Server Keeps crashing

[dxmichelle]

So ever since I tried test sharing a big map yesterday, the server has been super slow. Like if I host a game on my PC and then I make another account on my laptop with a different username and try to log into the game I hosted on my PC, I've been having trouble even accessing the phb from the host on my PC and the game keeps crashing. I also had a actual player in another location try to log in and create a character and they are also saying the the connection is super slow and they keep freezing and disconnecting. I did a test my speed and I have 33 Mbps download and 6 Mbps upload, is it that my connection is too slow? It also keeps giving error messages saying that the modules are not loading...

[JohnD]

How big is that map and what are your system specs?

[dxmichelle]

How big is that map and what are your system specs?

The map was like an entire town layered in cubes, but i masked most of the map and shared only part of it. Also, the map eventually worked after connecting and disconnecting a few times and after I masked more of the map. But since then, even though I rebooted my computer and fantasy grounds, even just to open up one of the classes in the PHB has been super slow for the players. For myself, it still works fine and it's fast, but on the player end, they keep getting disconnected.

[jenovvson]

Thanks for putting this up dxmichelle. I think it's a memory problem. I monitored it on task manager and it came up to a whopping 96% memory usage.

[dxmichelle]

o.O

[JohnD]

The map was like an entire town layered in cubes, but i masked most of the map and shared only part of it. Also, the map eventually worked after connecting and disconnecting a few times and after I masked more of the map. But since then, even though I rebooted my computer and fantasy grounds, even just to open up one of the classes in the PHB has been super slow for the players. For myself, it still works fine and it's fast, but on the player end, they keep getting disconnected.

OK but that doesn't actually tell us anything. What is the size of the file? 1 MB, 5 MB, more?

I would certainly say memory issues. Task Manager is basically telling you that FG is taking everything your computer has... I would unshare that map ASAP and have your players delete their cache for your campaign and try the connection again (but it's been years since I've done tech support so if I'm significantly off base here someone will pop in and set things straight).

[Trenloe]

This definitely sounds like the map is too large - in terms of MB size. Masking a map won't make any difference in terms of the base map size that needs to be transferred and won't reduce any of the memory use. FG needs to load the whole base map into memory and this can easily take a lot of memory if the map is large. Reduce the dimensions of the map and use JPG with compression. Ideally your maps should be less than 2MB in size on your hard drive, less if you can (aim for below 1MB if possible).

[damned]

hi dxmichelle sounds like you wil need to resize your map for use in FG.
Suggestion - less than 5000px in any direction, use JPG and set quality to 40 or 50% only. File Size - you really want to aim for less than 2MB.
If you need higher resolution make a small version of the big map for reference and just use smaller sections of the map at higher resolution where needed.

Yuo will have some learning bumps at first - dont despair :)

[dxmichelle]

The map was included in the adventure module though... I don't know how to figure out the size of the map... Also, the map works just fine on my side, it upload superquick, it is just when other players are trying to access my modules. How do you delete the cache for the campaign? Also, it says it is only using 35% of my memory with the map open. And honestly I ran the map in a test campaign with a player, which is a separate campaign from the campaign that I am using now and the players are having difficulties staying connected (and the player that I shared the map has already disconnected from fantasy grounds, closed the map and has not logged in since).

[damned]

dxmichelle you mentioned in another thread that you were just going to share the whole module with the players.
This can cause memory issues when there are images in that module.
You should share only what you need to share and only when you need to do so.

What map and what module - if I have them I can test as well.

[Moon Wizard]

Also, one of the things that we've noticed that can cause some problems is if the GM "Force" loads adventure modules to the players in the module activation screen. There is an issue where modules that are force loaded cause every single image to be loaded into memory all at once.

Instead, set all modules to "Block" for the next player connection, and then after they have connected once, only "Allow" those modules with reference material (i.e. PHB) and leave adventure modules as "Block" permission. You can still share records (image/story/item) one at a time from a module with the "Block" permission setting.

Regards,
JPG

[dxmichelle]

Ok great, I have unshared the adventure module and right now I just the the PHB as "allow", I'll let you know if it works! Thanks for everyone's help! I shared the module Hoard of the Dragon Queen, mainly so the players can choose the background, but I'll just unshare it for now.Thanks!

[jenovvson]

It works fine for me michelle!

[Trenloe]

Ok great, I have unshared the adventure module and right now I just the the PHB as "allow", I'll let you know if it works! Thanks for everyone's help! I shared the module Hoard of the Dragon Queen, mainly so the players can choose the background, but I'll just unshare it for now.Thanks!
After you've unshared the module get the players to clear their cache. They will need to go to the "Join Game" screen and press the "Nuclear" icon in the top right. This will clear out all of the previously shared maps and download only what you share with them. It doesn't delete any of the campaign data the GM owns, so it's perfectly safe to do this.

[dxmichelle]

Yeah, we did the adventure yesterday and it worked out fine, i think i only got disconnected twice. But other than that, it was good after i unshared the module.