Dynamic Lighting Outlines?

Odd title, I know, and not one that sums up my inquiry... But, I was wondering, now that I have upgraded my account to Supporter and acquired Dynamic Lighting, is there a way that I can use Dynamic Lighting without it HAVING to be a wall? For example: I have several ships in a hangar and the power and a player wants to use one of those ships as cover. However, with Dynamic Lighting, they can't really see what KIND of ship it is they're hiding behind-- all they can see is the black lining of the DL "Wall". Is there no way to bring the image of the token/thing to the forefront while still keeping the LOS limitations of the outlining for it? It's hard to explain, I know. ;-;

No way that I know of. Best thing I can suggest is to go onto the dynamic lighting layer during gameplay and manually move your cover around so your players can see what's behind it. Or you could just remake it on the fly, leaving all cover objects blank on the dynamic lighting layer for now.

Try this; 1. draw a DL outline around your object(the token or map layer) by using the Dynamic Lighting layer. 2. place a light source with the options, All Players See Light and Has Sight, "inside" of the enclosed DL border on the token layer(you might resize or use a certain token to help hide that it's a light source). 3. Give players control of the light source token(s) using Controlled By. They won't be able to see around the object, but they can see the top of the object. I think that's the trick.

Sweet tip/trick. Have to view in player mode to see the effect.

Brilliant! I was wondering about this myself! Thanks for the tip!

Yes, that's pretty neat! I will certainly keep this in my bag of Roll20 tricks.

Great tip! I have wanted to do this often but never came up with a good solution

I always put the line somewhere behind the obstruction i wanted to show (or a single line down the middle to allow half of it from either angle) but that is inspired Vince... being able to keep the movement blocking of the DL while maintaining the detail of the map!! Bravo

I'll give credit to HoneyBadger for this trick. I believe I learned this trick from him eons ago. I use it more as a workaround for not having a foreground map layer ... and I think there's a suggestion for that. :-P

I can't get the little workaround to work. Dunno if I'm doing something wrong, but I followed the instructions to a tee. ;-;

Hi Taylor. Test by re-joining as a player. I noticed that sometime using CTRL+L on a player token doesn't always show what a player will see. I didn't include any of the normal settings you need for dynamic lighting, so check your Page Settings

Taylor R. said: To clarify: I can only get one or the other; Either the players can't see the thing but can't walk onto it, or they can see it and CAN walk onto it, not having their vision or path obstructed. ;-; As a GM you will see it and can walk thru DL barriers. Test as a player (re-join). CTRL+L on a player token may work also.

Mkay, well I got it working, I guess, but now there's the issue that the light source or whatever can be seen on the map without the players needing to have it in their LoS... Mer.. It seems I can't do anything to it to try and restrict it from being seen without players being in the same area without losing the ability for players to SEE the thing at all, rather than some giant black wall/blob blocking their path.

shut it off when they are not in the area?

One drawback with this trick is that since the players can see and have control of the light source that's "inside" the DL outline of the object you want to reveal, they will always be able to see it unless you toggle the light source or move it to the GM-layer. You can use this method of giving players control of small light sources to illum areas of the map that they have already explored. Kind of like breadcrumbs. . . . . .

OldSchoolChris said: shut it off when they are not in the area? Yeh, I guess I could. Kind of unorthodox, but I guess it works. Lol.

I ask because if you use The Aaron's !token-mod script , you can out a macro on each token that turns it on and off if you set it up like a switch.

OldSchoolChris said: I ask because if you use The Aaron's !token-mod script , you can out a macro on each token that turns it on and off if you set it up like a switch. TokenMod and Torch are a couple of nice scripts. As are all of Aaron's scripts.

Vince said: OldSchoolChris said: I ask because if you use The Aaron's !token-mod script , you can out a macro on each token that turns it on and off if you set it up like a switch. TokenMod and Torch are a couple of nice scripts. As are all of Aaron's scripts. I was under the impression that only Mentors can use API?

You're correct. API access alone is worth the price of admission. ;-p

Sorry for the confusion. Once I saw dynamic lighting and api scripting, I skipped right tomentor status. I didnt think about your access level.