Atlas VTT Extension - Connect

Play Atlas VTT maps online with your group. You host from Obsidian; players join from a web page or from their own Obsidian. No accounts, no server to run.

Connect is an independent plugin, not made by or affiliated with the Atlas VTT author. It changes nothing in Atlas.

Install

1. Obsidian 1.8.7 or newer, on desktop.
2. Settings → Community plugins → Browse: install and enable Atlas VTT, then Atlas VTT Extension - Connect.

For the GM

Start a session

1. Open a map in Atlas.
2. Click the Online session button Connect adds to Atlas's toolbar (or run Online session from the command palette), then Start online session.
3. Copy the join link and send it to your players.
4. When a player asks to join, a notice says so: click Allow or Deny. The same requests show in the session panel.

The panel lists who is connected. Remove player (×) sends someone out; they must be allowed again. Stop online session ends it for everyone.

What players see

Players see the scene you present, with what Atlas's own player window would show: hidden tokens, fog and line of sight stay hidden.

• Present a scene: present it in Atlas as usual (the eye on its scene tab).
• Dynamic lighting: turn on Atlas's dynamic lighting experiment and players see only what their tokens see, plus the places they explored before.

Let players move tokens

Right-click a token on the map → Controlled by → tick the players. They can now drag it. Moves snap to your grid, stop at walls on a lit scene, and are refused while you are dragging.

Player characters: mark a token as a player character in Atlas (right-click → player character), then give it to a player with Controlled by. Connect remembers that player by name and gives them that character on every scene and in later sessions. Untick them to take it back.

Dice and lasers

• Players' rolls are rolled by Atlas's own dice, by the map's rules, thrown on your screen and logged under their name. Your rolls reach their dice log.
• Your laser pointer shows on players' maps, and theirs on yours.

Split the party

Show different players different scene tabs: open Present to in the session panel, or right-click the eye of a scene tab, and tick players for that tab. Untick them, or use Everyone back to the presented scene, to bring them back.

• Up to 4 scenes at once. The tab you have open is live; players on other tabs keep their last view and are told you are on another scene.
• A badge on a tab's eye says how many players are on it.

A player comes back

A player who reconnects from the same browser or Obsidian takes their old place, with their tokens, without asking you again. If someone joins with a name already in the session from a different browser or device, the join request warns you; allowing it gives them that player's place.

For players

Join from a browser

1. Open the link the GM sent.
2. Type your name (tick Remember this name to skip this next time) and click Join.
3. Wait for the GM to let you in; the map opens by itself.

Join from Obsidian

Install Atlas VTT and Connect, run Join online session…, paste the link, type your name and click Join. The scene opens in its own tab.

At the table

• Move: drag the tokens the GM gave you (they have a yellow ring). Pan by dragging the map, zoom with the wheel or a pinch.
• Measure: pick Measure and choose a line, cone or circle; it measures in the GM's units.
• Laser: pick Laser and draw to point at something; everyone sees it.
• Dice: open the dice tray, pick dice and roll. The GM's Atlas rolls them and everyone sees the result.
• Dice log: the dice icon on the right edge opens every roll of the session.
• Follow GM puts your view back on the GM's camera; Fit map shows the whole map.

Settings

Settings → Atlas VTT Extension - Connect:

• Signaling server / My own server: how players find your session. The default works; set your own server if you prefer.
• Relay (TURN) servers: add one if players can't connect from strict networks (some offices, schools, mobile data).
• Player page: the web address in join links. Leave the default unless you host your own (see DEVELOPING.md).
• Keep online images on this device: a player's Obsidian keeps map images, so the next session loads faster.
• Log online play events: writes a diagnostic log to the console, for bug reports.

What doesn't work yet

On Atlas from Community plugins, Connect reads what Atlas leaves reachable, so a future Atlas release can break parts of it.

• Footprints of tokens seen in the dark aren't shown to players, and edges of sight are a little rougher than in Atlas's window.
• A map with a stretch-fit grid may not line up for players. Running timers show their last saved value. Atlas's marks and pings aren't relayed.
• Sharing notes and maps (People…, Share with…, Ask to pull…, Shared with me…) and per-collection rules need an Atlas build with the extension API, which no released Atlas has yet. That build is installed with BRAT from evolJoaoBento/atlas-vtt.

Privacy

Connect talks to:

• PeerJS cloud signalling (0.peerjs.com) to connect players, unless you set your own server;
• the STUN server stun.l.google.com:19302, to find a direct route;
• the player page at evoljoaobento.github.io/atlas-vtt-connect;
• any relay servers you add.

The game itself goes directly between you and your players. Details in PRIVACY.md.

Coming from the online play preview

If you used the fork of Atlas VTT with online play built in, Connect takes over its settings, people and shares on its first start. A map someone shared with you before arrives once as a second scene, e.g. "Inn (2)", the next time it is updated; after that, updates replace it as before.

Developing

Building, testing and releasing: DEVELOPING.md.

Licence

AGPL-3.0-only, see LICENSE. Connect contains code from Atlas VTT (AGPL-3.0-only, © Fabian Urbanek) and open-source packages; credits in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.