Version 11.5 - Intermezzo

Before beginning work on Version 12, we plan a slight deviation from our normal development process. The process (both good and bad) of updating to Version 11 has given us more feedback highlighting ways that we can make this process smoother and safer for users. We are going to work on an iteration of the Foundry VTT software represents an intermediate update between Version 11 and Version 12, "V11.5", if you will. This update will invest into two features:

Pre-update Compatibility Check

We will expand and enhance the software update check with a utility that examines your currently installed game systems and modules and provides a list of their compatibility status with the updated software version that you are considering to install. This will allow users to understand - before downloading an update - what the compatibility of their systems and modules will be. This interface will differentiate between packages which are:

1. Already compatible with the new version
2. Not compatible, but with a compatible upgrade available
3. Not compatible, without any compatible upgrade available

We believe this enhancement will improve transparency and awareness around the update process and help users to make the right decision about when they should update. We will not be back-porting this feature to V10 or any older generation, so we want to do this work as part of "V11.5" so it can be useful when the time comes for users to update from V11 to V12 (or later).

Built-In Backups

When updating Foundry Virtual Tabletop, our most frequent and most important piece of advice to users is to back up relevant user data to protect yourself and preserve the opportunity to downgrade back to the previous version of the software which you were using. We have observed that, without an easy tool for creating and managing backups, users may choose to skip this step. We never want to be in the position of telling someone "you can't go back to how things were before" - so we are going to build a tool that makes it easy to capture backups and restore data from a backup.

You will be able to backup your worlds, either individually or in bulk, and take a 'snapshot' of all your packages before you perform a major version updated. These backups will be stored in a separate data location. We will provide an interface that allows you to see your available backups and restore them, or rollback your entire installation to how it was before you updated Foundry Virtual Tabletop.

These two features are intended to make the process of updating Foundry Virtual Tabletop more transparent and more safe to ensure that everyone can enjoy the awesome new features we will deliver in V12 (and beyond) without unintentionally passing a point-of-no-return. Our team hopes that you are excited by the potential for "V11.5" as a bonus expansion of Foundry Virtual Tabletop before we begin work on Version 12.

Source: https://foundryvtt.com/article/v12-patreon-vote/

Every so often we see a surge in users caught unaware by a particular difficulty related to the use of automated backup and sync services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud and more.

We would like to take this time to reiterate to @everyone that we do not support the use of these kinds of services for storing your user data, and that doing so can and will result in corrupted database files.

Why shouldn't I use a sync service?

Storing your data via automated backup or sync services can result in database corruption in cases where the files are being read or written when the sync service operates, and may periodically replace lock files that Foundry VTT uses to prevent additional instances of Foundry VTT from accessing the same data at the same time.

We hope this helps clarify some issues for users about backup services, and prevents some user data loss in the future!

For more information and a deeper explanation including how to use these services responsibly and protect your Foundry VTT data; please see our article:

https://foundryvtt.com/article/automatic-backups/

To help new FoundryVTT users better orient themselves, this post is a short guide to:

1. The FoundryVTT ecosystem;
2. Where to look for help and information;
3. How to help others help you!

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1. The Foundry ecosystem is split into several communities:

• The official FoundryVTT Discord server - operated by Foundry staff and hand-picked moderators, this server is the official gathering spot for Foundry users.
• /c/FoundryVTT - you are here! This instance is run by Foundry users for Foundry users.
• Foundry Hub - A fansite with easily searchable module database, articles on Foundry and more!
• /r/FoundryVTT - The FoundryVTT community on Reddit.
• A number of smaller subcommunities, mostly on Discord.

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2. The main sources of information for new users are:

• Foundry official Knowledge Base - documentation that goes into a lot of detail about all Foundry core features.
• Foundry community Wiki - still growing in submissions, but by chance - it might have just what you are looking for.
• Either of these troubleshooting guides: Interactive and Google Doc.
• Subreddit wiki of /r/FoundryVTT that can be found here. (note we will be working to copy this over once we find a good solution to present this info in Lemmy)
• Searching /c/FoundryVTT, /r/FoundryVTT and Discord (when searching on Discord, chose as few of the important keywords as possible for best results).

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3. Help others help you! Especially when you have a technical issue, provide information that is necessary to solve it.

• Please include the game system you are using in the title of the post - [D&D5e] or [PF2e], for example.
• Ideally, if you can log into a Foundry world, press the Support button located in the Game Setting tab, and copy-paste the section under “Support Details”.
• If you can’t get into a world, at least mention: Foundry version, Game System and it’s version, hosting setup (Foundry client, NodeJS, cloud service, etc.), what browser are you using, operating system.
• The most common cause for issues in Foundry are modules. Always try to reproduce your issue with all modules turned off to find out if that is the case. You can use Find the Culprit module to assist identifying the problem module.
• Remember to check the browser developer console for red error messages. You can usually access the console by pressing F12; otherwise read here.

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More useful information can be found in the comments!

We wanted to establish a Lemmy instance as an alternative to the subreddit. (Thanks FΛПG for getting this setup!)

However we really don't want to fracture the community any more than is necessary. We will likely be trying to consolidate other Lemmy/KBIN instances where possible to make things more streamlined for users trying to convert over.

If you notice any other instances, please encourage (not harass) them to reach out to us. Or, if they'd like, they can lock their instance and redirect traffic here.

Welcome aboard!