GM Time-Save Alert: Party Tools are Here!

Can't wait to try this. I current use Spawn to place my player's tokens on a new map, but having the ability baked-in is cleaner. By the way: the "here" link doesn't seem to be working but the link to the blog does work.

This is awesome! Can't await to try this out. Is there API access yet to the "Party Member" attribute? This would be a nice little helper script to make for Westmarches style games, or large campaigns with multiple PC groups more easy to manage.

Cool! API access has a lot of potential: defining parties of enemies, spell template token generation, and much more.

Tried this out last night, and it worked like a champ. Only "problem" is that it stacked all the tokens atop each other, which is probably necessary to make sure that they don't land through walls and the like. Great QoL add, thanks.

I have just loaded in to my sandpit game and see none of these features, so take it "latest version of the tabletop" means JG and Beacon sheets?   We don't use jumpgate because it doesn't play nicely with the APIs I use and we don't use 2024 sheets because they are still a work in progress; our table gets together so infrequently we don't have time for all the obvious problems with this sheet.    Shame as it would be nice, though I do have this as an automatic function when I move the party ribbon anyway via API.  I would reiterate a request made earlier by another subscriber - could things like this be clearly flagged in the header as JG/ Beacon only please to save a huge number of us exploring items that won't work?

Simon G. said: I have just loaded in to my sandpit game and see none of these features, so take it "latest version of the tabletop" means JG and Beacon sheets?   We don't use jumpgate because it doesn't play nicely with the APIs I use and we don't use 2024 sheets because they are still a work in progress; our table gets together so infrequently we don't have time for all the obvious problems with this sheet.    Shame as it would be nice, though I do have this as an automatic function when I move the party ribbon anyway via API.  I would reiterate a request made earlier by another subscriber - could things like this be clearly flagged in the header as JG/ Beacon only please to save a huge number of us exploring items that won't work? Jumpgate yes, Beacon no. This is applicable to all Jumpgate games.  Out of curiosity, which Mods (API Scripts) are you using that would not work in Jumpgate?

Thanks for the clarification Gauss and yes, the tick box does show on the 2014 sheet, so that's a me-missing-it thing.  We predominantly use ScriptCards because that is the Swiss Army knife of APIs IMHO and SmartAoE.  I know there has been JG support for stuff like Token-Mod and ChatSetAttr, but we no longer use those, excellent though they are.  The problems arise with anything involving paths/ coordinates AFAIK, certainly whilst SmartAoE does still spawn the AoEControlToken, you have to be creative to get it to function as it should if using JG.  Again, we don't get together enough to mess about, 2014 sheets and non-JG works, Beacon and JG don't, at least not without flaws, so there is no chioce to be made.  

With Jumpgate, make sure that you have the  API Sandbox Version set to Experimental until The Aaron says otherwise. ;)

Simon G. said: Thanks for the clarification Gauss and yes, the tick box does show on the 2014 sheet, so that's a me-missing-it thing.  We predominantly use ScriptCards because that is the Swiss Army knife of APIs IMHO and SmartAoE.  I know there has been JG support for stuff like Token-Mod and ChatSetAttr, but we no longer use those, excellent though they are.  The problems arise with anything involving paths/ coordinates AFAIK, certainly whilst SmartAoE does still spawn the AoEControlToken, you have to be creative to get it to function as it should if using JG.  Again, we don't get together enough to mess about, 2014 sheets and non-JG works, Beacon and JG don't, at least not without flaws, so there is no chioce to be made.   Thanks for the response. Interesting about Scriptcards, I wouldn't expect it to have issues in Jumpgate.  As for SmartAoE, I don't know if it has been updated for Jumpgate or not. Perhaps one of the API folks will chime in regarding it.

I gotta say, this new feature is phenomenal. Although I do wish we have the option of where it's located? I dunno how specifically, but there has been an incident where I accidentally click the place party instead of pasting a token, and I doubt I'll be avoiding that thing in the future due to my clumsiness lol. But if there are any suggestions on their placements I'm down to wherever it goes. 

Hi Andrew, I don't have any JG games anymore, so can't test.  I did have it set to experimental when I last tested though.  I am pretty sure from the server chat for SC that the path thing remains a problem for both SC and SmartAoE.  AFAIK it is all about how JG handles paths and coords differently, but that's not my forte, so I can't say much more.  For the sake of clarity, whilst others have been negative about Roll20's implementation of these features, I am not having a moan about Roll20, I am a happy -ish user and will move to JG and Beacon once they play nicely with Pro-Sub features, just asking that it be more obvious when stuff is not for those in a similar position to our table

Should I make a Suggestion forum thread for API access to this new attribute, or is already definitely on the road map?  I’m drooling over the idea of TheAaron updating the GroupInitiative script to allow one-click roll initiative for “The Party”. :-)

I had this same thing happen on two of the several maps where I tried out this new function, but it was only temporary. The 9 tokens  (7 PCs and 2 familiars)  stacked, but after about 5 or 6 seconds they spread out into a grid pattern. Those particular maps werent' very large, but did have a lot of pre-placed NPC tokens and several light sources. *** Dave said: Tried this out last night, and it worked like a champ. Only "problem" is that it stacked all the tokens atop each other, which is probably necessary to make sure that they don't land through walls and the like. Great QoL add, thanks.

Very cool indeed

Rick A. said: I had this same thing happen on two of the several maps where I tried out this new function, but it was only temporary. The 9 tokens  (7 PCs and 2 familiars)  stacked, but after about 5 or 6 seconds they spread out into a grid pattern. Those particular maps werent' very large, but did have a lot of pre-placed NPC tokens and several light sources. *** Dave said: Tried this out last night, and it worked like a champ. Only "problem" is that it stacked all the tokens atop each other, which is probably necessary to make sure that they don't land through walls and the like. Great QoL add, thanks. Interesting. I did notice the movement, thought the lag was not an issue; it was pretty quick. It makes sense that it would operate this way. The origin spot is guaranteed clear: Put 'em all there and move them to clear squares that don't require crossing a DL line.

That's such a cool feature! Thank you!

jayme said: Appreciate you sharing your experience, Simon. I'll make sure the team sees it. For what it's worth, we aren't purposely keeping features away from the Legacy tabletop, and do look forward to getting things up to speed so everyone can upgrade when it makes sense for them. We simply weren't able to make a lot of the improvements (performance and feature-related) on the decade+ old code of the original VTT. It helps a bunch to know which scripts have been giving you trouble on Jumpgate. (Shoutout Gauss for asking good questions!) and for the sake of clarity, I would say I don't actually want to use legacy, some of the stuff I have seen for JG particularly appeals, but as JG and Beacon stand to move over would seriously degrade our current R20 experience.  The APIs I use make Roll20 really, really nice 

Simon G. said: and for the sake of clarity, I would say I don't actually want to use legacy, some of the stuff I have seen for JG particularly appeals, but as JG and Beacon stand to move over would seriously degrade our current R20 experience.  The APIs I use make Roll20 really, really nice  Just to clarify, Jumpgate and Beacon are two separate things. The majority of sheets on Roll20 are still not Beacon, and will probably always be not Beacon. 

Hiya Gauss, yeah, I get that. But each pose their own problems to API use for me as a 5e DnD DM, JG seems to be around paths and coords and Beacon is another kettle of ballgames wrt how it does or doesn't work with APIs. I just use this stuff, I can't speak to why, I just know that we still can't shift and retain the quality we have right now. 

Simon G. said: Hi Andrew, I don't have any JG games anymore, so can't test.  I did have it set to experimental when I last tested though.  I am pretty sure from the server chat for SC that the path thing remains a problem for both SC and SmartAoE.  AFAIK it is all about how JG handles paths and coords differently, but that's not my forte, so I can't say much more.  For the sake of clarity, whilst others have been negative about Roll20's implementation of these features, I am not having a moan about Roll20, I am a happy -ish user and will move to JG and Beacon once they play nicely with Pro-Sub features, just asking that it be more obvious when stuff is not for those in a similar position to our table I use scriptcards and quite a few API scripts and I have not had any issue that I am aware of with JG.  Maybe what you experienced before has been resolved?    PS - My players really like JG better and it has helped a lot with my players with older computers that would struggle. 

cant speak to SmartAoE but I run about 40-50 APIs and only 2 have semi issues while in Jumpgate Emoji bubble & Initiative Tracker Plus works 99% only 1 small feature doesn't. 

For me, the dozens of new things possible on Jumpgate far outweigh the few things missing from incompatible AI scripts. Most everything I need has been updated anyway.

Really like this feature. When creating the party on the same map this works really well to re group and moves tokens to the new location whilst maintaining any markers and tooltips When creating the party on a different map the tokens come through without markers or tool tips. Is this something that could get added ?

There have been several responses, so I feel it is incumbent to post back as I appreciate people actually making the effort : )  I have made a JG copy of my sandpit game and yes, I can ses lots of lovely features that I would like to play with. However, I use hardly any APIs, pretty much relying on Scriptcards and SmartAoE.  At its most basic level, D&D since I started in 1978 has been I summon my familiar, the cleric turns undead and then someone uses the wand of fireballs.  In JG the SmartAoE AoEControlToken is all broken and requires some nifty mouse work, though once you do that, yes the effect fires Fireball as expected. Requires extra work to make it run properly, not a win. Turning undead via Sciptcard script, peachy perfect ; FX fired properly, gathered all tokens on map, filtered out any not on Objects, GM layers and any that weren't undead, destroyed those of low CR and made saves for the rest, placing markers on those turned. A win.  Summon a critter, this is a SC script, fired, gave me the chat summary, token spawned next to my PC. A win.  Obviously YMMV, but for me JG is a no right now.  Perhaps those obs will be useful to the team Jayme. 

Hello, very nice addition. Worked perfectly for me tonight. One question : can you reset the group easily ? The only solution I found was to go through each character sheet and to edit do untick the box... I run a west marshes type of game and I change the group every session... So it would be nice to have a reset to zero button somewhere. (I agree that I could wait for the next group and create a new party from that.. but you know :D)

Hi Pantoufle! As soon as you select and define a group, it overwrites the old group definition. No need to edit one-by-one.

Thumps up and thanks for this feature. It works fine for me and yes, it makes handling a party and moving it from map to map much more efficient.

Yes Keith I know. But sometimes I would like to reset the party before knowing what will be the next party... (just to erase those stars next to the character sheet). Currently you can set a party, you can set to another party.. But to remove the party without overriding with a new one, you can't, unless unticking one by one (or I missed how). It is no big deald but I guess/hope it is not too difficult to do :)

Pantoufle said: Yes Keith I know. But sometimes I would like to reset the party before knowing what will be the next party... (just to erase those stars next to the character sheet). Currently you can set a party, you can set to another party.. But to remove the party without overriding with a new one, you can't, unless unticking one by one (or I missed how). It is no big deald but I guess/hope it is not too difficult to do :) Ah, I see, you just want to remove all party, not info, not define a new one. Hmm. then a quicker workaround than editing each one, could be to select any token that's handy, define it as the party, and then manually redefine that one character. Still have to manually define, but only one handy character instead of seeking out each previous party member and processing them.

I'd like to highlight what FFR posted: " When creating the party on a different map the tokens come through without markers or tool tips." Not having this makes the feature less than ideal, it's still quicker to copy and paste from one map to another which retains all current information.

Karacha said: I'd like to highlight what FFR posted: " When creating the party on a different map the tokens come through without markers or tool tips." Not having this makes the feature less than ideal, it's still quicker to copy and paste from one map to another which retains all current information. Hi Karacha,  Those may be due to a different bug.  At this time markers are not saving when updating the default token to the Character.  Tool tips may be having a similar issue (I'll investigate shortly).  Edit: tool tips are having a different bug, a long standing bug. The checkbox "show" does not save when you use either "Update Default Token" (in Token settings) or "Use Selected Token" (in Character settings).  The only way for the checkbox "Show" to be saved is to use "Edit Token Properties" in the Character settings.  In short, both of these bugs existed before the Party tools. 

Hi, When using the teleport API markers and tooltips are retained teleporting from map to map. I'll probably regroup the party at the end of a map then move them through a teleport pad to the next map. Should still be much better than copy paste, move player ribbon and pinging the players.

the here link works for me

sorry it is so big

I have the same token bar issues when placing the party. Two of the PCs are ok but two PCs are not, as shown in the tokens in the top of the screenshot. The four PCs below them are simply pasted, which we know works fine. A good QOL feature if it can be made to work ok though.

This is a great QOL advancement!

Dave said: I have the same token bar issues when placing the party. Two of the PCs are ok but two PCs are not, as shown in the tokens in the top of the screenshot. The four PCs below them are simply pasted, which we know works fine. A good QOL feature if it can be made to work ok though. How do those problem tokens look when dragged from the Journal tab?

Hey Keith, dragged from the journal, they look the same as when 'placed as party'- missing the token bar. The other two are ok. However, your question made me think to check the tokens in the journal itself and those two were missing their token settings. Set now and working.  Thanks! 

Dave said: Hey Keith, dragged from the journal, they look the same as when 'placed as party'- missing the token bar. The other two are ok. However, your question made me think to check the tokens in the journal itself and those two were missing their token settings. Set now and working.  Thanks!  Cool! I had hoped it might just be a default token issue.

These features are... useful. I tend to use urban maps w/ 2 or 3 floors on the same page - this lets me rapidly move the whole party from one floor to the next. Thanks.

I just tried this out.  And it's cool.  But I'll probably never use it because of the "random placement" aspect.  When I'm moving to a new map, I'm almost always moving a party that's in a marching order, which takes a while to get the players into, as they like to debate who goes where.  So if I move off the edge of one map into a corridor on another (or a jungle trail) what I do today is a click-drag select, copy, and move to the new map and paste.  Which preseves the order. It would be nice if I could capture a marching order, and then re-place people in it after they get dispersed during a fight, but this isn't going to do that.

I've found this tool useful for pre-placing the party tokens on maps while prepping for a game. Using it during play caused problems. In our last two game sessions I tried using it instead of copy/pasting from one map to a new one but found that after two or three times the game would start glitching: dynamic lighting barriers and token vision would stop working, token movement would lag, rolling from the character sheet would be delayed, etc. The first time we all had to exit and reenter the game to clear things up. In our last game this past Sunday e en that didn't work so we finished the session using TOTM, which worked out because the last two encounters didn't require any combat or exploration.

Rick A. said: I've found this tool useful for pre-placing the party tokens on maps while prepping for a game. Using it during play caused problems. In our last two game sessions I tried using it instead of copy/pasting from one map to a new one but found that after two or three times the game would start glitching: dynamic lighting barriers and token vision would stop working, token movement would lag, rolling from the character sheet would be delayed, etc. The first time we all had to exit and reenter the game to clear things up. In our last game this past Sunday e en that didn't work so we finished the session using TOTM, which worked out because the last two encounters didn't require any combat or exploration. I've been suffering quite a bit of chat lag the last two weeks as well. Is there anything besides the timing of its introduction that makes you suspect this feature to be a cause?

I don't think that this feature alone is the cause, but that this is adding to the amount of resources being used to enable some of the other new tools. Over the last several months I've been experiencing more and more issus with VTT lock-ups, inability to move tokens, "ghost" tokens, die rolls and chat messages lagging and DL barrier issues. I've sent help requests and console logs and have been communicating with members of the support staff who have been looking into it. To me, it's looking more and more like something to do with a memory clean-up situation or maybe server communication problems. Edit: During our game last Sunday, two of my players got the warning about losing connection and needing to re-log into Roll20. Two days ago when trying to access the Roll20 wiki I got sent to a Cloudflare page saying that it was having trouble connecting to roll20.net. Even today, accessing the wiki is very slow and it's taking 10-15 seconds to get past the Cloudflare security ("I am not a robot") page. keithcurtis said: I've been suffering quite a bit of chat lag the last two weeks as well. Is there anything besides the timing of its introduction that makes you suspect this feature to be a cause?