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template tool...

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:04 pm
by teban
OK i really did try to figure this one out on my own. What is the template tool for, please give an example on when and why you would use it? I sure the answer is going to make me feel dumb. I read the 1.1 manual but it was to vague.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:10 pm
by trevor
It's a D&D thing, spell templates. Right now it's just another drawing tool (the end result is drawn shapes). It's for laying out the area of a fireball, for example.

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:17 pm
by teban
sweet...Thanks Trevor

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:09 pm
by Richard Weimer
Speaking of this template tool, you might consider changing the cone template to match the DMG. The specific instance I have noticed is the 15' cone that is going straight out (i.e., non-diagonally) from a caster. Your template fills in the following qty of squares as the area goes away from the caster: 2,4,2. The DMG shows the area of effect to be: 1,3,3 squares (look in the DMG, page 307 for the specific one in question).

I cast "Burning Hands" and "Color Spray" a lot, so these areas are used by me often.

Thanks!

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:35 pm
by trevor
Tracker added

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:45 am
by Blakey
Is it possible that the results of drawing something on with a template could be selectable and thus movable and deleteable?

If I draw on a fireball area of effect with the template tool it goes onto the map as a part of the background (or whatever layer I select). I can undo it with Ctrl-Z but that is not always what you want to happen. I'd much rather be able to click on it, select it and then press delete. I seriously think the template tool should generate 'stamps' to all intents and purposes. Many spell templates are around for a considerable time and need to be movable as well (e.g. rolling fog effects etc), hence click to select and then drag would be very useful.

Also, I note that even if I have my template tool set up to have a lovely red outline and have it filled with a scorching fire texture, when I draw out my fireball effect the fill pattern is not used. Is there a good reason for this? I'd love to be able to mark down a proper firey fireball effect using this tool.

It seems almost there but not quite...

Meantime I guess it might be possible to build a selection of PNGs to cover the standard spell effects you might want like Fireball, Evards Black Tentacles and so on? Anyone have such stamps?

Thanks!
Blakey

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 9:57 am
by trevor
Blakey wrote:Is it possible that the results of drawing something on with a template could be selectable and thus movable and deleteable?
These updates are in the works.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:48 am
by SDShannonS
Richard Weimer wrote:Speaking of this template tool, you might consider changing the cone template to match the DMG. The specific instance I have noticed is the 15' cone that is going straight out (i.e., non-diagonally) from a caster. Your template fills in the following qty of squares as the area goes away from the caster: 2,4,2. The DMG shows the area of effect to be: 1,3,3 squares (look in the DMG, page 307 for the specific one in question).

I cast "Burning Hands" and "Color Spray" a lot, so these areas are used by me often.

Thanks!
Hi Trevor,

Just started with another group that is playing via MapTool and we're running into the 15-foot cone problem again. I know this has been brought up before and I know you have a lot of other stuff on your plate with all the new features, but do you think this is a bug fix that might make it into build 17? It's been around for a long time and everyone running a low-level game runs into it.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:04 am
by loogie
i'm assuming you want the end result to be modifiable, as far as if the DMG says it should be 1,3,3 we could still choose 2,4,2 if we wanted...

i'd prefer that since i don't use dnd rules, so my options are fairly open.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:28 am
by trevor
[quote="SDShannonS"][/quote]

For context I didn't write the templates, and have been anticipating replacing them with a more robust system, so I haven't given them the attention they need.

That said, dorpond has been prodding Jay to update the existing templates, and even mentioned this specific case this morning (on our dev list).

We'll prod Jay to make the update.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:12 pm
by jay
I just saw this thread, and I apologize for not catching this sooner. I'm out of town right now, but I will try to fix it when I get home.

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:04 pm
by SDShannonS
jay wrote:I just saw this thread, and I apologize for not catching this sooner. I'm out of town right now, but I will try to fix it when I get home.
Thanks, Jay.

Sorry for mistakenly assuming that was your fix, Trevor. I guess you've just been so incredibly responsive in the past that I instinctively turned to you for a resolution.

You know, it's kind of an odd thing... you've set the bar so high for yourself that I judge MapTool on a completely different scale than other tools. Dundjinni still suffers from all the same design flaws it has always had and people just assume that they'll never be addressed because the design team just doesn't care (except for Kepli). Same thing with DM Genie - years after buying that product, I still can't do something as basic as choosing a domain spell properly. And for both of those products, I just roll my eyes and shrug.

But with MapTool, where you've set a standard of "the bug that gets reported in the morning is fixed and published by mid-afternoon", seeing bugs go for this long really feels like there's a problem.

So thanks for doing such an incredible job, Trevor. I hope everyone reading this forum takes the time to show you their appreciation (and a donation wouldn't hurt either).

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:38 pm
by trevor
SDShannonS wrote: Sorry for mistakenly assuming that was your fix, Trevor.
In 96% of the times, you'd be right :)

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:46 am
by loogie
well, at least you OR one of your clones.

cept that one that went bad and is always stareing at the wall singing show tunes... wait.. thats the original trevor!

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:15 am
by Cweord
PMSL