Foundry VTT Integration

Suggestions
#25

I have an idea of how to kluge together a solution for myself, and I suspect that it would be a decent core idea to test out as the basis for an actual plugin. I don’t thiiiink it’d break anybody’s terms of use? Or compromise anybody’s IP.

Background: I’m still getting Foundry figured out, myself. In the meantime, I’m still running my actual games on a simultaneous combination of four different platforms - one for a VTT, one for A/V chat, one for character sheets, and Syrinscape Online Player for ambient sounds. It’s so much stuff for a player to be responsible for setting up that I’ve had to make a 30+ slide powerpoint presentation to walk new players through the process. I’d prefer to pare this down, if I can. (When I’ve tried using a software soundboard to pipe Syrinscape’s sound through my mic audio channel on the A/V chat, I’ve run into problems because I want the players to hear Syrinscape’s fictional “background noise,” but not the background noise in my actual physical home environment.)

Idea: I set up my own Foundry server, and I’m trying out various ways of integrating voice and video into Foundry. I’ve got the Jitsi thing up and running, at the moment, but it looks like doing Foundry’s built-in A/V chat wouldn’t be too tough, either. In either case, it occurs to me that I could

  • Make a false player account “SyrinscapeAudio”
  • Install and run Syrinscape Online Player on my server
  • Have the server open a browser and log in to the SyrinscapeAudio player account
  • Have the server pipe Syrinscape Online Player’s output into the SyrinscapeAudio player account’s mic input
  • As GM, control the SyrinscapeAudio account’s output through the Syrinscape Master Interface in another browser tab

For my use-case, the biggest remaining issue would be that players wouldn’t be able to independently control the ambient sound volume, separately from the volume of other participants’ voice channels. (I have a couple players with differences in sensory processing who prefer the ambient sound to be much quieter than the voice channel.) It looks as though controlling the volume by-participant is possible in Jitsi, but I haven’t played around with the Foundry module enough yet to figure out whether that’s implemented there. I realize that this also wouldn’t integrate Syrinscape’s sounds into the “ambient sound” functionalities on Foundry, but that’s a whole can of worms.

I’m not a programmer or a web developer. (I’m just a Mechanical Engineer who knows a bit about programming.) I haven’t peeked under the hood much with Foundry to see what the module API allows. With that caveat established, it seems like it should be possible to do some variation on this basic klugey idea as a module. Heck, if there were a CLI version of the Syrinscape Online Player with some kind of rudimentary API for login, registration, and volume control, a Foundry module might just be able to wrap it completely and make it an audio source. (Obviously, the “pie in the sky” vision would be a module that outright replaces the guts of Foundry’s ambient sound functionalities with a wrapped version of Syrinscape Online Player and, for the GM, a dedicated ecosystem of widgets that automate Syrinscape Master Interface API calls for mood changes or one-shots, but, even if the obvious “business survival” issues were successfully navigated, I don’t think Foundry’s existing module API could support a fundamental change like that at the moment.)

Anyways, I don’t thiiink? the basic klugey idea breaks anyone’s TOS? Does it? It seems like the schema protects and paid-account-locks Syrinscape’s IP secret sauce, which is, afaik, mostly the sound cuing, queuing, looping, volume-balancing, volume-fading, etc. that creates (I can’t stress this enough) SUCH AN AMAZING immersive ambient sound tapestry. (Seriously, this product is SO GOOD.)

#26

I agree. This all looks cool. Basically the only change is, instead of players running their Online Player Apps to hear the sound, YOU are actually routing that sound yourself.

If you can:

  1. get smooth, uncompressed delivery of that sound
  2. let players independently adjust the volume they are hearing…

…then the experience is equivalent. :slight_smile:

Go for it! And show us what you manage to acheive!

#27

This should already be possible, and WE have done the work on our end to make it happen. :partying_face:

With our REST API, you can do everything you can do in the Master UI (including adjusting Element Volumes… so that could theoretically be done pretty actively by a machine in Foundry = tracking Party position and turning things up and down. :loudspeaker:

Other VTTs have done pretty sweet integrations (auto-triggering spells sounds and reactions to dice rolls, and embedding easy to click sound triggers etc) and we would LOVE Foundry to get this done for their users as well! :smiley:

1 Like
#28

I’d be very interested in having a conversation directly with the Foundry team about this option. Can someone connect/introduce us? :beers: :pizza: :hammer:

#29

I can’t speak to any of that, myself. I’m just some luser out here on the interwebs. A thing I can tell you that might be worth mentioning is that Foundry’s Module ecosystem is mostly user-created/useer-maintained, rather than first-party. My ignorant outsider guess at the most likely path to getting an option like this is:

  1. Foundry team adds some additional functionality to their product that allows an audio source to be streamed through the “Playlists” tab with its own volume control
  2. Foundry team adds features to the API that handle this new element, and release documentation about it. (Foundry’s direct involvement is likely to end, here.)
  3. One or more community members band together to write a module that interacts with this new part of Foundry and does the stuff we’ve talked about here.
  4. Those community members probably come talk to you a lot lol

Foundry’s monetization scheme doesn’t involve any ongoing fees or subscriptions, and it seems like they have a verrrrry small team. (There’s a fair amount of first-person-singular writing in the public-facing company comms?) They charge once for their software, and update it for free in perpetuity. I think this is one of the reasons their fanbase is kinda, er… let’s say “vocal in their dedication;” the one-time price is a market differentiator. I point this out because it means their dev “team” might have a pretty full docket of stuff to work on, over there, as it is. >__<

#30

Hey, Brodyjohn. That all sounds really cool. I’m still working on the “new” system I’m using for sounds but I’ve done a number of videos on various setups. I’m using audiomovers right now on my next session. This is a paid program, but it allows me to send sound to players uncompressed through a web browser. So, all they do is click a link. I’m using it with the Fantasy Player application, but it would work fine using the online version. If you’re interested you can take a look here:

Its a little more work as a GM but I’m trying to make it as easy as possible for my players to enjoy sounds.

#31

Also, you can try cleanfeed (free) and Voicemeeter Banana for a free version of what I’m doing (and good quality), but it is compressed although still better quality than sending through discord, etc… See this video:

#32

so that could theoretically be done pretty actively by a machine in Foundry = tracking Party position and turning things up and down. :loudspeaker:

OMG YES PLEASE!

#33

I’d be very interested in having a conversation directly with the Foundry team about this option. Can someone connect/introduce us? :beers: :pizza: :hammer:

The dev team for FoundryVTT is VERY small.

If you are in discord you can get on their official community server and reach out that way. I’m asking around a bit right now The discord mods have passed the message on to higher ups, hopefully you all can work something out!

*Edit 2: Lead dev Atropos says it’s best to email admin@foundryvtt.com.

2 Likes
#34

Just throwing in my two coppers: I’d love proper Foundry integration.

I was a Syrinscape subscriber for years and stopped my subscription a couple of months back due to preferring the streamlined approach of Foundry’s system.

I was just popping on here to see if there were any discussions about bring SS to FVTT and saw the thread. Hope it happens! I’ll be back if it does!

#35

I’ve been a Syrinscape subscriber on and off for several years and getting my players to download the Online Player has been impossible. So for now I just play it at the GM station and stream across Zoom. Works for room descriptions and sound effects but ambient sounds are to low to be picked up and streamed at any quality without having them too loud.

The FoundryVTT player works great though and the room triggering option would be great to use with Syrinscapes Adventure Path sound themes (Age of Ashes game going on now). So unfortunately I’m probably going to un sub until some kind of integration can be worked out.

#36

Hi @kevin.richard.gm,

We have many many many people using the Syrinscape Online Player with a whole range of VTTs. Many thousands of people, GMs and Players downloading, linking and running games with beautiful, seamless sound every single day.

It should take a BRAND new player about 3 minutes to follow the link, download, install, link and join. Here’s a vid of me doing myself:

Seems faaaaaairly straightforward to me!

That said, we hear you! You’d like setup and joining to be easier.

This is what we plan to do = make a Zoom-style linkup so that you can:

  1. share a single link with your players
  2. that link will trigger a download and install (if necessary)
  3. that link will then trigger a run of the Online Player
  4. AND join your players instantly into the correct game, without them even needing to take any addition steps.

Works? We hope it will! :smiley:

Let us know whether we are headed in the right direction! :slight_smile: :microscope: :headphones: :hammer_and_wrench:

#37

I think a single link approach to install and run would do wonders. And I just read the entire thread and I still haven’t lost hope :smiley: for now I will have to deal with some of my players not hearing the Syrinscape Audio :smiley:

2 Likes
#38

Yeah, I was using VoiceMeeter to bundle the Syrinscape Audio and my mic audio into Discord in the scenario I described. I like two options you presented well enough, but they’re still “one more thing to get going” on my players’ end, even if it’s just another browser tab. (Perhaps especially because it’s a browser tab! I’m not sure your average person knows how to adjust the volume of individual browser tabs, and users being able to balance the volume mix of speech and background noise is a neurodiversity accessibility issue.)

Also, since my last posts I’ve done a dry run of my Foundry server (running video chat separately on discord). I discovered that it’s not going to work, as-is, for the simple reason that it’s on a dedicated machine sitting in the room, here, right next to me. My ISP apparently tops out its max upload speeds at 10Mbps, no matter how high a tier you pay them for. My users were getting some serious stuttering and a couple rejected connections. Tacking on some additional outgoing high quality streaming audio bandwidth (whether from the server or just my “normal” PC) on my home network is obviously a no-go. Apparently I gotta move my hosting to the cloud. :roll_eyes: If it’s not one thing, it’s another haha

#39

That three minute video was only slightly less detailed than the tutorial that I included in my “how to get everything set up for our D&D campaign” powerpoint presentation. The screenshots and direct links in this powerpoint presentation included large red arrows and short red text overlays that said things like “CLICK THIS ONE” and “NOT THIS ONE.” My players are full, real, competent adults between the ages of 25 and 50, and most of them have college degrees and jobs that use computers, daily. Most of them are also members of demographics who have historically been made to feel as though stuff like Dungeons and Dragons isn’t “for people like them.” Here are some paraphrased quotes from two campaigns’ session zeroes that I think you might find infuriatingly useful as UX feedback:

“Okay, I got the fantasy player thingy installed, and it’s telling me something about choosing a ‘soundset?’ Did I do this right? Should I have downloaded the ‘board game’ one that they said I needed to do… something? extra? for?”

“Okay, so, I think I got everything set up, but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this syrinscape account that I made?”

“Ah, I’m on the Syrinscape website, and I’m logged into my account. Which one of these programs on the ‘Downloads’ page should I be downloading for this? ‘Fantasy,’ right?”

“Sorry I didn’t have time to do any of the prep stuff before tonight! Now that I’ve got this Discord thing working, can I just take one of the pre-made characters you mentioned so we can just start playing and I won’t be holding things up for everyone? I’ll do the set up before the next time, for sure.” (Editor’s note: no one else was all set up and ready to go at that point, either.)

Bonus round:

“Hey, sorry, I think I’m going to have to drop out of the D&D thing. It was fun, but I still haven’t even got all that other stuff from the powerpoint presentation set up, yet. This seems like it’s a bigger time commitment than I thought, and I feel like I’m just slowing everybody else down. I appreciate the invite, though!”

I think the “single link” model would be a huge UX improvement.

1 Like
#40

Yep. Nothing is certainly perfect yet. What I like about my audiomovers setup is its a one click link. True it opens a browser tab but there is a volume control right on the page and that’s about the only thing on the page the players can touch. Worked well when I tried it a couple weeks back and have another session Saturday am. Will see how it goes!

2 Likes
#41

[quote=“brodyjohn, post:39, topic:9319”]
” My players are full, real, competent adults between the ages of 25 and 50, and most of them have college degrees and jobs that use computers, daily.[/quote]

This is exactly why I made my first post to these forums in this thread. You just described my group that I’ve been playing with for decades and why I dropped Syrinscape after years of being subscribed. I know everyone here thinks the process is simple, but after I found out that half of my players weren’t even bothering with the SS Online app anymore because it was too confusing/too much of hassle, I ditched it.

They loved the sounds … and hated everything else about the experience. They love (and I love) how easy Foundry is. That’s why earlier in the thread I said that if Syrinscape finds a way to truly integrate with Foundry, I’ll be back in a heartbeat.

1 Like
#42

@brodyjohn I posted a video yesterday of another free option to stream sounds called obs.ninja. Really powerful but now I have it set up as literally a one click link for my players.

2 Likes
#43

The problem i have is syrinscape online requires a player to create an account. I wish it was as easy as Foundry. My players dont beed an account. I send them a link and viola…they are online remotely. If syrinscape did that…awesome. But I also don’t like the monthly fee required for online. Also something not required by Foundry. I have monthly fees costing too much already. $10 here x ten…thats $100 going out the door a month. Watching to see. Remember we dont need access to the dynamic mostly. I’d love the option to download the soundscapes I already purchased. Then I can use them as background noise through Foundry.

#44

Hi @alaskankare, we are working on an easier way for players to join into your games… my current thinking is a zoom-style-link that initiates a download and install (if needed), a run of the Online Player App, and a linking into the game automatically WITHOUT the user needing an account.

Do note however: that getting signed up, and joined for a player takes only 3 minutes (if they follow the instructions reeeeasonably carefully). :smiley: And then joining back into a game after that first game can be done in a matter of seconds!

As for the cost… the Online Player is high quality stuff, was expensive to develop, and costs money to support, maintain and develop… so it’s definitely a thing for our top level subscribers at the moment.

The soundscapes in Syrinscape are dynamically created, always customisable, mixed carefully by industry professionals, have positioning and acoustics applied dynamically in real time. Stripping the samples out of Syrinscape and running them in another system will NOT get you the experience we know players need to truly benefit from what top level audio immersion can bring to tabletop games.

Why don’t you give the 30-day free trial a go and you may just discover that the added 3 minutes of effort on the part of your players is worth it! :slight_smile: :smiley:

1 Like