Can't get a connection to fantasy grounds servers

[the dirty fecker]

I have tried to connect to server and when I run a test on the FG title page it says failure. I have checked my firewall and the computer says it should run as the public box is ticked for FG

Is this a router problem?

what should I do?

[Zacchaeus]

Are you trying to join a game as a player or host a game as a GM?

[LordEntrails]

Assuming you are trying to host as a GM and the connection test is failing, then you need to configure your computer, router, and modem to forward port 1802 to your computer.

When FG is up and running, start a campaign and go to canyouseeme.org, enter port 1802 and see if it can find you.
Then open a command prompt and run the command tracert 8.8.8.8 and post the first ten lines from that here.

[the dirty fecker]

Assuming you are trying to host as a GM and the connection test is failing, then you need to configure your computer, router, and modem to forward port 1802 to your computer.

When FG is up and running, start a campaign and go to canyouseeme.org, enter port 1802 and see if it can find you.
Then open a command prompt and run the command tracert 8.8.8.8 and post the first ten lines from that here.

OK. Thank you for the support. I will do that later today. I checked my firewall and that does not seem to be the problem. I then got on to my internet provider and they told me what I needed to get into my Router which I was failing to do last night due to password problems etc.

I will try to change the setting on the router when I get home from work and if it still does not work I will do as you say above.

[the dirty fecker]

19730

I am trying to do the port forwarding

What am I supposed to enter for 'Remote Host' and 'port forwarding name'?

have a look at the picture. Does this look right?

I went onto canyouseeme.org but the IP address is different and it won't let me change it. I done a search for port 1802 and it says there is no connection.

canyouseeme.org website says my IP address is 109.78.70.252 while the one in the screenshot is the one FG site says and also the one when I search on my own machine in DOS using 'ipconfig'.

I forgot how much I hate routers! Thanks for the help.

[LordEntrails]

Is FG showing 109.78.70.252 as your external IP? And 192.168.1.3 as your internal IP?

Your port forwarding otherwise looks right to me (no value for external host is correct), at least it is similar to what mine shows.

[the dirty fecker]

109.78.70.252 is my external.

It is still not working though.

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19732

19733

I have also tried this configuration with the firewall turned off on router and computer at the same time.

Still does not work.

19734


I have tried turning off all firewalls on router and computer and ran canyouseme.org. This is the result I get. It says Reason: connection timed out?

19735

[Zacchaeus]

If canyouseeme,org is timing out it can't see your open port. Which suggests that your port isn't open.

This link might help you (https://portforward.com/vodafone/); it isn't clear which router you have.

Additionally you'll want to make sure that your anti virus isn't the culprit and that FG is whitelisted there too.

[LordEntrails]

Run the tracert command. At this point I'm guessing that your ISP is the issue (they may well have you on a NAT address or similar). Who is your ISP?

[the dirty fecker]

Run the tracert command. At this point I'm guessing that your ISP is the issue (they may well have you on a NAT address or similar). Who is your ISP?

19736
Here is the command you asked for.

The Router is a HG658c Home Gateway

I am with Vodafone for my ISP.

[the dirty fecker]

Run the tracert command. At this point I'm guessing that your ISP is the issue (they may well have you on a NAT address or similar). Who is your ISP?

19736
Here is the command you asked for.

The Router is a HG658c Home Gateway

I am with Vodafone for my ISP.

[Zacchaeus]

Is your network set to public or private? If it's public reset it to private.

[the dirty fecker]

Is your network set to public or private? If it's public reset it to private.

How do I check that?

[Zacchaeus]

Click on network settings in settings (not on your router but in Windows)

[the dirty fecker]

Click on network settings in settings (not on your router but in Windows)

Yep, did that. Still nothing. This is very disheartening :(

[LordEntrails]

Ok, I don't know why anything is returning 109.78.x.x as your external IP. First let me say I'm not a network guy and hopefully someone will jump on who can confirm what I think (what I' know I've mostly learned from reading what the guru's here have done to help others).

According to what I can tell on that, you have an external IP of 89.19.x.x And it looks like you are in Turkey? So I'm guessing Vodafone is NAT'ing your address (i.e. sharing your public IP with others) so you won't be able to actually port forward. And you might have to use a VPN like Hamachi or PureVPN.

Before you go that route though, let's see what one of the gurus can tell us. Hopefully one will take a look at this thread soon.

[the dirty fecker]

Ok, I don't know why anything is returning 109.78.x.x as your external IP. First let me say I'm not a network guy and hopefully someone will jump on who can confirm what I think (what I' know I've mostly learned from reading what the guru's here have done to help others).

According to what I can tell on that, you have an external IP of 89.19.x.x And it looks like you are in Turkey? So I'm guessing Vodafone is NAT'ing your address (i.e. sharing your public IP with others) so you won't be able to actually port forward. And you might have to use a VPN like Hamachi or PureVPN.

Before you go that route though, let's see what one of the gurus can tell us. Hopefully one will take a look at this thread soon.

No, I am in The Republic of Ireland and my internet connection is pretty good (80MB).

[Trenloe]

Yep, did that. Still nothing. This is very disheartening :(
What exactly did you do?

What is your network connection on your computer showing as - Private or Public?

When you test port 1802 with canyouseeme.org do you have Fantasy Grounds running with a campaign loaded - i.e. as if you were the GM waiting for players to join? FG will only listed in port 1802 when the campaign is loaded waiting for players to join.

[the dirty fecker]

What exactly did you do?

What is your network connection on your computer showing as - Private or Public?

When you test port 1802 with canyouseeme.org do you have Fantasy Grounds running with a campaign loaded - i.e. as if you were the GM waiting for players to join? FG will only listed in port 1802 when the campaign is loaded waiting for players to join.

I changed from private to public and then tested FG and it did not work. I then switched back to private again. Still no joy.

[the dirty fecker]

I changed from private to public and then tested FG and it did not work. I then switched back to private again. Still no joy.

Yes, I just tried it again with FG running and my campaign open. Same story.

19737

[Trenloe]

Try temporarily disabling any firewall/anti-virus/security application on your computer.

[the dirty fecker]

Try temporarily disabling any firewall/anti-virus/security application on your computer.

OK! Now we're talking!

I turned off windows defender, firewall on the computer and firewall on the router and it worked!

Now I need to figure out which one of those three is the issue!

strange, because I had messed around with all three of these and it made no difference. Good thing you mentioned it again!

[the dirty fecker]

Ok, it seems to be working now.

Now, the mad thing is that i turned off windows defender, firewall on the router and firewall on my internet (public and private). When I tried it for some reason worked amazingly even though I played around with each of these independently yesterday.

To make things even more confusing, I have turned each of these back on in an attempt to isolate the issue and it still works regardless!

I have went onto canyouseeme.org and that seems to work too!

Strange or what?


Thanks everyone for helping me with this. I am no computer techie and your help was fantastic!

[the dirty fecker]

When I run two instances of FG and roll a dice for a character it seems to roll this dice as a shadow. The dice appears on my GM screen and the result but not on the players. Is this the way it is supposed to be?

[Zacchaeus]

Yes, by default. You can change that in options to allow characters to see results and GM rolls etc. See the wiki entriy for the ruleset you are interested in.

[the dirty fecker]

And now it is not working again... I turned off FG and turned it back on and now it does not work. I went back and turned off all the firewalls and it still does not work! I have tried turning FG off before making the changes and then booting it up again but that does not work either. This is so annoying :(

At least we know it CAN work though. Just need to figure out why?

[the dirty fecker]

The only thing I can think of is maybe the computer is in a particular state when FG is turned on and it stays that way once it is up and running? A bit like when you open a program and you have the sound set a certain configuration to come out of your speakers or whatever. When you want to change it you need to make the changes and then start the program up again.

[ddavison]

I don't think that is the proper setting for the router. There should be a NAT option that won't ask for an external address entry.

1. Login to your Vodafone ARV4519PW router.
2. Navigate to the port forwarding section.
3. Click the Router link.
4. Click on NAT.
5. Create a port forward entry.

It might be a different Vodafone router model, but look for something like this (or pick a different model # at portforward.com)

https://portforward.com/vodafone/arv4519pw/ARV4519PW3.jpg

[the dirty fecker]

OK. I got it working again. Just so other people who have this problem can solve it like I did, As soon as I turned the firewalls off again it did not work. I spent about an hour pulling my hair out and then switched off the machine and turned it back on. It was that simple. Whatever changes are involved with all that firewall changing back and forth, it seems that it requires turning the machine off and back on for it to register.

Sounds daft, but there you go :)

Thanks to everyone who helped. This is a really helpful forum.

[the dirty fecker]

Just for the benefit of others. What I have found to be the problem was that I need to turn off my windows firewall on my network settings. This in itself is not enough no matter how many times I turn FG on or off. It also requires me to restart my computer. Only then do these changes make difference and FG runs with no problems.

[Andraax]

Just for the benefit of others. What I have found to be the problem was that I need to turn off my windows firewall on my network settings. This in itself is not enough no matter how many times I turn FG on or off. It also requires me to restart my computer. Only then do these changes make difference and FG runs with no problems.

So, this indicates that the firewall is blocking your access. You need to configure the firewall to allow FG and you're all set.

[the dirty fecker]

So, this indicates that the firewall is blocking your access. You need to configure the firewall to allow FG and you're all set.

Nah, That is already set. FG is ticked on public and private network but it still does not work when the firewall is on. The only way it works is when I disable the firewall altogether and then turn the machine off and back on again.

[Andraax]

Nah, That is already set. FG is ticked on public and private network but it still does not work when the firewall is on. The only way it works is when I disable the firewall altogether and then turn the machine off and back on again.

Well, if it works when the firewall is off, and it doesn't work when the firewall is on, then it's the firewall that's causing the problem. I would have thought this was obvious?

[the dirty fecker]

Well, if it works when the firewall is off, and it doesn't work when the firewall is on, then it's the firewall that's causing the problem. I would have thought this was obvious?

Yes. It is obvious. that is why I said the problem has been solved...

[ddavison]

Thanks everyone.

dirty fecker, we are happy that the issue is resolved to your satisfaction. In many cases, we would not consider the issue to be resolved if you have to run your system with the firewall disabled. In this case, we would recommend doing further investigation on the firewall settings to allow the three executable files located in C:\Program Files(x86)\Fantasy Grounds\ to run with the rest of the firewall still active. If you are okay with running with the firewall disabled during your sessions, then that is fine. It is not our recommendation that anyone run that way though for maximum security. You often have multiple levels of firewalls and NAT in place between a router and the one running locally on your personal computer and many systems are still secure if one of those goes down or fails to work properly; however, it is generally wise to have several layers active.

There is no need to expound upon this further if the dirty fecker does not want to though. Anyone else having similar problems should start a separate thread. If the OP wants additional assistance, we can provide that upon request.

[boomstick76p]

Yes. It is obvious. that is why I said the problem has been solved...


The Dirty Fecker,

I too had the same issue with connecting. However, mine was not due to my firewall. My problem was, when port forwarding, when it asked for the external IP, I was filling the FG external, when all I needed to do was leave it BLANK. How nice! Now it works. Troubleshooting for a couple of days per week for two weeks and it was as simple as that. You would think that the more detailed the information you fill in the better the results, right? Not in this instance. In the end, I consulted my Routers E-guide and in the words it said, "Leave the External IP blank, your game source will fill it in automatically."

So, Moral of the story; sometimes you don't have to fill in all the information on a form. Damn, I feel kinda salty right now...

:confused: