[extension] Spell Tokens Extension

[bratch9]

I purchased this extension months ago, but I put it down shortly after because it still needed some work. However, it seems to have come a long way. That said, I've read the Forge entry and the first post here, but both places seem to be lacking some important, but basic information. The answers to my questions might be buried in the 55 pages, but do people really need to spend a couple of hours reading the entire thread to find out:

1. What the options in the options menu do, exactly?
2. What does collision percentage do?
3. If I want to change the map suffix, what is the syntax? Is it just f________________5'?

This stuff might be incredibly obvious to some, but I can 100% guarantee you that there are a bunch of people that don't have clue, but are too proud or embarrassed to ask.

Hi,

Yep, I agree the details are out of date, and most do exist in the pages of this thread. I've got some fixes to make to some of my other extensions and will get around to updating the forge/DMsGuild listing for all my extensions as soon as I get time.

For the default suffix the usage 1 square is 5 feet is assumed, I dont think you need to do anything with the suffix unless you want to have 'km/miles' level spell tokens !! The system already includes a suffix 'm' for meters at '1.5' for a grid set as meters. This is used to convert from grid squares to the graphic representation of the token that is always calculated in 5 feet units of resolution. Normally a spell token will be '70 pixels per 5 feet' and this is normally 1 square in 5e. The value comes from the number of 'meters in 5 feet' ( 1.524, rounded to 1.5 for ease. )

Collision percentage reduces the size of the radius of the shape by that amount. So a 30 foot circle will be reduced to a 30*Percentage foot collision circle. This can be used to make the grid selection for target smaller than the spell token, so you do not get selection on squares that get a tiny fraction of the circle ( or token shape ) just going over the corner of a square and hence selecting that token. Normally by about 95% size of collision a 30 foot circle would select what most people playing on a grid would consider the correct selection of a person stood on the 45 degree axis of the center. ( This typically been the point on a circle that just goes over the corner of that square by a tiny amount. ) The system is design to allow the flexibility of been 'perfect' selection to allow reduced collision to get closer to what players would expect as a grid.

The other graphics options are to do with a software render that convers and scan the spell shapes into 'pixels' that represent grid squares. You can configure this to also have a 2x2 subpixel selection per square. ( Mainly for games that allow snapped by not in square positions, ie player token center on the cross junction of a sqaure. ) Again this then matches what pixels the square token is in, and if any overlap then the token is selected. Most people do not use this method, and just reduce the collision size, which results in the same basic outcome. It was mainly a debug system designed to allow GM to see what squares are 'hit' for the token at a given collision and position. So they can tune a spell token to cope with a reasonable grid selection for a spell token that is centered on the center/line edge/corner of a square and grid output of what squares would have been selected.

But I expect most GM just use the basic templated xml files listed at the top, as this might cause the odd edge case extra/missing selection depending on how that GM runs the game.

Our group is reasonable flexible and tend to just fix any slight miss selected or 'on the edge of a spell token' cases with a quick confirm with the current GM at the time, so we just use the basic imported xml at full collision between the shapes.

Because of this I've not updated much of these details on the forge, because the average user does not want to see pages of advanced descriptions and think its going to be a massive pain to configure... when in fact most people I'd guess just import the xml template and just play. ( Which is how its basically designed to work... )

The system is already configured for all rulesets that run the 5 units (feet) to one square default, it has a '*5' factor for 4e as this defaults to 1 unit per square, and has a default suffix for the users that want to use 1 unit as meter per square. I dont think people put spell tokens down on travel maps that are in km/miles level or 100 feet per square type things. ( Tokens would be so small on these you would never be able to select them, which is why FG defaults player token to one square... implying you are now a 100x100 foot character which you obviously are not.. )

Hope this help,
pete

[nephranka]

I was wondering if you ever gave any thought to automatically removing spell tokens from the map tied to concentration ending. It would help with map clean up but i am not sure it is even possible. Just a thought.

[bratch9]

I was wondering if you ever gave any thought to automatically removing spell tokens from the map tied to concentration ending. It would help with map clean up but i am not sure it is even possible. Just a thought.

No thought on it, as it does not interact with the effect part of combat tracker it would probably be an issue to track.

I'll add it to my to look into todo list..

-pete

[BushViper]

Thank you for the explanation, Pete.

[MrDDT]

Is there a way to turn line tokens so they don't turn so much when you use shift scroll wheel?

[bratch9]

Is there a way to turn line tokens so they don't turn so much when you use shift scroll wheel?

The simple answer is yes..... ( Its already on my look into todo list )

The longer answer is that this is a global setting that will make everything that could rotate also get the increased count.

It also has UI interface issues, is 16 possible instead of the normal 8 suitable ?

( Maybe for you, but maybe somebody wants better than 22 degrees per click, maybe 32... why not 360..... Then do I add shift+wheel => 1 click, shift+ctrl+wheel => 5 clicks, shift+alt+wheel => 20 clicks, shift+alt+ctrl+wheel => 60.... )

On top of this, do users want to now have many more clicks to rotate non rectangle tokens, or even the 'facing arrow' or other location in the general game that rotate and use this setting.... All would have to be 'patched', I just dont know at the moment the number of location this will change.

Hence the 'maybe/possible' attitude to 'should' I do this...

Also you are talking about 'rectangle' spell tokens.... do you want the same number for 'square' spell tokens that maybe don't require as many angles to 'fit' onto the map. At what 'aspect' do I introduce fine control. Do I try and adjust the system to 32 possible angles, and make every click count as '4 click' for shift+wheel, and then a fine control 'shift+ctrl+wheel' to add '1 click'... so could be used on anything that rotates...

I've just not decided which path the code could/should take.

I've given a couple of my thoughts and options, do you have any idea how many angles you might need ? Any preference on how to control this, ie shift+ctrl+wheel for access to fine control, or just for line spell tokens etc..

-pete

[heckipatang]

Hey B9,

i purchased the Extension via forge and managed to set the tokens in the spell tokens configurator. I use the tokens from g.jensen from the guild and the token appear in the character sheets as well as in the ct for npcs. When i drag the token on the map, i only see a small hardly visible previev of the token (size of one square, no matter what the actual size of the spell is, but the token never "materialize" on the map. Any idea what the problem is? I read through a lot of this thread but cant find anything related to this problem. Help would be awesome. By the way... i think a short tutorial video for the extension would be dope too.

[heckipatang]

I am a total Dork! Found out what "Pixel per 5 Unit" Does. Sorry man, and thank you for that awesome Extension!

[bratch9]

I am a total Dork! Found out what "Pixel per 5 Unit" Does. Sorry man, and thank you for that awesome Extension!

Glad its working... I assume you had this value 5 times too big... making everything small... which it clamps to just 1 square as a min size.

Yep its number of pixels to cover one square... so if you use 50 'units per 5 feet', then a 5x5 spell token would require a spell token with 50x50 pixels.

If you are using g.jensen, then import the 'spell_tokens.xml' these have the sizes configures for you... and the pack uses 70 pixels per 5 units.

-pete

[MrDDT]

The simple answer is yes..... ( Its already on my look into todo list )

The longer answer is that this is a global setting that will make everything that could rotate also get the increased count.

It also has UI interface issues, is 16 possible instead of the normal 8 suitable ?

( Maybe for you, but maybe somebody wants better than 22 degrees per click, maybe 32... why not 360..... Then do I add shift+wheel => 1 click, shift+ctrl+wheel => 5 clicks, shift+alt+wheel => 20 clicks, shift+alt+ctrl+wheel => 60.... )

On top of this, do users want to now have many more clicks to rotate non rectangle tokens, or even the 'facing arrow' or other location in the general game that rotate and use this setting.... All would have to be 'patched', I just dont know at the moment the number of location this will change.

Hence the 'maybe/possible' attitude to 'should' I do this...

Also you are talking about 'rectangle' spell tokens.... do you want the same number for 'square' spell tokens that maybe don't require as many angles to 'fit' onto the map. At what 'aspect' do I introduce fine control. Do I try and adjust the system to 32 possible angles, and make every click count as '4 click' for shift+wheel, and then a fine control 'shift+ctrl+wheel' to add '1 click'... so could be used on anything that rotates...

I've just not decided which path the code could/should take.

I've given a couple of my thoughts and options, do you have any idea how many angles you might need ? Any preference on how to control this, ie shift+ctrl+wheel for access to fine control, or just for line spell tokens etc..

-pete

My issue is coming from lines, But I get you, where does it end right?