Can you slow down the frequency of the updates?

[alloowishus]

I have been having a lot of problems with Fantasy Grounds lately and it's almost always related to updates interfering with things. I update before my session, start the session, things go haywire, for me and the players. I log out, click update, log back in and all is well. It's really frustrating, do you have to do updates every week?

[superteddy57]

What specific issues are you experiencing? What ruleset? module? extension? Your request is very broad and unfortunately we do have to do weekly updates to resolve reported bugs and issues with what we provide. There are weeks we don't have to address any issues for some rulesets and modules, but updates will be pushed if they are game breaking and need attention. As for major updates, we haven't had some in quite some time. So please respond if you can with my earlier questions and we can see in seeing what might be causing your issues. Also, it's not the best to update prior to a session. We recommend updating after a session or give a few days prior to a session to check on things. Also, extensions may be a cause as well and that requires investigation as well.

[Trenloe]

I update before my session, start the session, things go haywire, for me and the players.
The recommendation is not to update right before your session starts. This is the first sentence in the weekly Tuesday City Hall forum update thread. If you're regularly have issues this recommendation is even more true!

Updates are weekly because this is generally what is required to fix issues, keep up-to-date, etc.. Sometimes this isn't regular enough and hotfixes are released to address high priority issues.

If you regularly have issues, maybe it will help to try to work out what's causing those issues - are you running extensions? If so, how many? Extensions are modifications to the base FG ruleset code and are the most common reason for errors, broken functionality, etc..

[alloowishus]

The recommendation is not to update right before your session starts. This is the first sentence in the weekly Tuesday City Hall forum update thread. If you're regularly have issues this recommendation is even more true!

Updates are weekly because this is generally what is required to fix issues, keep up-to-date, etc.. Sometimes this isn't regular enough and hotfixes are released to address high priority issues.

If you regularly have issues, maybe it will help to try to work out what's causing those issues - are you running extensions? If so, how many? Extensions are modifications to the base FG ruleset code and are the most common reason for errors, broken functionality, etc..

Yes I run extensions, as I am sure almost everyone does. The problems are diverse and could a number of things, from players not being able to see anything on maps, to suddenly weapon attack tables are all 0s. I realise you have to fix things, but every week? Not even Microsoft release every week.

[Temmpest]

I'm in the different camp. Not only do I look forward to the weekly updates, I also really appreciate how quickly they address any issues that come up. Best customer response and service of any company I've ever dealt with.

[Trenloe]

Yes I run extensions, as I am sure almost everyone does. The problems are diverse and could a number of things, from players not being able to see anything on maps, to suddenly weapon attack tables are all 0s. I realise you have to fix things, but every week? Not even Microsoft release every week.
How many extensions? Are these extensions that have similar functionality and so could be overlapping? The more extensions you run, the more chances you have of there being issues.

As you have issues when you update, as mentioned, follow the recommendation of not updating right before your game. Updates come every Tuesday. The longer you wait to update after that, the better chance any issues with the update and/or extensions will have to be fixed.

I get you're frustrated, but I don't think a small number of people complaining about weekly updates is going to change the long-standing Tuesday update policy. Plus, there's a couple of things you can do to reduce the risk of the impact on your game.

[Temmpest]

How many extensions? Are these extensions that have similar functionality and so could be overlapping? The more extensions you run, the more chances you have of there being issues.

As you have issues when you update, as mentioned, follow the recommendation of not updating right before your game. Updates come every Tuesday. The longer you wait to update after that, the better chance any issues with the update and/or extensions will have to be fixed.

I get you're frustrated, but I don't think a small number of people complaining about weekly updates is going to change the long-standing Tuesday update policy. Plus, there's a couple of things you can do to reduce the risk of the impact on your game.

What he said.

[Trenloe]

To expand on the weekly update discussion - the Tuesday update is just for products directly controled by SmiteWorks - base rulesets, associated data and any products from the FG store.

Products from the Forge can be updated at any time - basically soon after the creator updates their product/s in the Forge. There are now over 1,500 products in the Forge, so there's going to be multiple updates each day and this will only increase as there are more Forge products. If you're running extensions from the Forge, then issues you encounter are more likely to be due to Forge updates than the weekly Tuesday update of SmiteWorks controlled products (although the Tuesday update could trigger issues in Forge products or create their own issues for some users, so it's not a clear demarcation). Ultimately, there's updates every day which are outside of the direct control of SmiteWorks, so all you can do to minimize issues with your game is keep extensions used to a reasonable level (a dozen or so is reasonable) and don't update in the hours before your game - I know this can be hard as you may have purchased something cool just before your game and you want to use it immediately.

[LordEntrails]

Also be aware, even though there is an update every week. Many of the times this is update to content/modules/DLC and not functions or capabilities. Now, since March we have had more function updates that usual, but that is because the March update to 4.5 was a big change, and such is always followed by lots of fixes. So in the last ~13 weeks we've seen 8 feature updates and we should expect that to decrease in frequency until the next big update.

I'd also suggest you reconsider the though that most GMs use extensions. Looking at the most subscribed 5E compatible extension on the Forge (Aura Effects), it only has 5132 subscribers. Given that it is a free extension, I doubt all 5k of those are in use by active GMs at any given time. But from some years ago I think the number of active GMs was somewhere north of 40k? We do know that the forum has 457k members. Anyway, it's probably very safe to say that less than 25% of GMs use extensions.

But, all of that aside, even if FG is not getting feature updates, there is no reason to not see that community developers are updating their extensions weekly or even more often. So if you are using a lot of extensions, (20+) you could easily be getting several of them updated ever week even when FG doesn't update. All that means that this isn't a probelm that can only be solved by reducing the frequency that SmiteWorks updates FG capabilities.

Just something to think about.

[MrDDT]

Also be aware, even though there is an update every week. Many of the times this is update to content/modules/DLC and not functions or capabilities. Now, since March we have had more function updates that usual, but that is because the March update to 4.5 was a big change, and such is always followed by lots of fixes. So in the last ~13 weeks we've seen 8 feature updates and we should expect that to decrease in frequency until the next big update.

I'd also suggest you reconsider the though that most GMs use extensions. Looking at the most subscribed 5E compatible extension on the Forge (Aura Effects), it only has 5132 subscribers. Given that it is a free extension, I doubt all 5k of those are in use by active GMs at any given time. But from some years ago I think the number of active GMs was somewhere north of 40k? We do know that the forum has 457k members. Anyway, it's probably very safe to say that less than 25% of GMs use extensions.

But, all of that aside, even if FG is not getting feature updates, there is no reason to not see that community developers are updating their extensions weekly or even more often. So if you are using a lot of extensions, (20+) you could easily be getting several of them updated ever week even when FG doesn't update. All that means that this isn't a probelm that can only be solved by reducing the frequency that SmiteWorks updates FG capabilities.

Just something to think about.


Not really, because if SW reduced the updates, less extensions would need to be updated and likely only updated to add in features.

Having said that, I don't think that's the problem, I think so much of a game is handled by extensions the need to run so many has the issue. If you don't run extensions, you don't have these issues FGU rarely has an issue out of the box rulesets breaking for long.

I agree I think a major part of it had to do with the major UI update not to long ago, which causes a lot of issues and takes a bit for people to catch up.

Also about your "it's safe to say most GMs don't use extensions" I don't think that is safe to say.
450k people on the forums have to do with all the time ever on FG, including FGC, and FGU. Which most are not active.
So without knowing how many are active GMs vs inactive, it's hard to say. For all we know most active GMs could be using extensions. 5k is just 1 ext, which is the most popular, but how many don't even use that ext. But also the 5K is more active than the 450k total number due to the fact of the FORGE is relatively new.

[Jiminimonka]

World of Warcraft with 12 million players at its peak used to get.updated every week and sometimes break all the extensions (also written in Lua).

Weekly updates are fine, and optional. You can tell your players not to update if you are worried about extensions (=risk as Silent Ruin says) not working.

[Trenloe]

Regarding updates. Unless the base application (FantasyGrounds.exe and it\s associated library files) gets updated (which is much less often than weekly), the main person who shouldn't update right before a game is the GM if you're running more than a few extensions and sometimes have issues with them. The players download the code (rulesets and extensions) from the GM, so the key here is for the GM to not update just before a game.

[LordEntrails]

Also about your "it's safe to say most GMs don't use extensions" I don't think that is safe to say.
450k people on the forums have to do with all the time ever on FG, including FGC, and FGU. Which most are not active.
So without knowing how many are active GMs vs inactive, it's hard to say. For all we know most active GMs could be using extensions. 5k is just 1 ext, which is the most popular, but how many don't even use that ext. But also the 5K is more active than the 450k total number due to the fact of the FORGE is relatively new.
I still do. We can make assumptions and such about numbers etc and without any real data its all debatable either way. And even if I remember comments from Doug or John saying only a minority of cloud brokered games use extensions, that still leaves out private games (which I don't think they can collect data for).

But regardless of how many GMs use extensions, to Trenloe's point, the number of updates are irrelevant to how often extensions are updated because the players download the rulesets (and extensions) from the GM and so it's only the GM updating that matter. (Except for the times there is a minor point (4.X.0) release that requires the host and clients to be on the same version.)

I think the actual issue here is more about architectural stability. A lot of the recent updates have been re-architecting the windows. This has been breaking many extensions. And there was a pretty active thread on that recently too. SmiteWorks stated they feel that they have to make these changes in order to allow for key future development even though they know it will have these stability impacts on the users. Without these occasional re-architectures to eliminate technical debt, implementing future enhancements becomes harder and harder, and slows down. The VTT market is fairly aggressive and technologically immature, any VTT that wants to stay competitive needs to keep developing.

[Tooting Dog]

Easy Answer: Slow down on how often you CLICK the Update button.

[MrDDT]

Easy Answer: Slow down on how often you CLICK the Update button.

Can't do this, because if your players update to a new version, they can't play at your table.

[Zacchaeus]

Can't do this, because if your players update to a new version, they can't play at your table.

Not strictly true. It depends on whether the update is minor (ie. 4.5.x) or major (4.x.0). In the latter case you are correct but in the former you can still connect and play even though the DM and or players are on different versions. There are some updates as well which do warn that the connection software has been updated and therefore everyone must be on the same version.

[MrDDT]

Not strictly true. It depends on whether the update is minor (ie. 4.5.x) or major (4.x.0). In the latter case you are correct but in the former you can still connect and play even though the DM and or players are on different versions. There are some updates as well which do warn that the connection software has been updated and therefore everyone must be on the same version.

I concur.

[anstett]

Also there is a nice chat message when the user logs into a game with a different version number so you can easily tell which player may or may not have a problem based on version numbers.

[alloowishus]

As an example, I have done FOUR updates so far this week alone. That's just crazy.

[LordEntrails]

As an example, I have done FOUR updates so far this week alone. That's just crazy.
Just because the buttonis red, doesn't mean you have to push it :)
Also, if you wait a couple of days, like to Thursday every week, then any bugs and hot fixes will already be deployed and you will only have to update once.

[Ecks]

Personally, I think the "don't update before a game" advice often conflicts with how FG application updates are rolled out. The weekly content updates aren't usually an issue, but for application updates I've run into a few situations where an there's no option other than to update to the latest.

One is when running for multiple groups on an infrequent schedule. For example:

Group A plays on v1
FGU updates to v2, GM eventually updates when it's stable
Group B plays on v2 (incompatible with v1)
FGU updates to v3 (incompatible with v2), but GM wants to stay on v2
Group A has no way at this point to update to v2*. So they update to v3 and the GM has to update as well, potentially breaking things at the last minute

*At one point the PREV channel was used to allow updating to the last version, but AFAIK for the last few releases this hasn't been active. There's generally no way for a GM to know when an application update is going to go live, so it isn't feasible to warn players to update in advance.

Another situation I ran into was when beta testing a new release. Switching between LIVE/TEST requires updating to get the new version of software. Last time I was testing a new TEST version (v4.5.0), it was pushed to LIVE, leaving me with no way to go back to the older version (v4.4.9).

I think it would help if PREV was updated whenever a new application version goes live. That way, if any players were on an old version and the GM didn't want to update to the latest (maybe to avoid a big ruleset update that would break extensions), the players could at least update to the GM's old version. Might be even better if the application updates could be decoupled from the content updates, since the GM can control content/ruleset updates by when they choose to update, but the GM has no control over what application version the players are on and can update to.

Another thing that would be nice is if the updater checked for updates, then displayed what was going to be updated, and then prompted you to click OK to install them. This would let you cancel before pulling in an unexpected ruleset update that might break extensions. It would also be a convenient location to display some "what's new" info. I think both of these are already on the Feature Requests page.

[MrDDT]

You also have the issue that the update the FGU is also how you update EXTs. So you can't hold off sometimes on those either.

[Trenloe]

As an example, I have done FOUR updates so far this week alone. That's just crazy.
Have you reviewed what the changes actually are before you run an update?

There's a thread posted Tuesday every week in the City Hall forum, and any further updates that week are added to the thread. For example, this is the thread for this week: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?81607-Release-Updates-for-June-4th-2024

There are currently 3,174 FG DLC products (based off the "Content for the Game" section on Steam). So far this week 12 of those products have been updated - which is a very smalll percentage of the total number of products on Fantasy Grounds. I'm guessing the main one that would effect your games would be the CoreRPG update on June 4th - a single product update that's going to potentially impact you.

There's also been an update to the base FG appliction on Tuesday - v4.5.8, details on that here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?80649-Fantasy-Grounds-v4-5-0 This is the first update to the application in over 4 weeks. I believe there were a couple of hotfixes for this application to directly address issues.

So there's only really one set of updates this week that could directly impact your games - the updates on Tuesday. The same comment I made earlier stands - if you're getting issues, don't update right before a game. If you feel you have to update I'd also recommend reviewing the currently active thread/s in the City Hall forum to get an idea of what the update contains. Plus, as also mentioned, if you're running a bunch of extensions the chances of you having issues increases - I'd recommend pruning the number you run down to a few that you feel you can't live without.

[Tooting Dog]

It sounds like a few want to complicate things based on a few corner cases. I still think that if the GM does not want to update when an update is released, do not do so. If your players want to be in your game where you have decided not to update in a timely manner as the updates are released, your players should do the same if they want to play in your game. If your players do not want to do that, then it would be imperative for the GM to change in regards to this, or find players who have a similar mindset. Yeah, extensions break with some releases and that is the nature of using them. But I think what is being proposed is getting a bit complicated and I am sure would prove problems for players rolling back this update for this GM, or re-updating for another, and then re-rolling back the update to jump back to that first GM, etc.

[edit] maybe I'm not understanding the issue. That is quite the possibility. But I want to add that, what if one group plays every-other-week and two or three updates have since been released. But a player is in two other games one of which is current on updating, the other is a week behind. Does this player now have to bounce around between three potential updates with his three games? I don't know, I just think this is making things complicated. If your DM does not want to update, then that group should not or they find another game.

[Trenloe]

[edit] maybe I'm not understanding the issue. That is quite the possibility. But I want to add that, what if one group plays every-other-week and two or three updates have since been released. But a player is in two other games one of which is current on updating, the other is a week behind. Does this player now have to bounce around between three potential updates with his three games? I don't know, I just think this is making things complicated. If your DM does not want to update, then that group should not or they find another game.
The code control comes from the GM, the player downloads the ruleset, extensions, etc. when they connect to the GM - so it's up to the GM to control their update cycles if they sometimes experience issues, players don't have to be that aware of update cycles. More details in one of my previous posts on this. The main edge case, mentioned by Zacchaeus, is when there's a major release to the base application code that requires the GM and players to be on the exact same version.

[Trenloe]

Another thing that would be nice is if the updater checked for updates, then displayed what was going to be updated, and then prompted you to click OK to install them. This would let you cancel before pulling in an unexpected ruleset update that might break extensions. It would also be a convenient location to display some "what's new" info. I think both of these are already on the Feature Requests page.
Nice idea, but this would lead to a support nightmare - some GMs would delay updating of a couple of components and then they'd probably end up experiencing issues as other code evolves, and then supporting them would have additional complications. We already see this when GMs unpack a ruleset and essentially freeze that ruleset code.

[LordEntrails]

The code control comes from the GM, the player downloads the ruleset, extensions, etc. when they connect to the GM - so it's up to the GM to control their update cycles if they sometimes experience issues, players don't have to be that aware of update cycles. More details in one of my previous posts on this. The main edge case, mentioned by Zacchaeus, is when there's a major release to the base application code that requires the GM and players to be on the exact same version.
I think the issue they are concerned with is when a player plays in campaigns with different GMs. GM A updates and B doesn't. And then Player 2 is in a game with GM C, and...

And I think the only way for that to work well is for everyone to update weekly, and for extension developers to use the beta channel. But, none of that is simple. And using PREV channel etc helps a little bit, but it also requires more knowledge and awareness.

But yea, the GMs that chose to use extensions need to be aware of what they are doing etc.

[Trenloe]

I think the issue they are concerned with is when a player plays in campaigns with different GMs. GM A updates and B doesn't. And then Player 2 is in a game with GM C, and...
This is only an issue with a major update to the application, where the GM and player must be on the same version - e.g. when the network code changes.

As I've mentioned a couple of times, the GM pushes the ruleset and extension code to the players when they join the campaign. So a player gets different code from different campaigns, depending on where in the update cycles each GM is.

[Ecks]

Nice idea, but this would lead to a support nightmare - some GMs would delay updating of a couple of components and then they'd probably end up experiencing issues as other code evolves, and then supporting them would have additional complications. We already see this when GMs unpack a ruleset and essentially freeze that ruleset code.

To clarify, I'm talking about allowing the user to approve or cancel an entire update, not pieces of the update, after displaying the list of what would be updated. As it sits now, the only way to know what will be updated is to look through multiple forum posts. The updater already checks every package for an update, instead of installing it immediately it could determine everything that will be updated and then prompt for user confirmation to proceed with the install.

Separate from that, I also mentioned utilizing the PREV channel or potentially decoupling application and content (ruleset, module, etc) updates, which would address the case where the application version changes but a group isn't ready to update (or doesn't want to). The advice of "don't update before a game" falls apart if a single player is on a different major version or needs to (re)install fantasy grounds, since there's no way to get anything but the latest, forcing everyone to update.

Often the major version updates also come with a major ruleset update, which might have game breaking bugs, break existing campaigns, or break extensions. There are a number of forum posts where people have had to cancel sessions last minute after an update, and "not updating" might not have been an option if a single player was on the wrong application version.

[Trenloe]

To clarify, I'm talking about allowing the user to approve or cancel an entire update, not pieces of the update, after displaying the list of what would be updated. As it sits now, the only way to know what will be updated is to look through multiple forum posts. The updater already checks every package for an update, instead of installing it immediately it could determine everything that will be updated and then prompt for user confirmation to proceed with the install.
Ah right, sorry for misunderstanding. This would be a good idea - if FG could work out what you have installed and what you'd be updating; this could get complex if someone hadn't updated for a while...

[Jiminimonka]

Simple solution. It comes up on the loading screen. Don't update before a session.

Or we get into a whole load of weeds and a tiny benefit.

[MrDDT]

Simple solution. It comes up on the loading screen. Don't update before a session.

Or we get into a whole load of weeds and a tiny benefit.

Maybe you didn’t read the thread but that’s a problem as posted many times in this thread.

[seycyrus]

Maybe you didn’t read the thread but that’s a problem as posted many times in this thread.

I think he read the thread, but he can't believe that people can't figure out to not push the shiny red button on their own.

I myself find it hard to believe.

[MrDDT]

I think he read the thread, but he can't believe that people can't figure out to not push the shiny red button on their own.

I myself find it hard to believe.


Let me give you a prime example you need an extension updated because it’s one that you use. How do you update it?

[damned]

Let me give you a prime example you need an extension updated because it’s one that you use. How do you update it?

You push the red button.
Everyone wants extensions in the forge because its the easiest way to keep them updated especially if running many of them.
The downside is you lose the ability to run specific versions or to update or not update.

I think the advice to not update before session is probably not the best advice anymore.
The forge has enabled an even greater number of extensions to be used which compounds the issue significantly.
Running updates during the week is great if you have time, but is still not sufficient as some issues/errors only become apparent when you run the game with players connected.
Catch 22.

There is no good way to ensure you have no errors at game time, especially if you run lots of extensions, without first testing with players connected, all the actions you will do in your game session.

[MrDDT]

You push the red button.
Everyone wants extensions in the forge because its the easiest way to keep them updated especially if running many of them.
The downside is you lose the ability to run specific versions or to update or not update.

I think the advice to not update before session is probably not the best advice anymore.
The forge has enabled an even greater number of extensions to be used which compounds the issue significantly.
Running updates during the week is great if you have time, but is still not sufficient as some issues/errors only become apparent when you run the game with players connected.
Catch 22.

There is no good way to ensure you have no errors at game time, especially if you run lots of extensions, without first testing with players connected, all the actions you will do in your game session.


And now we come back to why though OP posted the post of doing less often updates

[MrDDT]

Also, you can manage extensions update versions. What you can’t manage is extensions being updated without updating to the most current fantasy grounds version

[LordEntrails]

I'm just baffled. Let me work through this.

If we look at the last few months, (since 4.5.0 was released), are we really saying the core program was updated too frequently? I think the answer for some is yes.

Let's look at those updates. There have been 9 of them. Plus an untold number of hot fixes (they are not tracked here: fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/patchnotes_v4.html (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/patchnotes_v4.html)).

First, hot fixes are to resolve major game breaking issues. These are things that affect a significant number of games and generally are game breaking. Therefore it would seem they really should be fixed ASAP. Is their disagreement about this?

Now let's look at the 9 versions. 7 of them were primarily bug fixes. Again, do we not want these in a timely manner? (Maybe these are the ones causing most of the concern.)

Next are the weekly updates for DLC. These happens weekly and are also when the 9 core/ruleset updates are done. These don't break anything and can be new releases or fix errors in DLC. But they don't break anything. So no problem with these right? Is a shiny red button that much of an issue?

Finally, what are the implications of all this? 1) The core/ruleset updates break extensions. And extensions have to be updated. And since community devs are volunteers, they get updated when they get updated. (But Forge updates do not turn the button red). And 2) the update button is red every week, and sometimes more for Hot Fixes, because DLC needs to be released (and fixed).

[seycyrus]

Let me give you a prime example you need an extension updated because it’s one that you use. How do you update it?

Life is full of difficult choices.

Let's not confuse need and want.

[MrDDT]

Life is full of difficult choices.

Let's not confuse need and want.

If you want a broken EXT to work correctly, you need to update it.
You cannot stay on older version if FGU and update an EXT.
This is the same issue for updates to a store item or any FORGE item.

So people saying "just don't click the red button" are missing this whole issue that you cannot choose to stay on an older version of FGU because there are many cases outside of that kind of control.

Next, do not confuse me explaining things to saying I agree with the OP that they need to slow down updates. My belief is they should have 2 different updating systems, I've requested this before, its also been requested on the feature request. To me seems like a no brainer.

However, people are acting like it's totally fixable with just not updating FGU versions. When it is not.

[Jiminimonka]

I have never not pressed the update button. If I find some extension is broken - if it means you can't play I disable all extensions during a session, otherwise we live with it and play. Now we have /console skip too.

Sometimes I press the update button when its not got a red outline.

[anstett]

I am in the Start FG - press update button - load campaign order of operations.

I have my game up 24/7 for my players so I periodically restart FG during the week 2-3 times.

[Nylanfs]

Note: This is one of the reasons why SOME people say "Extensions = RISK!" :D

[Trenloe]

However, people are acting like it's totally fixable with just not updating FGU versions. When it is not.
Trying to fix something that's already broken is a different thing to seemingly being OK and then running an update and things aren't OK.

Ultimately, the more extensions you run the more likely you're going to have issues. Extensions on the Forge get updated out of sync to the normal FG Tuesday update schedule as each extension author updates to their own schedule. There's no City Hall thread for Forge updates, so it's a bit pot luck as to what might get updated or not.

The OPs experience is that they have issues after updating - so, the recommendation for them is not to update right before a game, plus manage the number of extensions they run to reduce the chances of issues occurring in general. The OP hasn't said how many extensions they usually run, so we don't know in their specific case. Issues can also be dormant for a while - you think everything is running OK, but some edge case comes into play and things stop working; is it the most recent update that's caused this, or has there been an issue for a while? I've participated in troubleshooting many FG support issues, and it's not always the most recent update that's caused them - but the perception is there because there's been an update recently - the first question in support is often "what's changed?" - other than "have you turned it off and on?" ;) so blaming a recent update can be a valid first response.

It's a complex subject and each person can have a different setup (extensions, data, how they use FG, etc.) and can have different requirements. You go with what works for you based off your setup and your experience. If you seem to always have issues right after updating, then the recommendation of the GM not updating just before their game session stands. If they usually don't have many issues, or are prepared to ride issues a bit if they occur, and feel they need to be on the most updated code - then update whenever.

I don't think slowing down updates as the OP asked is going to change much. There'll be more changes with a slower update schedule, and therefore a higher chance of something in a user setup clashing and causing issues. Plus we'll always have the need for hotfixes, which are outside of the usual update schedule. Like I said, it's a complex subject with different people having different requirements.

[HywelPhillips]

I know it's not especially helpful to say "the existing method works for me" but... the existing method does work for me! I update FGU every week, and as it happens one of my game nights starts an hour or so after the regular releases hit so we can find ourselves out of sync because some people sync'd before the releases and others just after.

And yet, with that as the absolutely worst-case idiot scenario, I've never had to cancel a game because something broke in the four years I've been using FGU. The most I have ever had to do is to come out of the game, possibly get everyone to check for updates, disable a few extensions, and restart. And that's only been for major point releases so nothing like a weekly basis- it's happened like twice in four years.

Which certainly suggests that my group's use case must be different from the OP's if the weekly updates are breaking things with that regularity for their group. Given that some of my games were quite heavy on extensions I can't imagine how many they must be running for breakage to be a regular event?

My suggestion for the OP would be social engineering, if you can do it. Ask your players only to run check for updates when you ask them to, and only do it yourself once a month. I know that won't fix the spectrum of possible issues with players in multiple groups so if that's your use-case you are a bit stuffed, but it is a regular weekly group with one GM and players who just like to run with a hundred active extensions, that's probably your best bet?

Or even do what I resolved to do if I ever run a campaign on Foundry - get everything working for episode one, and once it is working, freeze the system and don't update AT ALL until the campaign is done. I would investigate having a duplicated Fantasy Grounds app and folders with the frozen version and see if that's doable, for example, so the frozen campaign can be swapped in and out if you run other games or are developing the next campaign, or even host your dev system on a laptop and your live running system frozen on a main computer?

Cheers, Hywel