Connecting with player who are roommates

[MarcofMastery]

I'm new to FG and I'm trying to connect as the GM out of state with two players who are roommates. We all have full licenses. I can connect with one or the other in a game but not both for some reason.

[JohnD]

On the launch screen what does it say in the upper right corner next to the version number?

What happens when the 2nd player tries to connect with you?

[Trenloe]

Welcome to the forums GenisDraco!

I know you said you're the GM but I'm confused by your wording - are you trying to connect to the roommates, or are they trying to connect to you. If they are trying to connect to you - what messages does the second player get when entering your alias and clicking connect?

[damned]

Make sure everyone has entered the licenses and fg logins and updated.

[esmdev]

Also if you are using the external IP address to connect you might consider switching that out for the internal. If you're already using the internal then I got nothing. :(

[Trenloe]

The “Internal” IP address is only used for a player who is on the same local network as the GM. I don’t think we have the full picture of exactly who is where and whom is trying to connect to whom.

@GenisDraco - could you please clarify?

[esmdev]

The “Internal” IP address is only used for a player who is on the same local network as the GM. I don’t think we have the full picture of exactly who is where and whom is trying to connect to whom.

@GenisDraco - could you please clarify?

My assumption is based on the title, my roommate and I are on the same router and need to connect locally if one of us is hosting but people outside connect just fine. So was thinking that might be same problem.

[Trenloe]

My assumption is based on the title, my roommate and I are on the same router and need to connect locally if one of us is hosting but people outside connect just fine. So was thinking that might be same problem.
Yep, if the GM and player are on the same network it’s a valid comment about using the local IP for that player to connect to the GM.

But I’m reading the details of the first post differently - "I'm new to FG and I'm trying to connect as the GM out of state with two players who are roommates.l

This suggests the GM is "out of state" (somewhere different to the players) and it is the two players who are on the same network ("two players who are roommates").

But, other wording suggests that the exact setup may not be what we think. It may just be new to FG terminology. Hence why I’ve asked the OP to clarify. Until they do that I don’t think it’s worth us spending time guessing.

[Nylanfs]

Umm this is the internet, baseless guessing and offering opinions is kinda what we do. :)

[MarcofMastery]

Sorry about the confusing wording, I as the GM am using my own internet connection and my two players are a different connection to mine but they share the same modem and router. in other words the GM has his own connection and the players share a separate connection. I would give you the error code but we haven't yet tried to connect with them. Life gets in the way in all but I will update the next time we all have time.

[midas]

Just to be clear--you won't connect to them, they'll connect to you. You'll launch the campaign, and they'll join your game. Are you saying only one of them can connect to you (either via direct IP or an alias) but the other can't? If so, start with JohnD's question above:

- What does it say in the upper-right corner next to the version number?
- What happens when the second user tries to connect to you (error, etc)?

[MarcofMastery]

So to reiterate I (the GM) am trying to connect my friends out of state who are room mates. We all have fully updated FG and are getting connection errors saying to check our settings and host adress. I tried having the two room mates player start a game on one of their computers while the other room mate uses the internal IP and I use the External IP to no avail. I am actually unclear on how to use the alias as well so if somebody could explain that to this noob it would be appreashiated.

[Zacchaeus]

First thing to check is that your network is set to private and not public. Then make sure that you have set up an exception in your Anti Virus for Fantasy Grounds. If neither of those is the problem you will need to forward port 1802 in your router pointing to your computer’s internal IP address. How you do that will depend on your router.

You create an alias by clicking on the create alias button on the new campaign start screen. This will generate 4 random words which you give to your players, when they join a game they type those 4 words exactly as they are in the right hand box in the join screen. You only need to do this once.

If after all of the above has been tried and if you still can’t get players to connect can you post a screenshot of a tracert 8.8.8.8 so we can diagnose further.

[midas]

It sounds like you're trying to connect to your players, which you don't want to do--the GM (you) hosts the game, and the players connect to you. The only person that needs to worry about the connectivity tests or aliases or port forwarding is you, the GM.

[Moon Wizard]

For anybody in the same house as the GM, they should use the internal IP (neither alias or external IP will work). If all the players are in the same house, then port forwarding and the connection test is not needed.

If anybody is connecting from external, then the GM (and only the GM) will need to have port 1802 forwarded from their Internet connection point to their computer, which is what the Test Connection button checks. For these players connecting from the Internet, they would use the external IP (or alias, if enabled).

If the Test Connection button doesn't work, check these things:
* Network connection on Windows set to Private (not Public)
* Windows Defender and any other security programs have explicit rules allowing Fantasy Grounds access to Internet

If it still doesn't work, then posting the results of a trace route utility from the GM machine can help diagnose any network configuration considerations.
* Run a trace route by entering "cmd" in the Windows search bar, press Enter, then type "tracert 8.8.8.8" in the command prompt window.
Then, paste the results here.

Regards,
JPG

[Trenloe]

@GenisDraco - to clarify: if you are the GM then the players connect to you. You don’t try to connect to them.

Try these steps (summarizing what people have already been saying):
1) Open Fantasy Grounds. Create a new campaign - make a note of the External Address on the new campaign screen. Click the connection test button. Does this pass or fail? If it fails then players won’t be able to connect to you as port forwarding is not setup. To help us start to troubleshooot your issue, Please run the following command from a Windows command prompt and post the results here: tracert 8.8.8.8
2) If the connection test shows success then click the “start” button to load your new campaign.
3) Wait for Fantasy Grounds to fully load, then ask your players to use “Join Game” with the server address you made a note of in step #1 above.