Visibility issue when controlling multiple characters with lighting enabled

If a player is controlling more than one character, when lighting is enabled, if the character they are actively moving can't see their other character, they lose the ability to select that other character's token and move it (until it comes into sight of their currently-controlled character). Saw this live during my 2E game last night and reproduced quickly on CoreRPG with a fresh campaign this morning.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create an image, enable lighting, and drop two characters on it (that don't have any special vision). Don't actually add any lights, so it should be pitch black.
2. Log in as a player and take control of both characters. Initially, you can see both of your characters on the map.
3. Select one character to move it. Your other character disappears, since the one you're controlling can't see it.
4. You are now unable to select your other character token to interact with it.

Okay, there's actually a workaround for this (possibly even the best behavior... hard to say), but I didn't notice it until testing some other stuff and my player's who reported this didn't realize it at the time, so it might just be an issue that needs more awareness.

If you are in a state where you have a token selected for one of your character and can't see your other one, clicking on the token you already have selected "unselects" it and allows you to see both of your characters again.

That's by design. By selecting a token, you are choosing to see the light/vision through that token's "eyes". You have to deselect to return to the "group" view when you control multiple tokens.

Regards,
JPG

I've informed my players of how this works and I think they'll be fine going forward. I'm wondering though if it would be clearer to people if when they select the character portrait in that visible list of "active" connected characters, it changes which token they are actively seeing as. My players thought that would work, and I saw another post in the forums from someone who had similar confusion. None of them last night randomly stumbled trying to "unselect" their token so that the other would appear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moon Wizard

That's by design. By selecting a token, you are choosing to see the light/vision through that token's "eyes". You have to deselect to return to the "group" view when you control multiple tokens.

Regards,
JPG

---

To be honest, it's not immediately obvious: I suppose it was already like that before the lighting update, but the fact that previously there was no "real" darkness meant that in most cases clicking on a token still left the other controlled tokens visible just because they were in the LOS. Now, clicking on a character makes all the other controlled characters look like they disappear due to a bug if they are out of the visibility/lighting range of the selected token.

Would it be possible to change the behavior of selecting a character slightly? I'm thinking this:
A player controls two characters (or a character and an NPC such as a familiar or animal companion, which unfortunately my party is full of); when clicking one of the controlled characters, the others leave a "shadow" in the same vein as the fog of war (maybe the token becomes slightly transparent or see-through like invisible tokens do in the DM view?). This way, the player knows the characters are still there but inactive: it doesn't look like a bug that made them disappear, it keeps the player informed of where his controlled tokens are, and (more importantly) is a visual cue that a token is active (normal rendering) or inactive (transparent).
Just a thought.

I appreciate the advice on the work-around to this problem but it also hints at the other problem that it is not very obvious when you have a token selected or unselected. This problem also confuses things for the DM trying to select monster tokens for the purpose of having that monster target a player. In the past I could just click the "next" button on the combat tracker to get to the next creature and then control click to have them target but now we must also select their token in the battlemap. It is not always apparent when they are unselected or selected and i think players also have this problem with their character tokens.
Again, thank you for the advice on working around the issue.

I have seen this behavior confuse users too, including myself. After messing around a bit and teaching others about this behavior, I eventually figured it out.
Attachment 53324

1) Make sure the lighting, line of sight, and player view options are enabled by unlocking a given map.
2) Make sure NPCs are on the map and the combat tracker. The combat tracker does not automatically select the view of the next PC or NPC.
3) As the GM or host, you have to manually select the token of the NPC or Player that you would like to view the map from. The combat tracker keeps track of who's turn it is, not who has the vision you are looking through. Make sure that you are selecting the token you wish to see through, a second click 'de-selects token vision.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sterno

I've informed my players of how this works, and I think they'll be fine going forward. I'm wondering, though if it would be more apparent to people if when they select the character portrait in that visible list of "active" connected characters, it changes which token they actively see as. My players thought that would work, and I saw another post in the forums from someone who had similar confusion. None of them last night randomly stumbled, trying to "unselect" their token so that the other would appear.

---

This is indirectly related to this issue you reported a while ago. This was sort of what I was trying to let you know back then as this might have been linked to your lighting issues. This issue or misunderstanding is why I posted this on social media and made the graphic.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post649267
Attachment 53326

1) Ensure the lighting, line of sight, and player view options are enabled by unlocking a given map.
2) Make certain NPCs are on the map and the combat tracker. The combat tracker does not automatically select the view of the following PC or NPC.
3) As the GM or host, you have to manually select the token of the NPC or Player that you would like to view the map. The combat tracker keeps track of who's turn it is, not who has the vision you are looking through. Make sure that you select the token you wish to see through; a second click de-selects token vision.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laerun

This is indirectly related to this issue you reported a while ago. This was sort of what I was trying to let you know back then as this might have been linked to your lighting issues. This issue or misunderstanding is why I posted this on social media and made the graphic.

---

I appreciate the help and think that graphic you made will be useful to many people, but unfortunately it had nothing to do with the bug I was seeing. There were cases where sometimes lighting on a map just wouldn't update unless you reshare it or take other actions that caused some sort of refresh (exact steps unknown). I used huge maps, and exceeding recommend map sizes may have been a factor. Dunno.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sterno

I appreciate the help and think that graphic you made will be useful to many people, but unfortunately it had nothing to do with the bug I was seeing. There were cases where sometimes lighting on a map just wouldn't update unless you reshare it or take other actions that caused some sort of refresh (exact steps unknown). I used huge maps, and exceeding recommend map sizes may have been a factor. Dunno.

---

Possible. Sometimes, if you have a current game going and you are in the middle of combat on a given map, when or if FGU updates, the link between the characters on the combat tracker and the current map that they are on gets corrupted or breaks. I have not figured out why, but it does happen, depending on the status of your combat or campaign and what was changed when a new update is released.

I am glad that you are making some progress though.