.

If you want a default lighting for outdoor areas, then you can use the ambient light option in the image data panel to add ambient lighting to a map.

Regards,
JPG

Actually, I figured out how to do what I want. (1) turn off Lighting, but leave LoS on (2) make everything that you wish to be vision blocking enclosed as Shadow Caster (2) Do the identical lines, but as Windows [unless you want to leave out the half-height terrain items] so they are un-enterable. This way, the whole map is visible, but NPC tokens only appear when you have a clear line of sight to them.