FGU - Player cant choose their character, Modules not loading

[Huntednord]

so one of my players have this issue where he cant choose his character in character select screen, or load any of the modules.

we have tried to find a solution so we both went through the forums looking at similar problems. he even went so far as to turn off both the firewall on his pc and his router, making no difference, he uses no vpn, i use no vpn.
fantasy grounds is allowed through my firewall and i have tried to turn off my own firewall.

i have reasons to belive its not an issue on my end as the GM due to this player having the exact same issue in another campaign we are both in where another friend is the GM.

he has tried nuking his cache. reinstalling FGU. turning off firewall. we are not sure what else there is to do at this point. due to the issue being in 2 campaigns he is in and not only mine.

he has also gotten atleast 2 error messages, but they dont show up all the time. these are
(Unexpected command (CHINR) received on client while downloading and Unexpected command (IMRVR) received on client while downloading)

we also both checked out the things from this link: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1981349889/Network+Troubleshooting

now for the final wrench thrown into the gears. he went onto his laptop to try and join instead of using his desktop. and that worked. just fine. the issue still stands that it would be nice for him to be able to play on his actual computer.
any idea what the issue could be in this case?

[LordEntrails]

It's either security software on his PC or folder permissions. It probably won't help, but it's a good place to start by doing a compile logs for both the GM and the player shortly after trying this again and uploading both sets of logs here.

It his PC managed by anyone but himself? i.e. school or work? What O/S is the PC? Has he removed and re-added exceptions to his security software? Some security software will show the exception, but since the executable has changed, the new one gets blocked/quarantined even though in the list it appears that is it excluded/allowed.

[Huntednord]

His PC is only managed by himself. and he uses Windows 11. both on his desktop (where the problem is) and his Laptop (Where the problem seems to not exist). he uses Windows Defender. he re-installed the entire game so he went into defender and redid the exceptions for Fantasy Grounds. which log is it you would need to see specificly? Console log?

[Lejawyn]

I am the player who has the issue in Huntednord's campaign.

Both PC and Notebook are using WIndows 11 as OS, and both have only the onboard security measures installed (so no Norton, Kaspersky etc).
Both are also up to date with windows updates.

What I have tried on the machine that has the issue:
- simple reinstall of FGU
- manually deleting the cache folder of the campaigns
- deinstalling FGU and manually deleting all registry-entries and folders that have Smiteworks or fantasy grounds in its name
- manually installing vcredist from this forum
- copying complete FantasyGrounds folder from notebook to PC

What happens now is that I can connect to the campaign and the normal table loads, but apparently it doesnt load completely as the dice tower in the left lower corner is missing, the character selection is empty and the module section is empty. Also if i type something in chat or roll a dice the others can see it, but i cannot.

Since it is working on my notebook i can rule out that the router or internet connection is the issue (both are in the same network). So my guess is that it has to be machine specific. I would like to avoid to re-install windows completely so any attempt of helping is highly appreciated.

[Zacchaeus]

Sounds like a network issue - assuming that the OS setup on both computers is exactly the same. Some troubleshooting steps here https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1981349889/Network+Troubleshooting

[Zacchaeus]

It could still be network if one is connected via Wi-Fi and the other isn't. But if the network is ruled out then that leaves something on the computer. Did you install to the default locations? Do you have all the correct read/write permissions to the disc area that you installed to (especially the FG data location). Some more troubleshooting articles here.

https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1303052290/Whitelisting+or+Creating+Exceptions+for+Antivirus+ Applications
https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1161756673/Fix+Write+Permissions+Windows

[Lejawyn]

First to the topic of network:
- PC that has the issue is conencted via cable (which is a new one, bought last year in June)
- Laptop is connected via wireless

OS and security software are set up the same way on both machines.

FGU is installed in the default locations on both machines. I doubt that it is a permissions issue since it worked on 27.02.2023 without a hitch and then in the next session on 13.03. it only worked wonkily, as i was able to connect to the other campaign with some issues (like i had to roll a dice to get updates on what has happened in combat or move my token on the battlemap).

I also verified the folder settings, and they are as mentioned in your link.
I did put in exclusions for the three files in WIndows Defender.

Sadly nothing works :-(

[Zacchaeus]

So it worked on your computer before and now it doesn't?

How much is the DM sharing? And how much memory is FGU using when you are connected? How much disc space do you have on the same drive as FG's data folder? Does it work on your computer if you connect via a phone hotspot or similar?

[Trenloe]

1) Double check that the network connection is set to Private and not Public.
2) Remove any exceptions in Windows Defender and re-add them.
3) If your PC has a Wifi adapter, try connecting with Wifi.
- Also, if it has a Wifi adapter, try using a Mobile hotspot on your phone to connect - just for testing.

[Lejawyn]

@Zacchaeus: He is sharing 6 modules.
My main disc where FGU is installed still has 500GB of free space.
I cannot connect via hotspot or anything cause this PC does not have any WIFI capabilities. It is a normal desktop PC.

I also cannot tell you right now how much memory it was using on my main PC, I can only tell you that I have sufficient RAM with 32GB

@Trenloe: Network connection is set to private
I have set the windows defender exceptions manually and automatically when the prompt popped up.

And btw: Thank you again for trying to help!

[damned]

Do you have any additional AntiVirus running on the desktop?
Has it previously worked on the desktop?

[Moon Wizard]

Did you check the router settings as well per the document that Zacchaeus linked above?

Regards,
JPG

[Lejawyn]

@Damned: No additional AV software running besides the Win 11 integrated one (same software is running on PC and Notebook)
It has worked on the desktop PC until 27.02.2023 without any issues. At the session on 13.03. the issues began.

@Moon Wizard: I would rule out any issues with the router since it works on the notebook which is connected to the same router (but with Wifi, while desktop PS is connected via cable). Btw I do not have any other network issues on that desktop PC (which is my main gaming PC)

Between the session on 27.02 and on 13.03. there were no software installations or hardware changes (at least none that i am aware of since we know that windows does some silent installations in the background frequently)

[Lejawyn]

So, i just joined the campaign on my notebook via a cable connection and it works. So we can definately rule out the network as being the issue. Especially since there are no port forwardings etc are set up for any device in my network.

[Trenloe]

Please provide detailed screenshots of the exceptions in Windows Defender for FantasyGrounds.exe

[Lejawyn]

56782

Thats the exceptions screen. It is in german though

[Trenloe]

I think we'll need to look deeper than that.

You can open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-firewall/best-practices-configuring

Then try manually setting inbound and outbound enabled rules for FantasyGrounds.exe

[Lejawyn]

I did set the inbound and outbound rules for FantasyGrounds.exe in the default installation folder and sadly no improvement :-(

56783
56784
56785

[damned]

If it was working on 27 Feb - can you see if there is a System Restore point at or around that date that you can roll back to. System Restore doesnt affect data (well its not supposed to anyway) it just rolls back windows files, program files and settings to the specified restore point.

Failing that - can you see what windows updates have installed since that date?

Can you try re-running windows update?

[Lejawyn]

There is only one System Restore Point and that is from yesterday apparently.

From what i can see there were only a few updates. A couple of windows defender definition updates, and a cumulative update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64 based systems.

I will try a system update and check on sunday when the next session is if it works

Edit: Wait there are more system restore points, but the earliest is from 28.02.

[damned]

You can try rerunning the update - first one in this link: https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Windows%2011%2022H2%20x64
You could also try updating visual c++ redistributable here: https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe

You can also try and connect to my table: search for GM name damned

[damned]

There is only one System Restore Point and that is from yesterday apparently.

From what i can see there were only a few updates. A couple of windows defender definition updates, and a cumulative update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64 based systems.

I will try a system update and check on sunday when the next session is if it works

Edit: Wait there are more system restore points, but the earliest is from 28.02.

If it worked on 27 then the update on 28th might be the one that broke it - I would definitely try and test that restore point.

[Nylanfs]

Try removing all whitelisted exceptions for FG, rebooting, and then re-making them?

[Farnaby]

I've got the exact same problem now.
Worked running as GM on 23.03 and now connecting to a Starfinder game as a player I cannot select my character, I cannot roll dice and I cannot type in chat.
GM released the characters and I cannot see the change. I reopen the character window and no characters appear.

No new software has been installed and no changes been made to my desktop PC.

[Zacchaeus]

Check your anti virus. You will probably need to delete any old rule and create a new one.

More information here https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1303052290/Whitelisting+or+Creating+Exceptions+for+Antivirus+ Applications

[Farnaby]

As expected, no change.

I also tried running as administrator, no luck.
I reinstalled FGU on a different hard drive, no luck.

When I get into the game the dice animation goes off and freezes, FGU doesn't respond for a few seconds and then the animation finishes.
I can access all the modules
Dice rolls and text messages don't show up in chat.

I created a new test pc, restarted FGU and couldn't see it in the characters window after closing it and reopening it.

When uninstalling I rebooted my pc afterwards before reinstalling it again.

[Moon Wizard]

There are many things that can change across the various components that allow you to connect to the Internet, from the software on your machine to wireless access points to Internet routers/modems to ISP "services". There is a document on our wiki that suggests various networking issues that have come up over the years.
https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1981349889/Network+Troubleshooting

Some common things can interfere are: ad blocking software/services (blocks/slows content), security software (blocks network access), parental filtering (blocks/slows content), SPI filtering (router) (blocks/slows content), quality of service (QoS) settings (throttles content), etc. When FG is connecting to a session or when rolling dice, there are many, many network messages sent in fast succession that can trigger some services you might be using.

Regards,
JPG

[Farnaby]

I totally agree (my job is IT SysOps)
Interestingly enough we reversed roles. I started a game as GM and my GM logged in as a player. It worked fine.

Going to have to go through the log files next.

P.S. could still play as another player shared his screen in my discord server. :-)

[Moon Wizard]

It's probably some sort of incoming throttle to prevent DDoS kind of attacks locally.

Regards,
JPG

[kmfdm]

We had this happen since March as well. We played along and sent the one player screenshots (all other players could see images), but we finally committed to solve it. Finally after some experimentation, I turned off my Google VPN (as the GM Host) and it fixed everything.