Alien RPG Timeouts on Update (Classic)

[The Canterbury Tail]

So I just purchased the Alien RPG and the add on for it. However when I try and update everything to get these new items, I keep getting in the updater "ERROR - GetPackageFiles: Network: time out" on the "updating docs/ALIEN RPG - FG Ruleset Manual.pdf" and it won't proceed past it. It just keeps continually retrying. There's not an issue with my network connection, everything else works fine including FG games, but it can't finish getting the Alien RPG items. Thoughts? Is the ALIEN RPG - FG Ruleset Manual.pdf file too large for the launcher to manage with FG's network, as that's what it seems like? Just keeps getting stuck in a "Retrying in 10 seconds" loop.

[Nylanfs]

find that file in the vault and delete it, forcing an update. There might have been a corrupted download.

[The Canterbury Tail]

Can't locate it, it's never been downloaded in the first place.

[The Canterbury Tail]

It seems from other searches this error appears when files are too large, or there is too much load on the FG database.

[Trenloe]

Did other updates earlier in the process work OK? Or was this the first actual file to be downloaded when you ran the updater?

Larger files can certainly have a higher chance to have an issue downloading if the servers are under load. Do you see the progress bar moving at all?

These questions are trying to ascertain if you can download anything at all from the update servers, or if you're not getting any data to download.

[The Canterbury Tail]

Everything else worked to that point. Some CoC updates, then all the main Alien RPG mod files until it hit that file.

[Nylanfs]

They just posted some hot fixes to the files

[Valyar]

I updated the ruleset on three FG instances without issue or timeout. Have you tried deleting the PDF file from the doc folder?

[The Canterbury Tail]

I updated the ruleset on three FG instances without issue or timeout. Have you tried deleting the PDF file from the doc folder?

It's not there, it hasn't successfully downloaded yet, it's a net new file from a new ruleset purchase. Other files download fine, but it sticks there, likely due to it being a large file as Trenloe mentioend above. And yes the progress bar progresses as it uploads the other files, but then sticks on this one.

[LordEntrails]

Is that with the Hot Fix pushed today at 19:16 UTC?
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?62702-Release-Updates-for-October-13th-2020&p=550315&viewfull=1#post550315

[Valyar]

The PDF is 2mb while the ruleset is ~40, so the issue might be on the server side. Not sure what the issue is with the update.

[Trenloe]

And yes the progress bar progresses as it uploads the other files, but then sticks on this one.
If it doesn’t move at all then it’s not downloading anything. So probably doesn’t have anything to do with the size of the file.

Make sure you have full access to the <FG app data>\docs directory where FG is trying to install this file.

But it may be an issue with file in the base update itself.

[The Canterbury Tail]

If it doesn’t move at all then it’s not downloading anything. So probably doesn’t have anything to do with the size of the file.

Make sure you have full access to the <FG app data>\docs directory where FG is trying to install this file.

But it may be an issue with file in the base update itself.

No reason I wouldn't have access to that and have for the other files. I can open the docs directory no issues, but it's completely empty there's nothing in there (don't know if any other rulesets download anything there, I've only got Call of Cthulhu as a purchased set other than Alien which I purchased today.)

Not sure what you mean about the progress bar not moving. It moves right along while it checks other packages and then jumps along as it checks and updates the other Alien modules. However it then just doesn't move any further from there.

40343

Are there any logs I can attach that may assist in debugging? I'm in software myself, so I'm not illiterate here. I can assist if there's anything I can do this end.

[Moon Wizard]

FGC uses standard HTTPS requests to download files from the patch system. I just updated that on my machine to make sure it was working in general.

It's suspicious that it is failing only on the PDF. My guess is that something is intercepting/blocking requests for PDFs. Perhaps some sort of Internet security software that performs filtering (parental control, file type special case handling, etc.)...

Regards,
JPG

[The Canterbury Tail]

Hmm, I'm a roleplayer so I download PDFs all the time without issue. Only security I run is Windows Defender. I tried turning everything off and restarted everything. No dice, still doing the same thing.

Are we sure there isn't an issue with the file on your side? I don't know how many of the Alien RPG rulesets you've sold the last couple of days, but I'd have expected others to have mentioned if this were happening in honesty.

[The Canterbury Tail]

Tried it this morning on a different computer, on a different network. Same results. That computer hadn't been updated in about 9 months, so there were a load of updates, but again it stopped at that PDF for Alien. Is there a possibility it's locked or otherwise missing in your DB?

[Moon Wizard]

I've asked some of the other people on the team to give it a try; because it updated without issue on my machine and I was able to open the file, which would seem to indicate it's not a general patch system issue. (I don't have any special setup on my machine for patch system access.)

The "Network: time out" message just indicates that the network request didn't complete; and 99% of the time indicates that something is blocking the connection between updater and patch server.

Regards,
JPG

[The Canterbury Tail]

Huh. Realized I hadn't got my other computer on the different network. Switched it to my guest network and the other computer updated fine. So yes, the problem is definitely on my side. Something is stopping that particular file on my main network. Now to figure out how to get that unlocked, but that does say yes it's definitely my side. Sorry for the bother.

[The Canterbury Tail]

So I manually copied the PDF from my work laptop across to the folder on my main PC. The updates now run across everything and all is good. Still not sure what the root problem is, but it's fixed for now. I'll need to go through my router settings and see what's up. Odd as you say it's only with PDFs, and I download PDFs all the time with no issues so not sure what's going on. If I find anything, I'll let you know as it may help someone else in the future.

[greatsky]

Hi all - This thread was pointed out by another user who was aware of my problem - yes, I have the exact same issue. I've litterally tried everything I can think of to rectify the situation, but to no avail. This included all the normal suggestions, turn off Firewalls, blockers, Internet Securities, make sure the routers built in firewall is off, etc etc...then delete the file in question and it should download as normal. It didn't. And just to add to Canterbury Tail information - the file actually is being downloaded -it's in the Vault folder of Fantasy Grounds II. it's called IPFGALIENRPGFLFALE002 and it could have a .dat or a .tmp file extension on it. The actual file is 41,623kb in size, but im willing to bet that yours is only 41,622kb in size. Just of note - if you go into that folder and see the file, but it is much larger, that is the result of the file doubling and tripling in size and so on. Pay no attention. You can simply delete it - and the very next time you try to update, it will come back as 41,622kb.
So where does this leave us? I don't know. I am currently having my issue looked at by the second level developers after the first level were not able to solve the issue after trying. All the credit to them for doing their best and trying to help.
Something that another user mentioned and upon inspection, I noticed that the Alien RPG Manual file itself is a .PDF file. As far as I know this makes it unique in the types of files FGC usually updates to. If this is the case, the file was probably updated on their end, and re-uploaded without being converted back to a format that is friendly to FGC.
Other than that, all I can suggest is that you and I keep in contact here - and if there is a fix that one of us learns about - that we inform each other. For now, it's a waiting game - and that sucks. But at least we can take some consolation in knowing that it is not us or our machines. Cheers mate!

[greatsky]

I found a quick solution to my problem. It was as easy as connecting to my VPN and updating. For some reason, it updated perfectly. Once updated, I was able to disconnect the VPN and update as normal.

[The Canterbury Tail]

Just to add something else interesting. I just installed, for the first time, FG Unity. It updated, and download this PDF file perfectly fine. I haven't touched any settings on my router. So this issue is only happening on Classic. However on classic it doesn't download on my internal system router, but does on my guest network. So no further along on understanding, but have workaround.