Trying to host session on Mac

[wigwam]

Hi,

I know this has been covered all over the place but some threads seem to go back a long way and the newer ones don't help me much.

Can anyone tell me how on earth I can activate port 1802 under the following conditions:

Running FGII 3.1.5 within Steam so it's wrapped in 'wine'
Running on MAC OSX El Capitain
Running on a network I don't own (at a mates house when we play or in a 'public' place when I prep - which I do in standalone mode)

And probably the biggest issue is that I'm not hardware-oriented, software is okay, hardware is like a car that I can drive but have no idea what a 'flange-coupler' is even if it is a thing at all!

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA

[damned]

Wigwam.
When you play on a public network or other place with a network you dont own or have access to the firewall on... it either works or you cant play with people on another network. Those on the same network can connect to your LAN IP address.
If you are prepping you dont need connectivity.
If you are playing on Public network and it doesnt connect through the firewall you will need a VPN service. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27956-Running-Fantasy-Grounds-while-at-College&p=250050&viewfull=1#post250050

[wigwam]

Thanks. I know I don't need connectivity for prepping. Actually I've been using FG at the table for a couple of years now. One member has decided to move away and we're all getting frustrated with Skype. As I have FG set up for combat, maps, etc. it seemed worthwhile he get a copy. Now I find I can't get the connection to work.
The 'public' network is because I share it with other residents where I live.... but I will try the VPN option. Then when we play I use the mate's network as we meet at his house....

[LordEntrails]

You can probably get your mate to enable port forwarding to your computer when you are there. Its usually easy to do, depending upon the router/firewall/gateway device. It will give you better bandwidth than using a vpn service, though I use Hamachi at times when I'm travelling.

[damned]

The port forwarding may sound daunting but it is usually straight forward.

Forward protocol TCP
Ports 1802 (if it asks for a range its 1802 - 1802)
to the IP Address or Name of your computer
on Port 1802

You may need to have teh router always assign your computer the same IP address too...

[PopinFRESH]

Hey wigwam,

General Firewall/Networking
If you can also tell us which router/firewall/gateway device your friend has we might be able to help you with where you'll find the options for configuring the port forwarding. Most consumer firewalls/routers will have similar port forwarding settings that are like what damned listed above. There are basically four pieces of information you need; The protocol being used (TCP in this case), the "Inbound" port to open (on the external IP address), the "Outbound" port to open to your computers internal IP address, and your computers internal IP address.

These are often referred to as "Inbound" (coming in from the internet) and "Outbound" (leaving the router to the internal destination system) which is from the perspective of the router/firewall. This is generally discussed for inbound connections since many routers/firewalls will automatically allow outbound traffic for already established connections so you don't usually have to define a "rule" in the opposite direction.

Regarding having the router always assign your computer the same IP address, most of the time people use DHCP for their home networks which will dynamically assign an available internal IP address. Many routers will have the option to "Statically" assign an IP address via DHCP based on the MAC (hardware) address of your computer (not to be confused with your Apple Mac computer). This option is usually found under a heading in the router configuration such as MAC Address assignments, DHCP Reservations, or Static Addresses. To find your computers MAC address, open System Preferences, select Network, select the connection from the left pane (such as Wi-Fi), then click on the "Advanced..." button. This will open the network properties for that connection, and you will want to click on the Hardware tab where you will find your connections MAC address. It will look something like this: 3c:07:54:00:00:00

Mac OS X Software Firewall
Lastly, on your Mac you will also have the built-in software firewall for OS X. If you are on a trusted network that is behind a secure hardware firewall, you could turn this off so that your Mac will accept all incoming connections. Since you are also traveling to public networks however you will likely want to leave this enabled and simply add both Steam and FantasyGrounds (along with any other supporting software such as TS3, etc.) to the list of software to accept incoming connections for. To do this open your System Preferences, select Security & Privacy, and then select the Firewall tab. If your firewall is turned on you will have the Firewall Options button active and you can click that to add the programs you wish to allow through the software firewall. To add a new program to the list, click the + icon and select the program from the list of installed applications.

Hope that helps,
-PopinFRESH