Do CC3 and CD3 have GM/player views like Fractal Mapper?

[celestialkin]

Hi.

I am finally going to cave in and purchase myself Campaign Cartographer 3 and City Designer 3 from ProFantasy after getting my feet wet with Fractal mapper.

A large issue I had with Fractal Mapper was the lack of support and such, which I am hoping ProFantasy does better at.

Anyway, can anyone please tell me if the CC line of products have a GM view/Players view option like Fractal Mapper? I got myself an entire extra monitor I log around for DMing with my Macbook, which I use to show the players new rooms and floors one by one by removing secret layers.

I am just PRAYING I can pass the learning curve, and not lose a fortune on these things.

[NeonKnight]

Yes. I will answer in detail in a bit, i have to step out.

[jfrazierjr]

Hi.

I am finally going to cave in and purchase myself Campaign Cartographer 3 and City Designer 3 from ProFantasy after getting my feet wet with Fractal mapper.

A large issue I had with Fractal Mapper was the lack of support and such, which I am hoping ProFantasy does better at.

Anyway, can anyone please tell me if the CC line of products have a GM view/Players view option like Fractal Mapper? I got myself an entire extra monitor I log around for DMing with my Macbook, which I use to show the players new rooms and floors one by one by removing secret layers.

I am just PRAYING I can pass the learning curve, and not lose a fortune on these things.

If you don't mind my asking, what type of support issues are you having? Ed, the software creator of Fractal Mapper appears to be fairly responsive to inquiries from everything I have experienced. or are you more talking about support in terms of new updates (additional content)???

[NeonKnight]

OK, Back.

The way CC3 supports a GM viewer/Player Viewer (based on what I 'think' you want), is to place the things you only want a GM to see (like secret doors, monsters etc), on a seperate 'Layer' which can then be hidden for the players to not see.

[jfrazierjr]

OK, Back.

The way CC3 supports a GM viewer/Player Viewer (based on what I 'think' you want), is to place the things you only want a GM to see (like secret doors, monsters etc), on a seperate 'Layer' which can then be hidden for the players to not see.

Yes and no. Each layer has an attribute named "secret" (in FM 8 anyway, in FM7, there was ONLY a single GM layer). FM has a second view where it opens a new window that you can drag to another monitor. The second view will not show any objects which are on the layers with the secret attribute checked. Also note, as you move on the main window, there is a cursor that moves on the players view (which oddly enough is named "GM's Screen"??????). Basically, whatever view the GM has is what the view is on the player screen in terms of zooming, panning, etc...

[NeonKnight]

Yes and no. Each layer has an attribute named "secret" (in FM 8 anyway, in FM7, there was ONLY a single GM layer). FM has a second view where it opens a new window that you can drag to another monitor. The second view will not show any objects which are on the layers with the secret attribute checked. Also note, as you move on the main window, there is a cursor that moves on the players view (which oddly enough is named "GM's Screen"??????). Basically, whatever view the GM has is what the view is on the player screen in terms of zooming, panning, etc...

Ahhhh. See, having never used FM, I can only speculate what someone may be asking. In CC3, if I have a map for me (GM) and a map for Players, I would put my 'Secret GM Stuff' on a LAYER Called Game Master and then just hide it.

[jaerdaph]

Yes and no. Each layer has an attribute named "secret" (in FM 8 anyway, in FM7, there was ONLY a single GM layer). FM has a second view where it opens a new window that you can drag to another monitor. The second view will not show any objects which are on the layers with the secret attribute checked. Also note, as you move on the main window, there is a cursor that moves on the players view (which oddly enough is named "GM's Screen"??????). Basically, whatever view the GM has is what the view is on the player screen in terms of zooming, panning, etc...

That's a pretty cool feature.

[jfrazierjr]

That's a pretty cool feature.

It is indeed.... I have been trying to get Ed, the developer of FM(and other products) over here for quite a while. I sent him yet another email last night asking him to pop in. Note that he also makes Astrosynthesis(SP????) which is a solar system/galaxy style mapping program. I don't have it because I don't do that type of mapping, but I have heard it's pretty darn cool.

[Gandwarf]

I think you can open two windows in CC3 by just starting the software twice on the same computer. You can then load the same map, hide stuff in one version (for the players) and keep stuff in the other version (for the DM). Drag both windows on their own monitor, et voila?

EDIT: reading jfrazierj's post again, it's not the same as what FM can do

[jaerdaph]

Thanks for the screenshots!

I think you can open two windows in CC3 by just starting the software twice on the same computer. You can then load the same map, hide stuff in one version (for the players) and keep stuff in the other version (for the DM). Drag both windows on their own monitor, et voila?

EDIT: reading jfrazierj's post again, it's not the same as what FM can do

Yeah - that's what I was thinking in terms of "jury rigging" the idea for CC3, but compared to Fractal Mapper, it would be a clumsy workaround.