Can I run FG twice on same computer - switching from GM to Player and back ?

[Lonewolf]

I was thinking of using FG offline as a gaming tool recently. Running both player and GM modes from the same computer. Then using an external projector for the player screen.

I am not sure how to do this. Do I simply create a separate copy of the application folders. Is this even possible?

[JohnD]

Yes you can do this.

[Trenloe]

It's very easy. No need to copy/install anything extra. Open up a second instance of FG on the same computer, with the GM already running and "Join game" but use a host address of localhost - this is a special setting that allows a player instance on the same computer to connect without license issues.

Only do this once - don't run more than one player instance on the same computer.

[damned]

and then drag that second screen on to your external display.

[seycyrus]

...
Only do this once - don't run more than one player instance on the same computer.

Out of curiosity, why only once? I think I've done it for more than one player instance at a time in the past. When I was testing to see if the GM (me) would see the whispers from one player to another (both me as well)

[Nylanfs]

FG is a Resource hog.

[Dakadin]

Out of curiosity, why only once? I think I've done it for more than one player instance at a time in the past. When I was testing to see if the GM (me) would see the whispers from one player to another (both me as well)

I've encountered weird errors when testing things with 2 clients running. If I remember correctly the cache was having issues because both player connections were trying to write to the same cache file and it was in a locked state.

[damned]

yes you will have cache corruption issues.

[Trenloe]

Out of curiosity, why only once? I think I've done it for more than one player instance at a time in the past. When I was testing to see if the GM (me) would see the whispers from one player to another (both me as well)
What Dakadin and damned say is correct. The player side of FG is constantly using and updating files in the campaign cache directory. Having 2 *player* instances of FG running on the same computer can cause FG to crash or corrupt the player cache which will cause all sorts of unexplained issues. This might not happen immediately, but it will happen sooner or later.

[Bidmaron]

Dulux, your videos have multiple player instances running. You might want to modify the videos to warn your audience not to try it at home?

[Lonewolf]

What Dakadin and damned say is correct. The player side of FG is constantly using and updating files in the campaign cache directory. Having 2 instances of FG running can cause FG to crash or corrupt the player cache which will cause all sorts of unexplained issues. This might not happen immediately, but it will happen sooner or later.

So your are say that I can do it but it will cause the player client side to fail eventually....That sounds really bad. Not good enough to use as part of project system then. That is a bit of a deal breaker for me.

[Trenloe]

The "having 2 instances of FG running can cause FG to crash" was referring to the specific issue of 2 *player* instances on the same computer. Running one GM and one Player instance is fine, just don't run a second player instance connected to the Same GM on the same computer.

Re-reading my post I can see how you thought otherwise. I've edited my original post to help clarify this.

[Lonewolf]

The "having 2 instances of FG running can cause FG to crash" was referring to the specific issue of 2 *player* instances on the same computer. Running one GM and one Player instance is fine, just don't run a second player instance connected to the Same GM on the same computer.

Re-reading my post I can see how you thought otherwise. I've edited my original post to help clarify this.
Ok, now I get it. Sorry for being a bit slow on this. I was a little scared of FG crashing mid session because I was fooling around with it.
I understand now that I can indeed show off FG to new players using a projector. Thank you.

[seycyrus]

What Dakadin and damned say is correct. The player side of FG is constantly using and updating files in the campaign cache directory. Having 2 *player* instances of FG running on the same computer can cause FG to crash or corrupt the player cache which will cause all sorts of unexplained issues. This might not happen immediately, but it will happen sooner or later.

Not to derail this older thread, but is there any danger in running two GM instances of FG at the same time? One with players and one without. For instance if I have players connected to my Gurps campaign, but also have a CoreRPG instance running to use the weather extension, for example?

[Nylanfs]

Yes, it is HIGHLY advised not to run two full sessions. You can log into your gaming session using localhost.

[damned]

@seycyrus - that will work fine. you must make sure your GURPS session starts first so it binds 1802.
These will be different campaigns and so will be writing to different folders.
I quite often have 2-4 FG sessions running simultaneously while i have been writing new themes or working on a ruleset.

[Nickademus]

Interesting. When I first was learning FG I ran a Store module with four player clients on the same computer. Had some issues with images (which were worked out in a thread I posted back then) but didn't have any problems related to cache.