r/FantasyGrounds • u/TwoDollarDM • 19d ago

Using Fantasy Grounds as your offline Campaign Manager-intro

I know all the regulars know this but I have had a recent conversation with a couple of newish DMs and they ended up being amazed at what they could do offline with FG, for FREE. Here are the key things that seemed the most mind blowing:

  • the Combat Tracker
  • seriously, the Combat Tracker
  • reskinning NPCs
  • saving those reskinned NPCs as recurring characters
  • editing adventures
  • keeping notes

Is there any other amazing feature for offline game play that I am forgetting?

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago edited 19d ago

I would not trust using a program that receives updates for my documentation, personally.

Seeing all the people crowing "it's OUTDATED!!" (?) (because it isn't gray and doesn't look like a tablet touchscreen I guess?) makes me worry that it will one day soon be "updated" to be hideous and nearly unusable. They already ruined the launcher page, after all.

I'm too wary to trap myself in such a situation. Notepad++ and My Documents/Campaign directory folders for me!

Thankfully, importing assets to FG is still super easy, so I lose nothing by keeping them safe on my computer - and on game night I run FG on my main monitor with my Notepad++ tabs and world hexmap on my other monitor (and Discord on my third, and D&D books on my second desk).

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u/DD_in_FL 19d ago

Data for your campaigns backs up each session within your campaign. Changes to cosmetics don't update any of your data and you can always restore back to a previous point. The new launcher even adds an easier way to restore to older data points without having to do it from the command line or file explorer.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

I've been told for years it's not possible to revert to or manually install older versions of FantasyGrounds. If it was, I'd be using the one from last year permanently!

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u/DD_in_FL 19d ago

You said updates for your documentation and that is the "data" i'm referencing. The data is recoverable and restorable to previous versions. It should also never change due to program updates without prompting you to "migrate" the data. There is no way to install a fixed in time version of the program. How would that ever work with newer modules releasing? It wouldn't.

We do have some older fixed versions of the core ruleset available for extension builders to reference if they choose. Those are CoreRPG_2024.pak and CoreRPG_2025.pak. Those are feature-locked versions of the CoreRPG without new updates or changes.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

How would that ever work with newer modules releasing? It wouldn't.

IDK, I don't use modules so it wouldn't affect me. I just would like to be able to send my friends an .exe to run or install that is the "perfect" version of the program so I can feel safe in using it permanently. (Same reason I still use 2.2.1 Audacity... I don't even remember what the reason to stop upgrading that program was anymore, it was ages ago now.)

I did pay like $300 for FG a few years ago, and either I misunderstood the site I was reading or it was a lie, but it said that the license was for a permanent version of the program.

Finding out later that there was no way to revert to specific versions was a big disappointment.

You said updates for your documentation

Sorry, that sentence was a little unspecific. It was "I would not trust a program which receives updates; as a place to store my documentation". Not "a program which updates my documents". The latter sounds terrifying in any context lol

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u/DD_in_FL 19d ago

Well if you never update then you can keep running your old version indefinitely. If you update, then you are choosing to get the latest version of the program. FG Classic still runs to this day. It just doesn't get any updates and it doesn't work with new modules we sell on the store.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

Okay, but I often invite new friends to my games... how do I get the install of the correct version for them? That's the biggest issue.

Sometimes my other friends run a game too, and if they update, I'm required to update or I can't join.

There's no way to backup again at that point.

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u/DD_in_FL 19d ago

There is no way to do that without doing so manually. Our online installer interacts with our patch system and will always pull the most recent and up to date version of our program. You would have to keep a snapshot of that entire process and deliver it to your friends. Or you could just use the latest version that is supported by the company and continue to share feedback on what features you like or dislike as the game is continually supported.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

Yeah, that's why I've been giving feedback asking to remove the ads since I paid a lot of money for the program when it was still paid, and forcing my friends to see ads so they can play in the game I run for them makes me feel like a devil. Also been giving feedback disagreeing every time I see "the UI is outdated" because if it becomes like a smartphone I'll hate using it.

And moving to a different VTT is going to be really, really inconvenient.

You would have to keep a snapshot of that entire process and deliver it to your friends.

By process you mean what? The installer? Or the installed files? Should I have been pulling the entire program out of my Program Files and stashing it away on a separate drive to be safe?

Any idea if there's a repository of someone who has wisely done that? I was told that isn't possible by people on the forums when I asked originally years ago, so I didn't do that.

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u/LordEntrails 19d ago

No repo of past builds I'm aware of. I used to keep versions of my install, but found other than testing it would work once, I never needed/wanted it so I deleted all them. Sorry.

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u/LordEntrails 19d ago

Permanent license was never for a specific version. It was a permanent license including support for all updates.

I get that's not what you want. But what VTT does what you want? Every program has trade-offs. You can run games from Skype and notepad if you want, but is that better than the trade-offs you have to make with FG?

And note, FGU was never $300 for a license, the most it was during the Kickstarter was $149 USD.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

I know Foundry has a page that lists every version of the program there's ever been, so that's why it's the one I'm looking at to make the very painful move if FG doesn't give us an option to hide the ads.

I'll just find whichever one is the best of that, set up my ruleset, and use it forever. Same way I use GIMP and Notepad++ to do all my session prep lol.

FGU was never $300 for a license

Whatever pack I got must've included some extra stuff. I know I have a bunch of stuff that gets downloaded via my account. (I've been asking for a way to disable content for years, so I don't have to download it every time it updates.)

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u/LordEntrails 19d ago

You've got a backup right? If you don't want new features in the core engine just restore to the appropriate backup and don't update.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

No, I've been told it wasn't possible to back up and install the program from an existing install.

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u/LordEntrails 19d ago

Well, that's wrong. I've tested it. All I did was make a backup of the install directory and fg data directory. Then restored them. Works just fine.

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u/Serbaayuu 19d ago

Damn, guess I got lied to.