Super Secret Sneak Preview of Lighting and Vision - Shhhh, don't tell Carl and John

[GhoulHunter]

And do you happen to know how to code in a custom effect? the wiki only states this:
LIGHT: {range} {type or color in ARGB} {special Fx} {Fx frequency}
LIGHT: {range} {preset name}
Tried several ranges combined, but no succes. Color and pulse in no problem.
If you set range to 10 it always casts off a shadow that is double that range. LIGHT: 20 = bright 20 + falloff 20 extra.

No, I dont believe I do know how to do that. I am beginning to see your problem and I think that the developer team should look into a more usable coding of light as effects. Well, that is, unless you and I dont know something about coding it. So far, I can only say you are right, I cant seem to be able to control the light as well in effects as in map settings. Im fine with not having falloff for both types of brightness, but at least I would like to control exact distances of bright and dim light, so do you, I think. Using presets with coding is cool, its very quick to drop onto the combat tracker and have your player carrying a torch or a lantern in seconds, but I find it odd how the distances work. Although, upon further inspection, I found that if you code, for example, LIGHT: 5 candle or LIGHT: 20 torch or LIGHT: 30 lantern, the effect is the same as you would use a preset in map settings, because the code sees that you have a light source and it knows the settings of that light source for how its bright and dim light work, so you type in the bright light for your light source and it takes the dim light from the preset it knows already. I used the default light distances from the PHB for those sources, but even if you use different distances it should calculate the ratio that is in the preset. Dont be surprised if the distances of bright and dim are a bit off if you measure with the pointers, my guess is that its the falloff in effect and probably also differs whether or not you use raw distances or the simplified PHB version of distances. And I should mention, that the falloff is not the extra feet of light, but rather how fast the light falls off throughout the distance. What I mean to say is that falloff changes how rough or smooth your transition between bright-dim is and dim-dark. I've tested some other things now and I think that for coding, the fallout is default at 25 and for the dim light - it is bright light for what you type in and dim light for the same amount beyond bright, so if you want the total of your light to be 20, you should type in around 10, so you will have 10 bright and 10 dim, maybe a little less because the bright ends not as abruptly, so a quarter or so of the last square look like dim light, and when it comes time for dim light to fall off into darkness, you dont see anything almost a full square sooner than you would expect. But I do understand your problem, I agree, that we need more control over the light in coding, because coding is probably the fastest way to apply the light effects, and the coding does not account for magical light that might not be falling off but rather ending abruptly, for example, bright red/blue light for 30 feet and then total darkness. I cant see a way to do that in coding, while in map settings - I have total freedom to make that sort of light, but it takes too long to apply it during the game, I dont want my players waiting a few extra minutes every time I need to make another light source appear, because that time adds up and we might lose half an hour on gameplay just for light making.

In conclusion, developers, please, if possible, look into it and maybe make a way for us, users, to code bright and dim light separately in our effects, that would be a HUGE help and a big time saver in my opinion.

[johnecc]

Aridhro, if I am not mistaken, those codes are for effects that go on the combat tracker. Being able to adjust all the attributes is only available for lights placed on maps. At least that is what I have seen on Joshua’s streams. Whether that has/will change, I am not sure.

[Zacchaeus]

You are correct in that the effects will only handle presets (and thus the most common lighting that you'll need). If you need something more complex then add the light to the token via the console. Note that such lighting can be added to a token during prep and in game you can cycle through the lights you have set on a token. So if you have a character that uses a lot of magical light effects then you can set these up in advance and just select them when needed.

[Aridhro]

Ok, thank you for the update. I know now I didn't miss anything. Thank you. But if you make other presets or adjustments, let me now ;-)

[Rino]

Will we have effect preset for Darkness (to simulate darkness spell cast by player) ?

[Kelrugem]

Will we have effect preset for Darkness (to simulate darkness spell cast by player) ?

There is a darkness toggle for light sources, yes And for vision also a toggle whether or not they can ignore such form of darkness (at least it is currently like that on the test server, not sure how it will be at the end at release; I may also misunderstand something)

[Zacchaeus]

Will we have effect preset for Darkness (to simulate darkness spell cast by player) ?

There is no darkness preset but you can add a darkness "light" which blocks all vision except truevision.

[spoonhead]

There is no darkness preset but you can add a darkness "light" which blocks all vision except truevision.

I tried devilsight, and that saw through the “darkness” light. Which is correct BTW.

[kevininrussia]

Whats the reasoning for blocking access to things like "devilsight" from other rulesets other than 5e? Maybe they would be useful in some situations in other rulesets.

[superteddy57]

Whats the reasoning for blocking access to things like "devilsight" from other rulesets other than 5e? Maybe they would be useful in some situations in other rulesets.

Its not really a block, but a limitation. The current system can only handle 3 vision bands currently. This was chosen to help with performance.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post586378