Fantasy grounds hanging for minutes when closing from launcher

[Lo Zeno]

This bug isn't a game stopper, but it sure is puzzling:

I have installed FGU on a new computer, running Windows 11; redownloaded every module and extensions, transferred over the campaigns I run, modules, art, pictures, character portraits etc.
Everything works, but if I close FGU from the main screen, it hangs for 2 to 3 minutes, showing the "(Not Responding)" message in the title bar:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66065&stc=1&d=1766878476

So, if I am running a game, right click, then select "Return to launcher" and then close it, it hangs; if I instead select "exit application" from the campaign, it does not hang.
Everything else seems to be working fine, updater included.
I've tried reinstalling the VTT from scratch, the behaviour didn't change. I added exceptions to the FGU and updater executables, nothing changed. I disabled the antimalware just to test, still happening the same. The firewall is configured to allow connections to FantasyGrounds.exe.
I'm not sure what else to check, but I can't compile logs about it because the issue happens as soon as I click the red X button, and then the launcher become unresponsive, so I can't click "compile logs". When it stops being unresponsive... it closes, 2 to 3 minutes later. The file console.log does not show any error or warning. As said above, it's not a game stopper and I have workarounds, but usually an app that's not responding when trying to close indicates that it's trying to do something that's not working as expected.

[Zacchaeus]

When you close FGVTT it saves the campaign files. So it's possible that it's having a problem saving the file either because it's in a place where it doesn't have permission to properly access or it's trying to save to the cloud and that is just taking a long time (like if you have cloud back up set in windows).

[Lo Zeno]

Unfortunately it's not the case here: there's no cloud backup on that folder, the location is the default data location in AppData/Roaming. Permissions are correct (the folder has literally just been created by Fantasy Grounds itself, as I said it's a FRESH installation on a new computer).

Also that wouldn't explain why it doesn't hang if I select "exit application" while running a campaign

[Lo Zeno]

The same thing started to happen if I click "check for updates" without waiting for at least two minutes after the launcher starts:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66077&stc=1&d=1766963211

When it was installed in my previous computer, it would close FGU and open the updater basically simultaneously. Now instead, it shows this screen, then after two minutes it closes FGU and the updater starts the update process.
Or I can force-close the launcher, which I don't like to do.

I've tried re-re-re-installing (again) FGU, removing all my campaigns (luckily I have copied them in a separate disk), removing the data folder completely as well: basically it happens even with ZERO campaigns present in the data folder.

[Zacchaeus]

I doubt it has anything to do with campaigns but something in the OS that’s glitching FG. I’ve experienced this with some other games which seem to take a while to close down. Not as long as two minutes certainly but long enough to be noticeable. No idea why but I assume it’s something to do with clearing things up.

[LordEntrails]

Check your system logs. I don't expect they will have any clues, but maybe.
Also check your anti-virus and your folder permissions, manually. As well, make sure the new computer doesn't have any type of automatic backups running. Again, I don't think those will give you a solution, but it's worth doing a triple check.

For whatever reason, FG is taking a long time to write to disk when you close. When you open a campaign do a little bit of stuff and then do a manual save (/save in the chat) does it hang for awhile then too?

[Lo Zeno]

Check your system logs. I don't expect they will have any clues, but maybe.
I checked the windows event viewer, thoroughly - no clue

Also check your anti-virus and your folder permissions, manually.
I disabled all anti-malware and anti-virus software, including windows' own antivirus each time I test this. Not something I want to keep doing for long, obviously.

As well, make sure the new computer doesn't have any type of automatic backups running. Again, I don't think those will give you a solution, but it's worth doing a triple check.
The computer came with a blank, formatted hard drive and no software, not even the OS. I've literally installed only the minimal amount of software I need on it and I have yet to set up a backup anywhere.

For whatever reason, FG is taking a long time to write to disk when you close. When you open a campaign do a little bit of stuff and then do a manual save (/save in the chat) does it hang for awhile then too?

I just tried it now:
- if I change a character's equipment, then right-click -> Exit Session -> return to launcher, then close the launcher: it hangs
- if I change a character's equipment, then right-click -> Exit Session -> Exit Program, it does not hang
- if I change a character's equipment, then click the window's red X button, it does not hang.

So like I said in the first post, it seems to be confined to the LAUNCHER.

[Zacchaeus]

Disabling anti virus or malware doesn't always remove them entirely from your system. It's better to have rules in place and leave them on. Also what type of Anti Malware? Some of those have certainly not played nice with FGVTT in the past (a long time ago certainly - back in the Classic days). I don't know what FGVTT does when you close the launcher. I presume it does things like releases memory etc back to the system or whatever. But whatever it does that seems to be what's causing the delay. Not sure if AV or Malware would have any impact on that but at least rule it out as a possibility.

Also this isn't something I've seen reported before so it's not a common problem, and so difficult to pin down.

[Lo Zeno]

Fair points. I do have exceptions in place in Malwarebytes (that's what I use) for FantasyGrounds.exe and FantasyGroundsUpdater.exe, and also in Windows Defender. I used Malwarebytes in my previous PC as well, and it never caused any issue.

I'm sure it's a rather rare issue - I'm getting by with either just waiting 2 minutes before updating, or closing the application always from within the campaign instead of the launcher. But if the devs can find a way for me to figure out how to solve it it would be grand.

[Jiminimonka]

Make sure your hard drive is not getting close to full.

[Lo Zeno]

Make sure your hard drive is not getting close to full.

It has plenty of space.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66082&stc=1&d=1767015014

[Nylanfs]

You could try setting up a temp task log and see if you can capture anything specifically odd that way (https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/1cpjuv1/comment/l3l4s8i/).

[Lo Zeno]

You could try setting up a temp task log and see if you can capture anything specifically odd that way (https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/1cpjuv1/comment/l3l4s8i/).

It's worth a try. Thanks, I'll try later today

[Griogre]

One thing that might be causing the problem is while the save for the core db.xml file for the campaign is fine and being saved, some of the optional files that recreate themselves if missing are failing to save. Stuff like the chatlog, campaign.xml, extensionsstate.xml, modulestate.xml, windowsstate.xml, ect.

You might also try seeing if exiting with every module for the campaign closed and see if that has any impact. It's also possible you changed something in an open module and its still trying to path to a location on your original computer and timing out too.

[Lo Zeno]

One thing that might be causing the problem is while the save for the core db.xml file for the campaign is fine and being saved, some of the optional files that recreate themselves if missing are failing to save. Stuff like the chatlog, campaign.xml, extensionsstate.xml, modulestate.xml, windowsstate.xml, ect.

I think it's unlikely to be the issue, because as I reported the problem shows even when I have ZERO campaigns in my data folder, right after a fresh, clean install.


You might also try seeing if exiting with every module for the campaign closed and see if that has any impact. It's also possible you changed something in an open module and its still trying to path to a location on your original computer and timing out too.

See above: the problem happens already after a clean install, before I even download modules and extensions. And even after I downloaded my modules, the issue happens if I close from the launcher, before I even load the campaign. Ironically, if I load the campaign and then close FGU without returning to the launcher, it does NOT hang. So it can't be the modules or extensions.

[Trenloe]

Can you see any activity in Task Manager for the process - is FantasyGrounds.exe using CPU, GPU, Disk, memory increasing/decreasing while it's not responding?

[Moon Wizard]

At the launcher screen; there are a number of HTTPS calls that go out to determine whether lobby is running, get local/external IP address, and determine whether to highlight Check for Updates button.

Maybe try looking at firewall exceptions for external IP/DNS access, specifically anything regarding *.smiteworks.com or *.fantasygrounds.com. (Also, for fallback, we use "ipinfo.io/ip", "bot.whatismyipaddress.com" for IP v4/v6 external determination.)

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

Can you see any activity in Task Manager for the process - is FantasyGrounds.exe using CPU, GPU, Disk, memory increasing/decreasing while it's not responding?

I took this screenshot earlier:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66090&stc=1&d=1767039341
No CPU activity, memory does not decrease or increase, disk and network activity stay at 0%, only GPU is at 0.3% or 0.4% sometimes, but doesn't fluctuate so I assume it's the baseline activity of the rendering engine (Unity).
Which tells me nothing, because it's the literal definition of an app "not responding", aka waiting for something like an interrupt to end and return control of the thread to the app.

[Lo Zeno]

At the launcher screen; there are a number of HTTPS calls that go out to determine whether lobby is running, get local/external IP address, and determine whether to highlight Check for Updates button.

Maybe try looking at firewall exceptions for external IP/DNS access, specifically anything regarding *.smiteworks.com or *.fantasygrounds.com. (Also, for fallback, we use "ipinfo.io/ip", "bot.whatismyipaddress.com" for IP v4/v6 external determination.)

Regards,
JPG

Got it, I'll try that tonight together with the suggestion of the temp task log. Thanks!

[Lo Zeno]

It doesn't look like Windows Firewall allows to set up exceptions for URLs. I can set up specific programs/executables to be allowed to have inbound/outbound traffic, in general or through specific ports, but I already set those rules for FantasyGrounds.exe

If there's a way to set up exceptions for *.smiteworks.com or *.fantasygrounds.com, I can't see it

The task log is indeed suggesting that there are some remote HTTP calls stuck waiting forever for a response that then timeout - I can't seem to see what the specific calls are from the task log, but the times of the timeout seem to coincide with the moment FGU "unfreezes" and closes finally (with an approximation of 5 seconds, which was my polling time for the task logs).
So I think Moon Wizard is spot on. Why is this happening on this PC and not in my previous one, I'll have to figure it out somehow.
Question for Moon Wizard: are those HTTPS calls blocking, not async? No cancellation token passed to them?

[LordEntrails]

You said earlier this happened when on your network but not when on a VPN? So that would mean the block is at your router/gateway and not on your computer. But why would it only affect one computer?

[Lo Zeno]

You said earlier this happened when on your network but not when on a VPN?
I didn't mention VPN

[Dax Doomslayer]

I'm having the same issues as Lo Zeno. I've never had this issue prior to about 6 weeks or so ago. I opened a separate forum posting, not seeing this one here located at:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?86432-Updating-FGU-issues&p=755693#post755693

I can add that occasionally, it behaves normally. However, usually I'm going into task manager to end the FGU task but keeping the FGU Updater task going works. Then when it relaunches FGU and I try to close it, it hangs for a long time. It's odd that this started recently for me. I've never had issues with this prior.

[Tempered7]

Just an info bit as it might be related:

Latest Win 11 25H2 update reintroduced the old file explorer problems which might be related. I have to wait minutes watching black screen before file explorer loads.

And ownership issues might be another cause.
Even if you allow programs in firewall and win defender, without taking the ownership of the folder and the files {both fgu and data folder}, windows cant write on or even read them.

Right now I solved my update issue by taking ownership of entire SSD's, but I still cant connect to lobby even though I added ''192.168.x.x fantasygrounds.com'' in the win hosts file.

I added fgu to all exceptions, including folder protection. Made advanced rules in the firewall and still no connection. Even with cloudflare. {Just as info. Im solo only player anyway}

EDIT: Finally solved the connection issue. I can connect only with VPN.

[Lo Zeno]

Just to report on the status of this issue on my side, it's still present after the 5.1 update. The only difference is that, apparently randomly, sometimes FGU does not hang when starting the updater, and sometimes it does.

[Moon Wizard]

There is nothing that has changed in v5.1 with regards to those areas of the application; so I wouldn't expect any changes. The only thing I can think of is that something is stalling outbound HTTP/S calls; which is stalling the engine.

Regards,
JPG

[Lo Zeno]

I know it's been a while, but there's been a development:
today, I had changed the refresh rate of my monitor to test something completely unrelated to FGU, and I forgot to set it back to its normal refresh rate; to be precise, I have an Acer XB270HU with G-Sync (the 1st generation G-Sync, not the modern version) and 144 Hz refresh rate, I set it to 60Hz and forgot to set it back to 144 before my game.
The issue did not present itself: FGU did not hang, it opened and closed quickly.

I thought it was somehow related to FGU's framerate, so I experimented: I set my monitor's refresh rate back to 144 and then used /vsync 0 to set FGU to a fixed 60 fps, but I had it hanging again when I closed from the launcher. I tried /vsync 2 to 4 as well, same results.
But if I go into the NVidia control panel or Windows settings and actually set the monitor's refresh rate to anything lower than 70, it doesn't hang. Actually at 70 it feels like it still has a little lag before it actually closes, but from 60 to anything lower than 60 it closes instantly all the time.

I don't know if it's the refresh rate itself, or a combination of the refresh rate and generation 1 G-Sync that somehow doesn't play well with whatever version of Unity engine is currently used by FGU, or if it's a red herring. It might be something only tangentially related to the refresh rate, maybe. I'm very puzzled by it.
Still, I have a workaround at least now. It's not super-convenient to change refresh rate of the monitor each time I DM, but I can live with it.
I'll try testing with another monitor if I can borrow one from someone.

[Moon Wizard]

Thanks; not sure if there is anything we have control over, but good to have additional information in case we see anything.

Regards,
JPG

[LordEntrails]

There was another post recently here or on discord about G Sync being troublesome.

[Lo Zeno]

not sure if there is anything we have control over, but good to have additional information in case we see anything.

Yeah, I'm still reporting mostly for the benefit of anyone who now or in the future might experience a similar issue. It's looking more and more like a conflict between old G-Sync versions and the current Unity version used by FGU. If I'm right, it would be up to Unity to fix it (assuming they would even want to).
I've managed to try with two monitors that I borrowed, both high refresh rate (one 120hz and one 240Hz), the first is a 2023 monitor with G-Sync the other a 2024 monitor with "G-Sync compatible" (actually Freesync): in both cases, no hanging happens when closing FGU from the launch screen.

My monitor, the one where I experience the issue, is from 2015, G-Sync was still at its first iterations then. So it could be that current Unity versions do not fully support the earliest versions of G-Sync anymore, or is not tested on 10+ years old G-Sync monitors anymore.

This is my hypothesis anyway, based on the limited testing I can do. It could be all coincidences and I might be completely off track.