[Feature]: Consider packaging or integrating Melek's Lib:Elevation with MapTool

[adventuremagic123]

Feature Request

If the developer is willing, please consider packaging his Lib:Elevation with MapTool as a standard, supported library token.

Lib:Elevation is critical to my campaigns because it enables me to very easily deal with elevation in my campaigns. Tokens that are flying and have their elevation property set are affected by VBL/MBL created for that elevation. So, a token flying at an elevation of 20 feet is affected by different VBL/MBL than a token at 0 feet elevation (ground level). When changing elevations, the VBL/MBL is saved for the previously selected elevation and restored to the map for the newly selected elevation.

Lib:Elevation is a brilliant feature provided by @melek and is actually much easier to use than a corresponding feature provided for Foundry VTT in the "Wall Height" module -- and is a major strategic advantage for the MapTool community.

https://github.com/melek/lib_elevation

The Solution you'd like

To have Lib:Elevation provided as part of the MapTool installer in a standard location where I can find and use it. It should be verified to work with that MapTool version.

It might be better if somehow the feature could be integrated into MapTool, itself, at some point in the future. The easiest thing to do for now would be to provide the Lib:Elevation library token as part of the install.

It's a major, extremely useful feature that deserves to be part of MapTool core.

Alternatives that you've considered.

No response

Additional Context

No response

[melek]

I'm so glad you like my feature! Adding user-made libraries and utility tokens with macros in the Resource Library 'Default' folder has been discussed before here and there; I think we boil down to an issue of not wanting to burden the devs with having to either allow these things to become broken (or simply removing them later) or having to track down updates for them from their authors.

In a broad sense, this issue is being resolved by the new Add-ons system; a curated list of community add-ons that is accessible to every MapTool installation could bring the feature to any game that wants it without fuss.

Specific to Lib:Elevation, I see 3 futures for the functionality:

As a core MapTool feature

This would be probably to solve #2004 (also your request). The core dev team could certainly do things far more efficiently than my add-on does. Some things I'd like to do aren't possible or practical, and of course would be lightning-fast written in Java. All the recent topology additions showcase how popular new elevation-like features are, and I think it would be a great addition since all that topology work has made Lib:Elevation even cooler.

Elevation the way I've done it is a major feature with a lot of edge cases and map options to add... If I had the chops and the time I'd love to try and provide this as a first-class feature since I think my vision for the functionality has created an intuitive UX and serves a lot of use cases at once, but since I don't have those things I think it would depend on a java wizard intimately familiar with the codebase to decide that's what they want to work on for a few months (at least).

As an add-on

If Elevation (effectively, per-map blocking layer & token position profiles) stays a community creation rather than a first-class feature, I think rewriting this as an add-on that is in an officially listed place would be best. I remember the idea of a curated list of add-ons list has been discussed, and that would be the fairest and best way to include it - I can think of other libraries with far more users which would belong on that list if they were made into add-ons.

That way it would be easy to keep the add-on up to date, it would be easy for folks to find and add to their games, and the core devs wouldn't have to go into my library if I drop off the face of the planet to fix it so releases aren't filled with an out of date library. Also, that would be an available publishing process for any community creation (I think this is a huge hope/purpose of the new add-on system). I don't know when I'd find time to learn all the new stuff and convert it, but I'd love to do it once its possible.

To do this, I'd need #3111, and probably more functionality to be available to the new JavaScript engine, mainly topology and token functions. I've been out of the game, so maybe this is all here already and I'm not yet aware.

Ultimately this is a somewhat niche feature that feels appropriate as an add-on, but I do think if it (or something like it) were part of MapTool and was intuitive to access on all maps a large percentage of folks who uses VBL/MBL in their games would give it a try and find it useful.

As it is now (Library Token)

I've sort of stretched the existing library system to the edges of how convenient it can be for users - I have a forum post, a discord channel, a GitHub repository, a video introduction, and a feature which alerts GMs to updates automatically (I scrapped another feature that uses REST to auto-fetch and update macros right on the token). I post my releases on Reddit as well. My library can be deleted and replaced without any data loss in a campaign, I've kept the data storage schema backwards compatible as much as possible. I answer support questions any of those places (unless I miss a message).

I'm near the end of what a user creation can do to be accessible to the community; apart from iterating and staying compatible with new MapTool versions, becoming either an add-on or core functionality (probably an add-on) is the next step.

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Sorry to be long-winded here! All that's to say that while Lib:Elevation remaining as a library token is my immediate plan, once it is possible to convert it into an add-on I would like to submit it to be on a curated / "official" list of safe add-ons any MapTool instance can access and add to their game.

I'm not able to find an open issue for adding a list of community add-ons for download, perhaps making such an issue (or renaming this one) is the right course. Obviously if that issue is already filed (or the feature was added and I didn't notice!), cross-linking it and closing this one would be my suggestion.

[thelsing]

#2924