LanternVault Closed Test Update — v0.8.266+574
Si6 Labs
A new LanternVault closed-test build is going out: v0.8.266+574.
This is one of the largest refinement updates we have done so far. A lot of the work in this build was not about adding more features—it was about making LanternVault faster, cleaner, more reliable, and more focused on what it is supposed to be: a practical GM companion.
Major Performance & Stability WorkThe biggest focus of this update was responsiveness.
We tracked down several causes of the app becoming progressively slower during longer sessions and made substantial architectural changes.
Faster Feature SwitchingLanternVault previously kept too many major features active at the same time. This contributed to memory pressure and increasingly sluggish navigation.
The navigation system has been reworked so that:
Features load only when they are first opened.
Once opened, their working state is retained.
Inactive features no longer remain unnecessarily active in the layout.
Repeated switching between Shops, Treasure, NPCs, Catalog, Saved, and Party should remain much more consistent.
The goal is simple:
The 50th navigation tap should feel like the first one.
Portrait / Landscape State RetentionA regression had returned where rotating a tablet could completely reset a generator.
That has now been addressed globally.
Changing between portrait and landscape—or resizing the app on Windows—should no longer destroy your current working session.
Generated Shops, Treasure, NPCs, filters, setup selections, Party information, and other meaningful working state should remain intact while the interface adapts to the new layout.
Faster Saved ContentThe Saved screen previously reloaded saved Shops, Treasure, and NPCs from disk simply because the user navigated back to it.
It now reloads only when the underlying saved data has actually changed.
Reduced Background Persistence WorkShop and NPC working-session saves have been converted to a latest-state-wins model.
Rapid changes no longer create a queue of obsolete save operations that the app has to process afterward.
Improved Image Memory UsageShop artwork and Shopkeeper portraits were being decoded at their full source resolution even when displayed as relatively small images.
Normal UI views now use appropriately sized image decoding, substantially reducing memory and image-cache pressure.
The full-resolution artwork is still used when you intentionally enlarge an image.
Better First-Tap ResponseGenerator buttons now visibly acknowledge the first tap before heavy generation work begins.
Shops, Treasure, and NPCs display an active generating state immediately instead of appearing frozen while work begins.
This should greatly reduce the experience of feeling like a button needs to be pressed two or three times.
Generator IndexingShop and Treasure generation have also received internal indexing improvements.
Custom Treasure previously had to evaluate thousands of item identities repeatedly during generation. The generator now begins with a much smaller pre-indexed eligible pool while still applying all current Campaign Source, rarity, Party, budget, duplicate, DM-gating, and other rules dynamically.
Seeded generation behavior and existing generation rules have been preserved.
Fizban Evolving Magic Items
Fizban's evolving hoard items received a significant data-model upgrade.
Dragon's Wrath Weapons now properly account for:
Weapon family
Slumbering
Stirring
Wakened
Ascendant
Dragon affinity
Derived damage type
This means a Dragon's Wrath Longsword can now correctly exist as something like a Wakened Sapphire Dragon's Wrath Longsword, rather than being permanently flattened into a generic Slumbering version.
The same evolving-state model was added for:
Dragon Vessel
Dragon-Touched Focus
Scaled Ornament
The app still maintains one canonical item identity instead of creating hundreds of duplicate records.
State now properly affects rarity and LanternVault's canonical value.
Catalog Cleanup
Catalog item cards have been simplified.
Collapsed cards previously repeated provenance information such as Rules Source and Pricing Source even though all of that information was already available when opening the detailed item view.
That redundant information has been removed from the collapsed card.
Additional Catalog improvements include:
Better portrait handling for long category names.
Improved dropdown behavior on narrow screens.
Clearer Availability explanations.
Updated Party-related terminology.
Evolving-item selectors for supported Fizban items.
Treasure UI Refinements
Several smaller Treasure interface issues have also been cleaned up.
Generated results now consistently use Re-Generate terminology.
Result and setup actions use matching language.
Bigby Giant Bag results no longer show irrelevant CR controls.
Include Custom Content remains OFF by default.
CR remains unselected when no CR is assumed.
Sourcebook, Guided, and Custom Treasure behavior has been regression-tested again.
Shops UI & Session Behavior
Shop reset behavior has been verified and protected with regression coverage.
Reset clears the current generated Shop and returns the setup interface to its intended collapsed state.
Campaign Source management remains centralized through Party rather than being duplicated throughout individual generators.
Party Terminology Improvements
Party remains an important part of LanternVault because it helps Shops and Treasure determine what is useful for the current adventuring group.
Some of the original terminology was unnecessarily technical.
User-facing terminology is now:
Party Usability
Controls which characters or capabilities the generators prefer when evaluating useful items.
Power Level
Controls how strongly generation favors items appropriate to the Party's current level.
The underlying generation rules have not changed—only the presentation has been clarified.
A Major Change in Direction: Living DM and Broadcast Removed
One of the most important decisions in this update was deciding what LanternVault should not be.
During development, LanternVault had grown a full Living DM combat workspace and a Broadcast / Player Display system designed to synchronize game state to another device.
Those systems included things such as:
Initiative tracking
Conditions and timed effects
Concentration tracking
Lair and legendary-action reminders
Combat undo history
Encounter persistence
Player Display synchronization
Local network servers and clients
QR/session connection systems
Table Display media
Cross-device broadcast state
After using and evaluating these features, we decided they were pushing LanternVault away from its strongest purpose.
They also introduced significant complexity, background persistence, networking, platform permissions, testing requirements, and maintenance overhead.
So rather than continue supporting features that were not improving the core product, Living DM and Broadcast / Player Display have been removed entirely.
This was not simply hiding two buttons.
The associated runtime code, networking, persistence systems, platform integrations, tests, dependencies, and obsolete assets have been purged from the application.
Older Portable Vault saves remain compatible. Legacy Combat/Broadcast entries are recognized during import and safely discarded rather than causing an old save to fail.
LanternVault is now deliberately returning to its intended identity:
A focused GM companion, not a virtual tabletop.
The core feature set is now:
Shops
Treasure
NPCs
Catalog
Saved
Party
Party remains because it directly improves Shop and Treasure relevance.
The space previously occupied by Living DM will eventually be used for tools that better fit LanternVault's purpose, with Trap Generation and Puzzle Generation currently planned as the replacement direction.
Those features are still in design and are not part of this release.
What Testers Should Focus On
For this build, I am especially interested in longer-session behavior.
Please try:
Switching repeatedly between all six major features.
Generating Shops, Treasure, and NPCs repeatedly.
Rotating a tablet between portrait and landscape while a generated result is visible.
Returning to previously used generators and confirming their working state remains intact.
Using Saved repeatedly.
Opening and enlarging Shop artwork.
Leaving the app open and actively using it for a longer session.
Watching for any slowdown that becomes worse over time.
Reporting any instance where a button appears to require multiple presses.
Reporting any Android "Wait / Close App" or application-not-responding behavior.
Also continue reporting ordinary UI problems, generator oddities, incorrect item behavior, layout issues, or anything else that feels wrong.
This build represents a substantial cleanup and simplification of LanternVault, and the goal of this closed-test cycle is to make sure that the smaller, more focused application remains stable and responsive under actual game-table use.
Thank you again to everyone testing LanternVault and helping get it ready for release.