Coolest. Gaming Set-up. Evar.

[heruca]

I've been real excited by the battlegrounds: RPG program and it shows up nice off the projector. Though there's no masking function, it does allow players to use light sources so that only part of he map is shown and there's a degree of fading based on the light source. Pretty nifty.

I'm glad to hear that. I also wanted to let you know that there is a square-based masking/unmasking function in the latest demo, where you can turn each grid square on or off manually, overriding the dynamic light-based reveals. Eventually I will be adding freehand masking/unmasking tools, too.

Since you have a projector and are planning on taking and posting pics of your setup, I was wondering if you could help me out with this.

 

[DonTadow]

I'm glad to hear that. I also wanted to let you know that there is a square-based masking/unmasking function in the latest demo, where you can turn each grid square on or off manually, overriding the dynamic light-based reveals. Eventually I will be adding freehand masking/unmasking tools, too.

Since you have a projector and are planning on taking and posting pics of your setup, I was wondering if you could help me out with this.

Sure, I'll post them there too. So far it looks good on my monitor. By the way, I'm the guy whom you sent a code to yesterday whom had the question about the laptop and main computer. .

 

[heruca]

Cool, thanks.

Heh, there were two people I sent codes to yesterday who had the exact same question, but I know which one you are.

 

[DonTadow]

Cool, thanks.

Heh, there were two people I sent codes to yesterday who had the exact same question, but I know which one you are.

I'm the one at the detroit writer address.

 

[3d6+15]

Hrm. I run with a projector (got the idea from SteelWind way back when this thread started, if you dig back in the thread a ways you'll see my post from back then, not sure if my pictures still link. Some new pics of it in use are here it's worth noting that currently I'm just using scans of maps from the module, I've got Dundjinni but haven't felt up to using it much lately. )

Anyway I discovered FantasyGrounds at GenCon and have been loving it on my projector. However, Battlegrounds (as well as the DonTadow endorsement of it) has me very intrigued. The screenshots look very promising, especially with word that some form of masking unmasking will be coming available. I just may have to check this out!

 

[heruca]

Nice setup you've got there, 3d6+15.

 

[DonTadow]

Sorry for the play-by-play here but I'm excited, and it's on topic.

The projector arrived today around 12:30. I left work to go move it inside as soon as UPS.COM showed delivered (It was rainy today.)

At work the rest of the day I was buzzing, cranking out vast quantities of good work due to bundles of little kid with a new toy energy.

Got home, cracked it out, ran the S-video cable from my Geforce 3 TI200 (if you just cringed, congratulations!) aimed it at the wall about the same throw distance I'll be getting from in my ceiling and....

(Before you read on, this ends well. Don't make any judgement about the projector until you get to the end.)

WHAM. Disappointment. What a blurry picture. I moved it out quite a bit (6-8 feet) and no focusing would bring it into clarity. Played with settings for awhile, etc. I began the internal debate. "Is this good enough, do I accept paying $1000 for junk." etc, etc.

Suddenly it dawned on me. The BenQ logo was crystal clear. The menu was crystal clear. The problem was my video source! Woohoo! I hooked up the 15-pin video cable and hooted for joy!

What was I thinking? Eh? (I know what I was thinking, I was hoping to use the monitor as well as the projector, but it's a very small sacrifice for me. We DM with laptops and I've got lots of network connections and a WAP so we can use remoting software in lieu of the mouse and keyboard at "MapServ")

I'm bursting at the seams with excitement for my game on Saturday!

Anyway thought I'd share.

Toodles! Off to Home Depot to find an extension cord and some wire shelving, and then to see if anybody carries 25' 15pin video cables.

A year old quote 3d6, but this helped me out quite a bit. I had the same exact problem when I first hooked mine up. The reviews said svideo was the best so i tried svideo ( wanted the extra monitors. After hooking it up, The pic was abit blurry. Once I switched to the actual data cale voila, worked great.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

I've had good luck with http://www.cablestogo.com/ for cheap, good quality cables.

 

[DonTadow]

The cables snafu has been fixed but now I got one final piece to fit in and I think its all ago. I need a good surface to project it on. THe fabric I bought from Joann Fabric just isn't very reflective of the light. Does anyone use anything special??

 

[DrNilesCrane]

I typically use grid paper so I don't need to worry about projecting a grid and scaling it; plus it allows me to use maps from a lot of different sources (like NWN) without worrying about adding a grid. In my case, my projector has a bit of a skew due to it's location, so having the grid independent of the image also helps make the image look better (if there's a grid, the skew is a bit more obvious).