Suggestions Please for Testing Using Multiple Clients (FGU)

[Minty23185Fresh]

I'm a Community Developer and have need to connect multiple clients to test/troubleshoot my extensions.

In FGC I could connect multiple instances of clients to the host using "localhost".
(From a previous thread Trenloe told me that that's not advised because of cache collisions. I've never observed this but I'll take his word for it, he's wiser than I am.)

In FGU one can connect a single client to the host (on the same computer) using "localhost", but one cannot connect multiple client instances as we could with FGC. Either this can't or won't be changed, so I have to live with it.

So what are my alternatives? The way I see them, they are...

I have a Standard License. If I upgrade to Ultimate I should be able to connect multiple client instances of unlicensed "users". But I need a PC for each of my "users". I have two PCs, but I don't have four lying around.

Or, I could ask friends, family or gaming colleagues that use FGU to connect and then we can test. But for troubleshooting this is impractical, asking them to be connected and available for hours or days while I tweak code is simply a "stupid" idea.

Are there others that I'm missing? Suggestions please?

[LordEntrails]

Well, if your developer computer is powerful enough, with an Ultimate license, you could run multiple VMs, one for each client. Certainly not ideal, but I don't know another solution :(

[Minty23185Fresh]

Well, if your developer computer is powerful enough, with an Ultimate license, you could run multiple VMs, one for each client. Certainly not ideal, but I don't know another solution :(

Pardon me while while I pick myself up off the floor and wipe the tears from my eyes. (from laughing)

My PC glows red hot just from running two instances of FGU on it, FGU being the horsepower hog that it is. I can't imagine what the poor thing would do with two instances of VM on top of that.

Thank you my friend, Lord Entrails, another solution yes, but not one available to me.

I will be upgrading my old laptop in the next few months so maybe after that. Do you use VM ware? Which one? "VMware"?

[Sulimo]

If you use Windows 10 Professional (not Home), probably works on Windows 11 Pro as well, you can install Hyper-V for free (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/enable-hyper-v?msclkid=2b12f760b29d11ec9a57b6a40a7d3e79).


Another option is VMware Workstation (https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-pro.html?msclkid=5675d190b29d11eca7b3050437aaa104) , but that will have a cost associated with it.

There is VirtualBox (https://www.virtualbox.org/?msclkid=6b1a877fb29d11ec88682985285e3f76), which is surprisingly free given it's from Oracle.

Those are the top three I am aware of, there are others though.

NOTE: Realistically, RAM is most likely going to be your limiting factor. More RAM will help you run more VMs typically.

[LordEntrails]

Don't forget to try the command line performance setting if you haven't tried them yet; https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1638006786/Reducing+GPU+Usage#2.-Advanced-FGU-Commands---Use-With-Caution

I don't often use VMs, been quite a few years. I used to use VMWare for work for many years. But recently I have used the built in Windows one on the few occasion over the last few years that I've needed (no need for Windows licenses).

[Lo Zeno]

In case you have Windows 11 Pro or 10 Pro, you can make use of Windows Sandbox:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-overview
The nice thing about it is that setting it up will prepare a full environment, with Windows installed, and all the configurations for the virtualization set automatically, AND is somehow a bit resource intensive than full-on VMs (although it's still using Hyper-V under the hood); the 'bad' thing about it is that since it's a sandbox, as soon as you turn it off anything you've done in it is lost, including if you installed Fantasy Grounds in it it will be "erased" (the sandbox does not persist anything on disk). For some scenarios, this would actually be a good thing (e.g. verify if a bug appears in a clean installation)

[Weissrolf]

- Create dedicated data directories for every instance of FGU.
- Create dedicated batch files for each instance of FGU to change a single registry key via REG ADD and start FGU afterwards.

The STRING registry key you need to change is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SmiteWorks\Fantasy Grounds
"DataDir"="path to each instance's data directory"

Each instance will read the registry key at the start and then keeps using it even if the key is changed while the instance is already running.

For testing your extensions you may not have to worry about the cache, though, so maybe just try a single extra directory instead of multiple ones. Backup is a good idea.

[MostTornBrain]

Regarding the VM suggestion, if you are on a Mac, I've found VMware Fusion works well, and is free for personal use. https://customerconnect.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal I assume they have a similar free offering for Windows users.

In my setup, I run my main FGU Ultimate instance on my Mac, then connect with a second player instance also running on the Mac, then connect via another player instance from the VM. I haven't tried connecting more than two simulated players at once though. Having to have a new VM for each player definitely wouldn't scale well.

Cheers,
Brian

[Weissrolf]

On a side-note: FGU should accept the data-path as command-line option (instead of reading from the registry on Windows) so that we can just call it via shortcut with different paths.

[Minty23185Fresh]

Thanks all for your help and suggestions.