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  1. #1

    AlgoVPN - Setting up for Windows 10 to run an FG game

    Morning, all. I spent a good part of the last two days creating a step by step instruction document for setting up AlgoVPN to be used with FG. Why is this useful? If you are at a location where you don't have access to your router, you can use this to run a Fantasy Grounds game. So, if you are at an apartment where you can't access your router, or traveling in a hotel, this solution should work! AlgoVPN is a set of ansible scripts to setup the service. It is free. I setup mine using the cloud provider AWS. I did this as it is free for a year. After that I will check and see what it will cost me to run. So, for 12 months at least, this solution should be completely free for you!

    Be warned, this is fairly involved and will take time! Hopefully less for you as I spent a ton of time googling, etc.. to figure this out! I'm really hoping my instructions will help streamline the process for you, but please let me know if things aren't clear. A HUGE thanks to nicolakf for pointing us to this solution.

    As a reminder, PureVPN seems to work great for folks. (Thanks to Myrdin Potter for originally telling us about it!). I use it myself. I just wanted to see if AlgoVPN was another option for folks. After setting this up and getting it to work on two separate computers, it seems that it is!

    Oh, and my instructions are for Windows 10, 64-bit systems. Make sure that is what you have! You can use other cloud storage providers, but again, my instructions are specific to AWS.

    If anyone uses this and gets it up and running, let me know! Good luck and enjoy!

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnbk4asgvy...20to.docx?dl=0

    Troubleshooting Tip #1:
    When you setup the port forwarding rule as I detail in the word document, keep in mind that it will not persist with an AWS server reboot. Meaning, if you ever stop your AWS EC2 instance or reboot it (or it just goes down for some reason), you will need to insert the port forwarding language in Ubuntu again. Someone more technical than I might be able to figure out how to take the language I used and put it in the config.cfg to make it persist even with a server reboot. I tried and couldn't get the right language. (This won't make sense until you go through the detail instructions in dropbox). To be clear, the security rule that you put in AWS will be fine, its just the actual PREROUTING and FORWARD commands that will need to be updated.
    Last edited by Gwydion; April 16th, 2018 at 20:07. Reason: Add Troubleshooting Tip #1
    Live stream: https://www.twitch.tv/gwydione
    Youtube replays of fg sessions and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr...bIpAauZB41z8gA

    Free stuff:
    D&D5e FAQ module for fg: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/196704/FAQs
    FG 5e Module Conversions: https://tinyurl.com/y6awo2la
    Map Maker Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y3awlo4b
    Roll Player Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y399kffz
    Rangers of Shadow Deep Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/rnyrgwg

  2. #2
    Myrdin Potter's Avatar
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    Trenloe first suggested PureVPN, I have just been a heavy user of it and have tried to help when people ran into an issue.

    For the average traveler, having your own VPN service like this could help. If you travel to places like China that actively block the common VPN protocols, you will probably need a commercial service that works to overcome the latest twist thrown at you.
    Ultimate License. Running Hyperborea and CoC. Asks lots of questions. Mgpotter.com. PureVPN is a tested solution to run games when traveling. https://billing.purevpn.com/aff.php?aff=33044

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Myrdin Potter View Post
    Trenloe first suggested PureVPN, I have just been a heavy user of it and have tried to help when people ran into an issue.

    For the average traveler, having your own VPN service like this could help. If you travel to places like China that actively block the common VPN protocols, you will probably need a commercial service that works to overcome the latest twist thrown at you.
    Yeah, good point about international. Didn't really think about that.
    Live stream: https://www.twitch.tv/gwydione
    Youtube replays of fg sessions and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr...bIpAauZB41z8gA

    Free stuff:
    D&D5e FAQ module for fg: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/196704/FAQs
    FG 5e Module Conversions: https://tinyurl.com/y6awo2la
    Map Maker Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y3awlo4b
    Roll Player Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y399kffz
    Rangers of Shadow Deep Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/rnyrgwg

  4. #4
    One more thing about this setup. Once you do the heavy lifting and get this set up, you can share this solution very easily with other people to use. I tried this with Rob2e and Urosh54 and Rob had it up and working within 10 minutes and Urosh54 just had a windows firewall issue we had to correct to allow FG and then it worked fine. I will post a separate set of instructions on that. So, if you are of the technical sort and want to set it up for your DM and then share with them, you can!

    The only caveat is that the way we set it up, you can only have one person on the VPN at any one time as we set up a type of static ip within the service so that the port-forwarding always works. I'll post more tips/tricks here as I think about them and troubleshooting tips.
    Live stream: https://www.twitch.tv/gwydione
    Youtube replays of fg sessions and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr...bIpAauZB41z8gA

    Free stuff:
    D&D5e FAQ module for fg: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/196704/FAQs
    FG 5e Module Conversions: https://tinyurl.com/y6awo2la
    Map Maker Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y3awlo4b
    Roll Player Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y399kffz
    Rangers of Shadow Deep Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/rnyrgwg

  5. #5
    Trenloe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gwydion View Post
    The only caveat is that the way we set it up, you can only have one person on the VPN at any one time...
    It's not just the way you've set it up. The underlying limitation is that you can only have one GM using this at a time, as the server has one external IP address to connect to. So you can only have one set of players at a time connect to one GM. Unless you start to go the route of the players and GM changing the port FG uses.
    Private Messages: My inbox is forever filling up with PMs. Please don't send me PMs unless they are actually private/personal messages. General FG questions should be asked in the forums - don't be afraid, the FG community don't bite and you're giving everyone the chance to respond and learn!

  6. #6

    Algo VPN - Test Offer

    Good morning, all! I had another thought that might be helpful. Given the AlgoVPN setup process as I've outlined in the word document in the first post is very lengthy (estimate of 1-2 hrs to setup based on downloading, etc..), if anyone wants to test this solution to see if it looks like it should work for you, just PM me your email address. I will email you a .ps1 file and instructions on how to connect to the instance I've already created. The process of connecting to mine (versus building your own) should take 10-15 min unless you end up having firewall issues we need to troubleshoot. If you do, it would be good to troubleshoot now anyway. That way at least you know that it should work for you and then you can invest the time to set up your own if you want. The only thing I would ask is once you prove the connection works, remove my instance from your machine as if I have a lot of folks with the same credentials, and people try to login at the same time, it will cause some issues.

    Remember that you need to have a PC with Windows 10, 64-bit version with at least the Anniversary update in order to install the solution. So, go ahead and PM me if you'd like to try it before you put in the time to install yourself! I might start another thread if I don't have anyone take me up on this. This offer is a bit buried here. I'll see what kind of response I get.
    Last edited by Gwydion; April 17th, 2018 at 17:02.
    Live stream: https://www.twitch.tv/gwydione
    Youtube replays of fg sessions and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr...bIpAauZB41z8gA

    Free stuff:
    D&D5e FAQ module for fg: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/196704/FAQs
    FG 5e Module Conversions: https://tinyurl.com/y6awo2la
    Map Maker Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y3awlo4b
    Roll Player Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y399kffz
    Rangers of Shadow Deep Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/rnyrgwg

  7. #7
    I am curious about this VPN service. I currently use Hamachi LogMeIn for my players. It has been working well for us and is relatively simple to use for my players. Are there any benefits to this over Hamachi or is this just another option to explore?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Catalyst20XX View Post
    I am curious about this VPN service. I currently use Hamachi LogMeIn for my players. It has been working well for us and is relatively simple to use for my players. Are there any benefits to this over Hamachi or is this just another option to explore?
    I'll let others chime in as I've never used Hamachi, but I think the main benefit would be as I understand it you and your players need to download Hamachi and for some players that can be confusing. For Algo VPN (and Pure VPN), only the DM needs to log into the VPN. The players just connect with your alias as normal. However, if Hamachi is working for you and your players I don't see a compelling reason that I would recommend to change.
    Live stream: https://www.twitch.tv/gwydione
    Youtube replays of fg sessions and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr...bIpAauZB41z8gA

    Free stuff:
    D&D5e FAQ module for fg: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/196704/FAQs
    FG 5e Module Conversions: https://tinyurl.com/y6awo2la
    Map Maker Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y3awlo4b
    Roll Player Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/y399kffz
    Rangers of Shadow Deep Conversion: https://tinyurl.com/rnyrgwg

  9. #9
    Myrdin Potter's Avatar
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    The main benefit to a GN driven VPN vs. Hamachi is only one person needs to worry about it or installs anything. In particular, it helps when you DM different groups (such as someone who DM’s Adventurers League games and does not have the same players every time).

    It also helps when you have a DM that occasionally travels and the players are resistant to installing something on their hard drive.
    Ultimate License. Running Hyperborea and CoC. Asks lots of questions. Mgpotter.com. PureVPN is a tested solution to run games when traveling. https://billing.purevpn.com/aff.php?aff=33044

  10. #10
    Great, thanks!

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