Deleting Imported Images "Correctly"

[MaxAstro]

This is a situation that happens to me more than I'd like:


I import an image.
I realize I made a mistake/need to edit the image.
I delete the image from the Images window.
I edit the image and save it.
I import the image again.
Fantasy Grounds says "Image already exists in campaign; skipped."
But I thought I deleted the image??
No wait, I have to browse to the campaign assets folder, and delete the image file there.

Is there a better way to do this that I'm unaware of? Why does deleting the image not delete the asset? Why does importing an image that "already exists" not at least give you the option to overwrite it?

[Zacchaeus]

If you need to edit the image then once you have done so place it back in the campaign/images folder overwriting the original (you'll get the usual Windows pop up about the file already existing and do you really want to overwrite etc). Once you've done that then go into assets and click the refresh button and the old image will be replaced with your amended one. (In other words there's no need to delete the image from the image list, or from the campaign/images folder).

This assumes that you keep exactly the same image name and format as the original one (that is if the image was called My Image.wepb then the amended one also is called My Image.webp). If you change the image name or format then you'll need to remove the image from the image list and from the images folder.

[Trenloe]

This isn't specific to the Pathfinder 2E ruleset - it's base FG application functionality. @Zacchaeus has summarized the options well.

[MaxAstro]

If you need to edit the image then once you have done so place it back in the campaign/images folder overwriting the original (you'll get the usual Windows pop up about the file already existing and do you really want to overwrite etc). Once you've done that then go into assets and click the refresh button and the old image will be replaced with your amended one. (In other words there's no need to delete the image from the image list, or from the campaign/images folder).

This assumes that you keep exactly the same image name and format as the original one (that is if the image was called My Image.wepb then the amended one also is called My Image.webp). If you change the image name or format then you'll need to remove the image from the image list and from the images folder.

The part I am specifically trying to avoid is having to leave Fantasy Grounds and go into the Windows folder tree.

The image import button is very convenient for that reason, but becomes substantially less so in this case. Basically, since the import function is willing to create the asset for me in the first place, is there any compelling reason it shouldn't offer the option to overwrite the asset as well? Having it just "helpfully" skip the import when that isn't what I want it to do is, well, not helpful. :P

It's good to know that overwriting the asset will update the image, though.

Actually, will that update the image without losing things like walls or lighting? That would be very convenient to know.

[humby]

Actually, will that update the image without losing things like walls or lighting? That would be very convenient to know.

Yes, overwriting the image file just updates the image, the walls & lighting aren't affected, although you should note that if you change the dimensions of the image then the walls and lighting may no longer be correctly aligned.

[Zacchaeus]

The part I am specifically trying to avoid is having to leave Fantasy Grounds and go into the Windows folder tree.

Actually, will that update the image without losing things like walls or lighting? That would be very convenient to know.

I don't understand; you are having to enter into another program to edit the image (I assume) and therefore having to open windows to load the image and then again to save it back. You can leave FGVTT open when you are doing this. (This is something I do constantly when developing modules, switching between a variety of programs, loading and saving multiple images and just using the refresh assets button in FGVTT when necessary to either update an existing image or add a new one). I don't think I've ever needed to use the import image button since I save everything to the campaign/images folder and just need to hit refresh to update the images that FGVTT sees in that folder.

Yes, the method I described above will preserve the LoS and lighting (and anything else you have added inside of FGVTT like Fx layers etc) as long as you keep the same name, format, and dimensions.

[Laerun]

The part I am specifically trying to avoid is having to leave Fantasy Grounds and go into the Windows folder tree.

The image import button is very convenient for that reason, but becomes substantially less so in this case. Basically, since the import function is willing to create the asset for me in the first place, is there any compelling reason it shouldn't offer the option to overwrite the asset as well? Having it just "helpfully" skip the import when that isn't what I want it to do is, well, not helpful. :P

It's good to know that overwriting the asset will update the image, though.

Actually, will that update the image without losing things like walls or lighting? That would be very convenient to know.

Make sure you are refreshing your assets folder after any changes. You might be experiencing record lock if a previous asset is already loaded into cache or temporariy memory and you overwrite the previous image on the back end, which might be skiping out on refreshing the FG image database.
Also campaign image records are essentially just pointers and links with your edits, file path stored, etc, not the actual image files.