Exposed IP

[Nickademus]

This might be a concern to some people, but I just connected to a game using an alias. When I reconnected a minute later, the raw IP numbers were saved in my connection history.

[gmkieran]

I have noticed the same behavior over the last month (maybe since 2.9.4 release?) and just hadn't posted up about it. The alias remains in the history and still functions, but the IP address from the last session is also visible. Only a concern if you're actually using the alias to mask your IP and not just for the convenience of not having to distribute an IP every time the GM's ISP changes it, but still a concern.

[damned]

tbh - when connected to any server/service you can easily view the remote computer/servers ip addresses via several methods.
aint nothing you can do about keeping you ip hidden. the alias is more for supporting dynamic ip addresses at host end and because humans are better at remembering names/words than we are number strings.
the exact behaviour you are referring to could however be a bug...

[Moon Wizard]

Hmm, I just tried this running an Ultimate and Free version on my development machine, and it saved the alias in the connection history on both v2.9.4 and v3.0. Looking at the code in the client and the launcher, I don't see anything that jumps out at me as to why it would be saving the IP address (unless IP address was entered).

Does it happen every time you connect to an alias? (i.e. different servers)

Thanks,
JPG

[Nickademus]

I would have to join more games to tell you. I will keep an eye open and get back to you at a later time.

[levinth]

We played again last night (I'm assuming it was my game Nickademus was referring to) and had a similar problem. Two players struggled to connect. I think it was because I have a dynamic IP and it had saved a previous IP address instead of the alias. I tried getting a new alias and handing that out and it worked fine. Is there a setting I need to change or is it just a bug because from what damned said, the alias should stop this problem if it's saved correctly?

[Callum]

I ran a test session with one of my players earlier in the week, as I've just moved house, and he reported that the connection history didn't save the alias between sessions, but instead showed my IP address.

[JohnD]

Given there is no easy way for people to clear their server history, lists will quickly get unmanageable in length.

[Blacky]

Maybe I'm missing something but what's the issue with player having GM's IP in their history?

Any FG host (GM) can view player's IP and any FG player client can view GM host's IP while playing, just by looking at what's happening on their network.

[levinth]

The problem I had was that my players were trying to connect to the wrong IP address, so they couldn't connect. Now we know, it's less of a problem, just an inconvenience, but as John D says, the list is going to get longer and longer...

[Blacky]

Ahhhhh… yes I missed something.

Inconvenient yes, to say the least…

[gmkieran]

The list length may be a problem, but my experience is that the most recent IP appears at the top and the alias is usually the next entry down. If you continue to select the alias when connecting, instead of the IP, you will continue to be able to connect (the alias doesn't care what IP it's masking) and the last alias will always be the second entry in your list. At least, it's worked that way for us, so far.

[Moon Wizard]

I haven't been able to recreate this locally in order to pinpoint what might be causing the IP to be saved instead of the alias. I've reviewed the relevant launcher code, and I didn't see anything that looked like it would do this.

I'm open to ideas on what is unique on the player machines that have the issue.

Regards,
JPG

[Nickademus]

I'm not sure it's the player's machines. I joined the game again the yesterday, using the new alias, and it once again saved it in my history as a raw IP. This seems to be the only game that is saving IPs, as the others in my history are still aliases.

More likely a host issue. I will keep monitoring and collecting data.

[Griogre]

The host doesn't use Hamachi or anything like that does he?

[JohnD]

I've only seen it when the host was trying to use a dubious internet connection.

[levinth]

I don't use Hamachi, Fantasy Grounds works fine through my router by PnP. I use a Ethernet cable when running my games, rather than wireless and my internet is from Plusnet, which might be cheap, but I wouldn't call it dodgy! I run Windows 7 (if that makes a difference - I really don't know). I'll be moving house in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to see if that clears up the issue (although I'll be taking my internet provider with me).

On a side note, Griogre, I'm a she! (Rare as that seems to be on these forums...) :p

[gmkieran]

Our GM also doesn't run Hamachi - he's operating on a windows system and has stable internet, afaik. I can check with him on details, but we've consistently had the IP appear after each session for the last several weeks and it appears on all player machines, not just one or two. We're running 2.9.4 using 4e and my machine is running windows 8. We have a couple of XP users and a couple of Vista/Win7 users player-side, as well.

[JohnD]

Yeah, well that was supposition on my part - only happened to me once. Perhaps if there is a problem between the connections as people are trying to connect?

[levinth]

I forgot to mention - I also run 2.9.4.

[Griogre]

All good information. @levinth, the "he" above was, naturally, short for the gender neutral s/he. :) 'Cause, I'm a lazy typist. ;) It will be interesting to see what happens when you move. Are you taking the same router with you? Your setup seems pretty standard except, maybe, the router PnP.

[gmkieran]

Just a note on this - upon joining our session from 2 weeks ago (we skipped last week), the host IP was *not* saved - only the alias appears (as the first entry in our selection list). Prior to that the host's actual IP had always appeared above the alias for approximately the past 6 weeks.

edit: and for this week's session, the GM's IP from last week appeared above the alias in my list of available games. The GM has not actually brought the server up, yet, so that may be part of it or it may just be that his IP didn't change prior to last week's session, but did change between then and now.