Connection failure after playing for a time

[micael]

Hi,

we have 3 notebooks in a homenetwork- all sitting in the same table using the same router. 2 have standard lizences, one a ultimate.
After a few hours or minutes (randomly) the connection fails, trying a few times to reconnect and then closes fantasy grounds.
Most times I can`t reconnect to the GM notebook with a error message from fantasy grounds. Sometimes it function again for a time.
I have tryed already with no success:

1. windows defender on/off
2. using a fixed IP adress instead of randomly
3. using other WLAN driver
4. putting in direct IP adress in numbers of the GM fantasygrounds session
5. I was always connected with the internet had no problems with parallel running a MMO for example
6. the other people had no problems connecting with each other notebook
7. I couldnt ping the GM laptop during the connection problems

A friend told me the forward port has nothing to do with using the same router in an internal network...

I had another notebook before were I had no problems with connection

Thanks for help

Micael

[[email protected]]

Micael,

I posted a very similar problem I am experiencing. You can view the thread here:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?35816-Connection-issues-playing-on-a-LAN

The general consensus is that for LAN games, wired is better than wireless. My next game is tomorrow evening and I plan on playing with everyone wired up to a gigabit switch. I will report the results sometime Monday.

[micael]

ok, for your information: we use the 5ed PHB Deluxe... and all bought the 5ed full D&D package for a lot of money (200+$). and installed all libraries.

I could´t accept the only solution to use LAN- thats not what were proposed before buying fantasy grounds- we are only 3 persons inkl. GM- a expensive software must be able to arrange this without any connection problems. Skype can even manage this across several countries. Every MMO also can do this.
So any help from the devs appreciated.

Thanks
Best regards
Micael

[Bidmaron]

micael, you are in the same room. What is your beef with using a wired LAN?

This is not a limitation of the software, it is a limitation of the WAN protocol, as I understand it. Any time you are running an n-way intercommunication between more than 2 devices, you are guaranteed to have a problem at some point, depending upon how often simultaneous communication attempts occur. The MMO does not have that problem because the server is centralized. Same with Skype. The advantage of FG architecture is that it doesn't rely upon a central server. The disadvantage is what you have encountered. Sorry you feel misled, but I don't believe there is anywhere a guarantee that you can run a game over a WAN with more than two devices. Again, the problem occurs because the server and the clients are all on the same WAN. In every other case you cite, the server is not on the same WAN as its clients.

[Trenloe]

Replace WAN with "wireless connections on a LAN" in Bidmaron's post above. WAN is something different (Wide Area Network).

Michael - In step 7 you mention that you can't Ping the GM computer when this issue occurs. Ping is handled at the base networking layer of your computer, it has nothing to do with Fantasy Grounds. When this issue happens, I'd recommend pinging the GM and the other computers on the LAN - see if it is just the GM computer that is not responding or if the others aren't responding at that point too. This might help to identify if it is the GM computer that is the issue or if it is something on your LAN as a whole at that point.

[Bidmaron]

Yes, Trenloe, I meant Wireless network. Sorry for the misnomer.

The other thing you can try, Micael is if you have a multi-channel wireless. Put the GM on one channel and the players on the other channel. This should force contention onto the ethernet architecture, which can handle simultaneous server demands.

If you get another wireless router and put it on a different frequency, you can do the same thing. Put the GM on his own router and the players on their own router.

[damned]

whole bunch of thoughts -

you mention that you "tried" using the GM IP address - on a LAN you should ALWAYS use the GM LAN/Internal IP address.
as Sam mentions wireless is contention based and contention can really screw with a network
as Bidmaron mentions this wireless contention thingy is networking and not FG
as Trenloe mentions - there is something definitely happening at a layer well below FG. if you can ping when the game works and you cant ping when the game doest work then its something other than FG. FG is an application so it sits right at the top, using all 7 layers of the networking model - all 6 layers underneath it have to be working. Ping uses 3-4 (it doesnt cleanly fit in layer 4) so if Ping stops working at the same time that FG does something else is going on.

enable ping replies on all computers and test the following from every computer.
ping GM
ping TCPIP gateway (router)
ping each other
ping 8.8.8.8

when FG stops working on your LAN retest and see which ones do and dont work.

If the GM computer stops responding then troubleshoot there
If all devices stop responding its most likely the wifi connection
If you can ping the router and the 8.8.8.8 address its likely some sort of wireless security occurring on the wifi device

Please try some of these things and we should be able to work out what is going on.