Connection Issue

[Alchemister]

Hi,

Experiencing quite a serious connection issue. Up until today I have been using Fg with no problems. But now my players can't connect to me, and my own connection test fails.
As far as I'm aware nothing has changed on my pc.

Have tried checking ports, and it seems the key port is not open.

I'm using windows 7 64bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Additionally, I do use VPN, but disabling this has always worked before now.

At a complete loss as to how to proceed!

[OneSidedDie]

The usual checklist for me is to make sure that if you're using a router that your port forwarding is still there, make sure that fantasy grounds is good to accept incoming connections in your firewall software and make sure that your external IP has not changed.

[Trenloe]

If you've been using it fine before then the issue could be related to your local IP address changing on the PC you host FG on.

Make sure the port forwarding in your router for port 1802 is set to use the current IP address - check the PC to find out the current IP address to use. Better yet, if your router supports UPnP, enable this on the router and remove any port forwarding you have already setup. UPnP will make the required settings for you and will take into account changing IP addresses.

[Zeus]

@Alchemister: As Trenloe and OneSidedDie (cool handle btw) have stated the most likely causes for connections problems occurring after successful use are:

- Host IP address has changed - this can occur if your using DHCP in your router config to assign IP addresses on demand and when required.

One fix for this is to assign your PC with a static IP address i.e. an IP address that is permanently assigned and is never reallocated. You can then configure your firewall to point to this static IP address for all 1802 port traffic.

A second fix is to enable UPNP, which automatically opens ports and forwards traffic to IP addresses on your LAN on demand when applications/services request them. As UPNP an on demand service, if your PC IP address changes, UPNP will detect and manage this for you transparently. Be warned though UPNP implementations in consumer routers tends to be quite flaky.

- Another instance of FGII is already running - check Task Manager for any wayward FantasyGrounds.exe processes that maybe still running in the background. To fix either kill the processes and relaunch FGII or simply restart your PC.

In terms of testing, try and localise the problem first. I tend to follow the following process when I hit issues.

1. Fire up a 2nd instance of FGII and connect to localhost or 127.0.0.1. If you connect FGII install is fine. Problem maybe a networking related issue, move to step2. If you can't connect, you either have a 2nd instance of FGII already running in the background or your PC's TCP/IP configuration is hosed or something is interfering (VPN?).
2. Fire up a 2nd instance of FGII and connect to the LAN IP of the host PC (usually a 192.x.x.x address but sometimes a 10.x.x.x address). If you connect then FGII's install is fine. Windows host Firewall/Networking is not the issue. Problem likley to be a router/firewall/port forwarding networking related issue, move to step 3.
3.With FGII up and running in a campaign, open a web browser and goto https://canyouseeme.org. Fill out the form port field with 1802 and hit the Check your Port button.
If you get:


Error: I could not see your service on xx.xx.xx.xx on port (1802)
Reason: Connection refused

Your firewall is blocking port 1802 or not forwarding traffic correctly. Check your FW configuration and the IP address of your PC.
If you get:


Error: I could not see your service on xx.xx.xx.xx on port (1802)
Reason: Connection blocked


Contact your ISP. For some reason the ISP is blocking port 1802 traffic, you can temporarily sidestep this by starting FGII with the -p flag and specifying an alternative port to work on. Note however all clients will also have to connect using the -p flag and identical port settings at startup.

Finally if you get:


Success: I can see your service on xx.xx.xx.xx on port (1802)
Your ISP is not blocking port 1802


All should be well. If your still suffering connection problems, something more serious is afoot.

[Alchemister]

Many, many thanks for the help and suggestions.

I appear to have resolved the issue, but God alone knows how, so I'm afraid I have no useful advice to give on that score.

Played around with Netgear, Norton 360, my VPN and Port Forwarding. Something clearly worked, but I don't know what.

Will try setting up the static IP as an extra safeguard as I'm still not sure what caused the problem to begin with.

Thanks again.

[Alchemister]

Okay, new day, back to the same problem.

Working on the static IP fix, but out of interest meantime, how do I start FG with -p flag?

[Alchemister]

Ok, fingers crossed. All appears to be well. I have set up the static IP, and finally figured out how to configure this and the port on Norton.

Looking good at the moment. I no longer intend to throw my PC through the window :rv:

[Zeus]

Okay, new day, back to the same problem.

Working on the static IP fix, but out of interest meantime, how do I start FG with -p flag?

Open a DOS CMD window and navigate to the Programs Files (x86) folder and Fantasy Grounds program folder.

Then enter:


fantasygrounds.exe -p<port number>

Note: There is no space between -p and the <port number>.