Roll20 uses cookies to improve your experience on our site. Cookies enable you to enjoy certain features, social sharing functionality, and tailor message and display ads to your interests on our site and others. They also help us understand how our site is being used. By continuing to use our site, you consent to our use of cookies. Update your cookie preferences .
×
Create a free account
This post has been closed. You can still view previous posts, but you can't post any new replies.

Dynamic Lighting is making me crazy

1534244930

Edited 1534245287
I just upgraded to Plus and started setting up maps using Dynamic Lighting for my upcoming game, and so far it has proven to be a giant headache...it seems like a random chance as to whether the lighting is going to work as intended or not! I am using the settings of Dynamic Lighting: Enabled, Enforce Line of Sight, and Restrict Movement--the same on every map--but it works on some and not on others! The tokens are all set the same as well--Emits Light (10'/2'/360 degrees) with Has Sight checked. But on a few of my maps, dropping a token down and hitting Rejoin as Player is still allowing me to see the entire map! Why??? (and no, before you ask, Global Illumination is NOT on) Has anyone else run into these problems? I've attached screenshots of my settings below for the sake of completeness.
Make sure there’s no issues with the dynamic lighting lines on the dynamic lighting layer. Try redrawing them. And also make sure to use “lines” not circles or freehand drawing.
You might also consider checking the scale of the affected maps. 10 ft of light on a map that is in inches is quite a lot of light.
On the particular maps in question, I'm not even using any lines on the Dynamic layer because there are no walls, just trees, and it doesn't really matter if the players can see into the trees. I'm not sure what you mean by the scale of the map...it's a 25 x 25 map with one unit = 5'.
1534278189

Edited 1534278209
A friend of mine is checking the map and made a new 'test' version...the light on it is sliiiightly dimmer (with exactly the same settings!) but a token can still see the entire map...which it should NOT be able to do. I also noticed when I use Rejoin as Player, there seems to be a small lit spot near the middle of the map (on two different maps from the same Gabriel Pickard package, actually) which I cannot see as GM...it is bizarre, like the map came with some kind of 'built-in' illumination.
1534300746

Edited 1534300913
As an update, my buddy said the page settings are the same as in his game, and his maps are working as intended, so he thinks it may be a Token issue. But you can see my Token settings above, and I can't understand how that would be the problem. It's worth noting that when I am looking at the page as a Player and delete the token, the page goes black as it should...which does nothing to explain how the token can see that far when it's there. If someone thinks they could diagnose the issue, I'd gladly give them temporary GM rights in my game to take a look.
1534343707
keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
Is it possible that you are controlling more than one token with sight? You see through ALL tokens you control as a player. Try Cmd/Ctrl-L on a selected token as GM and see if you perceive differently. Your mysterious light source points to this as a possible culprit. Also, make sure you don't have a light source sitting on a different layer from the Token Layer. I believe a light source on the DL layer still casts light, but I forget which ones work and which don't.
1534344282
keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
Actually, re-reading your last post, it sounds like the problem is almost certainly an extra light source with a very high range. It explains the mystery light, and that when you delete the token, the page goes dark (no other tokens with sight).
1534351628

Edited 1534351734
Yes and I've discovered that apparently this Gabriel Pickard map has a "built-in" light source on it that cannot be removed...when I place this map on a blank page and then grab it and move it, I can momentarily see an illumination near the middle of the page (as if it was hidden 'underneath') which disappears from view the moment I let go of the map and it drops back down onto the grid...but that illumination is still there. I checked every layer (Map, Token, GM Overlay and Dynamic) and there is nothing in that spot, nothing to select and delete, even when I draw a box around it. How is this even possible? Can someone build a map with an intrinsic light source, which then comes with it when you buy the package??
Update on this which I noticed when I made the background a light gray---there is definitely an illumination of some sort which came with the map, because when I made the new blank page, dropped the map on it (at less than full size), then grabbed the map and moved it around, I can clearly see a glowy spot near the middle of where the map just was, AND every time I let go of the map and let it drop again, the glowy spot instantly centers itself on the maps's new location. This map came from a friend who owned the package and gave me the maps to use for my campaign. Is it possible that somehow that caused the issue?
Update on the Update----on any map I am placing now, whether it is from the ones he sent me, or just the ones off a Search---that glow spot is appearing if I have Dynamic Lighting checked. I experimented with changing the Settings for NO Dynamic Lighting, dropped a map, and no glow-spot....but as soon as I switched Dynamic Lighting back on, there it was. This is apparently a problem with either Dynamic Lighting or the page creation.
1534354457
keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
You likely have a lighting setting on your campaign settings page that is affecting fresh objects you drop. These settings are not always immediately visible, it's a flip down on the campaign settings page labeled "Game Default Settings". In the meantime, you should be able to correct it by double-clicking the map as if it were a token and turning off any light. (Remove the value entirely, don't just enter zero).
That turned out to be the problem! I didn't realize that even map pieces count as 'tokens' for purposes of Game Settings, I thought that only applied to the tokens associated with character sheets, so literally every tree, boulder, building and pile of dirt I had put into my maps was emanating light! I went through and changed them all, and now I am going to change my base Settings as well to avoid a repeat. Thanks!
1534358908
keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
Glad to hear it! Yes, depending on how and where it is placed on the table top, a graphic can be a token or not. If you need to switch an existing token, just right click and it's under the "Advanced" option on the popup menu. I'll put my Mod hat on and close the post, since the problem has been solved.