Dynamic Lighting integrated with Fog of War (Warcraft 2 style)

This would pose issues with dynamic lighting on drag as someone could just drag their token everywhere and reveal everything, still +1

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+1 I bought a membership today kinda expecting this feature. I guess my mind filled in the blanks in the promotional material. poor research on my part, for sure. Not disappointed per se, but I would really like to see this added.

I love this idea! Its exactly the kind of thing I would want for my group.

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Was thinking about getting a membership here soon. I actually really like this idea and I'm wondering that if it does get implemented, could there be two versions of it? The dynamic lighting one would obviously be for members, but could there potentially be one for normal fog of war for non-membership users? Course, that's only saying if this becomes an actual feature. +1

Daniel R. said: Was thinking about getting a membership here soon. I actually really like this idea and I'm wondering that if it does get implemented, could there be two versions of it? The dynamic lighting one would obviously be for members, but could there potentially be one for normal fog of war for non-membership users? Course, that's only saying if this becomes an actual feature. +1 They kinda already have a fog of war feature for non-membership users. non-membership GMs can use Reveal Areas and Hide Areas options. Though they are a bit clunky and slow down the flow of the game, I don't think they will make part of the dynamic lighting system available to free users given they already have options for fog of war.

Definitely +1 This feature should behave such that every time an area is exposed due to dynamic lighting line of sight, any map layer graphics in the revealed area should be copied into a "fog of war" layer. This fog of war layer should be dimly lit and always visible to the token.

This should be a priority... It's the way maptools have worked for years and it works like a charm. Images posted by Dragonphire are exactly what it should be. The only plus to that is that in the "memory" areas (those where the character has been but are no more in LoS) no tokens nor lights should be visible. Another useful thing for GMs should be the ability to view "as a token" when a token is selected: since I give vision to each of my minions their visions sum up and I'm unable to tell if a specific one of them is able or not to see something. Again Maptools had this feature for ages. [EDIT: already implemented (Ctrl+L)] I love Roll20 WAY more than Maptools and I love to support it, but those two features are really a big miss for me and make very hard to do dungeon crawling easily as it can be done in Maptools...

Hakan said: Another useful thing for GMs should be the ability to view "as a token" when a token is selected: since I give vision to each of my minions their visions sum up and I'm unable to tell if a specific one of them is able or not to see something. Again Maptools had this feature for ages. While i agree with this thread in its entirety and have lent a personal vote to it I thought i'd best point out that the above is currently possible using the Ctrl+L feature (Cmd+L for mac) as detailed in the shortcuts page of the wiki .

Ziechael said: Hakan said: Another useful thing for GMs should be the ability to view "as a token" when a token is selected: since I give vision to each of my minions their visions sum up and I'm unable to tell if a specific one of them is able or not to see something. Again Maptools had this feature for ages. While i agree with this thread in its entirety and have lent a personal vote to it I thought i'd best point out that the above is currently possible using the Ctrl+L feature (Cmd+L for mac) as detailed in the shortcuts page of the wiki . Thank you so much! I didn't know that :) Totally my bad for not have checked in the wiki... Good to know it's already implemented...

I think this should be really easy to integrate. All you'd have to do would be to set everything that's inside line of sight to be visible on the FoW layer. However, does FoW work for different users, or only "all users can/can't see this"? Anyway, you have my vote!

Would love to hear dev team feedback on this. There's a lot of supporter/pro interest in this. Will this be happening? Is it being looked into? The interface initiative is a bit of a mixed bag. I know branding is important, but frankly I'm more interested in seeing actual in-game features being expanded. 3D dice agency is only good for so many people. A fair chunk of my players don't even use 3D dice. So that takes the fun out of skinned dice too. Anyway, any word on this? Every time I check suggestions it's floating around the top.

+1 Not having this feature is why I haven't dropped $ to get dynamic lighting.

Honestly, just having the ability to set DL opacity for players like you can for the GM would be a huge step in the right direciton, fully featured "true" FoW as described here would be great, but my main issue right now is my players seeing everything outside as solid black.

This is a more accurate version of what I imagine.

Riley D. said: Really the only way I can think of that this would be feasible from a technical standpoint is to have some sort of "polygon-based" system, where we could "merge" polygons together as you explored the map...but I'll have to give it some more thought. Note that I'm talking about if we want this to work and be persistent between sessions (which I think is pretty much the only way it makes sense) -- it would be much easier to do this if we could just store the data locally and discard it when you leave the session. Isn't this just a polygon addition/subtraction problem? There's a bunch of known solutions to this as it's essentially vector mathematics if you extract the networking component. 

Ken L. said: This is a more accurate version of what I imagine. That would be so cool if roll20 can get to that point. Having a macro bar with icons instead of text, great fog of war, and a fluid way point system.

Riley D. said: We are definitely looking into this as a possible feature for the next big update -- I think it's a cool feature as well...however, the main thing that might keep it from happening is figuring out a way to do it that doesn't require massive amounts of data. For example, if you have a 100x100 grid map, that is 7000x7000 pixels. Keeping track of exactly which "pixels" have been exposed or not would be a massive amount of data. Really the only way I can think of that this would be feasible from a technical standpoint is to have some sort of "polygon-based" system, where we could "merge" polygons together as you explored the map...but I'll have to give it some more thought. Note that I'm talking about if we want this to work and be persistent between sessions (which I think is pretty much the only way it makes sense) -- it would be much easier to do this if we could just store the data locally and discard it when you leave the session. In addition to the technical limitations, there are also some practical implementation details that will need to be considered. For example, do we "clear" the Fog of War away when you move the token around and reveal the map, or only when you release the token? And if it's only on release, then do we only do it in a straight line, or what? I guess you would need to use the waypoint system for corners and things of that nature?  Anywho, I am very interested in making this happen, but we aren't promising anything yet because we don't say "yes" until we know we can do it, and I am still figuring out if it's actually possible :-) Thanks for letting us know the state of this! Glad to see a dev response. Dage said: Honestly, just having the ability to set DL opacity for players like you can for the GM would be a huge step in the right direciton, fully featured "true" FoW as described here would be great, but my main issue right now is my players seeing everything outside as solid black. I would be more than happy to see this as an interim solution. Far less technical limitations if I understand things correctly (this functionality exists already, yeah?). If the FoW idea falls through completely this is serviceable.

Riley D. said: We are definitely looking into this as a possible feature for the next big update -- I think it's a cool feature as well...however, the main thing that might keep it from happening is figuring out a way to do it that doesn't require massive amounts of data. For example, if you have a 100x100 grid map, that is 7000x7000 pixels. Keeping track of exactly which "pixels" have been exposed or not would be a massive amount of data. Really the only way I can think of that this would be feasible from a technical standpoint is to have some sort of "polygon-based" system, where we could "merge" polygons together as you explored the map...but I'll have to give it some more thought. Note that I'm talking about if we want this to work and be persistent between sessions (which I think is pretty much the only way it makes sense) -- it would be much easier to do this if we could just store the data locally and discard it when you leave the session. In addition to the technical limitations, there are also some practical implementation details that will need to be considered. For example, do we "clear" the Fog of War away when you move the token around and reveal the map, or only when you release the token? And if it's only on release, then do we only do it in a straight line, or what? I guess you would need to use the waypoint system for corners and things of that nature?  Anywho, I am very interested in making this happen, but we aren't promising anything yet because we don't say "yes" until we know we can do it, and I am still figuring out if it's actually possible :-) Hello,  I think there is a simple solution. Why not let the GM draw a new layer of fow ?  Fog of war is revealed or concealed but why not a third fow option that let player see the map layer but not the token layer ? This way is not automated so I guess it's easier to implement, and it's the GM job to reveal the map as the game goes on. 

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+1 I just got done posting about this elsewhere, then was lead to this post. &nbsp;I want to add my 2cp in as well, with some visuals. &nbsp;I believe what you're asking for is the same as me, or perhaps so similar that its a good combination. &nbsp;I'm going to drop this in (in its entirety) because it confuses me without the details. There's likely no real reason to read it, but my original post was here:&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2328361/field-of" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2328361/field-of</a>... For the examples below Field of View (FoV) is synonymous with the Has Sight setting. Here are some visual examples to help. My dwarf has darkvision, indicated by the yellow arrows. I used sheds light 60', 140 degrees, all dim. His FoV is also 140 degrees, matching his darkvision, but in this example that is disabled (i.e. set for 360). Notice the red arrows. This is dynamic lightning, and these are true blind spots. The walls prohibit my dwarf from seeing anything in the area even though the room is 100% lit with a bonfire. Now I move into the room. The room is 100% illuminated from the fire. In theory this is what is "visible" to my dwarf. (I ignore the pillars) BUT... technically, while illuminated, not everything is in my FoV. That orc to my left is out of my FoV. My dwarf needs a passive perception, otherwise he might get a surprise attack. Unfortunately, if I turn FoV back to his 140 degree area, this is what happens... That (to me) looks wrong. The yellow lines point to what should be dimly illuminated. It is out of my FoV but not dark. This is a poor Photoshop rendition, but you get the point. It should resemble this. This concept is very similar to the OP, and technically maybe the same thing with a tweak or two.If implemented, I'd love the ability (as GM) to set the opacity (a set scale). &nbsp; Outdoors, where there is global light, I'd want it very subtle, only to reference what is in your FoV, but not to blot out the landscape.

I think it would be great to having an option to have the dynamic lighting integrated with fog of war. +1

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Totally agree, this should be put on the to-do list.

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Now that I am a pro, this is another thing I would absolutely love.

+1 This is something that I have wanted ever since I started using Roll20.&nbsp;

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This is exactly what I want.&nbsp; I was really disappointed when dynamic lightning didn't do this by default as I figured it would be how the feature worked.

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I'd also like if this could work so the whole map layer is visible but undarkened but tokens only show if they are in a certain range

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Given that this is a year later. Surely giving us the ability to paint on previous areas of the map via an inverse Fog Of War &nbsp;- ignoring LOS would be a quick fix. Another fix would be to create a schematic "map" where the VIsion Blocking lines that the PC have already hit can be viewed - from a roll-play perspective this creates something like an Old School dungeon map. For a full solution, it would not be hard t o store the series of movements that Tokens have already made (a few 100 max) - t his creates the "path" that they have previously travelled. On loading a map, this previous path is exposed. On a side note Maptools is now on github - take a look at how they did it!

It just occured to me as a workaround currently; keep the map open in Photoshop or GIMP. Create a mask layer, and unmask as the players move around. Periodically, this could be given out as a handout map .