Griping about Foundry VTT

[Retreater]

So after spending the better part of the evening figuring out how to load an adventure in Foundry VTT, the whole map and tokens disappear after starting the first scene. Exit the program and it does it again before the first combat turn.
This was after a disastrous technical issue with WFRP on Roll20 that has pretty much made the campaign unplayable.
With the failure of "tried and true" Roll20 to handle WFRP and the disappointing, unstable mess that is Foundry VTT, I guess I'm going to have to abandon my bucket list aspiration of running The Enemy Within.
Maybe I can convert the campaign to a system that Roll20 can handle? Foundry seems like a bust.

 

[Rabulias]

Some questions:

• How powerful is your computer (especially the graphics card)? If your computer is on the slower side, there are some options you can adjust to turn off some of the more intensive options in Foundry VTT.
• When you say the map and tokens disappear, is that for the GM, the players, or both?
• What Foundry modules do you have loaded? There may be a conflict between some of them.
• I have found the folks on the Foundry VTT Discord (Join the Foundry VTT Discord Server!) to be very helpful. There is a channel for wfrp (under Game Systems), but I don't know how active it is.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Roll20s support for Zweihander is solid, and that's definitely a WH-compatible system. It isn't perfect: you have to manually roll initiative, and the GM either manually rolls NPC/monster attacks or has to set up NPC cards, but the player side is as smooth as silk.

 

[TerraDave]

Can you say what the disastrous issue was with Roll20?

 

[Retreater]

How powerful is your computer (especially the graphics card)? If your computer is on the slower side, there are some options you can adjust to turn off some of the more intensive options in Foundry VTT.

I'm not extremely computer savvy, but it's a Dell XPS, relatively new that I got early in the pandemic. It's not a gaming rig or anything, but I'd think it should be capable.

When you say the map and tokens disappear, is that for the GM, the players, or both?

Just me (the GM). I am running it through the application. Just testing it now, haven't even gotten it to the player stage yet.

What Foundry modules do you have loaded? There may be a conflict between some of them.

Only the official rules system from Cubicle and the official adventure, also from Cubicle.

I have found the folks on the Foundry VTT Discord (Join the Foundry VTT Discord Server!) to be very helpful. There is a channel for wfrp (under Game Systems), but I don't know how active it is.

I hope so. I went there with a question, still unanswered after several hours. Quick Google search brought up the issue with numerous other players on Reddit and other sites. No answers there after months of waiting.

 

[Retreater]

Roll20s support for Zweihander is solid, and that's definitely a WH-compatible system. It isn't perfect: you have to manually roll initiative, and the GM either manually rolls NPC/monster attacks or has to set up NPC cards, but the player side is as smooth as silk.

I don't know. It was a challenge to get these players on board with WFRP 4E and they're still trying to learn it after over a month of play. Changing systems to another new one that doesn't have built in support on Roll20 (other than the character sheet) is something I won't do lightly.
If I'm going to convert to a different system, maybe I'll try it in 5e (which is their comfort zone) or OSR, which they've also played.

 

[Retreater]

Can you say what the disastrous issue was with Roll20?

Getting it working on Roll20 hasn't been seamless, but we were making it work at first. I was putting in the Enemy Within campaign, loading in maps, NPCs, and handouts - which was pretty time intensive.
So here's what went wrong, and it may seem like no big issue to some groups, but to my group - who's struggling to grasp an already crunchy system - it's been a disaster.
On the character sheet it has randomly stopped asking for difficulty queries. Even though this is specifically turned on from a game level and on each character sheet. Even though this feature worked when we played the Starter Adventure. Even though it works if I create a new campaign. Just stopped working, so everyone's SLs are inaccurate unless you're doing a +0% roll. This means every die roll you have to mentally math in your head to see the result and effect. And then in opposed checks, you're modifying two percentage rolls, two sets of SL, and comparing.
Sure, I could delete the game and try it again, under the hope that this doesn't just randomly occur again - after putting in weeks of work into putting in the campaign information (because the very detailed module isn't available on Roll20). But then everything was available on Foundry with a couple mouse clicks - only Foundry keeps crashing.
This is a mess.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Retreater, how fast & reliable is your Net connection? The few issues I've had with Roll20 has always been tie to Net service.

 

[Retreater]

Retreater, how fast & reliable is your Net connection? The few issues I've had with Roll20 has always been tie to Net service.

It's as good as I can get in my city. Can stream hi-def video with no problem, download games, and have never had trouble with Roll20 like this before. The thing that makes me think it's not network related is that I can exit my WFRP game on Roll20, instantly create a new game of WFRP, and all the options I need appear in the new game. The only time they don't appear, regardless if I'm at home or the office, is in that one specific campaign.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Well, Retreater, after reviewing the information presented, the only logical conclusion is that you and your group have been judged and found to be unworthy. Some sort of appeasement and purification would be in order, based upon the nature of your offenses.