Updates and Versioning on Foundry VTT
Foundry Virtual Tabletop is an actively-developed software. It consistently receives updates that add new features, fix bugs, and adds other important back-end functionality.
Foundry VTT goes into more detail on their versioning here. A full list of their releases and release notes can be found here.
On The Forge, you can set your games to launch a specific Foundry version, or to use our Automatic updates channels.
Forge Release Channels
Forge release channels are a distinct feature of our service. In effect, they’re a way of notifying users when a new update is available based on their preferences. When your game is set to one of these release channels, you will be notified in-game of new releases available and you will be given the choice of upgrading your games or staying on your current Foundry release.
We currently offer two release channels :
- Forge Recommended: This release channel will notify you of our recommended Foundry VTT version to update to. It is generally going to be for a battle tested Foundry VTT release, which is known to work with all of The Forge features.
- Latest Foundry VTT Release: This release channel will notify you of any Foundry VTT release that has been made public. These will generally happen faster than on our recommended channel, and may not be 100% compatible with some of our service’s offerings.
When a user is on a release channel, they will receive a notification whenever The Forge adds a new version to that release channel. This indicates that a version of Foundry VTT is at their preferred level of stability.
Users can click on this notification to be brought to the update page, and choose to update their games/server to that new version. Users also have the option to stay on their current version semi-permanently, until they choose to manually upgrade later.
Users on a release channel will continue to be prompted to update whenever they enter their game, until they have chosen to stay on their current version, or proceed with the update.
What is the difference between the various versions ?
Release channels exist to help automatically update a user to the newest version that exists for their accepted level of stability. There is no difference between the version in that release channel and the same version under the specific Foundry VTT version choices. If the recommended and latest release channels are the same, then there is also no difference between the Foundry VTT version in both channels. The only difference will be about whether or not you will be prompted to update your Foundry VTT game when a new version is released on that channel.
Using the Game Manager
If you are using the Game Manager, then you will have the option to select your Foundry VTT version from the Game Manager tab itself, which will affect all of your games.
It will also affect which systems and modules are available for install when browsing or updating your systems and modules from the Bazaar.
Since all your games are running on a single Foundry installation with shared systems and modules, it is not recommended to have games running different version of Foundry VTT.
All of your games will by default be set to use the “Default” release channel which will always match your setting from the Game Manager tab.
You are however allowed to override the Foundry VTT version used by each game, even if it is not something that we would recommend to our users.
Release Channel Definitions
We understand that our “release channels” can feel a little confusing sometimes. We explain each release channel in detail below.
Recommended Release Channel
The recommended release channel contains versions that are marked as stable by Foundry Virtual Tabletop, and are verified as stable on The Forge. This makes them the safest option for actual use for most users. As a result, we automatically opt in users to the recommended release channel by default.
When Foundry VTT releases a new stable version, The Forge takes the time to test these new releases before moving them into our recommended release channel. First, we verify that the version will work on The Forge, and make changes to our service if they will not.
The Forge will only release versions that Foundry VTT marks as “stable” in this channel- versions marked as “prototype”, “developmental”, and “testing” will be released in other channels. In this sense, users can be reassured that by using the recommended release channel, they will always receive the most stable experience possible.
Latest Foundry VTT Release Channel
The latest release channel will notify a user of the latest stable, or slightly-unstable version of Foundry VTT. This means versions of Foundry VTT that are released as “testing” versions, or “stable” versions that may not immediately work right on The Forge.
Module and system compatibility is not a given for the latest release channel, given that these versions tend to be newer.
Basically, the latest release channel is handy for Foundry power users that:
- Want to try the latest features of the Foundry VTT software.
- Don’t care about losing module support.
- And are ok with early adopter bugs.
Because of these concerns, users must opt-in manually to this release channel.
Versions
For users who wish to avoid automatic prompts to update, we offer the ability to choose a single version of Foundry VTT. This has no meaningful difference from selecting the same version in a release channel. All it means is that when a new version of Foundry VTT is released, the user will never be prompted to update. Users can manually update by selecting another version of Foundry VTT, or by opting into a release channel.
The Forge will eventually retire specific versions of Foundry VTT on its service over security concerns, or lack of viability in supporting the version any further. If that specific version is retired, the user will be prompted to update to a newer, supported version of Foundry VTT.
That said, we always strongly recommend that our users update to the latest recommended version, in order to stay up to date with security fixes and performance improvements.