Complaint From my Players About LOS in Maps in Official FG PF2e Modules

[Farnaby]

I am going to preface this by saying as a DM I didn't see this until my players mentioned this issue and I logged on with a 2nd instance as a player.
Also I especially chose a couple of examples that will not spoil anything for players reading this (I hope).

The main issue is that whoever is creating the LOS is creating the lines on the exact edge of the wall.

Here as an example I have the Spire dormitory from Strength of Thousands.

This is my view as a DM:
Spire Dorm GM view - blank.png
Looks pretty.

This is the view as a player:
Spire Dorm Player view.png
Hmmm, ugly.

Further into the dorm as a player:
Spire Dorm Player view 2.png
Still ugly.

Here is the unaltered LOS view:
Spire Dorm GM view - los.png

Here is my change to the LOS:
Spire Dorm GM view changed - los.png
I moved the LOS lines a few pixels into the walls.

continued in Post #2 as only 5 uploads max allowed

[Farnaby]

This is what the players now see:
Spire Dorm Player view - changed.png

Spire Dorm Player view 2 - changed.png
A lot prettier and imho realistic.

The second example is about objects in rooms.

The description of the room starts as follows:

An elegant but dusty flight of spiral stairs ascends in the middle of this room.

Here the DM view:
Malevolence GM View - blank.png

And here the player view:
Malevolence Player View.png

Here the DM LOS view:
Malevolence GM View - los.png

Continued in Post #3

[Farnaby]

What if we changed the LOS to a window and just one simple line?

It would look like this:
Malevolence GM View changed - los.png

And the players would see this:
Malevolence Player View changed.png

So what I'm asking is to set back the LOS lines a few pixels that you do not just see a black blob but wall.
Thick walls with 2 lines but thin walls only need one LOS line.
And think about the objects in rooms, most of them can have window LOS but the above sentence also holds true.

[Montis]

I recently tried to have an inner and outer layer of a cave by having the inner layer be regular walls but moved inwards so the players can see the actual wall graphics and the outer layer on the exact edges as an object boundary. It's not perfect but at the same time it allows the players to better see what kind of wall they are dealing with and not allow them look around corners at the same time. If you look closely it the LoS edges are a bit odd but it works.

It's rather annoying to implement, though, and you have twice the amount of work.

[ronlugge]

I ran into this issue, big time, with my players. Eventually just gave up on revealing the map and turned off LOS long enough for them to see the entire map, then turned it back on. They knew the layout, but LOS could still help with figuring out what characters could see.

[dsaraujo]

I'll add a +1 to that. It is important to see walls!

[Surge]

This is why I feel it a necessity to map my own maps or find alternatives. All of the included ones are very unappealing to players when using LOS.

[timg]

I had a similar request out a while ago. It is completely terrible for players not to be able to tell what is a wall on their maps. One of the big drawcards of pre-gen AP content is that the maps and LOS are done already, but I have to go in an spend time modifying them all to be like you have done here and it reduces the benefits a lot. I wonder if we could somehow share our modified map content among ourselves? I am happy to pay for content but would prefer it to be recognizable to my players.

[ronlugge]

What's worse at this point is I have one of my players whose a bit more tech savvy, and has set maps up himself, and apparently there are different LOS wall types -- and using the right type would have worked here. And I'm having to listen to him make sense, but I don't understand a single thing about what he's talking about to actually do anything with it because I haven't played around enough with the LOS tools myself.

[Zacchaeus]

What's worse at this point is I have one of my players whose a bit more tech savvy, and has set maps up himself, and apparently there are different LOS wall types -- and using the right type would have worked here. And I'm having to listen to him make sense, but I don't understand a single thing about what he's talking about to actually do anything with it because I haven't played around enough with the LOS tools myself.

Whilst there are different Line of Sight types there is only one wall type, so not sure what exactly your player is talking about without further information.