MapTool 1.3 Development Build 49

[jfrazierjr]

If you guys want it to work differently, then I suggest making a new thread so we can hash out the details.

One was already started on Bug Reports forum :http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6493

[osman]

Okay, that does make sense. It probably makes the most sense for me to make the PC helper objects be either NPC tokens or Objects, and just adjust the ownership so that the PCs can move them around. Although it would be nice if that check-box were greyed out.

[FdL]

Okay, I found another bug. The only simple kind bug someone like me can find :s

Now the Single Image health bar is the one that's not scaling at all.

Edit: Annnnd it seems like telling 2 image bar to align on bottom is not working and makes all kind of weird things when zooming.

And there's other weird stuff happening with those bars, because reducing its value makes it vertically thicker (?).

And similar weird stuff too with single image bars >.>

[Veggiesama]

I recently suggested to Trevor that he should grey out the option then so that it doesn't confuse the user and he agreed.

Thirded then. I gave one of my players a token to use for one of his spells, and I set it to be a PC since it was controlled by PCs. Unfortunately I couldn't take its vision off, so it could see around corners and such. I switched it to a player-controlled NPC and it worked fine.

[dorpond]

I recently suggested to Trevor that he should grey out the option then so that it doesn't confuse the user and he agreed.

Thirded then. I gave one of my players a token to use for one of his spells, and I set it to be a PC since it was controlled by PCs. Unfortunately I couldn't take its vision off, so it could see around corners and such. I switched it to a player-controlled NPC and it worked fine.

Funny you bring this up, I had the same issue last gaming session where the mage was controlling his own ball of fire every round - he could see places of the map that he shouldn't have been able too, because ball of fire had sight, which couldn't be turned off.

I told Trevor about this last week and he called it my "Magical Fireball Eye" as a joke. LOL.

[Nadare]

Is it possible that there could be an option in the preferences to auto-save the chat log on exit?

I can never seem to remember to save the chat log before I close down MapTool, and I keep losing my chat transcripts because of my own incompetence.

[Azhrei]

Actually, that's probably a good idea. The chat log should have a checkbox in the Preferences dialog that turns on the "Save Chat Log" prompt. It would work just like quitting MT with a modified campaign... But I'd want to see the option to provide a filename.

[trevor]

PC and sight
The label Has Sight is a bit misleading. The intention is to determine whether a non PC token should be included in the sight calculations (there's no need for a barrel, which is technically an NPC under the hood to be able to see). The thought was that PCs should always be included. Note that this is different than "Can See", which would include things like blindness.

But there's the odd side effect of player owned tokens that now have sight, such as the Magic Fireball Eye. I'm trying to think of a compelling reason to just let you turn off sight for PCs. There's a nagging memory that there was a slight but distinct difference between blindness and having eyes. I could be convinced to make PCs turn off sight

Chat Log
Actually I had a code patch that was submitted a long while back that does the auto save. I didn't include it at the time because there was some discussion whether it should actually be stored in the campaign file itself so that it showed up next time you started. But I imagine the more pressing need is to be able to get the full text, even in the event of epic failure.

I'll pull the patch out of my inbox and take a closer look

[Nadare]

Thank you!

[jfrazierjr]

Not sure, but if there is a macro function setSight("Normal") or setSight("Low Vision"), I don't see a reason there cannot be a sight set up and have that give the range of .5 or so that the player can see their token and nothing else.

As for the chat log, yes, the saving is the primary thing. I would like it saved to the campaign file, but that is secondary. Once we get to saving to the campaign file, I would NOT want it loaded up in the Chat window by default(or at all really), but why not have a "Chat Logs" menu somewhere that contains a list of chatlogs that have been saved to the campaign, date stamped. When one is selected, it opens a new frame to display the contents with the frame title equal to the datetimestamp.

[trevor]

@ jfrazierjr the question is whether that's truly part of the campaign file, or saved locally but associated with the campaign. If you move the campaign file to a new computer, should the logs follow it ?

[RPTroll]

@ jfrazierjr the question is whether that's truly part of the campaign file, or saved locally but associated with the campaign. If you move the campaign file to a new computer, should the logs follow it ?

No. I can see loading a chat history into the current chat but I don't think it should be automagic and when I distribute a base campaign file for others to use I don't want all my macro development errors to show up. Same with running a game. I spend 5 hours developing for every 1 playing and I don't want all the crud in the chat at game time.

[jfrazierjr]

@ jfrazierjr the question is whether that's truly part of the campaign file, or saved locally but associated with the campaign. If you move the campaign file to a new computer, should the logs follow it ?

I would probably want both. Given Az's thoughts into a more robust format for exports, I would prefer to keep the logs with the campaign file it at all possible so that it moves with them and then perhaps use an export command to dump the logs (perhaps a rollup of all of them) into a local file.

In the short term, just a prompt to autosave to a file on close or server disconnect would be fine, but long term, I would really prefer that information to stay with the campaign itself.

[Amaril]

Save chat logs to a TXT or HTML file. I want to search, copy and paste using a regular editor or web browser, not MapTool.

[Azhrei]

I would probably want both. Given Az's thoughts into a more robust format for exports, I would prefer to keep the logs with the campaign file it at all possible so that it moves with them and then perhaps use an export command to dump the logs (perhaps a rollup of all of them) into a local file.

In the short term, just a prompt to autosave to a file on close or server disconnect would be fine, but long term, I would really prefer that information to stay with the campaign itself.

I don't care if the chat log is in the campaign file. But I don't want it auto-loaded when opening the campaign.

I don't know about the rest of you, but after five hours of playing, my chat window starts getting slow. I guess it has something to do with all the embedded HTML. For that reason, I would definitely NOT want the chat to be automatically reloaded when I open the campaign.

But the bigger problem would be accessing the chat log after the fact if it were inside the campaign. Trevor's idea about associating the two makes more sense, but then you get into a bunch of headaches about managing the link.

Personally, I think a prompt at exit (that can be disabled) is plenty.