Getting the most out of FG map effects and lighting

[Reynard203]

I am planning on running a megadungeon exploration campaign by way of FG, and I was hoping to get some advice on how to get the most out of my maps, LOS, lighting effects and so on.

I will be cobbling together the megadungeon from various maps I have found or purchased elsewhere (DTRPG, Patreon, etc) so I am going to have to build in the walls, doors, light sources, etc... myself. Can someone recommend a good, up to date video on best practices? Also, anyone who has any suggestions, tips and tricks to get the most out of maps NOT sold by Smiteworks and pre-loaded with LOS etc, please share them.

Thanks!

[Zacchaeus]

A number of the videos linked here should get you started https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?55797-How-do-I-in-Unity&p=492112#post492112

Also check out the Fantasy Grounds YouTube channel.

The only thing that isn't in any of the videos is to keep your line of sight points lean. By that I mean don't add too many of them - especially if your maps are big and doubly especially if they exceed the recommended 4kx4k .jpg. You can use the tool in the line of sight section to automatically reduce the number of points if you think you have to many.

[LordEntrails]

Good question and I hope someone else(s) can shed more light on this topic than I can.

So I ran my Undermountain in FGC, and had different concerns (process size limitation was the biggest). but have had some pretty large maps in FGU and have encountered map related performance issues. Here's what I learned and some suggestions:

- The number of LOS elements, lighting sources, and tokens are the primary performance drivers. Very roughly you can think of it like this, # calculations FG has to do is LOS x Lights X Tokens. So it's really easy to quickly bring your computer to its knees. therefore;
- limit the number of LOS segments. Make them large and rough, and don't do both sides of a wall. Simplify and get rid of as many nodes as you can tolerate
- consider not using lighting sources or vision ranges, just let everyone see as far as they can down a corridor and use roleplaying to limit what's out of sight.
- do NOT use tokens to decorate the maps. i.e. don't use furniture, dead bodies, etc as tokens, actually use them as image stamps in the layers, otherwise they count as "tokens" per above.

And a big one, consider using two map scales. i.e. have a complete level/dungeon map that either you have very crude LOS on or you just use the mask with. And use a single 'party' token for the players to jointly control. Then have smaller regional/encounter maps that have full detail, LOS, lights etc on.

[kronovan]

I'll ditto the recommendation for a zonal map approach. If it's a megadungeon, use the larger map only used to track where the party is and has been - just place some symbolic token (i.e. a flag) and move it around as necessary. I wouldn't put any LOS or lighting on that lager map, but would instead just use the masking tool and erase the part of the mask where the party has already adventured. Erasing masked areas takes a bit of practice, but you'll become skilled and quick with it in no time.
If the places where encounters will occur are smaller locations within existing maps, I'd recommend making a copy of the map and then cropping it down to the area of that location. Then import that new, smaller image and put your desired LOS and lighting effects on it.

I personally don't have many problems with performance even on reasonably large 10 MB maps and I almost always use LOS and often lighting. I custom build most of my maps though and are well aware where I can skimp on LOS node placement, while still effectively hiding areas. Be aware that some of the videos out there show drawing LOS walls as rectangles, which I don't recommend for 2 reasons; 1) takes more effort, 2) places more LOS nodes on the map. Also be aware, that some of the LOS and lighting in DLC maps isn't optimal - always test such maps before running them live.

[Temmpest]

And a big one, consider using two map scales. i.e. have a complete level/dungeon map that either you have very crude LOS on or you just use the mask with. And use a single 'party' token for the players to jointly control. Then have smaller regional/encounter maps that have full detail, LOS, lights etc on.

That is great advice! Just started doing this. It does seem to work much better.

[Morenu]

well from a play group running undermountain originally in 5E and now in PF1e... here are my suggestions about maps.
know the power of your groups machines. go by the weakest machine. If they are all good gaming machines it makes a difference. If someone is playing on an old laptop that will definitely affect their experience as well.

We use Dungeon Alchemist (available on Steam) to create and output our maps to FGU. Lighting, LoS, doors and objects come in great.

we have found using Rob2E Portals extension (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/123/view) VERY helpful by letting us create LARGE maps in smaller more manageable chunks that connect via portals that move tokens to the correct maps seamlessly. It works for any corerpg ruleset although you will need to edit the mod file to open in any or your ruleset specifically (there is a reason they only have it set to 5E but its easy to change)

the DM just tried a LoS effect to simulate webbing blocking views in small chunks, it was very cool BUT it was throughout 6 or so rooms & corridors and it did cause a noticeable lag that we don't normally experience.

[Reynard203]

well from a play group running undermountain originally in 5E and now in PF1e... here are my suggestions about maps.
know the power of your groups machines. go by the weakest machine. If they are all good gaming machines it makes a difference. If someone is playing on an old laptop that will definitely affect their experience as well.

We use Dungeon Alchemist (available on Steam) to create and output our maps to FGU. Lighting, LoS, doors and objects come in great.

we have found using Rob2E Portals extension (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/123/view) VERY helpful by letting us create LARGE maps in smaller more manageable chunks that connect via portals that move tokens to the correct maps seamlessly. It works for any corerpg ruleset although you will need to edit the mod file to open in any or your ruleset specifically (there is a reason they only have it set to 5E but its easy to change)

the DM just tried a LoS effect to simulate webbing blocking views in small chunks, it was very cool BUT it was throughout 6 or so rooms & corridors and it did cause a noticeable lag that we don't normally experience.

That's a really cool extension. thanks.

[Max Silver]

The thing I didn't see anyone else nite was to remove player permissions on handouts, maps, images in general as you go. If they are relevant you can always reshare. The more things you are sharing, the more things their computers more or less have to preload.

It just makes it faster for the players to load in.

[Svandal]

If you are not locked to using pre made maps you can build your own dungeon maps really fast with some brushes and using the latest features of fantasy grounds

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gNY16e3O9r4&t=356s

Drawing corridors and rooms with line of sight should only take a couple of minutes if you just draw them by inspiration of other maps or just draw something.
Placing doors is a bit more work, but if you have a prebuilt door with pre built line of sight it should be fast.