Windows 7 Connection Woes

[kalmarjan]

Have you tried turning your Win 7 firewall back on and trying again to see if it still works? Also, as others have stated, you will only be able to forward port 1802 to one of your computers or laptops behind your router. That is normally okay unless you plan to host two games simultaneously. You don't need to port forward the laptop if it just connects as a player instance.

When I turn the Win 7 firewall back on, FG II does not work. That is the reason behind my thinking that it is Win 7 that is the issue here.

I want my laptop to be the one that hosts the game, not the desktop. This is important, because I travel.

I also think there are a lot of people with this issue aside from me. Checking on the boards leads me to believe that. I am looking forward to resolving this issue so I can move on. (And develop with you again!)

[kalmarjan]

A question,

Will I be able to travel with this program? If I am in a hotel room, will I be able to host a game?

A lot of hotels will leave a set of ports open so that people can game. (At least, that is the current trend...)

[Spyke]

A question,

Will I be able to travel with this program? If I am in a hotel room, will I be able to host a game?

A lot of hotels will leave a set of ports open so that people can game. (At least, that is the current trend...)

I've never been able to host from a hotel, though it is possible if you set up VPN software such as Hamachi with your group beforehand.

Just opening the ports doesn't solve the problem. The traffic on the port you are using has to be routed to your specific machine ("forwarding").

Playing from a hotel room is no problem, of course (and makes a work trip much more enjoyable).

Spyke

[Spyke]

When I turn the Win 7 firewall back on, FG II does not work. That is the reason behind my thinking that it is Win 7 that is the issue here.

It's not so much a Win 7 issue as simply a need to open up the port on the firewall you are using on your local machine, which in this case happens to be the Win 7 one.

• Use the machine that connects successfully when the Win 7 firewall is switched off.
• Make sure you are logged into Windows on an account with admin access.
• Press the Windows Start key and type "Windows Firewall" in the search box. You should see a control panel option "Allow a program through Windows Firewall" near the top of the list. Click on this and you'll get a list of the applications that the firewall is blocking/permitting.
• If Fantasy Grounds II appears in the list, check that there are ticks in all the Name, Home and Public boxes. (Only tick Public if you need to use FG2 outside of your trusted networks.)
• If FG II isn't on the list, click Allow Another Program (if that's greyed out, click Change Settings first) and select FG II from the new list that pops up, or Browse to find it.

Let us know if that does the trick!

Spyke

[Oberoten]

Actually this thread got me thinking about writing a base-up manual for FG including the most common questions. The FAQ at the Wiki is sadly little added to so ... from now on?

https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/

I have started working a manual into the front-page with links to various common tasks.

- Obe

[Oberoten]

Spyke? Is it okay if I take your text here on the Windows 7 firewall directly to the Wiki?

- Obe

[Spyke]

If you want to be sure that your home router always forwards the traffic to your laptop then you'll need to set up a static IP address on your laptop and update the port forwarding rule on your router to point to that.

This is because the router will by default be handing out IP addresses on a first come, first served basis ("dynamic addresses"). Some routers reserve IP addresses for machines for a while, but sooner or later the address will change, and at that point the port forwarding rule will become invalid.

If you set a static IP address then you can be sure that your router will use this for your laptop, and you can then update the forwarding rule so that it will always hit the laptop.

Again as Administrator under Win 7:

• Click the Start key and type "View network connections" in the Search box.
• Run this and right click on the one that relates to your local network connection.
• Choose Properties.
• Select the one that's like "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and click Properties.
• You can then choose to use a particular IP address. The exact number you choose will depend on the format of the internal addresses handed out by your router. Typically you would only be changing the final number. For example if the default address of your router is 192.168.2.1 (this number goes against "Default gateway") you might choose 192.168.2.50 as your static IP address.
• The only thing you need to be careful about is that the number you choose is outside the range allowed for dynamic addresses in your router settings. (If you can't see what this is, choose a number from the high end of the range.)
• The Subnet mask is likely to be 255.255.255.0.
• Click OK a couple of times.
• Restart your machine.
• Update the port forwarding on your router for port 1802 to match the internal IP address you have chosen for your static address.

I'm not a network expert so if anyone else wants to chip in with advice, please do!

Spyke

[Spyke]

Spyke? Is it okay if I take your text here on the Windows 7 firewall directly to the Wiki?

- Obe

Yes, though it would be good to get confirmation that it works for Jason.

Spyke

[kalmarjan]

I will be following up this thread with a post on the New Savage Worlds Online. If we can get this resolved, that will be great. I do not have my laptop with me right now, so I will try this tonight.