Using ZeroTier to Host a Fantasy Grounds Game
Good evening, everyone. As some of you know, I've been on a quest to help folks be able to run a Fantasy Grounds game as a GM when they are having trouble port-forwarding, are traveling and want to host a game, etc... I setup AlgoVPN and it worked great. Only caveat is it took me quite a while to set up. It was a pretty involved process.
Well, today I found ZeroTier. ZeroTier bills itself as a virtual networking layer that works the same everywhere. Pretty ambitious statement! So, without a huge expectation, I decided to test it. So, I went to www.zerotier.com, clicked on "Try Zero Tier" and downloaded the program. After setting up a network in a couple minutes, I was ready to test things. First off, it automatically assigns you an internal ip address that I believe is outside of the range of your current internal ip range (at least it did for me). That is the ip address that players will use to join your game. I remembered this after reviewing Damned's instructions on using Hamachi. I tested ZeroTier myself using a hotspot to make sure I wasn't on my home network and I connected just fine from a second laptop. Then I had a player I know download the software and connect. He connected to me just fine as well.
I suppose I need to do some speed testing, test if this will work from a hotel, etc.. Bottom line, though, I can't believe how simple it was to setup and get a connection! The players will have to download a program (like Hamachi I guess), but there is absolutely no adware, etc.. and it is very simple. And yes... absolutely free!!! So, rather than typing out a how-to, I made a quick video (9 minutes long) and posted to youtube. Sorry for some of the quality when I scroll. I was still on my hotspot. I was too excited, though and had to share. Please let me know if you try it and it works for you! This could be another great option for folks.
Here is the link to my youtube video:
https://youtu.be/Os1jjbQAFao