Connection Failure

[TylerVan]

Resolved

First time trying to use FG as the DM

When I run test connection on a game I am trying to setup, I recive a connection failure. I have followed the steps in this thread: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?47051-Fantasy-Grounds-Connections-Explained, and so far it has not resolved the issue. I am of the opinion that it may be because I have at least 2 private hops. While I can port forward for my router, I would have to contact my ISP to make changes to my modem or any other hops. I want to make sure that this is the case as their costumer service is nearly non-existent and in the past has not really made any effort to resolve requests. Nothing related to this sort of thing, but it took them 6 months to replace the modem when it started acting up causing the internet to cut out and instead told me to power-cycle it. Which I suppose it was a fix but not an ideal one when I had to do 1-2 power cycles a day.

Additionally I have ran the program with firewall disabled, so it is not likely a firewall issue, or at least one of the issues is not the firewall.

These are the answers from the troubleshooting questionnaire from the post:

0) win 10 and the steam launcher
1) 10.0.0.7
2) FG: 205.185; router: 192.168
3) Wireless
4) 27076
5) Added the FGLauncher and FGupdater as well as the FG steam folder to exceptions in windows defender
6) 1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 10.0.0.1
2 1 ms 1 ms 2 ms VisionNet.Home [192.168.125.1]
3 21 ms 18 ms 17 ms 205.185.138.1
4 22 ms 23 ms 23 ms 10ge2-8.core1.rst1.he.net [184.105.249.205]
5 23 ms 24 ms 25 ms 100ge8-2.core1.blp1.he.net [184.105.65.157]
6 30 ms 32 ms 48 ms 100ge9-1.core1.oma1.he.net [184.105.65.97]
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 52 ms 51 ms 52 ms 108.170.243.174
9 51 ms 49 ms 49 ms 108.170.233.73
10 51 ms 49 ms 49 ms google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]

7)27073

Thank you all for any assistance you can provide

Edit:

Thank you for your help. After attempting to talk to the isp including talking to the basic tech support, their manager, their residential networking installations department, and their supervisor, they have informed me that a technician setting up port-forwarding for residential accounts violates their policies, and they will not allow me to access my modem to set it up myself. Additionally they will not bridge my modem to my router as that is also a violation of their policies and my contract.

Final Edit:

I went with PureVPN as an option to resolve this problem. It is a costly solution, but it is less costly than moving and avoids the sunk cost of a ultimate one-time subscription purchase. But what is DMing without paying a rediculous amount of money to play what is essentially make believe with your friends.

[LordEntrails]

I assume you are running MS Windows (Win 7 or Win 10)?
#4 is found in your "Network and Sharing Center". It will either show "Home" "Work" or "Public" under your named connection. If it says "Public" you need to change it, usually by clicking on it.
#5 is your Anti-Virus. What are you using? (Windows Defender, McAfee, MalwareBytes...?) We can help you get an exception setup if you tell us what you are using or you can Google your program and "exception" and you can get instructions for your program.

EDIT: Oh, and welcome and sorry you are having problems. We'll get you sorted quickly.

[TylerVan]

Win 10
27075
I am using windows defender

[TylerVan]

Added the FGLauncher and FGupdater as well as the FG steam folder to exceptions and it did not fix the issue

[damned]

Question 2 I think is asking for your Routers WAN IP or Internet IP Address - you will need to login to teh router to get that. Is it the same as the External Address that FG displays?
I suspect that the router will be something like: 192.168.125.2
If so you will need to go to 192.168.125.1 and port forward it to the Router WAN address which is then port forwarded to your computer....

[TylerVan]

Question 2 I think is asking for your Routers WAN IP or Internet IP Address - you will need to login to teh router to get that. Is it the same as the External Address that FG displays?
I suspect that the router will be something like: 192.168.125.2
If so you will need to go to 192.168.125.1 and port forward it to the Router WAN address which is then port forwarded to your computer....

I am not sure I understand what you are saying. The question from my understanding asks what fantasy grounds lists as my IP address, and then what the router via router login says it's ip address is. It is important to note that they are different. Are you saying that I need to go to my modem and forward it the router. I cannot as my isp controls my modem.
If I am correct you are confirming the problem is with forwarding with the modem which I cannot fix?

[damned]

Ok I am reading your data correctly now.
Yes you have to have the Modem Port Forward to that 192.168.x.x address

Try loggin in - it might have default passwords or the login might be on the bottom of the router.
Otherwise call your ISP and ask them to Port Forward TCP 1802 to the WAN IP of the Router.

[TylerVan]

Ok I am reading your data correctly now.
Yes you have to have the Modem Port Forward to that 192.168.x.x address

Try loggin in - it might have default passwords or the login might be on the bottom of the router.
Otherwise call your ISP and ask them to Port Forward TCP 1802 to the WAN IP of the Router.

Ok thank you. I tried default password already, but they did not work. I will try to see if I can get the isp to do that, although they are usually unhelpful with any problems I have.

[damned]

Ok thank you. I tried default password already, but they did not work. I will try to see if I can get the isp to do that, although they are usually unhelpful with any problems I have.

If the person you are speaking to cant/wont help politely ask them to put you onto someone else who can.

[TylerVan]

If the person you are speaking to cant/wont help politely ask them to put you onto someone else who can.

Thank you for your help. After attempting to talk to the isp including talking to the basic tech support, their manager, their residential networking installations department, and their supervisor, they have informed me that a technician setting up port-forwarding for residential accounts violates their policies, and they will not allow me to access my modem to set it up myself. Additionally they will not bridge my modem to my router as that is also a violation of their policies. The only way they informed me that it would work is use a VPN or to set up my own modem; both solution will violate my contract with them. I do not know what further steps to take as I live in an area where I only have one choice for an ISP. Thank you all for your help but it looks like I will be unable to use fantasy grounds.

[Trenloe]

The only way they informed me that it would work is use a VPN or to set up my own modem; both solution will violate my contract with them.
Hhhmm, stopping you running software that allows you to play a game with friends, because their policies won't allow for that. So, they're saying that if you need a VPN for work you're violating your contract? Stopping people from wanting to do a couple of hours work from home... Maybe that's something you can challenge if you'd like to...

It also raises the question as to what level of monitoring they do to check for use of a VPN? In my experience ISPs don't do this unless some third party complains - e.g. Netflix complains that someone using your account connected to them using a known VPN IP address - but how would Netflix know which IP address the source came from in order to track it back to the ISP as that isn't available due to the VPN? And Fantasy Grounds certainly wouldn't complain...

I'd say use a VPN - options listed here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?43607-Port-Forward-Alternatives

[TylerVan]

I'd say use a VPN - options listed here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?43607-Port-Forward-Alternatives

It is important to note that it is not against their policies to play games like fantasy grounds, it is against their policies to make changes to a residential modem or let a costumer make changes to their modem.

If I was to want to use a vpn I would need to upgrade service package according to them, which would require me to buy out my current contract so that is a hard no. I have no idea if they could even enforce that policy. I suspect that it exists to strong arm people who work from home via a VPN to buy a more expensive service package.

I intend to try calling them again after work and hope I get someone else who will actually help me.
I will keep the VPN as an option in my mind but my internet already is slow enough without an aditional layer slowing it down further. Another fun thing about living in an area without ISP competition, the maximum speed I can get is 20mbs. If I lived 1 mile south where there is ISP competition I could have fiber.

[LordEntrails]

Ugh! No competition :(

I will add that when I travel I use the PureVPN solution and haven't seen any noticeable performance degradation. But, I could test it it would help. Also, I orginally used Hamachi for some months before going the PureVPN route to make it easier on my players.

Do note that FGU should have a solution for you, but, that is till months away before a beta release via Kickstarter and half a year + until public release of version 1.

[Nylanfs]

Ummm, that can't be right, I'd love to take a look at a contract that describes that. Sounds like they are giving you a load of crap.

A VPN makes no changes to their product. It's all inside your computer.

While not ideal would a satellite ISP like HughesNet (https://www.hughesnet.com/) be an option? It sucks for twitch gaming like shooters, but the delay should be unnoticeable for FG.

[TylerVan]

Ugh! No competition :(

I will add that when I travel I use the PureVPN solution and haven't seen any noticeable performance degradation. But, I could test it it would help. Also, I orginally used Hamachi for some months before going the PureVPN route to make it easier on my players.

Do note that FGU should have a solution for you, but, that is till months away before a beta release via Kickstarter and half a year + until public release of version 1.

If I went the PureVPN route what additional would I have to do to get my players to connect to me outside of the regular 4 word connection phrase? Sorry if it is on some forum post somewhere else

[LordEntrails]

So that's why I switched to PureVPN (with the dedicated IP option), the players can either use your dedicated IP (which doesn't change) or the 4 word alias. Doesn't matter where in the world you are, it's invisible to them. Basically it tunnels to PureVPN and then FG reaches out to the FG servers and gives them your PureVPN IP and they can then just use the alias.

Easier than the Hamachi solution (which everyone has to install and join your Hamachi network) , but does have a cost

[damned]

20mbps is plenty fast enough for pretty much all activity, certainly for FG.

[Xemit]

Some routers have in-built VPN capabilities. Maybe the ISP is referring to that? A software VPN should be all but invisible to your ISP.

BTW, I upgraded my Internet connection from 25 Mbps to 75 Mbps a couple of months ago. I have seen absolutely no difference on anything, and I have the house fully wired with 1Gbps. Only the ISP's 'speed test' shows any difference. My file downloads still come at 3 Mbps...

I only changed plans as the 'faster' plan was now cheaper than the old one. The 25 Mbps was fine for FG, even as GM.