Port Forwarding and Wireless/Windows/etc...

[phloog]

Well, the good news for me is that I signed up for the subscription and didn't do what I'd originally planned, which was to pay for the big license, I would have been quite steamy if that had happened.

I can't get the connection test to succeed, and it's starting to sound like I'm going to have to reconfigure both the Windows Firewall AND my router...?

If that's true I need to cancel my recurring payment and FG just got a free $10 from me for nothing.

Because honestly my experience with other VTTs was that I never had to do anything all that complex, but it seems like FG may require something more involved. I wouldn't have even bothered with FG but right now I'm in a 5E campaign and it's the only product that seems to have a license, but I'm not really up for altering both my computer and my router.

Is that what the FAILED in the connection test is telling me? That I need to do port forwarding (which I tried) and alteration of both my PC and my router?

EDIT: The other major source of frustration for me is that we normally play at a friends house face to face, and I was hoping to use FG to allow a friend who was remote to play with us.... but this means, then, that not only would I have to reconfigure my stuff to test it, but I'd have to ask my friend to let me fiddle with his network setup for FG.

Thanks,
JT

[damned]

Hi phloog this is not something new. You have always had to configure your router to be a GM on Fantasy Grounds. Players do not need to. If you are running a connection test and it says failed and you want to be a GM then - yes - you need to ensure your router and any software firewalls you are running are configured to support Fantasy Grounds.

You need to allow inbound TCP 1802 from all hosts and you need to Port Forward TCP 1802 on your router to your PC.



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[Wolfheart]

Damned, did you know a way to set up a PC as GM/host when you do not have access to port forwarding and all that jazz (because it's a work computer)?

[damned]

wolfheart your question has many answers - need more info...
im assuming its a work computer that you CAN install software on otherwise the conversation is over already! :)
assuming you can install software etc your next challenge is - can you configure the corporate AV and Windows FW settings?
If you can configure those we are on to the one that you almost definitely cant configure - the router/firewall

you will need one of two ways - using hamachi or some other vpn service - you and your players may need to all connect to the same service. i recommend hamachi only because Ive used it and i know it works. some vpn providers work for FG some dont.

there is a way of deploying a linux proxy on a vps and port forward that to your computer via a SSH session. its complicated but it will get thru a lot of firewalls. I had one deployed that I could have let you test on but I broke it a while ago and havent redeployed it yet.


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[Wolfheart]

wolfheart your question has many answers - need more info...
im assuming its a work computer that you CAN install software on otherwise the conversation is over already! :)
assuming you can install software etc your next challenge is - can you configure the corporate AV and Windows FW settings?
If you can configure those we are on to the one that you almost definitely cant configure - the router/firewall

you will need one of two ways - using hamachi or some other vpn service - you and your players may need to all connect to the same service. i recommend hamachi only because Ive used it and i know it works. some vpn providers work for FG some dont.

there is a way of deploying a linux proxy on a vps and port forward that to your computer via a SSH session. its complicated but it will get thru a lot of firewalls. I had one deployed that I could have let you test on but I broke it a while ago and havent redeployed it yet.


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FG Con 7 – Fright Night! October 16-18th 2015 - register at www.fg-con.com (https://www.fg-con.com/) for all the latest info.

All right, thanks, I will check out Hamachi (yes, I *can* install software - and I can connect to other DMs - just not the other way around).

[ddavison]

Hello phloog, we'd be happy to assist you with setting up your firewall and router. It's generally pretty simple once you've been shown how to do it once. I understand that it is an inconvenience; however, the amount of time you'll save for every game you need to prep and run on 5E afterwards should more than make up for the one-time inconvenience. If you'd rather not go through that process, then we can absolutely refund you for the month sub. You shouldn't have to pay for something you get no benefit from buying. We hope you'll stick with it though, because we think you'll enjoy it.

If you'd like help with the router, you can often get very detailed help and instructions for setting it up if you let us know who your Internet provider is or the make and model of your router.

-Doug

[Niven81]

Ignore, posted in wrong thread. Sorry.

[damned]

Also phloog if you edit your post and add extra info anyone that has already read the original message will prolly miss the edit.
The port forwarding is very straight forward in most cases. If your friend owns the connection Im sure he wont mind you making this very straight forward change.

Port Forward TCP 1802 1802 to 1802 on your computers IP Address or Name.

On your computer add a Windows Firewall rule to allow incoming TCP 1802 from ANYWHERE.

Once you know what you are looking at it will take a few short minutes and probably wont have to be done again.

Holler if you need help.



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[Spacecookie]

Hi, sorry but I have troubles with this too. It keeps on meeting with a 'Failure' and I'm not really sure if I'm doing things correctly.

I set up an inbound rule on windows firewall, to allow port 1802. Do I need an I.P address before the port or something?

[Moon Wizard]

You shouldn't need to configure anything on Windows firewall, unless you chose to block network access to Fantasy Grounds initially and need to undo that choice.

To check whether Windows is allowing access, you can launch a second instance of FG (from Start Menu) and try the Join Game option and specifying "localhost" as the server name. Make sure that the first instance has already loaded up a campaign so that the server is listening for connections.

If that works, then your machine should be fine, and you need to look at your network setup. That's where the port forwarding comes in, as you will need to make sure that the UPnP option is set up on your router or you will need to specifically set up a port forwarding rule on the router for port 1802 to the IP address of the machine you will be hosting games on. The port forwarding site mentioned before has strong step directions for many routers. Your router is usually the box provided by your Internet service provider, unless you've added more equipment to your network.

Note, if you are only playing in someone else's game, you don't need to do any of this. Just try connecting to their external IP address or alias while they have the campaign running.

Regards,
JPG

[damned]

send me a PM if you are still stuck...

[Spacecookie]

Well, localhost client to client on the same computer works, but I still get a failure when I run the connection test.

I set up port 1802 in my router, and I still get failure.

*It's solved now thanks to Mr. D there. Thanks for all your help :)