How to turn on LOS?

[Zwergenmauer]

I'm using the Pathfinder ruleset and I am having to set up LOS manually for each map. I'm sure that's intentional (?) as the same map might be used different ways with different visibility rules. However, I cannot seem to import non-Smiteworks maps (i.e. ones that I own as jpg or png images) to set up LOS on them, even as I am trying to follow the wiki. Maybe I am missing something?

Also (and maybe this belongs in another thread?)-- it seems the only method for adding an NPC or Character to the map is from the combat tracker. Is there a way that the PCs map token could also be placed into the map from the Character sheet?

[Zacchaeus]

I'm using the Pathfinder ruleset and I am having to set up LOS manually for each map. I'm sure that's intentional (?) as the same map might be used different ways with different visibility rules. However, I cannot seem to import non-Smiteworks maps (i.e. ones that I own as jpg or png images) to set up LOS on them, even as I am trying to follow the wiki. Maybe I am missing something?

Also (and maybe this belongs in another thread?)-- it seems the only method for adding an NPC or Character to the map is from the combat tracker. Is there a way that the PCs map token could also be placed into the map from the Character sheet?

None of the Pathfinder modules have been updated with LOS as yet so you won't find any LOS. When you add an image into the images folder it will appear in the campaign folder in Assets. You need to drag the image from there into the images window to add it to your campaign. See here and the wiki here.

For a long time now FG has prevented tokens being added to maps other than via the CT. This is to prevent the situation where doing it this way meant that targeting and movement would not work. The correct and only method you should use to add PCs to the map is via the CT.

[Zwergenmauer]

Thank you, @Zacchaeus. All of this has helped. And thank you as well for the info on CT. I also saw that Alpha Group is working on some maps to define LOS, but I only saw one Pathfinder 2 map in the group set. No worries; it just means that we Pathfinder users will have to do some extra set-up work before using PF maps.

[Zacchaeus]

Thank you, @Zacchaeus. All of this has helped. And thank you as well for the info on CT. I also saw that Alpha Group is working on some maps to define LOS, but I only saw one Pathfinder 2 map in the group set. No worries; it just means that we Pathfinder users will have to do some extra set-up work before using PF maps.

Adding LOS to maps is open to anyone that wants to contribute (I've amended the first line of the post to make that clearer). So if you want to share then follow the instructions in that post.

[Callum]

If you want to redo it, test the experience and then post a screenshot of before and after, that would probably be best. I can make the adjustment and then re-export & package it.

Actually, Doug, I got to thinking that it might be better to put another rubble zone in the middle, rather than a door, since that is what it looks like from the outside (and the canvas "door" can't be left open).

[Callum]

Here you go, Doug.
Attachment 29811 Attachment 29812

Also, the door occluder is missing from the curtain to the north of area 12 (Guard Barracks).

[ddavison]

In this comparison, I actually think the 1st screenshot is what I would want and expect. The rubble slopes down from the raised floor (1-story up) where the PC is standing down to the ground level there. It shouldn't block line of sight to the doorway. The curtain just below is set up as a door. The door occluders should allow you to see the entirety of the door unless it is blocked by another wall somewhere.

[Callum]

In this comparison, I actually think the 1st screenshot is what I would want and expect. The rubble slopes down from the raised floor (1-story up) where the PC is standing down to the ground level there. It shouldn't block line of sight to the doorway. The curtain just below is set up as a door. The door occluders should allow you to see the entirety of the door unless it is blocked by another wall somewhere.

I'm confused! In both pictures, the PC is at the interior floor level, having just stepped into the passageway dug between two mounds of rubble. They shouldn't be able to see past the top of the rubble pile, let alone into a room beyond (which is also at the same level as the PC)! In fact, the way the rubble piles are shown on the whole map suggests that they are as high as walls - curtains strung between them, barrels stacked against them, tunnels dug through them - and I believe they should be treated as such. There's also nothing in the text that suggests they can be climbed or seen over - for example, nothing suggests that you can get into the Hobgoblin Barracks (room 6) or the Ruined Barracks (room 4) directly from outside the castle.

The curtain just below is fine - it's the one to the southeast that is missing from the occluders.

[ddavison]

In the pictures you linked, the player is currently 10-20' above the exterior ground level at the current position. The rubble there is from the castle wall down to the ground (my interpretation)... so it isn't blocking the player's vision to the player's right. The entire castle floor is raised off the ground since the player has to climb a stairwell to get up to the door if they enter from the South face of the castle.

The rubble section below the player between the curtains is a higher rubble pile. While they technically wouldn't be able to see the southern face of this rubble pile, I think that is an acceptable abstraction for simplification.

[Callum]

The difference between ground level and interior floor level is six feet: "Arrow slits in the castle walls are 10 feet above the outside ground level, 4 feet above the interior floor level". Irrespective of this, it's clear that the rubble here at the north entrance is above head height for someone standing there because the entrance is completely covered with a piece of canvas: "To the north, a short passage through the rubble ends before a screen of canvas."

But the key issue is that all the rubble shown on the map is from the collapsed upper floors of the castle - the ground floor is (almost) intact, and movement is not possible through the rubble except where passages have been dug. This is clear when reading through the descriptions of the castle rooms as a whole - entrances and exits are carefully described, as well as the fact that light comes in through the arrow slits, but no mention is ever made of the rubble areas being passable or letting in light.