Players disconnect due to error "The host is running an unauthorized copy"

[Lo Zeno]

This has happened for the last two weeks with the same group of people. Some players connect right away to the game that I host, others attempt to connect but the connection fails with the error message "The host is running an unauthorized copy of Fantasy Grounds" - in case there's a doubt, I have a legit Ultimate license. Usually all it takes for them is to close FGU completely, reopen it, reattempt to connect and things work, except today for one of them this wasn't enough and it took her four attempts before she managed to connect to the game.

Normally I'd start checking if they changed anything in their network setup (router, firewall, ISP etc.), but the three that had connection issues today are not the same people who had issues last week; moreover, some of them connect from the USA, some from the UK, one from Italy.
I considered if it was MY network or installation the issue, but the fact that half of the players, each time, managed to connect without issues seems to rule that out (also, as I said, my license is legit).

Two of the three players who had issues connecting today also experienced a couple of instances in which their connection was forcibly terminated, at the same time. The two players connected from the same country, but from two distant parts of said country and using two different ISPs, yet they got disconnected at the same moment - while the other three players weren't.

In the end it was just a hiccup as everyone eventually managed to reconnect and we ran our session, but the interruptions were very weird.
I have attached my (host) logs, but I haven't been able to get the logs from the affected players.

[Moon Wizard]

The authorization check is done by the individual clients; not the GM machine. So, the GM machine logs will not provide any information.

When a client connects to a licenses, it does a quick check to the fantasygrounds.com server to verify that the license is valid. Given that it works most of the time, it sound like something is causing that outgoing request on the user's machine to be blocked or disconnected prematurely.

I'll ask Doug to double-check that there aren't any reasons the CDN for the web site would interfere with that. Otherwise, I would assume it's something specific to the ISP or security settings that is blocking/closing the connections.

Regards,
JPG

[Moon Wizard]

We checked the server settings; and there's no server logs showing any issues and we verified that the caching servers do not cache those requests.

So, it looks like something is interfering with the connection between the user's having the issue and the FG servers in the US. For those users, you can check their router settings or ISP account settings to make sure there is no filtering, throttling, or security filters potentially blocking. It could potentially be a noisy connection if running wifi connection with a weaker signal.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

I've already arranged to help them check their settings and ISP settings, and instructed everyone on providing me their logs should this happen again in the next session so I can forward it here; but as I said, the fact that last week it happened to certain players, and this week it happened to DIFFERENT players (while the ones that had issues last week didn't have any problem this time) who don't even share the same geographical location makes the chances that it's something on their ISP configuration approximately zero.
Most of them are not technical enough to even understand how to get to the router configuration, but I told them to verify that no family member has messed with their network.
One of those who had issues last week was connected with an ethernet cable to a full-fibre connection, so that rules out many instances of noisy connections or weak signal.

A total of six people with five different ISPs, in three different countries, experienced the same error, three in one day and three in a different one, one user on a particularly stable network type, and the error insinuated it was a host license problem - you can see how I'm skeptical that something will turn up by looking at their routers or ISPs.

[Lo Zeno]

[disregard, double posted]

[Moon Wizard]

The license check runs from the player machine; not the GM machine. So, unless something on the GM side is messing with the outgoing data going to the players, it seems unlikely to be a GM side issue.

I agree that given that it was different sets that it is something related to new setting changes. I'm also not getting any other reports from other users at this time, which would point towards something at our ISP/servers.

So, that leaves issues between ISPs (i.e. random-ness of Internet connectivity across countries), which are usually ephemeral or caused by DDoS or other Internet "weather".

Just to be sure, I looked up your license, and it should end with "M62".

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

Just to be sure, I looked up your license, and it should end with "M62".



Yup, that checks out

[Zacchaeus]

This sometimes happens (it happened to one of my players last Sunday - but he runs a mac so that's always 'special'). Generally if the player completely closes down Fantasy Grounds and tries again it'll work. Might also need to reboot their computer.

[Lo Zeno]

Yeah, that's how we "solved" it for last week's session - close and reopen FGU for those affected.
What prompted me to post here this week is because this last session one player had to close-and-reopen multiple times (four) before it worked, and two of the affected players saw their connections terminated during play at the same time, and when they attempted reconnection they saw the error again.

Hopefully if it happens again I'll at least have the players' logs this time, or some other clue to shed light on why it happens.

[LordEntrails]

When they close and re-launch, make sure they give it some time for the licenses to time out. I think this is 1-2 minutes. If you re-launch before the timeout, you'll still get the error.

[Lo Zeno]

When they close and re-launch, make sure they give it some time for the licenses to time out. I think this is 1-2 minutes. If you re-launch before the timeout, you'll still get the error.

That's good to know, I'll keep that in mind

[Lo Zeno]

So, it happened again tonight.
This time it was the ONLY player that had not had this issue the other times. Same error: "The host is running an unauthorized copy"
This time it was a player connecting from the UK. Attempted twice to connect, failed, closed, waited a minute and restarted FGU, attempted three times, failed, closed waited and restarted FGU again, finally managed to connect.
Luckily, this time they managed to grab the logs and send them to me, I've attached them to this post.

It's starting to become pretty annoying since it happens every bloody week and sometimes requires multiple restarts of FGU to get past the "host is running an unauthorized copy" error.

[Moon Wizard]

I'm at a bit of a loss on this one.

* The only reason the GM machine would affect this is if the outgoing initial connection response got truncated (due to network settings in GM environment) which would make the players fail whenever that happened.
* For the players, it's a basic HTTPS request to the server to verify the license hash is valid. Nothing crazy. I would expect if it was player network settings that the same people would have the issue each week; but your experience is that it is different people each week, which leads back to GM environment.

Can you think of anything on the GM side in security software, router settings or ISP settings that would throttle or filter communications? All it takes is for one byte to be changed to invalidate the check. Perhaps something is thinking that the license hash is some sort of string that should be filtered, and gets caught some times?

Regards,
JPG

[Moon Wizard]

Talking with Doug, we had a situation a long time ago where a license key containing the letter F**K kept getting issues. We're thinking that either the license key or the hash is possibly triggering an issue.

We've emailed you a replacement license key to hopefully see if that resolves the issue. Please let us know if you do not get the key in your email associated with your FG account.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

Can you think of anything on the GM side in security software, router settings or ISP settings that would throttle or filter communications? All it takes is for one byte to be changed to invalidate the check. Perhaps something is thinking that the license hash is some sort of string that should be filtered, and gets caught some times?

I can list here what I checked and verified, so you guys can give me suggestions on other steps I can take:
For context, I run FGU on a Windows 11 PC.
I have an antivirus (Malwarebytes) but I disable it when I run the game as in the past it has interfered with FGU connections. Windows Firewall doesn't show any rule that blocks FGU as an application to connect, or that block outgoing UDP traffic, or TCP traffic, out anything on port 1802.
The PC is wired to the main router. My router is a TP-Link Deco series, for mesh WiFi, but the desktop pc is connected to the main one so no WiFi mesh in the middle. My router settings have no special firewall rules that could block UDP or TCP traffic going out or port 1802 on my computer; there's address reservation to give my PC a static internal IP ( for other software I have on this pc).
I've been with my ISP for close to 8 years, the only thing they have changed in the years is my connection speed and the last time they increased it was May last year; they do have an "adult traffic filter" option that blocks certain connections (meant to block adult websites and other non-child friendly traffic) but I opted out of that when I signed up. TO MY KNOWLEDGE, they haven't made any change to my connection settings at least for the last 24 months (but not having direct access to their systems I can only speak for what my connection portal shows), and definitely not in the last month and a half.


Talking with Doug, we had a situation a long time ago where a license key containing the letter F**K kept getting issues. We're thinking that either the license key or the hash is possibly triggering an issue.

We've emailed you a replacement license key to hopefully see if that resolves the issue. Please let us know if you do not get the key in your email associated with your FG account.

I received the key in my email, I'll test it out during the week and report back. Cheers.

[Moon Wizard]

Let us know if the updated key works; and I would definitely recheck your ISP settings in your account.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

I made some quick connection tests with my players and so far we haven't seen the problem pop up. But I could only test with one or two players at a time, a better test will be next week in our scheduled game when I'll have everyone connect, I think.

Yeah, I re-checked the ISP settings on my account portal several times - the only thing that could block traffic is the adult filter, but it's disabled. I mean, I can access PornHub and I can send POST requests to a few questionable APIs containing swear words, so yeah it's definitely disabled.

[Lo Zeno]

I'm running a new session with all the players right now, as I type, and everyone has connected without a hitch this time. So that's encouraging!

[Lo Zeno]

Well, it was good until it lasted. One of my players is experiencing the issue again right now. So now it's clear that it's not related to the Ultimate key containing F**K in it... and it's unlikely (but not impossible) that it's my ISP blocking something as after my last few calls with their customer support they should have removed any unwanted restrictions (emphasis on should).

We'll try to troubleshoot what we can, once more, after this game.

[Nylanfs]

You could try running on a VPN for a short while. That "should" bypass any ISP restrictions shouldn't it?

[Lo Zeno]

You could try running on a VPN for a short while. That "should" bypass any ISP restrictions shouldn't it?
Yes it should, at least based on my previous troubleshooting for another issue with starting a cloud-based game. That's what I'm going to try for the next couple of weeks, or until the issue appears even with the VPN on.

[Zacchaeus]

You could also try connecting via a phone hotspot which will also bypass your ISP.

[Lo Zeno]

You could also try connecting via a phone hotspot which will also bypass your ISP.

I thought about that; but my mobile provider (Virgin Mobile) is owned and managed by my ISP (Virgin Media) so there's a good chance it might have the same provider settings.

[Ecks]

FWIW, I had this happen to a player today. They just kept retrying before they finally were able to join on the 5th attempt.

[Lo Zeno]

Well, it's happened again twice in the last two weeks. First time a UK player, second time two of the US players.
I've run out of options: I've connected using a mobile hotspot from a different provider (EE) using a pay-as-you-go SIM, I've had a new license key from SmiteWorks, I've disabled all the security softwares on my machine and router, used a VPN, I've even changed computer (and technically I've changed router too when I connected via mobile hotspot). I don't even know what else to do to diagnose the cause now.

[Moon Wizard]

At a bit of a loss here too. The gist of the way it works.

* Client connects to host.
* Host provides a license key hash to the client based on the license key during the connection handshake
* Client runs a HTTPS check to SW servers to verify key with simple yes/no type answer.
* If yes, the connection handshake continues; otherwise, "The host is running an unauthorized copy".

So, in order for it to fail on a valid license key, either:
* The license key hash would be changed/corrupted when travelling from host->client;
* OR the license request URL from the client->SW Server gets changed/corrupted.

Just talking out loud working through all the steps:
* Is there any possibility of software (VPN, antivirus, firewall, ad blocker, etc.) on both of your machines?
* Is it the same players having the issue at this point? (Maybe it's a two point of failure issue vs. our assumption of a single point of failure)

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

Apologies @Moon Wizard, for some reason I did not get a notification of your reply to this thread.


Just talking out loud working through all the steps:
* Is there any possibility of software (VPN, antivirus, firewall, ad blocker, etc.) on both of your machines?
* Is it the same players having the issue at this point? (Maybe it's a two point of failure issue vs. our assumption of a single point of failure)


No to the first question: in more than one occasion I have disabled everything that could be disabled on my machine and my router in terms of firewalls, antivirus, and any network-related software, and two of my players who had issues and were technically inclined enough did the same on their machines to help me figure out what's the root cause (but it did not make any difference)
No also to the second question: it's still different players each time it happens, and they are geographically very distant from each other.
It's still happening - last two times it was last Friday and last Monday. Collecting the logs, as usual, doesn't show anything different from the first time.
It's also unlikely to be a problem somehow related to the OS because one of the players who suffers this issue every now and then is on a Mac, the others on Windows.

Still, I wouldn't discard the two point of failure issue, it's just... so hard to figure out what they are, at this point.

[Nylanfs]

Have you tried removing and adding FG to the whitelist?

[Lo Zeno]

Have you tried removing and adding FG to the whitelist?

Multiple times, on both computer firewall, router firewall and antivirus. Same for the players who experienced the issue.
One of the times we experienced the issue was even with me on a different computer (a relative's laptop) on a different network (mobile hotspot) in a different country (I was visiting family) which would have been comparable to the freshest of fresh installs possible.

[Nylanfs]

Just as a wild stab in the dark, you don't have any special characters or non-standard characters in your campaign name or GM name right?

[Lo Zeno]

Just as a wild stab in the dark, you don't have any special characters or non-standard characters in your campaign name or GM name right?

Good question, I didn't think about checking that, but no: my GM name is my forum name (Lo Zeno), my campaign names have only alphanumeric characters and sometimes a dash.

[MrDDT]

Good question, I didn't think about checking that, but no: my GM name is my forum name (Lo Zeno), my campaign names have only alphanumeric characters and sometimes a dash.

space is a special character.

[Lo Zeno]

space is a special character.

In that case, I'm going to assume that space in a campaign name can be considered safe since plenty of campaigns have that but don't experience my problem (or so it looks to me).

Space in the GM name... I see it's uncommon, but I would expect it gets HTML encoded or escaped in some way when sent over; @Moon Wizard, could space in my GM name affect or cause the issue?

[Moon Wizard]

I wouldn't think so; as many people have spaces in their user name, including myself.
The same applies for spaces in campaign names.
One caveat is that multiple spaces together in a campaign name can be problematic (or leading/trailing spaces).

However, that shouldn't impact the license check. The campaign name comes after the license check, and the GM name is only used to "look up" the IP address in the lobby.

As I posted above, the license check is fairly simple.
* Client connects to host.
* Host provides a license key hash to the client based on the license key during the connection handshake
* Client runs a HTTPS check to SW servers to verify key with simple yes/no type answer.
* If yes, the connection handshake continues; otherwise, "The host is running an unauthorized copy".

Something is either blocking/losing a connection somewhere in the process, or the data is being modified somewhere in the process. No idea why that would be specific to an installation.

Regards,
JPG

[Moon Wizard]

Ok, just pushed a build to the beta Test channel that has a little more logging for the license check. If you have everyone on the Test version and they see the issue again, then have them immediately open the console (from the button in upper left of the launch screen), and click the Compile Logs button. Hopefully, the additional information will tell us if the issue is that the server hash is getting changed/lost or the server check is failing with that hash.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

Ok, just pushed a build to the beta Test channel that has a little more logging for the license check. If you have everyone on the Test version and they see the issue again, then have them immediately open the console (from the button in upper left of the launch screen), and click the Compile Logs button. Hopefully, the additional information will tell us if the issue is that the server hash is getting changed/lost or the server check is failing with that hash.

Regards,
JPG
Will do.

[estrolof]

Eagerly awaiting your discovery. We have been having this same error the last three weeks. Like Lo Zeno, the strangeness is seemingly random. 4 of 5 players have been struck by it at least once, though one of them twice. Two of them needed to do hard PC restarts (took 4 or 5 attempts) but they got in.

[Moon Wizard]

@estrolof,
If your group ends up running the beta Test version, you can also provide the same reports from the players that have the failure.

Thanks,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

We just had the issue pop up again. A user had to retry multiple times, each time he was getting the "host is running an unauthorized copy" error, I managed to get them to compile the logs in two of those instances. I've attached them now (we all updated to 4.8.0)

[Moon Wizard]

So, it looks like their machine is throwing an exception when attempting to access any URL on the SVN server saying that it is initializing twice.

Is there anything setup unique on this user's networking? Proxy server? VPN? Anything different than a vanilla, out of the box setup?

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

So, it looks like their machine is throwing an exception when attempting to access any URL on the SVN server saying that it is initializing twice.

Is there anything setup unique on this user's networking? Proxy server? VPN? Anything different than a vanilla, out of the box setup?

Regards,
JPG

Not as far as I know, no proxy, no VPN, no strange setups: she has a laptop connected to her wireless router, which is a standard router provided by her ISP (Virgin Media). The problem disappeared after she closed FGU and reopened it three times, after which she managed to connect and play without a hiccup until the end of the session.

Only one of my players has a setup that I would consider "non-vanilla", yet all my players had this issue in different occasions (and remember, they are even geographically very far from each other).
I'll make sure to collect logs from the others when it happens again.

[Moon Wizard]

The error seems to imply that the code is failing because the networking is initializing twice; but we are just calling a vanilla Microsoft .Net call in that function without any other calls made.
That's why I'm wondering what is causing the issue. Some sort of redirect? Proxy? It's definitely happening on the player side.

In the mean time, I have placed a Dev channel build using a different URL networking library (Unity vs. .Net).
Can you have you and your players try updating to the Dev channel, and see if they have any problems connecting?
If not, we'll run a few more tests, and plan to incorporate those changes into the next version.

Thanks,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

I will tell my players to get on the Dev channel, but due to holidays, kids, various reasons we're taking a break from our game for the next 3 weeks, so it will be a while before I can report again.

I am trying to post a suggestion about something I know about this type of exception in .net but every time I type out my suggestion, Cloudflare blocks me from posting - what channel can I use to send you what I wrote without triggering this stupid protection mechanism?

[LordEntrails]

When I find issues with Cloud Flare, I use the Go Advanced. You will then get the human verification prompt which you don't get with a quick reply and then things will be fine for days or weeks.

[Lo Zeno]

I tried that - no luck. It gives me the same stupid "Sorry, you have been blocked" message as soon as I click "Submit reply".
This literally appeared after I clicked that button trying to post the forbidden message

Cloudflare

[Zacchaeus]

That’s probably due to something in the message that you are trying to post.

[Lo Zeno]

That’s probably due to something in the message that you are trying to post.

I'd love to be able to show the message to someone so they can tell me what Cloudflare is flagging as block-worthy. But I can't without triggering Cloudflare.
It's all about .NET code, exceptions and configuration so I have no idea why Cloudflare considers it soooooo dangerous.

[Lo Zeno]

Screw it.
I don't have all night to try a million ways to rephrase the message to overcome the stupid Cloudflare filters. Here's the bloody dangerous message, attached as a TXT file.

[Zacchaeus]

One of my players gets this error fairly frequently and it is possible that he does exactly what you say in that he updates just before joining. Closing FG and restarting fixes the issue. However he is on a Mac and therefore ‘special’ �� None of the other players have this issue.

[Lo Zeno]

One of my players gets this error fairly frequently and it is possible that he does exactly what you say in that he updates just before joining. Closing FG and restarting fixes the issue. However he is on a Mac and therefore ‘special’ 😎 None of the other players have this issue.

Closing and restarting is the only way that fixes it, from what I have seen, but sometimes it's necessary to restart two or three times - which would hint at a process still running in the background when FGU restarts. And I bet that many issues get under-debugged because someone who can replicate them is on a mac and therefore considered "the special case". For what it's worth, all my players use Windows PCs right now, including the one who had the issue and provided the logs last time.
Unfortunately, not having access to the code repository means that this is a conjecture at best, and might be very off track - but I still wanted to throw the idea in in case it could give Moon Wizard or anyone else a clue to work on.

[Lo Zeno]

One of my players gets this error fairly frequently and it is possible that he does exactly what you say in that he updates just before joining. Closing FG and restarting fixes the issue. However he is on a Mac and therefore ‘special’ 😎 None of the other players have this issue.

Hey, if your mac player gets this error fairly frequently, could you ask them to compile the logs when it happens and put them here? Maybe comparing their logs with my players' logs will shed some light to this.

[Zacchaeus]

Hey, if your mac player gets this error fairly frequently, could you ask them to compile the logs when it happens and put them here? Maybe comparing their logs with my players' logs will shed some light to this.

I'll try to remember to ask them to do that. They don't always tell me at the time.

[Eru the One]

Continuing from my discord post this afternoon

Logs from my player to open games:
fgu_logs_20250811.zip
fgu_logs_20250811_2.zip

Tried to connect to my server:
fgu_logs_20250811_3.zip
fgu_logs_20250811_4.zip

Closed and restarted FG and tried my server again:
fgu_logs_20250811_5.zip
fgu_logs_20250811_6.zip

[Eru the One]

adding the final log

[RojoGrande6]

I'm the player, I just partitioned my hard drive to a dual boot with Windows 10 and Linux Mint 22.1. I never had a problem until Friday, the 8th. I couldn't get in to any games no matter whose (tried a bunch of unsecured games) and nothing I did worked (updating, closing and reopening FG, restarting my PC) except switching back to Windows 10. I can't get in on Mint, either directly or through Steam.

[LordEntrails]

Is this after everyone switched to the Dev channel and ran an Update?
Or is this with everyone on the Live Channel?
And the host is running 4.8 correct?

[RojoGrande6]

Pretty sure it's the live channel, and we're all on 4.8.0

[RojoGrande6]

Patch 4.8.1 seems to have solved my issue. I'm now able to connect.