Problems with connection

[jwheel8]

Hey everyone

I am a long time D&D player who purchased FG some months ago so that I could play with my old buds from 15 years back. I am a "senior citizen" and have never been very proficient with computers.

I keep trying to get it so me and my friends can play using FG but I am having problems opening up "ports?" I know that anti-virus software is supposed to block that stuff but I have no clue on how to open it up. I have read a few guides on how to do it but it just never seems to work.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, after getting the package for me and my 5 long time friends I would like to get back to Calimsham for the first time in a long time!

[VenomousFiligree]

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will be along shortly, but as a start see if you can find your router listed on www.portforward.com and try following the guide there.

Also what firewalls do you have running on your PC?

[jwheel8]

As to what I have for firewalls, to the best of my knowledge I only have the basic Windows 7 firewalls. When I purchased the computer I request no extra software be put on the thing and to only work with the defaults. I have a few programs that I trust such as Spyware doctor and Symantic but that is it, along with whatever Windows 7 has default.

Could one of my problems be that I move? Last time I tried this I was in the States but I will be in Germany for the next few months, could that have any affects on this process?

As for a router... to be honest I am not completely sure what you mean. Right now I am working off a laptop but I think you are talking about the internet box that I use back home. Is a router that box that I plug my computer's internet cord into? If it is, I have no idea what that would be here, as the connection is shared by a large complex.

[Moon Wizard]

First, a question:
* What version of FG are you running? (Ultimate, Full, Lite, Unregistered, Demo)


Next, an overview of versions:
To start with, the current non-demo release of FG will attempt to automatically configure port forwarding on your router via the UPnP protocol. This works in the majority of situations.

The demo version is a couple years old. (We're working on updating over the next few months.) So, you will need to configure port forwarding manually for the demo.

Note: One current issue is that the "Test Connection" button on the launcher screen does not use UPnP, so will not work unless port forwarding set manually. The other way to test if UPnP works is to have someone connect to you from the Internet.


Finally, an overview of the components:

There are several components that get you onto the Internet.

The typical components are:
* Modem - Connects to wire from outside world (usually cable or DSL)
* Router - Plugs into modem to provide security and allow multiple computers to connect, sometimes bundled with the modem as a single unit
* Software Firewall - Windows 7, Symantec

Windows 7
You can check the Windows 7 settings by searching for "firewall" after opening your control panel. Just look for the option to "Allow a program through Windows Firewall". Windows 7 typically prompts you when a new program attempts to access Internet, and remembers your seeings.

Symantec
You can try disabling Symantec temporarily to see if this is the issue.

Router
The process to port forward is unique to each router manufacturer. (usually Netgear, D-Link, Cisco) Typically, you log into a admin screen through your web browser. (Something like https://192.168.0.1 or https://192.168.1.1) You will need the login to the router, which you might need to get from whomever set it up. As MurghBpurn mentioned, portforward.com usually has walkthroughs for the various router models.

Modem
Similar to router. Usually, most modems do not block traffic or need port forwarding (assumes one computer connected). However, there may be settings here as well.


Hopefully this isn't too overwhelming. We're working to simplify the process (UPnP was added a few months ago to help).

Regards,
JPG

[jwheel8]

1. I am running the Full version and it does not do this, I bought the software around 8 months ago. Could this have been a recent development?

If what you are saying is true, and that the Full version does all this automatically then I should not be having any problems.

Regarding your "note" I want to make sure I understand. Basically FG should automatically open all the ports but the test button requires I do it manually, therefore people should still be able to connect to me?

2. I check my firewall setting and it said FG and the FG updater are allowed, although I didn't see any port numbers, just "any" was listed. I also searched through my Symantic and couldn't find any options that seemed to show that the system was blocking anything. I also didn't see any buttons or systems that would even let me turn it off... which is kind of worrying.

3. Is the last part of your post still relevant if the first part is true? If the Full package does the UPnP protocol is the rest needed?

Thank you very much for your help in the matter. I greatly appreciate the patience that you must need to have to work with someone such as myself, I know it isn't easy, by any means.

[Moon Wizard]

No worries, we've all had to figure this out at some point. World of Warcraft used to require you to set up port forwarding to get a decent patch speed.

Here are some more thoughts based on your additional information:

* Make sure that your Full version is updated to the latest release (v2.7.5). This version will attempt to use UPnP to auto-configure the ports. To test whether this works, you will need someone with a Lite version or higher to connect to your external IP address (which you can get from the launcher screen before you create/load your campaign).

* UPnP does not always work, since it depends on the router manufacturer to implement the protocol. Luckily, most modern routers do support this protocol.

* The last part was more for information, in case the UPnP did not work. Double-checking the Windows/Symantec was a good idea anyways, since this would prevent all communications (including UPnP).

Regards,
JPG

[jwheel8]

Thanks for the help! I will see about making sure I have all the updates for FG and then getting in contact with one of my friends with the Lite version to do some more testing. If I have anymore problems I will just post here.

Great customer support!:D

[Nikoli]

Hi,

Before I start, I just want to say I'm not tech savvy!

I was about to start hosting a game, and managed to connect with one player, but later with another test another player in Australia couldn't connect. (I was only connecting with one player at at time, just to test things out and to make characters.) I was wondering why one player can connect and the other can't, yet nothing changed in the interim.

I should mention that I connected with the first player before I did anything with the routers, and in spite of the fact that the connection test failed with FG. After the second player, I port forwarded as per instructions, and I believe sorted out my firewall, but no joy with the second player, and still the connection test with FG failed. (That test has always failed so far.)

Not sure what's going on. My brother, who is more tech savvy than me, couldn't figure it out either - we seemed to have followed all the instructions.

This seems to be quite a tricky problem, from what I've read on the forums, and not newby friendly! I did the port checks also, using the PFPortChecker, and the port is open, but my router won't ping.

I'm at a loss for what to do now. Any advice?

Nikoli

[Nikoli]

Hi,

I tried everything I could think of, then I downloaded hamachi and that failed, until I decided to use the ip address instead of the alias, then it worked!

Not sure, but it might be the alias system causing problems. If this issue is related to the latest update, hope it helps.

Nikoli

[Moon Wizard]

The current FG version (non-demo) will attempt to use the UPnP protocol to request that your router forward the correct port to the machine running FG. However, the Test Connection button does not currently use UPnP (will be added in v2.8).

For your first test, FG probably used the UPnP protocol successfully which is why the connection was successful. For the second test, something must not be configured right, but it also prevented the UPnP protocol from working since the router was manually configured already.

If you need to manually configure port forwarding on the router, the main thing to check is that you enable both TCP and UDP, and that you use the "internal" IP address for your machine running FG (which can change when restarting (not usually) or you had changed your hardware(often)).

Regards,
JPG