This is only required for Fantasy Grounds Classic (FGC). Hosting a Cloud Game with Fantasy Grounds Unity bypasses the need for this entirely. |
Fantasy Grounds relies upon port forwarding for the Game Master to allow players to connect in to their computer remotely. Players within the same network can Join Game and enter the Internal IP address of the Game Master in order to bypass any port forwarding requirements for the Game Master. Any external players will be dependent upon port forwarding being set up on the Game Master's router.
These steps are only required by the Game Master hosting the game. The instructions tell the Game Master's Internet router where to send all Fantasy Grounds traffic once it reaches their home network.
Launch Fantasy Grounds
Choose Create New Campaign or Load Campaign
Locate the Internal IP address under the Address information.
The number should be broken into 4 sections, or octets, with a number from 0 to 255 each. The most common IP addresses will begin with 192.168.0.X.
For Mac users, Fantasy Grounds won't display your Internal IP address here. Please follow these instructions to locate your IP and record it for future steps.
How to Find your IP Address on a Mac
You will need to know the make and model # of your Internet router. There is often a sticker with logon instructions on the side. If your Internal IP address is 192.168.0.13, then you can also try logging your web browser into http://192.168.0.1 to access your router.
We highly recommend going to portforward.com to look up step-by-step instructions for your specific router.
We don’t recommend buying any software from portforward.com. This is unnecessary. We only recommend looking up the instructions they have per router. |
Visit PortForward.com
Choose the Home > List of all Programs from the menu on the left
Type Ctrl+F to open the search/Find window and type in Fantasy Grounds. You will see it listed as requiring TCP 1802. Click the link
Choose the Make of your router. Most major brands should be listed
Choose the Model # of your router. If you don't see it in the list, look for one close to it. They often closely resemble the same interface
Follow from Step 2 and beyond. Step 1 allows you to permanently reserve the same Internal IP address every time your computer or laptop boots up and connects to your router. It is a good idea but is not a required step.
When you reach the port forward setting, select 1802 TCP for all ports listed (public/private and start/end of the range). It's always just a single port that is required.
Click Run Test on the Fantasy Grounds screen. It should report a green Successful message. If not, you need to refer to troubleshooting steps below or contact Support via the Fantasy Grounds Customer Support portal for help.
You can contact us via the Fantasy Grounds Customer Support portal and ask for further assistance. We will want to know the Internal IP address and the make and model # of your router along with any additional firewall or anti-virus software you may be running locally.
Make sure your Internet connection is marked as Private and not Public A Public setting for your local network connection tells Microsoft Windows that your network is not trusted. This is meant for Internet access in airports, coffee shops, etc. As a result, networking features such as port forwarding are disabled. For a home network, you should mark it as Private.
To change this, click the Windows button and type in Network Status. If it says Public, click on Change Connection Properties and then switch it to Private or Home.
Getting Blocked by Local Firewall or Anti-virus software The file C:\Program Files (x86)\Fantasy Grounds\FantasyGrounds.exe must not be blocked by your security software on your computer. Add an exception to your firewall or security software for this and any other exe files found in that folder. There have been situations where updates to popular anti-virus software has caused Fantasy Grounds to suddenly become blocked. If Fantasy Grounds usually works and suddenly stops, try temporarily disabling your security software to see if the problem is related to a recent update.
Multiple local Internet Routers Most routers hide everything behind the router for security reasons. By port forwarding TCP 1802 traffic, we tell the router where to send the traffic. In a 2-router situation, you have to port forward the inner-most router just like we describe above. Afterward, we need to then port forward 1802 TCP traffic from the outer-most router to the inner-most router to form a daisy chain.