Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

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bobifle
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Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by bobifle »

Hello everyone.

Has anyone come up with a solution where a remote control software would be used on android or ios to control the player maptool client running actually on the host ?

I have 2 players in my room with androids devices. I was wondering if from my windows laptop I could:

Start 2 ultra light linux virtual machines on my laptop, containing a matptool client. Use a remote control software like nomachine to give control to the android devices.

We all play in person, and I have one client displayed on the TV, but the players cannot interract with the tokens this way.

It would probably bring my laptop to its knees, but I wonder if anyone as ever succeed.

taustinoc
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by taustinoc »

I'd guess MapTool wouldn't play well with touch-screen only computers. It really needs a mouse. If you can get something that functions as a mouse on the tablet (Bluetooth, maybe?), though, it should work.

It can also be frustrating getting MapTool (or anything else) running in a virtual machine to connect to the main OS (it's not a default setting on many VMs.) Resolvable, usually, but frustrating.

I have the same set up - a TV as a second monitor for in person play. I run two instances of MapTool, one as a server, the other connected to the first on the TV as a player. I have three cheapie wireless mice (around $10 eac, IIRC) from Amazon that the players can use to control stuff on the TV. I use my netbook logged in as the gamemaster for myself, to avoid too many conflicts on mouse use. (I'd use the netbook as the server, but it's a crappy netbook and I doubt it could handle it well.)

Works pretty well, except when I need to look something up on the desktop outside of MapTool while someone is poking around the map. (It helps if your players are well behaved, or respond promptly to sarcastic derision when you need them to stop messing with stuff for a while.)

(I do have between one and three remote players, as well as the local ones, and we use GoToMeeting for teleconferencing, and this works out pretty well for desktop sharing, too, as the players can manipulate stuff other than just MapTool if need be, and a spare keyboard will even let them type.)

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Full Bleed
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by Full Bleed »

taustinoc wrote:
Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:19 pm
I'd guess MapTool wouldn't play well with touch-screen only computers. It really needs a mouse.
This is true...

*But*, though I have no knowledge of the remote control programs mentioned, you may be able to build your framework to be a lot more touchscreen friendly. For example, I use a directional "movement pad" with my framework built into my character sheets where players click on arrows to move their tokens around the map. Players launch their character sheet and then do everything from it with single clicks. If the remote programs mentioned can at least reliably send click-throughs it might be doable.
Last edited by Full Bleed on Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

bobifle
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by bobifle »

I use Maptool only to show maps, tokens, handle movement and of course the killer feat of MT: VBL.
Other than that, every roll or interaction is handled the old fashion way with dice, I also track HP myself. I use pretty much no macro.

So I don't get why a touchscreen only would be a problem, isn't the finger acting as mouse ?

And to think of it, I'd be glad even if the player could not interact that much (ofc I'm not against it), the android would serve only as a close up display. Even this would be net to improve the experience, a player could scroll and slide through the map without my intervention.
I have three cheapie wireless mice

That's a great idea, ,and very easy to implement. But I don't see how you avoid mouse conflict, I also start a server for my own display, and a client for the TV to act as a player view. But if you could elaborate on the setup to avoid the player messing with my mouse that woudl be great !

taustinoc
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by taustinoc »

bobifle wrote:
Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:18 am
So I don't get why a touchscreen only would be a problem, isn't the finger acting as mouse ?
Well, not really. A mouse will generally have at least two buttons and a scroll wheel, and MapTool uses all three. You can simulate the scroll wheel with pinching, but I'm not at all sure how you simulate the right mouse button to move around the map with a touch interface. Maybe there is a way, but I'm not aware of it (and it's probably not very convenient). I should experiment on a tablet, I guess.
bobifle wrote:
Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:18 am
I have three cheapie wireless mice
That's a great idea, ,and very easy to implement. But I don't see how you avoid mouse conflict, I also start a server for my own display, and a client for the TV to act as a player view. But if you could elaborate on the setup to avoid the player messing with my mouse that woudl be great !
I have well behaved players. It's a convenience to have several mice so they don't have to be handed around (and wireless is critical, since the PC isn't close enough for a regular mouse), but they still have to go one at a time. (Right now, it's generally not an issue, as I usually only have two players local, and one of them is too lazy to lean forward to the table anyway, and lets the other one move his token(s) around.) The main mouse conflict is when the one player who regularly has a mouse in front of him wants to poke around the map while I'm doing something with another player, and I need to bring up a Word document or picture on the same PC (which is also running GoToMeeting on the TV). That's where the sarcastic derision comes into play. If it were a real issue, I could mark the USB dongles for each mouse, and unplug them from the hub when someone isn't behaving. But I can't imagine that would ever be a problem for us.

Generally speaking, the correct solution is for people to wait their turn.

bobifle
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by bobifle »

I see, I know my players, and I'm sure they will happily mess with me with the mouse. It probably will get old so I still may try it.

taustinoc
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by taustinoc »

Like I said, unplugging the USB dongle is always an option. Or just tell them to behave or you'll stop using the extra mice entirely. "If you can't play with your toys nicely, Daddy will take them away."

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Full Bleed
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by Full Bleed »

bobifle wrote:
Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:18 am
So I don't get why a touchscreen only would be a problem, isn't the finger acting as mouse ?
Then you're going to have to experiment and tell us.

I've used an old single point touchscreen with mouse simulation with MT and it wasn't good. Maybe a multipoint touchscreen and the right interface will change that. But I suspect, as mentioned, that you're going to have issues moving tokens, scrolling maps, and getting at some information without taking steps to create a more touchscreen friendly interface inside MT.
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

taustinoc
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by taustinoc »

Out of curiosity, will Android support a Bluetooth mouse? I know I could have done that on my 7" Windows tablet, but it was the full version of Windows 8, so that's no surprise. Amazon says they have a range of them, mostly under $20. I think that'd be a better choice if the players aren't well behaved.

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metatheurgist
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by metatheurgist »

taustinoc wrote:
Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:53 am
, but I'm not at all sure how you simulate the right mouse button to move around the map with a touch interface. Maybe there is a way, but I'm not aware of it (and it's probably not very convenient). I should experiment on a tablet, I guess.
It definitely works but I can't recall the mechanism. I had a funny incident where a fly landed on my screen and was moving my map around. There was a couple of seconds where I was completely clueless about what was happening before I noticed.

taustinoc
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Re: Using remote control software to use maptool on tablets

Post by taustinoc »

OK, I've had a chance to play around with this on a Windows 8 tablet with a touch screen. It works. Kind of.

I can simulate the scroll wheel with the squeeze motions. It's slow and erratic, but that's probably as much the fact that it's not a terribly good tablet as it is Java on a touch screen.

I can tap and hold to get the right mouse button functions. If I do it on a blank spot, I can move around the map. If it do it over a token, I get the right-click menu for the token. That works reasonably well.

Moving a token requires left-click and drag. That's more problematic. I can do it, but . . . I have to tap and hold for just long enough. Too short a time, and I get a multi-select box, or something else unpredictable. Too long, and I get the right-click menu for the token. And it's erratic. There's a fair chance I will accidentally drop the token. I suspect that more practice would make it more reliable.

It work, but not well.

Whether or not the touch screen controls will work on Android, I have no idea in the world, and no way to test it.

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