18 months on : FG vs. Roll20 vs Foundry

[Nylanfs]

One important point I feel missing: *All* players need to create a FG account now to install/run FGU, which is another hurdle to draw players in. And once the account server goes down (bankruptcy case you mentioned) you cannot install the software anymore and thus may be locked out of your purchases. The latter is something all contenders have to deal with, though (e.g. Foundry is very protective of its licenses per hardware and concurrent games running).

Doug has previously stated that in the VERY unlikely event that Smiteworks would have to close he would release a patch ensuring that FG wouldn't require an active license, and would likely host the program somewhere with a free download. And based on past customer support I would trust that they would find a way to not leave us in the cold

[YAKO SOMEDAKY]

I play with Dr0W and I don't mind playing at Foundry or Fantasy Grounds, I want to play and have fun.
I appreciate the Foundry and am a Fan Boy of fantasy Grounds.
I understand all the things mentioned and say that what makes Foundry stand out are things I look forward to for the FGU, which are performance and visual and sound features within the platform, but mainly performance, which takes time to open campaigns, no matter whether old or new, with or without extensions, spreadsheets are slow to open in most rule sets, the response of some resolutions or rollovers causes tension by their slowness.
"Good and new" machines don't seem to take real advantage of the platform.
And one thing I miss is image pre-loading and not "forced" sharing
There is a difference between me preloading an image to make it quicker opening and sharing it, and it would be nice to have that back.
But I still prefer agility and performance, as for the look of the FG, I'm already used to it....

[Kelrugem]

And one thing I miss is image pre-loading and not "forced" sharing
There is a difference between me preloading an image to make it quicker opening and sharing it, and it would be nice to have that back.

Presharing is essentially still there Already in FGC it is just like sharing, the only difference was that it does not pop-up on the client's screen if they were connected and you clicked preshare. That's it, in all other aspects it is the same as sharing; so, if you preshared something, then your players could already open it from the images tab in FGC for example

Hence, if you want to preshare something as a preparation, then just share it while you prepare for the next session. If no client is connected (and I think most people used the presharing option in preparation), then there is no difference to sharing. (Hence, this option probably does not come back, I think, because there is actually no advantage in that presharing option if it is used for preparing campaigns)

However, if you used the presharing option while clients were already connected, then it is something different since sharing creates a pop-up. But I do not really see a reason why one should preshare something while the session is already running (since it will still affect the bandwidth then etc.)

[Jiminimonka]

The mind boggles in 2021 that there are people who struggle with clicking a link and then running an install program, never mind creating a forum account.

But... yes I have experienced people with such challenges.

They usually also struggle with advanced concepts such as the mysterious double click and the confounding left click.

The summaries of each VTT seem to be comprehensive enough.

I agree.

[Weissrolf]

It's not so much struggling, but having to jump two more hurdles when player are not yet convinced that they even want to try this VTT thingy. No need to be condescending towards players, no players = no gaming.

"Copy & Paste URL in browser, select player, click the big JOIN GAME SESSION button"
is an easier entry procedure compared to:

"Download (correct FGC vs. FGU) client, run installation, give strange permissions that no other software asks about, enter/confirm data directory path twice in different UI windows, be asked for account credentials, create account, enter credentials, start application, understand the lobby with three different ways to connect, understand that the client did not freeze while its busy loading modules, find Library -> Modules and enable all modules that the GM asks you to".

[stephan_]

Presharing is essentially still there Already in FGC it is just like sharing, the only difference was that it does not pop-up on the client's screen if they were connected and you clicked preshare. That's it, in all other aspects it is the same as sharing; so, if you preshared something, then your players could already open it from the images tab in FGC for example

Hence, if you want to preshare something as a preparation, then just share it while you prepare for the next session. If no client is connected (and I think most people used the presharing option in preparation), then there is no difference to sharing. (Hence, this option probably does not come back, I think, because there is actually no advantage in that presharing option if it is used for preparing campaigns)

However, if you used the presharing option while clients were already connected, then it is something different since sharing creates a pop-up. But I do not really see a reason why one should preshare something while the session is already running (since it will still affect the bandwidth then etc.)

You can share an image without a pop-up on the players' side by right-click-sharing the image from the image window list (not the image itself).

[HywelPhillips]

Whilst not wising to turn this into a "negging on FG" thread, I do agree that bringing new players on board is significantly more involved for FG than for others. Not least because when they finally DO connect to the game for the first time, they have to go through the module selection procedure to ensure they have the PHB or whatever other modules loaded.

Sure they only have to do it the first time, but I struggle to see what the use case of doing this is. Why wouldn't you want the players to have the modules the GM says they can load, loaded? Why yet another confusing step for first-time players?

I made a suggestion for forcing player load on the idea informer but I'd go further and say this should be the default. Remove the need for the campaign setup pop-up to appear when a new player connects, especially if the GM could also force defaults for options in the campaign settings. Which techie players could be all means pop up a window to override but which would remove the need for this step entirely for everyone else.

Cheers, Hywel

[Jiminimonka]

Whilst not wising to turn this into a "negging on FG" thread, I do agree that bringing new players on board is significantly more involved for FG than for others. Not least because when they finally DO connect to the game for the first time, they have to go through the module selection procedure to ensure they have the PHB or whatever other modules loaded.

Sure they only have to do it the first time, but I struggle to see what the use case of doing this is. Why wouldn't you want the players to have the modules the GM says they can load, loaded? Why yet another confusing step for first-time players?

I made a suggestion for forcing player load on the idea informer but I'd go further and say this should be the default. Remove the need for the campaign setup pop-up to appear when a new player connects, especially if the GM could also force defaults for options in the campaign settings. Which techie players could be all means pop up a window to override but which would remove the need for this step entirely for everyone else.

Cheers, Hywel

This is probably just a legacy thing from old FG.. but have you got a link for the suggestion on Idea Informer, I would upvote that - having FG automatically load those modules will help for sure. But then the loading screen would need a more prominent way of showing the players it is still loading information.

[Weissrolf]

At least we have the animated die now, which originally was hidden so far to the lower right corner that it was easily overlooked (even when known to exist). This is a genuine improvement that I am quite thankful for, despite the unnecessary steep climb it took to get that implemented.

[HywelPhillips]

Hi it is here:
https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=135437

Cheers, Hywel