Animations Won't Loop

I'm running a story in which certain animations are vital clues for my players, and on my end, from most computers, most animation has two problems: - Looping animations don't play automatically; I must manually start them. - Once I press Play, even if Looping is enabled, the animation plays once and stops. Toggling looping off and on again doesn't change anything. I connect to Roll20 from three different computers, and the behavior is mostly consistent between them. The one exception is that on this computer, *one* iteration of a particular animation is looping as normal. Another instance of the same animation on the same map won't loop, and if I drag a new copy of the animation from my art library, it doesn't loop. Most of my maps are set to use dynamic lightingm and that dynamic lighting barriers block line of sight. Explorer mode is not enabled, nor is token-update-on-drop. Has anyone else encountered this? Is this some madness I can correct through settings, or is it just a straight-up bug, which the inconsistent behavior with the one semi-working animation suggests?

Hi Adam is Up to Something! I have used animations very sparingly, so take anything I suggest with a grain of salt. If you copy/paste the working animation, does the copy function normally? Is the map they are on terribly complex in its Dynamic Lighting or number of tokens (particularly sighted ones)? Do the animations function more consistently on a fresh page, or even a fresh game? Are all of the malfunctioning animations from a single source? The forums are primarily community support, but if you want an official look-see, I'd suggest a  Help Center Request .

Hi, Keith, thanks for following up! Yes, if I copy the existing animation that actually loops (from a pack called Animated Elementals), the pasted result loops appropriately. The same animation won't loop if dragged from my art library; the ONLY way to get a looping version is to copy the one that already loops. I did some additional testing based on your questions. I created a small, blank map with dynamic lighting disabled; basically, the map was as feature-light as I could make it. If I drag an animation from my Art Library, it plays once, then stops. If I right-click the animation, to gives me the option to Stop Looping, which implies it's supposed to loop by default. Toggling stop to start and back doesn't help. All the animations I've tested are ones I've used before, and all of them used to loop continually unless I manually selected Stop Looping. Doing a little web searching, it looks like this problem happened 8 months ago. Drespar in Support replied that it should be fixed, and the replies at the time suggested whatever support did to fix it was successful. At the time, it was reported as a problem with .gifs specifically, but otherwise, it sounds exactly like the problem I'm having. This time, I'm not seeing multiple people reporting the problem. WOAH, and I just discovered a workaround. Animations dragged from the art library won't loop no matter what, but if you copy an animation, then paste it, the pasted copy will loop normally.

Very odd. Wish I had more to add, but like I said, I use virtually no animations, so don't have much experience. If you'd like to make the devs aware, I'd suggest filing a  Help Center Request , including the name of the set and a sample graphic, some repro steps and maybe a  Console Log ( Chrome , Firefox ) from when you try the step.

I have this issue too, copy and pasting fixes, but that just adds more steps to an already hard working GM. Given this includes paid content, this really should be fixed ASAP...

Oh, thank goodness! I was starting to think I was the only one. I've got an open support ticket, and they've been looking into it, but you may want to submit one of your own.

I've just realised something. As a GM I saw it happen. Now as a player I saw it happen too... but only in Chrome . In Firefox it doesn't do it. It's Chrome specific. But Firefox also lags to all hell for R20 and they've never fixed that so... shrug.

I'm also having this issue.  Basically, gifs refuse to loop.  I'm also using Chrome.  As I recall, this happened once before, some months back, and it got fixed.  Hopefully they will identify the issue and fix it again soon.

Argg... same here! Hope they fix it soon.

Same thing for me, animated tokens won't loop anymore in Chrome

I'm trying to figure out if the symptom has changed slightly over time. When I originally posted this, I could've sworn the behavior when I dragged a looping animated token onto a map, it would play once, then stop, which is why I specified in the title that animations aren't looping. For the past week, the symptom has altered for me such that looping animations don't play the first time when they're dropped on the map, either. Otherwise, the behavior is identical. For any who've noticed this for a few days, has the initial behavior changed?

Hey Adam Is Up to Something and Andrew, I've experimented with dragging most of those tokens from the Animated Elementals pack, and hopefully discovered something that may shed light onto the problem. If I drag  directly from the marketplace pack: They animate on drop and loop as expected (Chrome-Mac). They also come in at the correct size. If I right-click on the the marketplace item and choose "Copy to Library" and drag the personal library copy onto the VTT, then weirdness happens: The token animates when hovered over in the library panel It does not animate on the VTT when dragged from the personal art library. No right-click controls are available to tell it to animate. I cannot duplicate the copy-paste workaround. It comes in at 1x1 grid squares. When dragged from the Marketplace, it properly comes in at 2x2. Something is not transferring when the item is saved to a personal library. Adam, are you copying the tokens in question to your library first, or dragging directly from the Marketplace pack? If this does turn out to be the core cause of the issue, the workaround would be to drag from the Marketplace until this can be sorted out.

Hi, Keith, I've been dragging directly from the Marketplace folder for each item. It's actually never occurred to me to try dragging from My Library. It's extremely rare that I add something to my library. (I once tried adding dozens of my commonly-used art assets that way, only to find I'd just wasted fifteen minutes and nothing got saved. I stopped trying at that point.) I just tested and found two things: - If I drag an animation I added from my Recent Uploads, it behaves the same as animations I drag from their respective Marketplace folders. - If I click the same animation and choose Copy to Art Library, the copy dragged from there behaves like yours: not only does it not animate, there are no animation controls. Copy-paste caused Chrome to go into an extended Not Responding state. When it finally broke free, the pasted version also couldn't be animated. Interestingly, the pasted version was also frozen on a different frame of the animation than the one I'd copied. Hi, Andrew! Yes, your listed steps are accurate to my initial experience, assuming when you say "drag from the Art Library," you mean dragging from a folder in Purchased Items. All that's different now is that most animations don't even animate the first time, or (rarely) animate for a frame or two, then stop. It's got to be significant that you were unable to replicate the problem since I can reproduce it in all my games, on all my devices, and on different networks. That makes me wonder if the problem is somehow with user settings. I've spent the last ten minutes or so changing a lot of my settings around (turn off chat tech entirely, change maximum FPS, dice settings, night mode), but haven't seen different behavior, yet. Since Keith pointed it out, I noticed that when I hover over an animation in Purchased Items, they do animate properly while I'm hovering. It's only after being dragged to a map layer that they don't.

Tested on Version 112.0.5615.137 (Official Build) (arm64) Updated to Version 113.0.5672.63 (Official Build) (arm64), same reported behavior

Just checked the Chrome version on this, my primary computer for running games. Couldn't clock the version I'd been on before it updated itself to Version 113.0.5672.64 (Official Build) (64-bit). Tested and confirmed I'm still having the symptom and that the workaround works. The testing I did here was in a new copy of one of my games. I realized I had access to Chrome Version 111.0.5563.111 (Official Build) (64-bit) in another environment and tested it there. I'd never normally try running Roll20 there - it was overall barely functional - but I was able to reproduce the problem and the workaround. I checked while remoted onto on another computer I'd been testing from, where I knew I'd had the problem. It had been running Version 112.0.5615.138 (Official Build) (64-bit). Like my main computer, after it updated itself to 113-blah-blah, I could continue to reproduce the problem.

Tried using Firefox while this issue is on, but of course Firefox's animations in R20 are still laggy as all hell (like 10fps). An issue reported a year ago and still unfixed. If animations are being solved for this, I'd look into it please? It's been a year and it makes FF virtually unusably for animations for players.

I am also having this issue, and it seem Roll20 staff isn't interested in actually trying to troubleshoot anything and is defaulting to the garbage response "What version browser are you running?" or pretending it doesn't happen and isn't an issue "Sorry we can't replicate the problem" which translates to "We don't give a fuck and don't care to try" How about some refunds? How about I finally drop this otherwise would-be great VTT except how great is something if the supposed "Team" won't lift a finger to update anything or fix anything. They're sure plenty happy to take money from subscribers and offer what? Cookiecutter "did you try restarting your PC" comments. This is some people's livelyhood 

They've also been doing a complete site overhaul, lately, which may have spread their resources a bit thin. I'm mostly still having the problem, although one animation randomly worked properly for me when I dragged it from my art resources. Sadly, it was a one-time occurrence.

Hello, I'm also having this issue and I run a very gif-heavy game, so thought I would throw my hat into the ring. Chrome Version: Version 113.0.5672.127 (Official Build) (64-bit) The workaround of adding the gif > copy/pasting > new gif now loops does work for me, at least it has in the tests I have done. I find that dragging from my recent uploads does not fix it, these act the same as if I dragged from my library. I do not however lack the right-click controls others have mentioned, all of my library and upload assets include the 'stop looping' and 'play' buttons, as well as the 'loop' and 'stop' buttons if the animation is playing.  I don't use marketplace assets, only my own uploaded ones. Of course that means I'm not as harmed as the other people here are, but it definitely sours the experience regardless. If I can help with any testing I'm happy to, I just really want my gifs to work again, hah.

Same here, copy pasting fixes but it is a strange issue for sure.

I am running into this issue as well where all my animated tokens only animate one cycle.  The looping does not work. My firefox version is 113.0.2 (64-bit). I have joined different servers and the issue is across all of them.  Additionally, could VTT Enhancement Suite be part of the issue? This is a total bummer.

I've been having this issue too. Animated splash art I've used many times before is suddenly refusing to loop.

Sixxy, if VTT Enhancement Suite is a mod/API, I doubt it, as I've never used it (or even heard of it) before. Rosepath: does copy-pasting the splash art cause it to behave properly for you?

I can confirm that if I have a character token on the map that's animated, then copy and paste a duplicate of it, said duplicate works properly.  I've tried it 3 times on one game, and looks like it keeps, even when I leave and return to the game.  Same with monster tokens. I can't for the light of me theorize what makes only the paste version work...

Getting the same issue on my campaign.  Broken in all tested browsers (Brave, Chrome, Edge—but all are chromium) even after a full wipe.  But copying and pasting the animated elements does fix it.

Thought I was going crazy, having the same issue, guessing all the stuff that's being tweaked here is the culprit. I use Firefox almost exclusively, (but I've tested it Chrome and Edge also, same problem) and it started doing it for me a week ago, though I had started to notice inconsistencies with tokens randomly ceasing to loop. Usually stopping them, stop them looping, then relooping them, and restarting would fix it, but now that doesn't even work, nor does dragging fresh tokes from my Library. And this happens on multiple animated token packs; the Weather Pack, Animated Portals, Animated Hazards, Animated Flames, ect.  All seem to do it. The Copy/Paste fix does though, so I'm kinda at a loss. I've gone through my games and jump started all the tokens to get them going again, but I'm hoping this issue is fixed before long, as it does add an extra layer of work for getting maps prepped.

Is there even a theory as to why this has suddenly become the case?  Such a bizarre problem, especially the copy/paste part of it. This also affects Rollable Tokens, by the way.

Thought I'd chime in and confirm that I'm experiencing the same issues, happens on all browsers. Hope it gets fixed. One workaround that I've found for now is that enabling/disabling animations and refreshing the page eventually works, but have no idea whether that will affect the players' view of it.

Chiming in that I have these problems on both Firefox and Chrome. Additionally, the animations also stop mid-loop when I zoom in or out.

Using Edge here and I also am having issues when zooming in and out that cause all animations to stop working. I manually shut off Enable animated graphics then turn it back on under the Graphics tab in Settings to allow it to resume but once I zoom in or out again it stops and I have to repeat the process. Noticed a issue with animations last weekend not auto-playing when loading into a map but would eventually start when waiting a few minutes.

i'm having the same issue, i am on firefox, i can't see the animations looping, but my players can its very weird

Sixxy said: Is there even a theory as to why this has suddenly become the case?  Such a bizarre problem, especially the copy/paste part of it. This also affects Rollable Tokens, by the way. I don't use animations, but I do use Rollable Tokens extensively. I haven't had this issue. Do you have any repro steps? 

Same issue--copied broken animation from the map, deleted, and pasted it back in, and it started up. The players said they could see the animations on their end. Using Chrome:  Version 114.0.5735.106 (Official Build) (x86_64) The issue is the same for marketplace-purchased animations and my own I import from animated gifs.

Hi All, Just coming in to say I too am experiencing this problem, and have been for maybe the last two weeks? I use animated sprites for character tokens and when I load Roll20 initially, they are all frozen. I click play on the token and it loops once, but then freezes again. Turning 'Enable Animated Graphics' (in the Graphics tab under settings) off and on again works, but then when you zoom in or out, everything freezes again...

Oof, it looks like this is way more common than I thought. I really rather not, but I might have to run my cyberpunk campaign in Foundry if I can't find a way to fix it.

Same thing for me, animated tokens won't loop anymore in Chrome and Firefox.

keithcurtis said: Sixxy said: Is there even a theory as to why this has suddenly become the case?  Such a bizarre problem, especially the copy/paste part of it. This also affects Rollable Tokens, by the way. I don't use animations, but I do use Rollable Tokens extensively. I haven't had this issue. Do you have any repro steps?  Sorry that might have been unclear.  I mean that Rollable tokens with animated sides don't work.  Same as with all animated tokens apparently.  Also - complaints about this are now also showing up on the subreddit.

Another reporting in on this issue. I use Firefox, but they also don't loop for me on Chrome. The copy-pasting does fix them on both browsers.

I reported this bug 3 days ago but no improvement so far. Send a ticket, that will help.

Hey, just dropping in to say I'm also having this issue animated objects. I can confirm that copying an animated object while it is animating and pasting it will cause the pasted object to loop properly, so big thanks for the workaround. I'm using Chrome version 114.0.5735.134, no extensions that would affect R20 are active, and I'm using the new UI. For what it's worth I dragged and dropped the origional faulty object directly in from its Marketplace Purchases folder under Premium Assets.

Hi, just to say I am in a very similar boat to Adam i need animations for clues in my game, would love to have a time scale as to when this can be fixed??? I have tried  firefox and chrome to no avail

just to add it's not market place animations that aren't working, it's specifically GIF files that i upload are presenting as OP described

2 months in and still no news or updates on this?  That normal? 

Yep, same issue for me. I use a lot of animations, almost all maps and tokens and nothing is working. Been using them for two years now. Now nothing works.

Chiming in as also have this exact same problem and can no longer use my weather overlays. 

Send them a request, that will help.&nbsp; <a href="https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/requests/new" rel="nofollow">https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/requests/new</a> That's the answer i received: Juniper (Roll20 Helpdesk) Jun 18, 2023, 09:18 PDT Hi again, &nbsp; We would not be able to provide an ETA on a fix for this issue at this time, but the issue has been escalated internally for our dev team to assist with. We appreciate your patience in the meanwhile. &nbsp; Best, Roll20 Team

I don't know how many people have actually submitted bug reports. They followed up with me about it not long after I initially submitted it. At the time, they weren't able to replicate the problem on their end. That was well before most of the activity on the thread. My guess is that this has been a problem that's been slowly spreading.