Players losing connection repeatedly

[mhouchin]

Hello, I have been working for a few days trying to resolve a connection issue that some players in our game are experiencing. Our DM has created a campaign (cloud, public) in FG Unity. All players have downloaded the demo version to join the game. 3 players can connect without any issues, but 2 players (both in the same household) get kicked off the game repeatedly with the error message "game server connection was lost. Returning to launcher." Both players are on Macbooks, and they have an Xfinity internet plan.

I also have a Macbook and Xfinity at my house and I have no connectivity issues when I'm at home. I took my Macbook over to the house with the connectivity issues and I was also getting kicked off of the game with the same error message on my laptop.

I logged into their Xfinity account and checked the Advanced Settings and it didn't report any blocks or threats, but I turned it off for good measure. The issue persisted even after the Advance Security was disabled.

I was at their house yesterday with my device, and their 2 devices, trying to figure out what the issue was. Each computer gets kicked at different times, they aren't being booted all at once. I don't think the issue is on the DM/ hosting side since 3 other players can connect without any problems. I don't think it's a problem with their machines since my computer can connect at my house and cannot connect at their house. I think the problem lies with their internet. Could it be that they just have a cheap internet plan that doesn't hold a connection very well? I don't know if that could cause a problem like this.

I understand it's helpful to see the logs of the errors when posting issues like this, and I will post them if I can get them, but I'm sort of a third party to the problem so I don't have them on hand.

Any help is appreciated. We are all new to FG and I really like the software so far but the players that can't get on aren't very happy with it. Hoping we can get a solution soon!

[LordEntrails]

Mod: moved to Unity House of healing since you mention you are using FGU.

[Zacchaeus]

How are the two people that are in the same location connecting? They should be using the internal IP address to connect rather than via the Cloud,

[Moon Wizard]

If you are using Cloud, then everyone should use lobby/cloud to connect. The network facilitation will attempt to work out whether you are on the same network.

You should definitely check this thread:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?53461-Comcast-XFinity-Cox-and-Shaw-Communications-Users-Important

After checking that, we would need to get more data by having you pull the logs on both the GM and player client right when the disconnect happens.

Regards,
JPG

[mhouchin]

They are connecting the same way all the players are connecting. When FG opens we just find the campaign in the list of campaigns under "Join Cloud Game" and enter the password. How would they join via internal IP address? Whose IP address would they need? The game is hosted via cloud so I'm not sure how they would join other than just finding the game in the list of cloud games? I'm extremely new to FG and don't know very much about computers so I apologize for asking dumb questions, just trying to get everyone connected and have some dnd fun!

[Willot]

As they are both having the same problem on Different computers. I might assume its the security on the router (as I assume they are BOTH on the SAME router) kicking them.
Also check the router security logs via its web interface.
They may see some stuff in the the logs from the router saying "OMG! its a DoS! Shut it down! SHUT IT DOWN!". Router says "Phew! that was close, look how helpful Im being, :)"
I had this one a while back couldnt figure it out, after checking the logs turns out it was teamspeak the router didnt like (after an hour of playing with and yelling at FG. I owed it an apology)

Also make sure that Windows didnt turn on "use a Proxy" option. One of my players had that one too. His use a proxy option was on with no proxy address entered So windows didnt know what to do.

[LordEntrails]

How would they join via internal IP address? Whose IP address would they need? The game is hosted via cloud so I'm not sure how they would join other than just finding the game in the list of cloud games? I'm extremely new to FG and don't know very much about computers so I apologize for asking dumb questions, just trying to get everyone connected and have some dnd fun!
Not a dumb question, and no need to apologize :)

When you (or the GM) choses "Cloud" the game is still hosted on the GMs computer, the connection between the players and the GM is 'brokered' by the cloud server. In short, it works as an intermediary to connect the two, uses lots of different methods as needed.

On the load campaign screen of the GM, before they click start, is a pair of "internal" IP addresses. Normally for LAN game (not Cloud) you would use those and the External IPs for players to use to connect. You can try them for a Cloud game, though normally that is not needed.

To use those, the player on the Join Campaign screen would input one of those (usually the IPv4 one, but sometimes the long IPv6 one) in the bottom of the Join Campaign list where it says "Join by IP and Port"

[mhouchin]

Not a dumb question, and no need to apologize :)

When you (or the GM) choses "Cloud" the game is still hosted on the GMs computer, the connection between the players and the GM is 'brokered' by the cloud server. In short, it works as an intermediary to connect the two, uses lots of different methods as needed.

On the load campaign screen of the GM, before they click start, is a pair of "internal" IP addresses. Normally for LAN game (not Cloud) you would use those and the External IPs for players to use to connect. You can try them for a Cloud game, though normally that is not needed.

To use those, the player on the Join Campaign screen would input one of those (usually the IPv4 one, but sometimes the long IPv6 one) in the bottom of the Join Campaign list where it says "Join by IP and Port"


I thought of that but for some reason thought the LAN option would only work if you were on the same network as the host. Not sure why I had that notion, but I will have them give this a shot. Thank you for the help!! Hopefully it works.

[mhouchin]

As they are both having the same problem on Different computers. I might assume its the security on the router (as I assume they are BOTH on the SAME router) kicking them.
Also check the router security logs via its web interface.
They may see some stuff in the the logs from the router saying "OMG! its a DoS! Shut it down! SHUT IT DOWN!". Router says "Phew! that was close, look how helpful Im being, :)"
I had this one a while back couldnt figure it out, after checking the logs turns out it was teamspeak the router didnt like (after an hour of playing with and yelling at FG. I owed it an apology)

Also make sure that Windows didnt turn on "use a Proxy" option. One of my players had that one too. His use a proxy option was on with no proxy address entered So windows didnt know what to do.

Thanks for the reply. I thought this was the problem too, but I've already turned off their "advanced security" option from Xfinity, and there was no record of anything being blocked by it when I turned it off via their ISP account.

[Weissrolf]

Check this: https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/190/

[mhouchin]

Not a dumb question, and no need to apologize :)

When you (or the GM) choses "Cloud" the game is still hosted on the GMs computer, the connection between the players and the GM is 'brokered' by the cloud server. In short, it works as an intermediary to connect the two, uses lots of different methods as needed.

On the load campaign screen of the GM, before they click start, is a pair of "internal" IP addresses. Normally for LAN game (not Cloud) you would use those and the External IPs for players to use to connect. You can try them for a Cloud game, though normally that is not needed.

To use those, the player on the Join Campaign screen would input one of those (usually the IPv4 one, but sometimes the long IPv6 one) in the bottom of the Join Campaign list where it says "Join by IP and Port"

Hey! We tried having everyone log on with the LAN option, but none of the 4 IPs worked. I spent some time at the GM's house today to set up a port forward to see if we could connect after that. I followed the instructions here https://portforward.com/arris/bgw210-700/ for the GM's router, but unfortunately the open port checkers I have tried all say that port 1802 is still closed (FG was open and hosted via LAN option while using the port checkers). I believe I set up the static IP correctly because opening up CMD on the computer (Windows 10) and typing "ipconfig /all" showed the new static IP address under the internal IPv4 address, where before I set up the static IP address, it showed a different one. I believe the DNS Server numbers I used are correct as well, and we had no issues using the internet after doing this step. A few things I am not sure about when I set up the port forward:

1. The guide linked above says to select both TCP and UPD when setting up the port forward, but it also says that for Fantasy Grounds, the TCP port is 1802 and the UDP port is 3074. I tried using the "both TCP and UPD" option with 1802, tried using the "only TCP" option with 1802, and I tied setting up two port forwards (TCP with 1802 and UDP with 3074) and the port checkers still said 1802 was closed with all of these attempts. How should this be set up?

2. The guide also says "If you are forwarding a single port, enter that port number into the left Global Port Range and the right Global Port Range boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports, enter the lowest number of that range into the left Global Port Range box. Then enter the highest number of that range into the right Global Port Range box."

I did as it suggested, so every box just said 1802, is this right? Should 3074 be input anywhere?

I tried some other troubleshooting I found on the internet, such as setting up "Inbound Rules" for as this comment suggests: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/he7xg3/ive_forwarded_my_ports_with_my_arris_but_theyre/fvxyq5y?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 to no avail.

Any suggestions? I think if we can figure out how to host it LAN, the players with connectivity issues might be able to join, but this might all be for nothing if they still get kicked off even when joining with IP/ Port.

Also just a note - I had my laptop with me when I was at the GM's house and I was able to connect by using both the static internal IP address and the external IP address while I was on the same network. I can't join the same way from my house, and another player that can join the cloud game without getting kicked could not join with the IP addresses from her house.

[Moon Wizard]

If the GM sets up the game using the Cloud server type, then players must connect using the Cloud server option. If you are having trouble with a Cloud connection, then please provide the logs on both the GM and player side immediately upon the connection failing, or the initial connection failing.
(You can get the logs by clicking on the Logs button in the upper left of the FG launch screen, then pressing the Compile Logs button.)

If the GM sets up the game using the LAN server type, then a local server is created, but no connection facilitation is done. For LAN server types, it is up to the GM to make sure that any traffic can get from the players to their machine. (port forwarding, routers, network security, etc.)

You can not mix and match. (i.e. Players can not connect to a Cloud game using the direct IP address.)

Regards,
JPG

[damned]

Please as a test set the MTU on an affected device to 1200.

[Trenloe]

Note - for Fantasy Grounds Unity with the GM using a LAN connection it is UDP port 1802. Most online "port checking" pages don't/can't check UDP - so they aren't a reliable way of checking if the UDP port forwarding is setup correctly.