Macros in MapTool

[Provos]

Greetings, I was looking for suggestions on how to handle my casters in MapTool.  I see the spell manager in the MTI framework but the spell selection is limited.  Not everyone uses a framework while playing though.  I tried to google macros, to no avail.  I know enough about macros to make rather simple die rolling or messages.  I was wonding if we could as a group share our some of our macros. 

 

I am not taking credit for writing this macro but I am going to share it.  This is what I use to adjust my character HP.  It appears to work in v86, v87, and v88 of MapTool.

The only thing needed it to change the Total HP which in this case is 31 to whatever you character max hp is.

 

[H: maxHP = getStrProp(Description, "31")]

<b><!-- Ask the user for input. 
       [HealValue = DamageHealed] 
     Calculate the new value. 
       [NewHP = min(31, HP + HealValue)] 
--> 
{HealValue} points of Health. 
<br>HP changes from {HP} to {HP = NewHP}.<b>

<!--  [h:bar.Health = NewHP / 31] -->

 

Please feel free to add any you think are useful. 

 

Thanks,

Roi 

[Defenestrator]

There may be something out there for more comprehensive spell macros, but I could see someone storing a few properties on a token that relate to spellcasting, such as caster level, primary casting stat mod, etc.  Then you could write a macro from scratch for each spell to use those variables.  This would work particularly well for spontaneous spellcasters, since your spell options are the same every day, and pretty limited.  This gets a little awkward when considering applying metamagic feats and such.... but if thats something you do often I guess you'd just have to write another version of the macro for it.  I'm pretty inexperienced with maptools but I am a programmer so maybe this approach doesn't make sense... but this works:

{if(L1SpellsLeft <= 0, "You are out of Level 1 spells for the day!<!--","")}
Casting Shocking Grasp!<BR>
Attack: [d20+5] vs touch AC.<BR>
Rolling {dice = min(CasterLevel,5)}d6... {eval(dice + "d6")} damage!<BR>
 [L1SpellsLeft = L1SpellsLeft-1]<BR>
Level 1 Spells Remaining: {L1SpellsLeft}
-->

Depends on the token variables CasterLevel, and uses a variable L1SpellsLeft to keep track of your spells per day.  This variable would be decremented until it hits zero, and then it would fail to cast after that.  By storing the total number of level 1 spells per day you get, you can have a "reset" macro you hit in the morning to get your spells back...

<!--
[L1SpellsLeft=L1SpellsTotal]
[L2SpellsLeft=L2SpellsTotal]
-->
Spells have been reset.

Keeping track of spells per day would be a lot harder for a prepared caster :) but the general idea of storing your caster level and primary casting stat, then having a macro for each spell would still work.  I'm not very familiar with frameworks but this might be a more flexible way of having your own spell tracking/calculations.

[Cyd]

This is one that I found and Edited for Attacks, just replace @ with the right info and delete anything in italics. This macro will ask for Bonus to attack this is like from Flanking or attack from higher ground.

<!--[Bonus = Bonus to Die]  

@ describe the Attack

[h: AttackBonus = Bonus+ @] The bonus for this attack

[h: ThreatRangeMinimum = @] Lowest # in crit range

[h: DamageBonus = @] Bonus damage from Str. feats ext.

[h: Damagemultiplier = @] # your Crit is multiplied by

<br>

[h: d20roll = 1d20]

[h: dmgroll = @] The damage dice

[h: Critroll = @] The extra damage dice on a crit (1d8 for longsword, 2d8 for battleaxe)

[h: Magroll = @] The damage dice that are not multiplied on a crit (sneak attack, Vital Strike, ext)

[h,if(d20roll == 1),r: "Automatic Miss"]

[h,if(d20roll == 20),r: "Automatic hit!"]

[h,if(d20roll > 1),r: "Hits AC "]

[h,if(d20roll > 1),t: d20roll + AttackBonus] 

[h,if(d20roll >= ThreatRangeMinimum),r: ",Crit Threat, confirms with"]

[h,if(d20roll >= ThreatRangeMinimum),t: 1d20 + AttackBonus]

[h,if(d20roll > 1),r: ", for "]

[h,if(d20roll > 1),t: dmgroll +DamageBonus+Magroll] 

[h,if(d20roll > 1 && d20roll < ThreatRangeMinimum),r: "damage."]

[h,if(d20roll >= ThreatRangeMinimum),r: "damage,or "]

[h,if(d20roll >= ThreatRangeMinimum),t: (dmgroll +Critroll)+(DamageBonus)*Damagemultiplier+Magroll]

[h,if(d20roll >= ThreatRangeMinimum),r: " if confirmed."]

[Provos]

Cyd that one make my brain hurt.

[Cyd]

but it work and and is easy to use after you get it in place

[Terry Milnes]

Why reinvent the wheel? There are already three frameworks out there
for Pathfinder. Each with their own complexity, pros and cons.
Having 4-7 players each with their own macros that may or may not work
due to having the correct properties is insane. It would be easier to
pick a framework and stand behind it or state that no framework will
be used and do not count on any properties.

[Cyd]

well I have played 4 games with Framworks and each one was a nightmare, one of which I could not click on my token with out crashing Maptools. That is why I try to stay clear of them

[Provos]

I am not trying to reinvent anything.  I have actually played in more games without frameworks then with frameworks.  I was just looking for some interesting without framework macros. 

 

 

[Ken A.]

The frameworks are very intimidating to me. I have been through the tutorials for macro writing, and when I open the macros in the frameworks, they bear little -- if any -- resemblance to anything I have seen before.

I had a semester of C+, and I've been through some some tutorials in other languages, so I can parse through Provos' code just fine. However, what I looked at in the frameworks was unintelligible to me. And since you can't comment on your code in MapTool, there is no way for anyone to "talk" you through it.

It is going to take a lot of convincing to get me to use a framework with anyone except a close friend who is also a programmer, who would have as much fun getting a macro to work as he (or she) would have killing some kobolds. If I am going to be running a PFS game with strangers, I am going to go with simple and stable, and I currently have the impression that the frameworks are neither.

Ken B.

[Ken A.]

Sorry. I am Ken A. Not Ken B.

[Todd Landrum]

I don't understand all the difficulty people have with the frameworks. I've been running with the iMarkus one for a couple years with no trouble. It's very, very helpful to have attack rolls automated, healing automated, buffs/nerfs automated, and everything else. I'd much rather PLAY Pathfinder than have each player spending 3 minutes a turn trying to do their math and typing in dice rolls. 

And if you find the framework confusing, I don't see how the macros are the least bit understandable. I certainly don't understand them, but that's the beauty of the framework - you don't have to. 

[Terry Milnes]

@Ken You can place comments in your code in MapTools. Just <!-- -->
And the code does not get ran. Also, there is a WIKI for
understanding the code that explains how each function works. It is
how I learned to code MapTool code.

I have never had a problem with stability of code in lMarkus's FW and
have been using it since 2008. I would much rather play with a FW like
Todd than w/o.

[Jonathan Choy]

I have had 100% rate of "dumb exceptions on mouseover" with games running the IMarkus framework lately. If someone can tell me how to resolve them, I'd go back to being in favor of it... but I can't right now.

I've had  "Cannot start native thread" and "null reference" exceptions, as well as complete failure of the UI to render, blocking the window including the close-window handler.

I haven't seen such persistent problems in a frameworkless environment.

Jon

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[Marty Weil]

Jon,

First question, when you start MapTools, what are you setting the Max Mem, Min Mem & Stack Size to?

If you can, try setting them to 1024, 1024 & 8. With the numbers set smaller than that, you can get all sorts of stack overflow & other weird memory errors. With those settings, for me, at least, I had no problems using MapTools to create a fully macroed version of a character.

The only problem I had was that MapTools was not treating my weapon as a fully one-handed weapon, so giving me incorrect adjustments when I tried to use the Power Attack modifier. YMMV...

Marty (PC referenced was the 11th level version of my Lore Warden whip master)

[Ken A.]

Would you be willing to do a G+ Hangout sometime to walk us through the iMarkus framework? It wouldn't have to be anything formal. Just to get us going?

[Ken A.]

On Friday, April 20, 2012 4:21:47 PM UTC-4, Todd Landrum wrote:

 

And if you find the framework confusing, I don't see how the macros are the least bit understandable. I certainly don't understand them, but that's the beauty of the framework - you don't have to. 

This is understandable to most people who have taken algebra.

+1 Heavy Mace [1d20+7] vs. AC<br>

Dmg: [1d8+4] and [1d6} fire damage

This is not:

[H: ids = getSelected()]

[H: abort(if(ids == "", 0, 1))]

[H: skillList = ""]

[H: gSkillsSys = getLibProperty("SkillsSys", "Lib:GlobalsSRDPF")]

[H: gSystem = getLibProperty("System", "Lib:GlobalsSRDPF")]

[H: gSkillsIndex = json.get(getLibProperty("SkillsIndex", "Lib:GlobalsSRDPF"), gSystem)]

[H: gSysSkillTemplate = json.get(json.get(gSkillsSys, gSystem), "sysSkillTemplate")]

[H: gSkills = json.get(json.get(gSkillsSys, gSystem), "sysSkills")]

[H: numSkills =  json.length(SkillsJ)]

[H: tSkillsJ = "[]"]

[H, FOREACH(s, SkillsJ), CODE: {

   [H, IF(json.contains(s, "fullname")): skN = json.get(s, "fullname"); skN = json.get(s, "name")]

   [skR = json.get(s, "rank")]

   [H, IF(json.contains(gSkillsIndex, skN)): gSkill = json.get(gSkills, json.get(gSkillsIndex, skN)); gSkill = gSysSkillTemplate]

   [H, IF(json.contains(s, "subcat")): skSubCat = json.get(s, "subcat"); skSubCat = ""]

   [H, IF(isNumber(skSubCat)): skSubCat = table("SysLocale", skSubCat)]

   [H: skLocN = table("SysLocale",  json.get(gSkill, "locID")) + if(skSubCat == "", "", " (" + skSubCat + ")")]

   [H: skUntrain = json.get(gSkill, "untrain")]

   [H: skValid = if(skUntrain, 1, if(skR > 0, 1, 0))]

   [IF(skValid): skillList = listAppend(skillList, skLocN)]

   [IF(skValid): tSkillsJ = json.append(tSkillsJ, json.merge(s, gSkill))]

}]

[H: lastskill = getStrProp( Private, "LastSkill" )]

[H: lastskill = if( isNumber(lastskill), lastskill, 0 ) ]

[H: cancel = input(

   "tempSkill | " + skillList + " | Select a skill | LIST | SELECT=" + lastskill,

   "tempBonus | 0 | Temporary bonus",

   "take|Roll, Take 10, Take 20|Check Intensity|RADIO|ORIENT=H SELECT=0",

   "secret|Public, Secret|Secret?|RADIO|ORIENT=H SELECT=0"

)]

[H: abort(cancel)] 

[H: Private = setStrProp(Private, "LastSkill", tempSkill)]

[H: tSkill = json.get(tSkillsJ, tempSkill)]

[MACRO("charSkillCheck@Lib:libDnD35Pathfinder"): json.set(tSkill, "doInput", 0, "inputTake", take, "inputSecret", secret, "inputTempBonus", tempBonus)]

[Todd Landrum]

Uh.... I agree? 

That was my point. If you use the Framework, then there's no need to understand macros. The Framework does all the work. You'll never see that nonsense. 

If you want to make your own macros, as the OP stated, then you have to understand that mess. Ick. 

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[Ken A.]

Oh, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. My point was that I don't know what the buttons do in order to use them in the first place.

I'll ask you the same thing I asked NeoFax. Would you be willing to take part in a Google Plus Hangout to help familiarize some of us with the iMarkus framework? Nothing formal, just showing us what everything does?

[Terry Milnes]

@John: The on mouseover problem is due to your MapTool build and not
the FW. B86 had a problem if your token was in init and the GM had
token movement lock on certain PC's would hang MapTool(well not
literally what happened is it kept spawning errors). Either move up
to B87 or tell the GM to take off movement lock.

I have never used G+ Hangouts, but am willing to learn to spread the
gospel of FW's. How about this Sunday 3pm EST?

[sbwe...@gmail.com]

Todd, might be good to share your Google Doc "How to.." with Ken that explains how to get started with the framework.

---

From: Todd Landrum <to...@paladinpgm.com>

Sender: pathfinder-society...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:40:59 -0600

To: <pathfinder-society...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: pathfinder-society...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: Macros in MapTool

[Todd Landrum]

The aforementioned Google Doc that tells a player how to setup their token in Maptool:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Es94WTUhRCp8DSmO0pTtgG4ohoEjUcZBkt33YQrjOsk/edit

As for the "null pointer exception" problem - in the Initiative window, the GM has to turn OFF the Lock Movement option. That's what I've done and b86 has worked fine now for years. 

(Well - there is one problem we have, if two people roll initiative at the same time, one of them might not  make it to the init list. Or they might make it but have no number attached to them in the init. Anybody have the fix for that?)

[Ken A.]

@Tood Yes, this is very helpful. Thank you very much.

@NeoFax That is a good time for me. I am up for that. Does anyone else want to join us?

Ken A.

[Terry Milnes]

@Todd: Nope, not until 1.4 is put out and data becomes asynchronous
instead of synchronous.

OK, I will have a version of Crypt of the Everflame and we can go over
the FW for how a DM would use it and a player.

[Jonathan Choy]

1024, 1024, 8. Machine is an Amd x64 3-core with 12GB ram. I am currently irritated  about MapTool since I can't actually start it with Eclipse to debug it against a live server. I could trace the error and address it if I could...

If I get some slack time tomorrow I'll see if I can't figure out how to do a debuggable build... but I should be running two sessions at a local gameday, so not a great amount of hope there.

-j

[Jonathan Choy]

Right. So B86 should probably be deprecated from use in the group, and maybe a version of lmarkus with initlock turned off for b86 (since that's the current published compatibility level of the framework) proposed? (I am presuming the framework could handle that in the loading code).

Still, that's one less headache. Thanks for the assistance on that one, guys.

[Terry Milnes]

LMarkus only puts the FW in the name as he doesn't make claims it
works for builds lower than that. I have been running with B87 and
his FW since B87 came out and it is rock solid. Also, I wouldn't use
those memory settings you have as you will probably run into problems
with people not running a 64-bit OS and 64-bit JAVA. I use 768/32/4
and have no problems and is probably the safest setting for PC's that
are made after 2008. The reason is most 32-bit PC's have 2gb of RAM
and can set aside 768mb with ease. The 32mb is just minimum and if
you continously release your memory in MapTool you can get it down to
32mb easily. The stacksize needs to be at least 3mb and I prefer 4mb
so that I can use the spell manager without problems. Anything larger
than 4mb is just eating memory unnecessarily.

[Terry Milnes]

Sorry, forgot to say that setting the MAXSIZE to 1024 means that you
are letting the system use up to that. If a player in your game has
say 768 and your maps/tokens/macros... use more than his 768 he will
either crash do to not being able to set aside more memory or get
booted as your system is trying to send him data and his PC tries to
keep up the game slows down and then his bandwidth gets overwhelmed
and drops.

[Terry Milnes]

Well, I waited around until 3:20 PM EST. No one showed. We can do
this another time if their is interest.

@Todd: Do you mind if I add to your cheat sheet?

[Todd Landrum]

@Todd:  Do you mind if I add to your cheat sheet?

Sure, I changed it over so that anyone can edit it. We'll see how that goes. 

Todd

[Terry Milnes]

The connect info is:

MapTools B87
Server: PFS-Test
DM password: Justiciar

I will use Ventrilo, but only have 8 slots

Ventrilo
Server: vtx15.defconservers.com
Port: 4010
Password: All@n0n! (that is a zero)

[Ken A.]

NeoFax, I owe you an apology.

This message with the connection information did not show up for me until this morning, if you can believe that.

The truth is, it slipped my mind. But if I had seen this reminder, I would have been there.

Can I/we talk you into trying this again?

Again, my apologies for forgetting. I will set a reminder for myself this time.

Ken A.

[Ithuriel]

Google may have changed something with their spam control. Two
messages with server info were flagged as spam in the last couple of
days. I imagine it is because you are making a post with strings of
numbers and letters, website addresses and port numbers.

Be aware and make sure your connection info has actually posted to be
site.

[Terry Milnes]

No problem. Let me do it this way. If you want to learn MapTool
using lMarkus's Framework, my available times are Monday-Wednesday 6PM
EST - 10PM EST. I can also do some Sundays as I have two games that
day, but one is usually every other week. You have my gmail address,
just hit me up. I have no problem setting up a session to learn. I
am also on Skype sometimes under the name NeoFax.

[Ken A.]

NeoFax, are you available for a Monday night session around 7:30EST? You would have me and Steve W. for sure.

Ken A.

[Terry Milnes]

Yep. I will be available and will add it to my calendar.

[Terry Milnes]

Here is the connect info:

MapTool Build B87
Server name: PFS-Test
Password: superman (note: This is a dm password so you need to
connect as a DM so I can show you the DM side of the macros)

VOIP Ventrilo
Server: vtx15.defconservers.com
Port: 4010
Password: All@n0n! (note: Taht is a zero not the letter o)

[Ken A.]

Terry did a great job of showing us around. There is a lot of capability in that framework. Thanks for the tour, sir.

Ken A.

[Terry Milnes]

My pleasure as always. The more that can DM the more games I can
play. I wish you all luck and if you have any questions, let me know.

[Todd Landrum]

I wouldn't mind another session discussing the best way to handle vision: fog of war, vision blocking, automatic reveal, etc. 

Or maybe just talking about it here. Personally, I just use Fog of War with the GM revealing as the players move. It's not as smooth or high-tech as I would like. 

[Jonathan Choy]

I agree, Fog of War auto reveal was very spotty in my last runs. and I'd love to make it smoother. It's great when it works right, but you sometimes get skipped updates without any indication that something went wrong besides the screen keeping odd slices of unrevealed or re-fogged area.

Annoying enough by the end of my session that I had turned off fog on the map once we had hit the point of fully explored enough....

I'll go through my checklist of how I had it set up and what wasn't working right from my perspective, and maybe we'll be able to get some knowledge progress and sharing :>

-j

On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 10:17 PM, Todd Landrum <to...@paladinpgm.com> wrote:

I wouldn't mind another session discussing the best way to handle vision: fog of war, vision blocking, automatic reveal, etc. 

Or maybe just talking about it here. Personally, I just use Fog of War with the GM revealing as the players move. It's not as smooth or high-tech as I would like. 

--

[Terry Milnes]

The best advice I can give is stick to squares on FoW as this is the
fastest way. Use triangles as sparingly as possible because the more
you have the slower it can become. Don't try to follow the outline of
caverns and such just block it off and let the players use their
imagination on where the cavern wall is. As for showing un-revealed
areas, this is due to players just dragging their token thru FoW. So,
if the players are in room A and room B is 100 ft to theiur left but
they have already revealed it, MapTool will allow the players to drag
and drop their token all thru room C which is between A and B even if
they did not explore there. That is why I give the players a warning
to use waypoints at the beginning of the session and work from there.

[Todd Landrum]

So for the whole FoW?

1) Block off the entire thing with VBL. Cut out the rooms, put back walls as needed.  As per the wiki. 

http://lmwcs.com/rptools/wiki/Introduction_to_Vision_Blocking

2) Fog the entire thing

3) Edit > Preferences, Application Tab. Auto-expose Fog on Token Movement. 

And then what? The players move themselves and have to click Ctrl+I to reveal what they can see? I can't seem to get it to reveal as they are moving. Instead they move 5 feet to the door, stop, press Ctrl+I to see some of what is inside, move 5' into the room, stop, Ctrl+I to see what is in the room, then finish their movement. Kind of annoying. 

And, the whole purpose of doing this is so that players can't see what is going on outside the room they are in. But.. it seems that when players click off of their token to the map itself, they can see everything every player can see? Which kind of defeats the purpose. 

(And for those of you reading along and scratching you heads - This is the much more complex way to do this. The simpler version is to put Fog of War on the whole map and then the GM removes it as the players move. I'm not convinced that the whole VBL thing is really an improvement.)

[Terry Milnes]

When you start a server there are multiple checkboxes you can select.
One of them is Individual FoW. This basically stops the clicking off
the token and the player can see everything. At this point they can
only see what the players in the party can see. The reason for this
is the assumption(design decision) is the players are talking amongst
themselves and explaining what each can see. The next is Strict Token
Ownership. What this does is disallow players to select any token on
the map. The next is Players can reveal vision with a sub checkbox for
Auto Reveal on Movement. These are the checkboxes that allow a token
to auto reveal the FoW. This way when a player moves his token the
FoW auto reveals based on what the token can see based on multiple
criteria(day/night, Light source, vision type). So I just select all
of the checkboxes when I start a server and everything works.

NOTE: If a token reveals FoW they shouldn't and you want to redraw
back in the FoW you need to select the tokens, click on the FoW
button. Now the color around each token should change to purple. You
then hold down the shift key and draw a rectangle around the area that
was mistakenly drawn.

[Todd Landrum]

Cool, thanks. I'll give it a try Thursday with Echoes and see how it goes. 

[Renard Wolfe]

How would I make a macro for the confusion spell to return the result of 1 d100 roll

[h: TheRoll = (1d100)]
if( TheRoll < 26 && x > 0) : Act Normally; if( TheRoll < 51 && x > 25) : Babble Incoherently ;  if( TheRoll < 76 && x > 50) Deal 1d8 points of damage + Str modifier to self with item in hand if( TheRoll < 101 && x > 75)

This is for something similar too but more complicated than confusion, or else I'd just have a macro spit out a number and all the results.

[Vincent Lhote]

You could use a table and make a look up in the macro (http://lmwcs.com/rptools/wiki/table). That's probably what I'd do for confusion.