FG really bad lag and crashing (lots)

[goonalan]

Help, we’re struggling to get FG to work consistently, before I explain the issues here’s the set up-

Two players in the same location in Sweden (Mac & PC).
Two players in the same location in Iceland (Mac & PC).
Me GMing (server) from the UK (PC). Ultimate account.

All parties play various MMORPGs and have no issues with their machines, basically the only thing we can’t get to work is FG. We did various tests to check connection speed and I think the Icelandic team (and yet, see later) had the best results of us all.

We run FG alongside Discord- the latter works without any issues, just for info that’s all that I have running on my PC and there are no other internet devices in the house (well, none switched on during the sessions).

So, session #1 more or less abandoned because of the following-

1) FG just shuts down (my machine UK)- never seen this before, seems to happen at random or else (maybe) when the Icelandic duo join or re-join the game. And when I say shut down I mean just that- blink of an eye and FG is closed- like it was never open, all players disconnected and I reboot and we get on again. Happened three times in the first session- no chance to save, just gone.

2) Icelandic players have lag (1-3 seconds) no matter what combination of machines they are using- one on Mac, one on PC; two on Mac; two on PC. Lag increases- Maps cannot be viewed, enemy tokens not visible (just red dots on the map). Repeated closing and reopening FG and we eventually get everything sorted. Then FG Iceland crashes out, it appears from this end that the lag has got so bad that they’re typing in chat, rolling dice etc. and nothing is happening- we tried at first to wait this out but 5-10 minutes later still nothing. Only fix is to go out and back in again, and lots of the time when the Icelandics try to get back in their PCs are no longer visible (and I’ve booted them from the game etc.), or else both PCs are visible and as soon as the first is selected the second disappear, and 5-10 minutes later still hasn’t come back so it can be selected.

3) We’re playing Sunless Citadel (5e Offical version from The Yawning Portal) the cache file is 8 meg and has been sent to all Players ahead of the game. We’ve tried clearing the cache and reloading but… it got so bad it was just impossible to play.

Session #2 (last night)-

1) FG shuts down, as 1) above, it only happened once last night.

2) Same as 2) above except much worse, the longest we got to play was for about 20 minutes. I stopped counting after the 8th time the Icelandic duo crashed out.

The players (some of them) are technical people, we went on the web and tried to find a solution but with nothing else running that would suck up bandwidth (for any of us) then it’s still the same. Note when we do try other things that eat bandwidth they work perfectly, so the Icelandic duo can’t make FG work but they can stream Netflix and play online games at the same time as talking to me and having 150 web pages open (you get my drift), but with nothing else up and running then FG is bad lag and (every) 10-20 minutes later just stops.

Note, throughout the various Icelandic fall offs, UK and Sweden have no issues at all.

Help?

Thanking you in advance.

Cheers Goonalan

[Trenloe]

1) Start Windows task manager and monitor the amount of memory that FantasyGrounds.exe is using when you're running your game and people are connected. If you're above 3GB then this might be the cause (assuming you're on a 64-bit operating system).

2) Have a look in Windows application event viewer to see if there is a crash report at the time FG closes. If so, post the details of that report here.

[goonalan]

1) Start Windows task manager and monitor the amount of memory that FantasyGrounds.exe is using when you're running your game and people are connected. If you're above 3GB then this might be the cause (assuming you're on a 64-bit operating system).

2) Have a look in Windows application event viewer to see if there is a crash report at the time FG closes. If so, post the details of that report here.

I'll try to do that but we're not going to be in game until two weeks from today, and if it doesn't work again... well, that'll be the last time possibly we play on FG (for this game).

Just for info I have played a 1000+ hours of FG in the last say three years (using the same PC), with a variety of players (UK and beyond) we've had bits of lag before but never like this, and I've also never experienced the full on crash before.

That said the issue isn't really FG crashing (on my PC)- although it'd be good if I could fix this too. The full on crash only happened once in the last session (yesterday).

The big issue, the game-breaker, is the Icelandics falling off FG every twenty minutes (at best), the lag just gets more and more apparent until we're waiting on them and they've made their rolls, or put stuff in the chat window but... nothing- 5-10 minutes pass (the first few times) nothing comes up and they both have to come out- reboot- go back in and redo their rolls (if they can get to their characters in the PC tab, more often than not the PCs are not there, the PC tab is empty).

What I'm saying is in a three hour session we lost 5 minutes to the one FG crash, and 90 minutes (not joking) to the Iceland problem.

They've tried using PC, and Mac and a combination of both- exactly the same thing occurs.

The game killer is this.

Again, I'd just like to say a massive thank you for taking the time to reach out- FG is a wonderful thing, I'm in for the kickstarter and the long run.

Cheers goonalan

[Trenloe]

You can check in the Windows application event viewer for any issue for the date/time you last played, you don't need to wait until the next time you play to check this.

If the issue is with memory, then it could well be that things get worse and worse over time - including lag, as all dice rolls, etc. have to come through the GM computer. So issues can be compounded if there is high memory use.

Also check - are you using a 64-bit or 32-bit operating system? Same question for the players.

[goonalan]

You can check in the Windows application event viewer for any issue for the date/time you last played, you don't need to wait until the next time you play to check this.

If the issue is with memory, then it could well be that things get worse and worse over time - including lag, as all dice rolls, etc. have to come through the GM computer. So issues can be compounded if there is high memory use.

Also check - are you using a 64-bit or 32-bit operating system? Same question for the players.

Okay by hook or by crook I have found the application event logs- there are lots of Error notices which occurred during last nights session... like these two marked as application error-

Faulting application name: FantasyGrounds.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5d30f77f
Faulting module name: FantasyGrounds.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5d30f77f
Exception code: 0xc0000005

Faulting application name: FantasyGrounds.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5d30f77f
Faulting module name: FantasyGrounds.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5d30f77f
Exception code: 0xc0000005

But in between these are lots of others- 10 marked as Error! ESENT, and 7 more marked as information- Windows Error Reporting

Example of the ESENT Errors

Faulting application name: FantasyGrounds.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5d30f77f
Faulting module name: FantasyGrounds.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5d30f77f
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x001c6c37
Faulting process ID: 0x2f78
Faulting application start time: 0x01d57e0bc9bcb3c1
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fantasy Grounds\FantasyGrounds.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fantasy Grounds\FantasyGrounds.exe
Report ID: 21c315bd-3a69-4827-8c25-fff216439f10
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Example of the Information Windows Error Reporting log-

Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: AppHangTransient
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: FantasyGrounds.exe
P2: 0.0.0.0
P3: 5d30f77f
P4: unknown
P5: unknown
P6: unknown
P7: unknown
P8:
P9:
P10:

Attached files:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD 34C.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD 36C.tmp.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD 36D.tmp.csv
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERD 38E.tmp.txt

These files may be available here:


Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 503ced9f-2713-4ccb-816b-24d4d3a0d5fe
Report Status: 2049
Hashed bucket:
Cab Guid: 0

Apologies if the above is not the correct info but I am amazed I even found these- I am a computer idiot, although I seem to find my way around FG pretty well most of the time.

Thanks again.

Oh and I'm using a 64 bit operating system, I'll message the players and get their answers- but I'll be honest that could take a while to collate.

Goonalan

[Trenloe]

That's really looking like a memory issue.

You could load up your campaign, open a few records, maps, reference manuals, the combat tracker, etc. - basically do what you'd normally do. Then see how much memory FG is using to give a rough idea of what you're starting at.

[LordEntrails]

Also see if someone on here or discord could join your game to see what their memory usage is.

[goonalan]

Okay, I've heard back from all of the players- that was really quick, they must want it bad... anyway everyone is running a 64 bit OS.

So, on FG I have opened every tab, every map, every PC and anything else I can find- and have more than several other windows open outside of FG- I can get it slow slightly (0.25 second delay between clicking on menu tab and window opening). Its running at 858 MB, that's as high as I've been able to push it.

Update 1,054 MB- she canna take it.

Although FG is running fine, even the tiny amount of delay isn't there anymore- that might have been trying to open 33 maps in under 4 seconds.

Further info- I don't really have 33 maps to open, we're playing the Sunless Citadel straight from the bought FG software- the only thing I've added is a hand drawn map of Thundertree and a couple of images of NPCs- the cache is 8 meg in total. Oh and we've not even got as far as the Sunless Citadel, so I've not shared the big map of the dungeon yet.

Cheers goonalan

[LordEntrails]

If you want me to try and connect, PM me your game details. I should be around/available for the next few hours.

[goonalan]

If you want me to try and connect, PM me your game details. I should be around/available for the next few hours.

Thank you, I've sent an e-mail to the players well get in and test it as soon as.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.

Cheers goonalan

[LordEntrails]

Did a little bit of investigating with goonlan. Found that he has the MM and SCAG-CG marked for sharing. The suspicion is that one or more players were loading those modules and causing performance and memory issues. We marked them as unshared and suggested that the players clear their caches before the next game.

On the side, if the players need access to a specific NPC or record from the MM (say for animal companion or wild shape) those individual records can be shared as needed.

[goonalan]

That's really looking like a memory issue.

You could load up your campaign, open a few records, maps, reference manuals, the combat tracker, etc. - basically do what you'd normally do. Then see how much memory FG is using to give a rough idea of what you're starting at.

Thanks, I think Lord Entrails (and yourself) have solved the problem- we'll put it to the test.

Thanks as always for the great support you get here, you're fine folk.

Cheers goonalan

[goonalan]

Hi,

Just to say I've just tried opening the same campaign again as above (x3) and on watching what goes on in Task Manager... it's running at the nearly same numbers as previously reported- so 800 MB at rest, and over 1,100 MB with windows open.

I've organised with the players to join FG this Monday coming, so we'll put it to the test- my concern is immediately after the changes suggested last night I restarted the campaign several times and on Task Manager it was running at 250 MB at rest and 550 MB with all the windows open. Which is obviously massively better.

I've checked in the modules folder and I'm not sharing anything big- everything that was unchecked is still unchecked, in fact I've been through and unshared as many assets, and closed any other modules that I'm not using.

Obviously I'll report back Monday, after we briefly try again- my concern is I need to get to FG to work well by Tuesday 22nd, if there are any other suggestions as to how to improve performance then I would be deleted to try them.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Goonalan

[Zacchaeus]

If you were sharing the Monster Manual then that was your issue. Although it only uses a relatively small amount of memory on your side; client side it will use many gigabytes and crash their machines.

[goonalan]

If you were sharing the Monster Manual then that was your issue. Although it only uses a relatively small amount of memory on your side; client side it will use many gigabytes and crash their machines.

I sure hope so.

Thanks for the reassurance.

Cheers goonalan