Couple of questions from potentail buyer

[kitching]

Hey - people must be sick of answering these questions, but I couldn't find responses to these questions specifically.

a)If I buy a full version, can I install this on my laptop + desktop? the two will not be used at the same time, but I frequently travel, and would like the option of using my laptop

b)How is connectivity? I'll be typically hosting from a standard cable modem... (is it more stable if I use a ethernet trather than wireless?)

c)do people find you can use voip? does it increase the lattency of fgii if some voice communication is used?

[Sorontar]

Welcome

A)
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/faq.php?faq=license_and_purchasing_issues#faq_lice nse_1

So, yes you can, the EULA says you shouldn't, but has no way of telling.

B)
I personally didn't notice any difference with my wireless set up over my old wired set up. Not a great deal of experience here so someone else will no doubt give you a more detailed answer.
C)
VoiP is widely used in sessions, the only thing I have seen is that it may be better for a player to host the VoiP to lighten the load on the DMs conn.

[Valarian]

Hey - people must be sick of answering these questions, but I couldn't find responses to these questions specifically.

a)If I buy a full version, can I install this on my laptop + desktop? the two will not be used at the same time, but I frequently travel, and would like the option of using my laptop
Not strictly, no. You'd need to have a license for each machine. However, I refer you to the relevant section in the FAQ (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/faq.php?faq=license_and_purchasing_issues#faq_lice nse_1)
[EDIT:] Damn, beaten to it! ;)


b)How is connectivity? I'll be typically hosting from a standard cable modem... (is it more stable if I use a ethernet trather than wireless?)
You may need to forward the port (1802) through the cable modem/router in order to host games. There's information on how to do this lurking somewhere on the boards. Wireless connectivity would depend on how reliable your wireless is. Personally, I don't tend to trust mine enough.


c)do people find you can use voip? does it increase the lattency of fgii if some voice communication is used?
Several people use VOIP, I think Skype and Ventrilo are popular. Personally, I don't, as I find that the suspension of disbelief is better with the characters typing. There again, I don't run or play combat heavy games either so typing doesn't affect the speed of play too much.

[Griogre]

b) Wireless is always slower than a wire. Often a *lot* slower. How slower depends on range from the access point, interference, ect. If you have the choice, always use Ethernet. FG does work fine with wireless, I've used it - and I have also noticed the difference when I sent maps to the players, ect. If you have a slow connection to the Internet you might not notice the differance because the bottleneck is your Internet connection so the extra speed of wired over wireless is meaningless. The Ethernet is usually hundreds of times faster than your Internet connection. The question is - is your wireless connection *slower* than your Internet connection?

c) Most use VoIP. Skype and Ventrillo are popular and free to most RPG sized groups now. They are also bandwidth hogs and assume a broadband connection. I use Teamspeak myself which is also free and has better control over the bandwidth usage. However a lot of the reason is also when I started playing online a friend of a friend had a dedicated TS server. Which one should you use? Use the one that someone has a dedicated server for. ;)

You absolutely don't want to run a VoIP server and host FG over a wireless connection at the same time. If you don't have a dedicated VoIP server (and they really are pretty cheap) have a player with a good connection run the voice server.

Technical stuff aside, each group uses voice differently in their games. Some people use voice for everything. Some people refuse to play in a game with VoIP for the reasons Valarian brought up. I personally run a game were "in character chat" is typed and OOC and rules questions use voice. As a GM I also use voice for narration, combat and scene description, ect.

[DMJBone]

Just a note about Teamspeak-We've been using it for years now, never hosting a server-there are plenty of free servers hosted by others-we just join one and make a 'room' with assigned password.

The only issue we've encountered is having to change servers now and then (because one disappears). But it's not a big deal. Just wanted to put that out there.

[azbo]

b) Wireless is always slower than a wire. Often a *lot* slower. How slower depends on range from the access point, interference, ect. If you have the choice, always use Ethernet. FG does work fine with wireless, I've used it - and I have also noticed the difference when I sent maps to the players, ect. If you have a slow connection to the Internet you might not notice the differance because the bottleneck is your Internet connection so the extra speed of wired over wireless is meaningless. The Ethernet is usually hundreds of times faster than your Internet connection. The question is - is your wireless connection *slower* than your Internet connection?

c) Most use VoIP. Skype and Ventrillo are popular and free to most RPG sized groups now. They are also bandwidth hogs and assume a broadband connection. I use Teamspeak myself which is also free and has better control over the bandwidth usage. However a lot of the reason is also when I started playing online a friend of a friend had a dedicated TS server. Which one should you use? Use the one that someone has a dedicated server for. ;)

You absolutely don't want to run a VoIP server and host FG over a wireless connection at the same time. If you don't have a dedicated VoIP server (and they really are pretty cheap) have a player with a good connection run the voice server.

Technical stuff aside, each group uses voice differently in their games. Some people use voice for everything. Some people refuse to play in a game with VoIP for the reasons Valarian brought up. I personally run a game were "in character chat" is typed and OOC and rules questions use voice. As a GM I also use voice for narration, combat and scene description, ect.

Even if you have broadband and you're still on wireless B (as opposed to G or N which are even faster) your network should be MUCH faster than your internet connection. The bottleneck is in upload which is not the same pipe for most broadband users as the download speed. You might have 3MBps download and 384k upload or even slower. This is the lag when the DM transfers files, not your wireless LAN.