Special Announcement - Kickstarter

[Zacchaeus]

Just a hint about cover, half cover etc. Some say it's ruleset specific. I don't see it that way : a cover or a half cover is just what it is. Now each ruleset handles it differently. Why not add the "cover thing" and then let the rulesets makers choose to handle it or not ? (I'm not sure I make myself perfectly clear).

You have made yourself clear; but it is a ruleset specific thing. It is in the rulesets that things like the penalty or advantage for cover are handled, and if it becomes a thing then it will be a thing in the rulesets which makes it possible.

[Trenloe]

Just a hint about cover, half cover etc. Some say it's ruleset specific. I don't see it that way : a cover or a half cover is just what it is. Now each ruleset handles it differently. Why not add the "cover thing" and then let the rulesets makers choose to handle it or not ? (I'm not sure I make myself perfectly clear).

The basics of cover are in theory ruleset agnostic, but just look at different RPG systems - for example: draw a line from one corner to any of the corners on the target creature; or draw the line from the middle of one square to the middle of another, or from one corner to one corner, or... etc., etc.. So, I don't see how "cover" itself can be added to a base (CoreRPG) system - as there are too many different ways of working out cover, because it can be so different, there really isn't much that can be programmed into base FGU - other than a basic handler function, like getObstructionsOnThisVector(startX, startY, endX, endY) but then the RPG system would have to work out how to call that, how many times to call it, and how to interpret the "obstruction" data returned.

[lostsanityreturned]

The basics of cover are in theory ruleset agnostic, but just look at different RPG systems - for example: draw a line from one corner to any of the corners on the target creature; or draw the line from the middle of one square to the middle of another, or from one corner to one corner, or... etc., etc.. So, I don't see how "cover" itself can be added to a base (CoreRPG) system - as there are too many different ways of working out cover, because it can be so different, there really isn't much that can be programmed into base FGU - other than a basic handler function, like getObstructionsOnThisVector(startX, starty, endX, endy) but then the RPG system would have to work out how to call that, how many times to call it, and how to interpret the "obstruction" data returned.

And this becomes even more complex when handling different degrees of cover as well as elevation on what is a 2D map.

I would love to automate cover, but as is I also cannot see any feasible way to building it into fantasygrounds currently.

[lochost]

Thanks for your answers mates !

I understand the problem better now !

Cheers !

[mattekure]

With Unity will it be possible to add additional image types for tokens (perhaps not on initial release, but eventually)? Specifically WEBM/VP8 which would allow for animated tokens. I know Unity supports both of them across Win/Mac/Linux platforms.

[VenomousFiligree]

With Unity will it be possible to add additional image types for tokens (perhaps not on initial release, but eventually)? Specifically WEBM/VP8 which would allow for animated tokens. I know Unity supports both of them across Win/Mac/Linux platforms.

After someone mentioned Devin Night's new animated tokens in the KS chat I took a look and they look great!

So yes please to webm tokens!

[skj310]

Hello FGU

I believe this has been discussed before but am having a horrible time finding the answer in the forum. Regarding the layers for lighting and FOW, will there be a quicker way to add those layers other than plotting lines around walls and obstacles? Where I am coming from? I thought I remember hearing mentioned that perhaps a person might use GIMP or photoshop to create a layer for walls and thereby avoid or significantly quicken the process of plotting points? Simply put will there be any super fast easier way, other than plotting points? I've a massive amount of battlemaps and thinking of the effort involved ... so am just wanting to know what to expect in terms of options when it comes to battelmaps that are not part of modules/adventures from the FG store?

[LordEntrails]

Hello FGU

I believe this has been discussed before but am having a horrible time finding the answer in the forum. Regarding the layers for lighting and FOW, will there be a quicker way to add those layers other than plotting lines around walls and obstacles? Where I am coming from? I thought I remember hearing mentioned that perhaps a person might use GIMP or photoshop to create a layer for walls and thereby avoid or significantly quicken the process of plotting points? Simply put will there be any super fast easier way, other than plotting points? I've a massive amount of battlemaps and thinking of the effort involved ... so am just wanting to know what to expect in terms of options when it comes to battelmaps that are not part of modules/adventures from the FG store?

I have the same gut feel about this as you do. And I asked a week or so ago on the FG Friday stream. Doug's response was that they had looked at some mask or alpha channel options early on, but found that it was easier to create the LOS blockers in FGU with the line segments etc.

I too find that hard to believe because I know how easy it would be for me to make a mask image in CC3+ and GIMP for my maps, but at this point I have to trust that SW has done their hoemwork on this topic. At least for now.

[ddavison]

You can still use GIMP to make a mask image and then drag it over top. When I look at LOS for walls, I actually wanted part of the wall to be shown instead of right at the edge. For this reason, you shrink in the mask some. This works great for larger, thicker sections. The problem is that if you have a mix of thin walls and thick walls, the thin walls can become shrunk into non-existence. That and other issues meant to reduce polygon sizes for the final outcome ended up leading me to believe that it was just faster doing it within FGU. Your experience might be different, so we will most likely leave it in for you to experiment with during the beta.

[LordEntrails]

You can still use GIMP to make a mask image and then drag it over top. When I look at LOS for walls, I actually wanted part of the wall to be shown instead of right at the edge. For this reason, you shrink in the mask some. This works great for larger, thicker sections. The problem is that if you have a mix of thin walls and thick walls, the thin walls can become shrunk into non-existence. That and other issues meant to reduce polygon sizes for the final outcome ended up leading me to believe that it was just faster doing it within FGU. Your experience might be different, so we will most likely leave it in for you to experiment with during the beta.

Thanks Doug.
So the method I make dungeon maps in CC3+ includes what is called a wall/floor mask. It covers half the thickness of the walls and duplicates the background. By doing so it makes the dungeon look sunken into the background.

But, from a FGU perspective, it provides a layer/sheet that would work perfect as a mask. It will allow half the wall to be shown and then block out behind that.

Look at ~2 minutes and then again at ~13 minutes in this video and you can see the difference, and what the wall/floor mask does. https://chronicles-of-arn.net/pf_map...l_Mask_SS4.mp4

Here's another look at just the mask itself; https://youtu.be/cTmiOuLi11Y?t=214