Good Morning!
I know that this probably has been done to death, but I really want to get Dynamic Lighting going for my players. Some of these guys have it working and fine, others are chugging along. What sort of things can they do from their end to make sure that they can get the full experience?
Thanks in advance!
Pete the Red said:
Good Morning!
I know that this probably has been done to death, but I really want to get Dynamic Lighting going for my players. Some of these guys have it working and fine, others are chugging along. What sort of things can they do from their end to make sure that they can get the full experience?
Thanks in advance!
Setup your session in Legacy Dynamic Lighting for pages and tokens. Explorer mode doesn't even work in UDL, windows are not that big of a deal, and colored light looks ridiculous anyway. You aren't losing anything if you step down. Plus the amount of burned time spent troubleshooting UDL as a third party to the actual problem is one of the most annoying aspects of the UDL experience.
Hi, Pete the Red, I'm going to give you my run-down on how to get the most out of Dynamic Lighting. Accepting that legacy lighting is going to go, I took the plunge into UDL a while ago. From my experience, and from reading the forums for many months, there are a few things to be prepared for. Some of them may happen to you, and some may not.
Common problems are lag, sudden reveals, transparent graphics, see-through walls, and some odd interactions of the various light and sight settings.
1. Lag: I have never experienced the lag problem, and that may be a deal breaker if it happens to you or someone in your group. There is no way to find out except by trying. I suspect memory/process hogs are multiple NPCs/monsters/mooks with vision (they don't need it as default), and possibly very large maps, and large player parties, requiring constant calculation of sight lines. Also, I never use explorer mode (see #6 below), because I lose control over what players can see. Any of these things may contribute to lag. As Keithcurtis says, we don't know what conditions cause it.
2. Sudden reveals: In each of three different games, I have a player who will start out a session just fine, and then 20 to 30 minutes in, suddenly be able to see the whole map better than I can, because they don't have to deal with the GM opacity that lets us see where lights and shadows are. They see everything. I have accepted this as the cost of doing business, and I put large filled rectangles on the token layer to cover things until the PCs enter the area. We used to play on dry-erase mats, so my players are fine with this old-fashioned method of covering the map. Most of them can't see it because the UDL works fine for them -- it's just those three problem players. FWIW, I think each of them is using an older computer with relatively low processing power, but I haven't done any deep investigation.
3. Transparent graphics: This is a problem with overlapping dim light, and only affects the GM. Players see tokens normally. I just live with it.
4. See-through walls: This is a result of a decision to make sight extend from the edges of a token rather than the center. It makes sense and is better than the alternative, but if a token edge slips over a line, the player can see to the other side. Don't use thin lines for dynamic lighting lines, and try to snap the dynamic lighting lines to grid where possible. When doing angled or complex shapes, use thick lines. Keep player tokens from extending beyond the grid square to minimize edge effects.
5. Odd interactions: Tinted lighting and tinted vision are not yet ready for prime time. They interact with each other, with themselves, and with darkvision, to produce odd, unpredictable shadows and coloring. To simulate tinted light, add a clear png token with a colored aura, or a semi-transparent png token in the color you want.
6. A word about simulating explorer mode: I like to control what players can see, and I really like dynamic lighting. I use it all the time. My workaround for explorer mode is similar to "light crumbs," but more controlled. I have two character sheets with invisible png tokens, one for "allsight" and one for "dimsight". More details are here, but this is the quick version. The token for "allsight" emits bright light out to 100 feet, has vision, and is controlled by all players; I drop it onto the map when and where I want the players to be able to see clearly. The token for "dimsight" has dark vision to 100 feet, and is controlled by all players. I drop it to allow players to "remember" where they have been without being able to see it clearly. Note that unlike explorer mode, it still allows the token layer to be seen, so I have to hide monsters on the GM layer. Use the bump API script to make them easily retrievable.
I hope this helps you get into UDL. It adds a lot to the gaming atmosphere in my opinion, even with the bugs.
Good post, Valerie.
Point 3 can often be mitigated by specifically listing the GM as a controller of any NPC tokens.
The only selling point for UDL imo was path memory or explorermode as they are calling it. The fact that one of the biggest caveats is that you still have to use LDL's lightcrumbs instead just begs the question, what are you getting out of UDL then. Especially if 3 players get to see the map and you have to do the extra work of covering things up. Then theres the fact that tokenmod has issues applying UDL lighting settings in some use scenarios and the fact that there is no switch to flip between the two different DL modes, just a switch to change LDL to UDL making any sudden issue with UDL a literal gamebreaker mid live session. Then theres the whole fact that they purposely make you do extra steps to utilize the more pristine reliable LDL. If they really wanted us to more clearly test UDL for them to work out all these bugs that are years in the making at this point, they should have given the API keys the same names and made a button that toggles between LDL and UDL instead of just one way and for whatever damned reason they should reverse the decision to hide LDL behind unnecessary ridiculous clicks. Instead they make the whole transition from LDL to UDL and back in a live session as painful as a root canal with dirty instruments.
Even that new torch deploy button they added is bad in UDL. You can do things way faster with tokenmod and LDL with a simple macro.
DM Eddie said:
what are you getting out of UDL then.
The biggest advantage to me is the separation of vision from light. My preferred system uses field of view, so I can now have a token that has a limited field of view, but sheds full radius light, which can be seen by other tokens with their limited field of view. No need for extra torch/lantern tokens or anything. Explorer mode works for me and everyone I play with, so I don't use "bread crumbs" unless I want them to be able to see what is happening somewhere.
As far as applying settings with TokenMod goes, I have very little trouble with that since I don't change field of view often after first creating a token. Field of view seems to be the main thing that won't reliably change without hitting edit/save on the token. But sometimes altering field of view works just fine with TokenMod...
Kraynic said:
DM Eddie said:
what are you getting out of UDL then.
The biggest advantage to me is the separation of vision from light. My preferred system uses field of view, so I can now have a token that has a limited field of view, but sheds full radius light, which can be seen by other tokens with their limited field of view. No need for extra torch/lantern tokens or anything. Explorer mode works for me and everyone I play with, so I don't use "bread crumbs" unless I want them to be able to see what is happening somewhere.
As far as applying settings with TokenMod goes, I have very little trouble with that since I don't change field of view often after first creating a token. Field of view seems to be the main thing that won't reliably change without hitting edit/save on the token. But sometimes altering field of view works just fine with TokenMod...
Torch API accomplishes this in LDL.
DM Eddie said:
Torch API accomplishes this in LDL.
Ah, they did port that back to LDL. Last time I used LDL you couldn't separate the 2. Another thing that UDL provides is the adjustable global illumination, so you can alter that for different night time conditions without having to mess with light emitting tokens with dark auras like I used in LDL to get a similar effect.
Kraynic said:
DM Eddie said:
Torch API accomplishes this in LDL.Ah, they did port that back to LDL. Last time I used LDL you couldn't separate the 2. Another thing that UDL provides is the adjustable global illumination, so you can alter that for different night time conditions without having to mess with light emitting tokens with dark auras like I used in LDL to get a similar effect.
!flicker creates an invisible token that follows the character around so you can set the vision on the actual character token and then use the torch api to manage lightsources. Its been this way since before UDL even existed. I actually think this method is more realistic for how a lightsource looks with someone with darkvision too.
DM Eddie said:
!flicker creates an invisible token that follows the character around so you can set the vision on the actual character token and then use the torch api to manage lightsources. Its been this way since before UDL even existed. I actually think this method is more realistic for how a lightsource looks with someone with darkvision too.
Kraynic said:
DM Eddie said:
!flicker creates an invisible token that follows the character around so you can set the vision on the actual character token and then use the torch api to manage lightsources. Its been this way since before UDL even existed. I actually think this method is more realistic for how a lightsource looks with someone with darkvision too.That is cool if you prefer that sort of thing.Flickering stuff and animations really aren't something I am interested in. I know exactly what candles, candle lanterns, oil lamps and lanterns, campfires, etc. look like. I don't need the vtt trying to give me some imitation of it.
Yeah I actually wish there was a stationary version of it sometimes cause light cantrips and dancing lights don't shimmer like an open flame does. Neither does a lantern really.