How to Port Forward and Host a Game in Fantasy Grounds Classic

Owned by Derek Batting
Last updated: Jul 02, 2024
4 min read

NOTE: Fantasy Grounds Classic has been discontinued and was retired with its end-of-life date being June 24th, 2021. Fantasy Grounds Classic will no longer receive any product updates or DLC releases after this date.

Fantasy Grounds Classic was replaced by Fantasy Grounds VTT (Fantasy Grounds Unity/FGU), which was built upon the Unity 3D gaming engine. Licenses for Fantasy Grounds Classic are no longer for sale. This page is for archival purposed.

Please consider using or upgrading to Fantasy Grounds VTT (Fantasy Grounds Unity/FGU).

NOTE: Port forwarding is only required for Fantasy Grounds Classic (FGC). Hosting a Cloud Game with Fantasy Grounds VTT (Unity) bypasses the need for this entirely and requires no special network configuration.

Fantasy Grounds Classic (FGC) relies upon port forwarding for the Game Master to allow players to connect in to their computer remotely. Players within the same network can click 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 Classic traffic once it reaches their home network.

Step 1: Locate your Internal IP address

  1. Launch Fantasy Grounds Classic.

  2. Choose Create New Campaign or Load Campaign

  3. 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.X.X.

For Mac users, Fantasy Grounds Classic won't display your Internal IP address here. Please follow these instructions to locate your IP and record it for future steps.

Link: How to Find your IP Address on a Mac

image-20240702-205553.png
One of many ways to find your IP address in masOS

Step 2: Configure the Port Forward for your Internet Router

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.

NOTE: We don’t recommend buying any software from portforward.com. This is unnecessary. We only recommend looking up the instructions they have per router.

  1. Visit PortForward.com

  2. Choose the Home > List of all Programs from the menu on the left

  3. 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

  4. Choose the Make of your router. Most major brands should be listed

  5. 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

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. Click Run Test on the Fantasy Grounds Classic 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.

Troubleshooting

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 Classic to suddenly become blocked. If Fantasy Grounds Classic usually works and suddenly stops, try temporarily disabling your security software to see if the problem is related to a recent update.
Link: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AgCrTQ

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.