Playing music for players in FG?

[drownedcreation]

Eventually it will. FGU is still in its fledgling stages, more things will get added over time.

In the mean time - there are a few ways to integrate Syrinscape into FG (search the forums for Audio Overseer for a start).

Yea no thanks... two years later, still no music player. This was the final straw and the reason I canceled my subscription and went back to tabletop simulator. If I'm going to have to write software to make the entire system work anyway, I'd rather start from an engine that doesn't look like reheated dog ****... and which has the literal most basic functionality in a "music player" built in.

[Zacchaeus]

Yea no thanks... two years later, still no music player. This was the final straw and the reason I canceled my subscription and went back to tabletop simulator. If I'm going to have to write software to make the entire system work anyway, I'd rather start from an engine that doesn't look like reheated dog ****... and which has the literal most basic functionality in a "music player" built in.

Pity, since sound integration is in the next update which is TEST right now.

[drownedcreation]

Doesn't feel like a pity to me. My TTS setup absolutely crushes with all the mods I've downloaded and written, alongside the "sound integration" working in PRODUCTION.

Capture.jpgCapture2.jpg

[ianmward]

Fantasy-Grounds-v4-4-0 now includes sound control, integrating with Syrinscape…

[drownedcreation]

Fantasy-Grounds-v4-4-0 now includes sound control, integrating with Syrinscape…

This is only slightly less terrible. It's absurd to not be able to choose an mp3 and hit the play button.

[ianmward]

This is only slightly less terrible. It's absurd to not be able to choose an mp3 and hit the play button.

You can also upload files, but I think what has been done with the sound context and linking to different elements, like stories and NPC types is pretty impressive. Much more powerful than other systems I’ve seen.

[drownedcreation]

You can also upload files, but I think what has been done with the sound context and linking to different elements, like stories and NPC types is pretty impressive. Much more powerful than other systems I’ve seen.

Theoretically, sure. But practically speaking, no one is using that. Some minority will try it out once or twice and then forget about it because of the time- and cost-prohibitiveness of the solution. Not having the ability to press a button and "play music" this many years later is beyond ridiculous.

[Zacchaeus]

Theoretically, sure. But practically speaking, no one is using that. Some minority will try it out once or twice and then forget about it because of the time- and cost-prohibitiveness of the solution. Not having the ability to press a button and "play music" this many years later is beyond ridiculous.

I'm not sure what you mean by just 'press a button and play music'. Where is this music coming from? What player is being used? How is this getting to your players? What costs are involved that makes it prohibitive? Have you looked at how sound integration in FG works? Have you tried it? What issues did you find and we may be able to help - assuming that you are really interested of course and not just making posts for the sake of making them.

[Trenloe]

Theoretically, sure. But practically speaking, no one is using that. Some minority will try it out once or twice and then forget about it because of the time- and cost-prohibitiveness of the solution.

I think you massively underestimate the power, flexibility and ease of the new sound solution - and very much underestimate the amount of people that will use it. I see a lot of people using it, especially with the sound link modules - open a Bugbear NPC (or add it to the CT) and immediately have access to all of the sounds related to that creature - no searching, they're just there in the sound context window. Add a goblin and a spider to the CT and all related sounds are ready to go (see screenshot below). I'm going to be using this all of the time in my FG games and, judging by the fact that the PHB and MM sound links are currently 3rd and 4th in the recent top sellers chart, so will lots of others FG users.

[Amerisun]

I think you massively underestimate the power, flexibility and ease of the new sound solution...

I'm not sure what you mean by just 'press a button and play music'. Where is this music coming from? What player is being used? How is this getting to your players? What costs are involved that makes it prohibitive? Have you looked at how sound integration in FG works? Have you tried it? What issues did you find and we may be able to help - assuming that you are really interested of course and not just making posts for the sake of making them.

The current sound implementation of FG is powerful, and many people will use it (me included). It's also a great foundation for future growth. If you have a Syrinscape subscription and are playing any of the pre-built sound link packs, it will be fantastic to have the adventure or monster easily play sounds or music and have all that work done ahead of time with a small investment in the sound sets/adventures / etc. for prepackaged adventures.

I will try to encapsulate what I think user DownedCreation was attempting to articulate but failed to do so. Also being critical and trying to offer some constructive criticism as well. I am slightly disappointed in the current implementation. It will not allow you to play a sound or music in FG and everyone connected hear it. Some other VTT's can do this. If you want to do this you either need Syrinscape or local files with some technical implementation like VB Virtual Audio Cable, Discord Bots, or VLC configurations (or others) so your players can hear it.

I know also that the foundation of FG is Unity, and it's not meant for audio streaming to everyone connected. Something that you could do with TCP / HTTP streaming technology bolted onto the side. Then you still have the same problems that Syrinscape already has with lag/caching and other issues. That's a lot of work to get this feature working, and should they put the work here instead of other features that would be excellent for a VTT?

Unfortunately, I know it's not a question of whether it can be done, but should it, when and then how. I manage a dev team building B2B software, so an ROI and business case are needed in combination with priorities on development tasks that would allow your platform to be compelling in the marketplace. IMHO if FG wants its platform to appeal to the most extensive user base, they need to make it as easy to onboard new customers as possible. FG currently requires specialized skills to use it. The coding for automation, the creation of sound sets, the understanding of local vs. remote, image sizes, VP8 vs VP9, slow connectivity, etc. Users that have been using FG for a long time find some of the new features a challenge to learn and need to work at it to understand and use its full power. It's not intuitive right out of the gate. I see it in the groups I play with and the questions they ask. Why it takes so long to receive images from a DM? Why is that WEBM I uploaded grey and not working? Wait, why can't you hear the local file I am playing? Quite a few users will complain or simply leave because of problems like this if other platforms are easier to use. How do you give ultimate power to your users to the platform so they can do anything they want but make it easy to use simultaneously? It takes a lot of work to solve. It would be best to have some guardrails to protect someone from shooting themselves in the foot without removing the platform's power.

So even though there are a lot of challenges, and I understand them, I am happy with the direction it's going. I want FG to flourish; I prefer it over other VTT's. But it would be nice to have some focus on usability and guardrails. Also with all that said, as a customer I wish I could stream audio straight from FG to my players without the need for anything else. :-)