Starfinder - several problems with one player (Login, download, character sheet)

[masterqgj]

Hi,

i'm DMing a starfinder group of 5. Since our last session we have issues with ONE of those players. The first issue was, that after joining the game, he was unable to see his character sheet. The sheet was not in use by anyone since i cleared ownership, but he still was unable to see it. I created a new sheet --> he's unable to see it.
Thats when we thougt we should try to deinstall everything, delete the cache folder and reinstall the app complete. After we did that, he was even unable to join at all since he got errors every time "aquiring file list". I disabled all extensions and suddenly he was able to join again - even though his character was not available to him. I tried enabling the extensions one by one and found out, that the futuristic theme extension did word, he was able to join with that one activted, but as soon as i activated (any, no matter which one) other extension he's stuck at about 90% "aquiring file list". The error in this case is a "401" error (i'll add the logs to this thread).

Further searching showed us: Even when he can log in with only futuristic theme enabled it takes several minutes to show the character sheet or other notes. It's not that his character is not shown at all - but it takes like "forever" to show it on his side after logging in. The same goes with notes, map images, etc. And while this issue occurs, he cannot read anything in the chat / roll dice or smth. like that while every other player can see him writing or rolling.

The state right now is, that he was able to "select" his character, i as a GM can see that he's logged in and using his sheet (his icon is in the top left), but he cannot see neither that icon, nor his data sheet and such.

I'm a bit confused, since about 3 weeks ago he had no issues joining or playing at all and suddenly this :(.

System specs:
Windows 10, quite up to date, only 22h2 is missing.
Intel i5-10600k @ 4,1 GHZ
32 gigs of RAM
several SSDs
1 GBit/s LAN (via rj45 cable, no W-LAN)

Other downloads / games run fine.

I should add: it's the steam demo, since i have an FGU ultimate subscription

[Moon Wizard]

I’m not at my machine to look at the logs; but whenever one person is not getting characters/data, it’s because something is interfering with their connection or blocking certain types of content. Since able to connect, assuming some sort of “filter” on the player’s end (ad blocker, parental control, router SPI filter, etc. )

Here is a troubleshooting article we put together on our wiki to investigate.
https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1981349889/Network+Troubleshooting

Regards,
JPG

[masterqgj]

Hi Moon Wizard,

sorry, i forgot to mention, that we already tried those. I've been active in discord too and got two links to check. Setting up windows defender (my friend does not use any other AV program at all) and to set up the router. While he's using a "Fritz.box" as myself i didn't see any problems in the router and we added some exclusions to windows defender for the program folder of FGU and the data folder too. Neither helped.

And besides the missing character sheet he's still got the issue, that he seem to cannot download the extensions at all, except the futuristic skin. :(

[Moon Wizard]

I'm seeing these entries at the end of the network log for the session. This indicates that the connection was closed by something outside of the FG application.
[10/29/2022 2:13:36 AM] Noble Connect [486366]: Socket receive operation was interrupted, likely due to the socket being closed

This issue does not sound like an AV issue, as the connection is initially going through. This sounds more like an issue where the connection is being outright dropped by Internet provider or other software (i.e. ISP Advanced Security options, etc.) or a filtering issue where certain content is being blocked (i.e. router SPI filter, parental control, ad blocking, router website/IP blocking, etc.). The ISP Advanced Security options could be on the GM side as well, which limit which IPs can make connections to the GM machine.

The challenge with the scenarios is that the content being blocked and/or the connection being dropped is actually outside of our application, so there is no information provided to our software about the situation other than that the connection has been dropped or that files have not arrived. In every similar case we've seen, it is some sort of "protection" or blocking technology setup on either the GM or player side somewhere between the player's machine and the GM's machine.

Regards,
JPG

[Moon Wizard]

Also, according to the Fritz.box information I could find online, they do have a SPI filter option that should be checked and disabled.

JPG

[masterqgj]

Actually i do not see any way to disable neither the SPI function, nor the firewall itself at all and i think that would'nt be wise too, since it's a built in security feature. It's quite strange, since it happened quite suddenly - the player was, without any issues, connected a few weeks before without problems. I already tried to open the port 1802 tcp/udp though - still the same problems :(

[masterqgj]

I added two more logs. One from me as a GM (named "_gamemaster", and the other one from my player (named "_gamer"), when he tries to join the game while some extensions are active. He does get an 401 error in that case, so quite a different behaviour :(.

[Moon Wizard]

You can turn off the filter to test whether that has an impact; and then fine tune the filter if needed to exclude the GM/player IP addresses as needed.

I’ll look at the logs when I am back at my desk; but as I mentioned, the blocking is occurring outside of the application, so we don’t have any control over that. Ultimately, I would just be making suggestions for which network options to look at.

Also, just because you haven’t explicitly changed anything does not mean that your network settings have not been auto-updated by the Internet provider or by the router auto-update functions.

Regards,
JPG

[masterqgj]

Hi,

first of all thanks for your suggestions und trying to help us!


You can turn off the filter to test whether that has an impact; and then fine tune the filter if needed to exclude the GM/player IP addresses as needed.

The Issue is - i can not see any option to disable neither the IPS nor the firewall itself in the whole router settings. So i just can not disable it, even if it's just for a test :(.

We just tried another player hosting a game and my player was able to join him - even see characters and select it. Chat messages, dicerolling, everything was fine. O_o. But if it was an issue on my side, i would expect the 4 other players to have the same problem as he did. I'm getting crazy over this :(

[EelonMusk]

Hey,
all of the sudden, i am facing the same Problem as Player. There is no Option deactivating the firewall for me either. I just can activate the ports to make exception for the IPS-Firewall

[Moon Wizard]

You can try using a VPN to work around the settings your Internet provider is forcing through your box (or at least use to verify that is the issue).
Otherwise, you would have to approach your Internet provider, and ask them how to configure your router to provide peer-to-peer hosting.

The filter on the modem would be SPI (stateful packet inspection) that you would want to temporarily disable or bypass for hosting. (not IPS)

Regards,
JPG

[Moon Wizard]

Also, looking at the logs, they do not appear to be synchronized from the same session, as the file request/response for file downloads is not mirrored between GM and player. When submitting logs, you should make sure the logs are from the exact same session, and acquired immediately before closing FG (use /console command; or keep console open). If you close and restart FG, the logs will get reset, and only one older copy is saved. The file requests from the player to the host appear to be getting responded to, so this appears to be a dropped connection issue.

I see from the logs that the player is still receiving the connection dropped event, which again means that the connection is being forced closed somewhere between the player and GM machine. As above, a VPN can usually be used to verify that some other program or piece of hardware (router, etc.) is causing issues. Since it appears to be a dropped connection, and not blocked content; do not focus on the filters, but instead look at settings that might block peer-to-peer connections, either on the GM or player side.

Even though the other players connect, it could still be a GM side configuration. In the US, we have an Internet provider (Comcast) that implemented an "Advanced Security" feature that blocked incoming peer-to-peer connections unless the user specifically allowed each connection IP address, and it had to be renewed every 30 days. Also, the Comcast "feature" could only be accessed via their website, not through their router. You should review the settings on your Internet provider account.

As mentioned above, using a VPN could allow you to test the connection without any Internet provider or hardware settings interfering.

Regards,
JPG

[Moon Wizard]

Also, referring back to some of your initial posts, the Cloud configuration ports are dynamic. Only the LAN configuration port is able to be specified, and defaults to 1802.

Just as a related question. Are you running using the Cloud server type option (default), or the LAN server type option (which requires port forwarding setup)?

Regards,
JPG

[masterqgj]

Doubble post - sorry for that

[masterqgj]

Hi Moon, i'm running a cloud server type.

Regarding the logs from my previous posting - the logs actually ARE from one and the same game session - but they are from another session as in my first posting. My player tried to join the new session, we kept it (FGU) trying for roughly 10 minutes, compiled the logs, and uploaded them.

We did a minute ago a test using "windshield" VPN, but he still has the same connection problem. The progress bar "Aquiring file list" is stuck at ~ 80 %, before the error "Unexpected Command (CHINR) received on client while downloading" occured again.

[EelonMusk]

Hey, we Masterqgj and me had a quick conversation over Discord. It seems, like the Players that cant join have the same Provider. Joining the game via USB-Thethering works. Is that only the Problem with the Provider, or does the Cloud Server may have Problems with it?

[Moon Wizard]

The Cloud server type is just a network facilitation service (i.e. connects GM and players to the right IP addresses, and configures forwarding, etc.). Regardless of whether running in Cloud type or LAN type, the GM client is still the "host" for a peer-to-peer session.

If the players are able to connect using USB tethering, that means that the Internet provider has activated some sort of "advanced security" or protection that is blocking/dropping peer-to-peer connections and/or blocking specific image content.

Regards,
JPG