We used Maptool for the first time last game and it worked GREAT. We used to use Kloogewerks to project our maps onto the table - but this needs 2 computers.
Using extended desktop, my laptop had the player map on the projector while the DM map was on my laptop screen. 1 Computer - way easier than Klooge - and free = WIN WIN WIN!! The setup worked great - but our group had some comments and suggestions.
1) make labeling of tokens easier:
Default the token name to the source image name (minus extension) with a number on the end starting with 1. (ie instead of a0, a1 use goblin1 goblin2 orc1) Initiative trackers and DM Genie like this better. Also, being able to rename without using the right-click menu would make this easier. Perhaps double-click on the token name or token itself makes it editable.
2) CTRL-V to sync player and DM views is cool. How 'bout a continuous sync option??? It's not clear if this is on the bug-list...
3) Freehand Fog-of-War reveal (I think this is already on your list)
4) Being able to select a shape or Area of Effect so as to move or delete it. Also "Clear all Drawings" does not work...
5) Token "Conditions". Nothing so fancy as "Helpless" or "Turned". Just the ability to tint a token or set of tokens a certain color the same way you can set the fill color of a shape. This is listed as Token States in the bug-tracker...but this is a simpler and more versatile implementation.
6) When drawing shapes are set to "Fill", fog of war shapes also fill - bug?
7) Full Screen Client mode would be cool (Already on your list)
8) Kill Creature animation. Highlight a creature and hit the K key - Wham, token is deleted in a splash of blood or similar simple animation that you (the programmer) choose. Even a simple X appearing over the token for a half second would be better than simply Vanishing the token.
This tool is way cool and has literally changed the way we play. No more paper figures for monsters. No more 2 computer set-up. I just export my FM7 maps and I'm good! You've saved me from lugging around 2 boxes of paper minis and Worldworks settings! Excellent Job
Sorry for the long post....
-Mike
PS: I can't tell from bug-tracker what's implemented and what's not... What's the trick?
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2) Continuous view syncing
Interesting, that hadn't occurred to me. The thought was that the GM would want the flexibility of going 'ahead' of the group to set up the next encounter without changing the player's view, but I can see how it would be useful when using a setup like yours. How about a 'Link player view' toggle map menu item that you can toggle the client views are continuously updated. Here's the tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388091&group_id=132209&atid=724899
3) Freehand fog of war
This feature is schedule to be implemented during M8 :)
5) Conditions
Hmm, interesting idea. The current plan is to make decorations on the token (similar to the current invisible state) that indicate status. It might be possible to follow the same idea, but allow full token overlays, which could include a semi transparent fill. Let me play around with that idea a bit and see what I can come up with.
8) Kill Creature animation
Hmmm, interesting idea. Let's break it up into two distinct points: special effects, and token removal. What might work well is to create generic 'fire and forget' special effects. That is, instead of making it specific to 'death' or whatever, be able to drop any special effect into the map and have all the players see the animation. That would be really spiffy ! For the token removal, I like the idea of showing an X or something over it just before it is removed. Let me play around with that one for a bit. Associated trackers: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388118&group_id=132209&atid=724899 and http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388120&group_id=132209&atid=724899
Right on ! We're glad you like it :) You might also take a look at TokenTool for creating slick looking tokens for use in MapTool (or anywhere for that matter).
-Trev
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Just had our second successful game with Maptool. The player-linking was GREAT! The group had agreed to try our next game with no minis at all- just tokens! And, instead of projecting down on the table, we will try projecting across on the screen.
Our major problem this game was the maps.
I have a fairly simple castle - 5 maps. Adding one map and playing is great.
Add the second map and we're still OK.
Add map three and we're apparently out of memory. The map comes up as a -?-(question mark).
Now this is the problem: In order to bring up map three, I need to disconnect from the server and shut down the DM copy of Maptool. The restart, load map 3, and reconnect my client.
This is because I cannot remove maps from the system without re-starting the tool.
Issue two: When setting up a campaign, I cannot load a previous campaign without starting the server.
Thanks for a great tool and I'll keep you posted on game 3!
-Mike
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The best person to look at these is probably tcroft at users.sourceforge.net, but get them to any one of us and we'll check it out.
Without seeing your images here are some simple general suggestions: Check that your images are as small as possible without losing detail. Reduce the image size first by scaling down and then by trying both png and jpg formats and tweak some of the params for compression.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I've been able to reproduce the same problem using huge image files (1900 x 2100). These are brutally big images that blow up the Java heap space when loading.
I'm investigating options for handling this.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
We used Maptool for the first time last game and it worked GREAT. We used to use Kloogewerks to project our maps onto the table - but this needs 2 computers.
Using extended desktop, my laptop had the player map on the projector while the DM map was on my laptop screen. 1 Computer - way easier than Klooge - and free = WIN WIN WIN!! The setup worked great - but our group had some comments and suggestions.
1) make labeling of tokens easier:
Default the token name to the source image name (minus extension) with a number on the end starting with 1. (ie instead of a0, a1 use goblin1 goblin2 orc1) Initiative trackers and DM Genie like this better. Also, being able to rename without using the right-click menu would make this easier. Perhaps double-click on the token name or token itself makes it editable.
2) CTRL-V to sync player and DM views is cool. How 'bout a continuous sync option??? It's not clear if this is on the bug-list...
3) Freehand Fog-of-War reveal (I think this is already on your list)
4) Being able to select a shape or Area of Effect so as to move or delete it. Also "Clear all Drawings" does not work...
5) Token "Conditions". Nothing so fancy as "Helpless" or "Turned". Just the ability to tint a token or set of tokens a certain color the same way you can set the fill color of a shape. This is listed as Token States in the bug-tracker...but this is a simpler and more versatile implementation.
6) When drawing shapes are set to "Fill", fog of war shapes also fill - bug?
7) Full Screen Client mode would be cool (Already on your list)
8) Kill Creature animation. Highlight a creature and hit the K key - Wham, token is deleted in a splash of blood or similar simple animation that you (the programmer) choose. Even a simple X appearing over the token for a half second would be better than simply Vanishing the token.
This tool is way cool and has literally changed the way we play. No more paper figures for monsters. No more 2 computer set-up. I just export my FM7 maps and I'm good! You've saved me from lugging around 2 boxes of paper minis and Worldworks settings! Excellent Job
Sorry for the long post....
-Mike
PS: I can't tell from bug-tracker what's implemented and what's not... What's the trick?
Welcome welcome ! Glad you had a good experience :)
These are some very good ideas:
1) Token labeling
I like this idea. At this point, the images lose their file names when they are loaded into a map. This is a simple storage problem that can be changed. I've added a tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388088&group_id=132209&atid=724899
2) Continuous view syncing
Interesting, that hadn't occurred to me. The thought was that the GM would want the flexibility of going 'ahead' of the group to set up the next encounter without changing the player's view, but I can see how it would be useful when using a setup like yours. How about a 'Link player view' toggle map menu item that you can toggle the client views are continuously updated. Here's the tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388091&group_id=132209&atid=724899
3) Freehand fog of war
This feature is schedule to be implemented during M8 :)
4) Area of Effect
There has been quite a bit of discussion on the template system, take a look at: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1385540&forum_id=448678 and put in your $0.02 :) The Clear all Drawings not working is a bug, I'll fix it: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388097&group_id=132209&atid=724899
5) Conditions
Hmm, interesting idea. The current plan is to make decorations on the token (similar to the current invisible state) that indicate status. It might be possible to follow the same idea, but allow full token overlays, which could include a semi transparent fill. Let me play around with that idea a bit and see what I can come up with.
6) Fog fill
This is a bug, I've added it: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388097&group_id=132209&atid=724899
7) Full screen
Incoming ! :)
8) Kill Creature animation
Hmmm, interesting idea. Let's break it up into two distinct points: special effects, and token removal. What might work well is to create generic 'fire and forget' special effects. That is, instead of making it specific to 'death' or whatever, be able to drop any special effect into the map and have all the players see the animation. That would be really spiffy ! For the token removal, I like the idea of showing an X or something over it just before it is removed. Let me play around with that one for a bit. Associated trackers: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388118&group_id=132209&atid=724899 and http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1388120&group_id=132209&atid=724899
Right on ! We're glad you like it :) You might also take a look at TokenTool for creating slick looking tokens for use in MapTool (or anywhere for that matter).
-Trev
Oops, forgot to respond to the PS. Take a look at this thread:
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1378107&forum_id=448678
Just change M7 to whatever the current release is (currently M8)
As a side note, player view linking is now implemented, it's available in ALPHA build 61
Woo hoo!
Just had our second successful game with Maptool. The player-linking was GREAT! The group had agreed to try our next game with no minis at all- just tokens! And, instead of projecting down on the table, we will try projecting across on the screen.
Our major problem this game was the maps.
I have a fairly simple castle - 5 maps. Adding one map and playing is great.
Add the second map and we're still OK.
Add map three and we're apparently out of memory. The map comes up as a -?-(question mark).
Now this is the problem: In order to bring up map three, I need to disconnect from the server and shut down the DM copy of Maptool. The restart, load map 3, and reconnect my client.
This is because I cannot remove maps from the system without re-starting the tool.
Issue two: When setting up a campaign, I cannot load a previous campaign without starting the server.
Thanks for a great tool and I'll keep you posted on game 3!
-Mike
Sorry about some grammar errors.. need to create an account so I can edit my own posts...
BTW, if you would like copies of the maps I'm using (e.g. for your debugging), let me know....
-Mike
Yes, please do send us the images you're using...
The best person to look at these is probably tcroft at users.sourceforge.net, but get them to any one of us and we'll check it out.
Without seeing your images here are some simple general suggestions: Check that your images are as small as possible without losing detail. Reduce the image size first by scaling down and then by trying both png and jpg formats and tweak some of the params for compression.
I've been able to reproduce the same problem using huge image files (1900 x 2100). These are brutally big images that blow up the Java heap space when loading.
I'm investigating options for handling this.
RE: Map count issues
What are the sizes of the images you are using ? Could you send them to submit@rptools.net ? We'll get this fixed for M8.
RE: Starting a server to do anything useful
I've come up with a plan for this. Soon M8 will work in GM mode without explicitly starting a server.
I've put in some memory optimizations, give your maps another try and let me know how it goes
I've been trying to e-mail you my original map files, but they keep getting bounced.... too big I guess...
However, I've tried them with your new fix and it works great!!! All 6 maps come up fine! This will be an advantage for next week's game.
Thanks again,
Mike who is now creating an account for future posts
Glad to hear that the fix is working for you :)