[Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.x

Notes on testing the latest builds of MapTool

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by Full Bleed »

Hal wrote:But I think what is important is that there is someone who is willing to do the hard work on this.
I'm pretty sure he's just teasing us... ;)
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by JamzTheMan »

Luckily we're not looking at the need for a high framerate. The amount of moving objects and lights at a give time is generally less than an actual game. Also, I do have the "Rays" set high and they could be lowered to achieve higher framerates for lighting, and it'll probably be a setting in MT (either global or per light). I could also drop the rays down while moving tokens then bump it back up, etc. So far, I'm pretty sure it'll handle MT (it's better than the current implementation). And yes, I'm using box2dlights although I suspect I may have to modify it if I can't get the lights where I need them.

Of course, it's still POC and there still the possibility to write our own ray casting routine or use jmonkeyengine or some other engine that matures between now and TBD. :mrgreen:

I've had to put this on hold while I had to redo the whole distribution packaging side of things and integrate Travis/Appveyor into the build process, which including ripping out the launcher code and ya...<sigh> project creep...
-Jamz
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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by JamzTheMan »

FYI: If you want to see the code: https://github.com/JamzTheMan/maptool/b ... ncher.java

But ya, it's a canvas basically added to a JFrame...right now.

I sort of want to see how far I can develop it side by side, so people could use the new "window" if they want but fall back to the normal MT frame if there is an issue. And I understand the whole "GM" + work = no free time!

I may be picking your brain though... the whole pixels -> meters thing is driving me bonkers and haven't touched pan/zoom yet as I have to get that down.
-Jamz
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Opacity and Performance

Post by goldensword52 »

Hi all, I've noticed an issue with MapTool's performance and the token opacity setting. I find that making a small token partially transparent isn't really an issue, but when I make a large picture (e.g. 4000*4000 pixels) partially transparent MapTool seems to slow down a lot. Splitting the large token up into several smaller ones doesn't seem to change the prformance, and neither does the amount of opacity as long as there is any at all. Specifically, I'm using MapTool version 1.4.3.20. I'm curious if this is just me, a bug that should be fixed, or just an unavoidable consequence. Has anyone else noticed this issue?

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by JamzTheMan »

I haven't honestly tried a token of that size :shock:

But I would have to say it is going to be CPU intensive. Currently it's produced on the fly just like states/bars/etc. I probably should cache it until we get to JavaFX which would handle this much better.

Are you trying to do some sort of fog effect or something? You will probably be better off adjusting the opacity via Gimp/Photoshop instead for large static objects. This was primarily meant for 'on the fly adjustments' for actual tokens like PC/NPC or small objects like chandeliers/bridges/roofs or such (although roofs/bridges could be pretty large objects).

I'll throw it on the TODO list to test and see if it can be improved, but it's going to be a while until I can get to it.
-Jamz
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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by goldensword52 »

JamzTheMan wrote:I haven't honestly tried a token of that size :shock:

But I would have to say it is going to be CPU intensive. Currently it's produced on the fly just like states/bars/etc. I probably should cache it until we get to JavaFX which would handle this much better.

Are you trying to do some sort of fog effect or something? You will probably be better off adjusting the opacity via Gimp/Photoshop instead for large static objects. This was primarily meant for 'on the fly adjustments' for actual tokens like PC/NPC or small objects like chandeliers/bridges/roofs or such (although roofs/bridges could be pretty large objects).

I'll throw it on the TODO list to test and see if it can be improved, but it's going to be a while until I can get to it.
Yeah, I like to use a lot of Gabriel Pickard's Maps. They're pretty high resolution and I thought that opacity might be good way to do the roofs for some of the city maps. There are other ways I can do it in the mean time, I just wanted to bring up the issue in case it needs fixing.

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by JamzTheMan »

For roofs, are you setting it to 0 or some other setting? I can see setting it to 0 so you can 'see through it'. I ask because if there is a performance hit on that, I can probably fix that somewhat easy (by skipping the rendering entirely). I would think it would do that internally but it may not be the case...

Anything else I will require a trade off of memory for cpu. If I cache it, you could see a larger memory footprint... And/or network traffic, eg, if the server does the work and cache's it then it would need to send it...

I suppose the best way to do it may be to overwrite the current asset in the asset cache. But if you change the opacity often.... I will need to ponder on this... It may be worth it to do this with FX on a separate thread to take advantage of the graphics card...
-Jamz
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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by goldensword52 »

JamzTheMan wrote:For roofs, are you setting it to 0 or some other setting? I can see setting it to 0 so you can 'see through it'. I ask because if there is a performance hit on that, I can probably fix that somewhat easy (by skipping the rendering entirely). I would think it would do that internally but it may not be the case...

Anything else I will require a trade off of memory for cpu. If I cache it, you could see a larger memory footprint... And/or network traffic, eg, if the server does the work and cache's it then it would need to send it...

I suppose the best way to do it may be to overwrite the current asset in the asset cache. But if you change the opacity often.... I will need to ponder on this... It may be worth it to do this with FX on a separate thread to take advantage of the graphics card...
I don't seem to have the option to set the opacity to exactly 0. The lowest I can go is 0.05 or 5%, even if is use the setTokenOpacity(0) command.

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by JamzTheMan »

Oh ya, makes sense. I probably thought, if you wanted 0, just hide it...
-Jamz
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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by goldensword52 »

JamzTheMan wrote:Oh ya, makes sense. I probably thought, if you wanted 0, just hide it...
It seems like there are a few good ways to hide things from players, but is there actually any way to "hide" something from the GM's view? It would seem pretty silly if only the players can see indoors while the GM is still staring at the roof. :roll:

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.7

Post by JamzTheMan »

Yes and no. What I do sometime for maps that are annotated, with symbols, ie traps/secret doors, I will put the player map down first then place the GM map down and hide it or place on GM later.

So, player map on background, roof on object, GM map on hidden layer.

Eventually we needed to let's users add their own layers and hide/show layers...
-Jamz
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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.x

Post by JamzTheMan »

Guess what? Yes, a new version of MapTool, Infused with Nerps! -> http://maptool.nerps.net/

I just posted version 1.4.4.0. after many months of plugging away at it while some awesome beta testers volunteered. Most of it you wont see as there was a lot of code cleanup, refactoring, and general maintenance so I can now create native installs using continuous integration, ie Travis CI (online machines running linux/mac/windows virtaul machines).

There's several bug fixes (old and new!) and some enhancements. View the complete change log here -> https://github.com/JamzTheMan/MapTool/releases


The big take away is,
o No more jWrapper but it still bundles a JRE
o No more Launcher (adjust your JVM settings in Preferences inside MapTool)
o Auto check for updates and download on startup! Never miss a bug fix or version upgrade again! :)
-Jamz
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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.x

Post by Venatius »

JamzTheMan wrote:Guess what? Yes, a new version of MapTool, Infused with Nerps! -> http://maptool.nerps.net/

I just posted version 1.4.4.0. after many months of plugging away at it while some awesome beta testers volunteered. Most of it you wont see as there was a lot of code cleanup, refactoring, and general maintenance so I can now create native installs using continuous integration, ie Travis CI (online machines running linux/mac/windows virtaul machines).

There's several bug fixes (old and new!) and some enhancements. View the complete change log here -> https://github.com/JamzTheMan/MapTool/releases


The big take away is,
o No more jWrapper but it still bundles a JRE
o No more Launcher (adjust your JVM settings in Preferences inside MapTool)
o Auto check for updates and download on startup! Never miss a bug fix or version upgrade again! :)
Thanks so much! I'm loving this, but running into a couple immediate bugs (at least in the .exe version, replicable across multiple computers), one of which is a showstopper for the framework I'm using. The big one is that I can't save any of the JVM options in preferences. The moment I click OK or outside the three entry fields, they blank out. It doesn't seem to be just a display issue - nothing's written to mt.cfg either. Also, the notification sound doesn't appear to play under any circumstances. Lastly, every time I disconnect the server while running it with UPnP (which does otherwise seem to work), I get a lengthy error message and it doesn't disconnect. A second attempt to disconnect works, however. This also applies to the disconnection on closing the program if connected.

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.x

Post by Phergus »

When putting in your JVM options are you using the appropriate size suffixes? I.e. 2G or 2048M for 2 GB of memory.

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Re: [Nerps!] MapTool Fork based on 1.4.1.x

Post by JamzTheMan »

I've created a F.A.Q. to point to for setting the JVM.

https://github.com/JamzTheMan/MapTool/wiki/F.A.Q.

In regards to the uPNP, do you get the same issue with 1.4.1.8 or 1.4.0.5? I have never touched that particular piece of code and expect the issue to go back a few versions. It helps us debug if we know where the issue snuck in.

*Do you need to use uPnP? Does it work without it? #Troubleshooting
-Jamz
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