Most problems with a multiplayer game like Sociolotron either come from local problems on your machine, mostly with DirectX or from a blocked internet connection, mostly from firewalls. Sociolotron has little to no problems with DirectX graphics, mostly because we use standard Windows calls and also provide a switch to use GDI+ standard graphics instead of DirectX graphics. Since GDI+ graphics his only marginally slower than DirectX in a windowed client, GDI+ is pre-selected so that there are hardly any problems with graphic. Be sure to run your screen at least at a resolution of 1024*768 otherwise you will not be able to see the whole game client. Your windows resolution determines your game screen size.
Like many other online games, we can not provide help if you have a firewall installed that blocks the connections. However, there are a few things that you can try out and of course you can also contact us for help, but please make sure that you tried out these tips here first.
The best way to avoid trouble is to test the connections before you sign up for Sociolotron. For this purpose we provide a Probe program that tests your connection to the update servers and the game servers. You can download the Probe program here. You might also need this and this DLL in case you don't have Microsoft's MFC 7 installed. Just copy all these files into the same directory, then start probe.exe by double-clicking it and then click on the Start Test button.
This will connect to the update servers and the game server and will inform you about the outcome. The screen will look something like this
In this particular example the probe program tested two FTP upgrade server and one game server. In order to keep it simple all internet addresses are hard coded in the program so you don't have to adjust anything. When we add new servers we will update the probe program so be sure to get the latest program every time you need to test in the future.
The FTP servers are the update servers from where you will receive program and data updates every time you start Sociolotron. A healthy FTP connection is vital to receive the latest client program whenever we update it. The standard connect method to an FTP server is called "passive" which is preconfigured in out patch program. When you see an output like in the above picture, you should be able to receive updates automatically without any problems. If the text says something about "Non Passive Mode" you will need to turn off the check box next to "Passive Mode" when you select an update server. Whenever you start Sociolotron, this is what you see first:
this is where you select the update server and the connection mode. You can select any of the update servers, they all contain the same data. Be sure to chose the server that the probe program reported as unproblematic. When you have the choice between passive and non passive mode, select the one with passive mode.
Next is the game server. Currently Sociolotron offers only one game server but we may offer more in the future, in which case the probe program will test the new ones too. For game servers there is really only one possible outcome, Connection Established. Everything else indicates that you have a problem either with your Windows installation, your firewall settings or your ISP blocking certain ports (unlikely, but it happened before) and you will have to find out which one it is.
The most common way to proceed is this:
Software firewalls are a big trouble makers in general. Not only do they block valid connections, they can also slow down internet traffic considerably. The best protection against hacking is a simple hardware router that includes a NAT and that sits between your modem and your computer. Some broadband companies even hand out modems with integrated routers with NAT for small networks. If you have one of these devices you don't need a firewall. Of course you should always have a virus scanner running, whether you have a firewall or not.
Remember: Every morning around 5 am Pacific Time there is a maintenance restart of about 30 minutes. During this time you will not be able to reach the game server.
You can contact our tech support by writing email to techsupport@sociolotron.com or by contacting any of our counselors in Yahoo. We will do our best to resolve your problems, but due to the small size of Sociolotronics LLC we can not provide help to adjust the settings of a certain firewall or if you have a pre Windows 2000 version of Windows. We don't support Windows 98/ME/SE although the client may run on these system. When you send an email be sure to include one or both of the following files:
You can quickly join our IRC channel without having to install a separate IRC client by clicking on the button below. IN the window that pops up, just chose a nickname and when you are in the channel, as for a counselor or GM to help.
You may also download a stand alone IRC client. Please follow
this link to a site that explains how to install and
run our preconfigured MIRC clients.
This section contains some tips from customers who posted these in our forums. We can not guarantee the validity of these tips since we can not try them all out. This compilation is mainly a convenience for you so you don't have to browse through our forum. None of these claims are endorsed by Sociolotronics LLC in any way, they are comments from our customers.
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