This is about a Roll20 feature exclusive to Pro-subscribers (and often to players in a Game created by a Pro-subscriber). If you'd like to use this feature, consider upgrading your account.

Updated Dynamic Lighting (aka. UDL) is the new version of the Roll20 lightning system that is meant to replace Advanced Fog of War and Dynamic Lighting, combining them into a single, unified system. It features a stronger framework for future feature enhancements, is more performative, and has been updated for more current computing technologies. The old system is referred to as Legacy Dynamic Lighting (LDL).

In UDL, the old features of Advanced Fog of War have been renamed Explorer Mode to avoid confusion. Updated Dynamic Lighting uses WebGL, which is available in most computer systems and is supported by all the web browsers that Roll20 supports (Chrome and Firefox). The Legacy Dynamic Lighting has always used WebGL, so the change here is that Explorer Mode (previously Advanced Fog of War) now runs on the same system.

UDL was released on April 8th, 2020 as opt-in feature for Pro/Plus users, after having been available over a month on the Dev Server for Pro subs to try out.

On July 30th, 2020, UDL reached Feature Parity with LDL, but still have issues and optimization to do before it becomes superior to the LDL on all aspects.

Official Documentation

UDL was created after Roll20 had moved their Official documentation to the Helpdesk, so the Community Wiki doesn't have duplicates of these articles, so these features have better pages there:

• Updated Dynamic Lighting - Helpdesk article
• Updated Dynamic Lighting - Vision Examples - Helpdesk article
• Updated Dynamic Lighting API Support - Helpdesk article

Parallel Systems

Currently UDL exist in parallel with the Legacy Dynamic Lighting(LDL) until all issues are resolved, even though it reached feature parity on July 30th. Users will be warned well in advance when LDL will be phased out so people have time to adjust.

While we continue development on Updated Dynamic Lighting and support for licensed products, both the Legacy system and the Updated will exist in parallel. However, when you switch from one to another, the revealed areas are not transferred over. So, for example, if you and your crew have been crawling through a dungeon with Advanced Fog of War on, and you decide to switch to the new Dynamic Lighting with Explorer Mode, your players won't see anything they had previously explored. Players can fix that by moving their tokens around to re-reveal the area.

Similarly, if you switch to Explorer Mode and then decide to hop back over to the Legacy system, anything you had revealed in the UDL system will be reset/hidden when changing to LDL. If you then switch back to the UDL, the revealed areas that you had revealed when you last used UDL(might?) still be there.

The Dynamic Lighting layer, where you can add barriers that block light and movement, continues to function for both systems, and you do not need to change anything on that layer.

On August 6th, the Convert Lighting Tool was released, making it possible to convert existing games to UDL automatically.

Features

Page

Main Page: Page Toolbar

Token

Main Page: Token Features

Known Issues

The UDL Bug thread lists the Known Issues & what is currently worked on, and this section replicates it.

(list updated August 9th 2020)

Currently Working On

• • Automatic tool to convert Legacy Dynamic Lighting settings - available on the Dev Server for Pro Subscribers
  • Updated Dynamic Lighting fails on very large maps.
  • When using Explorer Mode on a Mac with Intel integrated graphics, the lighting system may display a wide diagonal black bar across the middle of the screen that scrolls as you pan across the page.
• Known Issues List:
  • In certain systems, images from the map layer are being distorted and skewed when viewed using Dynamic Lighting.
  • Unexpected behavior is occurring with masks created by circles.
  • Mask outlines are not as smooth as expected.
  • Zooming out with browser zoom, not the VTT zoom, can cause some strange visual issues.
  • If a player's system crashes, they will occasionally have DL masks revealed to them.
  • There is still slight lag with keyboard movements using UDL.
• Fixed issues:
  • full list of solved issues
  • Setting negative numbers in the token light and vision settings results in tokens revealing more than they should. Fixed Apr 10
  • If your maps use units other than feet, the light distances will not change based on the correct unit. Until this is fixed, assume that the "ft" in the Token Settings for vision and light distances is whatever units your map uses. Fixed April 17
  • Default Token Settings in the game details page do not currently apply when creating new tokens. Fixed Apr 21
  • Resetting fog more than once is causing issues. Fixed Apr 21
  • When the GM moves a token, the areas will only be revealed for players who are currently online. Fixed Apr 21
  • Tokens on different pages/accounts sometimes reveal masks for the incorrect page. Fixed April 28
  • Decimals in the token light and vision settings result in incorrect light calculations. Fixed April 28
  • When using CTRL-L, GMs see through the token's eyes for purposes of lighting and vision, but can still see objects on the GM layer. Fixed April 28
  • Tokens with Light on the GM layer are showing that Light to Tokens on other layers. Fixed May 19
  • Using CTRL+L on a token will occasionally result in vision of what's beyond Dynamic Lighting barriers. Fixed May 19
  • Light bleeds through some corners in Dynamic Lighting barriers (in explorer mode, this can result in areas being revealed). Fixed May 21
  • A "pixel dust" like effect is occurring within certain markings. Fixed June 30
  • There is no "update only on drop" option. Fixed June 30
  • Night Vision does not allow for Low Light at the moment and appears the same as Bright Light. Fixed June 30
  • Dragging a token next to a Dynamic Lighting barrier can result in vision past the barrier. Fixed June 30

See Also

• UDL Bug Report Thread
• UDL Known Issues List

Blog Posts

• A New Light The Conversion Tool is Now Live! (August 6th,2020)
• A New Light A New Path Ahead UDL reached Feature Parity with LDL (July 30th, 2020)
• A New Light UDL is released (April 8th 2020)