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Known Limitations
Local VTT is focused on local, in-person tabletop play with a private GM View and a player-facing display.
It is intentionally lightweight. Some features common in larger virtual tabletop platforms are not currently included.
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Local VTT stores campaigns as folders on your computer.
It does not currently provide:
- Cloud campaign storage.
- Built-in account sync.
- Online campaign hosting.
- Browser-based player connections.
- Remote multiplayer rooms.
If you want to back up or sync campaigns, use your own backup or file-sync system.
Local VTT does not currently include player accounts.
This means there are no built-in:
- Player logins.
- User permissions.
- Player-owned tokens.
- Per-player visibility rules.
- Remote player connections.
- Player inventory or sheet access.
The GM controls the local session from the GM View.
Tokens are lightweight map markers, not character records.
Local VTT does not currently include:
- Character sheets.
- NPC stat blocks.
- Inventory.
- Spellbooks.
- Class features.
- Automated ability checks.
- Rules database integration.
Use your preferred character sheet, paper sheet, campaign manager, or rules tool alongside Local VTT.
Local VTT does not currently automate game rules.
It does not automatically calculate:
- Attack hits or misses.
- Damage application.
- Saving throw outcomes.
- Conditions from rules text.
- Spell effects from rules databases.
- Encounter balance.
- Creature abilities.
- Initiative from character stats.
Dice, templates, tokens, and turn order are tools for the GM, not a rules engine.
Tokens do not currently include health bars or automated combat state.
Local VTT does not currently track:
- Hit points.
- Temporary hit points.
- Armor class.
- Death saves.
- Damage resistance.
- Automatic condition timing.
- Automated combat effects.
You can still use token names, token conditions, turn order, and visual markers to support combat manually.
Local VTT is designed for in-person sessions with a shared display.
It does not currently provide:
- Remote player clients.
- Web links for players.
- Browser streaming.
- Online map sharing.
- Voice or video chat.
- Remote dice rooms.
For remote play, you would need to pair Local VTT with external screen sharing or streaming tools.
Dynamic lighting is not currently implemented.
Local VTT does not currently include:
- Walls.
- Doors.
- Windows.
- Vision blockers.
- Light sources.
- Line-of-sight automation.
- Vision-aware fog of war.
- Per-token vision.
Fog of war is manual and controlled by the GM.
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Fog of war is drawn and managed by the GM.
It does not currently:
- Automatically reveal areas based on token movement.
- Calculate line of sight.
- Track individual token vision.
- Reveal based on walls or doors.
- Update automatically from light sources.
Manual fog is flexible and reliable for in-person play, but it requires GM control.
Tokens are intended as visual markers.
They do not currently include:
- Full character data.
- Automated attacks.
- Health bars.
- Permissions.
- Player ownership.
- Attached rules data.
- Inventory or spell data.
This keeps tokens simple and fast to use during play.
Local VTT creates metadata-only backups for campaign and scene JSON files. Restore Revision can restore those metadata backups from inside the app when available.
Backups can restore things like:
- Campaign structure.
- Scene data.
- Token placements.
- Fog shapes.
- Drawings.
- Templates.
- Effects settings.
Backups do not duplicate:
- Map images.
- Video maps.
- Token images.
- Generated thumbnails.
- Other imported asset files.
For complete protection, back up the full campaign folder. Restore Revision is not a substitute for a full folder backup.
If a map, video, or token image is deleted from the campaign's assets/ folder, metadata backups cannot recreate the missing file.
To recover missing assets, restore them from a full campaign folder backup.
Local VTT does not currently include token pack export or import workflows.
This means there is no built-in way to:
- Export a reusable token pack.
- Import a token pack from another campaign.
- Share a curated token library as one package.
- Bulk transfer token defaults between campaigns.
Token assets are currently managed inside each campaign.
Text tools are not currently implemented as a complete scene feature.
For now, use drawing tools, templates, token names, or external notes where needed.
Some layers are reserved for future features.
For example:
- Objects.
- Foreground.
- GM-only scene content.
- Dynamic Lighting.
These reserved layers help keep the data model ready for future expansion, but not every reserved layer has a complete workflow yet.
The Windows installer is not currently code signed.
Because of that, Windows may show a publisher or SmartScreen warning during installation.
Only install Local VTT builds from a trusted source.
macOS notarization and release-channel infrastructure are also not currently configured.
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Local VTT does not currently include automatic updates.
To update the app:
- Download the latest release.
- Install it manually.
- Open your existing campaign folder.
Campaign folders are separate from the app installation.
Local VTT is designed to be lightweight, but very large scenes can still affect performance.
Performance may be affected by:
- Very large static maps.
- Large animated GIFs.
- Video maps.
- Many animated effects.
- Weather plus video maps.
- Many tokens, fog shapes, or scene objects.
- Running on older hardware.
Test large or animated scenes before using them live.
Local VTT supports MP4 and WebM video maps, but playback can depend on the system, file encoding, and Electron video support.
If a video does not behave correctly:
- Try a different encoding.
- Try MP4 or WebM.
- Reimport the map.
- Use a static map for critical scenes.
Published release assets may be immutable.
If a release has already been published for a version tag, a corrected build usually needs a new version and tag rather than replacing the existing release. The release workflow validates expected platform artifacts and stops if a release already exists for the tag.
This keeps release history clear and avoids replacing downloaded artifacts unexpectedly.
Local VTT currently focuses on:
- Local campaign folders.
- In-person tabletop play.
- GM View and Player View separation.
- Map display.
- Manual fog of war.
- Lightweight tokens.
- Drawing and template tools.
- Weather and animated effects.
- Dice and turn order.
- Local backups.
This focus keeps the app simple, portable, and useful at the table.