Removing the annoying grayed out overlay of all macros

There is a grayed out overlay of sorts that is always at the top of my screen (and my players) showing a list of all the macros that have been created for our game.  How can this be removed?  It's not needed and really gets in the way of mapping, and is terribly annoying for me and the players to always have in the way.  I can get it to disappear for 2 seconds my switching between layers, but it always returns. 

I also don't see the point of having an option to show the macro bar at the bottom of the screen if all the macros always return at the top.  Can we just have the bottom macro bar please?  This allows us to choose which macros we want to permanently display.  I fail to see why the ghost macro overlay always hangs out up top, seems like a design flaw.

Many thanks if this can get removed, I can't find any boxes that I've checked that put up the giant ghost macro overlay; the only thing to check is the option for the small macro bar below.

Does this overlay only appear when you have a token selected? If so, it's a set of token actions, and you can disable them either on the macros tab, or the character sheet abilities tab, depending on where they are coming from.

If they aren't token actions, there shouldnt be any buttons up there. Maybe they are being added by an extension?

Can you post a screenshot?

  Here is the picture: 

I see what you mean by "token actions."  Unfortunately, when I uncheck that "show as token action", and "visable to players" it removes the ability of my players to use them, which is why I made all the macros in the first place so I don't have to do a thousand more things as GM during the game. 

It seems extremely counter-intuitive to give us the ability to select which macros we'd like at the bottom, but then take away the ability of the players to use the macros.  Why can't players have this option if the GM has a pro account?  Seems like a much more intelligent fix than cluttering the screen with a ghost overlay anytime any token is selected that is not related to those macros (like what occurs when you put tokens on the screen for mapping.)  Shouldn't be that difficult of a fix.  Unless it becomes another roll "let's try to fix the slider bars by taking them away" attempt, ROFL.

Roll20 could be so much more user friendly.  Do the coders/designers ever GM using Roll20? 

Those are Token actions.

You need to edit each macros, and uncheck the token action box, #4 in the pic below.

If youre not the GM, you'll have to ask your GM to do this.

oh dear god in heaven.  That's not a fix, that's compounding the problem.

That IS a fix. It will remove the token actions. How does it compound the problem?

If youre the GM, btw, a custom script can remove the tokenaction flag from all macros at once. If that'd be helpful, I can post it later (or maybe Aaron already has one for this!).

Can anyone else help? 

I'm not trying to ruin all the macros I typed up by typing the above and compound the problem by getting this: " You attempted to use a roll command looking for the value of a selected token, but no tokens are selected.  No character was found for 'selected'" 

And even if there is a magic working string of commands that will actually do what I was originally asking, I'm not about to type in tons of new code for each macro, when the macros themselves are situational and only a few get used during different games.

Again, the simple request was to not get a giant overlay of the tokens on the screen of myself, and my players.  As the GM (stated already above) with a Pro Account, I can put the macros I want to keep on the screen all the time on the bottom as an option, by checking the box "in bar" under the Macro Settings.  Why can't the players in my campaign do this as well?   I understand that the tokens can be tied to macros, but it's ridiculous that every token put on the screen for mapping gets treated as a token that should be attached to all the macros. 

And to be clear, these are not macros that get attached to a sheet, like attacking commands, they are macros for exploring the world.

GiGs has already supplied the answer to your question:

GiGs said:

Those are Token actions.

You need to edit each macros, and uncheck the token action box, #4 in the pic below.

If youre not the GM, you'll have to ask your GM to do this.

Unchecking #4 will only produce the output you've mentioned if you've set up your global macros to use the 'selected' keyword which, while understandable and common, isn't good practice for universal/global macros. I would recommend using the 'target' keyword instead so that the macros can be run without selecting tokens and then the token can be chosen afterwards making these macros truly incidental.

It might well be a bit of work to 'fix' them all now but good practice for the future.

There is no magic button as this is a process issue rather than a Roll20 one although the API can lighten the load... GiGs even offered to produce one assuming The Aaron didn't step in with one.

Still doesn't come close to helping.  What a waste of time this was.  Reading through past forums regarding the same request, it's never been actually addressed, so there's your process issue.  Several responses, but no answers related to the actual request.  Like when your local ISP drops service and you call and some guy answering overseas says in broken English, "did you turn your modem off and on?"  

Go ahead and close this post.

There seems to be a major miscommunication here. I'm frankly baffled at your responses. Unchecking the token action button does not change how the macro works. It will continue to work exactly as it did before, you just dont get the popup at the top of the screen. Isn't that what you wanted?

Also can you post a link to one of the other forum threads where people have had the issue? Because I cant help feeling we aren't understanding your issue properly, and reading one of those threads may help clarify it.

Hmm, it seems to me the question has been answered, but you don't want to except them.  Perhaps a different approach will help....

Token macros that show at the top are good for sharing macros with your players.  You can even have them show up for specific players in the settings for each global macro.  This means that a macro/rollable table for unstable magic will only show up for the player that has some unstable spells, but for none of the other players.  They also only show up when a token is selected.

The quick macro bar at the bottom are generally roll buttons dragged from a sheet and are only visible to the player who put them there. No one else can place macros there except the individual players.  No one else can interact with those macros at all as far as I know.  

Basically, the 2 different areas of macros serve 2 totally different purposes, have different setup/permissions, and generally hold different sorts of commands.  As far as the token actions go, you have a lot of them visible.  If you have to have that many visible/accessible to yourself and players all the time, you might consider creating some chat menu macros to consolidate your buttons and slim down what you have displayed at the top.  If you aren't the DM of that game, maybe you should point them chat menus out to them to cut down on clutter.

Chat menu link in the Stupid Tricks thread:  https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/5927072/

The token action bar at top is meant to be used for either Actions (character specific macros written on the character sheet that apply to the selected character/token), or macros written for universal access by all characters/tokens, based upon the token which is selected. An example of the former might be an attack or spell, an example of the latter might be an initiative macro meant to be used by anyone but that specifically acts upon a selected token. They are situational. They are not meant for general all-the-time-use.

The macro bar at the bottom is meant to hold macros that do not require a token to be selected to activate. They are macros that might call up a handout lore document, or call up a chat menu, or display information in the chat log.

These are generalizations, because there is considerable freedom in macro writing. It looks like you have written a lot of general macros and told them to be token macros, meaning they will only appear when a token is selected. If your intent was for them to be available to all players, fill in "All Players" in the macro editing box. It will be up to them whether they want them to appear in the macro bar. That setting is handled by clicking "show in bar" on the collections tab. Essentially, by assigning them to all players, you are causing them to be available in the collections tab.

If you do not want any macros to appear in the token action bar, do not assign them to be token actions.

It looks like you have written your macros in a way not intended for them to be used. People are trying to help you here, but please realize if you did not use them correctly in the first place, they will require work to correct. There is nothing wrong with the system, you have simply not used it as intended, and now are getting undesirable results. If you would like some help or guidance on how to correct your macros, please post the text of a few and we can hopefully work out a solution that won't require too much hassle.

OldSchoolGM said:

Still doesn't come close to helping.  What a waste of time this was.  

You must be a real riot at parties.

OldSchoolGM said:

  I see what you mean by "token actions."  Unfortunately, when I uncheck that "show as token action", and "visable to players" it removes the ability of my players to use them, which is why I made all the macros in the first place so I don't have to do a thousand more things as GM during the game. 

It seems extremely counter-intuitive to give us the ability to select which macros we'd like at the bottom, but then take away the ability of the players to use the macros.  Why can't players have this option if the GM has a pro account?  Seems like a much more intelligent fix than cluttering the screen with a ghost overlay anytime any token is selected that is not related to those macros (like what occurs when you put tokens on the screen for mapping.)  Shouldn't be that difficult of a fix.  Unless it becomes another roll "let's try to fix the slider bars by taking them away" attempt, ROFL.

Roll20 could be so much more user friendly.  Do the coders/designers ever GM using Roll20? 

By default the "Show as Token Action?" box is unchecked and unfortunately it doesn't show up in the overall list of macros, so you'll just have to go back into each individual macro and make sure it's unchecked and that the "Save Changes" button is clicked.

For macros to be shared with players you want to be sure the "Visible to Players" section is correctly filled out (either with All Players or with the names of individual players that need a particular macro).  That setting displays the macro name on their personal list of macros on the Collection tab, but they will have to view their own lists and check "In Bar" for each macro they'd like to include in the bar at the bottom of their own screens. 

Take those steps and things should be set up the way you'd like once your players have added the shared macros to their bars.  Just keep in mind that those macro bars at the bottom are completely local to each player, unlike the Token Actions overlay.  So if you rearrange your macro bar buttons, that only applies to your bar and not that of the players.  For that reason, some GMs like using Chat Menus as suggested above, because they get more control over the layout of the commands rather than relying on players to set things up correctly.

 

There is the distinct possibility of an API interfering with normal behaviour and the OP might not actually have a process issue... but due to the overall negative tone and blatant lack of respect shown thus far I'm declaring myself out.

I wish you luck.