Fog of war/ Dynamic Lighting question

Hello everyone.  I've been DM'ing a campaign for almost a year now and I feel that I am finally getting a decent understanding of using Roll20 to the fullest extent. I am starting to realize, however, that there must be something wrong with how I'm doing things because whenever I try and use The Fog of War feature the game slows down to a crawl for myself AND my six players.  Moving tokens around is next to impossible as they skip and the maps take forever to load when I transition between scenes. I tried using the new Dynamic lighting feature and that honestly made everything worse. I did what research I could in the forum archives and haven't really found anything specifically addressing fog of war issues and how to increase performance.  It would be nice to have the feature as my party tends to get lost without seeing areas they have already explored (thus bogging down a session a little bit.) If anyone has any advice on how to use the feature without making a session impossibly frustrating it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Since they are all somewhat related to what you are doing, have you checked out these articles on the wiki? <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Best_Practices_for_Files_on_Roll20" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Best_Practices_for_Files_on_Roll20</a> <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance</a> <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Dynamic_Lighting_Examples#Best_Performance_Guide" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Dynamic_Lighting_Examples#Best_Performance_Guide</a>

Which Fog of War do you mean? The original static Fog of War works fine, and causes no slowdowns at all. I use it every time I run a game, because I frame the battle map with it and hide the tokens in the Tracker inside the Fog of War. I don't use any of the Dynamic Lighting or Fog of War features, so I have made sure to turn them all off.&nbsp;

I've moved this topic to "Specific Use Questions and Macros", as it fits better there. Kind Regards, Bixag Roll20 Moderator

Andrew R. said: Which Fog of War do you mean? The original static Fog of War works fine, and causes no slowdowns at all. I use it every time I run a game, because I frame the battle map with it and hide the tokens in the Tracker inside the Fog of War. I don't use any of the Dynamic Lighting or Fog of War features, so I have made sure to turn them all off.&nbsp; Sorry, I'm referring specifically to the advanced fog of war.&nbsp; I use dynamic lighting for my dungeons because I love the "feel" it gives to the game.

Kraynic said: Since they are all somewhat related to what you are doing, have you checked out these articles on the wiki? <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Best_Practices_for_Files_on_Roll20" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Best_Practices_for_Files_on_Roll20</a> <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance</a> <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Dynamic_Lighting_Examples#Best_Performance_Guide" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Dynamic_Lighting_Examples#Best_Performance_Guide</a> Thanks for this - yes I have researched these specific guidelines. To give you a better idea - I loaded a very small 15 x 20 map of a cabin. I lined up the very few walls in the dynamic lighting layer. Loaded up one of my player's tokens and had just he and I logged on to see if it still lagged.&nbsp; Just him, me and a small map. Unplayable. (I should update that this is in regards to the Advanced Fog of War feature). It's frustrating, but, like I said earlier -- just the only minor frustration I have with Roll20. It would just be really great for my players to have seen where they have already explored and not just see their field of vision (and only their field of vision)

Bixag said: I've moved this topic to "Specific Use Questions and Macros", as it fits better there. Kind Regards, Bixag Roll20 Moderator thank you!

I don't know what else to recommend.&nbsp; I make use of dynamic lighting, but the only time I plan on using AFoW (haven't gotten there in the game yet) is for exploration with a group token on a regional overland map.&nbsp; I guess I am one of those "you only get to see what your character sees (most of the time)" GMs.

Kraynic said: I don't know what else to recommend.&nbsp; I make use of dynamic lighting, but the only time I plan on using AFoW (haven't gotten there in the game yet) is for exploration with a group token on a regional overland map.&nbsp; I guess I am one of those "you only get to see what your character sees (most of the time)" GMs. Thanks man and I appreciate it.&nbsp; I guess there is just no way to really implement AFoW.&nbsp; I might try it situationally like you mentioned.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hmm, we've been using AFoW with LDL and large indoor maps with lots of DL walls without issues. Are you sure that global illumination is not on for the page in question? Removing "has sight" for all npc tokens should also help, especially if there are lots of enemies (nm, re-reading your follow-up description makes this second suggestion kinda moot).&nbsp;

David M. said: Hmm, we've been using AFoW with LDL and large indoor maps with lots of DL walls without issues. Are you sure that global illumination is not on for the page in question? Removing "has sight" for all npc tokens should also help, especially if there are lots of enemies (nm, re-reading your follow-up description makes this second suggestion kinda moot).&nbsp; Yeah -- I simplified everything the best I could. I wonder if it's more of a perspective issue: i.e. my idea of it being "unplayable" may be different for others. My dragging a token around and it taking about 1.5 seconds to appear where I dragged it translates to being unplayable for me (and my players).&nbsp;&nbsp; The amount of issues I read about on reddit about AFoW and LDL being on at the same time must mean it simply isn't a stable feature.

AFoW + LDL + Global Illumination was my bugbear too. I stopped using AFoW and things have been fine since (well, apart from the players getting lost in a dungeon once, because they couldn't remember the way out ;-)&nbsp; )

Usually no noticeable lag for me and my group with AFoW + LDL with no global illumination, aside from maybe once or twice in the last 5hr session (when a player moved their token and only one or two of the other players didn't update for a couple seconds). Maybe we've just been lucky.

If it's an ongoing issue, you may want to consider using light crumbs &nbsp;as an alternative to AFoW. Seems that there is a light crumbs script , as well, though I have never used it and don't know the status.&nbsp;

David M. said: If it's an ongoing issue, you may want to consider using light crumbs &nbsp;as an alternative to AFoW. Seems that there is a light crumbs script , as well, though I have never used it and don't know the status.&nbsp; Dude...this is perfect!&nbsp; What a brilliant idea!&nbsp; THANK YOU SO MUCH

Farling said: AFoW + LDL + Global Illumination was my bugbear too. I stopped using AFoW and things have been fine since (well, apart from the players getting lost in a dungeon once, because they couldn't remember the way out ;-)&nbsp; ) hahaa my players get lost every session.&nbsp; It's becoming hilarious&nbsp;