Vengers Maptool Questions

[venger]

I am currently using MT 1.2.b23

I hope this isnt too much for one posting but these are things I need to know more information about before I can start using Maptool with confidence.

Thanks for your patience and help
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How do I-

Remove the default maps from the Image Explorer?

When I hit CNTRL-N, and I browse to my map, it appears on the screen, but does not appear in the image explorer as a thumbnail. I need to know how to add my bounded map to the Image Explorer so I can call up all maps from there.

Connect different maps… ie. can I place links on maps to pull up other maps or lets say, a word/notepad document or excel spreadsheet that could describe key features of the dungeon? (this is a feature in Campaign Cartographer and is quite handy)

Is there a way to have the player position his token where he wants to move to, and when he releases, his token does not yet move, and the "trail" appears, but he must wait on GM approval of the move?
This would be great for the GM to assess the player’s path to see if he has crossed a hex containing a trap or other special feature of the map before letting the token actually move

What is/Are-
Image Explorer: Markers- They appear to be a type of Token. What makes them different from a token other than their graphical appearance?

Add to Paint Palette- When I click this, no dialogue or prompts. What is it’s function?

Macros- What are they used for? How do I configure them? Please give a quick example of usage of a macro

Lock player movement? What is this used for?

Freesize- What is this for?

Template tools- I see where they can be assigned to a layer, and may be changed in color.
At first glance they appear to be a way to indicate area of effect. But are there other specific uses for them?

Stamp Tool: What is it's Purpose? Typical Usage? Limitations?
Guesses- That the stamp is a way to place objects in the scene. How does this differ from just dragging and dropping something onto the map?

When I click on the stamp tool, nothing apparent happens. No dialogue, no prompts. How do I “load” the stamp? Where are it's assets aquired from/shown? And how would I remove assets from the Stamp tool once they are no longer required?

Token Tree-
When you expand the tree there is nothing in there, so where do I place items that go in there so they appear in the tree for usage, and do they become an asset of the Campaign when saved?
And how would you remove assets from the token tree once they are no longer needed?

Tokens: Self explanatory
Objects: Are these mapping objects such as trees, dungeon dressings and other interactive assets?
Background: Are these like bounded maps? or unbounded map textures? Or something completely different?

Status Bar-
Looks like a usage indicator just to the right of the coordinate indicator in the lower right in the “status” bar and my current map has 52M/63M (but it changes). There is a green "progress" looking indicator as well. What are these indicating?

What is the computer icon for?
What are the two circles for?

General-
I noticed that the campaign file size increments as I add assets, so I am assuming that assets are embedded as opposed to linked.

What are the upper limits, pitfalls to having large campaign file sizes?
Will a larger file size with many assets take longer for the database engine to locate and upload as opposed to a campaign file with fewer assets?

Would it be beneficial to use JPG’s as opposed to PNG’s or other large file formats to keep campaign file size at a minimum?

What is the definition and usage of a “Zone”?

If I play an online game, could I send the campaign file to the players for instant access on their machines? Or specifically, what assets could I send to a player’s machine to reduce upload/transfer times across the internet?
And where would a player place those assets?

In my Face-to-Face game I use two laptops, a GM client/server, and a player client with video output from the player laptop to a 32" HDTV screen

Would it be better to have a number of smaller “scenarios” with just an encounter’s assets as opposed to one large campaign file with every asset in it if I am playing a;

1) Face-to-Face game?
2) Online Game?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are all "at first glance" type of questions. I understand that I do not understand a number of things regarding Maptool.

Your answers may provoke more questions from me, but getting these things answered will go a long way towards helping me understand the Maptools

THANKS!

[venger]

How do you completely reset the Fog of War to completely black again?

I want to "test" my map to make sure Vision is working properly, but I need to reset it before the game.

Can I set the token to automatically clear FoW instead of hitting CNTRL-I?

[Dracorat]

Just a few I can answer quickly:

How do I-

Remove the default maps from the Image Explorer?

Left-click to select
Right Click
REMOVE




When I hit CNTRL-N, and I browse to my map, it appears on the screen, but does not appear in the image explorer as a thumbnail. I need to know how to add my bounded map to the Image Explorer so I can call up all maps from there.

You need to add a folder with your maptools assets to the image explorer manually.

File-->Add Image Explorer Path




Connect different maps… ie. can I place links on maps to pull up other maps or lets say, a word/notepad document or excel spreadsheet that could describe key features of the dungeon? (this is a feature in Campaign Cartographer and is quite handy)

Not yet





Is there a way to have the player position his token where he wants to move to, and when he releases, his token does not yet move, and the "trail" appears, but he must wait on GM approval of the move?
This would be great for the GM to assess the player’s path to see if he has crossed a hex containing a trap or other special feature of the map before letting the token actually move

Not yet. But if a player moves, you CAN right click --> show last path



What is/Are-
Image Explorer: Markers- They appear to be a type of Token. What makes them different from a token other than their graphical appearance?

Organizational difference only



Add to Paint Palette- When I click this, no dialogue or prompts. What is it’s function?

No answer sorry




Macros- What are they used for? How do I configure them? Please give a quick example of usage of a macro

Right click the button to configure. Type in anything and you will paste that to chat whenever you click the macro - like "I roll a fortitude save"

Also, you can add dice rolls inline with [#D#+#] syntax like so: "I roll a fortitude save: [1D20+8]"




Lock player movement? What is this used for?

So only you can move tokens. Some DMs here have problems with their players willy nilly moving stuff.



Freesize- What is this for?

Changing tho size of something without it being restricted to a square. (While freesized, use the icon at lower right to resize)





Template tools- I see where they can be assigned to a layer, and may be changed in color.
At first glance they appear to be a way to indicate area of effect. But are there other specific uses for them?

No answer sorry.



Stamp: Purpose? Typical Usage? Limitations?
Guesses- That the stamp is a way to place objects in the scene. How does this differ from just dragging and dropping something onto the map?

Layer difference - doesn't become a token. (You also won't accidentally pick it up)




When I click on the stamp tool, nothing apparent happens. No dialogue, no prompts. How do I “load” the stamp? Where are it's assets aquired from/shown?

Some you do tokens with. You are just on a different conceptual layer.



Token Tree-
When you expand the tree there is nothing in there, so where do I place items that go in there so they appear in the tree for usage, and do they become an asset of the Campaign when saved?
And how would you remove assets from the token tree once they are no longer needed?

You add or remove paths per my instructions above. Paths are specific to your computer, and are campaign agnostic.




Tokens: Self explanatory
Objects: Are these mapping objects such as trees, dungeon dressings and other interactive assets?
Background: Are these like bounded maps? or unbounded map textures? Or something completely different?

The rest of these are simply organizational differences. When you add your own explorer paths that should clarify it a bit for you.




Status Bar-
Looks like a usage indicator just to the right of the coordinate indicator in the lower right in the “status” bar and my current map has 52M/63M (but it changes). What is this indicating?

Current Memory / Memory Allocated.
Click to try to free up memory btw.




What is the computer icon for?
Whether you are a server or client. (Point to see)

What are the two circles for?
Incoming / outgoing data.



General-
I noticed that the campaign file size increments as I add assets, so I am assuming that assets are embedded as opposed to linked.

Correct.




What are the upper limits, pitfalls to having large campaign file sizes?

Computer limits. Memory. Tool responsiveness.


Will a larger file size with many assets take longer for the database engine to locate and upload as opposed to a campaign file with fewer assets?

Locate no. Upload yes.




Would it be beneficial to use JPG’s as opposed to PNG’s or other large file formats to keep campaign file size at a minimum?

Yes, but JPGs don't usually look as good. Strike a balance if you can.


What is the definition and usage of a “Zone”?

A map.



If I play an online game, could I send the campaign file to the players for instant access on their machines? Or specifically, what assets could I send to a player’s machine to reduce upload/transfer times across the internet?

the contents of your .maptool folder, found by right clicking and explering on the start button. They have to place it in the same spot.

That said, graphics don't compress well and you won't save much time over having them simply connect to you.





In my Face-to-Face game I use two laptops, a GM client/server, and a player client with video output from the player laptop to a 32" HDTV screen

Would it be better to have a number of smaller “scenarios” with just an encounter’s assets as opposed to one large campaign file with every asset in it if I am playing a;

1) Face-to-Face game?
2) Online Game?

If you and the players can handle it, I favor the all in one scenario.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are all "at first glance" type of questions. I understand that I do not understand a number of things regarding Maptool.

Your answers may provoke more questions from me, but getting these things answered will go a long way towards helping me understand the Maptools

THANKS!

[Tryll]

Add to Paint Palette- When I click this, no dialogue or prompts. What is it’s function?

This function adds the selected bitmap as a texture in the paint palette, available to use as a tiled fill with the paint tools.

[venger]

Remove the default maps from the Image Explorer?

Left-click to select
Right Click
REMOVE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I do as above I get the following menu, REMOVE does not appear anywhere in the interface

New Bounded Map
New Unbounded Map
Add To Paint Palette


I see that the Image Path itself has the REMOVE function, and not the thumbnails..

I see now.
The thumbnail Images in the Image Explorer are directly tied to the Image Explorer Path, and thus the images cannot be removed from the thumbnail window, which is basically a display of each thumbnail in the Image Path, that has a context menu when you rightclick a map graphic for adding that map to the Zone

.

[venger]

How do you completely reset the Fog of War to completely black again?

I want to "test" my map to make sure Vision is working properly, but I need to reset it before the game.

~~~~~~~~~
I just found the answer to this one...

Click the FOG button on the toolbar and then use one of the polygon tools and press SHIFT then draw the polygon over the exposed FOW area to cover it back up

.

[Dracorat]

[Dracorat]

I see that the Image Path itself has the REMOVE function, and not the thumbnails..

I see now.
The thumbnail Images in the Image Explorer are directly tied to the Image Explorer Path, and thus the images cannot be removed from the thumbnail window, which is basically a display of each thumbnail in the Image Path, that has a context menu when you rightclick a map graphic for adding that map to the Zone

.

Thats because to remove it you'd have to delete the file from the folder.

[venger]

btw- Thanks for the answers

Much appreciated

[trevor]

Venger, thanks for the questions, I should use this as a formal "Introduction to MapTool" document (snagged!)

Dracorat, thanks for the responses !

I'll try to cover the ones that haven't already been covered:

Connect different maps

Look for link points to show up during 1.3 development. It's a feature high on my personal priority list, so it'll show up sooner than later

Is there a way to have the player position his token where he wants to move to, and when he releases, his token does not yet move, and the "trail" appears, but he must wait on GM approval of the move?

Also a 1.3 feature

Image Explorer: Markers- They appear to be a type of Token. What makes them different from a token other than their graphical appearance?

I added these just this last build, the idea is to start fleshing out the default image selections. The Marker designation at this point is purely organizational.

Add to Paint Palette- When I click this, no dialogue or prompts. What is it’s function?

This adds the texture to the paint chooser. When you pick a drawing tool, click on the outline or fill color box in the color panel. A dialog will pop up that has Color and Texture tabs, if you select the Texture tab the image you added will be there. You can then select the texture and draw with it. For example, add a water texture to the paint panel, select it as the fill color, disable the outline color, then draw a circle, instant lake.

Macros- What are they used for? How do I configure them? Please give a quick example of usage of a macro

These are predefined commands. Anything you can do on the chat command line you can write in a macro. Some examples have already been given. To see the kinds of commands you can do type /help in the chat. Some of it is out of date, but it'll give you an idea. The key to know about the macro buttons themselves is to right click them to edit them, click them to execute them.

Freesize- What is this for?

This is for stamps, it disconnects the token from the cell size. I believe this is the default setting for new stamps (objects and backgrounds)

Template tools- I see where they can be assigned to a layer, and may be changed in color.
At first glance they appear to be a way to indicate area of effect. But are there other specific uses for them?

These are simply drawing tools that you can use to draw area of effects. They don't currently interact with the vision system. Look for improvements to this system in 1.3 and 2.0. But for now, they are just for drawing

Stamp Tool: What is it's Purpose? Typical Usage? Limitations?
Guesses- That the stamp is a way to place objects in the scene. How does this differ from just dragging and dropping something onto the map?

The stamp tool puts you into a different "mode" as it were, you can add/edit/delete stamps, which include Objects and Backgrounds. Backgrounds are images that sit above the actual background image, but below the grid. Objects sit above the grid and below the regular tokens. Tokens on these layers are not selectable when in "normal" pointer mode. Typically backgrounds are things like hallways and rooms, where Objects are rocks, trees, torches, whatever. If you drag and drop a token from the image explorer onto the map when in stamp mode, the token will be a stamp on the currently selected layer. This is a fairly quick way to create a dungeon/forest/whatever: select stamp mode, drag-drop your dungeon/forest down, click the pointer tool and away you go.

When I click on the stamp tool, nothing apparent happens. No dialogue, no prompts. How do I “load” the stamp? Where are it's assets aquired from/shown? And how would I remove assets from the Stamp tool once they are no longer required?

The stamp tool works nearly identically to the regular pointer tool. The key is that stamps are not selectable when in the regular pointer tool. And you can freesize stamps, but not tokens. That's about it. Having a different tool allows us to apply slightly different semantics to the usage, but still have it work basically the same.

Token Tree-
When you expand the tree there is nothing in there, so where do I place items that go in there so they appear in the tree for usage, and do they become an asset of the Campaign when saved?
And how would you remove assets from the token tree once they are no longer needed?

The TokenTree panel is a representation of what's currently on the map. To demonstrate this, drop a token onto a map, look on the TokenTree, the token along with its name will show up in the Tokens folder. Double clicking a token in the TokenTree will center the view of the map onto that token. This is basically a management panel to find and see what's on the map easily. The player view does not have the Object and Background folders, and the Tokens folder will only contain the tokens that they can actually see (in the non-fogged sense).

There are a lot of plans to flesh out the functionality of the Token Tree, look for iterative improvements as we go along

Looks like a usage indicator just to the right of the coordinate indicator in the lower right in the “status” bar and my current map has 52M/63M (but it changes). There is a green "progress" looking indicator as well. What are these indicating?

This indicates your current memory usage. The number on the left is the current memory usage, the number on the right is the total currently allocated. This is useful when creating or running a campaign so that you know how much physical memory you are taking, so you can appropriately tell your players how much memory they need to run MapTool with

What is the computer icon for?

This one is indicating your current connected state, non-connected, connected, and hosting. This isn't a very much used feature, and its value is questionable, so it'll probably go away one of these days.

What are the two circles for?

These indicate network traffic. The left red dot indicates incoming network traffic, the right green dot indicates outgoing network traffic. For example, when your players are loading a map, and it looks stalled, if the red dot is lit then it means they are still downloading information, and should be patient.

I noticed that the campaign file size increments as I add assets, so I am assuming that assets are embedded as opposed to linked.

Correct, campaign files include all images that are in use directly into the campaign. I'm a huge proponent of self contained files. That way you can transfer them around trivially without worrying whether an image will break.

What are the upper limits, pitfalls to having large campaign file sizes?
Will a larger file size with many assets take longer for the database engine to locate and upload as opposed to a campaign file with fewer assets?

The biggest pitfall is load/save times. The bottleneck is our persistence mechanism (file format). It worked great when we first started MapTool, but it hasn't scaled well, so it'll be one of the first things to be replaced in 1.3

Would it be beneficial to use JPG’s as opposed to PNG’s or other large file formats to keep campaign file size at a minimum?

Pick the one that meets the quality that you need, and keeps your memory from blowing up

What is the definition and usage of a “Zone”?

Internally we call maps "zones" because "map" means something different in the coding world. We originally called the maps "zones" in the interface but that was confusing to everyone but the coders So we changed the UI to use "map" if you find a reference to "zone" in the UI let me know so I can update it to "map"

If I play an online game, could I send the campaign file to the players for instant access on their machines? Or specifically, what assets could I send to a player’s machine to reduce upload/transfer times across the internet?
And where would a player place those assets?

Turns out the campaign file isn't the big bottleneck, it's actually pretty small. The big thing is the images. You can't presend a campaign (and probably don't want to otherwise your players will get wise), but you _can_ send the images. Zip up all the images you use in your campaign and send it out to the players. Have them unzip it and add it to their image explorer. MT is smart enough to use the local copy instead of reloading it from the server.

Would it be better to have a number of smaller “scenarios” with just an encounter’s assets as opposed to one large campaign file with every asset in it if I am playing a;

It's really personal preference. I hear of both systems being used. Images are only transferred once per client, regardless of having to restart MT, or you are connecting the following week. So once the images have transferred, getting up and running is pretty quick. So having everything in one campaign isn't that big of a deal. The real key (emphasis added) is to back up your campaign file regularly. In fact one recommended method is to copy your campaign file each session and tack on the session date. That way if for whatever reason MT chews up your file, you have a backup that's only at most one session old (note: we try really, really hard to never have MT eat campaign files, but during development it very occasionally happens)

Thanks again for the great questions. I plan to use this post as a starting point for a New Users Guide !

[Phergus]

What is the definition and usage of a “Zone”?

Internally we call maps "zones" because "map" means something different in the coding world. We originally called the maps "zones" in the interface but that was confusing to everyone but the coders So we changed the UI to use "map" if you find a reference to "zone" in the UI let me know so I can update it to "map"

It says "zone" in the Delete Map dialog.

[trevor]

It says "zone" in the Delete Map dialog.

oops Fixed, thanks !

[venger]

Thanks again for the great questions. I plan to use this post as a starting point for a New Users Guide !

m'Pleasure

Im glad that volley of questions serves a purpose beyond my own inquisitiveness (is that a word?)

[venger]

This adds the texture to the paint chooser. When you pick a drawing tool, click on the outline or fill color box in the color panel. A dialog will pop up that has Color and Texture tabs, if you select the Texture tab the image you added will be there. You can then select the texture and draw with it. For example, add a water texture to the paint panel, select it as the fill color, disable the outline color, then draw a circle, instant lake.

Excellent
I saw the Screencast Dorpond did where he draws a "house" with several textures and the drawing tool has one texture it. So this is how you would dd more textures to the drawing tool..

What would be an optimal number of pixels wide/high to reproduce that drawing effect?

[Phergus]

What would be an optimal number of pixels wide/high to reproduce that drawing effect?

The number that most correctly correlates with your grid size.

If you have textures that should represent, for example, 5 feet in real world dimensions but the texture is 200x200 and you use it on a map with a 5' grid set to 40 pixels the effect will be less than optimal.

You'll need to pick textures that are a close match for the grid size of your chosen map or you'll have to scale them to suit.