New PC behind same router, LAN connection not working

[c4pappy]

Calling on any network sage that could help me with this.

Recently added a new desktop to run Fantasy Grounds Unity. Loaded up a new campaign and when my players tried to connect with the external IP and password that I provided, they could not do so.

We tried a cloud server and that seemed to work. All players have updated FGU to latest build.

New PC is behind the same router as before. I made sure to communicate the external IP and I didn't change the default port. Didn't have this issue with my laptop, but for some reason the new desktop doesn't like a LAN connection?

Port forwarding is turned on at the router level (Asus Rapture 11000).

Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Sulimo]

Did you change your port forward rule to point to the new computer?

Typically, your rule will specify the internal IP address that port is being forwarded to.

With a new computer, it is likely it has a different Internal IP address that the previous computer.


It sounds like your laptop has the port forward rule, if your laptop is working.

Port forwarding for a specific port can only be used for one device at a time.

[BronzeDodger]

Will lob this up just in case: I discovered that with two networks ('guest' being the second one on my home router) that if one PC was on the guest network, the other on the 'main' WiFi instance, they wouldn't connect - so I just had to change which WiFi the second machine was using and it started to work.

[ddavison]

In general, within the same LAN and behind the same router, you would use the Internal IP address instead of the external IP address.

Also, when connecting from Windows, make sure that both systems connect to it as a Private connection. Windows blocks a lot of things if you connect to it as a Public connection. Public is meant for untrusted environments like airports, cafes, etc.

[LordEntrails]

Most auto configured Guest networks do not let devices on the guest network connect back to the main network as a security precaution.

[c4pappy]

Thank you for the replies. I didn't change the port assignment when I loaded up FGU on the new computer, so perhaps when my players try to connect (they are all external to my home network, not on the guest account) the network is still looking for the laptop on that port?

I think having all players connecting from outside networks means that I need to provide them the external IP (but I could be wrong on this). No one is using a guest connection to my knowledge. I should have been more clear on this in my original post.

I don't intend to use the laptop for FGU any longer. I'd sure like to have the option to use LAN connection for players on the new PC. The advanced setting on the router are more than a little intimidating.

[Zacchaeus]

Thank you for the replies. I didn't change the port assignment when I loaded up FGU on the new computer, so perhaps when my players try to connect (they are all external to my home network, not on the guest account) the network is still looking for the laptop on that port?



Yes, this is exactly correct. You'll need to amend your port forward rule to point to the IP address of your new computer. Or just use the Cloud connection which is very much easier and doesn't need you to do anything at all.

[ddavison]

Sorry, I misread the original post to mean that you were having trouble connecting the laptop to your desktop across your LAN and while connected to the same router.

Since you are still having all your players connect from outside, yes, they would use the External IP address. Yes, would need to update your router to have the port forward point to your new system's IP address or device name on your network. A port forward can only send to one device inside your network, so it would have been sending all incoming FGU traffic to your old devices' Internal IP address.

[c4pappy]

Thank you all for the help. Much appreciated. I may fiddle some more with this to try to assign the new PC's internal IP to the port in question. For now, the suggestion to use the Cloud Server seems like the simplest solution.