Server Hosting for FG

[Reincarnation]

can we get a web hosting option like 12.00 USD a month.

[ddavison]

What would be the expectations for the server hosting? Perhaps you and the community can help us shape the requirements and value for the price point.

[Reincarnation]

I don't have a working external ip so something that can host a external ip making joining easier

[Nylanfs]

Would a VPN service like Hamachi be what you are looking for?

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20309-GM-Connection-Issues-Tried-Everything-Try-Hamachi

[Galdrin]

My trouble is low upstream bandwidth at home and when ever I share maps or other images players gets disconnected and I'm kicked out from Teamspeak. Moste of the time I can solve this by preloading images for the campaign and then asking players to start their client 30 minutes early. If there was a hosting option where I could rent a "GM console" with my FG Store identity on a server with good bandwith, access to my bought modules and the possibillity to export/import campaigns then I would sign up for one subscription on that.

[damned]

Hi Galdrin - that would require a substantial rewrite of the product - it is not at all geared in that direction at this time.

In the meantime... things you can do -
Maps should not be bigger than 500kb. It is not hard to keep your maps smaller than 250kb. Same with all other images. Do not load up and share modules that you dont need. Dont use the new decals. If you use a custom desktop theme - make sure its lightweight. They can vary from less than 1MB to other 10MB. Do not have tokens in your token folders that you dont need now. You can run a LOT of varied encounters with less than 50 tokens. Preshare your maps/images by masking them and then choosing pre-share. Have your players logon 30mins (or more) before the session to sync any changes you have made between sessions. If your upload is really sucky have them login 1 hour before hand any time there is a new update released - especially if its a 5e update.

[Galdrin]

Thanks for the reply damned. I understand that it probably would take a lot to create a service as the one I meantioned and I have no expectations that it will happend anytime soon. My post was kind of an answer to ddavisons question "expectations for the server hosting?".

As for minimizing maps and all that, it's a good advice and far ago I think I used to place images online in dropbox (is that still an option?), but at the moment I'm only loading 5E player handbook and 5e MoP without custom theme and have small possibilities to change the size of uploaded materials. The log in early method and presharing images works and I'm using it at the moment but if I find out that I need to publish an extra image to explain something or if the adventure takes another path than I expected it to it gets a bit messy :)

I understand that this isn't a big problem for the community (or even for me) and in a few years I'll have fiber connection to my house, but I would still use the service if it means I can GM from different computers without the need to export/import campaigns.

[Blacky]

Since it's a lot of work anyway, for the specific issue of upload speed there's two tools much easier than a dedicated remote server :

- The simple one, remote loading, aka HTTP loading. Instead of loading c:\Fantasy Grounds\My Campaign\MyBigmap.jpg, you can ask everyone to load https://domain.tld/My Campaign/MyBigmap.jpg. A VTT like Rolistik (and its current fork Rolisteam) does it since 2007, no big deal. Keep a local cache once it's downloaded.

- But that doesn't solve all. There's also the less simple but basic modern one: peer to peer. Fantasy Grounds pushes data transparently and in the background through the unused upload bandwith of each person connected, using smart QoS and P2P distribution amoung GM and players.

As far as I know (hope?), both are in FG Next/Unity.

So, a SmiteWorks rented “server” should do much more than that. Transparent continuous campaign saving with conversioning is one. Could do other things.