FGU - "Blue donut of death" and "Not Responding"

[Moon Wizard]

@Aiddar,

Thanks for the campaign folder sent to support. I noticed in the campaign data that you have about a dozen modules loaded. With the current performance limitations within FGU, I would recommend unloading any modules you personally as a GM don't strictly need to have open during play. (i.e. XGtE, EE Player, DMG Player, DMG Maps, etc.) We are recommending just the PHB/MM/DMG and adventure module when possible.

What kind of hardware are you running on? (CPU, GPU, HDD (SSD vs. mechanical), laptop vs. desktop machine, OS and version, etc.)

Regards,
JPG

[Aiddar]

Hi there.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have cut down on the modules (was not aware that there would be a limitation - not sure what effect there will be from not loading the DMG Players items for example - will they lose the magic item descriptions?). That said, it is now:-

1. Monster manual
2. Players Handbook
3. Princes of the Apocalypse
4. XGtE - Players (assumes I don’t need the full book? Bit of a shame, as I paid for it �� )
5. FG Battle Maps
6. DMG

In terms of hardware, please see below:-
1. OS – Win 10 home, V1909
2. HD – 1TB SSD
3. RAM – 32GB
4. Processor – I7-9750H CPU @2.6GHz
5. Graphics Card – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
6. Base platform - laptop
7. Internet link - speed tested for 35Gbit download, and about 12Gbit upload (was sold as "Up to 50Gbit!!" - so almost reasonable.... ;-) ). Has been fairly solid as well - running wired connection, not wireless.

Hope that helps! I am (obviously!!) keen to get back to trouble free gaming, so any and all help appreciated!

Paul

[LordEntrails]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have cut down on the modules (was not aware that there would be a limitation - not sure what effect there will be from not loading the DMG Players items for example - will they lose the magic item descriptions?).

What you load and what your players load are separate. You do not need something loaded in order for your players to be able to load it. And just because you have something loaded does not mean they have it loaded.

As GM you load what you need. As GM you can mark content that you allow players to load (green/red check mark), if they chose to load it. But then your players have to load it if they want access to it.

Don't mark adventures or DM resources to allow players to load. That would give them access to everything, including DM information, that they should not have.

[Aiddar]

Thanks for the response - so to confirm, if I have the DMG loaded (visible and accessible only to me, as DM), but do NOT load the players DMG element (which normally, I make accessible to the players), will the players be able to see the description of magic items (for example)?

Cheers!

Paul

[Moon Wizard]

Just to clarify what the 2 DMG modules hold. The main DMG module (for GMs) contains all the magic items, traps and DM-specific chapters. The DMG player's module only contains character building material from the DMG, not any of the magic item material. (i.e. evil domains, etc.)

When a module is loaded on a client, then that entire data pack is loaded for that machine only. That is why GM modules are blocked by default; so your players can't read the MM or the adventure. However, player modules are shared by default (though they can be blocked too). What the GM has loaded does not affect what the player has loaded, they are separate data sets.

On top of that, the GM can "share" any record they have loaded, which is how the characters, party sheet, combat tracker, maps, etc. get shared to the players during a campaign session. However, the players have no control over whether GM-loaded data is shared, only the GM can control that.

Finally, any items added to the PC sheets or party sheet are actually full copies of the original record, so you don't need the original modules loaded once the copies are made. This is the same for PC traits, features, spells, items, etc.

The end result is that you only need modules loaded from which you need to use to actually run the session. If you're running a pre-build adventure as-is, you really only need the adventure module open. If you like to run ad-hoc encounters, you probably need the MM and DMG open. If you need to help build characters, you probably need the PHB loaded.

Regards,
JPG

[Briarios]

...any items added to the PC sheets or party sheet are actually full copies of the original record, so you don't need the original modules loaded once the copies are made. This is the same for PC traits, features, spells, items, etc.

The end result is that you only need modules loaded from which you need to use to actually run the session. If you're running a pre-build adventure as-is, you really only need the adventure module open. If you like to run ad-hoc encounters, you probably need the MM and DMG open. If you need to help build characters, you probably need the PHB loaded.

Mr. Moon Wizard! I have the same dilema and was worried that if i unloaded modules that it would break any links the players used to access their new spell data, etc. This is fantastic news because i thought i might have to rebuild their characters without the additional modules, etc. Thank you! Thank you! This is HUGE INFO for anyone having this issue! Let the unloading commence! my day just got a bit better.

[Aiddar]

Had a good game last night, running for about 3 hours or so, only very minor issues. However, at about 22:45 (UK Time), the system just went into go slow. Blue donuts, timeouts, system crashing etc. Was there anything server side at around that time that caused an issue? I am becoming more convinced (granted, from the outside looking in :-) ) that there is a performance issue on the core servers.... Luckily for us, we were closing down at around 23:00 or so anyway, but a worrying development. I had hoped by removing all the spurious files etc, we would be stable again...

Edit to add:- we restarted the service a couple of times, in case it was something local, but that did not clear the issue.

Cheers!

Paul