Two Players Connecting from Same Network Disconnects Each Other from Host

[gryansmith]

TVDinner - good thinking on the automatic versus configured IP address. Both devices were on automatic. Presumably they were not duplicating if both handling as automatic? See below. I really appreciate you opening a test session. I got on first with the wired machine, then the wireless. At first it was fine, I played around and no issues. I exited the session on the wireless machine and logged back in, and it disconnected the wired computer. Logs attached. That timing was between 12:40p and 12:50p ET.

I then tried your suggestion, BronzeDodger. I downloaded Nord VPN on the wifi/wireless mac machine with neither device in the test session. I then repeated the exercise - signed in first from wired, then wireless. I hopped in and out of the session returning to the launcher a few times with each machine and at no point did either disconnect the other. SO that seemingly appears to be a fix. We will of course try it this weekend in the standard Saturday game. If that does seem to resolve it, is there a way to replicate what the VPN is doing, without a VPN, through our network settings - either machine level, router level, or both? To avoid paying for the VPN? Or do we just accept that VPNs are nice independent of FGU gaming and roll with it?

Wired Windows Machine
Link speed (Receive/Transmit): 1000/1000 (Mbps)
IPv6 address: 2601:140:8d00:ce:a951:dba3:318:cbe9
Link-local IPv6 address: fe80::a951:dba3:318:cbe9%4
IPv6 DNS servers: 2001:558:feed::1
2001:558:feed::2
2001:558:feed::1
2001:558:feed::2
IPv4 address: 192.168.0.38
IPv4 DNS servers: 75.75.75.75
75.75.76.76
Manufacturer: Realtek
Description: Lenovo USB Ethernet
Driver version: 10.51.318.2022
Physical address (MAC): 48-2A-E3-6B-B7-3F

Wireless/Wifi M
macNetwork settings.png

[TVDinner]

Two logs. One was taken at noon central, the other taken after I saw more connections at 12:22pm.

[TVDinner]

Oh, I should mention for Smiteworks that the two extra network connections that show up in the logs on my machine are from Edge's Application Guard. The class A network is the right one.

[TVDinner]

Both devices were on automatic. Presumably they were not duplicating if both handling as automatic?

Yeah, as long as they're both using the same DHCP server.

[gryansmith]

Thank you. To confirm, based on the logs you uploaded in central time, this is when the disconnect happened, in case it helps anyone reviewing.

[6/9/2022 11:41:19 AM] 'gryansmith' connected
[6/9/2022 11:41:32 AM] Client connected. Waiting for authorization. [2]
[6/9/2022 11:41:32 AM] Authorization failed: Incorrect password.
[6/9/2022 11:41:47 AM] NETWORK RECV FILE REQUEST: images/decals/
[6/9/2022 11:41:47 AM] NETWORK FILE CACHE MATCH: images/decals/
[6/9/2022 11:42:02 AM] Client connected. Waiting for authorization. [3]
[6/9/2022 11:42:02 AM] 'SaraBautista' connected
[6/9/2022 11:42:24 AM] Campaign saved. (0s)
[6/9/2022 11:42:30 AM] NETWORK RECV FILE REQUEST: images/decals/
[6/9/2022 11:42:30 AM] NETWORK FILE CACHE MATCH: images/decals/
[6/9/2022 11:45:29 AM] 'SaraBautista' disconnected

Disconnect occurred here - I exited the session as Sara after getting both machines on successfully, then tried to login again as Sara, which is what generated the 11:46:59 disconnect as Ryan

[6/9/2022 11:46:59 AM] 'gryansmith' disconnected
[6/9/2022 11:47:12 AM] Client connected. Waiting for authorization. [2]
[6/9/2022 11:47:12 AM] 'SaraBautista' connected
[6/9/2022 11:47:24 AM] Campaign saved. (0s)
[6/9/2022 11:47:39 AM] NETWORK RECV FILE REQUEST: images/decals/swk_decal.png@SmiteWorks Assets
[6/9/2022 11:47:40 AM] NETWORK FILE CACHE MATCH: images/decals/swk_decal.png@SmiteWorks Assets (75152)
[6/9/2022 11:48:53 AM] 'SaraBautista' disconnected

[Moon Wizard]

Unfortunately, there is no information in the logs that provides any light on the situation. This is most likely because whatever is happening with the connections is happening outside the application (i.e. some OS or router feature is closing/blocking the connection), so there is no way for the application to have any information on what is causing the dropped connection.

The fact that the NordVPN session worked just fine lends additional support to some sort of security setting on the ISP router (and any other routers in your network configuration) are causing the connection drops.

Regards,
JPG

[BronzeDodger]

Moon would a session typically be a-ok with two different sessions connecting to the GM from the same IP address? Based on, y'know, zero real facts (but why let that stop me...) if the VPN resolves the disconnects that would suggest something is not liking two sessions arriving from the same source IP. I've tried the "second session on a single PC" trick as the GM, but that calls the localhost so avoids looking like twin of itself (I think?).

@gryansmith trying to not dive too far down the technospeak rabbit hole - while you can have almost unlimited IPs inside your router/firewall, typically every computer shows up externally from the single "real" IP attached to the router on the ISP side. You can see this yourself by searching "what is my IP" on each computer - if both are on the WiFi they'll show up with the same address as far as the world is concerned. One way to test this without the VPN would be :

On a mobile device that permits tethering, disconnect from your home WiFi (might have to delete the profile that the phone doesn't keep reconnecting); basically you need the phone to be using internet from your mobile plan, not via your home WiFi
Activate the WiFi hotspot on the mobile (bluetooth hotspot would work too I suppose, if the PC can use bluetooth)
Connect one of the computers to the hotspot, so that it is getting the data feed from the cellular connection, not from your home internet connection (and make sure it's not also still connected to the home WiFi if you're using bluetooth)

If that works...
Upside: if you have unlimited data on your mobile plan, free way to get a different IP address.
Downside: Ask the GM to share literally anything and see how it goes - a big ugly map will probably be a quick way to discern/compare how long it takes to popup on each of the computers (and what impact it has on performance while it downloads). Entirely possible you'll sprint for a VPN client as the throughput may be pretty poor compared to your internet line in the house - but if you have a 4G/5G device you never know, it might do fine.

[Moon Wizard]

It should not matter that the connection is coming from the same IP address for their home network; we have many users that have that scenario. In the few cases where we've had reports of issues in this particular scenario, it's always been a router setting that is causing issues.

IP address information is encapsulated in network traffic when transferring over network boundaries. The FG application host does not use IP addresses in the connection management directly; just lets the underlying network libraries handle the connections.

Regards,
JPG

(edit: made correction, added forgotten not - LordEntrails)

[TVDinner]

Ryan, what's the make and model of your router?

Others, my IPv6 is weak. I see both v6 and v4 addresses in the client logs and have no idea which version is actually being used by the client to talk to the connection broker. This pings my interest because my server is behind a firewall which will not pass v6, nor does it make a tunnel (I hope). My logs are all v4 (the "noble connect" messages). Something's going to have to connect the client v6 (if true) with my server's v4.

Ryan, I suppose you could try turning off ipv6 in your router (along with the other various settings mentioned earlier). I have a game tonight (Friday) but can leave a server up over the weekend if you've got time.

I used to routinely run three clients and the server on my network and use the connection broker ("public" game). Never had a problem, although it was a bit silly in retrospect. A relic from FGU early testing.

[gryansmith]

Moon, Bronze, TV,

I do appreciate your continued engagement on this matter and your support. It’s much appreciated. Candidly, I have not had time to fiddle with router settings. That’s happening tonight/tomorrow. And we have our regular game tomorrow so I will give it a try beforehand. But also want to see how the VPN handles tomorrow.

Bronze, per your suggestion, we have done the hotspot approach in the past. Which does work. But while we have “unlimited” data, it does become throttled at a certain point. So depending on monthly data usage, it isn’t a super sustainable approach.

Make and model is: Netgear AC 1750; C6300v2

Aside from two gaming sessions tomorrow, we can make some time to test things out. Thank you again for the willingness to run a test session!