Connection Issue

[tegeus]

I read through a few of the connection problem posts in the forums and really could not understand a lot of it so I am creating my own thread.

I am not the most computer literate person on the net.

I have the Full Version license for FGII and one Lite License which I gave to a friend so we could play. When he tries to connect nothing happens. I do not see that anyone is trying to connect and he gets the "Cannot connect" message. I have had no problems myself until now but even though I have the full version license I have always been a player and not the host. We have tried connecting by ip address and through the alias.

What is the most likely cause of the problem. I see a lot of chatter about the firewalls in the forums. Would it be my firewall blocking him or the other way around. I do not really follow all of this talk of ports and routers I see in the posts. I am on a DSL connection that passes through an external modem and a wifi router (although my PC is direct connected to the router the wifi is for my other computers which I do not use for FGII).

Thanks for any help you can supply me.

tegeus

[Mellock]

The most likely cause is port forwarding not being set up. This tells the router to forward the data to the right computer. What, pray tell, is the model and make of your router? Can people connect to you when you plug your computer directly into the modem?

[tegeus]

I can plug my DSL directly into my PC from the modem so I will give your suggestion a try. I have a D-Link MBR 1310

tegeus

[tegeus]

Well it took a while for us to find a time to try connecting again but we did today.

As suggested I connected directly from the cable to my modem. That did not work. I checked my Windows Firewall settings and FGII is listed as an exception. I did try turning off the Firewall completely and still no connection.

Any other suggestions. It seems strange that I can connect in my weekly session but when I try hosting my friend cannot connect to me.

tegeus

[Griogre]

Players almost never need to do anything so, they can always connect if the host is setup correctly, because all the work is on the server side. However if you host another game without any problems but in a different game a player can't connect to you it's probably the player's fault - it sounds like you are a player in the other game though.

It sounds like you have not port forwarded 1802 on your modem. You have to manipulate the firewall inside the cable "modem" too, opening it for Port 1802 and then forwarding it to the right Local IP address of the local computer host.

[tegeus]

It sounds like you have not port forwarded 1802 on your modem. You have to manipulate the firewall inside the cable "modem" too, opening it for Port 1802 and then forwarding it to the right Local IP address of the local computer host.

Not sure I understand your instructions entirely. Actually I have DSL not cable but likely they are somewhat similar. The Modem is provided by the service provider and does not have any software with it so I do not believe I can do this "port forwarding". There are no settings to adjust. I will have to call the service provider and see if they can understand this.

tegeus

[tegeus]

Well it does turn out that I cannot change my Modem settings. But the service provider has agreed to send me a new modem that does allow me to change the settings. Stay tuned.

tegeus

[Griogre]

Most cable or DSL "modems" are not really modems but almost every one has a hardware firewall in it.

[Tenian]

In the mean time you could try Hamachi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi). A lot of people have had success with it but I have never used it. Everyone will need to have it installed. My understanding is it's pretty simple to set up and eliminates the firewall issues.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge on the topic will comment :)

[tegeus]

I got a new modem that allows me to adjust my settings. Also with the new version of FGII I can attempt to check my connection settings. When I do a connection test I get a Failure message. Also when another player tried connecting to me he could not. I have set the Port 1802 to forward. See attached modem settings. Any other ideas out there ?

[Griogre]

You probably have a firewall that is blocking player connections. Go to www.pcflank.com, start FG and do an advanced port scan on port 1802. If it comes back stealthed or closed it's almost always a firewall.

Many people think cutting off a firewall opens it. It doesn't - it just locks it so ports can't be opened or changed. Another possible problem is you might not have a static local IP address so the address being forward to might not be the computer running the server.

[tegeus]

I'll give the website a try again but right now it is down. How can I tell if I have a static local IP address ?

tegeus

[Griogre]

Generally speaking, most routers set up dynamic assigning of local IP numbers by default. Thus if you did not change this you probably don't have a static local number. On the bright side most routers can set up a local number as static pretty easily but you will have to go in a tell it to do so.

The non static local IP address can be a "sleeper" problem where things will work fine for a while because typically local IP numbers are "leased" to a computer's network card for a time.

If you don't have many computers being assigned local IP numbers and you turn the computer on almost every day the odds are good the lease gets renewed with the same local IP number so the port forwarding continues to work. Then you have a power failure or the router gets reset or you go on vacation for longer than the lease time.

When that happens the local IP numbers might very well be assigned differently the next time you cut on the computer and suddenly FG quits being able to host because the clients data is being forward to the wrong local IP address.

[tegeus]

Arrrgggh! Very frustrating. I went into the Modem advanced setting and turned off all of the security and the stealth mode but still it Fails. I just cannot seem to host a game. Also, that pcflank site refuses to load it resets and gives an error:confused: ?

tegeus

[Griogre]

PC Flank seems flaky latey. Try Shield's Up at https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Remember turning off security doesn't open ports it just "locks" them. You need to actually configure the security to allow FG.

[tegeus]

Shield's up indicates that my ports have stealth status which is strange since the modem has this turned off. Port 1802 was not one it checks, and I have that one port forwarded so I don't know if this means anything. I guess I give up. I can play as a player but I cannot be a GM. :(

tegeus

[Griogre]

Honestly you *can* probably get it to work if you keep trying. Stealth typically means a firewall is blocking connection. Probably the one on your computer. The Shields Up scanner is confusing which is why I like PC Flank better.... if its up.

To do a port scan start FG so the server is running. Then go to the Shields Up page and input it like this:

https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m222/Griogre/ShieldsUp.png

You can always use a VPN, like Himachi, if you are really desperate but everyone has to log into the VPN and there is extra network overhead.

[tegeus]

According to Shield's Up Port 1802 has a status of Stealth. Under application it says concomp1. I checked off the stealth on my modem and turned off Windows Firewall when I did the test. I do have AVG virus scan and spyblocker running which could cause issues (?).

Seems like I need to call my service provider again.

tegeus

[Griogre]

Turning off the Windows firewall is probably your problem. Turning off the Windows firewall means it "locks" all port settings meaning 1802 is stealthed. All modern firewalls do the same thing to protect against being hacked.

Try turning the Windows firewall back on starting FG and telling the Windows firewall its OK to run FG as a server.

[tegeus]

I put Windows Firewall back on and told it to leave port 1802 open. I still show as stealth in Shield's up and I still get a failure message from FGII. I also tried on my laptop which connects through wireless and does not have a virus checker so I do not think that the virus check is the problem as I got the same message.

tegeus

[Griogre]

Does that version of AVG have a firewall? Is there any other piece of hardware between your modem and computer? Finally double check your modem is really set to allow port 1802 for TCP/IP and not UDP.

[tegeus]

I do not believe AVG has a firewall. But my laptop does not have virus protection on it at all right now and it gets the same stealth message. My laptop runs WinXP and my desktop runs Vista.

My modem settings are in the attachment I included earlier. It is set up to allow port 1802 TCP to be forwarded. Also Vista's firewall is set to allow FGII and to allow port 1802 to be forwarded.

I might try the Service Provider tech support again but it is a big national service and their tech people are just putting in time so they are less then helpful.

tegeus

[tegeus]

Success!

The solution was really quite simple. I have 3 users on the computer that FGII is installed on. Even though I play on my user and it is the administrator - FGII would not work until I tried connecting from the first user created on that PC. Apparently I appear stealthed when I go online from any other user on the PC then the first one that was created.

Once I went online from the first user and gave FGII permission to accept data it worked just fine.

Hopefully this helps someone else with connection issues.

tegeus

[Craw]

What is this "go online and give FGII permission to accept data" of which you speak?

I've had the exact same problem you were experiencing, right down to the stealthed 1802 showing concomp1.

[tegeus]

What is this "go online and give FGII permission to accept data" of which you speak?

It is unique to my service provider. My Service provider (BELL) provides the DSL modem and I can adjust the settings in a browser window online. Application support needs to be enabled to allow a port to be opened. With most users they open a specific port. In my case with this modem It is simpler I need only select Fantasy Grounds II as an application needing an open port.

Unfortunately, it is likely unique to my situation (and that of other Canadians using BELL). In your case it may mean you need to open a port by whatever method your modem uses.

tegeus